WHAT COUNTRY SOUNDS INTERESTING BUT YOU KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT IT? There are a lot of countries that sound very interesting to me and I would like to know more about them, but the first country that comes always to mind is Japan. I have been fascinated by this country for ages and still I know very little about it. It might be because of its long history, its unique cultural heritage, that was preserved, kind of unspoilt by other cultures, until the beginning of the 20th century. What I know about it is thanks to some documentaries and a few Japanese films I've watched.

What's the difference between the following expressions? - wing it - talk off the cuff - play it by ear. Thank you.

Searching for interesting podcasts for English learners Recently I have been focusing on improving my listening skills. I must admit that it is also the only practice I can do quite regularly despite my busy schedule. I love podcasts but it is difficult to find something really interesting, entertaining. Even impossible provided with a transcript. Could you recommend some good podcasts to me? And tell me if they are in British, American, Australian (or others) English? I am interested in Cinema, Arts, Travelling, History, Culture in general ... Many Thanks!

My trip to Venice In these days I have been attending the Venice Film Festival which is held at the Lido Island in front of Venice. It is a long island with a long sandy beach, beautiful liberty style villas and lots of trees. In the past, in the nineteenth century, wealthy people from round Europe used to spend their holidays here. There are still two beautiful hotels of that period. One, the Excelsior Hotel, is open to the celebrities or whoever can afford the price of their fabulous rooms, the other, The De Bains Hotel is used only for photo exhibitions or little events during the film festival. This one was the setting of a film, "La morte a Venezia" (Death in Venice), based on the Thomas Mann's novel and directed by one of the most gifted Italian directors, Luchino Visconti. The Venice Film Festival should be one of the oldest (or even the oldest!) film festival in the world. It was born before Cannes and the Oscars! It's the chance for me to take part in the preview of lots of films, from all round the world! From China, South Korea, Japan, Tunisia, Georgia, Israel, France, India, Colombia, Chile, Norway, Russia and many many others! A great and an amazing opportunity for someone who loves Cinema and watching films like me! I deeply think that the Cinema is a form of art. It's Culture. This does not mean that I can watch here some really awful or incomprehensible movies! So much that sometimes I wondered what the director would had drunk before making it! 😅 What I really love of this experience, in addition of the movies, is having brief stops, now and then, and looking at this beautiful view!

My trip to the Venice Film Festival In these days I have been attending the Venice Film Festival which is held at the Lido Island in front of Venice. It is a long island with a long sandy beach, beautiful liberty style villas and lots of trees. In the past, in the nineteenth century, wealthy people from round Europe used to spend their holidays here. There are still two beautiful hotels of that period. One, the Excelsior Hotel, is open to the celebrities or whoever can afford the price of their fabulous rooms, the other, The De Bains Hotel is used only for photo exhibitions or little events during the film festival. This one was the setting of a film, "La morte a Venezia" (Death in Venice), based on the Thomas Mann's novel and directed by one of the most gifted Italian directors, Luchino Visconti. The Venice Film Festival should be one of the oldest (or even the oldest!) film festival in the world. It was born before Cannes and the Oscars! It's the chance for me to take part in the preview of lots of films, from all round the world! From China, South Korea, Japan, Tunisia, Georgia, Israel, France, India, Colombia, Chile, Norway, Russia and many many others! A great and an amazing opportunity for someone who loves Cinema and watching films like me! I deeply think that the Cinema is a form of art. It's Culture. This does not mean that I can watch here some really awful or incomprehensible movies! So much that sometimes I wondered what the director would had drunk before making it! 😅 What I really love of this experience, in addition of the movies, is having brief stops, now and then, and looking at this beautiful view!

Using some expressions related to work. I worked in the HR, in particular, in an recruitment agency, for some years. At the beginning I liked it a lot because I was working for a big company which used to care about their employees' formation. In fact we attended several, useful training courses. Then, thanks to our dynamic work, we were in contact with many people who were searching for a new job and with different companies searching for the perfect candidate. And we were supposed to make both needs meet. How? We had to be FOCUSED on the description of the ideal candidate for the enterprise and TO GET DOWN to the important matter of choosing the best options in our database. We used TO WORK FLAT OUT till we succeed in having a deal with the company. Needless to say that there were PRODUCTIVE and UNPRODUCTIVE days independently of our effort. We used TO KEEP OUR NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE to try to achieve the weekly target. But with the arrival of the economic crisis of the 2008, it started getting harder and harder to reach those goals. And our supervisors began to be a bit bossy. Some colleagues and I started TO RUN OUT OF STEAM and to feel really FLAGGING. And the cherry on the cake was when they changed our manager for a double-faced person, who wanted to climb the ladder very fast with very little effort. I couldn't GET ON WITH him, so, for the sake of my health (it was at that time that I started suffering from gastritis!), I decided to quit that beautiful but really stressful job!

When you hear people speaking your target language. Does it happen to you too, in a public place, hearing people speaking your target language and trying to understand their conversation? Do you also spend all your energy and brain power to tune in to that conversation and to try to silence the other ones? And have you ever tried to have a short talk with them? As for me, ALWAYS! You can see me losing interest in my friend's conversation, and slowly leaning my right ear (the more powerful of the two!) towards those people. Quite hilarious! But I've never tried to chat with them. No idea what my possible intro words would be. Maybe these? "Good morning, accidentally I heard that you are English, and it so happens that I am studying your language. May I bother you for at least the next 30 minutes, trying to practice my target language? Would you?" 😂