ON PICKLES,JACKO N' AMERICA

Dear all.With this post I want to say goodbye,at least until next Spetember.This blog was born in...February???January???I actually don't remember.Many things have happened during these four or five months, Barcelona FC (congrats,Pablo) won many championships,Atletico didn't win any (we rock, Sergio),Michael Jackson passed away (=died) yesterday and I found out that pickles(=pepinillos) don't match very well my home made hamburguers,but with hot dogs...yum...I'm hungry now. I also found out (=averigué) that I can't do without (=no puedo vivir sin)a sandwich grill, I told you many personal experiences and I bolded many new expressions. If you remember at least (=al menos) one of those expressions,I can sleep six feet under. If you don't...never mind (=no importa), maybe next year I'll keep on posting these mind-numbing and dull posts. Have a nice summer,guys!!!!

LAMBS

Last week,I ran into (=me topé con) an old friend of mine,Dan.Dan holds duals nationality (=tiene doble nacionalidad),since he was born in the America military base at Torrejón de Ardoz.Consequently,he's American and Spanish.He's got a rock band, 'The Chips',and give concerts around Spain. Dan and I agreed to (=acordamos)go for a coffee,and we were talking about state-run schools (=colegios públicos) in Spain. He asked me if the situation was as bad as they pictured it(=tan mala como lo pintaban) on TV.I told him that it was far better (=mucho mejor) than what he saw on TV.

"what you see on TV is just the few bad exceptions to the rule,Dan"-I said.I then explained to him how sensationalist it was to talk about 'classroom violence', because most of the people don't work as teachers and don't know what it's like to be inside a classroom.

'They're all a fold of lambs, Dan'(=son todos una manada de corderos)-I said. 'But it is also true that even lambs need a good sheperd to take care of them.Otherwise,those lambs turn into (=se convierten en) wildhogs(=jabalíes)' Don't you agree,boys???

A TRIBUTE TO LOLA PÉREZ

Dear all,I would also like to make use of this blog to pay honours to Lola Pérez,our teacher of Latin & Greek.You may not know her,since you don't study Latin or Greek...yet.She's leaving our school,too.A good teacher's gone,boys.

A TRIBUTE TO PABLO DE LAS HERAS

Dear students.If you take a look at the latest EQ magazine you'll see a farewell letter (=carta de despedida) from Pablo de las Heras, your Maths teacher.I'd like to use this blog today to pay a personal tribute to him. I don't like farewell moments very much,that's why I'm writing this post.

All of you have always told me he's your favourite teacher,and that shows that he does his job very well.I can tell (=lo noto) when I walk up & down the corridors,how you stop to talk to him.Even though (=a pesar de que) I've only known him for two years,he's become one of my favourite colleagues at profesor Domínguez Ortiz.Thank you for being such a positive energy at all times.Using your language, you always added and never substracted.

Thank You and See you soon,buddy

GOD BLESS AMERICA(=que Dios bendiga a América)

God bless America,little brats.It's the land of opportunities,the American dream,the seven articles of the constitution,Elvis,W.Allen,MJ,Philip Roth,a drunken David Hasselhof eating a burger next to his daughter...but it's the land of contradictions too.Injustice also exists in America...the land of hope.Last night,as you were sleeping,a spaniard conquered America.For one day, America will praise, worship, and look at him.Most probably,nobody will care much for him the day after tomorrow,when all americans go back to work in their combos sipping coffee from a sturbucks mug and have a greasy doughnut from 'Doughnut's palace'. Hypocrites...

God bless the United States of America and all the Americans.May we all resemble them one day.May we all learn the principles and values of their society.They don't look at us and we keep on worshipping them...there's gotta be a reason,kiddos.America is our home,sweet home.May the Lord bless that soil.

MJ

You're too young to know what I'm talking about,dudes.When I was 10 or 11,on saturdays I would go to bed (=me iba a la cama) at about 3am or 4am because I loved to stay up (=quedarme despierto) late just to see the NBA match of the week. The show was called 'cerca de las estrellas',and the TV host(=el presentador) was Ramón Trecet. What I liked most (=lo que más me gustaba) was to watch 'MJ', a.k.a. (=also known as=también conocido como) 'Air',a.k.a. 'Air Jordan', Michael Jeffrey Jordan,the human being (=el ser humano) who has played basketball best ever. He won six NBA championships with his team, the Chicago Bulls. He holds many NBA records (=tiene muchos records de la NBA) and believe me(=creedme),there's no one,and I said NO ONE, who will ever play basketball like he did. Sometimes,when I'm at home and there's nothing interesting on TV (which is most of the time), I watch that second quarter (=ese segundo cuarto del partido) of the NBA finals against (=contra) Portland Trail Blazers...dudes(=chavales)...you have to see that...

CULT MOVIES

I was wondering (=me preguntaba) yesterday why/ how a movie becomes a 'cult movie'. It's not because of the box office figures (=los números en taquilla),Al Pacino's Scarface was a real failure(=fracaso) in the box office and Titanic broke all the box office records and it is not a cult movie. Not all cult movies talk about mafia and not all mafia movies are cult movies either...think about casino,with Robert de Niro and Sharon Stone,it sucks (=es un coñazo)!!!It definitely helps when the movie talks about mafia (The Godfather,Good Fellas),but some other cult movies do not talk about mafia.Think of De Niro's Taxi Driver...it's very violent,but violence is not the magic ingredient either.Saving Private Ryan is a really violent film about world war II (=la segunda guerra mundial) and is not a cult movie.On the other hand, Donnie Darko is neither a violent nor a mafia movie and it is a cult movie,so...what do you think it is???

EXAMINATION FUNNY BITS

When I was your age (=cuando yo tenía vuestra edad) I was an average student.I was neither the most brilliant nor the laziest (=ni el más brillante ni el más vaguillo). I used to put off (=solía posponer) the hard work until (=hasta) three days before the exams. I also flunked (=cateaba) some subjects, especially Maths (Sorry, Pablo) and Chemistry. I'll never forget a History exam, the Russian Revolt...Oh,God. I wrote a 5-page essay on the revolt,but since (=dado que) I hadn't had (=no había tenido) enough time I wrote the 5 pages but didn't mention a date,name or place that could locate (=situar) such a conflict (=dicho conflicto) in a History book. Of course, I flunked. The worst thing was that the teacher read my exam out loud (=leyó mi examen en alto) to the rest of the class as an example of what should never be done(=de lo que nunca debe hacerse) in an exam. Well, that summer of 1994 was the summer I carried my History book all around.

THE TIME HAS COME

Dear all,

the time has come.As we are approaching (=a medida que nos acercamos) the end of this school year 2008/2009,I would like to remind you(=recordaros) the fact that gladiator had to fight hard to earn (=para ganarse) his retreat (=su descanso,su retiro). Well up (=acumulad) as much energy as you have in your veins(=venas) to face (=afrontar) the challenges and final exams.During the summer time you will have plenty of time (=tiempo de sobra) to play with your PSPs,X-Boxes,Wiis,Bees,Wows,Boohs,Poohs and all the available(=disponibles) game systems in the market. And don't forget that your teachers are not Caesars,we will NEVER use unfair (=injustas) tactics to measure your effort (=para medir vuestro esfuerzo),believe me,we have better things to do.(=tenemos mejores cosas que hacer)