Three Weeks

THREE WEEKS!!!

 Tres, trois, три, tre, três, hiru, tre, twa, trzy, drei, wej, 셋, ēyi, kinsa, ᏦᎢ, kolme, üç, 三, tatu, three. In exactly  3 weeks, I will be moving to Spain!!!!!

(How many languages did you recognize???) 

Spanish Word Of The Day (SWOD)

"Falta"

From wordreference.com:

Falta (fall-tah):

1. (carencia, ausencia) ~ de algo ‹de interés/dinero› lack of sth;
   por ~ de fondos owing to a lack of funds;
   ~ de personal staff shortage;
   es por la ~ de costumbre it's because I'm/you're not used to it;
   no es por ~ de ganas it's not that I don't want to;
   siente mucho la ~ de su hijo she misses her son terribly;
   a ~ de un nombre mejor for want of a better name;
   a ~ de más información in the absence of more information;

Essentially una falta is a lack of something. In my post below where I stated "The only problem is una falta de motivation to run," I meant that I have a lack of motivation to run. 

If there are any words or phrases that you'd like to know how to say in Spanish, or any Spanish words that you'd like to know how to say in English, feel free to leave them in the comments and they can be the next Spanish Word Of The Day!

Motivation

One goal I would like to accomplish while I am in Spain is running a half marathon. The only problem is una falta de (SWOD) motivation to run. Once I am out there running, and even afterwards, I feel great. But, actually getting out there to go run is where the trouble starts. I woke up this morning and did an enjoyable twenty minute yoga video (which btw was a really refreshing way to start the day), but I still haven't been able to drag pull myself off of the couch to go run. 

For all of you athletes out there, what is your motivation to keep working out??? How do you keep this motivation??? Is consistency really the key??

Spanish Word Of The Day

"Tapas"

From wordreference.com via Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary © 2009 Oxford University Press:

Tapas (top-uhs): "In Spain, these are small portions of food served in bars and cafés with a drink. There is a wide variety, including Spanish omelet, seafood, different kinds of cooked potatoes, salads, cheese, ham, and chorizo. They can be very elaborate, and people often order several to make a meal. Tapas are part of a lifestyle and the social aspect is very important. The practice of going out for a drink and tapas is known as tapeo."

Here are some photos of some of my favorite tapas:

Spanish Tortilla (Similar to a potato omelet)

http://spanishfood.about.com/od/tapas/ss/tortilla.htm

Croquetas (Fried dough that can be filled with chicken, ham, cheese, tuna, vegetables, etc.)

http://www.recetasdiarias.com/recetas/carne/croquetas-de-jamon/

Dátiles con Tocino (Bacon Wrapped Dates)

http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=qDEp8O-EREbWu_bQNb5ChA&select=0wWFrv6iFWBU9wsCGKnWXA

"Llena"

Sorry I've been sort of slack with my "Spanish Word of the Day" post. I kind of just slipped a word (llena) into my post yesterday, but today, it gets all the glory it deserves---aka, one whole post dedicated to it on my so-so great blog ;)

From wordreference.com:

lleno,-a (yay-no; yay-na)
I adjetivo
1 (colmado) full (up)
luna llena, full moon
2 (superficie) covered: está llena de manchas, it's covered with stains
3 (gordito) plump
II m (en espectáculos) full house
♦ Locuciones: figurado de lleno, fully: se equivocó de lleno, he went fully wrong

Llena literally means full, and can be used to describe anything that is full. If you're at dinner and don't have room for dessert, you would say "estoy llena" or I'm full.

Almost There...

As of today, I am now 26  days away from moving to Spain. While I have literally been waiting on this day for months, as it gets closer, it seems like time is absolutely flying. It almost feels strange to talk about leaving in terms of days or weeks, as opposed to months. While the Visa process was llena of paperwork and drama, it's been easy (so far) getting set up in Spain for my first week.

I got a great deal on a plane ticket from statravel.com, which ended up being less than half of the price of the same ticket on my usual go-to travel website. I highly recommend this site because they have deeply discounted prices on all types of travel needs (flights, hotels, hostels, tours) for students, teachers, and anyone under the age of 26.

I've booked a hostel in the middle of downtown Malaga for about a week while I search for an apartment, and I've also found a few apartments that I like and want to visit when I get there.

So at minimum, I feel like I have transportation to Spain, a place to stay (for atleast a week), and a few promising leads on more permanent housing :)

iPod Touch

In preparation for my big move, today I got a new iPod Touch!

Since I'm a billion few years late on the whole iPhone/iTouch phenomenon, now I'm calling on all of you Apple experts!! What is your best piece of advice for an iTouch newbie?? What are the "must-have" apps that I should download? What is your favorite app?

Papeleo

I've been thinking about doing a sort of "Spanish Word of the Day" type post to share my love of Spanish with my readers, so today's word pretty much describes the whole process (program application and visa application) of becoming an Auxiliar: Papeleo.

Papeleo = Paperwork

Here is a portion of the papeleo I had to take to the Spanish Consulate in Washington, DC to apply for my visa:

One National Visa Application

Carta de Nombramiento (Acceptance Letter)

FBI Background Check w/Apostille of the Hague

Medical Clearance w/Apostille of the Hague

100

100!

I just passed 100 views!!!  I know this is a small amount of views in the "blog world," but it's still exciting to me :) Let's have a drink to celebrate...

Blogging advice???

This is for all of my blog experts out there! What is your best piece of advice about blogging?? I have been blogging for all of ummm...two days, so I haven't really learned my way around the blog yet. For example, I have added the gadget for followers, yet I've had multiple people tell me they tried to follow my blog but there was no link :( Is this just a "computer glitch" or can I fix this? Any and all blog related advice is welcome!!!

Ingles o Espanol....English or Spanish

Un resulto de mi habilidad de hablar español  es que tengo amigos, en los EE.UU y en España también, quien solo puede hablar español. Quiero compartir mi blog con todos, pero no se en cual manera. ¿Debo escribir todos de mis mensajes en ambos ingles y español? ¿O debo crear un otro blog solo en español? ¿Qué piensas? ¿Qué debo hacer??

Sueños de una what???

From wordreference.com:
 Sueño:

2. (ilusión) dream;
   la mujer de sus ~s the woman of his dreams;
   sus ~s se hicieron realidad her dreams came true;
   ser un ~ (fam) to be divine (colloq)

 Moreno,-a

I adjetivo
1 (de pelo) dark-haired
(de piel) dark-skinned
pan/azúcar moreno, brown bread/sugar
2 (bronceado) tanned
ponerse moreno, to get a suntan
II m,f (persona) (de pelo) dark-haired person
(de piel) dark-skinned person

When choosing a blog title I wanted it to reflect both myself and the content of the blog. The majority of this blog will be dedicated to my experiences in Spain so I chose the word sueño, or dreams. I chose morena because this is one of my favorite Spanish words. 

Usually when I speak Spanish to native speakers, no matter what I say their first response is "de donde eres (where are you from)?" Not to toot my own horn (toot toot) but through studying abroad, and working in a position that requires me to speak Spanish everyday, I have developed a fairly high level of proficiency in Spanish. Although Spanish speakers come in all complexions and from all over the world, for some reason when I speak to people, they get this look on their face like "wtf? Where did this morena learn to speak Spanish like that?"

Malaga

I'll be living in Malaga (noted in red) on the southern tip of Spain close to Morocco:

(Map courtesy of http://sapgyoflatstanley.umwblogs.org/2011/05/30/flat-soung-soo-malaga-spain)

Primero

This is my first post! Hi everybody! My name is Kenya and I am just beginning my blog. I am moving to Spain in September to begin a new job as an English teacher. I will be living in Malaga, a port city in the South of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea, but teaching in a small town called Cartama. I hope my readers (hopefully more than just my family) will enjoy reading about my adventures in Spain :)