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?