Category: Spain

There’s been a lot of ‘kerfuffle’ in the Press about the Stella McCartney designed team GB kit (below)

However, as Spanish men’s football team are about to kick off at Hampden Park in the Olympic Games, I’ll be interested to see if they look comfortable and happy in what can only be described as the most hideous kit I have ever see. I know it was free but …

The bloke on the right Alex Fàbregas  described it on Twitter “Olympic equipment, there are no adjectives…” And frankly I’m pretty sure he’s right!

But whatever they’re wearing ¡Venga España!

The Adidas advertisement featuring the Spanish ‘selección’ have the message El pasado no cuenta – Todo vuelve a empezar. The past doesn’t count. It’s all starting again.

Which it is!

httpv://youtu.be/JE3z0vVJDRk

And then they made another, with a similar message, but pointing out that La Furia Roja actually won in their away kit at the World Cup!

httpv://youtu.be/jjowT-C6s4s

Here’s the Eurocopa song by David Bisbal featuring Cali and El Dandee. Called No hay dos sino tres, it refers to the fact that Spain could win their 3rd Eurocopa (they are the holders from 2008 and also won in 1964) The first clip features lots of clips from the World Cup / Copa Mundial and ‘de motivación’ – to encourage the Selección in Polonia y Croacia.

Doing OK so far…

httpv://youtu.be/_949qd18BVA

And here’s the karaoke version

httpv://youtu.be/M1zLdmfofEc

Fasten your bug-belts for some exciting news!

Starting on Monday 12th every weekday on CBeebies at 09.35 and repeated at 13.35 is…..

You may have already discovered Lingo and his multi-lingual bug friends on the CBeebies website – I know that he has been a hit with more than one family that I know! Lingo ‘the ultimate show bug’ is putting on a show and  and his performing bug friends help him prepare, teaching him some words in their language on the way, ready  for the ‘Big Bug Show’.

Well, after lots of planning, and auditioning of bugs, Wei the Chinese bug, Jargonaise the French bug and Queso the Spanish bug will all be starring in their own week of programmes on CBeebies.

The schedule is as follows –

Week 1: Chinese
Mon 12th – Ep 1: “Chop Chop”
Tues 13th – Ep 2: “Wei’s Giant Jump”
Wed 14th – Ep 3: “Cannonbug”
Thur 15th – Ep 4: “Wei Up High”
Fri 16th     – Ep 5: “Wei’s Buggy Best 3”

Week 2: French
Mon 19th – Ep 6: “Can-Can’t”
Tues 20th – Ep 7: “Trapeasy Rider”
Weds 21st – Ep 8: “Balancing Bug”
Thurs 22nd – Ep 9: “The Limbo Show”
Fri 23rd       – Ep 10: “Jargonaise’s Buggy Best 3”

Week 3: Spanish
Mon 26th – Ep 11: “Questanets”
Tues 27th – Ep 12: “Queso The Clown”
Weds 28th – Ep 13 “Ice Cream Queso”
Thurs 29th – Ep 14: “Strong Bug”
Fri 30th      – Ep 15: “Queso’s Buggy Best 3”

I’m especially excited as I have been involved with Lingo since the beginning of the process, firstly with the website and then with the programmes and, whilst my contribution was one of many and possibly quite small, it’s good to see the fruits of one’s efforts!

Make sure you tune in for fun, laughter and language learning at 09.35 on Monday. And if you can’t watch it then, record it or find it on iPlayer.

So, Barcelona won! And in style.

httpv://youtu.be/c-xWxzyeHxA

Abidal, after starting treatment for a liver tumour only 10 weeks ago, raised the Champions League cup following goals by Pedro, Messi and Villa (and Rooney I guess!)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3u2WPJDpns

And Gerard Pique went home with a rather original souvenir, apparently following a tradition set by the Barcelona basketball team!

httpv://youtu.be/ciiQV-EB2i8

As the clock in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid strikes midnight, people across Spain will be attemptig to eat 12 grapes before the ‘bongs’ finish.

As OrangePolkaDot tells us, the supermarkets sell special packs of twelve grapes to help you suceed!
Why? This blog post suggests that it is may have been due to a good grape harvest in 1909 (as does this post) or perhaps the converse.

Y en español aquí y aquí

Whatever, my advice is – make sure you have seedless, small grapes as you’ll never make it otherwise! The first New Years Eve I spent at my in-laws was hilarious thanks to my mother in law buying grapes so that I could ‘do my grape thing’ but choosing big fat seeded ones! That was a fun experience – good job I have a big mouth ;o)

Here’s a clip of a family celebrating ‘los doce uvas de la suerte’ (note the Mum doesn’t quite manage the feat!)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhfhaI_BsDU

I also like the other tradition that OrangePolkaDot highlights – wearing red undies.  Sounds like a fun idea to me – but how ill anyone know if you’re ‘celebrating’?  Unless Desigual are having another promotion…

In what seems like a past life sometimes when I used to teach Spanish to secondary pupils, we used a text book called Vaya.  Apart from my gripe about their assertion that Spaniards have pets ‘grillos’ on their balconies (yet to meet one!), my other main problem with the book / course was the fact that the pictures looked nothing like what they were supposed to be illustrating, particularly the food.  The ‘churros’ looked like those posh butter curls you get on hoity toity places, and if I showed you the ‘paella’, you’d be hard pressed to identify it.

Not sure why I thought of it today (perhaps I had a nostalgic thought?) but I did, and it reminded me of this marvellous group on Flickr called Comida española which features over 2000 photos of Spanish food.

So much easier to explain ‘chocolate con churros’

or ‘albóndigas en salsa’

or the scale on which paella’s are sometimes cooked

when you have a decent picture to help you!

You can search the group – for example, ‘tapas’ or ‘garbanzos’ or ‘tortilla’

To finish, here’s a picture that might come in useful in the next week or so…

NB watch out for the CC license under which images are shared – some are All rights reserved which means they’re copyright.  Look for CC Attribution Share alike that you can use as long as you say to whom they belong.

PS if anyone has ever met a Spaniard with a pet ‘grillo’ could you please let me know!

Today is El Día de los Santos Inocentes in Spain and other Hispanic countries, their equivalent of April Fools Day.  But it goes deeper than that as it has its roots in the story of Christmas when Herod ordered the killing of all baby boys, and Mary and Joseph escaped with Jesus having been warned in a dream to flee.

Find out more here in English or here in Spanish

Here, a man who runs a joke shop talks about the types of jokes people buy

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaBAZjr3tFA

And this clip shows an ‘inocentada’ involving a mouse!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTZirr32zGM

Even the Simpsons get in on the act!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9EotIriEOo

Looking at word clouds today during the course I was delivering, I came across these wonderful topical word clouds.

Like them?

This one is about a certain psychic sea creature…..

And this one is – well, this is one is ‘lo mejor’ ;o)

No necesito decir más ¿eh?