So you think you know the countries of Europe? How about Kalmykia?

The news had an article about it. http://www.russiatoday.com/features/news/32683

or see http://www.answers.com/topic/kalmykia

What is interesting is this is the only mainly Buddhist country in Europe. They've had a mainly harsh life yet seem to be making a comeback. And they have their own language and script http://www.answers.com/topic/clear-script Maybe National Geographic will have a TV program on them. Fiction is ok, but the real world can outdo fiction any day of the week.

Their language is shared with Western Mongolia even though they are far from Mongolia. Their written language has been written in multiple methods so its continuity has been disrupted and for a while the children weren't even taught their language. Here is a little more information on their language:
http://www.answers.com/topic/kalmyk-language As a Buddhist saying goes, "Life is so hard, how can we be anything but kind?"

Teaching the Language of the American Dream Jefferson Award Winner: Marcy Jackson

BE8 This story is from http://cbs5.com/jeffersonawards/Jefferson.Awards.Jackson.2.809237.html

The bottom line is there is a need for ESL teachers. People will be more successful and happy if they can speak English. You can learn how to teach it. Here is a great program in the SF Bay Area You can complete this program and teach in addition to your current job or you can make teaching ESL your new profession.

There is something energizing about improving people's live, doing something useful. This seems to be a normal human quality.

Could this be more rewarding that your current job?
Here is the text of the video:
OAKLAND (CBS 5) ―

"I would like to order chicken and Coke, please," Ru Chen told the server at a busy Oakland cafe.

Ordering lunch in English is second nature for her now. But when she immigrated to the Bay Area from China three years ago, she struggled to adapt.

"I call my friends every night," she explained tearfully. "And they said, 'Ok, if you don't feel comfortable, come back.'"

She said The English Center changed her outlook.

"I need to learn English, I need to start my new life right away," she said.

Marcy Jackson co-founded The English Center for Women 31 years ago with four colleagues. At the time, she was teaching English to foreign students.

"Women were underrepresented, so we thought, we were young and entrepreneurial, and thought, 'We could do something about this!'" Marcy said.

The English Center now teaches women and men, and trains new immigrants in reading, writing, American culture and job skills. It's outgrown its first home at Mills College.. and now holds classes at Oakland's Jack London Square.

Over the years, the English Center has taught five thousand students from more than 75 countries. Marcy says every year more than 80 percent of the graduates get jobs.

"I'm constantly surprised," said Marcy. "My own vision for what people can do is expanded."

Silvia San Miguel now works in the Oakland city administrator's office, linking new immigrants to city services. But when she arrived from Mexico in 1993, she felt paralyzed with fear.

"I just didn't want to go anywhere," Silvia said. "I didn't want anybody talking to me. Even on the phone. I didn't want to answer the phone because maybe someone spoke English. I didn't know what to say."

Silvia says the English Center made her feel like she wasn't alone.

She explained, "We all share that feeling, you know, we want to learn, it's not as easy as we thought it would be. But we're all trying really hard and support each other."

Yelena Glikman barely spoke English when she arrived from Russia in 1989, but she credits Marcy's nonprofit for giving her the confidence to pursue her dream to open a Russian language school in Berkeley.

"It's happened. Never think that it can happen like this," Yelena said.

Marcy added, "Giving someone the ability to see a future that'll benefit them and their families is very powerful. It's constantly inspiring."

For equipping thousands of immigrants for their new life in America, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Marcy Jackson.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Andreas Beck: an example of living well

BE7 This story is from http://www.dw-world.de/)

This post is dedicated to Bill King, the great Bay Area Sports announcer.

Why Bill King? Bill King was a Renaissance man. He saw things like cars as objects to fulfill a task, nothing more. He had more important things to do like learn Russian so he could understand the Russian ballet.

Well if you read the text of this article, you'll learn about Andreas Beck. Andreas is an energetic, thoughtful, talented soccer player who makes about 4 million USD a year but has better things to do than care about the car he drives. (Read the text below for funny details on this point)

The real problem with "bling" it can be a distraction, and often an actual burden. Has anyone been better off flashing more "bling"? Andreas here is a thoughtful person who provides an example of a life being well lived. Reading about guys like him can provide needed motivation. Temporarily works for me anyway....

Here is the text of the TV interview with Andreas Beck:

Andreas Beck is a defender who feels right at home going forward. The national under-21 player was a choice pick of Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick. Already, the young defender is key to the team's strategy.

DWTV:

"Congratulations, Andi – two games, two wins. You’re topping the table. It’s a dream start for a newly promoted team, isn’t it?"

Andreas Beck:

Definitely. Who would have believed it at the start of the season? We knew that we had some really good qualities, but now we also know that we haven’t discovered all of them yet. We’re looking forward to the next game, and enjoying being on top for the moment.

DWTV:

Every 150th resident of Hoffenheim is a Bundesliga player. Pretty amazing, don’t you think?

Andreas Beck:

You could say that again. Hoffenheim really doesn’t have many residents, but the surrounding region is actually very densely populated. Lots of people are moving there, and fans are popping up all over the place.

Hoffenheim is the youngest side in Germany's top division. Andi Beck is just 21. Luiz Gustavo is also 21. Demba Ba is 23.... just a little older than the team average. And this is the man who helped make it all happen: Dietmar Hopp. The co-founder of German software giant S-A-P has invested tens of millions in the club.

DWTV:

You have a billionaire patron in Dietmar Hopp, and you’ve had to swallow a lot of criticism for that, haven’t you?

Andreas Beck:

Yes. I can’t really describe it. Promotion came incredibly fast. We went from from the regional leagues all the way to the top. And fans from other teams probably don’t want to accept that. But I’m just happy to be here. I’m enjoying it, and I really admire Dietmar Hopp, what he's accomplished, and will probably continue to accomplish. He has my deepest respect. And I really can’t understand why rival fans have a problem with it.

At their first home game last Saturday, Ralf Rangnick’s players beat Mönchengladbach to stay at the top of the table. And Beck kept Germany rep, Marco Marin, scoreless. The Hoffenheim defender had more possession than anyone else on the field.

DWTV:

You’re a right back, but you saw the ball more than anyone else on your team. Does the term ‘defender’ really describe what you do?

Andreas Beck:

Sure it does. My primary job is to keep the opponent from scoring a goal. But as a right wing back you also have to set up plays. This kind of model – this philosophy – also means that the left and right backs get involved, and in that sense it isn’t all that strange when they get loads of possession. I like to have the ball. I don’t have a problem with it. Though, this is the first I’ve heard that I had the ball most in the last game.

DWTV:

You have a light Swabian accent. You weren’t born in Germany, though, but in deepest Siberia...

Andreas Beck:

In western Siberia. Novosibirsk is the closest city. I was born in Kemerovo but I don't remember it. I was born there, and my parents both grew up there. In 1990, we emigrated to Germany. In that sense, there’s definitely a German-Russian identity divide, but I mostly feel very German.

DWTV:

Maybe it’s just a prejudice, but reading Nietzsche is not how you expect a young professional footballer to spend his free time. But you recommend books like that on your website.

Andreas Beck:

It isn’t like I carry around philosophy books or psychology books for a little light daily reading – Freud, Nietzsche or others. But I’m interested in topics like these, and I had a phase where I did some heavy reading. It isn’t like I do it every day, though, because it can be a pretty tough slog.

DWTV:

In the parking lot there are a lot of fairly new cars – some of them luxury cars. And in the midst of them...pardon my terminology....is a twenty-year-old rust-bucket!

Andreas Beck:

What can I say? I’ve been driving it for about three years now. It’s a Saab 900 Turbo that’s two years younger than I am. It was built in '89. I can’t just get rid of it. It does what it’s supposed to, and always gets me from A to B.

Sometimes it’s a little annoying because it doesn’t have a radio or an air conditioner. But I like to drive it. I’m keeping it for the time being.

Andi has his feet planted firmly on the ground. His career began in Stuttgart: twice champions in the juniors, and then went straight to the Bundesliga. Andreas Beck developed an early taste for victory.

Andreas Beck:

It was pretty crazy. I joined Stuttgart at 13. It was a dream come true. I had 8 great years there. Stuttgart will always have an important place in my heart, both the city and the club. Training in the juniors was terrific. In those successful years we won two junior championships, and then the German title in the pros.

In spite of that, I have to say that moving to Hoffenheim has been the right move to make in terms of development. And I’m really happy it’s worked out.

DWTV:

You’re the most expensive German player on the squad. Hoffenheim is paying you an estimated three million euros. What does it mean to a player to know they're worth 3 million?

Andreas Beck:

It’s an honor for the player. But over the course of time, you want to prove why you’re there, and why they chose you.

I just try to live up to my market value with good performances, by giving a hundred per cent and then some. I think I have a lot of potential and at some point I want to be worth even more.

DWTV:

You speak Russian. Do you know what they call a front-runner?

Andreas Beck:

Sorry ... nope.

DWTV:

What does that mean?

Andreas Beck:

I just apologized for my poor Russian, and said that Hoffenheim was in first place.

DWTV:

I wish you all the best.

Andreas Beck:

Thanks

How to remember things: you NEED this book

BE6 This "Ageless Memory" book may be the best book I've read in 20 years. Why ? It shows you how to remember things and not easily forget them. When a child turns 5 years old they should read this book.

Most of us were never taught how to easily remember things. For one thing, our (my) teachers didn't know how, so how they could teach great techniques to remember things? We're talking about a complete system, not just a tip here or there.

Harry Lorayne will show you how to remember in a way that is fun and effective. Using his technique, solely as a mental exercise I have remembered all 58 California county names. You can say a number, and I can tell you what county (alphabetically) the corresponding county is. Tell me a county and I'll tell you what number it is in the list. This never would have even been attempted by me without these techniques. Trying to remember 58 counties by rote memory would be absolutely painful. And I would forget them quickly.

One key to remembering things is to set "pegs" in your memory to attach information to. The mind will naturally tend to remember what you associate to these pegs.

Another key is to associate letters (consonants) to the digits 0-9. Notice you remember a web site like "google.com" but really in the computer google.com just translates to numbers which you would have a very hard time to remember.

So if your ATM pin was "7891" you could substitute "coffee pot". Think of a giant coffee pot pouring out hundreds of dollars of bills. The "7" translates to a "C" (-or "K"), the "8" to an "F" (-or "PH"), the "9" to a "P" (-or "B") and a "1" to a "T" (-or "B"). (Vowels are ignored.)

The techniques are not too difficult to remember either. Use your wonderful imagination.

One final example (this comes from his book). How difficult would it be for you to remember this number?

014727132639092112

Well it easily translates to this sentence: "A stark naked man jumps up and down"

You could easily remember that.
My metaphor for this memory training: you can learn to lift 1000 pounds with one arm with this little training regiment. Just lift 10 pounds a day 50 times a day for 3 weeks. Wouldn't that be worth it to gain such strength? That pretty much describes my thoughts on these memory techniques. It may be life changing, especially for anyone who need to memorize/remember lists of things.

Language Reference for Multiple Languages

BE5 Here is a web site that helps you learn/teach multiple languages:

http://www.lcweblink.info/lcwmain.asp?l=e&p=Services&sm=Languages

I like this site for at least 3 reasons.
1. The content on the main page changes daily and has pictures.
2. The site provides the proper pronunciations for the various languages.
3. The site also serves as a language reference and various everyday phrases may be found here.

The key to learning a language I think is having a partner to practice with. It is really difficult just to read a web site and stay motivated by only learning a foreign language by yourself. So my search will begin for someone who wants to learn Mandarin and another search for someone who wants to improve their Spanish...

Music and kids who need help -Example of something useful

BE4 Saw a program on "el Sistema".

You just have to love the Internet. See something on TV or anywhere and you can look up more details on the Internet. The Internet is more amazing than one can appreciate. Hopefully this link below will last a long time: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4457278.stm

"Placido Domingo cried when he saw the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra perform.

The world-renowned opera singer confessed that the concert evoked the strongest emotions he had ever felt."

You also can get the most current details by "googling" ->el sistema venezuela

If you get a chance to see a video on this music program, it would be great to watch.

This program is HUGE. They have three hundred thousand kids involved. The people running this program must be fantastic to mange such a large number.

This program benefits so many people whether they know it or not. Keeping kids off the street doing something productive ...

So if you've heard nothing about this program, please click the link above, do a google on it and you'll learn something worthwhile.

You also may go to the following link which should be good for the next 100 years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Sistema

And now for this message

BE3 A friend from my old company sent me this.video. Please take a few minutes and watch it. It is pretty moving.




There are signs of hope (as shown in BE2 below ("Disabled Thrive...") but as this elocutionist points out "we" are not moving fast enough.

An excellent TESOL teacher at CSUEB <-Google it) introduced us students to new a teacher named Paulo Freire http://www.answers.com/topic/paulo-freire. Just as we should know about George Washington, we should all know about Paulo.

Watching that video and reading about Paulo should be enough for this week and is well worth anyone's time. Even though there is a 75 year age difference between them, there is a common thread.

(Next week's planned topic: Take care of what you have.)

Improve your TV experience via the Internet

BE2 (Blog entry number 2)
Today's entry :

How To Productively Watch TV

This week I found a great way to more productively watch TV.

Short Story:
Have a PC with you as you watch TV and look up people or things as you see them on TV. You will learn a lot more than if you just watched the TV only.


Long Story:
While watching TV, have your laptop (or any "PC") right next to you. When something or someone of interest is on the TV, go to http://www.answers.com/ (or your favorite lookup site) and immediately look at the topic of interest.

My mornings are usually started by drinking a cup of coffee while watching the news. I watch some local news, German news, and the Russian news,-all broadcast in English.

The international news sources are very informative and like local news, have supporting web sites. The German web site is (http://www.dw-world.de/) and the Russian site is (http://russiatoday.com/).

These web sites are wonderful. They allow you to get more information on a story, or forward a story link to people you think should know. For example, this week I forwarded an inspiring story http://russiatoday.com/features/news/26704 about a farm they have for disabled people:

Disabled thrive on farm work

"A group of people with special needs have moved to a remote village in the Leningrad region, and made it their home. They work alongside local residents, doing tasks they thought they would never be able to perform. The sort of people who came to live in the isolated village of Svetlana are usually termed as having special needs, but they actually don't need very much. In the sleepy Russian hamlet, 17 disabled people aged between 18 and 54 have found a new home living and working alongside the residents..."

The lady (Sarah Hagnauer) who runs the program is from Scotland and a guy from Germany is also helping out on this Russian farm.

The article ends saying there is really a need for public awareness as we need to create many more facilities similar to this one.

OK, the real premise of this Blog entry now appears!

While watching the Russian News they interviewed Igor Larionov, a former Soviet Hockey player. I didn't know anything about him so I had to make a trip to answers.com The link (http://www.answers.com/Igor%20Larionov) brought back a story of an extraordinary person. After some huge efforts, he won freedoms for the Soviet hockey players that allowed them to play in the NHL. These poor guys had hardships including being stuck in the barracks for up to 11 months of the year -even if married. [For details on this, please see (http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/winter02/hockey/story?id=1326249)]

Besides working tirelessly for the player's freedom, he was one of the world's best hockey players of all time.

This lesson of using the PC while watching TV has been useful to me and hopefully you will find it of value too.

It is time to start a blog. The goal will be to say things in a somewhat coherent manner that make it worth your while to read this blog.

Maybe readers can avoid making some unnecessary mistakes by learning from people who already made them.

Disclaimers: I will try by best to be accurate and always tells the truth, but nothing written here is guaranteed accurate. Do your own homework and do what makes sense to you.

Today's thought: Personal Freedom. What is it, why you want it, and why aren't more people free?

What is it?
Freedom means being able to do whatever you think you should do.

Why you want it?
Even when you "work" extremely hard to the point of exhaustion on some activity, if you are free to make this choice, you are happy. (I can speak from experience -and from reading about the experiences of reading about other people.) Consider freedom more precious than gold, diamonds, or whatever "the world" considers precious. Freedom means you have control of your time. Even gold or diamonds can not buy you time.

What is the opposite of freedom ?

Having to do things you think are wrong or not worth doing Often this is work related where the company has you do things equivalent to "stick your finger in your ear and hold it there for two hours". And the company does not want to hear any suggestions as to why you shouldn't stick your finger in your ear. Rent the movie "Office Space" http://www.answers.com/topic/office-space?cat=entertainment if you need to get an example.

Why aren't more people free?
Because the businesses do not want people to be free -they will lose control of you. If you always owe them money, they will own you to some extent.

People lose -or never get their freedom because they don't think. They never were taught to think, only react. React to the ads to spend money you don't even have, which of course you must repay at a high interest rate. (In my much younger days, I spent so much time thinking about cars. I wanted a Ford Torino with a 427inch 425 horsepower engine. http://www.answers.com/topic/ford-torino How would having this car made my life better?) Other than maybe my house, I can't think of one possession that made my life better or more enjoyable long term. Certainly no possession worth sacrificing my freedom.)

Even now, every month the credit card companies send offers pleading for me to get into debt. The car companies send offers encouraging me to get into debt. And we haven't even mentioned the loan equity offers that arrive on a regular basis...

Does this sound familiar to you?

Consider carefully anything that will put you in debt. Five years from now, will you be happy with this purchase? Think about what is really important.

Footnote: There are life events not in your control. Taking care of an ill person, or having to finish unpleasant school work to get a desired degree. Since these types of things are not in your legitimate control, accept them and focus on what you can control. Working at an unpleasant job to pay the bills may be unavoidable in the short term, but long term you should be able to find change this and gain some measure of freedom.)