The One Semester of Spanish Love Song! It's had lots of internet popularity lately, but I must say, it never, ever gets old.

El teletrabajo. Es una cosa tan comun aquí en los EE UU, pero en España, la idea de vivir en una ciudad y trabajar en una otra ya suele, en general, un poco más raro.

Pero hoy en día, cosas están cambiando. Algunas personas de la clase media en España, como en otros países, prefieren vivir afuera de la ciudad donde nacieron y trabajan, buscando una calidad de vida mejor y más barato. "El País," mi diario favorito de España, tuvo un articulo ayer sobre esta tendencia de decentralizacion urbana.

Y me pregunté: ¿Es mejor o peor la tendencia? Podría ser mejor que, gracias los trenes rápidos como el AVE, la gente tienen más libertad y opciones sobre su estilo de vida, pero por el otro lado, me enoja un poquito. Las relaciones entre familia son importantes en España. Muchas personas viven en la misma cuidad que los otros miembros de la familia, algunos en la misma calle, y hay un sentimiento de unidad entre las generaciones que no existe siempre en las familias americanas. ¿Y será más teletrabajo una cosa que empieza a romperlo en nuestro mundo moderno? Ya no sé, pero espero que no.

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Commuting. It's such a common thing here in the US, but in Spain, the idea of living in one city and working in another still seems, to many people, as little strange.

But these days, things are changing.

Many people in the middle class of Spain, like those in other countries, prefer to live outside the city where they were born and where they work, searching for a better --and cheaper-- quality of life. "El País," my favorite Spanish newspaper, had an article yesterday about this trend of urban decentralization.

And I wondered, Is this trend for the good or the bad? It could be better that, thanks to the high-speed AVE trains, people have more liberty and options about their lifestyles, but on the other hand, it made me a little angry. Family relationships are very important in Spain. Many people
live in the same cities in their family, many even on the same street, and there's a sentiment of unity between generations that doesn't always seem to exist in American families. And will more commuting be something that begins to break it in our modern world? I don't know, but I sure hope not.

A recent article in the New York Times takes another look at Spain's silence regarding its painful past. With the new generations being the first to grow up completely independent of the bloody war that tore families and neighbors apart and the subsequent 4-decade dictatorship, they are also the first to openly speak about and examine the past, while their parents and grandparents choose to look straight forward. A new law has been put in place to rid the country of
symbols and monuments of Generalismo Francisco Franco and his regime, but is this really the answer? Are they hiding from the past or  revisiting it? Or is it both?

Read the article here

Mi nuevo proyecto, o, es decir, aventura, estará ir a Perú durante el verano que viene. Una amiga mía trabaja con el Cuerpo de Paz en Santo Domingo, y nosotras habiamos planeando un programa en que planearé  y enseñaré algunas clases del periodismo en los dos colegios allí. Estoy muy emocionada de irme. Sin duda, será difícil, tengo muchas ganas de empezar a construir mis lecciones y descubrir como combinar todas mis cosas favoritas (el periodismo, el español, y la enseñanza) y adaptarlos para los alumnos de Santo Domingo. ¡Más noticias en seguida!

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My newest project, or adventure, really, will be going to Peru during this coming summer. A friend of mine works in the Peace Corps in Santo Domingo, and we have been planning a program in which I will plan and teach some journalism classes over a three-week period in the two high schools there. I am very excited to go. Of course, it will be difficult, but I am looking forward to begin constructing my lessons and discovering how to combine my favorite things (journalism, Spanish, and teaching) and adapt them for the students in Santo Domingo. More news to come!