DEAR AMY:

Dear Amy:

I have a big problem and I don’t know what to do. I have a friend and few months ago we had a really good relationship. I had the feeling that she is homosexual, but this is something that doesn’t matter to me because we respect each other.

We went to a party and I realize that my suspicious were true. I think that she felt uncomfortable as I notice her preferences, because since that happen she started ignoring me. I didn’t know what to do so I wrote a letter to her saying that I don’t have any problem with her, and I would support her no matter what and still see her as my friend and that I don’t want things to change between us because I like to spend time with her and that she is a person in which I trust.

The letter didn’t work as I thought and I think it offended her because now she is acting really weird with me, she avoids me and she never answer the letter.

What can I do to change this situation?

Thanks,
Astrid

"MY TREASURED POSSESSION"

Did you ever receive a present from a person you love, that means a lot and you want to preserve for the rest of your life? In my case, it is a useful object, but that is not the main reason why I treasure it; it is the sentimental meaning what matters the most.

The gift was from my cousin. She gave it to me even though it wasn’t a special occasion. I was around seven years old and my cousin was one year younger than me, I rejected it because it was her toy and there wasn’t any reason in that moment to accept it. Finally I said yes and I went home with the toy.

A few months later, my cousin got sick all of a sudden and she was hospitalized. Two days later, she passed away due to a hearth disease. I was really sad and angry because my parents wouldn’t let me see her at the end. I remember that I had her toy and whenever I saw it I felt better. I remember that she gave it to me because she loved me, and I thought that if I preserved it, she was going to be with me.

This toy I’m talking about is a little green compass, and when I was a child I thought that the arrow showed me where her spirit was. I still have the compass and it is an object that I treasure because it reminds me of the love of my cousin, and her love for me.

I think that even if my cousin hadn’t passed away, I would treasure the compass in the same way, because it reminds me of happy childhood moments, and of a person that I love.

Average: Mechanics (1.5), Language Use (4), Vocabulary (3), Organization (4), Content (3)

My Profile

I would like to tell you some things about myself, at first I will describe my academic history and situation, I’m in my last advanced course at CELE, I’m also studying to be Civil Engineer, I love my major because there is a lot of interesting things to learn and the labor market is very broad, I’m in the last year of the studies and this is changing the way I see things, because in a very short time I’ll be an independent person who has to work and the responsibilities that I must take are different from those of being a student.

Something about my personality and what I like and dislike, besides school, is that I like to be with my family and friends, I try to spend as much time as possible with them because I think that the relationships are very important to grow as an integral person, and you can learn a lot of things from other persons, you can have a lot of fun with then and live really good and bad experiences; if you learn the lesson of the mistake it also is very productive. Without being self-centered I consider myself a nice person who is honest and has good principles and feelings, I’m also intelligent and friendly, not everything is good and beautiful, I’m also a little grumpy and sometimes when I have a lot of things to do and I’m stressed I’m not very sociable, I hate it when others push me a lot.

I like playing and watching soccer and my favorite team is PUMAS, nowadays I don’t have a lot of free time so I don’t play soccer in a formal way, two years ago I was in the soccer team of my school and that was more formal. I also like to swim and I go to the Olympic pool at CU whenever I can. Something that I don’t do to much when I’m in classes is watch TV but I enjoy it very much because I’m relaxed and if the program that I watch is a documentary I learn new things about a lot of different topics, the kind of programs that I watch are American Series, documentaries, movies, cartoons and music videos. I also like to read novels and try to read as much as possible.

"LETTER TO A CANADIAN VISITOR"

16/February/2009

Dear Visitor:

Hello, my name is Astrid Hollands, I’m writing you because I’m taking an advanced course of writing at CELE, that is a foreign languages school at UNAM, I want to improve the way in which I express myself, I would like that you make comments about this letter to learn from this exchange.

I want to introduce myself to you so you know who you are reading, I’m also studying to be a Civil Engineer, I love my career because there a lot of interesting things to learn.

Now that you are in this beautiful city I want to give you some tips to get the most out of your stay, at downtown we have a lot of tourist attractions, like museums, historical buildings and archaeological ruins, merely to go for a walk in that area of the city is a good way to learn a little about Mexico.

Here at CU (Ciudad Universitaria) we have a cultural zone, with museums, and orchestra halls. The magnificent architecture that we have in some of our buildings of the central university campus gave us the world heritage title by the UNESCO, so here is also a good site to start your tour.

Mexican food is absolutely tasty and there is a huge variety of flavors, but be very carful with the spicy food, because maybe it is extremely hot. I recommend you to taste the tacos al pastor, you will love them.

I hope that you have a lot of fun being in Mexico City and that you have the opportunity to know other cities like Queretaro, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Michoacán, and other more tourist oriented like Acapulco, Cancun, and Los Cabos, just to mention a few.

This is a short summary of my city and my country; I hope you enjoy it, and that you have not found a lot of mistakes in this letter. Thank you very much for reading it.

Love,

Astrid Hollands

MY EXPECTATION

The first impression of this course is that I will have the chance to increase my vocabulary and improve my redaction, when this class started and the teacher said what the requirements are, I realized that I have to make an effort to have good mark, and to work more than I expected.

I want to have the ability to write easily and to master the vocabulary, to not repeat a lot of words and write as well as possible.

All the work that the projects require I hope that doesn’t need a lot of time out of the class, because I expect a productive class instead of making a lot of homework.

I want to learn how to express myself and to organize my ideas as best as possible so anyone can understand what I’m writing, using specific words and a formal language if it’s the case.

I think that in a complementary way, being in this course is an opportunity to know new people and that is a good experience. I want to take advantage of this course in every way because this is my last course at CELE in the advanced levels and it’s really important to me to know that I l am learning new things that can be useful in the future.

Astrid Juliana Hollands Torres