Scott Gomez, born December 23, 1979, became the first Latino-American National Hockey Player and the first Player to be drafted by a team. Although his nationality was technically American, he was considered a Latino-American because his parents were Columbian-American and Latino-American. He became the first Latino-American Player to play in a game when he started his career in 1999 with the New Jersey Devils. Over his career Scotty Gomez has won two Stanley cups and has played for four different teams. He has played for the New Jersey Devils, the New York Rangers, the Montreal Canadians and now currently plays for the Florida Panthers. Personally I think this is a good thing because if Spanish speakers find out his actual nationality, they might come to think that if one spanish speaker can play hockey then it might spark the interest to play hockey in other peoples eyes.
Iker Casillas is a Spanish footballer who currently plays for Real Madrid and on the Spanish National team. He is currently the captain of both the Spanish national team and Real Madrid. He is regarded as one of if not the best goalkeepers of his generation and possibly in the history of Spanish footballers. In 2008 he won the Spanish teams first European Championship in 44 years. Iker Cassillas is in a very small and prestigious group of footballers to have won all major club and national championship titles. Casillas became the most capped goalkeeper of all time in the UEFA champions league and in 2011 became the most capped player of all time for the Spanish national team. A pair of Iker’s gloves are on display at the Santiago Bernabeu museum. Despite Cassillas being 32 years old he has yet to show any signs of slowing down or losing the top form he is in.
Madrid Street Cleaners Call Off Strike
The streets of Spain’s capital, Madrid, have been flooded with garbage because of a strike that began on November fifth. This strike sprung up from the unions who represent workers whose job it is to clean the city’s public gardens and city streets. The reason for this strike was to protest plans to cut salaries up to forty percent, as well as slash one thousand, one hundred and thirty four jobs from seven thousand jobs. The companies claim that cuts were necessary before the strike, since the city hall was spending less on cleaning due to being under pressure to reduce costs like public authorities around Spain. There were meetings on Sunday afternoon to meet a compromise with the city cleaning workers. In these meetings, the workers approved the deal made by the companies and the unions. The workers will resume work on the night shift and the strike has been called off. The deal that was hammered out over the weekend is that the companies cannot fire any workers but can temporarily lay off workers without pay. During the course of this strike, the streets were littered with piles of garbage, paper, and much street trash which became a major health concern for the city.
Spanish pianist facing jail for noise pollution
Prosecutors wants to take 3 people to court because of noise pollution. The case has raised eyebrows. Neighbors often complain about street and bar noise in Spain, but prosecutors seeking jail time for someone practicing the piano is unheard of, not just in spain but anywhere. In my community back home we had a time when our neighbors where too noisy and it was a lot of complaints about the noise. It came to a point where people start calling the ones in charge of our county and made the people stop.
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Inequality in Brazil
It seems as if we have come a long way from slavery and African Americans gaining their rights in this world. Although in actuality we haven’t. If a country requires their own government to set a percent of jobs available to African Americans then there is still a big issue with racism existing. Brazil still faces a big socio-economic inequality problem till this day. In Brasilia, Brazil their President asked their congress to pass legislation that reserves 20 percent of their nation’s government jobs for African Americans. Although half of Brazil’s population are African America only 20 percent of government jobs are technically required just for African Americans. If a government job requires passing legislation for jobs, imagine the inequality that probably is happening in a regular everyday job. Brazil is somewhere I wouldn’t want to live. I rather live somewhere where I have an equal chance of getting a job as everybody else who applied.
Mayor of Madrid Demands actions
Recently in Madrid all the street cleaners have went on strike and have refused to work for almost two weeks now. The strike happened because the Union planned on cutting salaries up to 40% and cut more than a thousand jobs. This article really caught my attention because our waste management workers are people who don’t get a lot of acknowledge for their commitment and now when the streets are over flowing with garbage now people want them to praise them and put them to work. All that trash being everywhere is so disgusting and very unsanitary, I know if i lived in Madrid I wouldn’t be going out until this strike was resolved. The article mentioned that local residents are in fear of rat infestation on their streets and with all this trash everywhere that’s definitely a possibility if the trash isn’t picked up soon
Spanish Rice
Spanish rice is a side dish made from white rice, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and other ingredients. It is traditionally made by sauteing the rice in a skillet until it is golden brown. Water or chicken broth is then added along with chopped tomatoes or tomato sauce. Although called “Spanish rice,” this dish is unknown in Spain. The term “Spanish rice” is not used by Mexicans or Mexican food enthusiasts, and its use probably stems from the fact that the Spanish language is spoken in Mexico; the dish is usually simply referred to as arroz (“rice”) in Mexico.Spanish rice is a popular dish in the American Southwest, which sometimes refers to the dish as “Mexican rice.” However, Spanish rice and Mexican rice are relatively different; whereas Mexican rice uses cumin, Spanish rice uses saffron instead. The version of the dish cooked throughout Northern Mexico tends to be a more homogeneous character, often with just enough tomato and chili pepper to give the distinctive red-orange color and a smoky, garlic and onion-laden flavor. It is usually served as a side dish alongside other Mexican cuisine.
I had always heard that you learn a language much faster if you are in a country where that language is spoken. With how much I heard this, I never thought much of it until I got home from Peru. before Peru, Spanish was where I tended to be weakest with my classes. The whole language seemed completely senseless to me and i couldn’t learn it. It felt like I was reading gibberish! After PEru though, as little sense it makes, it started to make sense. How i came to understand it better, don’t ask me, I have no idea what specifically helped me turn gibberish into language, but i see the truth behind learning languages faster in other countries. My only guess would be that I heard it constantly, but this still doesn’t make much sense because it was never translated usually, I had no idea what was being said at all. The only times i could make sense of anything is when one of the English speaking Peruvians,q members of my group were talking, google translate (awful), or, my favorite, we tried desperately to communicate by speaking things we knew the other didn’t understand and used body language to get any possible understanding to happen. So i can’t explain how it happens, but I can say that it does. you learn another language faster in another country, but in my opinion, you learn that it’s more than gibberish.
Celebrating Christmas
Christmas in Spain is one of the greatest times of the year, full of fun days. On Christmas Eve most people eat their main meal on Christmas Eve before Midnight Mass. The traditional Spanish Christmas is Turkey stuffed with truffles (mushrooms) and the dinner is traditionally called ‘Pavo Trufado de Navidad.’ In Galicia, the most popular mean is full of seafood. It includes shellfish, mollusks, lobster and edible crabs. The reason this region has seafood is because they are surrounded by water.
Those who are Catholic attend midnight mass, which is also known as La Misa Del Gallo, which is translated into The Mass of the Rooster. It is called that because the rooster was suppose to have crowed the night that Jesus was born. But after the mass, the night doesn’t end! People will stroll through the streets carrying torches playing guitars and beating tambourines and drums. There is a Spanish saying ‘Esta noche es Noche Buena, Y no Es noche de dormir’ and it means ‘Tonight is the good night and it is not meant for sleeping!’
The other festival celebrated during the Christmas season is on January 6th, which us Americans call Epiphany. This is when the Kings/3 Wise Men brought gifts to baby Jesus and when most children in Spain open their gifts. They have some presents to open on Christmas Day, but the majority are opened on this day. The children write letters to the Kings on December 26, asking for toys and gifts. It’s very similar to what we do for Santa Claus and the same rule applies if you are on the naughty list, you will get “coal”. It’s a day full of fun and parades.
Christmas in Spain
In Spain Christmas is a big even that is celebrated throughout the towns every year. On Christmas Eve families have their Christmas dinner and go to midnight mass. Afterwards, the entire town sings and dances in the street to the traditional Spanish Christmas song, Jota, which has been a custom that has been passed down from generation to generation for many years. The main sounds of this song come from guitars and castanets. Houses generally have mangers and are all lit with tiny oil lamps inside.
The Christmas Holiday officially begins for them on December 8, with the feast of Immaculate Conception and the Los Seises, which is a dance of six, but is now danced by ten boys in costume. Christmas Eve is known as Nochebuena, or the Good Night, and Christmas day is Navidad. Christmas day has rejoicing throughout the town, gift giving and going to church. On December 28 is the feast of the Holy Innocents, which is when bonfires are lit and people are told what to do in the town by the youth. They also participate in the feast of the Epiphany, and on January 6 the gifts are given. Children believe that the gifts come from the Three Wise Men, because they gave Jesus his gifts and it was on January 6 that they did so. Overall, Christmas is a time of rejoicing and being thankful and celebrating through religion.
Fall 2013 SP 100.02 