Murcia

    I have spent about 8 months living in Murcia and I feel that I should put it as number one on my list. On my return from exploring other cities, I always feel like I'm returning home when I set foot in Murcia. The city centre is full of life and energy and has an incredible atmosphere all year round. Although the accent takes you a little time to get used to at first, you will adjust to it. Murcia is also home to some gorgeous(壮丽的) beaches and amazing coastal views. So it really does have the best of both worlds!

Gibraltar

    I visited Gibraltar during the Easter holidays and I was totally surprised by the beauty of Gibraltar! From a short cable car riding up to the top of the rock you are met with splendid views over the coast and the adorable monkeys which curiously come to greet you on your arrival. Make sure to hide all your food because they think it's a gift for them!

Valencia

    Valencia is beautiful. It's as simple as that! The river-area is so exciting and full of life, all the way up to the science museum and beaches. However, I was a little confused by the fact that the river had long been filled in and turned into a park, yet people still referred to it as The River.

Alicante

    I have spent many a weekend in Alicante, making the most of the beautiful beach in low season, before all the tourists arrive. May is the high season here, so I'd definitely recommend a visit in April, September, or October, just before or after the holiday season.

    When men get together, they seldom talk about their feelings or inner thoughts. However, they talk about a lot, like their newest computer, how to repair their car, or even business.

    Talk might move to the best place to find fish or women, jump to computer games, then continue to the sport of the season. They also like to tell jokes each other and spend a fair amount of time playing one-up and boasting (吹牛). Men seldom call each other to chat.

    When man meets woman, he usually wants to make a good impression. Many single men try hard to carry on amusing, fun, and pleasant conversations. They use conversation to discover her interests and feelings in order to learn how to be attractive to her.

    Some men, either out of nervousness or ignorance, spend most of the time talking about themselves, often appearing to show off their achievements or talk endlessly about their problems or work. Even the quietest man talks to his woman when love is new.

    When women get together, they talk about feelings and relationships, their work and their family. They enjoy talking but also want the give and take of talk, then listen. Women often call each other to chat. Conversation is an important part of most women's lives.

    As relationships progress, however, many a man turns on the television and forgets how to talk. This raises anger and cry from his woman partner who says, “You never talk to me anymore.” Some men start talking. Many, however, mainly discuss their own achievements and problems.

    When the woman starts talking about her favorite subjects: feelings, family, relationships, friends and her work, many men lose interest or bring the conversation back to themselves. Pretty soon, the man is back to staring at the television each night, wondering where his relationship has gone. The woman is talking to her friends, mom, sister, or neighbor, often about that very relationship and how she is hurting.

    Whether it's music, art, stage, screen, restaurant and bar deals, or the great outdoors – there's always something interesting going on in Hong Kong

    Tim Yip: Blue – Art, Costumes and Memory

    What: A well-known visual artist, costume designer, and art director for stage and film (particularly on his work for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for which he won an Oscar), Tim Yip has been a proud promoter of Eastern aestheticism(唯美主义)for 30 years. For his first large-scale solo exhibition in Hong Kong, Yip explores the nature of human imagination and the depths of the subconscious mind. Organized by Mark Holborn, the exhibition is expected to be praised due to Yip's vision of “New Orientalism”.

    Where: HKDI Gallery, Hong Kong Design Institute, 3 King Ling Road, Tiu Keng Leng, Tseung Kwan O

    When: Until March 31, 2019

    Alice's Adventure at Starlight Garden

    What: Introduced last year, this exhibition became a huge hit, with more than 6,000 photos and videos posted online every day. Created by 27 multimedia digital artists from Korea, the exhibition features a 30-foot rabbit hole for visitors to explore the fantasy world made famous in the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This Christmas, New Town Plaza delivers a brand-new interactive digital version of the literary work. In particular, check out the seventh floor, with its bright lighting, glittering mirrors and rose-shaped decorations.

    Where: New Town Plaza, 18 Sha Tin Centre Street, Sha Tin

    When: Until January 13, 2019

    We Travel in Our Minds

    What: This exhibition of sculpture aims to present ideas of theatricality, the fantastical, travel and exchange, with figures that take the forms of humans and animals. Made by artist Ethan Murrow, a professor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston, these dream-like objects are inspired by puppetry (木偶戏), music, trade, navigation and beyond, with mixed effects of materiality, sound and imagination.

    Where: Duddell's, Level 3, Shanghai Tang Mansion, 1 Duddell Street, Central

When: Until March 10, 2019

    On Nov. 24, near Yellowstone's northeast entrance, Spitfire, a female grey wolf, was shot and killed by a hunter as she approached a group of cottages.

    "It was a legal harvest," Abby Nelson, a wolf management specialist said. "The facts are obviously a little bit harder for people to bear, but that pack has showed signs of habituation. They just stand there and have no fear. Wolf hunters can easily pick the one they want."

    The carefree relation that some Yellowstone wolves have built with humans is reportedly attractive for hunters who look for an easy kill.

    In the overnight, yet another famous Yellowstone wolf met a violent end outside the park, officials are actively rethinking how to manage wildlife habituation.

    Smith, a wolf biologist for Yellowstone, says, "Now we're thinking of pounding them," Park officials might use fireworks, and paintball or beanbag guns when they approach humans in the park. "If you get close to people, you're going to get attacked."

    If you think this sounds cruel, you're not alone. Seeing these creatures from the roads that wind through the park not only allows tourists to witness something amazing, but also to reconnect with nature in a way that is better than any conservation campaign. But there's a growing sense that the present policy of doing nothing isn't working; more wolves will unnecessarily die and the broken record of hunters scoring easy kills will go on.

    As Smith adds, urging people to keep wolves wild when meeting them halfway is a big ask. Still, he's hopeful to preserve the world's best place to observe free­ranging wolves; it's a policy change that tourists can be involved in.

    "... perhaps Spitfire's death will accomplish some good, and we'll all come together to do a better job on managing crowds and roads and wolves in Yellowstone, " Smith said.

    It's no surprise to hear the honking of horns in New York. Whoever tries every day to get more than a few minutes of sleep in the morning in the city will tell you that he could do nothing about it! No one can deny honking of horns is just one of his most widely enjoyed pastimes.

    But Andy, a Japanese website developer has had enough of it. Once, the 27-year-old man approached the open window to wait for the driver to finish honking, delivered a polite "excuse me" and then yelled "Ho-o-o-o-onk!", which means fierce anger in Japan. Then he threw three eggs from the window of his apartment on to a passing car honking loudly below when his patience was worn out. Instead of apologizing to him, the driver threatened to kill him angrily. So, nobly, Andy turned to non-violence. He started writing anti-honking haiku verses, a form of Japanese poetry, and submitted them to local newspapers:

    Oh. forget Enron;

    The problem around here is; All the damn honking (Enron: a major American company that recently caused a scandal because of corrupt(腐败) mismanagement)

    "Then this kind of chain reaction started happening," Andy says. "All these other haiku started appearing unexpectedly" Andy's community is now covered in anti - honking poetry, written by all walks of life.

    Patience slowly fades;

    Residents store up their eggs; That day is coming soon.

    It's understandable that Andy has set up a website — www.honku.org — and now people from across the country send him news of their own anti - honking activities. It seems that poetry can change the world after all. Then, just recently, anti-anti- honking haiku started to appear, launched by locals who thought Andy should stop worrying about honking and start worrying about starving children, or war in the Middle East instead. Andy has an answer for that. "Stop me if this is too ridiculous," he says, "but they talk about the violence in the Middle East like it's a force of nature, like it's beyond our control. But actually it's kind of like the honking - the violence is man -made. If we can figure out how to stop honking on the streets, I think we could learn some things that we could use on a large scale."

    Language learning apps are very popular now and offer opportunities to learn vocabulary and practice grammar. But there has been a discussion about just how effective such apps can be.

    Among the most popular apps are Duolingo and Busuu. A previous research found positive results on the use of them. But it mainly concentrates on studies with learners who had signed up for language courses and these apps worked as an after-class support, so the results were not always reliable. A recent study of 4,095 Busuu users has been carried out to find out if users can actually learn a language with an app.

    Busuu provides learning materials for 12 different languages. It offers special models where some contents are available for free while some contents are not, We find that its users are an even mix of men and women. More than half consider themselves to be at the beginner level as there is a decrease in users as their language levels go up. Most people use the app because of personal interest, or because they want to study or live abroad. Females tend to use it less often but for longer periods of time than male users.

    Getting any feedback on Busuu depends on whether your answer is correct or not. While it is helpful, this is not the sort of feedback language teachers prefer, as it does not explain why the answer is right or wrong. In spite of this, feedback in the app is very highly rated.

    More than 92% of the people state that the app has met their expectations and 86% consider the app as very good or good. In fact, more than 80% of the users surveyed strongly agree that using the app has helped them improve their knowledge of the language they are learning.

    Besides, language learning apps also create an environment where mistakes are only known to the users, and this can address the performance anxiety that many learners suffer from when asked to speak a foreign language. So language teachers should encourage their students to use them to do the grammar work, leaving precious class time for more language communication.