Time change

Time has changed in Europe; this week many classes will be at a different time. Next week time will change in SL too and everything will be back to normal.

These are classes that will start one hour later this week:

• Monday, International News, 12pm PDT (it was 11am PDT
• Tuesday, Grammar, 1pm PDT (it was 12pm PDT)
• Wednesday, Flat Mates 12pm PDT (it was 11am PDT)
• Thursday, Word Games, 2pm PDT (it was 1pm PDT)
• Friday, Excursion, 9am PDT, (it was 8am PDT)
• Saturday, Vocabulary, 7am PDT (It was 6am PDT)

Sunday: back to regular times until next spring when this mess will happen again.

Pushing Up Daisies

                    

ESL Group Story Writing Class October 24, 2010

                   
Last Halloween I decided to dress up as a vampire. I was too lazy to come up with a more original costume, so slapping on a set of false vampire teeth and draping a black curtain over my shoulders was an easy thing to do.

When I arrived at my friend Jim’s house where the party was, everybody had on great costumes. I was looking really sloppy.  It was still early so I left to go to a costume store to buy something better. When I arrived there, the store looked closed, but the door was open, so I walked in.

When I went into the store, I saw someone lying down, and I saw a lot of blood.  It startled me, but soon I got a hold of my emotions and decided to check things out. I approached the person, it was a young man. I poked him, but he didn't respond.

I was scared, my hands were trembling, but I had no time, and started to check costumes. I wanted to get out of that store as soon as possible.  And then I saw a costume that impressed me. It was a big, orange, funny, pumpkin costume.

I was still trembling a bit and I felt as if I were in a fog, but the sight of the bright, orange, pumpkin costume made me push my fear aside.  I had to step over the body that was lying in a pool of blood to get to the pumpkin costume.  I told myself that it wasn't a real person, that it was a prop for Halloween.

As I was going out of the door, a creepy laugh chilled the blood in my veins.  A voice said: "Where are you going, thief?" I froze there and I was afraid to turn. I sensed someone moving towards me and I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I wanted to run but suddenly I couldn't run anymore. My legs were not working. But then I thought "The blood is false, so maybe I can use it for my party."

Yes, the blood is fake! I was not scared anymore. I looked at the guy, smiled, and asked him: “Dude! Where can I get some of that blood?”  Maybe I can make my pumpkin bloody.

Class switch (this week only)

This week Nimlot's class will be Tuesday at 8am PDT (instead of Thursday) and Seikatsu's class will be Thursday at 6am PDT (instead of Tuesday)

Green Bear, Green Bear

              
                                  ESL Group Story Writing Class October 17, 2010
                                                
                                                                                                                                
I still remember it clearly: that day, because it was the opening of the deer hunting season.  Me, my friend Michael, and my brother-in-law James went to my cottage in the woods and spent the night there.  Finally the day that we'd been waiting for, for a long time, had arrived.

I thought it would be a good idea to have a barbecue.  So I thought we should go hunting.  "Are you crazy?” said Michael. “We can't have a barbecue here, in the forest. It's too risky; we could cause a big fire."

 "Besides, I hate killing animals, I am a vegetarian and in favor of animal protection."
“Forget this idea. What do you think Rilli? Do you agree with me?” “Yes I agree,” responded James. I’m a vegetarian too.

I looked at my brother-in-law in disbelief. "You're a vegetarian?” I asked.  "Then why did you agree to go hunting with us?"

“I like to walk in the woods, but I am scared to go alone. I heard that there are fairies and monsters kin the woods.  I would like to see them, but I'd feel safer going with someone with guns, just in case...

While I was still trying to understand my brother-in-law's worries, James called us next to him. A big brown bear was peacefully walking in our front yard, next his pick-up truck. After all, there would be something that might have spoiled our day in the woods: and it looked like a monster.

I was afraid that something would happen. So I thought that maybe we needed to take a gun.
I was sure there would be an accident. When he saw the bear, my brother-in-law became frantic, immediately.  He took my rifle and fired at the poor bear.

 The bullet from the rifle hit the bear in its heart, and the bear started to turn green.  And we watched as the bear slowly fell to the ground.

My brother-in-law, the vegetarian, went to look for help from the forest faeries. But I thought it's not bad to eat bear meat. I was sure that the meat of the bear would be a gourmet meal.

Since I thought It's OK to eat bear meat, I told James to go back into the cabin and bring out some sharp knives.  But then I gasped because when I looked down at the bear, I noticed that its fur had turned a pale green.

All of a sudden, my brother-in-law returned with a dozen faeries flying behind him, sprinkling some strange green-glowing dust all over everything. The dust made me sneeze.

And the Prize Goes To…

                                  

                   ESL Group Story Writing Class October 10, 2010                                     

                                                                         
Last month, I visited a friend who lives near the ocean. It was the first time in my life that I had ever seen the ocean.

It was a majestic view. The day was stormy, the water was dark gray. The waves were tall and strong.  I decided to take a walk on the beach. All of a sudden I saw a giant wave coming my way. I was scared but also fascinated and I could not run away.

I went to my friend's house, and we our other friends, “Do you like swimming? "I like swimming," one said. And we went swimming.

This was my future plan, but first I needed to think about how to run away. I was in love with the sea, and the more I saw those blue waves, the more I thought "I am happy here."

I was in love with the sea, and the more I saw those blue waves, the more I thought "I am happy here." We swam a lot, my friends and I and we walked on the hot sand.

I was having such a great time that I stopped thinking about running away. I thought about running away before, when I first saw the beach and my friends, because I was frightened of such a new and different thing and I didn't think I would be able to swim.  But I was able to swim!

To move in the water and float was a beautiful sensation. I looked down and I saw a lot of fish and sea flowers.  One big fish came up to me and said: "Follow me."

It was flipper. I grabbed my surfboard and started following it. I liked surfing and big waves but the waves were too much for me, that day.

When I went the fish place, to the fish's place, I saw a lot of hungry baby fish. I thought, "Now I'm food for fish!"

SL Gripe Session

ESL Group Story Writing Class October 3, 2010

                                         
Frustrated Avatar: Second Life was horrendous today! So many people had a difficult time teleporting.  Not a few of us cursed the blasted program. It’s so bad, sometimes, that we talk about SL as if it were a person, not a thing.

Exasperated Avatar: I could not agree more.  Sometimes I don't know if I should call the avatar who stands in front of me "he" or "it." Have you ever experienced the same, Broono?

Confused Avatar:  Yes. When the person is a cloud, it confuses me. I don't know what to do when that happens.

Annoyed Avatar: Because of SL, I was blocked in a place where there were a lot of people. Some were strange, and especially one in particular who was singing with a horrible voice.  We were all captive victims of that person.

Irritateed Avatar: I can relate to that, CEM. Because of the problems with SL today, when I tried to teleport to the school, I wound up stuck in a wall! And to make matters worse, there was an annoying person making weird noises on the mic [microphone].  Lucky for me, OO TPed [teleported] me out of there.