In a Sunburned Country

Esta navidad recibí de regalo un Kindle de Amazon. Es un gadget que no deja de sorprenderme y que considero un excelente invento para quien gusta de leer.  Amazon tiene ya mas de 390,000 titulos electrónicos disponibles para comprar con el toque de un boton y recibirlo en el aparato en menos de 1 minuto a través de señal de telefonia celular.

Es además un excelente medio para practicar el inglés ya que tiene la función para que una voz electronica te lea el libro mientras lo lees con tus ojitos. Además tiene el diccionario Oxford integrado, con solo seleccionar una palabra tienes instantaneamente su significado. Así que puedes pacticar lectura, audición, pronunciación y agregar palabras a tu vocabulario simultaneamente.

El primer libro electrónico que compré se llama "In a Sunburned Country",escrito por Bill Bryson. Como ya se imaginaron trata sobre Australia: Es la visión de un Norteamericano sobre el país, su historia, su geografía, sus tradiciones y su gente. Está escrito de forma muy amena con un humor sarcastico con el que hace burla de las peculiaridades australianas cada 3 parrafos.

Aunque fue escrito en 1999 y muchas cosas pudieron haber cambiado desde entonces, creo que describe la escencia del país y el porqué de su idiosincrasia.  Según palabras de un australiano que hizo una reseña del libro: "Por fin alguien captura un poco del carácter de éste país". Otro lector dice: "Una vez más Bryson da en el clavo con éste gracioso libro. Nunca se ha descrito Australia de mejor forma, haciendote sentir como si estuvieras viajando con él por el país".

Es una lectura muy interesante que puede ser muy util tanto para los aspirantes a migrantes como los que ya viven en Oz. Si lo consiguen impreso está excelente, si no Amazon tiene  una versión gratuita de Kindle para PC en la que podrían leerlo si se les complica comprar algo en Estados Unidos. Les prometo que Bryson no es mi familiar ni me dan comisión por promocionarlo, tampoco tabajo ni conozco nadie en amazon :) .

 Hay algunos temas del libro que más adelante les contaré para que podamos comentar y criticar. Por lo pronto les dejo un fragmento sobre el Cricket que me pareció típico del enfoque con el que aborda los diferentes temas:

"After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind) I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn't fix in a hurry. It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as players -- more if they are moderately restless. It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning.

Imagine a form of baseball in which the pitcher, after each delivery, collects the ball from the catcher and walks slowly with it to center field; and that there, after a minute's pause to collect himself, he turns and runs full tilt toward the pitcher's mound before hurling the ball at the ankles of a man who stands before him wearing a riding hat, heavy gloves of the sort used to to handle radio-active isotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg. Imagine moreover that if this batsman fails to hit the ball in a way that heartens him sufficiently to try to waddle forty feet with mattress's strapped to his legs, he is under no formal compunction to run; he may stand there all day, and, as a rule, does. If by some miracle he is coaxed into making a misstroke that leads to his being put out, all the fielders throw up their arms in triumph and have a hug. Then tea is called and every one retires happily to a distant pavilion to fortify for the next siege. Now imagine all this going on for so long that by the time the match concludes autumn has crept in and all your library books are overdue. There you have cricket.

The mystery of cricket is not that Australians play it well, but that they play it at all. It has always seemed to me a game much too restrained for the rough-and-tumble Australian temperament. Australians much prefer games in which brawny men in scanty clothing bloody each other's noses. I am quite certain that if the rest of the world vanished over night and the development of cricket was left in Australian hands, within a generation the players would be wearing shorts and using the bats to hit each other. And the thing is, it would be a much better game for it".


Saludos y mis mejores deseos para todos ustedes durante el próximo año. FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!