Nadal wins the French Open (pics here), Alonso celebrates another F1 victory at Silverstone… Can they make it a triple on Wednesday?
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Category: notes
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Book review by Marbella, with our thanks: “…I found it quite uncomfortable reading at times. If anyone remembers the initiation ceremony in the Richard Harris film, A Man Called Horse? Well, if you still love Spain/the Spanish after reading some parts of this book then you’ll see what I mean by the analogy. I passed the test but it wasn’t easy.
It is a real rollercoaster ride through the civil war, ETA, catalanismo, drugs, tourism, corruption, flamenco…the list goes on. Giles Tremlett has an easy going, quite punchy style which made the coverage of so many subject areas achievable. I’m not sure if it is a good or bad thing that after reading it I have more questions than answers. Before reading this book, I thought that Spaniards were being shifty in not confronting their past in relation to the civil war. I think now that if Spaniards want to forget then outsiders (like me, like Tremlett by his own admission) should let them do so.” |
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NFS recently and in the future.
This is just a quick hello, update kind of a post. First of all, an apology for the slow-down in the rate of podcast output recently. Over the last two months we have been coming back and forth to the UK a lot to visit a member of my family who has been very unwell, and this has made it difficult to record as many podcasts as we would like, as often as we would like. Thanks for sticking around, life is slowly getting back to normal again.
So worry not, all the Notes from Spain podcasts are definitely here to stay! We have a new Notes in Spanish ready to go out as soon as I can finish the transcript (hopefully tomorrow), and we have endless plans for all three podcasts and the website. The forums are going so much better than I first imagined and I want to thank everyone that is involved in keeping them so busy – as I hoped they are turning into a really interesting resource for anyone that wants to know about all aspects of Spain – a perfect complement to the blog and the podcasts.
More tomorrow… ¡Hasta entonces! Ben
We get quite a few e-mails and requests for podcasts about studying in Spain for a year or more, maybe as part of a university course. Derek (roadrunner08), for example, asks in the forums:
“Myself and a few others will be studying in Spain for the 2007-2008 school year and we are beginning our initial preparations. As all of us are cookie-cutter American college kids we really don’t know anything about Spain beside what can be read in travel books. I was hoping that someone could inform us on what locations would be the best to study abroad, maybe strengths and weaknesses of some popular study abroad cities? (i.e. Granada, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Salamanca…)
I would love to hear some personal experiences, i.e. something that frommer’s guide couldn’t tell you about Madrid, Seville, etc.”
If you can help, then do reply to his post in the forums! (You have to register to post of reply, but this is just to keep the spammers away – we will never pass your email address on to anyone else).
‘La Sexta’, the Spanish TV channel with the rights to show the world cup in Spain, has commissioned ‘El Koala’ to rewrite one of his chart-topping songs, to provide a fitting theme. Here it is, “Opa vamos a por el Mundial” (Let’s win the world cup!) (direct link):
And here, in turn, is a (much better) overdub/rewrite, showing the real faith the Spaniards have in the chances of their national team. Presenting, “Opá, no viavé el mundial” (I won’t be watching the World Cup!) (direct link):
I’m surprised the World Cup hasn’t been mentioned in the forums yet, oh well, here goes!
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Notes in Spanish transcript – new format
The transcript for the latest Notes in Spanish podcast has changed slightly. There is now an exercise before the actual conversation transcript. The idea is to listen once without reading at the same time, just trying to complete exercise 1 (there is real teaching theory behind this idea!) After the conversation transcript there are 3 more exercises, but not the usual list of vocab and grammar – instead exercises 3 and 4 challenge you to find the words and phrases in a different way. The idea is that by actively seeking the answers to these exercises, the vocab stays in the memory for longer (forever, we hope!) Finally, the answers are included at the end of the transcript instead of in the forums.
Any feedback on the new format will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Lumpsuckerpig from the forums has set up a Skype cast called Spanish Notes (thanks also to Viajero, see forum posts here and here), and we will be chatting in Spanish today at 3 pm GMT, come and join us and let’s see how it goes!
Update: time change to 3 pm GMT, sorry, more planning next time to avoid this happening again!
Just do a search for Spanish Notes on the Upcoming Skype Casts page and you should find us. Hasta luego!
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Barca win the European Cup
Somehow my friends and I, hoping for an Arsenal win, managed to end up watching the game in a bar in Madrid full of Barcelona supporters! We didn’t hang around at the end of the game… (Press clipping from El Mundo)
Update: … and some Catalans use it as an opportunity to tout independence again, see comments below.
Update 2: Looting, 45 arrests, and 107 injured in Barcelona celebrations (article here in Spanish). To all the banner wavers who claim ‘Catalonia is not Spain’ – perhaps you are right: this would never happen in Spain.
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The Culinary Podcast Network
We are delighted that Cuisine from Spain has been accepted into the Culinary Podcast Network. If you come here for the food, then do subscribe to their feed, and you’ll automatically receive some of the best cooking shows on the net.
If the Culinary Podcast Network has led you here for the first time, then Welcome! Why not check out past episodes of Cuisine from Spain, or see what’s going on in the forums?
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Travel blog round up
This site is a member of the travel blog network at Blogads. Check out some of this week’s headlines from other travel blogs in the network, including our newest member, the Escape Blog:
Ads on your next flight? (Jet Set Lara)
The Cost of Being Poor: Costa Rica vs. the USA (Travel Blogs)
The Mistaken Massage (TravelBlogger.net)
Episode 40 – Berlin, Germany (Amateur Traveler Podcast)
Johnny Rotten podcasts for Met Museum (NewYorkology)
College Town Getaways: Penn Prez’ Philly Faves (Womantraveler)
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 