Veracruz |
Somewhere Beyond the Sea...
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That’s all the farther we stay with the song’s lyrics. This is all about a post card we found yesterday. It’s an aerial photo of the historic fort San Juan de Ulua and the background passes over ...
by Eric, Mar/07/2010
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Mexico |
Captain of the High Seas
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Actually Capitán de Altura is what it’s called, and it’s a big deal.
Carlos studied English with us and then worked for us while he was a student at the merchant marine academy. Tuesday, I attended his professional exam.
Visitors were allowed only to attend his presentation. The presentation portion is followed by a closed-door, cordial but ...
by Eric, Feb/27/2010
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I still haven’t found a marimba teacher. A guy playing on the street in front of the school showed me how to hold the mallets, and so I’m practicing scales.
I’m learning other things too, as I wait for a teacher.
For example if you want to take your marimba to a friend’s house to jam a little you don’t need to buy a pickup or rent a moving van.
Just, catch a
...
by Eric, Feb/22/2010
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Veracruz |
“It Is a Wonderful Program Which Blends Many Styles of Teaching.”
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Our time spent at your school met—and exceeded—all of our expectations.
It is a wonderful program which blends many styles of teaching.
We felt that we learned a great deal, enjoyed all the activities and found the teachers/staff just wonderful. Staying at the school was perfect ...
by Jan and Douglas, Feb/18/2010
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Veracruz |
“…I learned so much in such a short time…”
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I really enjoyed studying Spanish at your school. I started knowing only a couple of words of Spanish, but felt I learned so much in such a short time (2 weeks).
I would recommend your program ...
by Jim A, Feb/17/2010
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Mexico |
“…is the best we have seen for practicing Spanish outside of class”
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We wanted to tell you what a good time we had at your school. We have been to other language schools in Mexico and the way you have things set up is the best we have seen for practicing Spanish outside of class.
There was always a Spanish speaker ...
by Roger and Allison, Feb/16/2010
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Veracruz |
Here’s a Hot One!
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And it’s available to everyone. Un Lechero, coffee so thick that it makes syrup look watery. And then choose your poison, super hot water or super hot milk. To be a lechero, as the name tells you, it has to be milk.
These guys are highly skilled. No need to slip back
...
by Eric, Feb/07/2010
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Veracruz |
“Estas Son Las Mañanitas Que Cantaba…”
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Mexico knows how to throw a party—we had not one, not two, but three birthday girls. We had a live happy birthday chorus. And we had live music.
And to top it all off we had a five (pointed) star
...
by Eric, Jan/29/2010
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Veracruz |
A Break-In Caught on Film
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I got a great shot of the action. It was a classic break-in. I’m an eyewitness. He rode up on a Hell’s Angels motorcycle, grabbed a handful of breaking and entering tools, and began destroying the deadbolt without so much as looking around.
Click, not a computer click but a real camera
...
by Eric, Jan/26/2010
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Veracruz |
A Message to the Board of Governors of the FEDERAL RESERVE
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You all forgot to send me a survey. I’ve got important info for you—hot data.
America is coming back. We’re living proof.
I don’t know how you failed to ask-- to send us a survey or call us on the phone or drop by. We’re as mainstreet as you can get. We’re a small but highly significant
...
by Eric, Jan/13/2010
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Mexico |
I Saw a Ship Come Strolling In.
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It wasn’t sailing even though it was a sailing ship. And it wasn’t steaming or even dieseling. But it was riding high and moving smoothly.
The owner, who also was the seller, was very proud. It was hand crafted and perfectly matched to the slightly modified ...
by Eric, Jan/11/2010
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We get our presents at Christmas, but it’s different in Mexico. Down here the kids’ big morning (or big night, the night before) is Día de los Reyes Magos—King’s Day. It’s the day ending the twelve days of Christmas.
There’s also a present for the whole family and friends who might be visiting, and neighbors who might be around. It’s the King’s Day Rosca.
The rosca is an open-centered oval pastry (or circular or a squared-off oval). Three colors of candied fruit lay on top. The colors represent gold, incense and myrrh. Inside the rosca are little plastic dolls ...
by Eric, Jan/07/2010
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Veracruz |
Sometimes You Just Have to Face Up to Things.
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And what we just had no choice but to face up to was Facebook.
I don’t know how kids navigate it. It’s got more ins and outs and this’s and that’s and here’s and there’s than I’d ever be able to keep straight.
We (both Linda and I) have had Facebook accounts for a while. We got them some months ago so we could see what this new phenomena was all about.
Well, this afternoon, to celebrate the first day of the new year and the new decade and the blue moon, we started up a
...
by Eric, Jan/01/20010
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Mexico |
One Room, a Loft, and Breakfast
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In what is said to be the State of Veracruz’s most beautiful town, Tlacotalpan, a couple of weeks ago on vacation we spent the night in a very attractive small hotel. For breakfast they suggested we go to the “casa particular,” the private home, half a block down and across the street.
We walked in through the open front door, passed the living room furniture (all pushed together), walked past the empty area bordered by a breakfront and came to a stop next to the kitchen table. The house was one big room. The front half sported a sleeping loft.
Sitting at the kitchen table we waited our turn while the owner, chef, waitress, dishwasher, attended to orders written on scraps of paper ...
by Eric, Dec/28/2009
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Mexico |
Having Lost Self Control
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We’re very responsible adults.
We’re extra especially responsible fiscally. Even though we’re smaller than we were a year ago (because of the economy and the swine flu scare) we still have eleven families depending on the school for their livelihood. We’ve very careful.
But self-control suspended itself (el autocontrol se suspendió, the wonderful Spanish reflexive that absolves one of all culpability). We travelled deep south in
...
by Eric, Dec/26/2009
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Mexico |
Fresh Frozen Fruit
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We spent several nights on the forested road that leads from the town of Palenque to the ruins themselves. On the small hotel’s grounds was a restaurant under separate management.
Tourists (after the economy fell and the swine flu scare hit) are finally beginning to come back, but only beginning. We ordered hamburgers (we’d eaten only Mexican food, which we love, for over a week), and (you’ll all approve of this) as part of a healthy diet, we ordered a fruit plate to share.
All they had, the restaurant owner told us, was cantaloupe, pineapple, papaya, and bananas. We told him that was great.
Preparing dinner had lots of stuff going in and out of the microwave—frozen French fries, frozen hamburger
...
by Eric, Dec/24/2009
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Veracruz |
The Iceman (doesn't) Cometh
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Way back in 1940, The Iceman Cometh hit the streets. It was impressive but heavy, I think. It was before my time. In its opening production, it ran 136 times (the trivia one finds on the net).
Veracruz has The Scrap-Metal-Man Cometh. I don’t know when it first hit the streets, but it’s been on a roll for at least the six years we’ve been here. It plays 365 times a year and some days there’s an early matinee and a late matinee (when they muscle in on each other’s territory).
Old refrigerators, stoves, air conditioners—these ...
by Eric, Nov/30/2009
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You think about all kinds of things bouncing along the back roads in a third class bus. Sometimes a bump sets the bus oscillating a little. I start thinking about sympathetic vibrations and harmonic motion.
But yesterday, coming back from the ruins at Zempoala, it was good vibrations ...
by Eric, Nov/27/2009
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Mexico |
Bathrooms—They Seal the Deal
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We wanted to study in Mexico, he told us, and we looked at a number of sites. Yours looked like just what we needed.
And then I read , he went on to say, deep in your ...
by Eric, Nov/23/2009
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Mexico |
Danger on the High Seas—Right at Our Corner
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Televisa, a Mexican TV network, was back. And with them came, once again, a make-up truck and a props truck, and trucks for lighting and power, and meal service, and dressing rooms, and STARS of the highly popular telenovela Corazon Salvaje (a soap opera), and the Spanish ...
by Eric, Nov/11/2009
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Veracruz |
As Close as We Can Come
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You’ve heard of Water Gate (from the days of Nixon) and of Trooper Gate (from a much more recent time). We’re worldly, and we try to hold up our end of things down here.
But our world is full of fun and happiness and gentleness and warmth. And so you can see how we’d have an impossible time successfully holding our own against Nixon and against the troopers.
Anyhow, here’s our entry. Here’s our very best effort. And yes it does fall short, but regardless, from our world in Veracruz, in fact from a front yard just down the street from school here is
...
by Eric, Nov/7/2009
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Veracruz |
A CFO’s Suggestion
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A CFO, a couple of months ago, told us that no one ever explained Spanish as well as Linda does, and that no one ever had better learning and study suggestions, and the everyone should have the chance to learn from Linda, and, of course, we couldn’t help but listen to wonderful words like these.
She said that we should build a website so that those who can’t come join us in Veracruz can still benefit from her lessons. What else could I do; I got right to work. I’m pretty good with HTML, the standard website writing code. But the kind of site she was recommending requires PHP and MySQL. I felt like I was back in college working on a semester project that was over my head.
Linda prepared wonderful material—material that captures the calm, very successful style ...
by Eric, Nov/2/2009
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Mexico |
To a Crackpot Never, but to a Cracked Pot Why Not?
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I’m not suggesting you do this to the friendly crackpot who lives down the street. But when super glue fails, here’s a cracked pot treatment that you just can’t beat. We stumbled on it last night outside an ...
by Eric, Oct/31/2009
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Mexico |
“It turned out to be one of those decisions that we feel very fortunate to have made.”
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We originally intended to attend a Spanish Immersion School in Oaxaca as we wanted to see the city and state that we had heard so much about. The previous three schools that we had attended had all been in different parts of Mexico and all had been wonderful experiences but we were a little disappointed in the progress we had made in our attempts to speak and understand Spanish.
When I found The Language Institute website and read through it, I was impressed ...
by Garnet and Muffy, Oct/29/2009
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It doesn’t look like much, but we’re very happy about it. And, humble though we are, we’re letting ourselves feel a little proud.
It’s a Continuing Education Provider # issued by the California Board of Registered Nursing. We were notified on Monday that our proposed two-week course, “Speak Spanish With Your Patients,” has been accepted ...
by Eric, Oct/28/2009
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Mexico |
Taking a Picture at the Picture Show
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For those of us who don’t like violence, it’s hard to find a movie to go see. Yesterday we found an okay movie and a picture you might never see again.
The movie you can see—it’ll run for weeks. But the picture was with all its fun and laughter will never replay.
The camera was set on auto--the timer doing a ten-second count down. The scene assumed its final shape. I had no time to lose. It was now or never.
I did an old-west-sheriff fast draw. My Sony was out of its case, powered on, and aimed before their camera ticked away to zero. The laughter got even louder. My digital shutter snapped; their camera flashed ...
by Eric, Oct/26/2009
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Mexico |
Just Saying Flour or Corn Used to Be Enough
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“And your tortillas,” was the last question asked when we ordered at our favorite Mexican restaurant back home. Usually we said, “Flour.” And where we lived that meant wheat flour.
Down here flour tortillas aren’t nearly so common and about the only time we’re asked is ...
by Eric, Oct/19/2009
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Mexico |
The Low Down on the Harbor
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It comes so close to the harbor’s walls, it’s so big and fascinating, it’s so—well, you could just lean there and watch it by the hour. It’s a gigantic, floating ...
by Eric, Oct/16/2009
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Veracruz |
Beckoning Us Home, Safely
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Well, not the us that’s you and me, but the us that’s our fellow humankind sailing for Veracruz on a dark night.
The lighthouse is on Sacrifice Island. It sits atop a coral reef, one of many coral reefs that make the approach to Veracruz Harbor so dangerous.
From shore, it looks like
...
by Eric, Sept/15/2009
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Veracruz |
An Octopus Hunter’s Tour of the Reef
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Fernando is a “pulpero,” an octopus fisherman. He’s also a great guy, a good friend, and fun, and full of the happiness and wonder of Veracruz. Every so often he takes folks out for a ride on the ocean. That’s him ...
by Eric, Oct/14/2009
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Veracruz |
Lightning Striking Twice
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A couple of months ago we had five students who, in addition to studying Spanish, were of service to the people of Veracruz in one way or another.
Lightning has struck again—lightning that lights the way to the future. The Good Shepherd Sisters have an initiative underway in the southern part of the State of Veracruz (one of many they have throughout Mexico). They are making big changes in the way of life of the many marginalized women and
...
by Eric, Sept/19/2009
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Mexico |
Happiness Is a Corn-on-the-Cob.
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Not just any corn-on-the-cob will do. You’ve got to have a stick stuck into one end of it, and it has to be covered with mayo and fresh lime juice. Maybe it works the very best with just a thin, thin dusting of ...
by Eric, Sept/18/2009
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Veracruz |
Gracias Having Fun
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Gracias was born to work. Scooting around on the ocean is such light duty that she probably doesn’t even notice our weight.
But today she’s hard at it. They’re drilling test holes in the ocean floor just a few yards out from the fishermen’s dock. The dock is going to be totally rebuilt. Gracias, with Captian Jiniguero at the helm ...
by Eric, Sept/12/2009
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Another resounding thank you for all the help you gave Cecil as he was learning Spanish. Not only that, but also giving us an understanding of the Mexican culture.
Your school is the best! We felt right at home during ...
by Debra, Sept/10/2009
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Veracruz |
“The Accommodations Were Excellent…”
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Want to say that your school was much more than I expected. The information was presented in such a personal and professional manner it was even easy for me to understand. Your staff were ...
by Vic, Sept/10/2009
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Veracruz |
Veracruz—A City for All Ages
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Veracruz was right in the middle of pre-history; it immediately became important in Spanish colonial life, and it remains important today. But those aren’t the kind of ages (epochs, if you will) I’m talking about.
There’s so much going in in Veracruz. It’s a great place for little kids and middle kids, high school and college youths, young adults, middle adults, and (like me) older adults. It’s fun and interesting and safe and fascinating for everyone.
A couple of nights ...
by Eric, Sept/06/2009
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Veracruz |
A Great Idea Getting Even Greater
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Our books-in-English lending library has over 300 titles, and it keeps growing and growing.
We’re about to expand our focus. The idea, credit where credit is due, came from Nora of Calgary. She bought a couple of children’s books (in Spanish, of course) to use while she was here. Kids’ books have wonderfully fun writing styles and word choices (especially the adjectives).
Nora suggested that we ...
by Eric, August/22/2009
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Mexico |
Four Hundred Years Late or Just in Time?
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It showed up at the dock yesterday, the dock at the Aquarium. It was a blustery day for August. The old sailing ship worked at its mooring lines. Rather than secure its square sails to the yards (the horizontal bar from which the sails are hung), the hands un-tethered the lower edges and let the sails flap in the wind.
Columbus’s crews or Cortez’s or even the crew of the pirate, Lorencillo, would have known how to tie up the sails. This was a big clue ...
by Eric, August/21/2009
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Veracruz |
How Much Music Is Enough?
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I almost know. Qualitatively I can tell you that lots and lots is enough, but I can’t yet answer “How much Music is enough?” with exactitude.
Research, we feel a need to let you know, on this topic was diligently performed by Linda and yours truly. It took over three hours of staid, static research time. We suffered so you could know. Here are our findings in very graphic
...
by Eric, August/05/2009
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Veracruz |
Help and Double Help for Veracruz
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Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve had folks down studying with us who are professionally involved with Veracruz (the City and the State). They’re doing fascinating work.
It started two weeks ago with the arrival of Dr. Rex Koontz, Art History Professor from the University of Houston. He’s performed extensive, authoritative work on the iconography ...
by Eric, July/28/2009
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Veracruz |
A Beauty in the Bodega
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On a regular schedule the crew goes through the bodega, the storeroom, and tidies up. In every storeroom there are treasures you just don’t need but simply can’t disregard.
A new one showed up last week. It was about 2 feet long but not at all wide—not wide enough, we thought. It was a vivid ...
by Eric, July/24/2009
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Mexico |
Live Music at the Party
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I heard it from down the block—mostly I heard the accordion and singing. I looked around and couldn’t spot it. It was the music of the northern part of Mexico.
I nailed it down. It was coming from a pick-up truck. Often families at the beach for the day play their music while they eat from their ice chests. It didn’t sound like a car stereo, it sounded live. You can almost always tell when it’s live. I crossed the street for a better angle.
I saw, and I innocently ...
by Eric, July/22/2009
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Veracruz |
Jorge’s Entrance Test
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Getting into the university--it’s all decided by taking a test.
You go to the university, to the office for the major you want, you show them the papers that say you’re about to graduate from high school, and you ask for a “ficha,” a ticket. The ticket is your permission to take the entrance test.
Jorge got his ticket, prepared diligently, and on the appointed day he ...
by Eric, July/10/2009
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Veracruz |
Rushin' to the Ballet
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We were late. It was my fault. We got to the corner and waited and waited (maybe two minutes, but when you’re late that’s forever). We had fifteen minutes to get to the ballet; the Russians were here.
The driver seemed very calm. You get a calm driver once in a while. I caught myself telling him we were very pressed for time.
Ambulances with lights flashing ...
by Eric, June/28/2009
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I’ve tried, on and off, for years to learn to play classical guitar. I have no great aspirations; I’d be happy playing, oh say a few mariachi songs, a couple of “trios,” maybe several US ‘60s pieces. Not much really.
And I’d like to add to that the easy to play Pachelbel’s Canon and for sure also Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. That’s all; I’d ask no more—just a few happy pieces and a couple of slightly more ambitious ones.
My problem is all those frets and so many strings. I only have ...
by Eric, June/27/2009
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Veracruz |
Canon, Kodak, Nikon?
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A tradition in the zocalo is the tableside photographer. The photographers meander through the open-air restaurants with their Polaroid cameras.
They are historians of happy times, family times, party times, or lover times. They’ll crop and mount your picture in a keychain or set it in a bangle to hang as a charm from a girl’s bracelet. Families get the photo intact—big families need the film’s full width.
This guy was taking snaps, and his camera caught ...
by Eric, June/23/2009
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The Books-in-English Lending Library is open and growing and growing. Within a couple of weeks it will have over 300 titles and be headed toward 350. We’ve marked it off our “to start” list and moved it to our “keep it going strong.”
Funding for The Fomento Cultural de Veracruz is newly now atop the “to start.” And we’re ready to jump in and get moving on this, the school’s next community project. It’s at the top of the list because ...
by Eric, June/15/2009
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Veracruz |
The Library Is Open.
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Donated books from the US, and books left behind when students went home, and books from our own reading came to a grand total of 273.
For Veracruz that’s a lot of books in English all in one place. Last night they were all over the living room.
Books in English have always been a luxury. Most folks never could afford them. But starting yesterday, books in English, page-turners, ...
by Eric, June/04/2009
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Veracruz |
“Don’t let the casual atmosphere fool you; the program {they} crafted is exceptionally well thought out.”
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Many years ago the company I worked for hired a tutor to teach me a foreign language. Her conclusion was that I was incapable of learning a language. Now twenty-five years later I am happy to say the Language Immersion School in Veracruz has proven the tutor wrong.
I did not take a foreign language in high school or college perhaps due to my own doubts of being able to learn a language. I spend a lot of time in Spanish speaking countries ...
by Geoff, May/27/2009
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Veracruz--sitting right on the ocean's sandy beaches and just 80 miles, as the crow flies, from North America's third highest mountain peak..

Veracruz is one of the world's safest cities.
Contact us:
info@veracruzspanish.com
Spam guard is a problem. If our reply isn't in your inbox promptly, please look in your spam or email us again.
Phone:
Veracruz 011.52.1.229.134.9030
Tucson, AZ (520) 903-0574
The School's Mexico Address
The Language Immersion School
Calle Alacio Pérez #61
Col. R. Flores Magón
Veracruz, Ver. Mexico
C.P. 91900
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