¡Vámonos! – Page 50 – "The decision to learn a language is an act of friendship. It is an outstretched hand." John le Carré
 
Postcard courtesy of Landsbankinn

Third saying is –

Everything is nice that is green.

Origins of this saying are slightly obscure.  Was its inception fuelled by the desire for glorious summer during the darkness and discontent of winter?  The absence of vegetation in the seemingly endless black lava fields and lifeless sandbanks?  Or blissful ignorance of the existence of radiating plutonium?  Who knows.  But since it’s an old proverb, it must be true.

Brussel sprouts?  Snot?  Mmm…..

Postcard courtesy of Landsbankinn

Our second saying is –

Everything is hay in hard times.

For centuries sheep fed, clad and shod the struggling nation.  Survival depended on having a sufficient supply of dried grass to sustain the all-important livestock through long cold winters.  Spoiled or depleted hay reserves meant making do with something – anything – else instead.

I wonder if there’s an equivalent English / British saying?

A tweet the other day about a visit to IKEA and the purchase of hats and things reminded me that I hadn’t shared my latest purchase from the great Swedish home of fun!

Those who have been reading ¡Vámonos! for a while will know that I am a great fan of IKEA for resources that can be used in teaching languages (and other things too!)

Last time I went I bought a fruit punnet and vegetable basket and this purchase continues on the food theme.

How might I use this IKEA breakfast set?

Well apart from naming the items of food e.g. pan, un huevo frito, salchichas, queso, beicon – if that’s how you spell it now ;o) – etc, you could use this set to work on negative sentences ‘Para desayunar, tomo un huevo frito’ Para desayunar no tomo salchichas.’  Or you could introduce phrases of frequency  e.g. ‘Normalmente, como pan tostado para el desayuno’, ‘A veces desayuno un huevo frito y beicon’, ‘Nunca como tortitas/panqueques’. Opinions would also work.

Alternatively you could use it for some intercultural understanding and comparison of eating habits. What is a typical English breakfast?  What would an American eat for breakfast?  And in Spain? France?  And that allows opinions too!

Think they need to add some yoghurt, cereal and some drinks to the set!

Wonder what I’ll find on my next visit?

Postcard courtesy of Landsbankinn

The first saying is –

To soak your head in water.

Water is paramount to growth and apparently soaking one’s head in water for a moment or two facilitates fruitful thinking. Don’t forget to hold your breath though!

I quite like soaking my head underwater – perhaps I should do it more often!

On our holiday in Iceland over Christmas I collected some postcards featuring Icelandic sayings from the airport (advertising Landsbankinn), and thought I’d share them with you over the next couple of months, starting today!

Come back at 6pm to see the first in the series!

y las uvas..
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…

"Pouchy"

Un año más

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A lovely song by Mecano accompanied by some lovely footage and pictures of the Puerta del Sol.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rzqhCyE2Lw

Having just watched Les Mis 25 years old, I feel inspired to post some videos from the Spanish version –

Sale el sol (One day more)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o5JeLsvkPs

Sálvalo (Bring him home)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srcVrBvsyS4

Soné una vida (I dreamed a dream)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz9DdvIFg5E&feature=related

And an amazing clip of 17 multi-national Jean Valjean’s singing Can you hear the people sing?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4924xJl38E

Espetos de Sardinas

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’

Chocolat Bar

or ‘albóndigas en salsa’

Albóndigas en salsa (Meatballs in sauce)

or the scale on which paella’s are sometimes cooked

V Ruta "Peñas Blancas"
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…

Roscón de Reyes (Crown of Kings)

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!

¡Inocente Inocente!

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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

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