My Bloggy thingy

Whenever I get a new electronic that involves some form of assembly or installation, I refer to the manual. Before this year I would see the Spanish and say, "EWWWW. . . Gag me with a rusty spoon!" Then proceed to look for the English directions. However, when I opened my new HD PVR (high-def personal video recorder) I saw the Spanish side and thought Come at me bro!

I dove into the instructions, but I avoided using the pictures because that makes it too easy. I knew there would be things I wouldn't understand since it would have names of different components and cords so I had to cheat a little bit. After about five minutes of reading the Spanish and tinkering with setting I actually get it to work!

THis situation made me think one thing, Wow! I have come a long ways. Way back in the day I struggled to get a B in Spanish, but that isn't how it is now! It may take me time to comprehend, but I can read AND understand what is being said. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside knowing how awesome things have gone! :)

Spain

I was recently introduced to my newest love--Pinterest. While pinning away at the oodles of great things found on pinterest, I fell in love with pictures of beautiful places located in none other than Spain.

Spain is roughly the size of Utah and Arizona combined. The capital is in Madrid, while many mistakenly believe that it is in Barcelona. Spain has roughly 47 million people living within the country. The country is mostly Catholic, with about 75% practicing Catholicism. Spanish is the official language, while other regional langues and phrases are spoken. The Strait of Gibralter separates Spain from the African country of Morocco. This country shares the The climate on the Iberian peninsula is very temperate. The winters are colder on the interior of the peninsula compared to the coast. On the other hand, the summers are much hotter in this area of the peninsula. The Spanish have a constitutional monarchy as their form of government. Coal and iron ore are among the country's leading natural resoures. Aside from all of this, I want to see Spain in the worst way. Note: the pictures attached

I'm serious--send me there now. I want to see the running of the bulls and the beautiful beaches in Spain. I want to see the dancing that is authentic to Spain. I wanna go!

I went to church on Ash Wednesday for services. Before church started I found a bookmark by the books in their holders. I looked at it and on one side the prayer was in English and on the other side it was in Spanish. So, while father was giving the serman, which I should have been paying attention to, I tried to read the Spanish side of the prayer. I went line by line and tried to figure out what it was trying to say. When I couldn't figure out what it was saying because of words I did not know, I would peek at the other side to see what they ment. I did pretty well in reading the Spanish side, but I did get stuck on a few words. I was proud of myself for being able to challenge myself a little bit and also for keeping me entertained. :)

Juan De Juanes

A painter that is not well known by his name but known by his famous painting is Juan de Juanes. When thinking about the painting "The Last Supper" many people may not associate a Spanish artist with that work. Where he was born was not recorded but some facts known about him are that he studied in Venice and his works are actually close imitations of his father's (Vicente Juan Masip). Juan was interested in art at a very young age and most of his works were during the renaissance period. His works were known not to be as precise as his fathers but he still had his own touch that was very appealing to people who enjoyed the arts.

Salma Hayek

When thinking about an actress with some hispanic background, the one that comes to mind is Salma Hayek. Not only is she a great actor who played in over thirty films and produced several films, but she is also muy caliente!

One of Salma Hayek's greatest films was "Frida," a romantic movie released in 2002. She played as the main character and goes through a slew of romances. She also appeared in some more recent films such as: Cirque Du Freak, Puss in Boots, and my personal favorite, Grown Ups. She's a great actor and earned several Oscars. Salma is the first Mexican to ever be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar and is known to be one of the biggest Mexican faces to ever appear in Hollywood. She had a great career, which is far from over.

Camila!

Camila is a soft rock group who have much fame in Latin America! The group has a total of three members Mario Domm, Samuel Parra and Pablo Hurtado. They got their band name from a friends idea, which means "close to God". I first hurt their song Besame in Spanish class. I really love the rhythm! I feel as though every time my friends and I here this song, we NEED to sing the greatest line in the song, "Beesssssaameeee"(insert low male voice). We can listen to this song just about anywhere, but tend to listen to it while we cruise around the gooood ol' town of Hopkinton! This song will never get old to us. I absolutely love the song Besame! Plus all the band members are muy guapo! :)

Michael Trevino

One of my favorite shows to watch is The Vampire Diaries, partly because a lot of the actors on it are, like, really pretty. One of these actors is Michael Trevino (technically pronounced Treviño). He is a Mexican American, and his role as Tyler Lockwood on TVD is his most famous role to date. He won a People's Choice Award for Best Scene Stealer in 2011.

Michael's a full-blooded Mexican-- his mother is from Zacatecas, Mexico, and his father was born to Mexican immigrants in California. He was brought up bilingual but because he spent too much time with a white, English-speaking babysitter, he lost most of it much to his disappointment. However, he still speaks a bit of Spanish and is working to become fluent again.

Source: http://www.latina.com/blogs/vivo-por-tivo/exclusive-michael-trevino-moving-90210

Mexico

Last summer, I traveled to Mexico with Spanish 2 through 4 class mates. It never really set into my mind that I was going to Mexico until I was getting ready to leave. I remember when we were getting on the boat to bring us to Isla Mujeres. We had to wait awhile to load up the boat. The boat ride was one of my favorite parts because you could see the different depths of water underneath us. My roommates and I decided to take take pictures. We then saw some army men guarding the area. I instantly wanted a picture with them. Although, we were intimidated, we politely said, "Tengo una photo con tu?" One smiled and said, "Si!"
I got in the middle of the three men and smiled. In the picture I have with them, two aren't even looking but the one that said yes to me has a small smirk on his face.

I had never actually taken the time to think that all army men, even from other countries need to be respected. I think of how much we appreciate our soldiers, and marines. Other countries love their men just as much as we do. I think it is awesome that when we aren't fighting a country, you can still respect other countries people who serve. I thanked them for taking a picture with me and wish I would have said thank you for what you do for your country too. They weren't only protecting Mexicans in that area, they were guarding their coast and me.

Last Monday when we didn't have school I babysat for four kids. The kids were six, seven, and there were two eleven year olds. When I got to their house, they were watching Dora the Explorer. I let them keep watching it because it is one of their favorite shows. Dora speaks a lot of spanish on the show, because it is educational and is teaching the kids simple spanish phrases and words. I was surprised by how much spanish that the kids actually knew. They knew a lot of the basics like "hola" and "adios" but I had to tell them some new stuff. While they were watching, they asked me if I knew any spanish words and I told them that I was in spanish IV. They kept asking me what I knew and I would tell them a few words and say a few sentences in spanish. I felt really cool because they were so interested in it and I could actually tell them what they wanted to know.