"sin bus y sin metro"

I really should be studying, it is 8 pm, but seeing as I have an hour before I eat dinner perhaps I will get this write out before I have to return to the books... :(

Tomorrow I have a midterm, but no pasa nada, because the exam is at 5:20 pm. But! I have three exams on Thursday... hm. So I'll be studying for two before I go to bed tonight... perhaps buy a spanish red bull... and see how I survive. ;)


Vale.
TODAY! Today, I was not aware... but today the EMTs started their strike. So... Many buses did not even leave the station... Not knowing this I was very surprised upon my arrival to the bus stop to see thirty people waiting. Wow! I called Julia to ask if she had already caught a bus to school, and luckily she hadn't. and we are waiting.
and waiting.
AND waiting.
Then finally our bus comes (David at this point is with us too) and it stops.
Lets everyone off.
and keeps on its way.
with
out
us.

Yes, there went our bus... and we had fifteen minutes before class. Cannot walk, we'd be over 45 minutes late.

We took a taxi. and were only five minutes late.
Wow, never have I seen so much traffic. What a day.
-But- at least the sun was shining, so not all was lost. ;)

What a good start to my exciting day... class... I survived the reign of Mateo Zugsay my first two classes... and made it to Augustin. I am always happy to make it to my conversation class b/c Zugsay... wow, super demanding. but I am still living, so I have God to give thanks.
Linguistics was fun today :) so... overall. good day!

And... on the way home someone asked for directions to San Vicente Martir... and so Meg and I walked him there! It was so Marvelous! God is soooo GOOD. I find a lot of delight in strangers... and this one was a good one, from Toulouse and so he spoke Spanish but his maternal tongue is clearly French. It was nice because he was thankful we helped him to where he needed to go, and he was surprised we have only been here for one month! Our Spanish is not as horrible as we would like to think! Oh joy. ;)
He was actually on his way to the armory... and then he assured us that he is not a terrorist! haha, what a silly guy. Mind you he was at least... 65 years old.
In departing from him, he called us "simpáticas, amables, y Guapas."

Well, dinner is soon... so... I'll be studying for the rest of the night... I hope you all are having a good day!
Blessed Be :-)

-AMM-

ps-- I saw my friend TANIA yesterday!!! for... about five minutes... her and her parents came to Valencia to see the Sorolla exhibit. She stopped by the center and there was a bit of a mix up... and well, I was in class... so I left, telling my prof. "regresaré." In leaving the class I found that she had just left! So I thought I would not get to see her! but... I went back to the class... (jaja...) and grabbed my phone... called her, went outside, and she said I see you! and we ran towards each other and met in a great big HUG :)
SupermegaGUAY!

alright. studying. right... oh when I become a teacher... I wonder if I will feel bad for assigning un montón de homework... :/ (nah).

Sorolla

The two paintings Iike most, so you can have an idea! :-)





The first one is of Sevilla, titled "El baile" (the dance). This is not the full picture. Sorry! It is a celebration in May, with a Cross/ Cruz in honor of the occasion.

The second is clearly Valencian due to the oranges. It is of a procession. Not entirely sure which!

Fallas

Agua de vida (water of life)


I said I would write a blog today, and here it is folks!

Alright, I would rather not summarize my week because my week was rather.... well, it is over now.
Instead--
I would like to say that Fallas are among most impressive works of art I have seen! They are worked on all year long, each year here in Valencia (no other city in the world) to be BURNED! Above pictured is my favorite falla that I saw, mind you all of my pictures are of fallas that have been honored in a museum over the years.
This concept is very hard for me to grasp, because it is hard for me to give up one of my paintings (that do not take a year to paint)... let alone having labored in something for a year so it can be a bonfire! (Not literally, but you get the point).

The fallas are magnificent. But... they project some interesting themes in life... they are most often dirty, and not too many people enjoyed that aspect, but I loved them all because it is arts unto itself. I couldn't lose my admiration because the falla represents a controversial or inappropriate theme. So, I will leave you to make your own decisions loving readers!

Also today I went to an exhibit of Sorolla! It was Amazing, such large obras (paintings). I loved the depth of the paintings. I tried to step close to look a the brush strokes but an alarm went off, (laugh). This display of paintings I saw today is touring Europe at the moment and will return home to New York when it is all done seeing Europe! Funny it's home is not Spain though, Sorolla is a Spaniard.

While looking at these fallas, keep in mind that they are burned! and... I tried making a slide show to make it more facile to look at these photos... but no such luck! here is the link for the photos though :)

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562226229zbpqxa?start=84

Love,
AMM

Tomorrow!

Alright, Tomorrow, tomorrow I am writing a blog for you all!
I have been rather sick lately, so I must apologize for you blog aficionados ;-)

Love,
AMM

¡OJO! --what I did want to say, that I forgot to mention, is that... if you have left a comment, I comment back! :-)
Just so you know, and don't think that I don't love you ;)

besos, abrazos.

Hallelujah!

Before I truly get started on my paper for Literature... I thought I would share this with you dear readers at home!

So... at dinner Carlos sneezed and so I said, "salud, salud, Jesus." Then Chrystel pulled his attention away from the newspaper article he was reading and told him I said that, and he thought I said "salud" and that Meg said "Jesus." He thought this because he later explained that Protestants say "salud," and Catholics say "Jesus." Ha... odd thing... he likes to make comparisons between religion a lot, and he often says that Meg will appreciate Fallas more because it is a "Catholic thing." Eh.

Well, anyway... after talking of the different forms of saying "Bless you," we drifted on to the commercial that has the "Hallelujah" song from the Shrek movie, and our hosts asked us if the song was to God. We responded yes.
Then they went on to say that they do not always know because the song "It's raining men..." has the word "Hallelujah" but it is not used in a good sense towards God...

Oh boy... It's raining men... Hallelujah... Meg and I got a good laugh out of this because they are not able to know that it was used in a different context... Madre mía...

Yep, that's the story for tonight. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

Blessings,
Amanda May Moore

ps, I have been here for a month now! woo-hoo! wowzers!

StereoByte.

(quick comment on my part)

So at lunch today, there being 13 people in a tiny dinning room... we were having a good meal with good conversation, and then Meg and I were asked if we have clams in the US. Well, "yes, of course we have those in the states," I responded. Then there was a comment that they were bigger in the US, and then our host mom says, "they are bigger in the US because the people are bigger."

Yep. and the guy on the end of the table who speaks french, noticed that Meg and I were a bit offended... yes, because duh, we can understand... and to add to the whole not understanding... she talked on the phone a few days back about Meg and I, infront of us while we were eating! She was talking of how one of us (me) had thrown out our lunch while they were out... I felt horrible... but at the same rate, she did not need to talk about it in that manner... As if we did not understand what she was saying... Good Lord lady! We are learning Spanish, no?

Today, I'll have to say was a bit frustrating. When our director Nancy Marino visits, I have a few things I'll be telling her... Nancy is a sweetie, I am looking forward to having her next semester in the fall :-)

I hope all is well with you dear reader! I love you!

-AMM-

quisiera saber (un poema)

quisiera saber...
si todo saldría de la mente de Dios como fuera.
lo que es, y lo que era
quisiera saber...
si viviríamos en un mundo sin miedos
todos fuéramos lo qué somos.
quisiera saber...
si nuestro amor sería mejor
quisiera saber...
si nuestra amistad saldría con más color (de flor)
¿quisiera saber Dios?
no, por que Él es sabio.
de lo que es, lo que era.
y lo que será


Vale, no sé si la gramática está bien... si alguien quiera corregir, por favor hagalo. Yo preguntaré a un@ profesor/a si está correcto.
Gracias.

Trilingual Table

Our host family is getting new furniture, and it is coming from France. So our host mom, Chrystel, had her mother, sister, and brother-in-law over for dinner! The table consisted of Spanish, French, and English (we did not talk English)! A table with the ability of three languages. I was offered bread in french and I responded, "no gracias."

I have new photos up if you, dear reader, are interested!
The link again is: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562226229zbpqxa

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! I am, but... also... I am procrastinating. Majorly! I have a three page paper to write... an analysis of Romances del Rey Rodrigo, I have a small paper to write on an article for conversation class, I have to read two chapters for traslation, a book I still have not received in the mail, and... I have to read two short stories. Woo-hoo! :-)
God is good!
and my pics... are from yesterday (btw) and they are from when we went to l 'hemispheric. hope you enjoy!

oh, and one more thing-- I have changed my facebook to be in spanish, Aunt Zan & Uncle Matt :-) and... it is rather funny because there are a few things that are... well grammatically incorrect. One example is "el pared" instead of La pared. and one other funny thing I have in a picture below :D it cracks me up, and further more, in spanish there is a way to say "5th" and too, one can get around it... but... the translators... haha... I do not know what to think... ;) but now that I have facebook in spanish, I can talk about it at school more because I am learning the words!

Love,
Amanda May Moore

¡Día de San Valentin!

Okay, so I am going to stray from complaining too much in this blog! Because here, let's look at the facts, (one) I am in Spain and (two) I am sooooo blessed. Vale, ahora ya está.
So... how was your Valentines? I hope it was full of... cheesy loves songs, poems, everyone at school wearing red and pink, candy-grams, the whole nine yards! Because well, dear reader, that is Valentines day!
My day started off a little shaky, and continued to be pretty shaky... but I had a lot of highs! no doubt, I started my Valentines day off with staying up until 3 am to finish my translation of Guillermo de Torres' poem "Paisaje Plástico" (which I translated to Panoramic Passion). With little sleep... having to wake up at 7 am... I had a looong day. My first class we went over Las Meninas, which I still have yet to read, and during which I bit my tongue horribly... I am still in pain and I did it 12 hours ago... I have a visible beautiful bump if you will on my tongue. Then... to go on the day went pretty well, just had to get over the project last night really, I really should not have put it off that long, but I did truly enjoy the translation. OH! so many things, and if you are interested in seeing the translation, perhaps I will take a picture and send it to you... if you know of this poem you will also know that it is very graphically written, the lines form images. So... I cannot really serve it any justice if I just typed the translation.
Well after translation class... conversation went really well, first presentation today! Wow, it was great! (We all have to do a presentation of at least 25 minutes). Bailey talked about Love in Hollywood, "el Amor en Hollywood" and it was Great! and good subject for Valentine's day, eh?
Well, after lunch... I studied (for the first time) for my Linguistics exam that I had in an hour. So the exam was really not difficult at all, but what was difficult was that I had a rather bad headache for lack of sleep, and stress, and it is kinda... important to be able to see the questions, no? (my vision was a bit off).
Overall today was pretty wonderful, not because it was Valentines day, but because (besides it being a start for the weekend) I got to hear some BEAUTIFUL poems recited in Spanish and Catalan (which I understood pretty well with out looking at the translated spanish version! My favorites were "Me basta así" de Angel González and the other by the famous Becquer, "Rayo de Luna." Both brought me tears. Oh what beauty!
Then Julia, Kirsten, Meg, and I all walked home! A route that did not take an hour! Thanks to Julia! AMEN! :-D
Lastly, the best part about today, upon getting home Meg gave me a box of Valentine day Chocolates :) oh, how dulce!

and Scott-- you made my day too :-) thank-you.

Love,
Amanda May

ps, I still have yet to send my valentines... haha... to a special few ;-)
I am still... in search of stamps. I'll get on it and hopefully a late valentine will be equally appreciated, it is in spanish! :-D

First Rain!

Yesterday was the first day of rain here in Valencia for me :-)
I am not going to say it is something I love, it is raining again today... but it is exciting! Cold! and I am losing my voice! Eh, that means I will not have to talk in class, right? ;-)
OH, and Grams, I am really glad I bought that umbrella in Chicago! Thanks!
So I know it seems funny I am talking of rain, because it is not a horrible happening at all, because you all have a Ton of snow, no? Well, spring will be coming SOON!

Sorry I have not blogged in awhile, but I have been a little sick, so rest is good, and I have a bunch of work... I have my first Linguistics exam tomorrow, new phonetic alphabet than what I learned last year... but it shouldn't be too bad. I am more worried about my first graded assignment for translation class, due tomorrow, that I have yet to start!!!

Right now, I am still in my pajamas... it is 12 pm (6 am at home, most of you are not up), and my hair is straight! and I am listening to the gorgeous Jack Johnson (full blast).

I joined Theatre Club! that may seem shocking to some of you, well, if not... it is SHOCKING TO ME! jaja
I am not sure what I am going to do for the show yet, either a presentation on cultural differences and shocks we experience here in the form of a skit, for example:
Students talking, you can hear the hum of English, and then... Suddenly the start speaking Spanish once they pass through the magic door into school! (that would make for a funny skit).
Another one would be a short skit of a spanish mother saying, "come más, come más" and putting more and more food infront of the host student... jaja. They always feed us too much...
Also we could do a skit of the taking the bus or metro... in which we get funny looks because we look silly or because we are more than likely speaking english... oh boy...

OR

I would like to imitate a few teachers... jaja, they all are so distinct!!! and the audience would have to guess who we are acting out. Mateo Zugsay always says, "Houstan tenemos un problema"
and Pilar Guitart always wears the cutest clothes and high go-go boot, she is very good lookin' and very animated.
another teacher I do not have... but is funny, he always says, "mhm mhm, máaaas cosas"
Well, these things may not seem too funny, but they are distinct characteristics of teachers that the audience should be able to guess :)

OR...

We could do something silly like "Highschool Musical..." (no, por favor). or... perform a dance... or translate a song... like in my translation class, we are translating "All my life" by KC and JoJo... Okay, I have never heard this song, and EVERYONE (my age) knows it... I must have lived under a Rock, eh? Well, the song is Super Cheesy. But we are going to perform it for the show at the end of the year (in spanish :)).

So, that is a little exciting, eh?

I love you all! and MISS you all! and you all are in my thoughts and prayers. everyday.
Love,
AMM

ps, there are new pictures up on that picture website... if you scroll down to the blog with the flower pic... you can click on the link again and see some new pics :)

Stayin' Alive.

Okay, so this weekend has had it's ups and downs...
Overall it has been good :-) I got a lot of nice pictures round and about the city and I went to an international Church! So that is a feat in itself.
I am a bit embarrassed at the moment because our "madre," Chrystel prepared us food for lunch to eat while the family was out, and I not feeling to well earlier today (I am sick) and also, I not really particularly liking the food... tossed it in the garbage... and tonight after dinner I saw in the garbage that she unwrapped it to see that one of us (Margaret or me) did not eat lunch... yikes! So, I feel really bad. But... I did eat all of my dinner... Oh boy... hopefully I will not remember this in ten years... so it really is not that important, but yikes, it was half my meal (a little more than half)... :(
Yesterday I felt rather embarrassed when I ran into a girl (girl, not woman) and I apologized in english... and her mother gave me quite the glare... yuck.
Well, on a brighter note... I have a lot of homework ;) just kidding, that is not brighter.
Let's try again... on a brighter note I think I may go and visit my friend Tania next weekend with my roommate Meg!!!
So that is super Exciting! and hopefully I survive the week... of Las Meninas... that I have yet to read... survive my Linguistics exam on Valentine's day, survive my translations, survive theatre, survive the Writing Reviews/ Revistas, survive... survive... all this week. I just want to be the little birdy in the poem I am struggling to translate and fly on home. But, I'll survive. Survive this harsh winter ;-).
How are you all enjoying the snow?

Love,
Amanda May Moore

ps, keep an eye out for new pictures on that website link from the previous blog.

Lost in Translation

Here is a translation I worked on in class today (I was too shy to share it with the class)...

English.
"All good things (come to an end)" by Nelly Furtado

Honestly what will become of me
don't like reality
It's way too clear to me
But really life is dandy
We are what we don't see
Missed everything daydreaming

Okay, so I know I have some translation loss... but... dandy could mean glamorous person dressed up, so it could be that life is dressed up... and... I tried to create some sort of rhyme pattern because in this english song we have a lot of /e/ sounds; honestly, me, reality, really, dandy, see, everY(thing), dreaming... I changed the /e/ to the common rhyming character /a/ in spanish. It works somewhat. and... well, the beats are another thing that is lost in translation because the rhyming scheme of english involves feet. and spanish... the beats are dependent upon the syllables.

A ver...

De verdad qué de mí será
la realidad no gusta
a mí demasiada clara (feminine b/c it is referring to vida)
pero de verdad vida es disfrazada
somos lo que no miramos
perdida todo soñar despierta.

eh, más o menos... yuck.

Today folks is Thursday, and it is 12:14 am now... and I have no school tomorrow!!! YAY! The First Friday I have off!!! How cool is that? ¿¡Qué guay!?

I hope you all had a good day!
Love you!

Can I be your Marilyn Monroe?

Today, was a highly productive and fun day :-)
In translation class... which I think (THINK) may be my favorite class... Well, in class we looked at a quote and our challenge was to translate it for an American audience.
Quote: "¡Adios Pirri! ¿Quieres que sea la Sonia Bruno de tu existencia?"
Our translation more or less was: "Hell-oo Demagio. Would you like for me to be your Marilyn Monroe?"
So... I do not know if you caught this... but this is a cat-call. Which in America, we do not do often. Some, maybe... sure. But not most people cat call, and especially girls.
Okay, let's break it down to see how we got to this translation; Pirri. Who is this person? Well, Pirri is a famous soccer player of the 60s from Spain. And so now we wonder, who is Sonia Bruno? She is the perfect other for him, and they were married. She is an actress. So this is more or less a "match made in heaven," an athlete and an actress (of course...).
At first Julia suggested we translate this to be Beckham and Posh. Well... sure... that works... but we are not being too true to the time that this phrase in use. And so we think a little longer and arrive at, Joe Demagio and Marilyn Monroe.
Hahaha, I love translation. So many things come up, do we want to leave the quote with the original names? So to make it more authentic to origin? or... do we wish to make it better understood in the culture to which we are transposing it into? So many questions a translator must think of, and there is no wrong answer. Tough science ;).
Translation... definitely a sweet (guay) class!!!

That is only a part of why today was so great, the second part... is that in my conversation class we went from saying today was "super martes" (super tuesday) to super monday which was last monday... and it was "super" because of the soccer, in which Madrid lost and Valencia won. Well, my professor Reyes-Torres is always talks about Madrid and how he hates them, and he always adds that we say nothing of this to Sr. Valle (the director, and another professor) because he is a big fan (aficionado) of Madrid. Today... haha, today... Sr. Valle swung open our door and started yelling at our professor for talking about his team! It was hilarious, my professor's face--turned red! That, that alone made my day! hahaha. It was HILARIOUS! and so we stopped talking about them for, mmmm, about thirty seconds and then Torres went on to say something about Madrid for some reason and again, the door swung open and he continued to yell at Torres!!!
What better way to have a day made, eh?

Also, I found Valentines today!!! So, today was pretty Awesome. It could be better only if I had my Demagio... ;)

So... now it is almost eleven pm... and so I should start my homework... yikes. yuck. blah. but... I will...
Hope you all had a nice Tuesday. :-)

Love,
Amanda

ps, I still have to find stamps and envelopes... but my Wonderful friend Tania told me to go to the Tabaco store... haha. Vale.
:D

Mundane Monday...

So, I will start this write now... and perhaps add more later...
I have one class today, and it is not until 3:40 pm! So when I woke up this morning, I had five hours until going to class... and now it is about 2 pm (lunch time) and I am working on my translation of "Estación de la mano" which I am guessing means... "Season of the hand" because... "station" sounds rather funny, and from the content of the text, "season" makes more sense.
With having sooo much time, I did my hair. So that is a plus, I will always look especially cute for my monday and wednesday classes. Not that I need to look good, Scott is not here.
Well, Chrystel is making lunch, it sounds and maybe smells good. A ver, we will see. I am never really all that excited to eat here, because I am a rather picky eater... and so... I do not ask what I am eating. Who knows... maybe I will eat with out complaints when I come home ;-)
Oh, and... today is especially nice, sunny, and warm. But... I have to wear a jacket, a funny thing Margaret and I do because all the Spaniards wear a coat because it is still "winter" for them. Not for us! It is nice out, but... so we do not look too odd, we wear our coats :-)

Here is just for fun a pic of before and after hair shots ;-)




Hehe,
Love you all!

Superbowl

Well... personally, I do not care much about the Superbowl. Actually, I do not give it any thought... but I know that if I were home, I would watch it and have some yummy junk food... So, while everyone at home enjoys their tostitos and coke and perhaps beer... I will be sleeping because it will be 3 am here! You all enjoy your Sunday Superbowl, and I will be happily dreaming of how... the Patriots loose ;)
haha, just kidding. Sorry if I offended anyone...
Vale, hasta luego (until later)
Love,
Amanda

Sleeping in Spain.

Last night was awesome! For some reason or another... they were setting off fireworks at 12 am here, and in looking out my window my roommate and I could see a little bit of the fireworks over top of the buildings. I love fireworks!
So as I am writing this... it is 10:43 am, which means all of you at home are SLEEPING! Because it is only 4:43 am. I think one of the hardest things to get used to is the time difference. When I may want an e-mail response back... or to talk to someone online... it may not fly because of the difference in times. eh. Sleeping is good.
One thing I will be looking forward to this summer are the fireworks of forth of july, and maybe I will have some patriotism... We'll see though... I do not have much if any here, I am not proud when others look at me and immediately associate president Bush with my face and think of the war. I had nothing to do with that... and yet, must people have this bad preconception of us as a whole because of one person! That hardly seems fair. So... you may see me wearing some red and blue on the 4th, but you will not hear me singing the star spangled banner ;-)
Hope you all had a nice weekend, and start off to a good week tomorrow. I only have one class tomorrow... at 3:40 pm. I do not know how I feel about it... but that is where God has put me for now, and so I will go. Today... I will be dedicating to studying. reading a play... about 80 pages! and... maybe a nap... I still have to buy postage...
Well, that is it for me! I love you all!
Take care,
Amanda May
(picture below is of a flower on a vine that grows on a wall I often pass on my walks home from school)



and if you, dear reader(!), are interested in more photos... I have a website now... and I need to upload more... but here is the link:
by moorea21

Superwoman.

Today. Today I cried.
I finally got to have my meeting with Sr. Valle to talk about my class schedule and dropping two classes in place for the two that I have been attending. Well, the Linguistics class, I did get in, Thank God. The other Literature class, no. I have already bought a book for it and been attending the class and doing homework assignments!

I am really glad that I did not have class after talking w/ Valle because I was pretty upset, and so I went to the bathroom to calm down and stop myself from beginning to cry... and I went down the stairs... and I see Pilar's great big smile, "hola." And so I was fine, and Kirsten says, "vas a llorar?" ("Are you going to cry?) and I responded with a nod, and she was only joking because everyone cries after talking to Valle, and she found me in such good composure that she thought I was fine, but no. and so we went outside and I expressed my frustration and one of my professors was out for a smoke, and he made it really quick...

Oh! how embarrassing that one of my favorite professors (I have him for lit. analysis and translation) saw me crying. Weird, awkward, I know he is not ever going to mention it to me... but still. He saw me.

Vale, I know what class I am going to take in place of the one that is full... and so it is all going to work out, and even better than before. But it was difficult talking to Valle, and being told I have to take another class and have a little over nine hours of school on tuesdays and thursdays and no class any other days. What a Jerk!
Well, I have my classes figured out, and I will go tell him once more, to finalize things... so all is well.

God is good.
(All the time).