~Spanish~

During band one day we were working on the song Fire. So while we were getting ready someone yelled el fuego. It was kind of funny randomly hearing Spanish words in band and since we have eighth graders in our band sometimes us high school kids talk in Spanish and they look at us like what did you say. Just like how we look at people speaking Spanish really fast like what are you talking about? The 8th graders usually say what did you say? Then we sometimes repeat in Spanish, laugh and then tell them. It's kind of enjoyable to speak Spanish in front of them sometimes. It made me realize how far we came from going to knowing no Spanish until now, having a lot more knowledge of it then when we started. It's pretty cool.

Hartig

As you already know I work at Hartig. There is a family that comes in often who speak Spanish. When they are talking amongst themselves they always speak Spanish. Usually I can catch bits of pieces of what they are saying, but I can't put it all together to fully understand. They speak so fast that it is hard. Even the young children in the family speak fast and fluently. The last time they came in the mother was yelling at her child in spanish. I had no idea what she said and thats probably a good thing because she did not sound happy. The family does speak English, though, because when they come up to the cash register they will talk to you in English. The first time I heard them speaking Spanish I became nervous because I didn't know if we would be able to understand each other when they came to check out the stuff they had, but no worries because they are bilingual, thank goodness!

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My Trip to Punta Cana

This summer, I went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It was a very interesting place to visit. I had many fun times and experiences. Something about the Dominican Republic was that there a lot of culture. The people there seemed to be very involved in eachother's lives.

While I was there, I heard many people speaking Spanish. Also, when I was around that hotel, I could read the signs perfectly. I felt very proud of myself when I could understand them and my family could not.

If I could, I would definitely go back there as soon as possible. It was such a fun place. There was always beautiful weather and the country was wonderful. While I was there, I went parasailing and dune buggying through the country. It was so cool to see a place much different than the one I live in.

Picture: http://travel.ogate.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/punta-cana-485x323.jpg

Jordana Brewster

The Fast and The Furious movies are probably my some of my favorite movies ever. I love action in them. Jordana Brewster stars in the movies as Mia Toretto.

Jordana Brewster was born on April 26, 1980 in Panama City, Panama. At the age of six, her family moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She speaks fluently in Portuguese. She also speaks some Spanish.

When she became a teen, that is when she became a star. She starred on two soap operas: "All My Children" and "As The World Turns." She also appeared in the movie "Faculty" in 1998. Being Mia Toretto in The Fast and The Furious movies is probably her most famous role.

I think that it is great that she can speak 3 languages. I enjoy her in the movies and I hope she will be in many more. She is a great actress.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0108287/bio

Dora Kracke

My cousin had invited me to go shopping to get party stuff for her sons birthday party. We were at Party City and there was this Hispanic family that came in the store. They were talking really fast and I was listening to them. Sometimes it was really hard to listen to what they were saying because they were talking so fast. There were times where I actually knew what they were saying. I think it was a great experience of hearing Spanish outside of school.

"Machismo"

One of my favorite shows is Criminal Minds. While watching an episode titled "Machismo", I knew that it would have some Spanish content in it. Based on prior Spanish knowledge I knew that machismo was some sort of male pride. In this episode, the BAU had to travel down to Mexico to investigate a series of murders that targeted elderly women. I won't give anything away; however, this episode also contained some Spanish speaking. Lola Glaudini, who plays Elle Greenaway, went into an elderly woman's house and began speaking Spanish. The interesting thing was that I knew a lot of the words she was saying. After researching it a little bit, I found out that Lola is American. That really surprised me because she has the appearance of a Spanish person and also spoke very fluently. It was nice to see Spanish while watching something I enjoy and that made it that much more interesting to watch. It was fun to watch because I knew most of what was being said.

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Spanish Encounters in Texas

I went to Texas with my family over Christmas break to see my Grandpa and he took us to a cattle farm and there were some cowboys there that were Hispanic and my dad said hola and they said hi. There were 23,ooo head of cattle the cowboys took care of the cattle.Then we went to this little restaurant and there were Hispanic people that owned it. My brother and I were trying to carry on a conversation with each other which worked out fairly well. Then we couldn't figure out a word and there was a very kind Hispanic lady that helped us. Every one around us were talking in Spanish it was really cool. We ordered in Spanish too. Then we went to the Rio Grande and took the pull bridge over to Mexico and came back it was really fun. Ruth and I were talking to the Hispanic people pulling the bridge and they were talking back to us it was cool. In Texas there are so many Spanish encounters. We also went to a ropa which is a used clothing store but the clothes are in piles on the floor and they bail the clothes. There are a lot of Spanish encounters in Texas.

Los Flores

Los Flores
A couple of weeks ago, it was my Grandpa Salow's birthday and we had the whole family come back to celebrate! My Grandpa wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant so we all decided to go to "Los Flores." When we got there, I noticed that the whole place had a lot of culture in it. They were pictures and sombreros. The waiter came up, and I could tell that he spoke Spanish. My cousin, Kyle, couldn't always understand the menu so I had to help him and it was a lot of fun. It was fun to include Spanish in my everyday life outside of school. I could translate most of the menu! The food was rather good too. Everyone was happy with what they ordered. There were many people in the building, and they looked mad that they couldn't read the menu, and I felt lucky that I could. I will definitely go back there soon. The service and food were very good and it wasn't to expensive

Combining Cultures

Earlier this winter, my family and I attended a Chiefs/Bears game at Soldier Field in downtown Chicago. My aunt lives in a suburb outside of downtown so we stayed at her house instead of getting a hotel. However, my aunt was out of town for business, so she arranged for her neighbor to drive us to and from the stadium.

My aunt's neighbor is a proud Hispanic mother raising 6 children. It was interesting to hear her talk and converse with me and my family. She was very friendly and asked us a lot of questions. Much of what she said related me back to previous chapter readings that we have gone over in class. She was very interested in the family aspect. She was astounded to hear that Hannah and I were the only two children in our house. Although she didn't view it in a negative way, she was just taken back that the Huber family only had two children. Although she and her husband already had 5 of their own children, they also adopted a child because, well, as she asked, "Why not?" She also kept talking about her children's activities and how busy they are all the time. The love and pride that she felt for her kids shown brightly as she talked. It reminded me of the chapter we had to read about how the entire Mexican heritage revolves around the family, which was proven to be true in this woman.

I felt it was interesting to see these connections from which we read and see them applied to real life. Although her children have been raised in America, this family's Mexican heritage is still extremely present in their everyday lives. They have found a way to combine both cultures and find themselves loving every minute of it.

A few weeks ago I went to state speech. My mother, sister, and grandmother all came to watch me. After we finished up there we were hungry so we decided to go to Carlos o'kellys. When we got there they brought out the chips and salsa and the first thing I ought of was the video project I did for Spanish class over chips and salsa. Once I brought that up me and my sister started talking about Spanish and I said como te llamas and she said me llamo Sadie. I couldn't believe that she still remembered some Spanish after so long! I didn't say anymore Spanish because I could tell she didn't know much more! Then I went to take a drink of my water out of the straw but for some reason I felt the need to tip it anyway and the water ended up on my lap! Other than that it was a wonderful day!

Yet Another Adventure

John Tanner and I were out to eat this past Saturday at a buffet type eatery when I found myself behind this little Hispanic boy and his Hispanic father. The little boy was telling his father what he wanted to eat and his father was getting it for him because he was too short to reach it. But the interesting thing was that the little boy was talking to his father in English but the father was responding in Spanish. It was so weird to hear them talk like that, it made me think that both of them had to know Spanish so I was unsure why they would not just pick a language and use it. I am guessing the father was much more fluent in Spanish while the little boy was better in English. Whatever it was, it spiced up my night and gave me something to blog about.

Encounter with Mexicans

When I was shopping with Mom in Crossroads Mall we walked past some Mexicans that were on the phone. I made out one word because they were talking so fast and had a accent it was hard to understand what they were saying. Although I think they were mad by the tone of voice they were using, so I most likely don't know those words. I didn't want to just stop and listen and be weird so I kept walking. Hearing them talk just reminds me of how much Spanish I don't know even though I may think I know a lot. Guess I better keep learning to be able to speak like them.

Hakuna Matata

So, in case you didn't know I enjoy the movie Lion King very much. Because of that I decided to look up my favorite song from the video and blog about it. My favorite song from the movie is Hakuna Matata. I went to youtube and decided to listen to it in spanish. My goal at first was to see how many words in the song I could understand. Surprisingly I kind of understood the majority of it, but that is also because I have the english version of it memorized. So while I was listening to it I knew what part of the song it was. I found it interesting to look up this song in spanish. Of course there were some parts I couldn't understand because we haven't learned some of the words, but either way I enjoyed listening to the song in spanish ALMOST as much as I do in english. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brn_KbvYDWY
...above is the link to Hakuna Matata in Spanish...

~Vanessa

Sofia Vergara

Sofia Vergara was born on July 10, 1972, in Barranquilla, Colombia. She had five siblings, but one of her brothers died in 1998 during a kidnap attempt. Sofia was married for two years to Joe Gonzalez, but later divorced. Sofia had one child with Joe, named Manolo. Soon after her brother's death, Sofia brought her son, mother, and one of her sisters with her to live in the United States. Before pursuing an acting career, Sofia had studied to become a dentist at a university in Colombia. She also spent some time being a model. In 2000, Vergara was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, but has fully recovered and remains a very healthy woman. In 2002, she starred in her first movie, Big Trouble.

What I know Sofia for, and what I'm sure most of you know her for, is her role on the ABC television show Modern Family. She has been on the show since it started in 2009. She was even nominated for an emmy for an Outstanding Supporting Actress. I must admit, I love Sofia Vergara. Not only is she good looking, but she is very funny. She is my favorite person on Modern Family. I believe that she adds a lot of spice and humor to the show. I also think that without Sofia Vergara on the show, who plays Gloria, that the show would not be as popular as it is. In addition to starring in Modern Family, she also had a minor role in Madea Goes to Jail. PLEASE watch Modern Family, every Wednesday night. It's a great show, and you will get a lot of laughter from it. Sofia Vergara is amazing on this show. Did I forget to mention that you might even learn some Spanish on Modern Family?? That's right, Sofia is known to speak Spanish on this show, which is pretty cool. Also, her Colombian accent is a really cool detail that makes the show even better.

-Toro Kramer-

Sources:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005527/bio

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