PIERRE BEAUND: FOR EVERYTHING ELSE... PEDRO BOND

Pedro Bond with his cuckoo clock.

Pedro Bond. Watchmaker. France.

I'm Pierre Beaund, aka Pedro Bond. I was born in Strasbourg, Alsace. Time is my passion, perhaps, because of this I'm a watchmaker, a person who makes and repairs watches and clocks. I also sell Cartier watches. Tempus fugit, then I'm always on time. Although I'm French my culture is German because Alsace is a historical German land. I like History.

-Good morning, Pedro Bond, and thanks to attend us.

-Good morning. Thanks to you.

-Well, as I have seen you're a punctual person.

-Always. It's my character and I think being punctual is a signal of respect and education.

-When did your hobby about watches start?

-Mmmm. It's not a hobby. It's my work and I live it with passion. I'm Alsatian. In the past, we were closer to Switzerland and Germany than to France and although today the maps say we're French, we really have a German/Swiss mentality because culture is something that marks you a lot. My family came from Switzerland and time is something very important in this country. Swiss watches are the best.

-How's life living in a border?

-It's very interesting because you receive influences of both sides. In my case three sides: France, Germany and Switzerland.

-Then, you've a little part of all of them...

-Not exactly. I'm Alsatian. France is a big state with a lot of nationalities and we're one of them. Living in diversity is growing in knowledge.

-You were born in Strasbourg where the European Parliament is. You must enjoy diversity every day.

-Strasbourg is plenty of civil servants. It's an administrative place. Now, all the German countries (Alsace, Germany, Austria, Lorena, Liechtenstein...) have a good quality of life but it was very different only one century ago when a lot of German people emigrated to The USA. Take the story of Levi Strauss like an example. Levi created the jeans in The USA in 1850 with European materials. He must leave Germany to find a better future. Nowadays, lots of people are arriving to the German lands with the idea of finding a better future, in some cases only a possible future.

-How is the life of a watchmaker?

-A normal life. I must be very tidy and organized because is very difficult to make a good watch.

-Which is your favourite kind of clocks?

-I love all of them but I like cuckoo clocks. They have an interesting mechanism because it is not only a clock.

-How do you feel being a member of The Bond's family?

-It has been a pleasure. It's a fantastic family and we've spent unforgettable moments together.

-How is a normal day with The Bonds?

-The day starts with me. I'm the first person to wake up, get up and start to work. Later, step by step, the rest of the family starts to be ready.

-How long have you been studying English?

-Since I was in the school although studying English in the French educational system is not a synonymous of success.

-Why?

-I don't know but I think it's this Jacobean French mentality. French is a very important language of course. It was the diplomatic language during centuries but now is English the language of diplomacy, business and economy and I think that this is something that Educational French system doesn't realize. There are a lot of historical languages in France: Occitan, Breton, Alsatian, Lorrain, Basque, Catalan, Romani and French, of course. Moreover there's an incredible presence of Arabian because of the African colonization. It could be easy to a French speaker learning another language because the most part of the population, except the Parisian, speak at least two languages but the idea of parlez français–soyez propres is still deeply in the mind of the French speakers. It's a pity because this attitude only creates social conflicts and nowadays we have a lot of examples of it.

-Is English difficult for you?

-No, it isn't. English has its roots in German. I speak Alsatian which is a German language, too.

-What can you explain about your life with The Bonds?

-We're a great family with a great sense of humour, very hard workers and with a great idea of responsibility. It's easy to stay with them. 

-Which is your best memory with the family?

-It's difficult to choose one but I remember with special emotion when I was chosen as the Queen of Carnival. It was a great honour.

-You like History, don't you?

-Yes, I do. I like a lot.

-Explain me a story from de History...

-Well, I'm very interested in the Catharism, the community which lived in Occitania and influenced all the European cultures in a way that nobody can imagine. We're all Cathars although we don't believe in it. Talking about the Catharism means seeing the History from another point of view and destroying lots of official stories. History is written by winners and Cathars were killed and prosecuted. They couldn't offer their vision of historical facts and they chose literature and art to keep alive. It's amazing.

-Offer me an example of official story...

-There are two ways of changing History. One of them is creating another one that was useful for your own interests, for example Christopher Columbus. The official story says that he discovered America when a sailor saw a bird in the island named San Salvador in 1492. Then, he confirmed his belief that Earth was round. America already existed and some communities lived there, then Columbus didn't discover anything. This is an example of History written from the point of view of a European citizen. For other hand, you have the possibility of taking real stories and change them to legends, for example, blood legends like Jack The Ripper, Vlap Tepes, Enriqueta Martí and Elizabeth Báthory serial killers who were, possibly, haemophiliacs. 

-Tell me a historical slogan...

-Tempus fugit. The expression comes from line 284 of book 3 of Virgil's Georgics, where it appears as fugit irreparable tempus: it escapes, irretrievable time.

-Thank you very much, Pedro Bond.

-You're welcome.

Download A spectacular dream by Pedro Bond

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one...

We're leaving together,
but still it's farewell.

[...]
Will things ever be the same again?

[...]
It's the final countdown.

Europe

HEY HEY, THE BONDS HAVE SAVED THE WORLD TODAY

The Grandma in Casa Vicens, Barcelona

Monday finds you like a bomb, it's a bad day for starting or finishing something. This is the reason because of The Bonds have choosen Tuesday to say goodbye to The Grandma.  They are going to stay in Ireland during some days but The Grandma has decided to return to Barcelona to redecorate her new home. She has bought Casa Vicens, an Antoni Gaudí's building in the center of the city.

That's been left ticking there too long. The ties that join The Bonds are so strong that they're goingto conitnue working together to reach their new objective and The Grandma is going to help despite of the distance.

You're bleeding in this hard work but nothing is won without effort and persistance. The Bonds are very strong people, perhaps because of the influence of Irene and María José Bond who have Aragonese ancestors.

Some days there's nothing left to learn, like today. The Bonds have dedicated their day to enjoy themselves and remember beautiful old memories, which are part of their story, now. In fact, The Bonds are History.

From the point of no return, you can't change these things that you thing you could have done better but with the experience of them, you won't do them again. Life is a constant way of learning things and we need to be resilient like Eli, Olga and Paula Bond who are a wonderful example of resistance against adversity.

You're leaving and you're still here in our memories. Rubén, Raquel and Miriam Bond, three beloved members of our family who decided to follow their own paths.

Hey Hey I saved the world today, I have created a new family plenty of happiness, illusion and creativity like The Collins, The Addams, The Holmes and The Poppins, The Bonds have become in another great experience which arrives farther than teaching English.

The Bonds have saved the world today

Everybody's happy now, Mariona Bond has decided to celebrate her birthday with the family and Maya Bond has cooked delicious cookie monsters for all the family.

The bad thing's gone away. It has been time to forget real situations and create a new world, a parallel universe where we have been the owners of our own future without paying attention to work, money or personal affairs.

And everybody's happy now remembering David and Pedro Bond  in Oasis Bar, being the Queens of the Carnival or Joanjo winning the Eurovision Song Contest.

The good thing's here to stay. MJ has arrived with our titles and suddenly have appeared lots of good memories about two intensive months travelling, working, laughing and sharing the best of us: our creativity and interest in learning new things. From The Cathars to The Navajo, we have been travelling across our history, our languages and our culture to realize that there's something that everybody shares: the idea of a better future for our next generations. We've listened motivational stories of Noemí Bond who have talked us about resilience and connections.

Please let it stay, share these fantastic moment with us because the future is unknown and nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow. 

There's a million mouths to feed and Montse and Jaume Bond know it. They have prepared a delicious omelette and a fantastic cake for the family.

Jaume Bond or James Bond? Mmmm...

And I've got everything I need. I don't need money or treasures. I need to do something that gives sense to my work, then to my life. I want a better future for all the members of my families, because a better future for them means a future full of opportunities in a land of hope and dreams. 

I'm breathing. I've received some presents of my family and I'm astonished. I don't deserve them. It's my work and nobody receives nothing to do her work. I have grown under Master Yoda philosophy and I know that you must do things or not. There isn't another option.

And there's a hurting thing inside, the final is closer although we still have two months to stay in contact, two well-planned months to work together to reach the next objective.

But I've got everything to hide, this feeling of loneless that has invided me when I have said goodbye to the family.

I'm grieving. I’ll miss you.

Let it stay. Let all the memories stay with us forever because they’re going to help us to smile when difficult days arrive.

Let it stay. Let all memories stay with us forever, strong enough to be resistent to the fire which destroyed our past and to the forgetfulness which destroys our present. Be ready family, our future will be splendorous.

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo the good thing.

The Bonds have saved the world today.

One of the most qualities of true friendship is

to understand and be understood. 

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

FORCES OF NATURE: ICEBERGS & VOLCANOES

Titanic

Today, The Bonds are still in Canary Islands. After climbing up Teide Mount, they have flown over Hierro Island to see the sea volcanoes and they have arrived to La Gomera to visit the Guanche Community. 

The family has revised some English grammar like Past Perfect vs. Past Simple, Present Perfect vs. Past Simple and Present and Past Perfect Continuous. 

After offering new prizes to the Queens of Carnival, David and Pedro Bond, the family has listened a beautiful and sad Mariona Bond's story about Paris and the Tour Eiffel and Noemí Bond has talked about innovation, resilience, creativity and imagination with the Barcelona Mobile World Congress and Steve Jobs like examples.

More information: Present Perfect Continuous & Past Perfect Continuous

Finally, the family has read a new chapter of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and they have been talking about the story of Titanic, a story of power against nature and about the broken dreams of the Irish immigration.

Failure saves lives. In the airline industry, every time a plane crashes the probability of the next crash is lowered by that. 

The Titanic saved lives because we're building bigger and bigger ships. So these people died, but we have effectively improved the safety of the system, and nothing failed in vain. 

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

THE BONDS & ENVIRONMENT: TRAVELS AND FLOWERS

The Bonds enjoying Tenerife and butterflies

Today, The Bonds have had an intensive day in Tenerife Island. They have climbed Teide Mountain and they’re now resting in a hut, on the top of the mountain, which is only reserved for special guests.

Before climbing Teide, they had revised some English grammar like Demonstratives and Past Participle and they have read a new chapter of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

MJ has offered two new presents to our family: a book to prepare B2 Exam and one of the greatest novels of Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist.

More information: Demonstratives (This, These, That, Those)

Next, Eli Bond has offered some interesting information about the importance of colours in our lives, something that this family knows perfectly because there is one of its members, Jaume Bond, who is a professional painter.

More information: Past Participle

The Grandma has talked about colours, flowers and travels remembering two incredible writers, Mercè Rodoreda and Blai Bonet. Both of them are considered excellent writers and both of them had difficult lives full of disasters, sadness and terrible personal conditions.

The Bonds have participated in the Carnival last weekend wearing some butterflies costumes and thanks to this, they’ve won another prize. Jaume, Joanjo and Pedro Bond have joined to David Bond who has been declared the Queen and all of them have won the festival.

The family is very happy for this prize because David has been in Paris, working in a new James Bond’s film, and he has seen how the family has missed him during these days. David’s returning has been the best present for this unforgettable family.

After this moment of glory, the family has talked about environment and recycling using some modal verbs like Must, Have to and Should and they have shared different experiences in Tenerife, a special place for Irene Bond, who used to spend long seasons in the island after working in her secret and dangerous missions and for Pedro Bond who has remembered his ancestors and who has talked about one of the most beautiful European cultures: the Guanches.

Finally, The Grandma has decided to buy some islands. They name Wild Islands and are situated between Canary Islands and Green Cape. It has been a present for celebrating M. José Bond’s new goal.

If we intend to provide a better life, and a better world, 

for future generations, we can't ignore the quality of the environment we leave them. 

John Kasich

RENAISSANCE & IMPRESSIONISM: THE HIDDEN MESSAGES

Visiting The Louvre and assisting to a conference

Today, The Bonds are visiting two of the most important museum of the world: The Louvre and The Orsay. They are very interested in art and painting, especially Jaume Bond, who is a professional one and enjoys painting in every place that he can.

Painting has been a method to express thousands of ideas and knowledge during the centuries. The family is very interested in two movements The Renaissance and The Impressionism because during these two ages, painting was more than simple art, was a way to express secret desires and forbidden ideas. The Grandma wants to talk about Vincent Van Gogh, his paintings and the influence of number Phi in them.

After that, the family is going to assist to a new conference about Labour Integration, Role Games and Teamwork. The EU is destinating lots of funds to improve the quality of working in all its countries, especially in these with high levels of unemployment.

More information: English Vocabulary for Employment

Finally, The Bonds are going to rest because tonight they are going to fly from Paris to Kiev where they're going to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. There isn't any clear favourite although Pedro Bond sounds like a great candidate to win the contest but we have to wait until tomorrow when all the members of this family will defense their songs with all their heart and with their music skills.

More information: Paredro 

 Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. 

 

Vincent Van Gogh

OASIS BAR: ÉÍ 'AANÍÍGÓÓ 'ÁHOOT'É FOR THE BONDS

Native American, ancient culture and language

While The Bonds were practising Countable & Uncountable nouns, the Highway Patrol arrived. They wanted to know how was possible that all their transports were full of peyote, a beautiful plant of the desert.

The family had been visiting Navajo Nation and they were impressioned by the resistance of this incredible and ancient community so important for our recent history and their wonderful language which was used in the WWII by the Codetalkers. They discovered The Blessing Way an important Navajo ritual.

More information: Navajo Code

Every member of the family explained his/her alibi to demonstrate that they were innocent and they didn't know anything about this wonderful plant.

More information: Countable & Uncountable

The Grandma explained how she was in her Indian tent with Mariona Bond who was totally slept while Pedro, David and Maya Bond were drinking some Navajo beer, this which has a black and gold tag, in Oasis Bar. M.José Bond was with Paula Bond dancing country line while Noemí Bond was trying to help some rich people, who seemed Arabian but were only native ones with some handkerchiefs on their heads, and wanted to be cured by the magic powers of Noemí's hands. Olga and Eli Bond were watching TV when Juanjo and Irene Bond took photos and disturbed some local scorpions and Jaume was sculpting an Indian Totem that Montse had demanded him.

Police has believed nothing and they're all under suspect waiting tomorrow when an FBI team is going to arrive to help the local police and all The Bonds are going to be analized by the true machine. God helps them!

 Always assume your guest is tired, cold, and hungry, 

and act accordingly.  

Navajo Proverb

KING ARTHUR, WHEN LITERATURE PROTECTS YOU

King Arthur & His Knights Of The Round Table

Today, The Bonds are in The White House. They're meeting the new President of The USA and his special guest: Queen Elizabeth II. This meeting has been classified like top secret and this is the reason because of we haven't got any kind of photo about the event.

The Bonds have taken advantage of the visit and they're reviewing some Social English, the modal verb Have to and some Relative Pronouns. It's true. You often have to wait much time before the President receives you although you're the special guest star. 

More information: Have to

After the meeting, The Bonds have a created idea about the behaviour of The President and they're writing some comparisons between him and other special people who had strong ideas and did them in a particular way.

MJ has wanted to join the family in this special day and she has asked some questions about the meeting. You know, she's the boss and she needs information.

In addition, The Bonds are talking about how literature has protected communities and countries during the Middle Age. The Grandma is talking about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Orlando Il Furioso, Roland, El Cid Campeador and Tirant lo Blanc, incredible heroes with powerful skills in a dark age, heroes who are part of our History and stories that we have to keep as long as we can. 

 

More information: Historic UK

Finally, Pedro Bond has talked about Horitzó 2020 a new vision about educational system which is very interesting and, perhaps, it's the clue for the closer future.

 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 Camelot.
 Camelot! Camelot!

King Arthur

WELCOME TO NEW YORK CITY, WELCOME MONTSE BOND

Montse Bond in New York City

Today, The Bonds are reviewing some Social English and some grammar: Present Simple vs. Present Continuous.

More info: P.Simple vs. P.Continuous

The Grandma explains a story every day and today she's talking about the sinister origin of Juanjo Bond and the tradition of Thanksgiving Day.  

Maya Bond is explaining how to cook a delicious dish: chili con carne, chili with meat.

Download Chilli Beans by Maya Bond

The  family has a new member: Montse Bond. She's Eli Bond's secret daughter, a result of an old German romance, and the real reason about Jaume Bond's behaviour last week in Berlin.

All the family is in New York City now and they're preparing a plan for a week. The Grandma wants to go to Broadway to watch Barbra Streisand in concert; Brooklyn, to visit Richard Castle, an old friend who is an international writer and she wants to know more things about the CSI team with Mac Taylor and Stella Bonasera.

Finally, the family plays Bingo with Noemí and Pedro Bond to enjoy themselves.

I grew up in New York City, a town with different races, religions, 

and peoples. It breeds tolerance.

Donald Trump