Graduation ceremony 2010

Our English teacher

She has a very special personality. She´s blessed with endless patience. She's a very spiritual person. She's not afraid to show her true self. She always smiles no matter what. :)
I really do think she´s happy with her life. She's really easy-going and she transmits comfort.
She doesn't struggle when making choices. She has the ability to stay quiet when no one else can.
She's got curly hair and original looks. She usually wears colourful clothing, specially purple.
In conclusion, she's a nice teacher!

The Beach at Night (Fran Barba)

My favourite place is the beach at night. During the day there are too many people and there's too much noise but at night it's the perfect place to walk quietly and it helps me to think.

At night it's a very quiet place with the only sound of the waves breaking on the shore.

Majorca has many beaches but most of them are for tourism and they have been modified to be bigger or just more confortable for the tourists. But there are also beaches that are in secluded places, they are difficult to find, and I think this makes them very beutiful because they have not been modified by human beings and they are very quiet and have something special that makes them beautiful.

In front of my home I have a very big beach. In the past that beach was smaller but i was modified to be able to receive more tourists and now it's very big with a lot of sand and no rocks. At night I usually walk through it, but it is not a quiet place because the street is very close and there's always noise coming from the cars, from the pubs or just from drunk people :/

Description of a place (Andrés Pozo)

Have you guys ever considered visiting France?

Paris is known as the "City of Lights" and is a magnificent and romantic place to visit.
I visited Paris two years ago with my school. Paris is a big and busy city, where you can find all sorts of stuff to do! It also has a great climate and the most beautiful scenery in the world. There are also a lot of important landmarks that one should visit if there, such as the Eiffel tower.
When you reach the top you feel like the king of the world and the views are just fascinating, you can see the whole city. But the views are even more impacting at night just when the sun starts coming down and the lights turn on.
Another thing that a like about Paris is that it’s very cultural. It has all type of museums that you can visit. It its center you can find one of the world’s biggest and most important museums: the Louvre. It is huge! Not even a week is enough for you to visit all the different monuments and paintings in its interior. If you don’t like museums you can visit other places such as the cathedral of Notre dame.
Learn about its legend and walk thousand of stairs up the tower to where the great bell is.
Paris is very exciting. But it can also be calm and peaceful. You can always find a nice hotel resort to relax and enjoy Paris in a different way!

If you ever get the chance to visit this lovely city, don’t think twice!

Narrative (Javier Gonzalez Aylman)

The best moment in my life was when I went to Paris with my classmates in 4 E.S.O. We didn´t know very well where we would go: Berlin, Paris, London.., In conclusion, we had many possibilities to travel. Finally we chose Paris, because more people hadn´t been in Paris and it seemed a very nice city.
When we left the airport I felt the usual "butterflies in the stomach" and I was very happy because I had never been abroad. When we arrived to Paris, I took some photos because I was really excited.
Then we took a bus to the hotel. I do not remember the name of the hotel, but I know it was a 4 star hotel. I shared a room with Fran. Whenever I break something, Fran repaired it. Everyone was hungry so we went to eat a kebab in front of the hotel. This kebab was very delicious but it was a bit expensive. We spent five days in Paria and visited the most important landmarks: Eiffiel tower, the Louvre, the Seine river ...the conclusion is that I took a lot of pictures of those beautiful monuments.
I didn´t want to leave Paris because I liked the city, but like all good things, everything has an end. When we returned to Majorca, I uplodaded my photos on my computer . Later my parents asked me about Paris and I spent the afternoon talking with them about that city.
In the future I would like to return to Paris.

The start of an obsession....(by Cristofer Sánchez)

...To dicover the space beyond the earth and our solar system

It all started when I was a little boy ( 4-6 years old). I really liked looking at the sky at night and I used to ask my parents about the shiny points in the vast night sky in my little village, and they only said to me “those shiny points in sky are only stars”, and that answer was not sufficient for me.

Night after night I used to look at the stars and the moon, asking myself what the stars could be, and I started to ask my school mates and teachers “what are the stars?” One of my best teachers told me something that was quite interesting for me.

He said: “The stars are suns, comets, galaxies, solar systems and other kind of things I don’t know”...
That awoke inside of me a really ambitious feeling, “to know what those stars were in reality and what they were doing up there in the dark sky”.

Sometime after, my parents gave me a birthday present, a present which I still have, my first Astronomy book. With that book I learnt all about “stars” , and I could understand where I live, where our planet, the earth, was located , and lots of things about our solar system. I also learnt about galaxies, other solar systems, planets, suns, nebulae (or nebulas), comets, and so on.

And that ambitious curiosity was the reason why I am still interested in the space and the
galaxies and I can feel I am still a curious boy who wants to know everything about outer space...
Like observing the moon and all the mysterious things connected to it...

An obsession I would like to satisfy now and in the future...

Learning to ride a bike (by Pedro Capó)

My parents didn't help me to learn how to ride a bike. My grandfather did.
When I was a child I really liked my grandfather’s bike and I wanted to ride it, but there was a problem, I had never ridden a bike in my life.
Then, one day, my grandfather helped me and put me on the bike, the bike had only two wheels not four. I tried to ride the bike with my grandfather holding me. We expend all the day trying it. And at nigh I managed to ride the bike without help.
On Christmas my parents gave me a bike, but with four wheels. I told them that I had learned to ride a bike only with two wheels, but they didn’t believe me.

Two weeks after we went to visit my grandparents and my father told them that I had a new bike, then my grandfather asked:

-With four or two wheels?
And my father said:
-With four wheels of course.
My grandfather looked at me and asked me:
- Why didn't you tell them you know how to ride a bike?
And I answered angrily:
-I told them, but they didn’t believe me.
The day after I found my bike with only two wheels.

A Place to Relax (by Pedro Capó)

There is a place where the time doesn’t pass by. There is a place where nature and humans coexist in harmony. There is a place where mountains touch the sky.

This place is Lluc. Lluc is a monastery in the mountains, for that reason there aren’t skyscrapers or motorways, only the silence. There is a small park for children. There is a botanical garden and a Via Crucis.

There are many excursions to go near Lluc and all of them are very beautiful. Behind Lluc there is a big valley, it is beautiful and there is a farm with cows, goats, horses, hens, dogs and cats. It is a peaceful place to clear the mind. The trees are always green, for this reason the place seems always lively.

A description of a place (by Cristofer Sánchez)

The place I’m going to describe is my old little village in Salamanca, which is called Gallegos de Argañán .
I lived there the ten first years of my life.
Gallegos de Argañán is located at 120km of Salamanca.

It is a small town with nearly over 300 people which are living now in the town, but in the past where living over 1000 people or more (in a period of time aprox. 1800-1900 and since then, the number of people has been decreasing). I don’t know very well the real data.

In general is a small town surrounded by land, which is used to feed the animals, the farmers plow the land, they plant seeds and they grow vegetables which are later sold in the market.

You can see my village in the photos below.




It is located in a big valley, surrounded by hills and in the distance there are also high mountains. In the mornings and evenings, you can breathe some fresh air coming from the mountains. I really like that fresh air, it's the best time for walking or doing sport, because in summer the rest of the day is really dry-hot weather and its unhealthy to walk in those conditions and more if you have sensitive skin and eyes xD.

I like to travel to my little village in summer, because it is a peaceful place to relax and to disconnect from everuthing, and also to see my grandparents and uncles who live there. Another reason why I like going there is that I remember great things I lived when I was a child.

While I am writing this a memory has just come to my mind: when I was little boy, in the first days of May it started to snow, IN MAY!!, and it settled for a few hours.
It was a very strange day!

An important day (by Ana Carcaño)

Two years ago, before starting 4th of ESO, I went to Ireland to study English . I was going to be there four months. Two weeks before I left, my friends prepared a surprise party for me, it was a farewell party.
I thought we were going to have dinner somewhere in Paseo Marítimo, but that was just what I thought. My friends had called my mum and they had told her about the party so that evening my friends Claudia and Naika came home and we got dressed as any other normal day. Naika asked me if she could borrow a scarf because she said it might be cold that night (that was a bit strange because August is a hot month in Mallorca) and I lent her my scarf.

Then my mum offered herself to take us to the restaurant. I was surprised because I thought we had to go with the bus asusual, and when we arrived to the car Naika covered my eyes with the scarf. At this moment I started to suspect that something was happening, anyway I thought we were going to Paseo Marítimo to have dinner. I had my eyes covered when we arrived and I started to hear some familiar voices. They were my friend's voices. Then I took out the scarf and I realised that we weren't at Marítimo, we were at Diablito from Puerto Portals, my friends had booked a table there. I said hello to everybody , I was very happy because I didn't expect anything. Then we had a great dinner at the restaurant and at the end I was given another surprise. My friends gave me presents! The gave me a beautiful necklace from Tous and a T-Shirt signed by all of them. We took a lot of pictures and after dinner we went home. It was a wonderful day!

A CELEBRATION (Andrés Pozo)

A party that for sure I will never forget was my girlfriend’s last year birthday party.
She is Canadian so, like the Americans, they celebrate “their sweet sixteen”.
A sweet sixteen is a very important day and they make a big deal of it, so usually the parties are huge!
It was on the second of July, so it was a lovely sunny day. She wanted to do something original, so she charted a yacht for 15 people. We all got up at nine o’clock in the morning at went walking from Son Caliu to Puerto Portals. When we arrived she was already waiting for us on the boat. We all got on it and sailed away! First we visited the small lovely beach close to Cala Mayor, we suntanned for a while and took a bunch of photos .Then we decided to go for a dip in the clean sea water.
Afterwards, we visited many more beaches and finally arrived at Magaluf . We got off and went to eat some lunch. When we arrived back at the boat it was time to open the presents! She got all sorts of stuff, the girls gave her separated gifts but since the boys didn’t really know what to give her, they made her a huge group picture so she could hang it on the wall of her room.

Later on, we continued our journey. We passed by lots of different beaches but most of them were filled with jellyfish so we didn’t go swimming.
We reached the port at eight o’clock and she had another party planned at night for another group of friends, which I was also invited too. So I rushed to my house, took a quick shower and got ready as fast as I could.
The restaurant where we had dinner was really cool. It was on the beach and it was very modern, with really cool decorations and furniture. We had a lovely dinner, and ate a carrot birthday cake! When we were all full, the party started! We all got dropped off in Magaluf and spent the whole night dancing in the disco . I arrived home at six o’clock and went straight to sleep! What a day!

A celebration (William Wu He)

My favourite celebration is Christmas Holidays. These days are full of peace, tranquillity, and the Christmas spirit is inside everybody. Now that I’ve grown up, Christmas celebration is worse than before, but when I was a child these days were full of magic.

I remember when I was 7 years old, I wanted Santa Claus to bring me the PlayStation One. For that reason, the whole year I had been a good boy without playing any pranks. I was hoping for Santa Claus to give me the PlayStation, but when I opened the gift, there was no PlayStation at all, the gift was a book of Harry Potter, the fourth book, the longest by far. At that moment I got angry and disappointed and I realized that Santa Claus didn't exist.

But two weeks later, in the 3 Kings celebration, the gift was the PlayStation, but I had just discovered the truth. Santa Claus and the Magic Kings were inventions.

In that moment I left behind my ingenuous mind and I became aware of reality. That was the beginning of my growing up phase.

Celebration (Fran Barba)

One of my favourite celebrations is "El Salon del Manga". It's in Barcelona every year the 29, 30 , 31 of October and 1st of November.

There's always a competition where you can send your own poster and if your poster wins, it will be the one for that year. The winner of the last year is the one at the top.

That festival, as the name says, is dedicated to manga and to japaneese culture.

There you can buy anything related to these topics, you can test the incoming games and participate in any competition.

There are a lot of different kinds of competitions, The most important is the Cosplay competition, where you have to do a representation (alone or in group) wearing a costume of your favourite character of any manga or anime. The winner of this competition is able to go to the world cosplay competition, which is in Japan.

The second most important competition is always about a game. Two years ago the competition was about Guitar Hero III but i didn't participate due to the high level of the other players and because i was just starting to play that game and i was so bad at that moment D:

First day... (Tom Lombardi)

I will always remember the first day I got into IES Bendinat. I had arrived a month before to Mallorca, but I didn't know anyone and couldn't speak Catalan.

It was 10 AM when my parents left me in front of IES Bendinat door. I was nervous, but I had already lived this before. I looked around me and saw hundreds of students laughing and talking to each other. All that crowd was going to the same place, where the ESO classroom list was hanged. I took the same direction, searched my name in the list... but I couldn't find my name!

I kept searching, asking myself if I was blind and, in the end I was the last one outside, still looking at the list, but my name wasn't there.

So I decided to get into the school and ask if they could tell me where my class was. But the secretary told me she didn't know anything about this and that it wasn't her problem. I thought “Wow, nice atmosphere over here”, and decided to sit on a table and wait.

Finally a man got down the stairs and asked me what I was doing there, I answered that I didn't understand what he was saying because I couldn't speak Catalan. Then he told it to me in Spanish, and he said that his name was Manel and that I had to follow him to see if I was registered at this school.

After checking on his computer, he told me that I had to got to 4E's classroom. I looked at him like telling him “Where the hell is this?!”. He directly understand it, and told me “Ok, i'll go with you”.

While we were walking through the long hallway, I was thinking about the similiar situations in my past , always being the “new student”, the one that everyone would look at when he would get through that door. I hated that feeling.

And this was just another time, it happened just as in the past. Manel walked threw the door and told them I was a new student coming from Dominican Republic and that I didn't speak Catalan. All the students were looking at me, I hated that situation, being the center of attention just as when you see an animal at a circus gesticulating in the middle of the ring.

The teacher pointed out a place where I could sit, and gave me a sheet to fill in, to know more or less who I was. As everything was in Catalan, Andres ( who was the first one to talk to me! ) helped me to translate it.

After being an hour in class, I could finally get back home. That was it... the hardest part was accomplished and now on I had just to leave time to make its job. Little by little, people got to know me and I got to know them.

I've now been here for 3 years and school is nearly over... will the story be repeated?

Hope not.

Narrative (Carol Pérez)

Once I heard: "dreams are meant for sleeping", but... Can we be sure of it?

One day I got up at 6.45 am, like always. I got dressed, I brushed my teeth, I combed my hair, I had breakfast... like every day.

I left my chouse and I went to the bus stop, because I had to take it to go to school. When I arrived, there wasn't anybody there. I thought everybody must have been asleep, but anyway, I took the bus. When I arrived to school, there wasn't anybody again. This wasn't normal. Well, I decided to go on, and I started my classes, alone in my class, with the same teacher all the time. But, the best of all, is that I didn't know that teacher! I thought I probably was going crazy... Well, the classes finished, and I left the school.

It was a sunny day, so I went to my house and I prepared my things to go to the beach. All normal, you may think. But, again, strange things happened. When I arrived to the beach, it was a huge desert, there was no water anywhere! I felt really stressed because all these things were getting me annoyed. How could it be? No people, no water, nothing!

Fortunately, I realised that it was a dream when Edward Norton appeared in the desert and told me if I would like to film a movie. Too many freak things in one day...

When I woke up, I was sweating in my bed. It was 6.45 am and it was time to get up. I did it, I got dressed, I brushed my teeth, combed my hair... Just like every day. I laughed when I thought about my strange dream, it was really funny. I left my house, and I went to the bus stop, and... Guess! There wasn't anybody there! I stayed there, but the bus didn't turned up, so I decided to go back to my house and go to sleep, because all this was a bit scaring...

I opened the front door of my house, and I looked at the calendar... Oh no, it was Saturday! So I got up early for nothing! What a disaster...

This place... (Tom Lombardi)

This place is called Encuentro, it is a beach situated in the north coast of the Dominican Republic. Encuentro's beach is known for its “surfing spot”, it is actually the best surfing spot of the Dominican Republic. Many surfing competitions are organized throughout the year, which help young Dominicans to get acquainted with the pleasure of surfing. Recently, kitesurfing and windsurfing competitions were also organized at international levels.

All along the beach there are several “surfing schools”, where, with some pesos, you can learn how to take a wave in few hours.

It is also where my feet touched for the first time a surfing board, I was 8 years old. I was so addicted to this sport that some friends and I used to wake up around 4 am when the sun had not raised yet, take our boards and go surfing before school. Then we would just take a quick shower on the beach, put on our uniform and go to school at 8. It was good life.

As you can see, it is a panoramic picture, so you can see a 180 degrees angle of the view. There is not much to say about this picture... but it has been taken from a small “tower” where the judges use to sit when they have to put a mark on the surfing competitors. You can also the that the color of the sea is beautiful, as well as the sky. On the left and right of the pictures we can see students and surfers getting mentally and physically prepared to face up the Encuentro's waves.

Take a piece of freedom, start surfing.

A narrative (by Max Pagès Preuss)

It all happened a Christmas Day’s Eve 10 years ago. It was like all the other years, my grandparents, my parents, my brothers and I were celebrating this magic night and while my brothers and I where opening the presents which were under the Christmas tree I realized that there was only one little present for me. As I am the oldest of my brothers, it was a really embarrassing situation and my parents started laughing. As I still believed in Father Christmas I started crying because I thought that my behavior was not good enough, and for this reason I only got one little present.
The situation was getting worse because I saw how my parents, my grandparents and my brothers were opening nice and big presents, and I only got a little book. It was a terrible situation for me and I was really angry. While we were eating our typical Christmas dinner, my father went to the kitchen and he hid my presents under the tree without making any noise and I didn’t realize it. As soon as we finished our dinner I saw my presents under the tree and I shouted “They are for me!”.

It was the best present I had ever had, it was a new bicycle with lots of extra tools. I was so happy that I walked out to the street and started riding it. I will never forget this bad situation for me and also the happiness I felt when I finally got my big present.

Temples in India (Maximilian Pagès Preuss)

I would like to describe this wonderful picture. It was taken by me while I was walking through a temple village in the town of Madurai (India). For me this picture shows and describes a lot of things such as peace and calm. India is one of the most peaceful countries of the world; the people there are so handsome and nice that sometimes you feel like a god for them.

In this place people go to pray, to meditate, to have a family lunch or just go to have a walk and calm down after a hard working day. When you visit such an enormous place all full with little and big temples you feel like as if you where in a fantasy story. The best of all is that all these buildings are hundreds of years old and most of them are on a perfect condition. These temples are very important for the local and foreign people; this is why they keep in this good condition.
The most amazing thing is that you can spend hours and hours visiting these places and you never get bored or tired. In my opinion they have some magic and this is why they are so impressive.

When I first saw this kind of temples, the first thing I wanted to know was: What is in there and why do people really go there every day? The answer to this question is very simple, in these places there is normally one of the many gods that the Hinduism has. This is why there are so many temples, each one has one god. The local people are very religious and this is why they spend so much time in them.

Once every week, there is a ceremony which is carried out by a Sadu. It is an important religious man who walks all around India without anything, they only pray and eat the food that people prepare for them when they arrive in a town or village. They have no money and some even have no clothes, they are also famous because they have all the face painted with red and white colours.
I really recommend this country to everyone because I think that if you go there when you go back home, you will never forget it.

My last celebration (by José Miguel Maimó)

My last celebration was in Christmas, on the twenty fifth of December 2009. Three days before Christmas I travelled to Barcelona by airplane.I was very happy, I was looking forward to see my family who live in Barcelona. I travelled with my parents, my uncles and my cousins. We were going to celebrate Christmas in the house of my cousins' grandmother.

We went to a town called Vilanova i la Geltru. It is situated thirty minutes from Barcelona, my family had rented a car because it was necessary. And then we went to the grandmother's house which was situated on a mountain near Barcelona, the area was called Collserola. We arrived at nine o´clock, it was early, there was nobody in the house, only my cousins' grandmother. Some people were arriving to the house, my cousins grandmother has seven children, three girls and four boys. We were a lot in their house. My cousins and me were bored, then, we played cards, as soon as we finished the game we had dinner, after dinner all the people sang Christmas carols, and some people played instruments. When we stopped singing Christmas carols the cousins' grandmother gave us gifts. I was very happy because I had a lot of gifts.

At two o´clock in the morning we returned to Vilanova.

It was a fantastic celebration!

A Narrative (Diego Rosso)

Travelling around

In December 2000 when I was 9 yars old my parents decided to move to the mainland, more exactly in Malaga. Of course I wasn't happy and I didn't agree with that idea, (which boy or girl would do it?) I didn't want to lose contact with my friends and start a new life in Malaga, I was very happy in Majorca. All my reasons to stay in Majorca weren't enough to change my parents plans.

So that winter we took a ship to Valencia and then we went all the way to Malaga by car. We stayed in an old house (it was a creepy house at the beggining but I get used to), I went to a new school, I made new friends but I was still missing my "real" friends. I didn't like Malaga, I was only thinking about going back to Mallorca one day but my parents didn't seem to be thinking of going back to the island. So I stayed in Malaga for 3 months and then suddenly my parents told me that they were tired of Malaga and they told me that we were going to move to Valencia, I just thought that my parents were crazy going here and there for no reason.

Anyway, we headed all the way back to Valencia by car, it was a really long trip by car so we stayed one night in a little apartment (the same happened when we moved to Malaga). It's funny because we stayed in Valencia for 3 months as well, I started to go to a new school one more time, new friends, new places to vist but still I was bored of being there.

I didn't want to leave Majorca and I was forced to leave it, and I was tired of going here and there for no reason and then suddenly my parents told me they were bored of Valencia and I tought *ironic voice* "cool, I'm going to go to a new place for 3 months, make friends ,get to know the new place and ... leave. Cool isn't it?".

But happy news arrived to my ears, "we are going back to Majorca", at first I didn't pay attention to what was going on but then I noticed that it was true and I was very very happy. We went back to Majorca and that must have been one of the happiest day of my life: when I went back to school the day after we arrived to Majorca, all my friends gave a wonderful welcome and I'm still here in Majorca, thinking how my life would have been if I wouldn't come back to Majorca that day.

Match Point (Fran Barba)

Match Point is a thriller that keeps you in tension along all the movie.It’s also a drama because of the tragic ending. It was filmed in London.

Chris Wilton is the principal character in the movie, Chloe Hewett is his wife, and Nola Rice is her lover.

Chris is a person who would do anything for money and power, that´s why he murdered Nola, because she was the only one who could ruin his plans to marry Chloe and get her money.

Chloe is an innocent girl and she can not imagine what Chris can do for money.

In this movie whe find a loving triangle between Chris, Chloe and Nola.
Chris marries Chloe only for her money and Nola is his lover.
When he sees that his economical and social position is at risk, he decides to kill Nola, planning it as to look like a burglary.

At the end the police believe that it was a burglery and Chris is not found guilty and doesn't go to prision.

In my opinion it's a very good film because you don't know what is going to happen until the end ^^

Match Point (Andrés Pozo)

It´s a thriller and the director tries to keeps you "in tension" along all the movie and it’s also a drama because it has a tragic ending. It was filmed in London and in the first scene you can see a tennis match, where the ball hits the net and you don´t know which side it will fall.

Chris Wilton is the principal character in the movie, Nola Rice is her lover, and Chloe Hewett is Chris wife, a very rich woman who´s really in love with him.

Chris is a really manipulating person that would do anything for money and power, that´s why he ends up murdering Nola, because she is the only one who can ruin his plans, because he only wants to marry Chloe for her money.
Nola is a girl who wants to do really good on her career and believes everything that Chris says.
Chloe is an innocent daddy’s girl. She lives really well with her parent’s money and she could never imagine what his husband could do for money.

It´s a movie where we will find a loving triangle between Chris, Chloe and Nola.The
main character marries a very rich woman, Chloe, and he also has a lover, Nola.
When he sees that his economical and social position is in risk, decides to kill his lover, drawing a plan so he doesn´t look like the murderer.

Chris gets married for ambition, not for love, and later he is able to murder his lover even though he feels passion for her, but his ambition is bigger than his passion.

I think he is the winner in this situation because everything goes ok for him, but I don't think he won’t be happy .
In the future I can see him with another lover and in the moment that she bothers him, sweep her away because he is a person with no feelings for anyone, only for the money.

I imagine a different ending for the film where he goes to jail or is but his wife´s father helps him because he has money.

I think it has been a very interesting movie because it had an original ending. I didn’t think it was going to end like that. Usually it ends well and the bad guy is caught, but not in this movie!