spanish – Page 48 – don't confuse the narrator

oh little town of Bethlehem

It’s nearly Christmas, so it must be time to dust off the decorations. Not for me the tree and the tinsel, the baubles and ornaments that figured so importantly in my childhood.

No, since living in Spain I have discovered the art of the Nativity Scene and each year I set out my own small belén at home.

As most people do, I started off with the central stable scene – referred to here as the pesebre (manger), nacimiento (birth) or Misterio (mystery) – but as the years go by I’ve added figures and scenes and now I feel the display really does warrant the term “belén” which is the Spanish name for Bethlehem.
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sounds of Madrid

Ten sounds that make it impossible to forget that you’re in Madrid:

1. The neighbour beating eggs to make a tortilla española.

2. The squeak of the washing line pulley in the patio interior. Often closely followed by:

3. The sound of a clothes peg falling into the patio interior. (The only sound associated with the clothes that are dropped is the exclamation of the housewife who’s hanging them out.)
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bridges in Spain

Well, it’s September and this hasn’t been updated for a whole month. I’ve obviously been affected by my years in Spain: Spaniards of all ages take their summer holidays seriously.

Most Spanish workers get twenty days vacaciones, and they usually take the whole period in July or August as four consecutive weeks at the beach or in the mountains, often with several generations of the family holidaying together.
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Madrid, de plano

Si has llegado aquí buscando un plano del metro, encontrarás algunos enlaces útiles aquí. – Añadido agosto 2008.

“Metro de Madrid se sale del mapa” dice el anuncio, y suena mucho mejor en castellano que en inglés. A mí me cuesta no interpretarlo como “los políticos se salen con la suya y el Metro de Madrid se ha perdido” pero en realidad es una referencia al nuevo diseño del plano del Metro. Después de tanta carrera para inaugurar el mayor número posible de estaciones antes de las elecciones, ahora han inaugurado un mapa nuevo para que quepan todas en la misma hoja.

Y, sinceramente, a mí no me gusta.

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the naming of cats

“Don’t give it a name unless you’re going to adopt it,” was the wise advice from a friend when I told him about the young, skinny, grey cat which was merodeando la casa sizing us up as prospective family.

Wise advice. Except it got me thinking about cats and cat names, of course.

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