English Conversation Course

A couple days ago I came across an article that made me stop and think about the importance of this subject. It was only on May 5 th that Nigeria has officially passed a law making female genital mutilation (FGM) illegal. This cruel ritual is practiced mostly in 27 African countries but also in Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan and even some parts of Asia. It touches girls of all ages, from newborns to teenagers. There three types of female circumcision, depending on its severity. The most general definition accepted by WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA in 1997, states that FGM is the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. In most cases, the procedure is performed by other women with no anesthesia in awful, non-sterile conditions. It is not uncommon to use dirty, rusty razor blades and wooden needles for stitching and closing the wound.  There are no known medical benefits of this procedure while complications and...

Looking through the previous articles I noticed that many of you like to be physically active. This week I would like to tell you about a couple of fitness events combining endurance and strength. Inspired by military obstacle courses, they are a challenge both for runners and those who train crossfit or similar forms of fitness. Tough Mudder The first organized event that I discovered was the Tough Mudder. Right now it takes place all around the world and already over 1.3 million participants have taken part in this challenge. The first race was held in 2010 by Will Dean and Guy Livingstone, two British Harvard post-graduates. Its goal was to put physical and mental strength to test. In general a Tough Mudder is a 10-12 miles run that is made up of 20-25 various obstacles. These kind of competitions focus on teamwork, hence a lot of obstacles are almost impossible to complete without the assistance of another person. The variety of challenges that participants face is over...

Throughout centuries there have always existed outcasts who had set aside norms and laws of the majority and lived their lives in isolation from the outside world. The feeling of dissatisfaction with the way they functioned inside the society has been their common trait.  What drives people to run away? Is it a continuous process or a sudden impulse?   Everyone has that urge to escape sometimes, it is hidden deep under  our sense of responsibility, our attachment to the surrounding world and our habit filled life. Still, we do not go to such extents. What causes it or what is different about them? https://citydesert.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/hermit-nesterov.jpg The hermit   This biblical term refers to a person living in a seclusion from society. It might appear to us that there are no longer any of them among us. Who would decide to abandon all of the luxuries that ...

World peace - if it weren't for the recent events on the soil of our eastern neighbor, it would seem the world is finally calming down. Less than two years ago, it seemed that people finally came to their senses and stopped the madness called war. Peace operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were about to end, Balkan slaughters were a thing of the past. There was a civil war in Syria, but evening news rarely covered the subject, so it wasn't hard to omit that information. We can hear about four conflicts areas – it seems to be quite a good situation. Unfortunately, it's far from the truth. A very short search reveals that there are almost 50 ongoing armed conflicts, which have claimed over 5 million victims for over 60 years. These are only the deaths from direct acts of violence that are still ongoing. Who knows how much would this number grow if we added hunger and disease casualties that always follow the steps of war?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ong...