Interesting discovery

While I was relaxing last Saturday night, I heard a male voice commenting as if he were at a boxing match or a similar sport. I started because none of the members of my family watches those kinds of programs or are interested in watching sports. When I followed the sound and went into my brother’s room, the screen showed a video game playing. After asking him about the comments he explained that he was watching the finals of the word championship of LoL. Having no idea what he was talking about, I left him alone and set my mind to looking for information about the video game and particularly the finals. What I learnt is surprisingly interesting (at least for me).

What is LoL? A simple explanation

League of Legends (LoL) is a multiplayer on line arena video game that was released in 2009. In League of Legends, players assume the role of a character, called a "champion", with unique abilities, battling with a team against other player or computer-controlled champions. In the most popular game modes, each team's goal is to destroy the opposing team's nexus, a building which lies at the heart of a base protected by defensive structures. Each League of Legends game is discrete, with all champions starting off each game fairly weak and progressing by accumulating gold and experience over the course of the game.(Wikipedia)

After getting to know a bit about the game I searched specifically for the World Championship. What I learnt is that in 2014, the season 4 of the World championship was held.  The grand finals were held in South Korea and a massive audience was present to enjoy not only the game but also the music of Imagine Dragons and other activities. The music band was invited due to the fact that they played the song “Warriors” for the video game. As regards the team that won the prize, it was constituted by 5 players from South Korea, and the opposing team by three players from China and two from South Korea. The winner took home the prize of a million dollars and prestige among gamers. (LoL World Championship) 

LoL Wold Championship. Season 4 

All of this surprised me. A few years ago, gamers were considered to be weird and left aside by most people. They were even mocked and insulted. I find positive the fact that now they have created a community in which they can enjoy themselves and create bonds with other people with whom they share interests. I also like the fact that each team is not necessarily from a specific country but from all over the world. I know in some cases the language and cultural background makes it easy to gather a team of people from the same country but some of them are from different countries.  Another positive thing about this Championship is related to the fact that whenever a player acts in a negative way he is given a fine and prevented from playing. These negative attitudes are not only related to technical aspects of the game but also to the respect they show towards other players. In addition, nowadays universities have begun granting scholarships related to sports to gamers. I know this might not sound fair to athletes but I find refreshing the decision to give people who have different interests, the opportunity to have a better education.

I know there are negative aspects to take into consideration when talking about video games and the Championship, its creation to bring money to large corporations being just one of them. But I was really surprised by the positive atmosphere and values that both the organisers and players of the video game seem to project, taking into account the violence depicted in it.

New meaning or veiled insult?

What comes to mind when 15^th birthday and party are said in the same sentence? Maybe what comes to mind is that the decoration generally reflects the personality of the birthday girl?  Perhaps the existence of a certain hierarchical difference between people going to the dinner and those going after 12 a.m. is what your mind conjures up. And maybe, the delicious food, the awesome music and the emotional time watching videos and remembering the life of the person being celebrated is what triggers the smile slowly appearing on your face.

When last week I went to a party, all of these aspects of an event that is rooted in our culture were on my mind. And although they were all present, one situation shocked me and made me reflect on the difference between generations:

The group of friends attending the party had made some posters and stuck them all around town. They had the purpose of saying Happy Birthday to the girl throwing the party. What really left me speechless was the content of those posters. The title was: “Se busca negra inmigrante” and then, a list of offences such as “ser una p#&%+”, “tener un sentido de la moda peor que un mendigo”, “dar los peores consejos del mundo”. “apestar”, “ser lenta” etc. In the end it stated that all was a joke and wished the girl a Happy Birthday.

After reading such texts I felt terribly uncomfortable. I wondered if the birthday girl felt flattered or insulted by it and if it was a common occurrence among teenagers. Being there the entire weekend, I could see this group of friends interact several times and I realised they communicated with each other making use of words that for me are insults. They said “pelotuda”, “cabrona” and “boluda” as if they were endearments.

This situation made me question the use of those words. Do teenagers use these words with a change in relation to the original meaning or is this type of communication a veiled war of egos? Do they feel offended or flattered by them? Are they aware of the real meaning of the words? Most of them did not even blink when talking while making use of these specific words so I suppose they are attributing new meanings to insults. Either way I would never consider an insult a term of endearment and if someone refers to me in those terms I would stop them and ask them to treat me with respect. I do not care if their reasons are good; if somebody tells me “boluda” I will not hold them in high esteem.

What is your opinion? Do you think words change their meaning according to the context? Are there any words that you have heard said as a term of endearment but you consider them not to be?

The emotion in their eyes

This week has been one of the most difficult ones for me. In addition to the fact that everybody has been nervous due to the situation described in my previous post, I have felt there were not enough hours in a day to do everything that needed to be done. This is the reason I have felt on edge the entire week. But during this crazy time I have experienced two unexpected situations that made me stop and silently marvel at the power lying behind someone’s eyes.

The first situation happened while I was teaching a class for the practicum, a necessary subject in the teaching training course I am taking to become an English teacher. I am generally calm when being in front of the class (odd as it may sound) but during this particular lesson I felt hopeless in the pursuit of the students' attention. I could not pin point what the cause for their nervousness was and, therefore, help them in any way. That was the moment in which I looked at one of the students and froze. He was calm and smiling but what made stop and sare was the fact that his eyes communicated so much overwhelmed me. There was a sparkle in his hazel eyes that showed curiosity, interest and activeness. It was as if his mind was soaking everything up and could not stop. Being a person that takes in information and situations but rarely participates in class, I felt identified with him and that brought the necessary inner calmness not to leave the classroom in tears. Without even realising, he gave me the support and encouragement I needed to keep on trying, and for that I am grateful.

The second situation occurred a day I was late and needed to take some copies. Having been raised to believe that I need to be at a place fifteen minutes earlier or else it shows lack of respect, I was ready to bite my fingernails.  In addition, the woman at the Xerox office took her time doing her job. That is why by the time all the copies were made, I was a nervous wreck. On top of that it was impossible for me to find the money to pay for the copies and I started getting desperate. I must have looked like hell because the woman looked at me in a comforting way. She did not say a word but her eyes seemed to say: “Calm down, breathe, everything is OK”. That was all it took. I pulled myself together, found the money, paid for the copies and got to my appointment with a peace of mind I did not possess only five minutes before.

These two unconscious acts of kindness made me think about how, sometimes, strangers have a positive influence in our lives. Maybe they did not even intend for their eyes to communicate so much. Maybe I simply imagined the emotion showing behind their gaze because it was something I needed. The truth is, these situations show we can help somebody or make them feel worse just by looking at them. People in the street, at the supermarket or even in our homes can be touched by the emotions we show in just a gaze. Are we aware of the signals we send whenever we look at someone? Personally, I think that I never pay attention to what my gaze may be communicating others. The exception might be those times when a person I know seems to be uncomfortable or suffering. In those cases I try to communicate my support. Unfortunately due to my lack of attention and the existence of lapses in which I am lost in thought, most of the time I do not think about the type of signal I send strangers. 

Do you think we can help someone with just a simple gesture? Is it necessary to know the person to have an impact on her/his life? Do eyes really communicate emotions or are they just a reflection of the needs of the beholder?

Disappointment

El Diario de la República on line

On Wednesday a group of students and some teachers from the IFDC San Luis started a protest. During the graduation ceremony of this year, the protesters were on the street. Then, they decided to go inside of the building and not let any other activity continue. On Thursday, many students could not enter the building and some that could, had problems when they wanted to leave.

On Facebook, different statements appeared. This post explains their complaints and demands:

Many things have been said since the protest began. Some people complains about being deprived of their right to get an education and others are outraged by what they consider to be a betrayal to the teachings in critical thinking and to the fact that we need to help each other.

I believe this is an important issue and needs to be taken with the utmost responsibility and respect.

I agree with the fact that there are many aspects of our education that need to be improved.  I have witnessed how teachers struggle to help us get a degree that allows us to have the necessary tools for us to be good teachers. But the answers will not be given if the questions are shouted in anger. Protesters will not gain my respect or help when they deprive me of my right to have classes and look down on me for wanting to. I understand their need to have solutions but not the necessity of disregarding everybody else’s wishes to get it.

In addition, when the statements are signed by people that are part of political parties I start wondering if this protest is not something else. When those who are demanding a better education and wave the flag of their rights start denying the right of other people to get an education, and do so in a violent way, I wonder if they see the contradiction in their behaviour.

This post of a classmate clearly reflects the situation:

Disappointment is what comes to mind when I think about the way they decided to act. I strongly believe that different decisions can be made to find solutions. Using creativity and the help of every student and teacher, diverse activities can bring the attention and favourable opinion of the community to this issue. But being violent and imposing their ideas and actions is definitely not the way. 

They are talking about it:

La GacetaDigital

El Diario de la República

La Bulla

Nacional San Luis