Spanish Encounters

Spanish Encounters

Work Encounters

I have encountered many Mexicans at Fareway. Some don't speak at all others speak very little but when they are talking together that's a different story. I know going to Mexico and every thing they did speak very fast but it still gets me how fast they talk.
Then one day that I was working I was facing the Jello and the pudding and I never realized that there was Spanish on the boxes. I guess I never really look that close to the labels on things to see weather they have Spanish on them or not. So just out of curiosity I started to read all the labels and a lot of they have Spanish on them.
The people I am working with Some of the people that I work with we start to randomly start saying things in Spanish. We try to see who can say more things in Spanish. When you think about it being in Spanish 3 you do know a lot of words and phrases.
There is this gentleman that comes into Fareway and he knows many languages and one day he stars to talk to me in Spanish and I knew what he was saying and the weird thing is I actually answered him in Spanish and didn't even realize it.

Other Encounters

While I was babysitting I played a game with the kids on the computer. You had to dress Dora and put different backgrounds and animals in the picture. Once you put the things you want in the picture it tells you the English word then the Spanish word. The kids looked at my funny when I said what some of the things were in Spanish before it said it on the computer. And I actually learned some things too. There were some words I didn't know what they were. But I guess you learn something new every day.

Spanish is every where in every day life. You really don't notice until you look for it.

Fareway...

Sunday, November 27, 2011

One night when I was working in Fareway some spanish speaking customers came to my register. When I asked them how they were and if they found everything alright they replied back to me in English. Needless to say, after I was done asking them that, they began speaking to one another in Spanish. I was shocked at how they spoke English to me but then right away went back to their fluent language. While I was scanning their groceries, they continued to talk in Spanish. I tried to comprehend what they were saying but it was very difficult. They spoke very quickly but I was also able to pick out some of the words they were saying. Once I was finished and was handing them back their change, I really wanted to tell them their correct amount of change in Spanish. I didn't end up saying it in Spanish though because I didn't want to mess up. Whenever I hear spanish speaking customers though I am always tempted to try talking to them in Spanish, even though usually I never do. I thought it was interesting though how they knew the basics of what to say to me but afterwards just went to their normal language. It was a cool experience and I always find it amusing to hear people speak fluent spanish.

Wii game encounter

I was shopping for a game on the wii, mario party 8, and this struct me as strange. I was use to all of the games instructions being in mainly english but not with this wii game. The details on the back were mainly in spanish! This is the first time that I had encountered this but it was okay. On the back it had one sentence in english and then a long summary in spanish about the game. This was an eye opener that not all games are english revolved.

Alejandro Sanz

I was looking up spanish songs and I came across this amazing singer Alejandro Sanz. He was born in Madrid on December 18, 1968. He married Jaydy Mitchel, a mexican model, in December 2000. He had one child with her, which was a daughter. They split and now he has another child.

Before singing became apart of Alejandro's life he studied administration and business studies. Administration and business was not what he wanted in life, so he started singing. His First album came out in 1991, which was Viviendo Deprisa. He became nationally famous. I suggest you to listen to his songs such as Los Dos Cogidos de la Mano, Se le Apago La Luz, ect.

My Real Life Situation

Over the weekend I went up to GreenBay, granted I'm a Steelers fan, I went up there for the experience. I had never been out of state, so I was scared, but also excited. The drive took forever! Once we were there, it was all worth it! I saw a lot of cool things, but the one thing that stood out was how many people I was around. Tons of different races!

I was walking by and heard a person talking really fast spanish on his phone, he talked really fast, but I could understand a few words! As we were walking around looking at all of the people tailgating, a man from one of the stands had actually came up to me and started talking in spanish, I wanted to say that I didn't know much spanish, but once I got into that situation I was scared I would mess up and he'd laugh at me, so I felt like I forgot everything I had learned!

I had a lot of fun though, and it just shows how many races there are throughout the states! I was extremely surprised on how many there were and hopefully next time I won't freeze up ;) and maybe try and talk in spanish! :)

Experience

Last week I was with Kelli Bonert and we were talking about The Lion King. I had one of the songs beats stuck in my head but I didn't know the lyrics so we went on Youtube to find the video. Sure enough we found the song that we were looking for. I listened to it in English first then we switched it to German and Japanese etc. We later listened to the Spanish in the video and I understood all of it. It was a great way to compare English to Spanish.It was a good time, and it helped having almost three years of Spanish to understand it. Even in reality I can understand some of what the people speaking Spanish are talking about. There was a day even that there was Spanish instructions and we couldn't find the English one. So I attempted to translate a little bit of the instructions, but after I got a few sentences, we found the English instructions.



A few nights ago I listened to Fotografia by Juanes ft. Nelly Furtado, which was the song we listened to in one of my previous years in Spanish. As soon as I heard the song I remembered the frustration that we all had trying to figure out the English to it. I still remember the meaning of the song. The photos and how they felt about each other, helped and I know parts of it in Spanish that I can say. Which makes me learn even more Spanish then I already knew. Listening to movies in Spanish, music, and people makes a big difference. It helps you establish more than what you already know.

Church Card

I go to church at St. Luke's Church in Hopkinton, Iowa. We have have this card that is from the Arch Dieces and on the front it is written in English. When you turn it over it is all in Spanish. I could figure out what some of the words meant, but there were also some that I did not know. It is good that we have Spanish in our church life.

Starlin Castro

The appropriately named up-and-coming star for the Chicago Cubs has a bright future ahead of him at shortstop. Or maybe not so much, at least defensively. He mainly stars at hitting the ball hard and often, leading the National League in hits last year and holding a .307 batting average. Hold, on though. He is still pretty rough on some edges, like defense leading the MLB in errors for a shortstop last season. He could definitely use some refining, but the raw talent is definitely there. He has the ability to hit for power, hitting 10 homeruns last season, and he appears to be able to grow into more power, naturally, unlike, say, Ryan Braun. As far as his defense is concerned, look no further than the old saying, you hit your way off the island (Dominican Republic).

Still having language barriers

After being in Spanish for over two years i was feeling pretty confident in my spanish speaking skills. But after i traveled to Mexico over this past summer I realized that there is still a major language barier when it comes to me being able to talk to people who only know how to speak spanish. I did pretty good for the most part at being able to breakdown what they said to me and piecing together a sentence but when they start to talk really fast because they are excited you are american who knows spanish then I got super lost and had to ask them to slow down. so what I learned from this is that even with over two years of spanish under my belt there are still a lot of hings that I need to learn yet. But it was a great experience and I learned a lot for the time that I was there.

Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias was born May 8, 1975 in Madrid, Spain. He is half Spanish and half Filipino. Iglesias was in danger. His grandfather was captured by a terrorist group, so he was sent to live with his father in Miami. His grandfather was later found safe. At the age of 15 he secretly started writing music. In 1995 Iglesias released his first album. Today Enrique is still a very successful song writer and singer.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005040/bio

Camila is a soft rock, Mexican, group of singers that we often listen to in class. The band was created in 2005, and it has three members. Mario Domm is producer and composer from Mexico City, Samuel Parra is a vocalist from Veracruz and Pablo Hurtado is a guitarist from San Luis Potosí. This group is very, very popular in Mexico. The name Camila comes from the idea "close to God". The group has released five albums so far including "Dejarte de Amar" and "Todo Cambio". The group writes a lot of their songs in airports and hotel rooms, out of the love for their artistry and music. You could say they formed the group out of luck. Everybody was in the right place in the right time, and it just made sense. I think this is a great group to listen to. It's very easy listening and I really enjoy it in Spanish Class. I wanted to know more about them and I love the meaning of the name Camila and how it resembles their faith. It is a great group to be modeled in Mexico and the United States because of their character and the fact that they are excellent role models. I've always loved listening to bands and the radio, or anytime of music. Now that I've had a chance to research that aspect in an entirely different culture, I have fresh perspective on how big the world really is. If you want to listen to Camila and similar artists you can hear it for free by searching for Camila on Pandora Radio on the internet.

-- Hermosa Guthrie

http://www.last.fm/music/Camila

Illegal Mexican Immigration

A few days ago Homeland Security was at my friend's farm. They asked his dad some questions, but refused to release any information. His dad was required to drive all the way to Des Moines for a court case with just one day prior of being notified. He changed some plans around in order to make his appearance. My friend told me about it all and we were still completely bewildered as to what exactly was going on.
The next day I finally got to hear what it was about. Apparently another local farmer in the area, that his dad previously worked for, had many illegal immigrants working for him. He knew that they were all illegal and stated so in his testimony. Everything is alright for my friends family, but the other guy may not be as fortunate.
Now the man faces up to five years in prison with fines of thousands upon thousands of dollars. All of the aliens were of Mexican ethnicity. There are cases like this very often, however, this was the closest one to me.
I understand why they would want to come here. America is the place of hopes and dreams, were someone can really make it from any ethnic group. Afterall, look were Obama made it. Yet Mexican backrounds are much different, who wouldn't want to get away from all of the horriffic crimes we hear about down there everyday. It's a hard enough life as it is, though one thing is for sure, if you want to be an United States citizen, you must do it the right way following the law.

Anthony "Romeo" Santos

The other day, as I was winding down for the day and listening to my ipod, I came to a new song that I had just added a while back. That song is called "Promise" by Romeo Santos featuring Usher. I have not heard of Romeo Santos other than the song, so this kind of intrigued me. The part of the song that Romeo is in is all Spanish, so he is obviously of Mexican heritage. Romeo Santos is an American of Dominican-Puerto Rican heritage. He was born on July 21, 1981 in the Bronx, New York. He was His childhood consisted of his love for music. Not only his love for music, but more specifically his love for songwriting. When people hear an unfamiliar song, they usually want to know who sang it. However, Romeo was more curious in who wrote the songs. His passage of fame began when he joined his church choir, and shortly after started a band called Aventura with a few of his buddies. Apart from singing, his main role in the group was songwriting. Their original songs intrigued many people. He new is dream had come true when he was asked to sing for the president in 2009. After great successes with the group, Romeo split and released his first single on May 9, 2011. Ever since, his songs have been top songs on Latin charts. Now that I know a little about the artist of "Promise", I have a new respect for the song knowing that he probably wrote it. His voice is very soothing and rich and I will definitely check out some more of his songs.

http://www.romeosantosofficial.com/us/biography

http://www.yakoradio.com/images/photo%20galleries/Romeo%20Santos/Romeo_Santos_for_Promo_1_-_for_press_release.jpg

Scrubs

I was watching a episode of Scrubs the other day in which Turk and Carla were fighting over when they get married whether or not Carla would take Turk's last name. Carla is Hispanic and wants to keep her last name, Espinoza, because she wants the tie to her Hispanic heritage and family. Turk who is African-American wanted her to take his name to feed his feeling of masculinity. Simply this was a battle between American culture and Hispanic pride. This got me to thinking about how Hispanic people view their culture and heritage when compared to most Americans.

It seems to me that most Caucasian or African Americans are wanting to fit into the culture of their surroundings and do not hold heritage in a very high regard. Hispanic Americans including Carla seem to like to be known as being Hispanic. It seems to give them a sense of pride and of identity. They also hold heritage dear to their heart and they also seem to believe that it is a huge part of who they are. Heritage and culture means a lot more to them then it would for people from other backgrounds in the US.

http://img2-3.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/030203/113420__scrubs_l.jpg

Breaking Dawn

Everyone knows the Twilight saga Breaking Dawn, writen by Stephanie Myer. Breaking Dawn part one was just released on November 18, 2011. Breaking dawn is about Edward and Bella and how deeply in love they are. Then there is that bond with Bella and her old time friend Jacob that she can't live without. The movie starts out Bella and Edward get married and then leave for their honeymoon to Isle Esme. On their long journey there they make a few stops on the Puerto Rican towns. In these towns there are spanish speaking people. In the movie as they got off the boat and got to land they joined a crowd of people singing and dancing in the spanish language. It reminded me of the parties they have in Mexico and spanish speaking countries that we learned about. Then when they reached Isle Esme they saw their house they would be staying in and met their maid. There made turned out to be a latino. She spoke in Spanish and told them what to do when Bella gets pregnate with Edwards kid. To do this she used the Spanish back round and culture to find out what was wrong with Bella and what her destination will be.

A La Nanita Nana

This Spanish carol has many versions. There is the version on "The Cheetah Girls 2" and there is the version the Maquoketa Valley choir is singing for their Christmas concert. The version being sung by the choir is written in Spanish, but has the English translations underneath the Spanish text. The song is speaking about the birth of baby Jesus and the journey of the people to see him. The translations in the score was given by Salvador Ferreras. A La Nanita Nana is a lullaby sung by many Spanish speaking people. The rhythms and some words in this song are also found in other Spanish songs, and the key changes in the song are part of Spanish folksongs and also found in Cuban folksongs. This is a very sweet sounding lullaby, and will be sung by the choir at the Christmas concert.

"A La Nanita Nana." A Treasury of Christmas Carols: The Hymns and Carols of Christmas. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2YXYxW99es

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGQuECoCQaM

Spanish Encounters At Work

When I am working, I usually am the cashier. When I am the cashier, I encounter many types of people. Lately, I have noticed that there are a few customers who speak Spanish. One time when I was working, there was a spanish family that came to my check out. They were talking in fluent spanish to eachother, but when they were talking to me it was in english. I was suprised as to how well they spoke english, and how well they understood me. One thing that I found was interesting was that when the family was talking to eachother, I could understand and pick out some of the words they were saying. I could really tell that my years of being in spanish have paid off.

Duncan and My Spanish Experience II

My wonderful friend Duncan and I were bored one Saturday night so we decided we would go to Las Flores in Manchester. It was my first time going there and Duncan had been there a couple times before. I wanted to go mainly so I could blog about it and so I could taste the fried ice cream that other people had talked about. I did not talk any Spanish while I was there but I did listen to the cooks and waitresses/waiters talk in Spanish to each other. It was crazy how fast they were talking to each other and it was almost impossible to understand what they were saying. I believe I did hear them mention how it was not a very busy night though and I believe I heard one of them say aburrido which of course means boring. And since it was a slow night, I decided it would make sense for one of them to say it was a boring night. Duncan was pretty much just long for the ride and he couldn't understand anything they said because he bailed out of Spanish after only two years. Poor kid.

Carlitos Funke

This weekend I was bored so I decided I would watch Pirates of the Caribbean. While I was watching it I realized that Penelope Cruz starred in the movie, so I figured I could do a blog on her.

Penelope Cruz was born April 28, 1974 in Madrid, Spain. As a child she would entertain her family by re-enacting TV commercials. She was also into dance when she was little. She studied classical ballet for nine years. When she was 15 she defeated 300 girls at a talent agency competition. This landed her many roles in dancing. She danced in music videos, and on a hit Spanish TV show. In the Spanish world she was a leading lady. When Penelope was 25 she decided to move to Hollywood, California. She was ready to take charge of her career and she landed a role in the movie, Woman on Top. She starred in many other movies and her career has been very successful and I'm sure there will be more to come. Penelope was the first Spanish actor to win an Academy Award.

Penelope Cruz is a beautiful, hardworking, talented actress. She has been featured in many movies and I'm sure there is more to come. Penelope worked very hard to get where she is now and her success has motivated me to be all that I can be and never settle for anything less than the best.

http://www.biography.com/people/penelope-cruz-9262753

Alexa Vega

Recently I was watching "The Middle" and Alexa Vega starred on the show as Axl's girlfriend. She played the head cheerleader, but then she crushed Axl. It then clicked that I could do my blog on her.

Alexa Vega was born on August 27, 1988 in Miami FLorida. Her father is Columbian and her mother is an American former model. She first starred in the movie Little Giants in 1996, which is one of my favorite movies. She became known worldwide in 2001 when she appeared in the movie Spy Kids. In 2003 she was named one of the years hottest teens in Vanity Fair. In 2004 she was in the movie Sleepover. Her most recent acting would be that she is in the ABC Family show "Ruby and the Rockits".

Alexa Vega has a good career in acting. I'm sure you will be seeing her more in the future. She has been acting since she was eight and she is a great actress. I enjoy most of her movies especially Little Giants and Sleepover.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0891786/bio

Kid Cudi

I had no idea what i was going to do my blog over this quarter. I started looking on the internet for people with Mexican heritage. I came across a list of singers/artists and saw Kid Cudi's name on it. I was in shock. Kid Cudi is one of my favorite rappers and I have him as a station on my Pandora account. I wasnted to know a leiitle about his background.
Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi a.k.a. Kid Cudi was born in 1984 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a Mexican American and his mother was African American. Kid Cudi had a passion for music and dropped out of college and moved to Brooklyn. In 2008 he released A Kid Named Cudi and started working with Kanye West. His most popular song was Day N Nite that hit number three on Billboards Top 100. In 2009 he released his debut album Man on the Moon: the End of Day. Some of my favorite songs by him are Day N Nite, Mr. Rager, The Mood, Make Her Say, Pursuit of Happiness, Embrace the Martian, The Prayer, 50 Ways to Make a Record, and Up Up and Away.
Kid Cudi is a great rapper and one of my favorites. I was completely surprised when I found out he had Mexican heritage. He has many great songs and I love listening to him.

Sengupta, Saptakee. "Top Kid Cudi Songs." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
http://cdn1.ticketsinventory.com/images/last_photos/concert/K/kid-cudi/show_2011_kid-cudi_13042490720589.png

Food Food Food!!

The other day I realized that I had none of my Christmas shopping done!! I knew that I needed to hurry up and get it done as soon as possible! My friend Emilee Muller and myself then decided that we would go to Cedar Rapids and then later we would meet up with my sister and her boyfriend Austin. We took our time shopping and then once we finished my sister Sadie said that she wanted to get some food and I thought that we could go to Carlos O'Kelly's. Everyone agreed and soon enough we were in her car and on our way! When we got their Emilee and I thought about using our Spanish, but we were nervous so we didn't. One thing we did do though is quiz Sadie and Austin on their Spanish to see how they were keeping up on it....let's just say I think they need to take a trip back to Spanish 1 for a few days!! :)