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  • Diciembre

  • 19
    Dic
    2008

    Merry Christmas: the first text message...and Happy New Year!

    The first text message to a cellphone was appropriate of the season: "Merry Christmas". Neil Papworth sent this message to Richard Jarvis who was at a Christmas party near Vodafone headquarters in Newbury, England. That was 16 years ago. Texting on the cellphone itself didn't exist yet, so the message had to be typed out on a computer keyboard. A couple of years later one could send text messages from a cell phone, and before long "texting" had become the rage.

    Now the messages get shorter and shorter as words are reduced to sounds and spelling is abandoned. "The kids don't even try to spell anything anymore" shout parents and teachers the world over. They might write part of a message like "Happy Birthday 2 U" or "Sí U @ 4 2mor o" or "Hapi Nu Yir". Each language group and social set will have their own texting formulas and etiquette, or lack of it.

    Yes, communications have come a long way since the first phone call: "Mr. Watson. Come here!" . And what about the telegraph and the Morris Code. Many lives were saved with a simple ... - - - ...

    Long phone conversations and typed letters and messages are being dramatically abbreviated once again.

    How many text messages will you be sending during the holidays? And on New Year's Eve? 1, 2,5, none? Maybe you'll try to talk to your distant friends and relatives, even though you know the phone lines will be busy. Maybe you'll try Skype.
    In Spain most people will be in their homes at midnight on December 31st. They'll be gathered around the TV, looking at the clock tower in Puerta del Sol and listening to the 12 gongs as they eat their 12 grapes. This will guarantee good luck in the new year. Then the kissing starts. Everyone will kiss everyone else in the room and then toast in the new year with cava. And then people will scurry around searching for their cell phone in order to call or text a distant boyfriend or girlfriend, parent or child or friend. The busiest time of year for texting and for phoning is 12 midnight on the December 31st. Good luck! Happy New Year! Happy 2009!

    Have a happy, healthy and safe New Year.
    Wendy

    Publicado por shakespeare

  • 15
    Dic
    2008

    Traveling during the holidays

    You may be going home for the holidays. You may be taking a plane.
    Look at all the planes flying on a single day.

    It's almost vacation time and everyone is making plans.
    If your family is here in Madrid, maybe you're the COOK this year and the whole tribe is going to descend upon your house for a big holiday meal or for a week of partying and fun.

    For some families one day is enough. Too much time with your aunts and uncles, cousins and in-laws leads to conflict.

    Maybe you're going to visit your grandparents. You're going to drive or take the bus because they are only 20 or 30 or 300 kilometers away. You're already worrying about the snow on the roads. Booking a seat on the train might be a good idea. Or are you going skiing? You WANT to see lots of snow.

    Most of you will be going "home" for the holidays, wherever "home" may be: Galicia or the Canary Islands, Malaga or Mallorca. The foreign students may have decided to travel around Spain or visit other countries. Or they may be so homesick that they've decided to go back to Germany or France, Poland or Cyprus, Brazil or Peru or Costa Rica. "Home" is so far away, but "home" is "home" and you don't want to miss the traditional celebrations, the caroling around the "Tannenbaum" in the square in Austria, the "Posadas" in Mexico.

    Yes, many people will be traveling during the holidays. And you may be one of them. Check out the Air Traffic Patterns.
    Wendy

    Air Traffic Patterns

    Publicado por shakespeare

  • 09
    Dic
    2008

    Spanish Light Opera-----La Zarzuela--"El Rey que Rabió"

    I hadn't been to the Zarzuela in years and wasn’t too enthusiastic about going when a visiting friend suggested it. Having always agreeably accompanied tourists to flamenco and bull fights and zarzuelas, palaces and castles, parks and museums, parades and processions, often against my better judgment, I was all set to reject the offer. I had digressed to an occasional movie or local theater, an art exhibit or musical. But the Zarzuela….

    This performance of " El Rey que Rabió": The King who got angry proved to be a delightful production, a comic Zarzuela full of social commentary and a timeless love story. The story-line hinted at Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" and Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. The music and choreography were fun; a good first Zarzuela for adults and children alike.

    The show first opened on April 21st, 1891:
    Music by Ruperto Chapí
    Book by Miguel Ramos Carrión y Vital Aza.
    Stage play by Luis Olmos

    What do the King´s subjects really think of the monarchy? The king is tired of being bowed down to; he wants to be free to wander the streets, to get to know his people. He plans his escape, takes on the identity of a shepherd, and out he goes. And the fun begins.

    As I was watching the show I was thinking about meeting Felipe & Letizia at the UEM recently. They chatted with many of us, breaking away from the formal interviews and joining the crowd. Over the last few months I’ve seen them on TV, on many formal occasions, meeting and greeting again and again and again. I’m sure they’d like to just disappear into the crowd, walk among the humble masses incognito: escape for a while. It must be very hard to always be on display, to follow protocol, to follow a script, to perform for the public. They’d enjoy this Zarzuela. And I think you would too.
    El Rey que Rabió is at the Teatro de la Zarzuela until January 11, 2009.
    (Tickets in the upper balcony are 16 and 20 Euros)
    Wendy

    http://teatrodelazarzuela.mcu.es/Temporada/ActividadesDetalle.asp?dia=03&mes=12&agno=2008

    Publicado por shakespeare

  • 05
    Dic
    2008

    Christmas Carols everywhere

    Have you learned any English-language Christmas carols?

    It's pretty difficult not to learn some of them, even if it is just the chorus.
    Everywhere you go these days, you hear Christmas carols. Let's see if you've been paying attention in the department stores and supermarkets, boutiques and novelty shops.

    Can you finish the chorus to these?

    Silent night, ________ ________.
    Hark the herald ________ _______.
    We three _________ ________ _______ _______.
    Oh, Christmas ________, Oh ___________ _________.
    Away in _______ _________.
    Angels we ______ _______ ____ _______
    Joy to _____ _________

    And a few more modern tunes:

    It's beginning to look ____ _______ ______ _______!
    Jingle bell, jingle bell, _________ _________ ________ !
    Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle _______ _______ _______.
    We wish _____ ______ __________ _____________.
    I saw Mama ___________ ___________ ________.

    I remember as a child in the US that the Christmas music and decorations didn't go up until after Thanksgiving, the 4th Thursday in November and were down by New Years or at the very outside by Epiphany, the 6th of January . If they weren't put away, the bad fairies would get us. We were all back in school on the first week day of January.

    There was a shopping frenzy in December, and the big sales started December 26th, not before.

    Here in Spain the season starts earlier and earlier each year. When I first came here the decorations went up in Plaza Mayor toward the middle of December and everyone came to buy nativity scenes, decorations and ornaments MADE IN SPAIN. White lights were put up along all the major boulevards and Spanish "villancicos" were heard everywhere. All the buildings were also lit up, and the excitement of the season lasted through at least the 8th of January when children would go back to school. No one knew any of the English language Christmas Carols, and Santa Claus was only a billboard figure selling Kodak cameras as I recall. The 3 Kings brought all the presents and the biggest shopping day of the year was January 5th.

    Now the sales start long BEFORE Christmas, especially this year with the big economic crisis. Maybe the prices are just too high to begin with!

    As foreign students in Spain we soon learned that the favorite Christmas song was about fish! ---but look how the fish are drinking in the river It DOES have quite a catchy tune, but... Oh, well. Each culture has its favorites. We learned the words to most of the "villancicos" and we'd also sing along to "Adeste Fideles" and "Noche de paz" because we knew the music.

    Last year the "Christmas season" in Spain began in November and this year the stores were decorating before Halloween! That certainly didn't happen in the 70's or 80's or 90's. Firstly the end of October was weeks too early to even mention Christmas, and secondly no one knew what Halloween was. Spanish children are now into Halloween; costumes and decorations are easy to find. In one mega-store I saw the Halloween costumes right next to the Christmas decor. And almost everything was imported from China! These 2 holidays just don't mix, and besides black & orange clash with the red & green, silver & gold.

    We may be getting more and more international. We may be learning to respect other customs and other cultures, but let´s keep the holidays independent of one another. Each an entity unto itself.

    Wendy

    Check out the Christmas activities at the UEM LAB

    Publicado por shakespeare

  • 04
    Dic
    2008

    Reading test--Optical illusions

    How well can you see? Do you only see what is obvious?
    Try these puzzles.enlace

    Publicado por shakespeare

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We LIVE & WORK at the UEM. And we do it in English!

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