Guided Walking Week April 2016

          Dates: April 30th-May 7th 2016

          Location: Abdet, Costa Blanca

         A week of guided walking in the mountains around Abdet. Highlights include the climbing of Valencia's highest summit (Sierra de Aitana), traveling completely around the impressive Puig Campana, and several explorations in the Sierra de Aitana. Ancient trails lead through spectacular canyons(峡谷) to abandoned settlements situated high in the mountains. You will discover the snow trader routes which lead from the incredible snow holes high in the mountains down to the villages and towns on the coast. These years, golden eagles have made a return to this area, and you may also see other animals—wild goats, foxes, wild pigs and red squirrels.

         As part of the week you are invited to help clear some local walking paths. This involves clearing collapsed walls and rocks, cutting back fallen trees. This is of course optional and is just for half a day, it's actually great fun!

Price:$499

Includes:

  Accommodation in the beautiful mountain village of Abdet

  All food-good home cooking

  Beer, wine, soft drinks

  Snacks and post walk treats

  Packed lunches & drinks(except café/bar visits)

  Expert guiding

  Photos/Videos of your days in the mountains

  Airport pick-up/return $25 each way(fly to Alicante)

  Single room supplement $75

  To book or get further information, please contact info@abdet. com.

    When you need to see a doctor, surely you will want to see a good one. But there is one important thing you may never have thought about: Has your doctor rested enough?

    Doctors in our country often have to work 34 hours or longer without sleep. Most of them work 104 hours a week, and some even 150. (There are only 168 hours a week!) One report said that a doctor who works such long hours cannot think more clearly than a drunk driver. Another found that doctors who sleep 5.8 fewer hours than the week before might make 22% more serious mistakes. Surely no one wants to get in a car that is driven by a drunk driver. So, how safe would you feel when you are under the care of a tired doctor?

    Sadly this problem has been around for a long time. There are no laws about it yet and hospital bosses don't look like they care either. And that is why we doctors are asking you to join us on the street this Sunday. Fight together with us on the street so we can fight better for your life in the hospital.

Time: 1 p. m. July 15            Place: City Hospital Square

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    Four Must-See Route 66 (66号公路) Attractions

    The United States is full of odd roadside attractions. Route 66 is home to some of the oldest and most known attractions of them all. Here are four attractions you should see along the Mother Road:

    ⒈Paul Bunyan and a Hot Dog

    Route 66 travelers pass by many fiberglass giants（巨人）right along the road. These giants were a popular form of advertising in the 1960s.Many of them stood in front of service stations. They held car parts, such as mufflers. The collection of Route 66 giants became known as “Muffler Men”. Businesses hoped the strange statues would get travelers' attention.

    The first fiberglass giant was a “Paul Bunyan” figure, built in the early 1960s. It's said that Paul Bunyan is a famous wood worker.

    ⒉Crown Candy Kitchen and Jamaica Ray

    Crown Candy Kitchen has been serving Route 66 travelers from the very beginning. It is just a few short blocks from the 66 path through St. Louis, Missouri. The family-run soda fountain shop opened more than 100 years ago, and has been making candies and meals ever since.

    On weekends, people sometimes wait in line for a table at Crown Candy for over an hour. Luckily there is free entertainment right outside. Jamaica Ray, a local folk artist, creates unusual sculptures.

    ⒊The World's Largest Rocking Chair

    Fanning, Missouri, is home to one of the strangest Route 66 attractions. Just off the road sits an almost 13-meter-tall rocking chair.

    The structure was completed in 2008 on the first of April, or April Fool's Day. At one time the chair actually rocked. But officials decided it had to be still to be safe for ever. People are not permitted to climb the chair. We think, however, that it probably happens once in a while, when no one is watching.

    ⒋Big Texan's Steak Challenge

    Few places better represent the common expression “Everything's Bigger in Texas” than the Big Texan Steak Ranch. Since 1960.it has appealed to travelers with big appetites and a big love of beef.

    It is hard to miss the huge yellow restaurant or the giant cow statue that sits out front. The cow advertises Big Texan's special deal, and what has made this steak ranch famous: a “free” 72-ounce（英两）or 2-kilogram steak. There is one trick: the steak is only free if you can eat the entire thing in one hour.

    A special table is in the middle of the restaurant for the daring diners who accept the challenge. Since 1990, more than 9,000 diners have eaten the entire 2-kilogram steak.

    The Opening of a new bookstore, the Book Green Hook Sunday, September 5, 9a.m. to 9 p.m

    You will not want to miss the opening of your new neighbourhood bookstore! Located at 289 Main Street, the Book Green Hook is within walking distance of schools, homes and businesses. Come and check out the Book Green Hook on Sunday!

    There are various activities, including:

    Live music by local musicians

    One Book-of-Reading Club membership giveaway

    Wide Selection

    The Book Green Hook has five floors with books of all kinds—whatever you want. If we do not have the book you are looking for, we can specially order it for you. You will have it in your hands within two days!

    Reading Corners

    We are proud of our children's reading area on the first floor, as well as our teenagers' Corner on the second floor. Come for the activities and stay a while! Settle in one of these inviting reading areas; take a seat with a good book and a free cup of hot chocolate. You will discover the perfect way to spend a few hours.

    Book Events

    The Book Green Hook will be featuring monthly book signings by different authors, giving you a chance to meet and speak with well-known writers. Don't miss the experience of hearing these authors read aloud their own books!

    The Book-of-Reading Club

    Our Book-of -Reading Club will feature 12 books each year. As a member, you will be able to select one new book each month. The membership fee is only $10.00 per month. That is a great price for 12 books each year!

    So please join us on Sunday and learn about all that the Book Green Hook has to offer. You can come anytime between 9 a.m and 9 p.m—our activities last all day long!

    Last Saturday on the way to the mall, two children, a boy and a girl, came running towards me with bottles in their hands, asking if I wanted bottled water. It was a surprising gesture. I was wondering if they were doing fund-raising. I knelt and asked them where their parents were and how much a bottle of water cost. Then two adult women came up to me explaining what the children were doing. “We are teaching the children to give without anything in return. We are teaching people to accept without giving in return.”

    Two mothers had bought bottled water and placed a sticker on all bottles with five different quotes (引述):

    ⒈Smile at everyone. You'll never know when someone may need it.

    ⒉If Plan A does not work, there are 25 more letters in the alphabet.

    ⒊Have a thirst for life. Every day is filled with possibilities.

    ⒋In your thirst for knowledge, be sure you don't drown in all the information.

    ⒌Dig your well before you're thirsty.

    The bottle I have has quoted No.5. A sudden change of attitude opened up between me, the mothers and the children. We are no longer strangers to each other. We were having such a great time chatting and I ended up helping them give away the rest of the bottled water.

    One young lady was so thankful that she happily accepted the water and said it was the best thing that happened to her all day since she had a bad day at work. A man refused and walked away saying “No, thanks”. A couple kept on bowing to us in gratitude. When it was all done, the children and I were giving each other high-five. It was so remuch fun. I think I had more fun doing this than the mothers and the children.

    This year marks the 170th anniversary of Paul Gauguin's birth. He lived for just 54 years but he packed his brief life with activity.

    The French painter spent his early childhood in Peru before returning to France. As an adult, he continued to travel a lot. Most famously, he spent much of the last decade of his life in Tahiti, an island in southern Pacific Ocean. Indeed, Gauguin is best known for his colorful paintings of Tahitians and their culture.

    The restlessness of this great painter has been normal among modern artists since the middle of the 19th century. They're never satisfied for long with a certain style or way of life. Once something becomes conventional, it's turned down.

    The artistic culture that Gauguin developed from was that of Impressionism (印象派). Painters like Claude Monet had wanted to paint how they saw the world, not how their teachers taught them it should be seen. Gauguin, and similar artists like his friend Vincent van Gogh, moved even further away from "respectable" art than the Impressionists. For them, it was not simply a matter of seeing the world differently, but feeling and thinking about it differently, too.

    Gauguin saw, felt and thought differently from most members of European society. He thought that European culture was too fancy and not spontaneous. This is why he turned to the traditions of other parts of the world, like Africa, and, eventually, Tahiti. Artists like Gauguin used the word "primitive" for these cultures, but not as a negative term. For him, Europe, in becoming modem, industrial and scientific, seemed less natural than other parts of the world.

    In truth, Gauguin's paintings may be unconventional but they are certainly not "primitive". They are the work of a painter with great awareness of what he was doing. It was this awareness that made him such an important painter for those that came after, in the 20th century. When we look closely at the works of Gauguin we begin to understand Pablo Picasso, and especially Henri Matisse, a little better.