Review: Neither here Nor there by Bill Bryson

Do you know that the Italians are crazy drivers and you can safely cross the road only following nuns? Have you ever thought that you may starve or pay a fortune for food if you go to Sweden? And what about the gentle police in Copenhagen? Let me tell you more.

The book consists of short funny stories about different cities in Europe. Each time the author tells us about the traffic, food, hotels, prices and city sights, but the main thing is - he shares his opinion with us, recalls the events of his life connected with those places. Moreover, I should note the chief advantage - all his stories are practically usefull, you may find there information which you can't discover in guide-books.

Apart its applied benefits, it's an easy book to read; it's full of picturous and emotional descriptions, hilarious jokes and curious facts. You won't put it off being so involded with reading.

Furthermore, you may read it if you're a learner of the English language. As far as I'm concerned, it suits for upper-intermediate level. You'll learn a lot of new adjectives, synonims, some idioms and a little slang :)

Braces

On the 21st of March I have had braces set. Here are my thoughts about it, feelings and discoveries :)


- Firstly, I didn't found them unattractive as I expected them to be. They look nice and go with pink lipgloss.


-If you have braces, you should brush your teeth after each ingestion using several different brushes and a special super floss.


-For about 3-7 days the teeth can ache. But it's bearable, I just couldn't eat hard food and chew nornally, so I ate yoghurts,  cooked cereals, purée  etc.


-Several months ago my best friend said to me that her teeth are itching. I really couldn't get it... How can they itch?? But now I know...


- When somebody has braces it means that this person cares about his/her health because (apart from making your teeth beautiful) braces correct your bite, and that's important. People with a right bite suffer from caries rarely.


-When you have braces taken off, your lips look bigger. The thing is when you have them you have to pull out your lips because of a feeling that there's not enough place for your teeth.


-Finally, your face shape changes.As a rule, it becomes a bit thinner and more oval.

Nothing's mean - there's a soul can be hidden,
Nothing's ugly if the beauty can be reached...

Внутри (The way you feel: Translation into Russian)

Люди ежедневно сталкиваются с ситуациями, когда надо сделать выбор, и часто  довольно сложно его сделать, так как чувствуется ответственность  за самого себя и свою жизнь, поэтому так много людей не любят принимать важные решения. Так в чем же проблема?

Мы часто обвиняем других в своих неудачах, промахах и ошибках. К примеру, если Вас кто-то спросит: "Почему Вы такой грустный? Что произошло?", Вы объясните, что все и всё, кроме Вас, виноваты в этом, но только не Вы. Что всё плохое, что с Вами случается, зависит от обстоятельств и мира, и, что самое интересное,  говоря эти слова, Вы чувствуете спокойствие и умиротворение внутри. Искреннее счастье. Дело в том, что нам всегда нужен "злодей" в нашей жизни, а если его нет... мы просто создаём его сами.

Если Вы читали книгу Паланика "Призраки", то, наверняка, помните, как герои мучили сами себя: отрезали пальцы и ноздри, так, что потом оставались только обрубки с запёкшейся кровью, тайно портили еду, ломали дверные замки, чтобы остаться в зловещем, отделенном от мира доме как можно дольше. И, конечно же, у них были "злодеи", за чьими спинами заложники прятали свои ужасающие деяния.

Неизвестно почему, но мы наслаждаемся болью и горем, и, только тогда, когда нам кажется, что всё, это конец, мы способны творить и чувствовать, кто мы есть на самом деле.

I want you to be my reader
I want you to catch my thought
You want me to be a seeker
For the truth behind the gloat.

For the miracles in your brain
You're ready to find a path
Where the walks are slightly bigger
Than the alleyways inside your heart.

And the trip seems to be endless
The verity comes to your bed
 At daybreak you hear the whisper:
'Feel everthing here , I beg.'

The way you feel

People often face situations when they have to make a choice, and it's pretty hard to be responsible for yourself and your life, that's why much people don't like dealing with it. So what's the problem?

We often blame others for our bad luck, failures and mistakes...If somebody asks you: 'Why are you so sad? What happened?', you will explain that everybody and everything is to blame, but not you. You'll shift the blame on the world and the circumstances and frankly feel happy about it inside. The thing is we always need a 'villain' in our life, and if we don't have it... we just create it ourselves.

If you've read "Haunted" by Palahniuk, you can remember the way the characters tortured themselves: they cut their fingers and nostrils, secretly spoilt their food, wrecked the locks in order to stay in the ominous house longer. And, surely, they had their own villains which were the means to hide hostages' dredful actions.

It's unknown why, but we can find pleasure in pain and misfortune, and just when we feel that it's the edge of the world we can create masterpieces and find out who we really are.