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Ben and Marina answer a question from ValenciaSon on suggestions for traveling with kids in Spain. Grabado el domingo de ramos, cuando volvimos a Inglaterra con Air Plus Comet.

Frases del dia:

‘Que sean dos’ - Make it two! (To a barman or waiter.)
‘Yo que tu…’ - If I were you… (Yo que tu me haria la loca - If I were you I’d pretend nothing had happened.)

 

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Marina y Ben hablan del tema de la inmigracion hoy en dia en españa.

 

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Marina y Ben hablan del botellon del fin de semana, y dicuten el tema de por que los jovenes españoles viven tanto tiempo con sus padres.

Discutelo con nosotros aqui en el Foro: ¿Creeis que los españoles hacen bien en vivir tanto tiempo con sus padres?¿O son muy raros?

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Back on track at last, with a new Notes in Spanish podcast. This week we answer an audio comment from Matt, who asks: ¿Cuales son los sitios menos turisticos para viajar en españa?

Did we miss any? And what is Ben’s obsesssion with Soria! Comments below please!

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Day 30 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on the charity series.

Today’s Notes - Top tips for learning Spanish! (More here). Any we missed? Anything you would like to ask us about for the last episode? Stick it all in the comments below!

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Day 29 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - We talk about some of our favourite Spanish films:
Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, Todo sobre mi madre, Tesis, Los otros, Mar adentro, Los lunes al sol, El abuelo, La lengua de las mariposas, El Lobo, Jamon Jamon, Lucia y el sexo, El otro lado de la cama, Abre los ojos, Carreteras Secundarias, El mismo amor la misma lluvia, Nueve Reinas, Y tu mama tambien and Ninette… all of which can be found on amazon.com or imdb.

Which are your favourites?

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Day 28 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Due to popular request, it’s Music show time! What did we leave out? Comments (and more requests for show ideas) below please!

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Day 27 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - We try to answer Jan’s question:

“Please can I request a chat about your expriences as a mixed nationality couple - any prejudice towards you? And more broadly, spanish attitudes towards mixed couples including interracial couples?”

If you have any more requests, please use the comments link below.

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Day 26 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - We try to answer David Ebert’s question about drugs in Spain - we do our best from out standpoint of innocence!

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Day 25 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Marina talks to her parents about life in the times of Franco. They were almost fined for kissing in public in the Retiro park, by a warden who had been spying on them from behind a tree. A friend of theirs was also fined for walking around in short sleeves in summer. They also talk about rationing when they were young. Las cosas que escaseaban (Things that were scarce). People ate a lot of cocido, the classic chickpea and meat stew that you still find on lunch menus every Tuesday. Marina’s mother talks about how the old fridges were restocked with fresh ice every day.

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Day 24 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Weather vocab… Phrases for saying it’s cold: Hace un frio que pela. Hace un frio que te mueres. Hace un frio que corta el cutis (old-fashioned). Hace un frio que te cagas (uncouth!!). Un copo de nieve - snowflake. Un temporal (de frio) - storm/perod of severe weather. Una ola de frio/de calor - cold spell/heatwave. Hay ventisca - here’s a blizzard. Agua-nieve - sleet. La sierra esta nevada - the mountains are covered in snow. ¡Que se escapa el gato! - Don’t let the warmth out!

This morning Marina called me ‘un paleto!’ Why? Because to ask directions I said ‘¿Pa’ la catedral?’ instead of ‘¿Para la catedral por favor?’ Oh well!

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Day 23 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - What we think of Spanish TV!

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Day 22 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Words/phrases used today: No damos abasto. Ha sido un dia de perros. Mucho follon. Escanciar sidra. Sorry for brevity in notes, I’m exhausted! Nothing an episode of Desperate Housewives won’t fix. Thanks God for being able to watch something that isn’t Spanish TV!

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Day 21 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Marina talks to her friend Belen. The sound quality is not so good on this podcast so I have transcribed some notes below from the podcast, to help you as you listen. Let us know how it goes:

Belen is currently working in Toledo 3 days a week in a hospital. She also works 2 days in a health centre for outpatients (pacientes ambulatorios). One afternoon a week she has a private consultation.

What is the main mental illness in Spain? Depression is the predominant illness in Spain. What about different professions. Some professions have more problems than others. There are lots of teachers with anxiety problems. Security guards (guardias de seguridad) that have to deal with a lot of responsibility suddenly and can’t cope. Like the one who killed his two friends recently… Teachers suffer from lack of respect and are at odds with the parents… it’s not like the old days. Hard to educate the kids of today…

What’s the difference between patients in small towns and Madrid? A patient last week from a small village couldn’t read. They use different language too… rilar instead of temblar, for example.

Life in Spain is more relaxed and outgoing. Does that affect the type of mental illness in Spain? Percentages across Europe for many diseases such as schizophrenia are the same. In some small countries in South America there is much less depression, but in Europe it’s all quite similar. In colder countries, like Austria and Finland, the suicide rate is double that in Mediterranean countries.

Belen would like to work in public hospitals with patients, but also in private sessions with families - specializing in family psychology - solving communication problems with parents and children.

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Day 20 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Marina finds out what Ben thought of his trip back to the UK…

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Day 19 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Sorry this is a day late - I’m in the Uk and arrived too late to upload the podcast last night. Words of the day: Estoy agobiado - ‘This is all too much!’, Huelga - ’strike’, Estoy agotado - I’m exhausted. Hope you enjoyed this sound seeing experience (best listened too with ear-buds for full binaural stereo effect) - let me know in the comments below!

There may be another day’s delay before the next Notes in Spanish, again because I’m in the Uk - but we’ll keep to the promise, 31 podcasts in 31 (or 32…) days!

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Day 18 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.
Today’s Notes - Marina goes shopping in a classic neighbourhood shop. Words of the day: Forrar un libro, forrarse (get rich), este chico esta forrado. Me da mucha rabia. Harina integral. Churros y porras.

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Day 17 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Como ligar en España, las parejas inglesas/españolas, y las palabras del dia: chispa y soso.

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Day 16 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - A recent piece of news highlighted a big problem in the Spanish workforce - women earn on average 30 percent less than men. I ask Marina what she thinks about this, why it is, and just how much chauvanism there is in the workplace…

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Day 15 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - To sound really Spanish you have to listen to the natives whenever you get the chance - in buses, the metro, cafes - and soon you’ll be speaking just like the local Tio Pepe. A few favourites to slip into conversation include - vaya, anda, es que, pues nada, hombre, me piro/me abro, me rayo… all explained in today’s podcast!

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Day 14 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - From the Taberna Miranda restaurant, our favourite in Madrid. I tell the story of how I discovered it, we check out the menu, the price of ham and pacharan, a liquor made out of ‘endrinas’ - Sloes.

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Day 13 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Swearing in Spanish! Words far too offensive to write here - you’ll have to listen to the podcast! Remember to contact us with feedback, requests and suggestions!

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Day 12 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Marina interviews Ben on English teaching in Spain - how and where to find work, how much you will earn, and what future there is in the profession.

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Day 11 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Marta, Marina’s sister, speaks about her change from studying physiotherapy in a private university, to studying to be an English teacher in a public university. They go on to discuss the work she has done in the past and her future plans.

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Day 10 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Hemos estado tomando algo en un bar del barrio - Palabras del dia - Chulo (cool - arrogant - pimp), un sandwich mixto, ponerse morado, ponerse las botas y estoy que peto (all meaning ‘I’m full’). Petar (to explode) not to be confuser with pedo.

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Day 9 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - We knock up a quick supper of lentils a la Ben and Marina… with lentejas, calabacin, zanahoria, quinoa, ajo, pimenton, cebolla, puerro, sal. N.B. This is a quick knock up supper, not a pro-cooking podcast!

Hablamos tambien del hombre que murio a tiros en sevilla por atropellar a una niña… de que los gitanos suelen cuidar a los suyos, y resolver la cosas a su manera.

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Day 8 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Marina entrevista a Quique sobre la vida de los funcionarios en España, de las oposiciones (official civil service exams), como estudian los opositores, y por que todo el mundo quiere este tipo de trabajo.

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Day 7 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Hoy nos a pillado bien el toro… Hablamos de Roscon, las palabras cutre, tacaño, cursi, hortera. Las fiestas de navidad… ¿han terminado de verdad?

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Day 6 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Marina speaks to her parents about life in Madrid when they were young. They explain the roles of several important figures in the city - Los serenos (the night watchmen who worked for tips), el afilador - (the knife sharpening man), los traperos (collectors of old rubbish including cloth), and el colchonero (the mattress maker/mender for the old woollen mattresses).

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Day 5 of the Spanish sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Today’s Notes - Marina explains the intricacies of tomorrow, ‘ Reyes’, to Ben - there’s nearly a minor pod-altercation - and a description of tonight’s Cabalgata.

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Day 4 of the sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Notes - Marina interviews Isabel about student life in Endinburgh, up in Scotland. The differences between studying in the UK and Spain ( no apuntes at exam time!), winter in Scotland, terrible food, going out at night, life in a student house, and an uninvited guest who’s days are numbered… Frederick the Ratón!

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Day 3 of the sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Notes - Ben and Marina chat about intercambios, ligando, como nos conocimos y mas…

Palabras del dia: ligar, llevarla al huerto, tirarsela, enrollarse…

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Day 2 of the sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Notes - La vuelta al trabajo despues de las vacaciones - la oficina sin humos debido a la nueva ley antitabaco - ¿los fumadores van a fumar menos ahora? ¿O trabajar menos? ¿deberian tambien hacer prohibiciones con el alcohol? Los pubs en Irlanda ya huelen menos que antes…

Palabras del dia: una colilla, una calada, ‘estoy fumado’, los porros y los puros.

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Yes! Marina and Ben bring you 31 Spanish podcasts in 31 days - a sponsored podcast marathon to help raise money for charities in India and the UK. Click here for more info on this charity series.

Episode 1 - Welcome, what’s to come, questions and answers on my upcoming trip to India, and the word of the day: ‘zampar’.