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Birth Flowers!

Hello friends!

It's been quite a long while since I haven't had written a blog on MyEC. When I was preparing for my exam a few weeks ago, I had lots of ideas to blog. However, the moment I logged into MyEC after my exam, all seemed to vanish into thin air ! Naturally, I was looking for something to write about because I had come back to MyEC and also because I had only a little time to stay here, for I had to prepare for another exam.

Today, while browsing through the net, I came across birth flowers and their meanings. I didn't know about them before and I guess same goes true for many, if not all, members here.

I think virtually everyone knows about birthstones: the precious gems which represent each month of the year. They are the symbol for the month in which a person was born and are regarded as a good luck charm for the wearer. Each of them has a meaning behind it.

Similarly, each month is also represented by flowers! You've got a couple flowers to choose from. So if you want to give flowers to someone but can't decide which ones to choose, you've now a list of flowers to choose from and be prepared to be the recipient's new favorite person!


January Birth Flowers: Carnation and Snowdrop

1. CARNATION: It comes in many different colors to convey different meaning.

♥Pink Carnation: Affection.         ♥Red Carnation: I love you!

♥White Carnation: Pure love.      ♥Stripped Carnation: Regret that a love is not shared.

Yellow Carnation: Rejection or disappointment.

2. SNOWDROP: In the past, it was considered bad luck due to the fact that it would always seem to appear to grow in graveyards. Nowadays, it signifies hope and beauty!

February Birth Flowers: Violet and Primrose

1. VIOLET: It symbolizes watchfulness, loyalty, faithfulness, humility and chastity. One interesting fact is that "violet" comes in different colors like blue, yellow, cream and mauve/violet!

2. PRIMROSE: It lets someone know you can't live without them!

March Birth Flowers: Daffodil and Narcissus Jonquilla(Jonquil/Jonquille)

1. DAFFODIL: It means unequaled love; the sun is always shining whenever your significant other is around. When the bright yellow daffodil pokes through late winter's ground, it's like a long-awaited friend returning home and a birth flower anyone would be proud to call their own. Symbolizing rebirth and new beginnings. They promise happiness and joy.
2. JONQUIL: It represents desire for affection returned. It also is used to convey sympathy.

April Birth Flowers: Daisy and Sweet Pea

1. DAISY: It conveys innocence, loyal love (love that conquers all), and purity. It is also a flower given between friends to keep a secret; the daisy means "I'll never tell." Epitomizing childlike joy and playfulness, this April birth flower captures the essence of spring’s happy-go-lucky, forever-young attitude.

2. SWEET PEA: It blissful pleasure, but is also used to say good-bye.

May Birth Flowers: Lilly Of The Valley and Hawthorn Plant

1. LILLY OF THE VALLEY: This beautiful flower signifies sweetness, humility, and a return to happiness.

2. HAWTHORN PLANT: Symbolizes hope and supreme happiness. Hawthorne signifies that you want only the best for the recipient.

June Birth Flowers: Rose and Honeysuckle

1. ROSE: Love, passion, beauty and perfection. The rose is rich with history and meaning. The world's most beautiful flower has more meanings than one can count!

♥Pink Rose: Perfect Happiness.           ♥ Red Rose: I love you!

♥White Rose: Innocence and purity.     ♥Yellow Rose: Jealousy or a decrease in love.

A bouquet of roses means sincere gratitude, whereas a single rose amplifies the meaning of the color (a single red rose means "I REALLY love you").

2. HONEYSUCKLE: It's a strong symbol for the everlasting bonds of love. July Birth Flowers: Water Lily and Larkspur/Delphinium

1. WATER LILY: It symbolizes purity and majesty.

2. DELPHINIUM/LARKSPUR: With its lush, dolphin-shaped flowers, the aptly named delphinium – or larkspur – symbolizes an open heart and ardent attachment. Also signifying a feeling of lightness and levity, the gentle hues and refreshing fragrance of this summer birth flower give it a refreshing and distinctive natural beauty. Each color variation of larkspur has a different meaning: pink means fickleness, white conveys a happy nature, and purple normally represents a first love. Generally, larkspur indicates strong bonds of love.

August Birth Flowers: Gladiolus/Sword Lily and Poppy

1. SWORD LILY/ GLADIOLUS: It represents strength and moral integrity – not surprising when you consider that its name comes from the Latin word for sword, "gladius." But while its sword-shaped stems may imply Roman gladiators, its romantic flowers are capable of piercing a heart with their beauty – explaining why infatuation is another one of its meanings as well.
2. POPPY: A red poppy signifies pleasure, a white poppy is given for consolation, and a yellow poppy wishes wealth and success.

September Birth Flowers: Aster and Morning Glory

1. ASTER: With their lush texture, rich hues and wildflower beauty, it's easy to see why asters have had a long association with magical powers. In ancient times, it was believed that when aster leaves burned, their perfume could drive away evil. Today, this September birth flower is known as a talisman of love and an enduring symbol of elegance.2. MORNING GLORY: It's a simple symbol of affection.

October Birth Flowers: Marigold and Cosmos

1. MARIGOLD: They are often given as a sign of warm or fierce, undying love, or as a way of saying that you're content with being with the recipient.

2. COSMOS: A symbol of order, peace, and serenity.November Birth Flower: Chrysanthemum

A red Chrysanthemum means "I love you;" a white Chrysanthemum means innocence, purity, and pure love; a yellow Chrysanthemum means slighted love.

December Birth Flowers: Narcissus and Holly

1. NARCISSUS: It embodies the idea that you want your beloved to stay just the way they are.2. HOLLY: Symbolizes your wish for domestic happiness.

I dedicate this blog to all members of MyEC!

Blue drops of water making small rippling waves

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Guess The Word! 5

-verb or noun

“to cut something or tear it into very small, narrow pieces; a small amount of something.”

• Cut the cabbage into fine long s_ _ _ _.
• They may be s_ _ _ _ding documents.
• He said there was not a s_ _ _ _ of evidence to support such remarks.
• He was left without a s_ _ _ _ of self-esteem.
• Finally s_ _ _ _ the carrots, cabbage and cored apples.
• There is not a s_ _ _ _ of truth in the story.


Hint: The word to guess begins with letter "S" and is 5 letters long.

Answer = Shred

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Guess The Word! 4

-An adjective

-Definition:

  1. Almost or nearly as described, but not completely.
  2. Not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so.

Ten years of incompetent government had brought about the  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ collapse of the country's economy.

My daughter has a computer program with a  _ _ _ _ _ _ _  pet cat that she feeds and plays with.

Hint: The word to guess begins with letter "V" and is 7 letters long.

Answer = Virtual

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Guess The Word! 3

-An adjective

-Definition:

  1. (of an argument, theory, or policy) Logical and consistent.
  2. (of a person) Able to speak clearly and logically.

Nor does either of the two parties have a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ political agenda.

The student received validation that his essays had been _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ when he received his test back with a large "A+" on the front.

I wish i was as _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ as the people in honors classes.

Hint: The word to guess begins with letter "C" and is 8 letters long.

Answer = Coherent

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Guess The Word! 2

-A verb

-Definition: *Strengthen or support physically or mentally

*to cause or allow something to continue for a period of time

*to keep alive


*to suffer or experience, especially damage or loss


The love of his family and friends _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ him through his ordeal.


The company has _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ heavy losses this year.


He cannot _ _ _ _ _ _ _ a normal conversation.

Hint: The word to guess begins with letter "S".

Answer = Sustain

 

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Guess The Word! 1

-An adjective

-Definition: Found or distributed over a large area or number of people.

-Synonyms: prevalent - extensive - rife - common

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There are reports of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ flooding in Russia.


Trade partners had become more  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.


Lightning may blast and blacken, but it rarely gives rise to       _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  fire.

Hint:
The word to guess begins with the letter "W" and is 10 letters long.

Answer = Widespread

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The Chaos of English Pronunciation

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Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,

I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse

I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.

Tear in eye your dress you'll tear,
So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer,

Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!

Just compare heart, beard and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,

Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written).

Made has not the sound of bade,
Say said, pay-paid, laid, but plaid.

Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,

But be careful how you speak,
Say break, steak, but bleak and streak.

Previous, precious, fuchsia, via,
Pipe, snipe, recipe and choir,

Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,

Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles.
Exiles, similes, reviles.

Wholly, holly, signal, signing.
Thames, examining, combining

Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war, and far.

From "desire": desirable--admirable from "admire."
Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier.

Chatham, brougham, renown, but known.
Knowledge, done, but gone and tone,

One, anemone. Balmoral.
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel,

Gertrude, German, wind, and mind.
Scene, Melpomene, mankind,

Tortoise, turquoise, chamois-leather,
Reading, reading, heathen, heather.

This phonetic labyrinth
Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth, plinth.

Billet does not end like ballet;
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet;

Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.

Banquet is not nearly parquet,
Which is said to rime with "darky."

Viscous, Viscount, load, and broad.
Toward, to forward, to reward.

And your pronunciation's O.K.,
When you say correctly: croquet.

Rounded, wounded, grieve, and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive, and live,

Liberty, library, heave, and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven,

We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.

Mark the difference, moreover,
Between mover, plover, Dover,

Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police, and lice.

Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label,

Petal, penal, and canal,
Wait, surmise, plait, promise, pal.

Suit, suite, ruin, circuit, conduit,
Rime with "shirk it" and "beyond it."

But it is not hard to tell,
Why it's pall, mall, but Pall Mall.

Muscle, muscular, gaol, iron,
Timber, climber, bullion, lion,

Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, and chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor,

Ivy, privy, famous, clamour
And enamour rime with hammer.

Pussy, hussy, and possess,
desert, but dessert, address.

Golf, wolf, countenance, lieutenants.
Hoistin lieu of flags, left pennants.

River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.

Stranger does not rime with anger.
Neither does devour with clangour.

Soul, but foul and gaunt but aunt.
Font, front, won't, want, grand, and grant.

Shoes, goes, does. Now first say: finger.
And then: singer, ginger, linger,

Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, age.

Query does not rime with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.

Dost, lost, post; and doth, cloth, loth;
Job, Job; blossom, bosom, oath.

Though the difference seems little,
We say actual, but victual.

Seat, sweat; chaste, caste.; Leigh, eight, height;
Put, nut; granite, and unite.

Reefer does not rime with deafer,
Feoffer does, and zephyr, heifer.

Dull, bull, Geoffrey, George, ate, late,
Hint, pint, Senate, but sedate.

Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific,

Tour, but our and succour, four,
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Sea, idea, guinea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria,

Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion with battalion.

Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, key, quay.

Say aver, but ever, fever.
Neither, leisure, skein, receiver.

Never guess--it is not safe:
We say calves, valves, half, but Ralph.

Heron, granary, canary,
Crevice and device, and eyrie,

Face but preface, but efface,
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust, and scour, but scourging,

Ear but earn, and wear and bear
Do not rime with here, but ere.

Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,

Monkey, donkey, clerk, and jerk,
Asp, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation--think of psyche--!
Is a paling, stout and spikey,

Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing "groats" and saying "grits"?

It's a dark abyss or tunnel,
Strewn with stones, like rowlock, gunwale,

Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict, and indict!

Don't you think so, reader, rather,
Saying lather, bather, father?

Finally: which rimes with "enough"
Though, through, plough, cough, hough, or tough?

Hiccough has the sound of "cup."
My advice is--give it up! 

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Writing Challenge: Correcting Commas


1. In a list:

My English Club friend Anna loves reading blogs, chatting with friends, and commenting on photos in MyEC photo gallery.


2. Between three or more adjectives or adverbs:

I enjoy Yasemin's company because she's a chirpy, cheerful, friendly gal.


3. With two adjectives:

Teacher Tara regularly challenges members with creative, useful writing tasks.


4. With numbers:

Currently, EC has more than 78,000 members.


5. For addresses or dates:

Ha Nguyen, who comes from Hanoi, Vietnam, posted her latest blog on December 28, 2012.


6. For direct speech:

Nadira said, "I'm an English language teacher and I'm from Puttlam, Sri Lanka."

"I'm glad to meet you. Sri Lanka is such a beautiful country." her new friend said.


7. Before a coordinating conjunctions:

Grace has been working hard to improve her spoken English, so I'm sure that soon she will be able to speak English fluently.


8. For parenthetical elements:

Sofia, who is a relatively new MyEC member, has become my good friend within a short span of time.


9. After an introductory element:

In order to improve their written English, members are advised to write as many blogs as possible.


10. With sentence adverbs:

Sadly, many members use this wonderful website for chatting purpose only.


11. With adverbial clauses:

If you don't love English, English won't love you back.


12. Error found:

thanks for your beautiful experience , you know i'm new on Ec, I'd like to be your language friend to practice English and improving speaking skills, I mostly use skype for communication and i use internet just to learn English , i think its the first thing i should do

Correction: Thanks for your beautiful experience. You know I'm new on Ec and I'd like to be your language friend to practice English and improving speaking skills. I mostly use skype for communication and I use internet just to learn English. I think it's the first thing I should do

A JOKE

“A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife annual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”


Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

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Writing Challenge: Reflexive Pronouns

It was a beautiful evening. I finished my project, finally. I did it all by myself. Now it was my time to enjoy. Initially, I decided to throw a party for myself only. But later I changed my mind and called a very close friend to come and join me. When she arrived at my apartment, we made coffee for ourselves. Afterwards, she said that she would cook a very tasty dinner for us herself. Meanwhile, I decided to watch the TV. As I sit sat on the sofa, my cat climbed the sofa and made itself comfortable in my lap. A satirical comedy show was on air and participants were cracking jokes against themselves. A little while later, my cute little friend, who lives in my neighborhood, came with a drawing book in his hand. He asked me to draw a picture of a running horse, but I asked him to do it himself first. He became angry and left my apartment at once. I felt bad and decided to go to his house, once the party was over.

What do you think about the story above? Is it real or just a piece of fiction? And hey, why don't you participate in Teacher Tara's challenge yourself?

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We all know that English has become a universal language. You need to learn it, whether you're a student, a professional, or just a visitor to some foreign  country. In many countries, you're not even considered "well" educated until and unless you know how to communicate fluently in English.

Since English is such a vital language to succeed in life, it has become very popular with language learners. Every other person you meet would like to speak English well. The very idea of communicating in English fluently excites them. However, most of the learners don't care much about the learning process itself. They take it as a duty, as an obligation - something that they need to, but don't want to do. They don't see any sort of joie de vivre in it. That's why they become easily bored and many times quit learning.

In simple words, they want to speak English but don't like to learn it. This is the biggest problem English learners come across, because a learner who doesn't like to learn English won't learn it well. Therefore, if you want to become a successful learner,  you need to like the learning process itself. Don't you?

And for achieving your goal, you need to treat time spent on learning English as a time of enjoyment and relaxation. For that matter, you need to enjoy -  reading English sentences and thinking how they are structured, learning new vocabulary everyday, practicing writing as much as possible, practicing the pronunciation of English sounds and words, and listening to English movies, news, and songs.

What you need to understand is that learning English should be your hobby, not duty.

Happy learning...

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Untitled!

I'm an avid reader and I've read a lot. I've literally read thousands of books. No exaggeration! When I was young, I used to read everything which would come in my way. Newspapers, magazines, novels, books on history, religion, and even politics. Everything except poetry. Poetry has never been my cup of tea. I still read a lot, but now I skip some.

When you're fond of reading, you're always searching for a good book to read. And if a book becomes a bestseller, you crave for it. Don't you?

I was quite young when Arundhati Roy's debut novel "The God of Small Things" came out and instantly became a hit. It's a winner of Booker Prize. I read reviews about it and its title fascinated me a lot. "The God of Small Things"..... wow, sounds so interesting! I didn't get a chance to read the book up until recently. And you know what! I hardly managed to read only half of it! It's one of the worst books I've ever come across in my whole life. I threw the book away when I was still half way through it and never wished to read rest of it. I, in fact, regret reading first part of it. I wonder, what made so many people around the world to adore and praise that book!

The other book is "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. A book which has been translated in at least 71 languages! I must admit that it was quite an interesting book to read and had some very good points to ponder upon and I didn't throw it away in the middle unlike The God of Small Things. However, I've had heard so much about it that when I opened the book I expected to read something really extraordinary. I'm really sorry to say that I was disappointed. Many things in "The Alchemist" were not even something new for me. I'd read so many similar things before.

Well, the real purpose to write(of writing??) this blog is to practice my writing skills. I'm sorry if you're a hard core fan of the books above. This is my personal point of view and above criticism is not meant to hurt readers' feelings.

If you've managed to read this blog till the end, please correct as many mistakes as you can. I'd be very grateful. Thanks in advance!

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A Story That Never Ends!

It was a lovely December morning in the faraway lands. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. A fresh breeze was gently blowing, carrying with it the fragrance of blossoming flowers. On an old worn out wooden bench under a huge tree were sitting two young friends.

One said to the other: "Tell me a story, Chris."

So Chris began: "It was a lovely December morning in the faraway lands. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. A fresh breeze was gently blowing, carrying with it the fragrance of blossoming flowers. On an old worn out wooden bench under a huge tree were sitting two young friends.

One said to the other: "Tell me a story, Chris."

So Chris began: "It was a lovely December morning................................."

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Dear friends, as I stated in my previous blog, that it was really hard to choose from among my friends as since I've got/gotten so many dear friends here. Therefore, this is my 2nd entry in Teacher Tara's challenge. I'll probably write a 3rd blog too, to include my other friends.

Today, I'm going to introduce you with some of my friends who are comparatively newer in my friends' list.

I'll start introductions by introducing acquainting you with a MyEC member who's sad because none of the EC bloggers, who took part in this challenge, mentioned her in their blogs.

Oriani is an English language teacher from Maracay, Venezuela. She's a Venezuelan. According to her profile, she speaks Spanish and English. Apart from being a teacher, she's a great actor and a fantastic singer. She also knows how to play a the violin. In short, she's a multi-talented girl. She's no doubt a wonderful addition to MyEC!!

 

YMN Pearl is my friend from Sana'a, Yemen. She's Yemeni and she speaks Arabic and English. She's an English teacher and always comes up with wonderful blogs about how to teach students. She is a very creative person and I'm really impressed by her designing skills. Above all, she is a very cute girl. I'm happy to be her friend.

 

Ha Nguyen is my lovely Vietnamese friend. She lives in Hanoi, Vietnam. Vietnamese is her mother tongue. She also knows very good English. She's been working as an intern these days and according to her she's learning a lot. Very often, she helps EC bloggers in improving their English. She's a cheerful and sweet girl who cares about her friends a lot.

 

The wonderful photographer of MyEC is Fumi. She's a Taiwanese. She comes from Taichung,Taiwan.  She speaks Chinese as well as English. I'm not only a fan of her photograpy but, also of the titles she gives to her photos. I'm a fan of not only her photographic skills but also the way she gives titles to her blogs. Apart from that, she writes very interesting blogs, too.

 

Now, it's time to introduce my charming Algerian friend Asma. She lives in Algeria. She knows Arabic, English and French. She's an avid English learner and active MyEC member. One of her favorite hobbies in EC is to tease Yasemin and me. Keep teasing us, Asma. We enjoy it!

 

In the end, I'm going to introduce you with yet another Taiwanese girl, Grace. In Taiwan, she lives in a city which is called as "◕‿◕".  According to her profile, she speaks Chinese, English and one "other" language. Her hobbies are painting, traveling, photoing and voice blogging. You can see her exquisite paintings on her blog. She's a big cat lover, too. She loves to eat Chinese & Japanese dishes.

Flower Bar

Please, do correct me!

Your help will be highly appreciated!

A big thanks to Thomas and Ha for correcting my mistakes.

 

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My best friend in EC is Anele. Almost everyone in MyEC knows her. She comes from Philippines. She is a  Filipina. Her native language is Filipino. She's also a fluent English speaker. She's a teacher and teaches many subjects including English language. She is has not been active in this club since for a few months because of her job responsibilities. However, when she was here, she was among the most active and helpful members of MyEC. She helped a lot of members in improving their English. She's a not only a good teacher, but also a very caring friend. She's got a great sense of humor and we enjoy a lot when we are together. Hopefully, she'll come back to MyEC very soon.

Irina, Natasha, and Rosenmaiden are my Russian friends. They are from Russia. They speak Russian. They also speak English. Interestingly enough, all of them are teachers. They are my friends since my early days in this club and are always very kind to me. I'm very fortunate to have such great online friends.

Another wonderful friend of mine is Rabab. She's Sudanese. Yes, you've guessed it right! She's from Sudan. She lives in Khartoum which is the capital and second largest city of the Republic of Sudan and of Khartoum state. She speaks Arabic. She also knows very good English, but according to her profile still considers herself only a beginner. She's a mutual friend of Anele and me. And like all other friends of mine, she too has a great sense of humor. These days, as she doesn't visit EC often, I'm missing her a lot.

Another mutual friend of Anele, I and Rabab is Yasemin. She's Turkish. She lives in Istanbul, Turkey and speaks Turkish. Her second language is English. To be honest, I don't have the guts to introduce her properly. She claims that she's a psycho. And it's not a secret! Just go to her page and you'll find out many proofs scattered here and there. The top of her page reads, "You are entering a HEAVY SARCASM ZONE. Please wear your sense of humor.," so be a little careful. I hope she won't kill me when she'll read this blog. No, I'm not exaggerating! Every other day, she threatens me that she'll kill me very soon. Apart from what I've already said in her honor, she is a very lovely girl and a wonderful friend. I really enjoy spending time with her.

Flower Bar

Thank you so much my dear friends, fellow members, and respected teachers for dropping past my blog. I've so many wonderful friends here in EC and it was really hard to choose from them. I'll probably write another blog to introduce my other friends.

Please, do correct me!

Your help will be highly appreciated!

 

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Friendship day quotes!

1. " A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."
- Arabian Proverb

 2. "A friend is one who walks in when others walk out"
-Walter Winchell

3. "Two may talk together under the same roof for many years, yet never really meet; and two others at first speech are old friends."
- Mary Catherwood

 4. "No love, no friendship, can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever."
- Francois Mocuriac -

 5. "Friendship: a building contract you sign with laughter and break with tears." -Unknown

 6. "The friendship that can cease has never been real."
- Saint Jerome

 7. "Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity."
- Khalil Gibran

 8. "When friends stop being frank and useful to each other, the whole world loses some of its radiance."
- Anatole Broyard

 9. "Friendship without self interest is one of the rare and beautiful things in life."
- James Francis Byrnes

 10. "A person is only complete when she has a true friend to understand her, to share all her passions and sorrows with, and to stand by her throughout her life." ~ Unknown

 11. "Friendship is not friendship without trust, without it I walk alone."
- James P. Michels Jr.

 12. "No lapse of time or distance of place can lessen the friendship of those who are truly persuaded of each other's worth."
- Unknown

 13. "A friend is someone who reaches for your hand, but touches your heart."
- Kathleen Grove

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY TO ALL EC MEMBERS!


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June 30th, 2012

Dearest Best friend Anele,

First of all, thank you so much for writing such an awesome letter to me. I enjoyed reading it a lot!!!

Yesterday, I received your letter moments before I left home for a holiday trip to Alhambra, Spain. And guess with whom?! With our crazy and psycho MyEC friend, Yasemin!

Hey, don't be angry for we didn't tell you about our trip before. Actually, we wanted to surprise you!

And here I'm, sitting in a cozy room in Hotel Alhambra Palace and writing this letter to unfold this surprise to you. This hotel is perfectly located within walking distance of the Alhambra and the old town. The view from the terrace cannot be bettered and it really makes a holiday to sit watching the swifts diving around the hotel as the sun sets and casts a golden light on the countryside and city below.

We, I and Yasemin, were saving as much money as we could since many months to visit Alhambra.

Have you ever heard about Alhambra Palace before?

The majestic Alhambra Palace is located on the border of Granada, in the south of Spain. It was once the residence to Moorish kings. However, now it is one of the biggest open air museums of Islamic architecture in the world.The complex comprises a fortress, palace and mosque.

But before I reveal details of our today's visit of Alhambra to you, let me tell you, how much our crazy friend Yasemin irritated me at airport and while traveling from Granada airport to Hotel Alhambra Palace! I have had always believed that she just pretends to be a crazy and psycho and in reality she's a normal person just like you and me. But to my utmost horror, she is a real crazy and psycho!!! You are not believing me. Right? So let me tell you what happened as we reached here last night.

We had decided to meet at Granada airport. Granada airport -photo source

She took her flight from Turkey and reached Spain before me. When I arrived there she was already waiting for me since 2 hours. I was really excited to meet her as we were going to meet for the very first time in real world and so was she. We greeted each other with great love and admiration(please don't laugh!). We decided to took a bus to reach our hotel. It was midnight already so the last bus was about to leave the airport for the hotel. I being older among two of us felt that I'm responsible for her and myself. So I asked her to grab her luggage and hurry up so that we could reach the last bus on time. But will you believe what she did? She said she was feeling hungry and needed to buy some chocolates from airport shopping center! I told her that we would be very late for the last bus but she didn't listen to me. So we went to buy some chocolate bars from the shopping center and then we ran like crazy bulls so that we don't miss the bus and when we reached there we were almost out of breath.

In the bus, we seated ourselves in front of a lovely couple and their blue eyed and red haired cute baby girl. We greeted them and exchanged introductions. They were going to stay in the same hotel as we were. We were so happy to meet them. After that Yasemin started eating her chocolate. The little adorable girl sitting in front of us with her parents noticed her eating and demanded her mother to have some chocolate, too. Her mother asked Yasemin for little piece of chocolate. But you know what?! She refused! I was shocked but I regained my senses back and asked her to share the chocolate with little child but she harshly refused! Baby started crying as her mother watched us with great disappointment in her eyes and I felt so ashamed! Please don't ever tell her that I told you all this! I'm writing this letter secretly. She's been out to the market since last one hour. She has gone to buy some postcards which we'll send to our EC friends.

Today morning we decided to visit Alhambra Palace. We went there by foot enjoying the natural and artistic aspects of the surroundings. Two paths exist to reach the Alhambra which is located on the top of a hill. We took the path from Plaza Nueva into the street Cuesta de Gomérez because it is more beautiful and historically interesting as compared to the other path.

Gate of the Pomegranates (Puerta de las Granadas) was the first monument that we saw when we reached there.

Gate of the Pomegranates - photo source

Once on the other side of this gate, we walked along the tree-lined avenues of the Alhambra.

photo source

Further up, to the left and next to the esplanade of the Justice Gate (Puerta de la Justicia), 

entrance to the complex of the Alhambra, we found Charles V Pillar. It was a three-spout fountain that Pedro Machuca.........................

Ooooops Anele, Yasemin just called me. She said she's done with the shopping and she's coming back! So I must end the letter now. I'll soon write another letter to you and will send more pictures we will take of the Alhambra Palace.

Love yaaa.............. Bye!!!

 

 

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I've been a MyEC member for 3 years now. I have learned a lot from this site and I've made many many wonderful friends here. I've always considered myself lucky because I found this place to improve my English. Here I befriended with so many nice people from across the globe.

While making friends, I've never considered the issue of nationality or religion. Many of my friends here are Christians and Hindus. Among my Muslim friends, I don't know how many are Sunny and how many are Shi'a. They are just my friends. They have always been very good to me. I've learned a lot from them and have shared many happy moments with them. We have always respected each other.

Do you know, why I hardly ever go to EC chat? Because people there fight in the name of religion and try to impose their political ideas on others. When I first joined EC, my country's name was right there on my profile. But it isn't anymore. Why? Because people said bad things to me on chat about my country, although I never said any such thing to anyone. I decided to not to go there so that I could live in peace. But I've always felt that I've lost a big opportunity to improve my English in real life situations by avoiding chat.

However, I've had been happy that I still have a place to improve my English and meet my friends on MyEC. There are blogs, photos and videos to read, look at and watch respectively and to comment on. There are my friends' pages to leave a comment. My friends and I sometimes fight for no reason on our pages and blogs. But that's not a serious kind of fight; it's kind of fight we've with our real life friends sometimes just for fun. We all know that we love each other a lot.

However, MyEC is no longer a place to live in peace and harmony perhaps. Blogs and discussions are full of religious arguments these days. There are people who, I don't want to name them, say that Islam is evil. They say bad things about Prophet of Islam. Whatever they think of my religion, Islam, it is the BEST RELIGION in this world for me and hundreds of millions of Muslims across the globe, in the very same way their religion is the BEST RELIGION for them among all religions. What I know is that I should respect all religions in the world, but those insulting Islam or any other religion should know that they also need to respect mine and others'.

I want to ask, are we here to learn English and make friends and learn about their wonderful cultures, OR we are here to tell others that their religions and countries are bad??

Note: Feel free to comment, but beware that any comment containing any sort of argument against ANY RELIGION will be deleted.

Live and let others live..... Peace to all, irrespective of their color, gender, nationality, political or religious views.

June 16, 2013 at 18:00

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