Property For Sale in Spain Blog » Lifestyle in Spain

You Might Have Missed This, Spain is Different 6

Houses For Sale In Spain — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:11:00 +0000

If you are not following me on Twitter @grahunt, following the Facebook page for Valencia Property, or on one of my lists, you can sign up for getting the Spain is Different magazine on this page, then you may have missed issue six of Spain is Different. Take a look at the latest issue with stories about the World's first foldable electric car (Made in Spain), all about visiting a world of silence and darkness at the caves in Castellón, a guest post about why you should get a survey done on a property in Spain, skiing in the Pyrenees, one town coping with a huge wodge of cash coming in thanks to the lottery (Apart from one guy), barlife in Granada, a hint of corruption, the story of a Facebook page with 72000 people on it disappearing and more including me really annoying a Flamenco dancer by suggesting that Flamenco does not equal Spain.

Joselito Sings a Saeta, “Two eyes wish to behold you,” From the film El Ruisenor, 1957.

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:00:03 +0000

The great Spanish child singer Joselito sings a saeta, which is a form of religious music particular to Spain. They are often sung during Holy Week in the South. They seem to have arisen originally as liturgical music dedicated to the recitation of psalms. They are often sung during processions of religious pilgrims, such as those who appear in this film clip. They are very emotional, as is the one in this scene, since the boy is imploring Jesus to restore the eyesight of his little friend, the girl who appears to the left, and who is blind. A very sentimental situation, to be sure, but very moving.

Duration : 0:2:10

Technorati Tags: ESPANA, Joselito, Ruisenor, Saeta, Spain

Rallies for justice-News Analysis-05-21-2011-(Part2)

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:50:00 +0000

It all started from North Africa and moved to the Middle East seems to be moving to the north and west now. As young people take to the forefront of the Arab countries movements, the wind of change may be blowing on parts of Europe.

In this edition of News Analysis, financial journalist Max Keiser, Daniel Serrano from Real Democracy Now and Press TV’s Sonia Labboun review the vast protests across Europe and focus on the Spanish youths calling for change and demanding a bigger part of the economic pie.

Duration : 0:11:45

Technorati Tags: angry, Arab countries movements, Arab movement, austerity measures, change, crackdown, demands, economic crisis, elections, EU, Europe, European protests, financial, financial journalist, Georgia, Kaiser, Keiser, massive protests, Max Keiser, News Analysis, Press TV, protester, Rallies for justice, recovery, revolutions, rising unemployment, Spain, uprisings

In Focus With Sonia Nieto (Houston A+ Challenge, 2010)

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:19:26 +0000

Sonia Nieto is Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy, and Culture, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, she was educated in the New York City Public Schools. She attended St. Johns University, Brooklyn campus, where she received a B.S. in Elementary Education in 1965. Upon graduation, she attended New York Universitys Graduate Program in Madrid, Spain, and received her MA in Spanish and Hispanic Literature in 1966. A junior high school teacher of English, Spanish, and ESL in Ocean Hiil/Brownsville, Brooklyn, in 1968 she took a job at P.S. 25 in the Bronx, the first fully bilingual school in the Northeast. Her first position in higher education was as an Instructor in the Department of Puerto Rican Studies in Brooklyn College, where she taught in a bilingual education teacher preparation program co-sponsored with the School of Education. Moving to Massachusetts with her family in 1975, she completed her doctoral studies in 1979 with specializations in curriculum studies, bilingual education, and multicultural education.

Duration : 0:8:52

Technorati Tags: College, college and career readiness, college readiness, Education, education policy, houston a+ challenge, parents, prep, preparing to dream, Principals, reform, Schools, Sonia Nieto, students, Teachers

Spain is Different For The Fifth Time

Houses For Sale In Spain — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:43:44 +0000

I have released the latest issue of the Spain is Different Magazine to subscribers. Two problems came up. It was due to go out last night but I timed it wrong and that is a good job too because, secondly, I put the wrong link in too! So rather than reading about another way to make a tortilla, the vintage train in Mallorca, Mourinho and Madrid and a match made in hell, money saving tips from Maxine Raynor, short snippets of Spanish oddities, economic news, and an editorial about the battle for the soul of Spain people were reading about an attic flat in Valencia! Mea culpa.

City tour of Barcelona

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:26:17 +0000

Travel tour of Barcelona
visit http://www.going2barcelona.com for more information on visiting or moving to Barcelona and get a free printable city guide.

Duration : 0:2:57

Technorati Tags: Barcelona guide, Barcelona photos, Barcelona pics, Barcelona tourism video, Barcelona travel video, City tour of Barcelona, fiestas de Barcelona, Fin de semana de Barcelona, Going to Barcelona, Holiday in Barcelona, Moving to Barcelona, Stag do Barcelona, Tour of Barcelona, Travel tour of Barcelona, Turismo de Barcelona, Viajar a Barcelona, Virtual tour of Barcelona, Visitar a Barcelona, Weekend in Barcelona

Manuel De Falla- Ritual Fire Dance

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:20:10 +0000

Falla was born as Manuel María de los Dolores Falla y Matheu in Cádiz. He was the son of José María Falla y Franco and María Jesús Matheu y Zabal. His early teachers in music were his mother and grandfather; at the age of nine he was introduced to his first piano professor, Eloísa Galluzo. In 1896 he moved to Madrid where he attended the Real Conservatorio de Música y Declamación. He studied piano with José Tragó, a colleague of Isaac Albéniz and composition with Felipe Pedrell. In 1897 he composed Melodia for cello and piano and dedicated it to Salvador Viniegra who hosted evenings of chamber music that Falla attended. In 1899, by unanimous vote, he was awarded the first prize at the piano competition at his school of music. He premiered his first works: Romanza para violonchelo y piano, Nocturno para piano, Melodía para violonchelo y piano, Serenata andaluza para violín y piano, and Cuarteto en Sol y Mireya. That same year he started to use de with his first surname, making Manuel de Falla the name he became known as from that time on. When only the surname is used, however, the de is omitted. His first important work was the one-act opera La vida breve (Life is Short, or The Brief Life, written in 1905, though revised before its premiere in 1913). With a libretto by Carlos Fernández Shaw, La vida breve won Falla first prize in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando musical competition. In April 1905 he won the first prize in a piano competition sponsored by the firm of Ortiz and Cussó. On May 15 his work Allegro de concierto premiered in the Ateneo de Madrid and on November 13 the Real Academia presented him with his prize for La vida breve. In 1907 at the advice of Joaquín Turina and Víctor Mirecki Larramat, Falla moved to Paris. There he met a number of composers who had an influence on his style, including the impressionists Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Paul Dukas. In 1908 King Alfonso XIII awarded him a royal grant that enabled him to remain in Paris while he finished his Cuatro piezas españolas. Meanwhile, the dramatist Paul Milliet translated the libretto of La vida breve into French for its French premiere on April 1, 1913 at the Municipal Casino in Nice. In 1910 Falla met Igor Stravinsky and traveled briefly to London. He wrote Siete canciones populares españolas which he finished in mid-1914. Shortly afterward World War I began when Germany declared war and Falla returned to Madrid. While at no stage was he a prolific composer, it was then that he entered into his mature creative period. Falla continued work on Atlàntida after moving to Argentina in 1939, following Francisco Franco’s victory in the Spanish Civil War. The orchestration of the piece remained incomplete at his death and was completed posthumously by Ernesto Halffter. He also premiered his Suite Homenajes in Buenos Aires in November 1939. In 1940, he was named a Knight of the Order of King Alfonso X of Castile. Franco’s government offered him a large pension if he would return to Spain, but he refused. Falla did spend some time teaching in exile. Among his notable pupils was composer Rosa García Ascot. His health began to decline and he moved to a house in the mountains where he was tended by his sister María del Carmen de Falla. He died of cardiac arrest on November 14, 1946 in Alta Gracia, in the Argentine province of Córdoba. In 1947 his remains were brought back to Spain and entombed in the cathedral at Cádiz. One of the lasting honors to his memory is the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at Complutense University of Madrid. His image appeared on Spanish currency notes for some years. Manuel de Falla never married and had no children.

Duration : 0:4:23

Technorati Tags: Fire dance, Manuel De Falla, spanish composer, spanish music

The Elegance of Buenos Aires (Argentina)

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:47:36 +0000

Buenos Aires is considered an Alpha World City as listed by the Loughborough University group’s (GaWC) 2008 inventory.

The majority of porteños have European origins, with Italian and Spanish descent being the most common, from the Calabrian, Ligurian, Piedmont, Lombardy and Neapolitan regions of Italy and from the Galician, Asturian, and Basque regions of Spain.[18][19]

Other European origins include German, Swedish, Dutch, Greek, Irish, Norwegian, Portuguese, French, Russian, Croatian, English and Welsh. In the 1990s there was a small wave of immigration from Romania and Ukraine.
There is a minority of old criollo stock, dating back to the Spanish colonial days. The Criollo and Spanish-aboriginal (mestizo) population in the city has increased mostly as a result of immigration, from countries such as Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay, since the second half of the 20th century.

Important Syrian-Lebanese and Armenian communities have had a significant presence in commerce and civic life since the beginning of the 20th century.

The Jewish community in Greater Buenos Aires numbers around 250,000, and is the largest in Latin America. Most are of Northern and Eastern European Ashkenazi origin, primarily Russian, German and Polish Jews, with a significant Sephardic minority, mostly made up of Syrian Jews.[21]

The first major East Asian community in Buenos Aires was the Japanese, mainly from Okinawa. Traditionally, Japanese-Argentines were noted as flower growers; in the city proper, there was a Japanese near-monopoly in dry cleaning. Later generations have branched out into all fields of economic activity. Starting in the 1970s there has been an important influx of immigration from China and Korea

British and American expatriates
The Metropolitan Cathedral Since 2004 an increasing number of American and British citizens are moving to Buenos Aires, possibly due to the lower cost of living, many of them opening up businesses and some restaurants have become English-speaking favourites

Duration : 0:10:38

Technorati Tags: alpha cities, Aregentina, buenos aires, La Reina del plata, Latinoamerica, Pampas, Patagonia, South America, tango

Spanish village encourages immigrants – March 8 09

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:00:58 +0000

Economic worries in Spain have seen many people leave their small villages, moving to towns and cities to find work.

But, instead of giving up hope, many of these remote communities are now welcoming immigrants, hoping that they can bring life back to the isolated areas.

Emma Hayward reports.

Duration : 0:2:21

Technorati Tags: al, aljazeera, downturn, economic, economy, Emma, global, hayward, immigrants, Jazeera, migrants, Spain, Villages

Spain Battles Illegal Muslim Immigration / España Batallas Inmigración Musulmana Ilegal

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:51:49 +0000

The bodies are anonymous, rotting in the shallows of the Straits of Gibraltar. The fortunate ones are dragged out for a hasty burial. They are Africans trying to make it to Europe, betting their lives on a nine-mile ride, thousands losing that bet each year.
Spain used to be an open door for illegal immigrants. An estimated one-quarter of all smuggled immigrants into Europe came through the Southern coast of Spain, most setting off from Morocco.
The sticks and stones of frustrated border guards had little effect against a rising tide of human traffic.
But all that changed on March 11. Most of the terrorists who killed 190 people on commuter trains in Madrid were Moroccan. Suddenly, the immigrant problem was a security problem.
Under pressure at home and from other European nations, rubber batons at the border were replaced by speedboats but success, so far, is limited.
“The numbers are down here by 50 percent,” said Lt. David Oliva of the Spanish Border Guard. “But the smugglers are just moving to other parts of the coast.”
Although only nine miles separate Africa from Europe, that stretch contains some of the most dangerous currents in the world. Now, some people in Africa are so desperate, they are ready to pay $1,000 a head just to get across, and they’ll take their chances on anything that floats.
Seventy-five people from the Moroccan village of Tangier drowned trying to cross the waters last month. When FOX News approached families of the victims, they started to cry. One man lost 21 relatives.
With no electricity, jobs, education, or running water, there is nothing to do but wait for someone to get them out of the area. “These people are so desperate they are ready to die,” said Khalil Jemmah, a Moroccan aid worker. “It’s just a question of who gets here first, the smugglers or the terrorists.”
More often than not, it’s the terrorists who are getting there first.
It was a Moroccan who is accused of killing filmmaker Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands this month. The murder set off weeks of ethnic and religious clashes and skirmishes in Spain in what may eventually become a pan-European battle, fueled by the failure to integrate a new, illegal Muslim population.

Duration : 0:2:17

Technorati Tags: Africa, America, asia, atheism, atheist, Australia, austria, belgium, britain, Canada, Christian, Christianity, civilisation, Civilization, clash, conflict, culture, Denmark, East, england, EU, Europe, france, germany, heritage, Holland, ireland, islam, islamic, islamification, islamization, Israel, italy, Judeo, Kaliphat, khilafah, Koran, Laden, Middle, muhammad, multiculturalism, muslim, news, norway, politics, Prophet, Quran, radical, religion, Russia, Scotland, secular, Spain, Sweden, terror, terrorism, uk, un, USA, western