Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn was a famous Hollywood actor from the 1930s and 1940s. He was in lots of movies. One of his most famous roles was as Robin Hood in the 1938 movie.
A lot of people don’t know that he was Australian. He was from Tasmania. However, he used to tell people he was from Ireland.
June 20th 2009 was the 100th anniversary of when he was born.
They made a memorial for him in Hobart, his home city.
There’s an English expression “In like Flynn”, which is named after him. It means to try and do something quickly or successfully. It’s often used when talking about dating. Errol Flynn was famous for having lots of girlfriends.
Bad Boy Flynn Honoured in Hobart
Origin of the Phrase – In Like Flynn
Have fun,
Aidan.
Please support my blog by clicking this blog site ranking list.
Airplane Hotel
This looks like a fun place to stay.
A hotel that is built around an airplane in Costa Rica.
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/04/13/costa-rican-hotel-suite-takes-flight/
Please support my blog by clicking this blog site ranking list.
Japan, China, Russia and Eastern Europe
At the start of July, I’m going on a 3-month vacation.
I’m visiting friends in Osaka, then taking the ferry to Shanghai. One of my friends from Australia is staying in Shanghai now. Then I’m visiting some places in China.
I’m meeting up with a tour group in Beijing. It’s a 3-week tour and goes from Beijing to St. Petersburg. We take the train and stop in Mongolia and places in Russia.
Then I have 6 weeks travelling in Eastern Europe (the Baltic countries, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and lots of other countries).
I’m really looking forward to doing a long trip again.
As I’ll be travelling, I won’t be updating the Oz Eigo web site as much. I’ve scheduled articles, that will be updated every Monday.
When I get the chance to use the Internet in Eastern Europe, I’ll also write some articles about my travels.
Have fun,
Aidan.
Please support my blog by clicking this blog site ranking list.
Merida
I visited Merida in Venezuela in 2004. It’s a beautiful little city in the Venezuelan Andes.
Merida boasts the world’s highest and longest cable car. However, it is notorious for constantly undergoing repairs. When I visited, it was only running up to the middle station, which is at a height of 3452 meters. The top station lies at 4765 meters. Depending on the weather, there are great views of Merida and the surrounding mountains – including Pico Bolivar – Venezuela’s highest mountain.
Merida is also home to Heladeria Coromoto – the ice cream store the Guinness Book of Records recognises as having the most flavors in the world. Portuguese-born Manuel Da Silva Oliveira is the store’s owner and creator of 806 flavors of ice-cream. The flavors are listed on a large wooden board, although there are only around sixty available each day. There are the usual flavors you would expect such as chocolate, orange and strawberry.
Then there are his own creations with exotic names such as French Rose, Wish You Were Here, Miss Venezuela, Love and Peace, Kisses That Kill, 1000 Loves, King of Kings, Sun & Shadow and Angel’s Kiss. And then there are the flavors you don’t normally expect to find in ice-cream: Spaghetti With Cheese, Chicken With Rice, Asparagus, Tomato, Tuna and Mixed Salad. I tried the tomato flavor and it certainly tasted very tomato-ey.
Merida has lots of parks and plazas to while away the time. The main square, Plaza Bolivar is a perfect place for people watching. One of the locals I encountered is a man who has trained his pet bird to tell your fortune. The bird sits on a box full of folded up slips of paper and then picks up a piece of paper in its beak. The paper has a fortune on it.
Have fun,
Aidan.
Please support my blog by clicking this blog site ranking list.
English lessons by 91-yr-old Japanese woman gaining popularity
KAGOSHIMA, Japan, April 9 (AP) – (Kyodo)—A 91-year-old woman, who spent her early years in the United States, is giving English lessons at her home in Kagoshima, which is gaining popularity among people who feel that regular English schools are difficult to follow.
Hatsune Honda started the Grandma’s English Salon in June 2004. She was born in Taiwan on Dec. 15, 1917 but grew up in Los Angeles until she turned 13 years old.
Honda was once an interpreter for Sean Connery when the Scottish actor was filming in Kagoshima in 1966 for the movie, "You Only Live Twice." For her, English is easier to speak than Japanese.
Honda started the salon when her daughter-in-law encouraged her to teach as she is fluent in English. Honda was also feeling down after losing her husband.
She offers English lessons during the day, three times a week on weekdays for 500 yen for each lesson, lasting one or two hours. She teaches easy conversational English and colloquial expressions, and offers tea and sweets.
Her teaching style, her natural English sometimes mixed with her Kagoshima dialect, has become popular among local people learning English.
Michio Osako, 82, who has attended Honda’s English salon for two years, said, "I can continue (taking lessons) as she teaches patiently until I can understand."
English lessons by 91-yr-old woman in Kagoshima gaining popularity
Please support my blog by clicking this blog site ranking list.