The Octopus Woman

        It was just about a week ago that I was at school sharing some of my travel experiences with a few undergraduate students. Someone mentioned to me that I should share my octopus story, a story always sure to be a hit with any audience (except PETA members, maybe). Today's blog will be a further refined look at the event that inspired the octopus story.
        While I was away this past summer in Sicily, there was a location at which my friends and I would meet up prior to going to the beach. On the particular day of this story, we stopped at a panificio to pick up lunch before walking down the long stone steps that led to the beach. As a result of the magnificent weather, the beach was fairly crowded. We looked for a good spot on the beach and we managed to find a small spot where we would all be able to set up: there were about four of us.
        Not far from where we were hanging out, there was a woman sitting alone: she was most likely in her late 40's or early 50's. By the look of her skin, she spent a good deal of time on the beach and she possessed a certain natural beauty that many of the locals had. At a certain point she put on goggles and a snorkel, which was fairly normal at this beach. We watched her at a distance from the sunny shore as she dove down into the clear blue water and disappeared from view. Shortly thereafter, she emerged from the water, but it appeared that she had brought back a guest.

 Lo and behold! The quintessence of Sicilian beauty!

        She had caught an octopus with no tools other than her own bare hands. The creature wrapped around her arms like ivy that clings tight to a garden trellis. In my mind, capturing an octopus would have seemed like a poor and possibly dangerous decision. Not only did my friends and I look on incredulously, the other native young people on the beach could not help but stare. At this point our heroine placed the octopus in her beach bag, visibly satisfied with her successful hunt. Unsatisfied with its impromptu extraction from the clear blue Mediterranean water, the octopus continued to writhe and slither within the bag; unfortunately, there would be no peaceful solace for this creature. With the might of Thor, yet the gracefulness of a butterfly, the woman grabbed the captured octopus and began to kill it upon the rocks. Our eyes were wide with amazement, as she bashfully winked in our direction and softly said "cena*."
*Dinner

Phrasal Verbs (Part 2)
For Part 1 of Phrasal Verbs, please take a look at my blog entry "Riverhead Aquarium - A Whale of a Time." I am repeating this grammatical point because in my opinion it is particularly difficult for ESL students to grasp as there are no true generalizations that can be made about phrasal verbs. Additionally, I have located some extra resources that are really great for ESL students. The best by far is an app called Phrasal Verbs Machine. The app allows users to select a verb and then a list on the right will show up with possible words that can be combined with the verb to create a phrasal verb. When a combination is created an animated illustration is displayed that demonstrates the meaning of the phrasal verb. Finally, a second language can be selected in the settings which will provide meanings of phrasal verbs in native languages. One of the interesting aspects of phrasal verbs is that their meaning can often be obtained by only using one verb, this is often how the Phrasal Verbs Machine displays the actions in native languages. The phrasal verbs used in my blog today will be defined as vocabulary words.

Vocabulary
Meet up - Same as meet, to encounter
Pick up - To collect, to buy
Hang out - To spend time with someone, usually a friend
Set up - Prepare something for use
Quintessence - A perfect example
Heroine - A female hero
Impromptu - Done without planning, unexpected
Brought/bring back- To return something or with something
Incredulously - With disbelief

Vocabulary Activity - Fill in the blanks with the correct vocabulary word or phrase
1. We decided to _________ our campsite close to the river.
2. After you borrow a library book, you have to make sure that you _____ it ______ so you don't have to pay a late fee.
3. When the music started playing the children had an __________ dance party.
4. Heroin and ________ sound very similar, but it is really important that you know the difference!
5. The boys usually ________ outside of the store at 8 p.m.
6. He __________ looked on as the police officers robbed the bank.
7. Make sure that you _________ some cold cuts on the way home.
8. Nero is the __________ of a bad emperor.
9. Usually, her and I ________ on the weekends when we both have some free time.