I'm going to Spain for a month. :shock:
Back in Andaluz after RSJ until early/mid-September. Have started planning arrangements to be treated by a top osteopath out there for my stupid muscle spasm injury thing to keep up the recovery - have requested a copy of my medical files to take out, and have contacted the osteo about starting treatment with him (will be finishing treatment with my current NHS physio after I return home). So, I get back from RSJ, have a physio sesh on the 9th, and flight to Spain tbc, but looking like then latter part of that week.
How do you pack for a month-long trip? Crap.
Also have to figure out some sort of sensible practice plan I can keep up while injured and abroad. Double crap.
Also don't know much Spanish at all. Does "Hola" count? Then I know one word. Triple crap.
But a month in hot southern Spain, recuperating and mildly musicing isn't too bad, eh?
And tomorrow, if I can summon up the energy (i.e. if I can pack tomorrow day in time), I'm off to the gig of the year - Mike Walker, Steve Swallow an co at the RNCM in Manchester. Nice. Swallow's awesome. And Mike aint half-bad, either.
Total panic time on getting everything ready now, though. :shock: :shock: :shock:
uh, I meant to say........I may be quiet for a while because of all of this. Rest assured that I have not died, or suffered major tragedy.
Wait u were in Spain before right? and now you are going back ?
Didn't u learn any spanish the time u were there ? * sigh*
Hola
Adios
Gracias
Por favor ayudeme, el carro se detuvo en la autopista y ahora no puedo moverlo, ayudenme, ayudenme.
That should be everything you need O_O.
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
There are worse places to go for treatment and recovery! Best of luck. I'm sure everything will go fine. You'll come back 2x recharged and 2x ready to go!
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
Wait u were in Spain before right? and now you are going back ?
Didn't u learn any spanish the time u were there ? * sigh*
I was only there for a week and surrounded by expats speaking English all the time (we were in the middle of nowhere, in a retreat, so it wasn't like I was going to shops, restaurants, etc., to practice or learn any SPanish).
I know Hola, Gracias, Adios, Barcelona, La Furia Roje, and mi no hablo espanol. Oh, and que, quand, and y tu. :roll: Oh, and I also know caliente, and muy caliente. Si, and no.
Looking forward to treatment though, am going here for that - http://www.valledevida.com/ not for the retreat, but to get seen by Robi Persad, their osteopath who is brilliant.
I've live in Miami and get along great . . . with just two words . . . . . . Dos Equis :mrgreen:
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
I do hope you heal quickly and completely.
And I understand about the language. I spent 3 years on cruise ships, visiting Latin American ports like San Juan every week. I met a lot of people, and when I started using my baby-talk Spanish, they simply preferred to speak English for more efficient communication. The big exception was a musician named Junior Laredo. This guy was a monster keyboard player and singer, I swear he had four people in him, playing all the parts of complicated Salsa music and singing at the same time. In that case, we recognized each other as fellow musicians, and smiled a lot at each other.
One year I spent a week in Mexico City, where almost nobody speaks English. My baby-talk Spanish and a Berlitz travelers phrase book got me by better than I would have imagined.
Most people are really willing to communicate if you put out the effort. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
If you have time, pick up a traveler's phrase book, especially one where you ask the question and then let the person point to the Spanish answer in the book.
Good luck,
Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton
Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com Add-on Styles for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith
The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<
Also don't know much Spanish at all. Does "Hola" count? Then I know one word. Triple crap.
Important Spanish phrases (at least for a holiday-type trip - may not be entirely appropriate for your circumstance)
- una cerveza
- más cerveza
followed by
- ¿Dónde está el baño
May also be useful:
- ¿dónde puedo comprar una guitarra?
:lol:
http://translate.google.com/#en|es |
Try to treat it as a holiday, at least while you are away from the médicos
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
You don't need a word of Spanish. Use your hands. People will understand you. :wink:
Have a fab time :)
donde!!!!!!!!!! I recognise donde!!!!! one more word! woo hoo! :D
You don't need a word of Spanish. Use your hands. People will understand you. :wink:
I did just that in Barcelona when I was there as a teen. All my mates were made up they had a Lacoste clothes shop and a McDonalds for lunch, and I wanted to get a bit more of the real culture. I barely knew Spanish, but I did know in Barceona, they speak Catalan. Unfortunately, I knew even less Catalan. So, I ditched my mates and wandered off down side streets til I found a cafe/bar that served food and looked like one of the places all the Spanish workers went for their lunch (i.e. I peeked inside and saw Spanish faces, and I didn't hear any British accents...). I went in and was going to order, but didn't understand the menu. A lot of pointing ensued. It worked though!
Am gonna learn at least some Catalan for my next trip to Barcelona (my other 'home' city - Barcelona and NYC have my heart....). Plan to learn a little Spanish for this trip (or during this trip), but more looking to being in Spain next summer, and hope to have learned a fair bit of beginner's Spanish by then. :shock:
Well, all I can say is have a good trip, have a safe trip (or three!) and I hope the shoulder's better soon. We have to have another Merseyside jam this year - I know I missed the last one, but I'm fit and rarin' to go now. Bring it on!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Scrybe, Spanish is also an official language in Catalonia so you can speak Spanish there. Currently, there is some people that want to be independent and they are forcing to change the names and signs in the streets to Catalan. But they speak Castilian perfectly. Castilian is the Spanish from Castilla, it is the Spanish that speak in America (South, Center and North) and the other countries around the world (with different local words, expressions and accent, of course).
Don't waste your time with catalán, you will understand if you speak Spanish and have a little bit of imagination. You can speak with thousand million if you learn Spanish but you will speak with just a half million if you learn catalán because, I repeat, they also speak Spanish. It is not the same issue than Belgium with French and Flemish.
On the menu. Well, Spain has many different cultures and styles on the food. It is very, very usual that the same food has several names depending on the place you are. Thus, it is very, very common that you have to ask what is it. But that is not different that it happens in another zones in the world (at least, the countries I visited). A couple of new words: carne (meat) and pescado (fish).
It is very usual you can ask for a menu in English in every restaurant or even German, French, Italian, Dutch, etc. Obviously, if you go to a Spanish workers site or a site where the owner is an old man or woman you have some troubles (but use your hands there!).
Yesterday I was in the Metro (Underground) and somebody asked for how to go to a different line. She asked to two men. When the first one started to tell her how to go, she said she didn't understand Spanish. The second one told her how to go in English. If you are unlucky and ask to somebody that don't speak English, don't worry, probably he/she will take your arm and will go with you.
If you speak Spanish it will be easier.
BTW, TV says Michelle Obama will go to Málaga this summer as well! What an honor for us to receive Mrs Obama and you!
(my other 'home' city - Barcelona and NYC have my heart....)
:shock:
NYC? Wow, I had no idea, although I have heard you speak of coming over to the US a time or two. I dig NYC enough that I make sure I allow time for a train into town whenever I am near. I do enjoy the buzz or pulse(s). Oh, and the eats, too.
Well, best of luck getting treatment next month. :)
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
BTW, TV says Michelle Obama will go to Málaga this summer as well! What an honor for us to receive Mrs Obama and you!
The Obamas just love copying me - I go to Malaga and then they go to Malaga, and my plane to Newark was delayed from landing in Newark, NJ, because the President's plane (which is faster than the one I was on) was landing there. Just saying. :roll:
