THE BEANS, FADOS & BRITISH LEGENDS IN LISBON

I must ride with my Beans to defend what was, 

and the dream of what could be.

Excalibur, Thomas Malory

The Beans, King Arthur & The Round Table Knights

Today, The Beans have enjoyed another wonderful day together. It's very difficult for The Grandma to write a post today because although she knows that it's the end of a season, it's also the beginning of another one full of hope, effort and common help in the distance.

The Grandma has tried  to share her knowledge with The Beans during some months and she's very happy with the effort and commitment demonstrated by all of them. Listening to old stories, remembering personal memories, talking about literature, history or music, she has tried to cheer them to start again in the wonderful adventure of learning. 

Download King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

Without temporal goals and without pressure only with the idea of enjoying every moment and giving the best of everyone; without the obligation of demonstrating anything, only with the intention of having an open mind to discover new cultures, countries and stories, The Beans have demonstrated that they are ready to confront whatever they want if they have the strong idea of doing it and the most important, that they are not alone in this difficult and long way to find a success route that determinates the closer future. 

It's very important to trust in yourself to be ready to get over the difficulties but it's also very important to know and reaffirm that you are doing this travel rounded by your special family, fourteen different people with different characters, points of views and origins  but with the same objective: learning new things every day and enjoying every moment, because it's not important where they come from but where they are going to arrive. 

One day, a Bean will come, and the sword will rise... again.

Excalibur, Thomas Malory

Every member of the family has offered her/his colour to a multicultural family that has been able to work very hard every day. Every one of them is important and necessary because The Beans are a sum of all of them and they have left his/her footstep in this wonderful family that is called to do something fantastic in the closer future. Teamwork is the secret of their success, feeling important as a part of a totality and being missed when you're not with them, this family has shined a light in every colour of our hearts.
 

That's no way to say goodbye

The Grandma is sad and staying in Lisbon is a good way to try to change this sadness to joy. She loves fado and admires Mísia, one of her favourite female singers. They have a lot of things in common: both of them are adult, both of them have a life full of incredible stories, both of them have common Catalan origins and both of them like poetry and literature. The most importance difference between them is that Mísia has one of the most incredible voices around the world, and The Grandma has big ears to listen to her fados.

More information: Ancient

Some people say that The Beans don't exist and all is a legend although all the legends have a true base. These same people explain that this legend has been transmitted from generation to generation in an oral way across the Via Rubricatus towns with different versions talking about different families with different surnames: The Collins, The Addams, The Holmes, The Poppins, The Bonds or recently, The Beans.

Princess Leia and R2D2

All the versions of this legend have points in common, a reduced number of people who worked very strong to find something they thought they have lost: trust in themselves and force to continue fighting; an old woman with an undetermined age over the 90's, very rich, who loved explaining old-fashioned stories and was a fan of the Middle-Age, -especially Ramon Llull and King Arthur novels- and contemporany fiction like Star Wars films and The X Files Series; and who tries to follow their teachings. 

From Ramon Llull, she learnt to think and question things without believing in official versions; from King Arthur, the value of the Round Table: honour, courage, loyalty, teamwork and enough imagination to create their own universe to protect themselves from the enemy; from Star Wars, she learnt to fight against the dark forces; and from The X Files to not give up searching the truth.

This is not the end, this is the beginning of a new season because the best is always ready to arrive.

Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story;

And tell it strong and clear if he has not:
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
Called The Beans Family.
The Beans! The Beans!

Camelot, Alan Jay Lerne

Fado is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best. But even that information was frequently modified within the generational transmission process that made it reach us today.

Although the origins are difficult to trace, today fado is commonly regarded as simply a form of song which can be about anything, but must follow a certain traditional structure. In popular belief, fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a sentiment of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia. This is loosely captured by the Portuguese word saudade, or longing, symbolizing a feeling of loss, a permanent, irreparable loss and its consequent lifelong damage. 

More information: Mísia Official Website

This connection to the music of a historic Portuguese urban and maritime proletariat: sailors, dock workers, port traders and other working-class people in general, can also be found in Brazilian modinha and Indonesian kroncong, although all these music genres subsequently developed their own independent traditions.

On 27 November 2011, fado was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. It is one of two Portuguese music traditions part of the lists, the other being Cante Alentejano.

More information: UNESCO

Try not to become a man of success, 

but rather try to become a man of value. 

Albert Einstein

THE GRANDMA RETURNS FROM ANDORRA LA VELLA

The Grandma has returned to meet a new family

The Grandma has returned. After some months of living alone after saying goodbye to The Bonds and since September, 20 when she suffered an incredible attack and left to publish on her blog. 

She is on fire again and she's ready to start a new journey with a new family.

She's going to leave Andorra la Vella today, her hometown where she has been skiing and visiting her old neighbours and friends.

Tomorrow, December 18, The Grandma is going to join with a new family: The Beans. She doesn't know a lot of things about them, in the same way that they don't know anything about her but MJ and M have been preparing the possibility of starting a new journey together, a journey plenty of adventures, good feelings and unforgettable moments.

She's very happy to start a new life with a new family because she has great memories about her past ones: The Collins, The Addams, The Holmes, The Poppins and The Bonds. She hopes her new family accepts her as a new member and they can travel around the world, discover new cultures and learning a lot of English.

Welcome to The Grandma's Logbook again! We follow...

Europe started out with six countries; 

three small countries and three large countries. 

Jean-Pierre Raffarin

THE LEGEND OF THE GHOST OF A GRANDMA IN SANT BOI

The ghost of The Grandma in Sant Boi

There's a legend, an ancient legend that people from Sant Boi tell from grandparents to grandsons. It's a story about a ghost of a mysterious woman who appears  in a roundabout, near the entrance to the city.

The legend says she's the spirit of a Grandma who had survived the most incredible events of the 20th century, even she had survived to die burnt but one day, meanwhile she was driving by car, she decided to jump out through the window and stay in Sant Boi forever and ever.

Nobody never knew why she did it but the legend says it was very difficult to her to live separated from their families: The Collins, The Addams, The Holmes, The Poppins and The Bonds and she decided to join her spirit to them for the rest of her days.

Legends are material to be moulded, and not facts to be recorded. 

Hervey Allen

THE BONDS: THE FAMILY WHO CAME IN FROM SANT BOI

Selfie near the Church of Sant Baldiri in Sant Boi

Today, The Grandma finishes her current posts in this logbook. From now, she's going to write about her new family: The Bonds. 

Tomorrow, The Grandma is going to be in Sant Boi where she's going to meet her new family: sixteen new members.

From tomorrow, December 27 until March 7, The Grandma will share her new family affairs here and she will explain their adventures everyday. 

Welcome to this new family. Lots of luck and tons of effort to offer in this new project. Welcome to The Bonds and thousands of memories about The Collins, The Addams, The Holmes and The Poppins. You're an eternal part of The Grandma's story.

More information: The Official James Bond 007 Website

Come on Bonds, the History is waiting for us!

 I don't regard James Bond precisely as a hero, but at least he does get on and do his duty, in an extremely corny way. 

Ian Fleming

A LETTER TO AN OLD FRIEND (I)

Bruce Springsteen

Dear Bruce,

We’re here together again. It has been a long time since you arrived here in 1982 and I saw you by first time. These memories in an old indoor stadium next to the magic mountain which would be Olympic years later are unforgettable. You’ve been always with me. You’ve been my best partner when I was alone in a road, in a new city, in a new adventure. You can’t imagine how I have changed listening to you.

People say that music is universal and I agree but, in your case, you’ve joined the best sound of an incredible band with the most beautiful and strong lyrics. I can’t pay attention to a song if I don’t understand its lyrics and I don’t love a song if these lyrics don’t say anything to me that make me think.

You’re my conscious even in the best moments. You’re this voice that keeps me alive, with my feet on the ground looking around and pressing my teeth strongly when the world becomes more and more difficult to understand it and when staying in it is a question of surviving and fighting every day.

I would like that, tonight; you dedicate some songs to my families. They’re good people who are trying to improve their English knowledge and although you’re not the best for listening (dear, you close your mouth too much when you sing), you’re the best poet and the best ambassador of dignity and hope.

Today, I’ve spent some hours with The Holmes. They had an important appointment and they’ve done a great job, because the most difficult is having courage enough to do things, even when you know that you’re against the wind. It has been an enormous pleasure staying with them again. How many memories!  When I was with them, I remembered The Collins and The Addams two incredible families who shared the same experience.

Nowadays, I continue my travel with The Poppins. They’re another good and hard-worker family with a great sense of humour and they’re incredible artists. Tonight, they’re in Stockholm. They’re going to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. They have more possibilities but, like with the other families, they must believe in them. They must be strong and persistent and they must trust on their future. We can’t know what is going to happen tomorrow but we can fight the future. We must do it.

Well, in a few hours we’re standing together again. Only one more petition: please, play Bobby Jean and Thunder Road for my families and me.

Kisses…

More information: The Official Bruce Springsteen Webpage

It's a town full of losers, and I'm pulling out of here to win.

Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen

WELCOME TO THE POPPINS!

Magic arrives

The Grandma has returned home. She has spent some days in Panama but now she’s preparing all things to welcome a new family: The Poppins.

Tomorrow, fifteen new members of this new family will start another adventure during more than two months. The Grandma wants to remember with all her heart her other families: The Collins, The Addams and The Holmes and she hopes that this new family spends good moments and learns lots of English.

Good luck to everybody and welcome!

 But then one day I learned a word
The biggest word I ever heard
And this is how it goes, oh
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Mary Poppins & Bert

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Indiana Jones

The Grandma has been some days in Andorra. She has been skiing, enjoying her country and its culture and she has been controlling her fortune and legacy. Yesterday, she celebrated her 92-birthday. It was a strange day because she was thinking in all her families and hoping the best wishes for all of them. She remembered incredible moments with The Collins, The Addams and The Holmes and plenty of energy she’s returning to London to continue supporting her last family in its objective: PET.

Today, The Grandma, who is a great admirer of public British television, BBC, has decided to share this channel with her family to help them in their studies. In this case, she offers a link to BBC to prepare the Listening Part.

More information: BBC Listening – 6 Minute English

This afternoon, The Grandma has received some incredible news. An old friend, someone who loves Archaeology like her, is going to return very soon. She’s very happy and expectant.

Since today, the final countdown has started. The Holmes have 60 days to arrive to the final and she is going to work as hard as them to reach it.

Come on Holmes, this is the beginning of the end…

Archaeology is the search for fact... not truth.
If it's truth you're looking for,
Doctor Tyree's philosophy class is right down the hall.

Indiana Jones

VERO: SWEDISH EFFECTIVITY

Vero Addams

Vero was born in Malmö, Sweden. She shares nationality with other artists and scientists like Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo, ABBA, Alfred Nobel or Max Von Sydow. Vero is a vet. She loves animals and nature and she’s a great fighter for Animal Rights and Environment. She enjoys seeing auroras (norrsken in Swedish), an incredible phenomenon of lights.

Although she was born in a Nordic country, she’s very passionate. She does things with all her heart and her vitality and energy cheer the rest of the family. She’s a great admirer of Swedish culture, of course, and a great fan of ABBA, the group that changed music in the 70’s creating some of the best, unforgettable and eternal songs which have been always on the top. 

During decades, the Nobel Prize has been a reference in lots of specialities. It’s one of the most prestigious prizes around the world, but for The Addams, the best Nobel has been meeting Vero, her energy and her effectivity.

Det bästa stället att hitta en hjälpande hand
är i slutet av din egen arm. 

The best place to find a helping hand
is at the end of your own arm.

Swedish Proverb

LULÚ: RUSSIAN FORCE

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Lulú Addams with Han Solo & Princess Leia Organa

Lulú was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia and she’s a Jedi. It wasn’t easy arriving to this category but she had excellent masters like Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda. She learnt how to be patient, constant and how to choose the best moment to do things.

She’s a genius like other Russian: Yul Brynner, Yuri Gagarin, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anna Pavlova, Rudolph Nureyev or Mstislav Rostropovich who have arrived to write their names in our history in the same way that Lulú will do it in the recent future.

She follows the knowledge of the Jedi and has an enormous mental force which helps her to reach her objectives. She has the strong of Han Solo, the temperance of Leia Organa and the constancy of Luke Skywalker and the best of her: she uses her force to help The Addams in their present way.

Do or do not, there is no try.

Master Yoda

GOODBYE EDINBURGH, WELCOME LONDON!

The Holmes visit Edinburg, Scotland

After visiting some incredible places in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, like Arthur’s Seat, Royal Mile, Princess Street, Calton Hill or the Castle, and some other Scottish places, where The Addams Family has enjoyed its wonderful people, like Connor MacLeod; they went to Inverness to meet Nessie in Loch Ness. It wasn’t possible and then, they flew to London, the English capital, where they’ve spent some days.

They’ve visited emblematic places like Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, The Houses of the Parliament, the London Eye, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London and they went to meet the Queen, a Grandma’s friend, who had invited all the family to take some tea in Buckingham Palace.

It has been an interesting trip to improve their English and join to The Collins who received them in their majestic mansion, Downton Abbey. They have talked about environment and gender equality and they've done their first KET exams, too. It has been an intense week.

More information: First & Second Conditional

In a few days, the family is going to travel to Venice and Rome where they will continue its adventures and stories.

 

When you hear someone from the very north of Scotland speaking,

I think it's nice, very musical and harmonious.

Sean Connery

NÚRIA: SWISS EFFICIENCY

Núria Addams in Basel, Switzerland

Núria is The Addams Family’s jeweller. She’s quiet, shy and very hard worker as her fellow citizens. She was born in Basel, Switzerland the country home of other famous people as the actors Vincent Pérez and Ursula Andress; the tennis players Roger Federer and Martina Hingis; the mathematician and geometer Leonhard Euler, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau or Hans Kamper, FC Barcelona, FC Zurich and FC Basel pioneer, player and club president.

Switzerland is well-known as a business country, centre of the most important world banks and owner of the gold reserves. Perhaps, for this reason, nowadays Núria is a jeweller. Her passion about jewellery, clocks and diamonds is enormous in the same way that she adores country life.

Living in Switzerland is synonymous of green grass lands, snow, cows and folkloric horns and languages: French, German, Italian and Romansh are the four official languages in a country plenty of nature and ancient history.

Watch Ne partez pas sans moi by Céline Dion

Ne partez pas sans moi laissez-moi vous suivre
Vous qui volez vers d'autres vies laissez-moi vivre
La plus belle aventure les plus beaux voyages
Qui menent un jour sur des soleils sur des planetes d'amour

Don't leave without me, let me follow you
You who fly to other lives, let me live
The most beautiful adventure, the most beautiful trips
That lead someday to suns, to planets of love

Céline Dion represented Switzerland in Eurovision (1988)

GOODBYE DUBLIN, WELCOME EDINBURGH

Molly Malone Statue, Dublin

The Addams Family has been some days in Dublin enjoying this beautiful city. They’ve visited Dublin Castle, Custom House, Ha’penny Bridge, Trinity College and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. They also have visited the Molly Malone Statue and have sung the popular song altogether.

The Addams love popular traditions and to homage this girl, who is one of the most important Irish symbols, they have been composing little lullabies and beautiful tales plenty of imagination and mystery. They also have been working comparative, superlative and some modal verbs like must, have to, should and need.

Tonight, the family is in Edinburgh where they’ve arrived a few hours ago. They’re resting in The Balmoral Hotel after being received by 100 bagpipes in the airport.

During this travel to Dublin, the family has suffered the absence of Daniel, who was working in a new book and must stay in Sant Boi, but he’s going to join to the family again in Edinburgh, this wonderful Scottish city.

More information: Superlatives & Modal verbs

In Dublin Fair City, 
Where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheelbarrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!”.

Molly Malone

ISABEL: ITALIAN SPONTANEITY

Isabel Addams

Isabel was born in Naples, in the Campania (Italia). She’s a strong and persistent person who represents a great metaphor of her city: happiness, survival and a bit of superstition.

Italia is a country with a whole influence in science and art. Musicians (Luciano Pavarotti and Enrico Caruso); filmmakers and actresses (Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroiani, Totò, Rudolph Valentino and Sofia Loren); composers (Ennio Morricone); painters, sculptors and inventers (Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo Galilei); writers (Francesco Petrarch and Umberto Eco); anarchists (Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti) or fashion designers (Giorgio Armani and Guccio Gucci) have or have had a great influence in the world history.

Although, the Italian culture adores football and has important figures as Buffon, Baggio, Roberto Mancini or Del Piero, they also have an important presence in other sports. It’s the case of athletics where Isabel is an Olympic Champion. Her presence in the last Olympic Games in Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London was memorable winning 13 gold medals.

Nowadays, Isabel is retired and she enjoys her free time travelling around the world with her family: The Addams.

Watch Voce' e notte by Mina

 

Si 'sta voce te canta dint''o core
chello ca nun te cerco e nun te dico;
tutt''o turmiento 'e nu luntano ammore,
tutto ll'ammore 'e nu turmiento antico...

Ernesto De Curtis & Edoardo Nicolardi

LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO WAIT: LET'S GO!

Ireland

The Addams Family is happy. Lulú has come back. It has been fantastic and all of them are plenty of joy. In this moment, They're leaving San Francisco and boarding to Dublin, Ireland. They will arrive tomorrow at midday, if nothing happens and the weather is good.

Download San Francisco Guide

They have lots of English things to do because they’re reviewing the Past Simple and they must learn the entire irregular verbs list. It’s a hard work but nothing is impossible for this courageous family.

More information: Past Simple

Today, they have been talking about creating and destroying with two powerful tools: a pencil and a rubber. It’s true, dear family, a pencil is a great and dangerous tool because you can create, express, write, give an opinion, compose, draw, paint… Imagination is power and our family is plenty or artists.

Moreover, they have been discussing about this famous first impression in an interview and how you can earn the attention of your interviewer with the most innocent comment, action or gesture. Finally, they have been practising how avoid a lie, not saying all the truth.

Goodbye San Francisco and welcome Dublin, The Addams are arriving...

Mrs McGraw lived on the shore
And after seven years or more
She spied a ship come into the bay
With her son from far away.
Oh Captain dear where have you been
You been sailing the mediterranean
Have you news of my son Ted
Is he living or is he dead?

Mrs.McGraw (Irish Popular Song)

LULÚ: DO OR DO NOT, THERE IS NO TRY

Dear Lulú,

We are very sad with your decision. We don’t understand why you’ve gone, if you have everything here.

We love you more than your new friends and we think that you will stay better with us.

Here, you have more facilities than in the boat, more stability than in this travel…

You will be tired of this lifestyle because is very disrupted and it won’t like you.

Your cousin, Merche, The Little Addams, will be sad and alone without you and she will need you for the adventures.

May you return soon, because next week we are going to travel to Dublin.

We love you. Kisses.

The Addams Family

Goodbye Lulu won't be seein' you again
stole your pack and boots and bibs and left you on the tracks

Goodbye Lulu won't be seein' you again
you left home on a freight train you ain't never goin' back 

SAN FRANCISCO: SEE YOU SOON!

The Addams visit Sant Francisco, California

The Addams Family has been spending some days in San Francisco enjoying the weather and people of this wonderful city. The Addams have visited some sights like The Golden Gate Bridge and Park, Alamo Square and Lombard Street.

They have been eating in Fisherman's Wharf and playing with the sea lions in Pier 39. They also have visited Alcatraz Island where they've remembered Clint Eastwood’s film and bought some souvenirs in Chinatown. Finally, they have gone to watch a San Francisco Giants baseball match in AT&T Park.  

All things have gone well until Lulú has decided to go out with a hippie group. She wants to discover new experiences, places and people and doesn't doubt about joining them. The rest of the family is shocked and they’re working together to convince her not to leave them. We don’t know how Lulú will react to these appeals. We must wait for news.

More information: Future Simple & Comparative Adjectives

All across the nation such a strange vibration
People in motion.
There's a whole generation with a new explanation
People in motion people in motion.

Scott McKenzie

NAIARA: ROMANIAN MYSTERY

Naiara visits Hollywood, Los Angeles

Naiara was born in Alba Iulia, one of the towns in Transylvania (Romania) which still conserves its Latin etymology:  Alba (alba-ae) means “light” and Iulia means “consecrated to Jupiter” (Iovis). 

Jupiter was considerate the main god in the Roman mythology. The legend says that Jupiter liked creating handmade things and this is something that connects this god with Naiara, who is a carpenter, and adores working with wood and carve in it.

Romania is the country home of some genius like Nadia Comăneci, who won five medals in the Olympic Games and was the first athlete who reached a 10 mark; Badea Cârţan, a farmer who was an activist defending Transylvanian people rights against the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Herta Müller, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature or Vlad Tepes (aka Dráculae).

Naiara enjoys her work and during The Addams' trip to San Francisco, she decided to visit another acclaimed city: Los Angeles. She wanted to meet Carpenters, her favourite music group and spent some hours in Hollywood sharing time and knowledge with the Twilight’s cast to remember her ancestors.

  

Cine are carte, are parte!

He who has a book, has power.

Romanian Proverb

MÓNICA: CYPRIOTE PERSISTENCE

Mónica Addams

Mónica was born in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. She shares nationality with Eva Cyprus, one of the members of The Collins Family. Perhaps, because she was born in an island, she loves sailing and he has been travelling around the world since she was a child.

As a good Cypriot, she loves culture and art and she has been always interested in searching. This is the main reason of her work: finding gold for creating art. When The Addams Family decided to go to San Francisco in California, she was excited because she wanted to follow the ancient way of the American prospectors.

Maybe, she hasn’t paid attention but she already has got some gold ingots with an untold value: The Addams who love and protect her.

Dhendron bu lia men do fuase j’ en ispazi.

Don’t fear for the tree that leans for it won’t break.

Cypriot Proverb