The Kentucky Derby

Last week on May 2 I had the opportunity to see the most famous horse race in Murcia, La Carrera de los Caballos del Vino. It was an awesome experience that I’ll always remember. In the United States, Americans also watched their most famous horse race recently. On May 5, the Kentucky Derby took place at Churchill Downs in Lexington, Kentucky. Unlike the Wine Horses of Caravaca, the Kentucky Derby is a 2km long race. It is an event that over 160,000 people attend every year. The event has taken place since 1875, and nowadays many celebrities go and watch the Kentucky Derby. It is very typical for women to wear large, elaborate, and sometimes ridiculous hats at the Kentucky Derby. Also, there is a typical alcoholic drink that is traditional for the Kentucky Derby called a Mint Julep.
Below are a couple of photos as well as a video of this year’s race. Enjoy!

 

May Days

As I’m sure everyone knows, this past Tuesday was a holiday here in Spain, as we celebrated May Day (May 1). While in the United States May Day is not typically celebrated, in Chicago there are two other festivities celebrated around this time. The United States is a «melting pot»* of immigrants and foreign cultures, especially in the big cities like Chicago. In Chicago there are very large Polish and Mexican minorities who each have their holidays in early May. Both holidays celebrate the culture and history of their group.

First, the Polish-American community celebrates May 3 as Polish Constitution Day. It is a day to celebrate the signing of what some historians call the 2nd oldest modern constitution (after the US constitution). It is celebrated in Polish communities around the world. In Chicago every year on the Saturday closest to May 3, there is a parade of Polish-Americans through the city. The parade is even televised on one of the main local TV channels.

Secondly, on May 5 the Mexican-American community celebrates «Cinco de Mayo.» It originally celebrates a Mexican military victory over the French army in 1862, but today it is used as a day to celebrate Mexican culture, traditions, and history. It is very popular for non-Mexicans to celebrate this day by going out and enjoying Mexican food and drinks. This year I celebrated by trying the newly opened Mexican restaurant in Puerto! While I thought the food was good, it was much different than the Mexican food I am used to in the US.

Did you know…
– the Mexican beer Coronita is known as Corona throughout the rest of the world?
– it had been said that Chicago was the 2nd largest Polish city, after Warsaw, due to its large amount of Polish residents?

*melting pot: a pot where many different ingredients are melted and mixed together to form one substance.

Easter at the White House

And now for an American Easter tradition…

Every Easter an event is held that is called the ¨White House Easter Egg Roll.¨  It is a tradition that goes back to 1878.  Many guests and ¨normal¨people are invited from all over the country to enjoy various activities (Easter egg hunts, playing sports, book readings…) with the President and his family on the lawn of the White House in Washington DC.

Below is a video of the highlights from the 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll.  If you pay attention, you will notice that a famous Spaniard was invited to the event!

Enjoy!

One of my Easter traditions

I hope everyone enjoyed their ‘Holy Week’ vacation!  Now that we are all back in school, I thought I would share with you one of the Easter traditions in my family.  This particular Easter tradition is Polish.  My parents are Polish immigrants and they brought their traditions with them, like many immigrants, to the United States.

Every year during the morning of the Saturday before Easter, we dye/color eggs.  In addition, we also prepare an Easter basket with various types of foods such as sausage, bread, salt, butter, eggs, candy, etc.  Each food symbolizes something different.  We then go to church on Saturday morning to have this basket blessed by the priest, but we don’t eat the food in the basket until Easter Sunday morning.  There are many Polish people in Chicago (where I live), so it is easy to find a church that blesses Easter baskets on Saturday morning in English and in Polish.

Typical Polish Easter basket

The priest blessing the Easter baskets on Holy Saturday

Traditional Polish wooden Easter eggs

Spanish TV you should be watching…in ENGLISH!

Hello everyone!  Today I’m going to talk about something you all do:  watching TV.  As a foreigner in a strange land, I find watching TV in Spanish helps me practice and learn the language.  I also discovered that on the TV remotes here in Spain, there is a button that allows you to change the audio language into the «original version.»  It is a very useful tool for me when I am feeling lazy and don’t want to think in Spanish.  BUT, since we are all learning a foreign language, WE SHOULD NOT BE LAZY!  As students of English, you should be watching the TV in English (with Spanish subtitles if you like), whenever possible!

Not only does watching TV in the original English version help you learn English, it also sounds much better!  Though a few shows are dubbed well, most are not.  They lose a lot of the emotion that the actors are showing, and the quality of the show decreases drastically.  Films and TV are much better in their original version.  I think it is terrible that here in Spain there is a culture of watching films and TV that are dubbed instead of subtitled.

While watching TV here in Spain, I have made a list of 10 shows that I recommend for you to be watching in English.  All of these shows are shown on basic Spanish television, so you do not need expensive satallites to watch them.  In no particular order:

1 – Top Gear.  Even if you don’t like cars, the British version of this show is great fun for men and women.  I highly recommend it.

2 – Mythbusters (Cazadores de Mitos).  If you like science and engineering, then this is an entertaining show where the hosts run experiments testing common myths.

3 – Sponge Bob Square Pants (Bob Esponja).  I don’t watch this cartoon, but it seems popular enough that I have included it on the list.

4 – Friends.  This sitcom (situational comedy) is always on TV here, and was very popular in the USA during the 90s.

5 – The Simpsons (Los Simpsons).  The longest running comedy program on TV, and it’s very frequently on TV here.  Though the Spanish dubbing is pretty good, the original English is even better.  Also, since you’ve seen the episodes already in Spanish, it should be easier to follow in English.

6 – Knight Rider (Coche Fantastico).  David Hasselhoff in this 80s classic.  Need I say more?

7 – MacGyver.  Another 80s hit and cult classic.  This man can solve almost any problem with just a paperclip.  What crazy solutions will he engineer next?

8 – Walker, Texas Ranger.  I once wrote an episode for this show with my friend and mailed it to CBS (the TV station) when I was a kid.  It wasn’t accepted, but this Chuck Norris show is a 90s classic that helped fuel all the «Chuck Norris jokes» that were popular all over the world.

9 – Cheers.  Set in a bar in Boston and broadcast for 11 seasons, mainly in the 80s, this was one of the most popular American sitcoms ever.  It is also one of my favorites.

10 – Dirty Jobs (Trabajos Sucios).  A show about a man going around trying out the jobs that few people want to do.  Entertaining to watch and makes you thankful for the people that do these jobs.

*Bonus – Seinfeld.  I have not seen this show on spanish TV, but it is easily my favorite comedy.  TV Guide Magazine named it as the «Greatest TV Show of All Time,» and it is well worth watching.

That ends the list, but there are many more series as well as movies on Spanish TV that you can and should be watching in English.  So please, next time you watch TV, take advantage of the opportunity to practice your English!

til next time,

paul

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day! and another ‘song of the week’

Happy belated St. Patrick’s Day!  On March 17, people around the world celebrate the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint, Saint Patrick.  This mainly involves people dressing up in green, parades, irish music and dancing, and having a good time with friends.

Also every year in my home city, the city of Chicago dyes (changes the color) of the Chicago River to green!  Below is a real photo of the Chicago River.  It’s not photoshopped.

This week’s song is from the Irish-American celtic punk band, Flogging Molly.  Though the performers are American, the lead singer was born in Dublin, and their music has an Irish influence to it.  The group was formed in 1997 and is still playing today.  The song is called «Salty Dog» and was released in 2000 on the album «Swagger.»

Here are the lyrics in English and Spanish:

http://traduceletras.net/es/flogging-molly/salty-dog/86134/

Happy Casimir Pulaski day!

I bet you didn’t know, but yesterday (Monday March 5) was a holiday for Chicago area school students.  Why?  It was Casimir Pulaski Day of course!  Kazimierz Pulaski was a Polish soldier born on March 6, 1745.  Since attempts to regain Poland’s independance from Russia at this time failed, Pulaski moved to the American colonies to help the USA fight for its independance from the UK.  Pulaski helped the US military by training its soldiers and its cavalry.  In fact, Pulaski has been called «the father of American cavalry.»  During the American Revolutionary War, Pulaski became a general in the US army and was also credited with saving George Washington’s life!  Kazimierz Pulaski died on October 11, 1779 from injuries during the Battle of Savannah.  Because of the help he gave the American colonies, he is honored in Illinois on the first Monday of March every year since 1977.

Carnival in the USA

Although it ended a week ago, I thought I would share a little bit about carnival celebrations in the USA.  While it is not very popular in the USA, some cities still do have large carnival celebrations.  The most famous american carnival celebration is held in New Orleans, Louisiana.  The festival is called «Mardi Gras.»  The name comes from the French who used to own New Orleans, and it means «Fat Tuesday.»  It is called «Fat Tuesday» because it is the last day you can eat a lot before Lent (Quaresma).

Similar to carnival celebrations here in Spain, there are parades and people party in the streets.  In addition, it is common for people to throw bead necklaces to each other during Mardi Gras.  Below are a few photos from Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  Enjoy!

Song of the Week: February 4

Hello again everyone!  As you may know, tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday.  Are you ready for some football!?  To celebrate this, this week’s song is called «The Super Bowl Shuffle.»  It was recorded and performed by members of the 1985 Chicago Bears football team before the Super Bowl in 1986.  They were the first sports team to have their own rap video!  That year the Bears went on to win the Super Bowl, beating the New England Patriots by a score of 46-10.

In addition to their success on the field, the song reached #41 on the US Billboard charts, sold over half a million copies, and was even nominated for a Grammy award!

Below is the music video for the song.  All people in the video are actual members of the football team.  It is really quite funny to see them «dance.»  I’m sure they had fun making it.  (notice the different uses of «fun» versus «funny»)

And as usual, here are the lyrics in English and Spanish.  Remember, the translation is only a guide, and often they are not very good!

http://www.traduceletras.net/es/1985/chicago-bears-_-super-bowl-shuffle/504412/

Have a great weekend,

-paul

Happy Groundhog Day!

Today in the United States, we celebrate Groundhog day.  It is not a very big holiday, but every year in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania a groundhog predicts the weather!  It works like this.

If Phil (the Groundhog) sees his own shadow, there will be 6 more weeks of winter.

If Phil does not see his shadow, spring will soon be here.

Large crowds gather outside, in the cold, to see this event.  Below is a photo of Punxsutawney Phil,

There is also a movie titled Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray.  In Spanish, the movie is called Atrapado en el Tiempo.

So, will Phil see his shadow today?