Angela's Top Spanish Music Picks

I have been watching way too much HTV this week, depite the fact that they play the same music videos over and over again. I've decided to put together a list of my favorite songs at the moment, in no particular order they are:

Esclavo de Sus Besos - David Brisbal
Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes - Paulina Rubio
Dile Al Amor - Aventura
Aqui Estoy Yo - Luis Fonsi
Equivocada - Thalia
El Doctorado - Tony Dize
Soy Gitana - Shakira
Se Me Va la Voz - Alejandro Fernandez

I've included embedded links to all of the videos in case you are so inclined to watch. I suggest starting with Shakira's Soy Gitana - it includes a cameo by none other than Rafael Nadal (from the pic above)!

Breaking News!

Pablo Emilio Moncoya, held prisoner by the FARC for the past 12 years, was released today in Florencia, Colombia. He was a teenager when he was taken hostage in 1997 and is only in his early 30's now.

While he was in captivity his father walked over 700 miles in the jungle, in chains, in an effort to secure his release.

I don't know if this story is getting any coverage in the U.S., but it's all over the news here.

It's a pretty amazing story, and a very happy day for his family!

Semana Santa Pilgrimage

I've just decided that next year I will use the week off I have for Semana Santa to attend the Sony Ericsson Masters Tennis Tournament in Miami.

I went about 2 or 3 years ago with my friend Mukund and saw Nadal play "somebody"

I've been watching the matches all week - and if it occurs in the same week as Semana Santa next year - I'm going!! This year it also happened to coincide with WMC - Winter Music Conference. Could you just imagine if Tiesto was playing there next year in the same week - mindblowing!

I will need a travel buddy - so think about it!

Something looks different

We don't have classes this week because of Semana Santa, but I'm kinda missin' the place (as I sit in my living room watching Tennis - nothing better than Nadal!)...

This picture of HTL was taken last week. If you compare it to the last picture I posted you will notice something strikingly different. There's a big black gate out front. I haven't asked anyone what the reason for the gate is (maybe I don't want to know the answer), but I'm assuming it's to keep renegade cars out of the somewhat small parking lot.

And in other news: Last week HTL had a reception for the all of the recent graduates, and I was actually honored with a certificate. It says:

"Los directores de High Technology in Learning por la autoridad conferida en ellos entregan esta Mencion Especial al esfuerzo, contancia y al buen desempeno logrado, durante su proceso aprendizaje a: Angela Mauro"

roughly translated it means: I've been working hard and have a good attitude!

Sadly though, I wasn't at the reception to collect the certificate myself. That's what happens when the receptionist at a language school only speaks Spanish. She probably told me I was getting an award, but I thought she was only inviting me to attend (I had heard it was a graduation ceremony), and I decided not to go- it had been a particularly busy day. So I found out about it the next day...

First pic of apartment!

This is our kitchen. All decked out in our silver appliances :) (yes, that is a washing machine in the kitchen - to the far right - and we only have a washer, we dry our clothes on a rack out on the balcony.)

It's very long and narrow, but I don't find it too difficult to move around. It's actually laid out pretty well and in a day or two I'll post a picture of the greatest creation ever invented.

Also, if you look closely at the stove you might see that there are 3 gas burners and 1 electric burner. It took me a few days to realize why the stove is designed this way. I've found this electric burner to be profoundly useful. It's great for keeping things like soup warm and I like it to boil water and such...

Funny TV Moment

Flipping through the channels one weekday afternoon, I stumbled upon this funny sight. A young, toned workout instructor leads viewers through an easy at-home workout. Kind of like "Sit And Be Fit" (MJ I know you remember that one!).

Anyway, I stared and laughed for a long time, and then i joined in on the workout - not as easy as it looks!!

You never know what you might get..

Yesterday I finally got up the courage to visit the local carniceria to buy some chicken. I asked for Pechuga de Pollo and what I got was the largest chicken breast I had ever seen!!

I the breasts were on the bone with the skin on...so for the first time ever, I de-skinned and de-boned my first chicken breast. It started out as an experiment, but it actually turned out really good!!

I'll save you the pictures, but I do have some.

Competicion de Equitacion

On Sunday Oscar and I went to see his sister Valentina compete in an equestrian competition. It was a first for me.

All of the riders were under age 15 and the jumps were on the small side - but it was really fun to watch. And Valentina did great!!

Juego de tenis

This weekend Oscar and I were fortunate enough to snag VIP tickes (compliments of the amazing Laura Thompson) to the Tennis Champions tour. Laura happens to be friends with Wayne Ferreira, an Olympic silver medalist from South Africa, who was playing in the tournament. We saw Wayne beat a Croatian on Saturday night - he made it to the final match and we went back to see him play on Sunday. It seems that the previous night's partying may have done him in...he lost by a small margin.

I would like to thank my new friend Laura for making this a memorable weekend.

Scary Cheap Manicures

The sign is advertising manicures for 3,000 COP, that is roughly $1.50...

Seriously cheap...even with a tip it comes out to about $4.00. I see these signs everywhere so it's not just this place. There is a "salon" directly across the street from our apartment with the same sign. I think I've been about two times to get manicures here in Bogota.

I was helping Valentina (Oscar's sister) study for an English test yesterday - we were reading a passage in her textbook about a woman who owns an art gallery in Manchester, England and in New York City. In the first line of the passage she was quoted saying when she's in Manchester she really misses the New York manicures. That really hit home (especially considering my manicure experience in Texas, also).

It might be cheap, but it just isn't the same...

Aguacate

This is how you buy an avocado in Bogota...

They are so delicious and the biggest avocados I have ever seen. I bought one today for lunch tomorrow - traditional ajiaco soup. yum!

Daylight Savings

Yesterday (Sunday) was daylight savings. At 2am they skipped ahead one hour. BUT not in Colombia - it isn't recognized here.

Saturday the time in Bogota was the same as in New York City. Today, the time here is the same as in Texas.

1pm Bogota = 1pm in Texas = 2pm in NYC

An Insider Secret

We've been waiting for almost two weeks for DirectTV to come hook up our cable. They've come twice and both times they say the apartment isn't set up and they need to do some more work - they were supposed to come again yesterday and they didn't show, so I think we're going to go with another cable provider (Telemex).

In the meantime - skydur.com has become my best friend. It's a subscription service for people that live internationally. It gives your computer a false IP address that makes it look like you are in the United States. Thus I can now access all of the websites that stream video and music, which are inaccessible outside of the US, like Hulu, Netflix and Pandora.

Now I dont have to miss another episode of Real Housewives ever again!

Time to start studying!

This is going to be my home away from home away from home for the next couple of months - my Spanish School.

It's called High Technology in Learning. I am here from 9am-1pm every day. It's a really cool, laid back atmosphere - the classes are taught in a conversational format. I have lessons that I prepare each day and basically we just go through the vocab and phrases from each students lesson (each person is on a different one) and we talk about things that come up in the lessons and do corresponding activities: pictionary and scrabble so far.

Today was my second day and I am really enjoying it - and I even feel like my Spanish is improving by the hour! The people in the class are also really interesting, so far I've met people from England, Croatia, Canada, Korea, and New Jersey - oh and today there were two nuns from India. So it's a great mix of people!

I'm on my way to becoming a fluent Spanish speaker!

This view never gets old

Seriously, waking up to this view from our living room every morning is really amazing.

Going to the Movies

Oscar and I went to see Alice in Wonderland at the local movie theater on Friday night. It's only two blocks away so we can walk, which is nice (in a city full of traffic - see previous post)

Being a Friday night, you would expect it to be crowded, but the place was packed - mostly kids. The movie theater is on the 4th or 5th floor of the mall, and the floor is only made up of the movie theater entrance and the food court. It makes so much sense - you get to the movies early to buy your ticket, then before you enter the theater you can have dinner - i guess that would also depend on what time of day you go...

It's perfect space planning, but it's nothing suprising or unusual. What I couldn't believe, and had never seen before, was that you actually get assigned seats for your movie. When you buy your ticket at the window, the clerk turns the computer screen around to face you and on it is a view of the seats in the theater, color coded for which are available. We got there kind of late, but were able to grab the last two seats together on the top row.

Though you still have to get to the theater early enough to actually get a ticket - assigned seats eliminates the second stress of walking into a packed theater; and it also allows you to use your time more effectively. Our movie was sold out, but most of the people entered 5 minutes or less before the movie started.

Bus Strike!

The bus drivers have been on strike for the past 3 days...from what I understand the government decided to buy all of the buses, but they weren't going to give the owners enough money for each one so they went on strike.

The buses are the main mode of transportation for many of the residents here so this has caused many problems. The schools have basically shut down this week because the teachers can't get to work. There were crazy lines for the transmilineo (the metro system) and the traffic has been horrible because they are not enforcing 'pico y placa,' so everyone can drive.

Pico y Placa is the system to control car traffic. The last number of the license plate determines which days the car cannot drive (2 days each week).

Late this afternoon both parties came to an agreement so the strike will be over tomorrow!