ClustrMaps of paulinoblog.blogspot.com

ClustrMaps of www.paulino.info

English Practice Over the Internet

This week I have been playing with Skype (www.skype.com) a lot!
Specially with its Skypecast feature. It's a great way to get to know people and have conversations/discussions with people from around the world!

I have also joined a group of people interested in improving their English and helping others to do the same. They have a weekly skypecast called "English Practice Over the Internet". You can find more info by clicking here

I have been experimenting with my own English Practice skypecasts and I must say I like them a lot. After all I was studying to be a teacher of English when I was living in Argentina. My English is not perfect but I think it's pretty good. Well, at least good enough to help those who are just starting to learn English. I might do them more frequently when I have more free time.

IWLA 2006

I love conferences! Specially if they are Language Conferences. This month I am participating (and presenting) in two.

IWLA, October 6 and 7

and MCTLC, October 19 and 20

This weekend at IWLA I had a lot of fun, as usual. Mainly because I got to spend time with my good friends from El Lago del Bosque (Concordia Language Villages). Together we like to present a dance session called "Bailemos Juntos". Another reason that added to the fun is that I presented my one-man-show "The Adventures of Don Quixote" to all the teachers. It was the entertainment piece at Friday reception. It was so much fun to do this show for adults! It was very well received and I got lots of compliments! I might do "Paper Boats" next year!

In two weeks I will be doing "Bailemos Juntos" by myself at MCTLC. Fun!

My fingers hurt!!

My fingers hurt. I haven't been hammering on them.. or doing some intensive labor. They are not frozen from the very cold Minnesotan winter yet...

They hurt because I have started to play the guitar again. And I say again because I took some guitar lessons when I was a kid... Hm... 10 or 12 may be? Anyway... I was never very good with the guitar but I decided I needed to go back to it.

It all started with the songs I do in my Spanish clases at Spring Hill Waldorf School. Songs like Guantanamera o La Bamba sound a little dull if you don't have some instrument to accompany them. I have tried with some shakers or maracas before but it's not the same. I needed to get back to the guitar.

I am a lefty -meaning left-handed person...I am not stating my politival views here :-)

When I was a child and I was taking guitar lessons I used to have the strings in reverse order of the regular guitars. This I could do the chords with my right hand and the stroke with my left hand.

This time I wanted to try something different and challenge myself. I bought a cheap beginner guitar and I didn't change the strings. I had this idea that I should learn to play with a regular guitar so that I could play with any guiter everywhere I go. I tried very hard to learn to do the chords with my left hand. It was very very hard...and I got discouraged and stopped practising after a while.

About a week ago I had the realization that all I wanted was to accompany my songs with the guitar and nothing else. Besides it's not like I go to dozens of parties or meetings were there is a guitar and I have the opportunity to play it.

Mr. Jansen, our first grade teacher helped me last Monday to change the strings in my guitar and gave me a 30 minutes crash course. I was pumped! My right hand immediately started to remember some of the chords. When I got home all I could do was practice with the guitar and look online for the chords for the songs I wanted to play.

This practice was interrupted by my trip to Iowa this weekend, but today I played my guitar again and I was able to do (in an almost acceptable form) "Zamba de mi esperanza". I beautiful dance/song from Argentina. May be I will post a song or two in the future... I have to practice way more!

funny/weird face

For those of you who still might doubt that I am able to do funny/weird faces, here is the proof. My friend Heidi Edwards took this pics of me during my school event: May Fair 2006. Which one is the funniest/weirdiest of all? Enjoy

My issues with hot spicy food

This is the last week before I start teaching again. I decided to treat myself. I bought more RAM memory for my desktop computer and I went to Chinese restaurant (Big Bowl) for lunch. I never really like my food to be spicy or hot spicy. Most people are suprised when they hear this because they think we, "latinos", ALL like hot spicy food. This stereotype probably comes from the fact that most of the latino population in the states is Mexican. And most Mexican, but not ALL, like spicy food. But anyway, I don't usually go to ethnic restaurants either. I just don't want to think too hard about food. I just want to eat. With the help of waiter I order some corn dish with chicken that was not spicy at all, according to her. When they brought it to me it looked great! A really big place full of rice, corn, chicken and vegetables. Unfortunately, it was spicy for me. I really try to eat it but after a few minutes it was just too much for me. I wonder if I have become to sensitive to spicy food and if there is a way to change that? I didn't want to waste all that food but the waiter was very nice and changed my plate for another dish. Some orange chicken with rice. This was not spicy at all. The chicken was breaded and cooked with soy sauce so to meet it had an interesting take, but at least I was able to eat it without thinking if it was going to upset my stomach or me! :-)

Elvis and I @ Madame Tussaud's Museum

Have you ever felt like a superstar? Or have you ever seen one (on the street, at a bar, etc.)? Or have you ever taken a picture with superstar?
A visit to Madame Tussauds Las Vegas (or any other location for that matter) can give you a little bit of that. Except that all the famous people you'll find there won't interact much with you since they are made of wax. They are very well made, though. And you can take as many pictures as you want with them :-)

I really liked the museum. I went there Sat 8/12. It was very interesting for me to imaging how all these famous people would look like in real life. Most of them are very short :-)

A few years ago I personified Elvis Presley in the play "The Ballroom" at the Theatre de la Jeune Lune, so I was very excited to have a picture with the King!

Las Vegas, LA, San Francisco and Sacramento

Last Saturday I took a plane from Minneapolis to Las Vegas and stayed there until Monday. Now I am in LA until tomorrow, when I head to San Francisco for the weekend. Monday and Tuesday (8/21 and 8/22) I will be working with Diamela Wetzl (an experience Waldorf teacher) in Sacramento and then get back home.

I am taking tons some pics (some good, some not so good) and collecting many stories. I'll write more when I get back to Minneapolis.

Fringe Festival 2006

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2006 started 2 days ago. Since I didn't see any shows last year I forced myself to see a few this year by buying a 5 tickets pass. Yesterday I did a mini-marathon and saw 4 shows in a row:

Die, Clowns, Die!
Presented by Joseph Scrimshaw

To the Winners
Presented by Wilson Loria from St Petersburg, FL

Dance Hall Days
Presented by Christopher Street Dance

Miss Margarida's Way
Presented by Teatro del Pueblo

I liked them all and I was going to write audience review for all of them. That way I could feel part of this year Fringe a little more. But I haven't gotten inspired to write 4 reviews yet. I know.. I've been very lazy this summer :-)
I have worked with Teatro del Pueblo before so I'll start with their show.

Excellent choice
* * * * *
Teatro del Pueblo couldn’t have done a better job choosing a play for the Fringe. This is a very incisive, strong and controversial show. Miss Margarida uses devices such as repetition (or more like drilling!), provocative comments and direct insults to the audience while explaining her unique teaching methods. It’s hard to miss the underlying political statements and many metaphorical insights. I attended the Saturday 8/5 at 10:00 PM performance. I thought the actress did a very good job but some hesitancy in her delivery made me wonder if she was not completely comfortable with the role yet or if the show was a little under-rehearsed. The apology given by her at the end of the show led me to think it was a little bit of both. I say, “Don’t worry, even if we look like eighth graders to you, we are adults and we can take it. Bring it on!” Bravo! And keep it going!—paulino brener

New project: One Square a Day (c)

Finally! I have (at last) written most of the description of the project to open it up to anyone who wants to join it. It might need some editing but at least it's out there and I hope to start getting contacts from all over the world soon!!! :-)

visit the blog http://onesquareaday.blogspot.com/

A small change...

I have decided to make a small change in the title of my new play. Now it's called:

"barcos de papel - paper boats"

4th of July fireworks

Yesterday my friend Mark and I went to see the 4th of July fireworks by the riverfront in Minneapolis. He took lots of pictures. I posted some of my favorites. They look very artistic.

Fun at the lake!

Today it was an unusual Sunday for me. A friend took me to the lake to spend part of the afternoon. He had just changed the oil in his jet-ski so he was excited to try it again. I was scared. Well.. not really scared scared.. But like that type of scared you get at an amusement park. You feel a mixture of nervous and afraid (at least I feel that) but you enjoy it! I haven't been to a lake for a long time and I have never being on a jet-ski. This one was a pretty good one and I was afraid it would go too fast... too fast for me. :-) He took me for a ride and I must say it was quite enjoyable. Again, as much enjoyment as you can get for a ride at a park. Now, if you have ever been on the back side of a jet ski (or a motor bike for that matter) you probably know that there are not many places to grab on. There was a handle on the back but I didn't think it was very safe. I put my arms around his chest and grabbed (very firmly) from his life jacket. The fastest he went and the more waves we jumped, the tightest was my grip. He was lucky I didn't break any of his ribs. Although I think he complaint about some bruises on his chest, oooops! But he didn't seem to mind my occasional screaming either. AAAAHHHH!!! But it was a lot of fun. We also tried some tubbing (an inflatable tube attached with a rope to the back of the jet ski). That was kind of fun, too, but I had a strange grip and I was so tense that I think I hurt my shoulder a little. Finally, I insisted I wanted to try to water ski, why not? After 4 failed attempts I declared that my experience was complete and I was very satisffied with my water adventures. It was, indeed, a very fun afternoon. Well, at least I had a lot of fun. We'll see when I ask my friend to take me for a ride in his jet ski again if my idea of fun was shared.

It has a title!

I've been having a real bad artist block lately. For the last several weeks I was supposed to work on my new play, another one-man-show. This one will feature several folktales from different countries in their language of origin. Don't ask me how people will understand! :-) I know that will be a challenge and that's exactly why I've been having a mental block. It has been difficult to find a good structure around it. Last night I was talking to a friend about different issues (not about the play). He was down and I was a little down, too. We talked for a long time and very late at night. When we ended the converstion I think we were both feeling much better. I attempted to go to bed but it was impossible to sleep. Then many ideas just came to my head, like rain, like a cascade, like a big storm. I immediately went to the computer and started to put all that down. I ended up with
1) A title for my play: "barquitos de papel - paper boats"
2) A draft of the dramatic framework for it
3) And a picture for postcard and promotion, here it is
More updates about my new play soon...

Signing more and more

I love my ASL 1 class. Sometimes it feels like we are moving a little slow, but it’s just that I have learnt other languages before and I like to go faster. I am trying to be a patient student though. I haven’t met any deaf people yet (other than my teacher). In the next few weeks we have to do some activities outside of class and that will give me more exposure to deaf culture. I can’t wait!

See more progress on: Learn ASL

Juana again!

Today I went to the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis to see a Juana Molina concert again. I saw her last time in November at the Walker Art Center. My friend Vessela was with me this time. It was fun! The night started with a cool band called PSAPP and Juana followed them. She is great. She makes all her music live even though it might sound like it's pre-recorded. This time I was able to get a picture with her.

New project coming soon...

Last day of school

Yesterday was our last day at Spring Hill School. We had a long but lovely closing ceremony. Each class did at least 2 things in Spanish. Sixth grade presented a short simulation of a Mexican market and the other grades did verses and songs. I was very proud of all of them!

Have you ever danced so much your legs gave up?

What a weekend! I was invited by my friend Vessela to June Camp. An International Folkdance Camp in Beloit, WI. We went there in Mary's van together with Anna and Dennis. We had quite a fun trip, although Vessela didn't seem to enjoy much my signs (I was studying ASL for part of my trip).
The Camp was a lot of fun. We had a free party on Friday night with different dances that people requested. All day Saturday and Sunday morning we had workshops. The teachers were Michael Ginsburg and Belle Birchfield -Balkan dance; and also Daniel and Gaylen Beal -Scandinavian dancing. I loved all the dances and I particularly enjoyed Michael's style of teaching.
Workshops and dance parties happened in a big gymnasium, a short walk away
from the dorms. After class Saturday, everyone (except me because 1) I don't drink and 2) I was having a nap) relaxed at the "Happy Two Hours Plus", which included culture sessions, impromptu
song and music sessions, and dancing, all in a lovely lounge setting. Then, after dinner, some people dressed up in their ethnic best for Saturday
evening's dance party, which featured the great music of Orkestar Sloboda. The late night Ice Cream Social refueled our energy for the nightowl
request dancing, which continued until very late (we are talking about 4 am here)
Mary and the rest of the people in her van returned to Minneapolis right after Sunday lunch but I stayed for the big review. Unfortunately I could review visually since my legs gave up by then. I was soooooooooooo tired but I had a really great weekend. Besides all the dancing that I did, on of my most fond memory was the image of the (approx.) 130 participants dancing together in a big circle or spiral at the gym. The power of a dance tradition with a strong community building function. All ages, all sizes, all colors and walks of life united by the enjoyment and passion for dance.