The wonderful years

The wonderful years

Mario is now 60 years old and he found some old pictures in his old computer. He started to see them and remembered all the good and bad moments he lived when he was younger. Here you will find some moments he lived a long time ago and how his life has changed so far. Pay attention to the words in bold.

A long time ago vs Now
I didn't travel too much, but now I spend most of my time traveling to different places in Mexico.
I had a small apartment in Mexico City and now I have two apartments, one in Puebla and another one in Mexico City.
I had the option of moving to Monterrey, or staying in Mexico City for my job, but I decided to stay in Mexico City.
I played soccer with my friends on the weekends and I also spent time hanging out with them. I really had a good time.
I had a good job then, but now I am the happiest person in the world because I am the owner of my own business.
I visited some of the most interesting and beautiful landmarks in Mexico City because I had more free time than the one I have now.
I was in 16 out of 32 states of Mexico before turning 36, but now I can proudly say that I was in all of them.
Because of the great success my company has, some important and high rank businessmen from the USA wanted to buy my company, but I declined the offer . I didn’t want to sell it and start all over again, or retire myself from the business world.
I was in the hospital for three months because I had a terrible car accident, but now I only visit it for my annual check-up, thanks God.
I had awful failures and also lost lots of money because of bad decisions, but that made me stronger and I could overcome those depressing situations.

As you can see, when you want to add extra information, contrast it, decide among different options, or give a reason why something happens that way, you can use connectors such as: and, but, or, also, and because. You can mix tenses and express ideas in the past that are different in the present, express situations using only the present, or express them using only the past.

If you want to know more about this topic, check this learning object Our best and most amazing experiences in life en la sección and, or, but, also.

Select exercise

Now that you know how connectors work, check these memories Mario also found. A friend of his just arrived and saw Mario looking at old pictures. Read their conversation and help them find the best connector.

The wonderful years

Ricardo: What are you doing?

Mario: Look! I found some old pictures on my old computer. I thought they were lost.

Ricardo: That's wonderful. Maybe I will appear in some of them.

Mario: In fact, I found this one. Do you remember that afternoon in 1997? We were watching our favorite's soccer team. It was the final match.

Ricardo: Of course, I do. Cruz Azul was champion of the Mexican Football League in that year because it was champion again in 2021. We were so happy. Look at our T-shirts and caps.

Mario: I also had this one. We were going out of the Hospital.

Ricardo: I remember. We had a terrible accident when we were going to San Luis Potosí a drunk driver hit us from behind.

Mario: Yeah! We were very lucky.

Ricardo: Isn't that our friend, Gabriela?

Mario: Yes, she is. Do you recall she had the opportunity to travel to Cancun to Los Cabos during two weeks in November she won a contest?

Ricardo: Sure, I do. In the end, she decided to visit Los Cabos. She really enjoyed that trip.

Mario: Look at this one!

Ricardo: It's Donys, isn't it?

Mario: Yes, it is. Donys played soccer for Morelos FC a few years ago. He played for Chapulineros from Oaxaca that same year. We took this picture when we were there visiting some friends of ours.

Ricardo: Awesome. He is an excellent striker.

Mario: I found some tickets as well.

Ricardo: Wait! Aren't those the tickets you won to travel to Japan?

Mario: Yes, they are. Those tickets were for the 2020 Olympic games that were cancelled they took place the following year in Japan. Look! but they sent me my new ones.

Ricardo: Wonderful!