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Happy New Year from Thailand

If you are visiting Thailand as a tourist these days, you already know that the Songkran festival, the Buddhist new year, is in full swing. Crammed at the back of pick-ups and armed with water guns supplied by huge water tanks, their faces turned white with talcum powder, the happy fighters won't give you a chance! So prepare yourself to get wet, very wet and soaked to the skin! Fortunately the weather is very hot, and this is all for good luck, so you will also get blessed in the process. Don't even think of getting out with your mobile phone or your camera, leave any valuables in your hotel safe, go buy yourself one of those nice Hawaiian shirts and join in the fun. Happy New Year!

Our First Prize Winner

He is known as iubito on the Lokanova and Freelang forum, and he is also the happy winner of our photography competition. The idea was simple: buy a product from Freelang and take an original picture of it. Iubito created a nice setting and stroke a pause to imitate the Freelang logo (a little man stepping over the Earth while juggling with red balls). We found that original (and there was no other serious contestant, let us be honest), so iubito won our first prize, a PDA from HP (iPAQ series hx2100, worth 295 euros).

The competition is over but the sale of souvenirs from Freelang is still going on. In our online shop you will find t-shirts of all sizes and colours, and also mugs, steins, mousepads and bags, all bearing the Freelang logo. More than a souvenir from our site, it is also a way to help children who lack a family, as the profit will be given to an orphanage here in Thailand.

Mr. Rude is French

He's got body odour, he breaks wind and is definitely not an example to follow as far as politeness is concerned. His name is Mr. Rude, and he is one of the new characters in the English TV show Mr. Men, which already features Mr. Messy, Mr. Stubborn or Little Miss Daredevil. Nothing striking so far, but the thing is, Mr. Rude speaks with a strong French accent! Shocking! I have always wondered how come France could be perceived as the capital of the world for fashion, perfumes, great food, good taste and whatever else is luxurious or elegant, while the French themselves have such a bad reputation of uncleanliness and rudeness. But rather than feigning shock or surprise, what about the French made more efforts to appear friendly and engaging to the rest of the world? Come on French people, give the lie to your nasty reputation... ;-)

The International Year of Languages

Did you know that 2008 had been proclaimed the International Year of Languages? Sonka, one of our forum member, found this information on the website of UNESCO. So in 2008 everyone is invited to increase their own activities to promote and protect all languages, particularly endangered languages, in all individual and collective contexts.

UNESCO will promote projects on "cultural diversity, dialogue and exchange, protecting cultural heritage, safeguarding endangered languages (i.e. through translations and publications for instance)" or "communication and information initiatives that concentrate on building knowledge societies in which everyone can participate and benefit; promoting universal access to information and wider access to ICTs by ensuring the use of a greater number of languages; promoting cultural and linguistic diversity in the media and international information networks."

That description fits well with what Freelang has been doing for more than 10 years, don't you think so? That's why we submitted the form to register our project. Let's wait and hope that UNESCO will take an interest in Freelang!

I gotta a job to do and I'm gonna do it!

We had already written about US airports about to fingerprint all 10 fingers of foreign passengers. Now another story shows again how far the so-called "security agents" can abuse their power.

A teenage boy from Orlando (Florida, USA), said that a TSA (Transportation Security Administration) agent endangered his life by opening (and there-by contaminating) his backup sterile feeding tube that he carries with him in case of an emergency. He reportedly said: "Please don't open it" and the TSA agent replied: "I have to open it whether you like it or not. If I can't open it, I can't let you on the plane."

So it looks like another good example of the "I gotta a job to do and I'm gonna do it whether you like it or not" American mentality. But of course it could also be another good example of the "I found a mouse in my cheeseburger and I'm gonna sue you for 10 million dollars" American mentality... ;-)

Freelang has a new home

I have finally moved! I spent a few days sorting out my stuff, throwing away some of it, carefully packing the rest (carefully at the beginning, then you end up just dropping everything in the cardboard boxes), and finally the truck came and took it all away to its new destination. I won't tell you precisely where it is, but the new home of Freelang, that is the place where the site is being managed, is somewhere along the south coast of Thailand. I haven't even been to the beach, though, as I'm still busy unpacking (it's amazing to see all the stuff you can pile up in just a few years), and tidying up the new place.

Some furniture got scratched in the process, but fortunately my computers arrived in good shape (probably because I took care of them myself in my own car). So the activity of the website will resume as usual, but only little by little, as I still have a lot of work to catch up with.