Let’s call her Sheyla, a nurse from Egypt, and this is her make-it-through story of passing OET.
Deciding on OET was easy—her husband had a job offer in London, but with children aged 5 and 7, they would both need to work to provide for their family.
BPME
For many, Christmas and New Year are anticipated with fascination. Society and seasonal melodies say we should be cheerful, celebrating, and cooking perfect – and huge – meals. Truthfully, even with the stress of planning and gift buying, many consider it to be a happy time.
BPME
Most of us haven’t believed in Santa Claus for a very long time. Yet every December, we decorate the Christmas tree, shopping for gifts, sing along to Christmas songs, watch classic holiday films, and put on that once-a-year Christmas outfit.
BPME
The first text message, “Merry Xmas”, was sent on 3 December 1992. By 2007, texts had outstripped the number of phone calls per month [1]. With all the amazing things our smartphones do for us nowadays, there is one thing we will always need them for and that is communication. Smart gadgets have changed the way and “language” of our communication even as they help us to stay connected to others.
BPME
“Please stop screaming, Mr Preda,” directed the Emergency Room doctor on duty. “I’m screaming, doctor, because you are spending too much time filling out paperwork,” the patient complained adamantly. “What are you waiting for? Where are the medicine and painkillers to treat my burn?”
BPME
A couple from Moldova, who were asylum seekers in Germany, were sent by their Migrant Medical Care Center to a dentist. The woman, who was seven months pregnant, had not one, but two extremely painful teeth. She was in agony. With typical efficiency, they were registered and the dentist agreed that the teeth should be removed right away. But then…a brick wall of bureaucracy. The office receptionist announced that the woman could not be treated because, in the rush to get her and her painful teeth to the dentist, the Migrant Centre had written the husband’s name on the referral form, not the wife’s.
BPME
The practice is thought to date back thousands of years, in Egypt, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Somalia for reasons ranging from preservation of girls’ virginity, rite of passage into adulthood, control of sexual behavior of women, and making a girl a better marriage prospect [1] (maybe because it guarantees the man gets a bride with her highly prized virginity intact?). But FGM persists because of the drive to stick to old traditions, the need for social survival in some cultures, and sometimes out of habit that is so removed from the original purpose 2000 years ago, that today’s believers might not even themselves know why they do it:“ It’s just always been so.
BPME
I always treated yoga as a monotonous activity attracting a special species of a person with endless patience and enormous will power. What did it take for me to start looking at yoga with a more open mind? Simple – age.
My joints began causing me more and more discomfort when I walked or danced. But I noticed that after some slow doing morning gymnastics, I would feel better.
BPME
