Machu Picchu

Hay fue luga en la pelicula 'el Diarios de Motocicleta' que yo creo fue Machu Picchu en Peru. Machu Picchu is a mountainous area in Peru that was an Inca site that we think was build for the Inca emperor, Pachacuti. It is known as 'the lost city of the Incas' probably because the desolate and abandoned state that it's in. It's believed that it lost it's inhabitants during a Spanish conquest in the 1500's. I would really like to visit this place and learn more about it, because how incredible it looks.

The Motorcycle Diaries

Ver el Diarios de Motocicleta fue interesante este semana. I thought it was really cool that the two friends traveled around the country to see differences in the different places. Plus since they traveled so much they got to see the landscapes and country and learn about different places. However I don't know if I could ever do something like that because most of the time they didn't have money and were probably pretty hungry and tired once they lost their bicycle. The last place they visited seemed to influence them the most and it was interesting how they in turn had a strong impact on the people there; both workers and the sick.

Thanksgiving

Although Spanish speaking countries don't celebrate Thanksgiving, they sure do know how to cook and be with family like Americans do when it is Thanksgiving. I imagine if Spanish people celebrated Thanksgiving the way we do it probably would be an even bigger event. Considering the size of families and the closeness of them, it's probably easier to be around family, and very homey. De cualquier manera, Thanksgiving es a gran dia de fiesta

Owner of the Sun

A Spanish woman has claimed that she own's the sun. According to her, the law states that no country can own the sun, but individuals can. She also said that a man has registered himself as the owner of the moon and various other planets in the solar system, but no one has thus far registered to be the owner of the sun. Yo creo que estan locos, ser propietario de algo fuera el mundo es raro.

La Limpia

La limpia, a Spanish, shamanic therapy and ritualistic healing and clensing procedure that involves a raw egg and smoke to help purify a persons aura. Generally a healer, rubs raw egg all over your body and verbalizes chants. Sometimes herbs and other ingredients are mixed and put on you as well. The after effects are supposed to help you feel lighter and just feel better in general. El malo energies a toman distancia. Plus, the body and mind are clensed.

Mmm, Spanish rice.

Arroz con leche. A Spanish, rice pudding. It's a very common food in Mexico, Spain and other Spanish speaking countries. It's also so popular, and delicious that non-Spanish speaking countries have acquired the love for this food. It's filling, sweet and it warms you up! A simple recipe is:
1. white rice
2. Milk
3. Butter
4. Sugar
5. Cinnamon.
Pretty much some of the yummiest flavors all put together!

Llegado tarde

I realize I'm past the due time (I think) for these two posts...but I tried. It made me wonder how people can possibly get around to work on time in Mexico. I know not everyone own's a car, and there are buses, but man! I've been on a few of those buses and they are not cool. Seriously, hot, cramped buses, that sometimes you have to stand. Occasionally though, there might be a small group of people playing and singing to pass the time for the people's short trip, it's a neat experience, but I so wish that they could all own cars with air conditioning. Es no justo.

Clothes

This week in Spanish we learned about clothing articles. I like vocabulary like this because of all the cognates, it's interesting to see how closely related they are to the English words. We also listened to another song (that was rather unhappy, like the last one). It's weird listening to other songs in Spanish, that aren't...fiesta/mariachi type, happy, dancing music. Yo espero a mas musica de Espanol.

Siestas

En Spanish cultura, es comunes para participar en a 'siesta' en el medio por la tarde. Something, I wish American culture would adopt. A siesta is a nap, generally in the afternoon, after lunch. After lunch, when someone is full and sleepy, it would be nice to just take a short nap. Supposedly, we all have a biological need for naps, and therefore it's healthy and well accepted to do so in some of the Spanish countries.

This week

This week in Spanish we learned about traveling and words/terms that go along with it. These words are some that I could probably have found useful when I went to Mexico last year; like the words "hotel, luggage", etc. We also learned more about ser and estar, and what they relate to, how they relate to different situations. Listening to the song involving ser and estar was pretty amusing too, because it was about a girl who was...evidently unhappy about someone. La chica fue muy dramatica y enojada.

Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.

In Valencia, Spain, there are some really cool, weird, modern buildings. Ciudad de las artes y las ciencias es interesante y maravilla arquitectonica. The buildings are really neat because of the architecture and water that surrounds them. Just looking at the outside of them make me want to go there just to see what it looks like on the inside of the buildings and seeing all the (I'm sure) amazing things inside.

Dia de los Muertos

This week, since we had to write something about Dia de los Muertos, I figured I'd make my post about it. Dia de los Muertos is a holiday similar to Halloween, but at the same time it's not at all like Halloween. The people celebrate Dia de los Muertos to celebrate the memory of the dead. Loved ones, in particular. Traditionally, they build a altar for their loved ones to honor them. On the altar they place items that are to represent who they are/were. The festivities also include eating and partying for the dead. Dia de los Muertos esta a interesante celebracion.

This week

This week in Spanish, we learned about irregular verbs! There are so many of them. However, most of them seem really familiar from taking Spanish in high school, so they shouldn't be too hard to remember on the test. Some of the verbs are only irregular in the yo form, some change from e to ie, o to ue, and some stay the same in nosotros form. Verbs always seem to have all these rules and exceptions, but that's kind of like everything else in life. Verbos en Spanish se muy importante de aprender.

Mariachi

Tonight, I ate a Aculopocos, a local restaurant in downtown, Amarillo Texas. There is where my idea for a blog sparked. Listening to the mariachi band play songs! I've been to birthdays, weddings, and several restaurants that have mariachi bands, and I knew someone in high school who frequently performed in one. Generally, mariachi bands have a couple of trumpets, a guitar, a saxophone, singers, and sometimes more instruments play in as well. Mariachi bands were originated in Mexico, and spread throughout Spanish speaking countries, each of them making their own unique contributions to their bands. Customarily, mariachi bands play upbeat, happy, dancing-type music that boosts people's attitudes. Mariachi musica esta muy bueno, feliz musica.

Esta semana

This week we learned about fútbol in Spain. I learned that Spainards don't just love fútbol, but that they are "crazy" about it. I also was informed that the biggest stadium for fútbol is in Club Barcelona, where 100,000 people can watch the games. I didn't realize there were different types of Spanish; in Barcelona they speak Catalan, which I've never heard of before. Catalan esta a lenguaje romantico. Along with Barcelonians speaking Catalan, I didn't realize that Spain speaks at least 5 different languages: Spanish, Catalan, Galacian (although I'm not sure that's spelled correctly), and Basco being four of them.

Piñata

Piñata's are a celebratory icon originated from Mexico. Originally, piñatas were made of clay pots that represented a particular god. Once the piñata's were broken, what was inside and fell out represented favors presented by the gods. Piñata's now, are generally popular around children's birthdays, made of characters, and filled with candy to be shared. Once, in elementary school, my teacher taught us how to make piñata's. We used balloons, paper mache, newspapers, and tissue paper. Piñata's se muchas haces divertidas!

The House on Mango Street

This week in Spanish when I was reading my book that I bring to class, I actually started learning more of what the book was about by getting both the English version and the Spanish version and comparing the two. It's amazing how some of the words are so close to one another in pronounciation and spelling. Some Spanish words even seem to make more sense than English ones do. My book seems to be a pretty easy read, good book. Mi libro es 'La Casa en Mango Street'.

Quinceañera

In Spanish speaking countries, there are many traditional events that are very important to family, life, and culture. One of them is the quinceanera, which takes place on a girl's fifteenth birthday (hence quince). This is a day that marks a girl's entry to womanhood, and leaving childhood behind. Having a quincenera is a lot to plan, and can be very expensive. There involves dancing, food, a ceremony and the dress and make up for the special girl. Yo deseao yo podria han a quincenera pero es tambien tarde!

Drug War

In Mexico, there is currently a war going on, more commonly known as the 'Mexican Drug War'. I found out about this pretty recently (which is probably a bad thing I'm not keeping up with these things), but it started a while back because the government is trying to stop drug trafficking in Mexico. Mexico is a large supplier of quite a few drugs, including meth and cocaine, that is going to the United states. It's been suggested that about 90% of cocaine going into our country is coming from Mexico. Considering this war started in 2007, it's been pretty violent because many people have died. Esta estima que sobre treinta mil han murio.

Family

This last week in Spanish, we learned about family terms, and we learned a little about Spanish families. We watched a video about how families tend to be bigger in Spanish countries, and got to see how some of their life-styles are. It didn't really go into religious practices in Spanish families, but I think that has a big influence on why their families tend to be bigger. Catholic practices tend to lean toward having many children, from what I understand. Yo relamente disfrutar de esta capitulo, porque la familia es muy importante para mi.

Pablo Picasso

I had the chance last year in college to learn about art from a long time ago, to present day. During that time, I got to see some art by Pablo Picasso. Picasso was a Spanish painter who was a major influence in western art, and even now in a lot of modern art. Picasso's art is considered abstract, and he started the development of cubist art. Some of his famous pieces are 'The three Musicians' and 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Pablo Picasso esta fabuloso artisto!

Ser, Estar, and a lot of rules

Esta semana en Español, nos enteramos de "ser" y "estar". Both "ser" and "estar" mean "to be". We learned how to conjugate them and what both are used for. "Ser" is means more of "what" something or someone is and "estar" is "how" something is. Ser is also used in situations concerning permanence, identity, origin or the title of someone. Estar is what is at the moment, is relevant to the well-being of someone, their health, condition and also their present location. Increasingly, I've also been reminded how confusing Spanish is. There are all these rules, but then there are so many exceptions or loopholes to them!

Islas de Las Munecas: Mexico's Island of the Dolls

In Mexico, there's a famous area that is known as one of the creepiest places in Mexico. It's said that las isla esta obsesionado por las munecas. The island is covered with these old, ugly, creepy, mutilated dolls that leaves a forboding feeling among anyone there. The dolls are in the trees, hanging randomly, and dispersed around the island. There was a episode on a show; Destination Truth, about these dolls. I haven't seen it yet but I've heard about it, and during their investigation of this area, supposedly one of the dolls opened their eyes, and they caught it on film! I think it would be a really cool place to visit, especially around Halloween!

Cancun

Last summer I went to Cancun with my family, and got the oppurtunity to learn more about the culture and the differences in Mexico opposed to how things are in America. Being from Texas and being exposed to all the "Tex-Mex" food and language, it was really weird when I went there and asked if they had sopapillas and they had no idea what I was talking about. Their food tasted a lot different than I expected, and it was also interesting because their laws are completely different. For example, when we got picked up from the airport, there was an ice chest full of beer in the car! And I was 19 at the time, and they are very lenient on drinking there; alcohol served all day long.
I also got to go see Chichin Itza, which is pretty phenomenal, but it was way too hot! Visitando Chichin Itza en el otono seria bueno.

Intro

Hola!

I wasn't exactly sure what to write about on my first post so I looked up Spain online. I came across the term "Barcelona" a popular city in Spain. In Barcelona, there is a huge monumental church, La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia is a fairly new church in Barcelona designed by a man named Antoni Gaudi, and is still under construction. If I ever go to Spain, I'd definitely want to visit this amazing structure. La Sagrada Familia es fantástico!