Meg the Ripper

So for a big 40 page memoir Meg... decided to tear her BOOK COVERS off of her books! Her precious books! 

Las Meninas, Crónica de una muerte anunciada, La casa de Bernarda Alba!!!

Yes dear readers, I am still in shock. 

My books are still in one piece, I am guarding them day and night to bring them home safely :) 

-AMM-

Good example of Hiperbole... (hyperbole)

Studying for Zugsay is going to kill me :-)

Esta semana con Zugsay voy a morrir...

en las palabras de mi buen amiga Alicia, "gracias Mateo" ;-)

-AMM-

¡GOL, GOL, GOL!

Valencia won, we won, we beat Osasuna!!!

and I was there :-) One of the last games in the Mestalla stadium in Valencia.

Vale, no more procrastination on my part, I am working on my paper now!

-AMM-

A day of play in Peñiscola

Él que sueña (the poem that got 3rd place)

Que yo regresaré pronto
En el futuro cercano.
Te daré besos por aire,
Pero sólo por ahora.
Me gustaría despertarme
y regresarme a los ritmos;
Mas en este sueño vivimos.

Un sueño que nos aleja,
Y tal vez que nos acerca.
Por el agua que está
entre nosotros, se va
si nos despertamos de este
sueño de lo que estamos.

¡Vamos! Por Dios ha dormido
bastante ya y podrá despertarse
porque es en aquello sueño que
Él sueña que estamos soñando.

Por lo menos hemos aprendido mucho,
En nuestros mundos sin uno al otro.
He aprendido no siempre pensar en despertar
Sino que como vivir mientras soñar.
…Y he visto los colores más vibrantes,
He tocado lo mejor del arte,
He olido el olor de las naranjas que hay en cada sitio,
He oído lo peor del peor por el Chikilicuatre,
Y he probado todo que hay para probar en este sueño.
¡Lo he probado! ¡y lo he disfrutado ché!

¡Y agora amor, te has despertado!
-Él que sueña,
Dios


(To know what this is about be sure to read the blog below... :-D)
-AMM-

¡El cabaré!

Yesterday was by far one of the best days ever, the Cabaret could not have been better!
First... we had Brittany play the violin, very beautiful.
Then... some poetry reading I believe...
and the announcements of winners for the poetry and short story contest "miguelet de oro," and the poem I submitted one third place! :-D
Upon winning 3rd place, I had to read my poem... I did not know I would have to read my poem! I had never read it in voz alta before, so... that was fun. But I assure you dear readers, it went well :-)!
After the winners were all announced the show continued with a funny skit with my friend Alicia, Kevin, and Danny.
Started off saying that if a couple has not had a baby by the age of 30 or so... that the government would not allow it, and so it goes on, and a photographer, Danny, is trying to make money and knocks on the door in which Alicia thinks Danny is going to make her pregnant... and so he goes into describing his work... and as you can imagine... it was very comical.
Then was Kirsten & my skit, I imitated a professor, and her another. We reacted a scene of Agustín talking about how Madrid lost, and it was rather funny. The audience reacted well :-D
After this scene, her and I cited quotes of two professors. Her prof. Jeannie LaPlatney, and I... prof. Mateo Zugsay

(Rewind for a moment) I had been spying for Zugsay before the show started to see where he'd be sitting, and upon him coming in, I realized that the show could not work like that... he was just too far away.
So, I asked another prof. Jorge, "do you know Zugsay?" (conoces Zugsay, porque todo fue en español, obviamente)
"No"
"Matt?"
"Oh, sí!"
"Vale, well he is sitting really far away, and he cannot be sitting far away"
"Vale"
and off he went, telling Zugsay something... and he got up and moved to the front! yes! mission accomplished, the show can take place.

(Fast-forward back) With the last quote, Zugsay clearly knowing that I was making fun of him, I said, "me llamo Matthew, o como los españoles dicen Mateo, o mejor..." I turned my head and, "Sr. Sexi" gave him a wink!

By far the highest moment of the night. He truly did say that on the first day of introduction as a joke, and after it all, winking at him, everyone just lost it, and in the recording I can see Jorge cracking up with the realization of why he had "Matt" move to the front for me :-D
The night went on... with one more skit, a funny one, but I did not get to follow it as well because I was preparing for the last number, danzas del mundo!
We danced, the audience thought we were going to be boring and super serious the whole time...
NOPE! It was hilarious! and I think it is safe to say that everyone enjoyed it, we were super silly, had wigs, sunglasses, silly faces, silly songs, dances, it was fast changes from silly to proper dancing, and... wow. It was crazy! The crowd enjoyed the chiki chiki I'm sure :-)
With the last dance everybody got up to dance with us.
...not that they had much of a choice... because we yanked them up!
Over all, wow, the night went well!
A night of surprises and full of laughter.

I am still bummed that Agustín was not able to see me imitate him... but I have it recorded to share with him.

Vale folks, that is all for now :-)
Time to write a paper, hopefully write it all before the soccer game tomorrow... and start on the other one before Sunday ends. So close... oh mosques.

Love,
AMM

Los pasos

Brittany and Ryan: uno, el breikindance


Alicia and Heather: dos, el crusaíto


Elisa (sp? sorry love) and Amanda Prince: tres, el Maiqelyason


Yo y mi professor de baile Nacho: cuatro: el robocop!

Those are the pasos en el chiki chiki folks, as shown by el taller de 'danzas del mundo.'
Somos guay!

-AMM-

Finally: I gave over the peanut butter

Vale, yo tuve que esperar....
haha, jk.
So... I had to wait until I got my grade back from Professor Augustin Reyes-Torres (for personal reasons) to give him the peanut butter that I have had for the past 3 months here in my room... just waiting to be given to him, and all the while I wanted to eat it because Margaret and I have already eaten a whole jar ourselves. So the temptation was hard... but we made it through ;)
Yes, today...
FINALLY, I gave the "crema de cacahuate"to Augustin. He was very happy, upon receiving it he joked that I'd get an A... ja... ja... but moreover he gave me a hug and said, "muchas gracias... Amanda... se dice en inglés, 'you made my day.'"
I have never been given four words in a row from him in English, he only ever says a word in English... every once in a great while. Well, at any rate, I was surprised.
I do not know if you readers know, but there is not this expression in Spanish, so it is hard to express in Spanish ;)

Well, later on after knowing the fact that he would not be going to the Cabaré, in which I'll be imitating him, I found out that his mom has not been doing to well, in health terms... not so sure, but all I know is that perhaps... that Crunchy JIF peanut butter was especially needed, and I am really happy that it got to him today.

Thanks mom for the peanut butter :-)

Love,
AMM

For those that may not know

Yes. I did get my eyebrow pierced. March 30th.
It can be known now because my mom has found out...
Sorry Haley that I did not tell you
and I will not be doing anything else while I am here in Spain, so no more surprises :-)

Love,
AMM

JOB SEARCH

This summer... I am afraid is going to be one of the hardest to get a job because no one wants to hire a seasonal employee. Dear blog-readers, if you happen to know of anyone that would offer just a summer job, please let me know! :-)
Thank-you!

Blessings.

Where I am

...besides being in Spain ;)
Well folks, time is winding down and I only have 17 more days here in Spain.
This is good and bad for all the likely reasons.
What I am looking forward to THIS week is the Cabaret! (Cabaré). I will be in two of the shows.
One of which I will be acting, or moreover imitating a few teachers, which shall be fun, because after having imitating them I'll still have to go to a few more classes with them... haha. And the other act will be dancing! Some crazy things, but all in good fun with the sole objective of making the audience laugh. But acts... so I guess I have become somewhat of a comedian here in Spain ;).
That being said, this week is a rather full week, with extra Zugsay classes... and rehearsals... and stress about little things... and paper due wednesday on a silly entremés by Cervantes... Not to mention vocab quiz... final projects and final papers!
So, I will not be updating until it is all said done and over, in which case I'll be beginning to study for finals!


I love you all, miss you all, and hope all is well at home!
hasta
-AMM-

Ferrer vs. Almagro

Today, Andrea, Kirsten, and I were up bright and early for a tennis match, that was at 11 am, but got put back to 3:30 pm...
HERE IN VALENCIA! :-D
It was an Amazing match between Ferrer and Almagro, where at times I was really worried Ferrer was not going to win.
"Vale David!" the audience would shout.
Being at a professional tennis match was intense, never have I been more intimidated by an athlete, they own the stadium. They OWN it


(The winning serve)

Ferrer won in a tiebreak set with a winning score of 6-2; and over all score: 4-6, 6-2, 7-6!
Quite intense.
I also watched a tennis match of two men in wheel-chairs, it was intense but not as well publicly loved I'm afraid... but I enjoyed it, and the one I rooted for won :)

La Copa del Rey

Hey, quick culture bite-



Last Wednesday was the final game for the Copa del Rey tournament and it all boiled down to Valencia and Getafe CF. We won! Valencia won! I was very excited. I unfortunately did not get to watch it due to a translation project I had due the next day (a consumer's text), but I knew when we scored because there were fireworks, oh Valencia.. how I love you! :-D
Also, once we won the honking of horns did not stop until dawn. Seriously.

We won 3-1 for those who want to know.
TAKE THAT MADRID! :P

ps, 19 more days, today the 19th of April :)

La familia

Hoy, la familia getting ready to go to a first communion and a baptism :-)



All ready to go out.

AMM: Antología

Hey y'all,
hope the weekend is going well, it is thus far for me... I just have a lot of homework and such.
2 papers; one of which I have to read a piece of Cervantes play, El retablo de las maravillas.
1 final translation
3 or 5 more articles to write for the Revista...
I need to practice my skit for the cabaret and the dance...

Well, at any rate I am full. Full of work, life, high-spirits and love. So I am still a truckin'.
I just want to let those who are interested that I now have another blog that has my translations on it, I am still putting them up... but if you are interested in them the site is: http://ammanthology.blogspot.com/

Alrighty, that's that for now!
Love,
-AMM-

Today: I went to the Zoo

Well, moreover Bioparc.
A theme park/ animal safari. It was pretty neat, and I really enjoyed it!
Went with my friend Chad. We had a good time, ate Burger King before going in (they did not permit us to go in and leave to eat lunch, so we ate an early lunch at noon). As he put it we were in a parallel world, that of Lion King. We even saw Simba and Nala ;)


Vale, I'll leave you all with some pics (haz click on the pic :-))

Love & Blessings to all,
-AMM-

Mallorca, and the sun...

(click the pic to see the album!)
This past weekend in Mallorca had its points of beauty and its points of fear.
The first day, my friends and I decided to lounge at the pool for about four to five hours to work on a tan... We are on an island, is that now what one is suppose to do?
(No, it is not...)
Well, at any rate, that is what we did. Afterwards we went into down, chaperoned by the receptionist Luis at the desk. He dropped us off in the city Palma and we had lunch and looked into stores, window shopped and what not (I bought a sweater because I had not brought anything to keep warm).
I complained about my legs a lot, and was constantly rubbing them (one) because they were really hot due to them being burned and (two) because we had been walking around a lot and I have already been having some serious leg issues that I need to talk to a doctor about and see about physical therapy (Sra. Ongaro says that I have been stretching a ligament and it is affecting a nerve that runs all the way up to my spinal cord... and I know she is right because I have had some stinging pain in my lower back). So... once we started to head back on the bus...
Things began to get f-u-z-z-y.
Then everything turned BLACK.
I lost my vision and I lost my hearing.
Next thing I knew there was a bag in front of me and I threw up into the bag and Meg was holding me up because I had passed out.
Then a bus stop came and we got off, and I regained sight as soon as Meg said that there was a step in front of me (to get off the bus). I had been trying to take a drink of water before I lost my sight, and so what was the scariest to me was that I could not figure out what happened to my water... and I found out later that I had tried to hand it off, but then I seemed like I wanted to drink it... and then it just
Dropped.
That is when Laura and Kirsten dropped there jaws and knew that this was not a joke. I am so grateful that Margaret was there to help me and hold me up during this time. God is good.

Pretty scary. and so... I will never try and tan again, it's stupid.

Other than that the weekend was Gorgeous. The island is full of so many wonders of God. Beautiful. Mountains, ocean, beaches, palms, blue skies (though we had some rain).

Another thing-- The receptionist took us four girls out to Soller and paid for a meal... and everything. At no cost... it was awkward... but later we found out that he liked Margaret and he has sent her an e-mail... it is an interesting story, but rather long dear blog readers so I will have to tell you some time when I am home, which will be soon now :-)
I have 22 more days here in Spain. And do not worry, I will enjoy each and every one to the fullest, but I too look forward to being HOME!

I love you all!
Blessings!

Abanicos

Today I got to paint!
Oh what a joy to paint! How long it has been...
I am very content that I went to the taller to paint fans :)
I would take a picture and show you all... but I am afraid you all have to wait and see it when I return ;P
That being said, I must get back to my homework.
I have a presentation this Thursday on 'la Malinche,' I'll let you dear readers know how that goes...

Love & Blessings,
AMM

My desktop background

I thought it might be nice if you all know what my background is on Bradley (my laptop)!
Because... I am rather fond of the photo :-) It is of some graffiti I came across in Paris... or more so art/ mural.

-AMM-

Mejorada del campo

Wow. As if seeing all the beautiful architecture in Spain wasn't enough, yesterday I went and saw a Cathedral that one man is constructing all by himself. Don Justo in Mejorada del campo, Madrid.
IMPRESSIVE.
To be constructing something so glorious, for the kingdom of God has left me in awe. He has been building from donations and recycled goods that people no longer need. Simply amazing. If you, dear blog reader, ever go to Madrid, you are not allowed to leave with out seeing this amazing work!



If you are interested, readers, here is a link to read more:
http://www.citynoise.org/article/732
(I do not know how to inbed links, so you may have to copy & paste! sorry!)

Well, with that said, as many of you know... or may not know(!) I went to Madrid this past weekend. And to my great happiness, I went all by myself! To a big city in which I was/ and am not familiar with at all. I got there about 11:30 am by bus because I did not want to skip any of my classes I had that Thursday, and then after which I had to catch a metro... it being about 12 am... in the morning... by myself. I was a little nervous, for I had never taken a metro by myself. So I asked around, and had lots of help. Nice people. God is good. and I am sooo happy that I know the language and it allowed me to ask for such help!

Okay, so poor Sra. Ongaro stayed up to 1 am waiting for me, I had gotten a little mixed up on the metro and took it the wrong direction. But-- I got there! late... and then we went to the restaurant next to the hotel, VIPS. I had a salad, and then we called it a night. Going to sleep at 2 am with a wake up call of 6 am.

Then I saw Sr. Hillegonds! I was not expecting it, but once he opened the door, there he was! Very cool. We talked about school and such... and then we all had breakfast together... and I accompanied them to the airport.
I asked him if he would have ever expected to see me in Spain, and he said, "from you, yes." (haha).

Good to see him, he is teaching in Saline I believe, and he has a third little one on the way!

After seeing them off, Eliana picked Sra. and I up and off we went to her piso (apartment) in which I met her husband Cesar and later their son José. Very nice family! I really loved them. and when they next visit the US they are coming over for a big meal because they gave me so much. I'll have to be an interpreter of course... because my family doesn't speak spanish :) but it will be a good time!

The weekend was all so lovely, minus my feet pain. I believe I will be needing some physical therapy this summer, I forget what it is called, but I am sure Sra. Ongaro can remind me ;).

Well folks, that is all I have for now, I apologize for leaving a lot out.
but the Cathedral was the most exciting! If you are ever in Madrid, go visit it!

Love you all,
-AMM-