Mexico In Big Trouble

As of now Mexico is facing not one war but six! Most if not all are drug related issues. Drug related violence has lead to over more than 17,000 dead! Mexico is facing major threats right now. Mexico is in need of help, but who can help them now? I have no idea what happened to Mexico over the last few years, but it sounds like it is crazy over there right now. I would not feel safe at all going to Mexico for quite some time. I can only imagine what is going to happen to Mexico. 

Like I said in my last blog we just watched the spanish movie Motorcycle Diaries. I really quite enjoyed it and maybe it did some good to hear them speak so much spanish. Maybe, somehow, it will help my spanish a little! It was a little difficult to try to listen to them and translate because they speak so fast and I feel like they all have their own accents and slang. Anyways I am so glad this semester is pretty much over, but I'm super nervous about this final!! AYYY!!

Estoy nervioso acerca de nuestra prueba.

Chile Earthquake

Late February this year Chile had an Earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8. According to sources, the earthquake was felt as far as Sao Paolo which is about 1,800 miles away from the source of the earthquake. Many buildings were destroyed and 300 lives were taken by the earthquake. This sounds crazy to me. I have never even felt an earthquake so I can't even imagine what that was like, but I'm glad I can't. I know that this area is hit a lot by earthquakes, but I wish they could find a way of stopping it or at least lessen the damages. 

This week in Spanish class we just watched the movie Motorcycle Diaries. I was actually really surprised at how much I liked it. Although, the ending was kinda bad. It did teach me about all of those different countries and how bad it is over there. It was sort of and inspiring movie to see those two men travel so far and go through so much to help other people. It was a life changing experience for them and it made me want to do something of that sort. 

Me gusta la pelicula Diarios de Motocicleta.

Fire tornado

A combination of strong winds and high temperatures caused a fire tornado in Brazil. This whirlwind of flames spiraling several meters high danced across fields bringing traffic to a halt on a nearby road. Thankfully the tornado of fire didn't last very long and did not cause any major damage. This rare phenomenon was actually caught on video! If you just goggle or youtube it you will find it. It's crazy! Thankfully it didn't do any more harm than a small wildfire would. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssn2kmNf0ME&feature=player_embedded

Once again this week I had to miss the second day of class, but it looks like we covered preterite tense of regular verbs. That just sounds confusing. So for -ar verbs you would use the endings: e, aste, o, amos, asteis, aron. And for -er and -ir verbs you would use the endings: i, iste, o, imos, isteis, ieron. 

En invierno compramos ropa.

Transferring Nuclear Knowledge

Russia plans to build the first nuclear power plant in Venezuela. The deal was announced during a state visit to Moscow by Venezuela's president and is in keeping with a push by Russian businesses to expand sales of reactors and nuclear fuel around the world. Russia's president said that the United States should not object because Russia's intentions were "absolutely pure and open." 
I think this is quite dangerous. They are spreading nuclear technology all over the world. No one can ever be sure of one's motives. If they aren't careful this could be a terrible thing. 

This week in Spanish we learned about Direct Object Pronouns and Indirect Object Pronouns. Direct Object Pronouns are: me, te, lo, la, nos, os, los, las. Indirect Object Pronouns are: me, te, le, nos, os, les. I found this last part of the class very difficult and confusing. They are so similar and I'm not exactly sure when to use them. Looks like I'll be studying quite a bit tomorrow! 

Quieren estudiarla.

Puno Day

The city of Puno in Peru generally organizes a celebration for their foundation day on the 5th of November each year. The celebrate with pardades, music, and performances. It seems like other countries have a lot of holidays. I think it's cool though, because it seems like it brings the whole country together. Almost as if they become closer through celebrations. 


I wasn't there for the second day of class this week, but from the book it looks like we learned about direct object nouns and pronouns. The direct object noun answers the question for example: What are Alex and Javier taking? I've looked this over some and it seems kind of confusing. I am going to have to study this quite a bit Sunday for the test Tuesday. Ugh. 

Allen visita a la senora Heather. 

Anti-Smoking Bill

Smoking is to be banned in all bars and restaurants in Spain after the spanish parliament recently voted unanimously in favor of a new anti-smoking bill. Smoking will be forbidden in all public places with the exception of prisions and psychiatric institutes. The law is due to come into force on January 2, 2011. I think this is a great idea! I think this should happen in America too. Smoking is bad for you and second hand smoke is even worse. So the people that don't want to smoke get the blunt of it. Doesn't seem far does it? If you want to smoke fine, but do it on your own property. 






This week in Spanish class we learned how to say the months in spanish. Also we learned how to say how we feel (like our condition or emotion). For example, if we were happy, comfortable, worried, or even in love.

Viajo con mi equipo. Estoy cansado. 

Zaragoza Pilar Fiestas!

Some of the most popular events in Spain occur in October. It is the Zaragoza Pilar Fiestas. It includes a wide variety of activities all of the family. People fill the streets with entertainment for a week or even more. Such events that occur are theatre performances, concerts, shows, bullfights, music, and many more!
This sounds like a lot of fun. Almost sounds like Mardi Gras except the whole country celebrates it. That would be a crazy mess if all of America celebrated Mardi Gras!

So this week in Spanish so far I've learned that I am horrible at memorizing. I had studied really hard for the test Tuesday and when I went in for the oral part of the exam I looked at the paper and saw possessive adjectives and my mind went blank. I forgot what they were. So when we were finished we asked and felt like crap that we hadn't used any of them. :/ boo. 

Mis tios son alto.

(Not gonna forget anymore!)

Abortion Bill Passed

In Madrid, the Spanish Parliament approved a controversial bill to make it easier to get an abortion in Spain, and sent it to the Senate. Since 1985 abortion has been decriminalized in Spain, but only in matters of rape, or when the health of the child or mother is at risk. The main controversy over this is that it will open the door to even more abortions. There are many strong opinions on the matter on both sides. I find this very interesting. This is a topic that people have strong feelings about so either way people are going to be mad. This is a difficult topic. I am not sure really what I think about it. There are good reasonings for both sides. 


At the end of this week in Spanish we learned a little bit of new stuff and then review the last two chapters. There is a ton of information and a lot of stuff to memorize. The rules to conjugating I think is the hardest. I guess it is basically just memorizing, but that is a lot to remember. Praying I do good on the test Tuesday! 


Nosotros salimos la universidad en la noche. 

Controversy over Census

This year there is controversy over the 2010 Census form. Question number eight asks, "Are you of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?" Many people are finding themselves unable to answer the question because they are of many different origins. At this point in America it is hard to identify what one ethnicity you are. Also, people are wondering why there aren't other national origins on there. I wonder why this is a question on the U.S. Census form. Some people think it has to do with just numbers. The only other country that has a higher percentage of Hispanics than America is Mexico. I guess the main question people are wondering is why do we have to identify exactly who or what we are. We are Americans.

This week in Spanish we learned about stem changing verbs. There are many different rules for this which makes is very difficult to remember. Words with an e change to an ie for the conjugated form and words with an o change to a ue for the conjugated form.

Me gusto mucho duermo. 

Smashing Building for Stress Relief

More than 40 stressed-out workers in Madrid were given the opportunity to hammer a hotel before it is renovated. More than 1000 volunteers had written to NH hotels describing the stressfulness of their lives. 100 finalists were chosen and then each of them had to perform a psychological test. Once they were allowed in the hotel to destroy it they were elated and began running from room to room smashing doors, walls, and t.v. sets. Many of the workers admitted after that it was a very good stress-relief therapy. 
I was looking up current events in spanish countries and scanned across this and was like yeah this is the one! This sounds like a GREAT idea! I have a lot of built up stress and I think that would make me and probably a lot of other people feel a lot better if we were given that same opportunity. I wonder how that works with people getting hurt while doing it though. I'm not sure they would let us do this in America without at least signing some legal document. Bummer.

This week in Spanish we learned how to say that we are doing activities, sports, and going to certain places. This is a lot of different words to memorize but I feel like this part in the class is going to be most useful. If you wanted to have a casual conversation with someone you would want to be able to tell them about what you do or what you are going to do. 

Yo tengo un padre trabajador.

Do you bite your nails?

Spain is opening the world's first center for treating compulsive nail biters. The basic treatment of patients who like to bite their nails just takes a few hours. The director of this institute claims that after repeating the procedure for four weeks the patient will be entirely cured. The treatment had a 98% success rate. They use a unique device that fits on the hand while still allowing you to preform normal activities but at the same time it prevents nail biting. 
I was tired of finding more political events so I tried to find something random and this is what I found! It is interesting, but also kind of funny. I didn't know that nail biting was actually a real addiction. I wonder what the devise exactly does to make you stop biting your nails. 

This week in Spanish we learned how to conjugate -er, -ir, and -ar verbs. I am not a fan of how they are all different. I'm not the best at memorizing stuff so I'm going to have to really think about how to change words that end in ir, er, and ar. Hope this next test doesn't have much of that on there! Although this test is going to be hard no matter what since it is over two chapters instead of one. :/

El perro come helado.

Sight-seeing dangerous?

Mexican federal police are searching for the body of a man who's wife says he was shot by pirates while sight seeing on a jet ski on a lake bordering the U.S. - Mexican border. The woman says her husband was shot after a chase on Falcon Lake by three men in speedboats. Falcon lake is a dammed section of the Rio Grande that has been plagued by pirates who rob boaters and fishermen who cross the border. 
This is a horrible tragedy. It is a sad thing that American's will be afraid to sight see around that area now. I don't understand the reasoning behind the pirates killing people who are near the border. It seems that now-a-days people will kill for no reason at all. The killing needs to stop. My prayers go out to this woman and her family. 

This week I really enjoyed guessing where the different pictures were taken. Although my group got most of the places wrong I still liked learning the different places in countries. I love this type of learning! Hands on and visual learning. Also, I would like to visit many of those places...maybe someday. 

Mi familia es alto.

Penguin Discovery!

Recently a major discovery was found in Peru. Paleontologists have unearthed the first extinct penguin with preserved evidence of scales and feathers. The 36-million-year-old fossil from Peru shows the new giant penguin's feathers were reddish brown and grey. Unlike the original black tuxedo look of living penguins. This discovery helped solve questions of why and when penguins became such strong swimmers. 
This is so cool and interesting to me! Besides dogs, penguins are my favorite animal. They are so funny and cute! It seems so weird to think of penguins being reddish brown and grey, but I guess this goes to show we learn something new everyday. I would like to learn more about this and about why they are only black and white now. Maybe I'm the only one who finds this interesting but that's okay! 

This week became particularly hard in Spanish. Now that we are putting more sentences together and asking questions I feel myself getting lost. It is interesting to hear all the words put together into a sentence, but Spanish is getting difficult! So I guess what I learned this week was that I'm not so good at making sentences or questions in Spanish. Better work harder! :/


Estoy dificil compredo el espanol. 

Costa Rica storms

A tropical storm called "Matthew" is forecast to bring intense rainfall to Costa Rica. The National Emergency Commission declared a yellow alert for the entire Pacific coast. Matthew is the 13th storm of this year's hurricane season. The CNE restocked emergency supplies at their operations center. Several homes have already been flooded due to heavy rains and high tides. 
The thing that comes to mind when I read about this was that it seems like other countries have a lot more trouble with flooding that the U.S. does. Is that just me not knowing what's going on in the world or is that maybe true? I know there was Katrina and a few other big hurricanes, but it seems like the U.S. is hit less than most countries.

This week in spanish I learned how to correctly address my relatives in spanish. I now know how to tell people about my family (kind of). I'm not good at spanish to begin with, but I feel like family words are a  lot harder in spanish than they are in english. It just seems so complicated. 

Mexico Mayor killed

A few weeks ago the mayor of Mexico City, Mexico, Alexander Lopez Garcia, was shot and killed in his office. Witnesses said that four armed and hooded men got out of a white truck in front of the city hall around 1:30 p.m. Two went inside to shoot the mayor while the other two waited outside. According to officials, no arrests have been made yet. Garcia was the third mayor killed in Mexico in less than a month! 


The violence in Mexico is way out of hand. The deaths of these politicians is suspected to be connected to drug issues except for this one. This mayor was killed over a land dispute. I wonder how long this will go on before serious action is taken. 

This past week I learned how to ask someone where a few basic things are located. As nervous as I was about the oral part of our second test, I think it went pretty well. It was good for me because it made me actually study how to ask where things are. Although I only know how to ask a few things I still feel accomplished!

Mudslides

Recently there were several deadly mudslides in Guatemala as the rainy season's storms batter the region. So far the mudslides have claimed at least 45 lives. Flooding was also reported in southeastern mexico, killing at least 11. Also, flooding in Honduras has killed 55 people, 40 in Nicaragua, nine in El Salvador, and three in Costa Rica. Guatemala's Le Prensa Libre said, "This rainy season is the worst the country has seen in 60 years, killing at least 236 people. 
The weather all over the world has been crazy the last year and a half. As far as the United States goes, I know that last year the country got a lot of rain and was cold all year. Apparently in many spanish countries they got a lot of rain as well. Unfortunetly for them it resulted in hundreds of deaths. This is a terrible thing and I hope that they either figure out a way to stop the mudslides and flooding or that the world stops getting so much rain!

DEATHLY MUDSLIDE

This week I learned how to do math in spanish! That is a HORRIBLE combination. First of all, I hate math and I'm not good at it and second, I am not good at spanish either. Therefore, that makes doing math is spanish near impossible. I'm trying though! 

Yo estoy encima de la cama.

Independence Day!

Last Thursday, September 16, 2010 Mexico celebrated its Independence Day. This day is also known as Viva Mexico! This year was Mexico celebrating their independence of 200 years! They celebrate with a big parade around the Paseo de la Reforma and come to the Zocalo Square in Mexico City. From the beginning of September, the whole city is decorated with red, white, and green lights as well as the Mexican flag. During their independence day they celebrate the revolutionary war heroes of their past. They do this in every city, big or small, with parties and parades. 

I found the mexican university in the videos we've watched in class to be interesting because of the size and rituals. That school is huge! I don't know how they are able to have that many students on one campus; no wonder there are no dorms. I don't know that I'd like going to a school that big. Where do they park?! La universidad es loco!

war on drugs

The legalization of drugs has created an open dialogue in Latin America. Last week the former Mexican President Vicente Fox made a statement in support of "legalizing production, sales and distribution" of drugs, which lead to huge headlines all around the world. Fox has created a proposal for legalization of all major drugs. Fox said in an interview that he has made this proposal because the drug violence in Mexico has reached intolerable levels.
The fact that there is even a possibility that all major drugs could be legalized in Mexico is insane. The violence over drugs in Mexico is way out of hands, but legalizing them is not the solution. There has to be a better way to take care of this situation. I hope the proposal isn't passed because I see greater problems in Mexico's future.


This week I learned that sometimes spanish speakers will use slang or an accent that might be different from what we learn in the book or in class, just like English speakers do. But it's okay because I know they'll know what I'm saying even if I don't say it just like they do. At some point though I would be interested in learning the slang that they use.

Violence in Mexico

This week in Spanish I learned many things such as how to count to thirty, how to know when someone is asking how many of something there is, and indefinite and definite articles. From taking a few years of spanish in high school I knew some of the article stuff, but I had never heard of una, unas, uno, and unos so I found that very interesting. Also, I really enjoy the hands on activities we've been doing just because I am a visual learner so it helps me remember better when we actually do it or say it. Me gusta aprender visualmente.


Recently four young men were found dead and decapitated in Piedras Negras, Mexico.  A Durango State officer said the bodies were found in the bed of a truck. There was a message on the windshield allegedly signed by the Zetas gang. The victims were involved in an attack at a bar in the neighboring city of Torreon that killed eight people earlier that Saturday. The four young men were of ages 18-20 and attended a university in Gomez Palacio.
The gangs in Mexico have become rapidly more violent and this is just one of the many examples of what is happening right now in Mexico. I think that this is a huge problem and should be a priority of Mexico to stop all of the violence loss of innocent lives. If something it done soon to help the situation then it could possibly spread its way up into Texas or New Mexico and then we have a huge problem.