One For the Road (04/16/07)

by Kelly Amabile on

In the early 1990’s, English professor Michele Morano spent a year working as a university English teacher in Oviedo, Spain. She then returned to the country on several occasions as a traveler, continuing to unfold links between her love of the Spanish language and the role grammar played in shaping her life. In her new book, Grammar Lessons, Translating a Life in Spain, Morano has gathered thirteen personal essays that draw from both these experiences of living and traveling in Spain.

Throughout her collection of stories, Morano connects universal truths about vocabulary and verb tense that have impacted her sense of place in the world. With humor and humility, she explores the ways in which travel, translation and cultural interactions have led to the discovery of her own voice as well as a deeper understanding of the power of language.

After only a month traveling through Spain last year, I fell madly in love with all things Spanish, including the melodic language that I had disregarded so easily in high school classes. So I can understand how Morano (and others) have developed long-term love affairs with such a beautiful language. This is a book I’ll be sure to read. (I wonder if there’s a Spanish translation version as well?)

Named by Time Out Chicago as one of their “People to Watch” in 2007, Michele Morano is an award winning writer who currently teaches English at DePaul University. She has a few author appearances scheduled in the New York area this week, including stops in Brooklyn, Rhinebeck and New Paltz.

Spanish Immersion in Guatemala

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s a tip from a woman I met who is finishing up her master’s degree at the Ohio State University. If you want a cheap place to learn Spanish or brush up on the Spanish you know, try Guatemala. She was in Antigua for two weeks last summer and found it cheap, fun and an extensive Spanish language lesson.

From what she said, you can just basically show up in Antigua and find a school and a place to stay. Lodging with a family as a homestay is readily available and schools are everywhere. If flying-by-the- seat-of-your-pants travel isn’t your thing, here are a couple of links to websites for language schools so you can plan ahead. The first one, Casa de Lenguas has been around since 2001. The website includes information about the program, activities, lodging and who your fellow students might be. The average age is 30. People are as young as 18 and go up to age 65. I’m sure if you’re over 65, you won’t be kicked out.

One thing that caught my attention about the Casa de Lenguas program is there is a volunteering component. If you bring materials and supplies to donate to a charitable organization and donate your time to a cause, you can get a discount off tuition.

The Ixchel Spanish School, in business since 1999, emphasizes speaking and also includes homestay information and extracurricular opportunities. For even more options, check out Conexion. This is an internet café in Antigua that lists several Spanish schools and their contact information. “¡Buen viaje!” Have a good trip!

New Planet Magazine: Journeys Issue

by Adrienne Wilson on

Getting my hands on the latest Journey’s issue of Planet last month was a journey in itself. I’m a Planet junkie – an addict and so the moment word lets out about the release of the quarterly glossy I first squeal with excitement, do a flying drop-kick, regain composure and head to the nearest Border’s Books & Music to pick up a copy. The Spring 07′ issue features a number of well-written pieces spanning the globe from Iraq to Bologna, Italy through Valeria’s digital diary and Omak, Washington where an annual Suicide Race takes place. I must say the Omak suicide race really grabbed my attention and while I won’t be signing up to win the cold-hard cash anytime soon being a potential spectator may or may not be all too bad if I’m ever in the area. Additionally there is a divinity piece on marathon monks which is equally captivating. And when you’re ready to sign off on global arm-chair traveling and into the latest in pop-world-culture take a peek at what Ms. Charlotte Gainsbourg has been up to and look out for her new album if you like that sort of sound.

World Grits Festival: Not Just for Eating

by Jamie Rhein on

Hurry and you might be able to dive into grits if you live anywhere close to St. George, South Carolina. This is the weekend of the World Grits Festival. If I had only known sooner… I found out about this grits mania while I was savoring my morning coffee and thumbing through the Sunday paper. There was a grainy photo of a 6-year-old in a mess of grits. The only way I could tell the dot in the photo was a 6-year-old was because the caption said it was–same thing with the grits. It’s hard to tell one is looking at the top view of a large inflatable-type wading pool filled with grits when the photo is black and white and grainy.

Since I like grits and think a trip to the southern states would be lacking without at least one meal with grits served on the side, I immediately hit the internet to see what’s what in the grits world. St. George bills itself as the Grits Capitol of the World, for one thing.

Sure enough, this is a festival that should be included in festivals to see where food is the theme. And like the picture captured, one of the events at the World Grits Festival is jumping into grits. The festival also includes a grit eating contest and some event where participants roll in grits. Of course, you can eat grits all day. And like any decent festival, there’s a midway complete with rides, games and eats. For grits recipes and more photos, check out the website. This particular photo is from last year’s festival.

This year is the 22nd Annual Grits Festival. Perhaps, if you’ve missed this one, you could plan ahead and make it to the 23rd. I wonder if rolling around in grits is good for the skin–like a total body exfoliate experience.

Haitian Voodoo Pilgrimage

by Adrienne Wilson on

Here is one that may not tickle the fancy of all on this particular Sunday morning and could have possibly been a topic on the recently past Friday the 13th, but I discovered the news yesterday and found the time to explore it more and pass it on to interested arm-chair traveling minds today. So…

CBS News recently ran a piece on the annual Voodoo pilgrimage made by Haitians to an area called Souvenance complete with a small photo gallery of people with their eyes rolled back, women dressed in white and some even smeared with the blood of a freshly sacrificed chicken or animal. While the article is short it packs in enough to give you goose-pimples and provide some insight on this West African ritual. The Souvenance area sits 90-miles north of the capital city, Port-au-Prince and the ceremonies which take place for five days began last Sunday on Easter. Voodoo is one of three constitutionally recognized religions in the country and although the event seems to have passed it is practiced like any other on a regular basis.

After reading the brief summary of the event I went in search of some other sites with more information. Haiti Surf has additional Voodoo ceremony photos as well as more general pics relating to the country. Below the gallery one can learn of black magic, the ancient traditions and beef up your voodoo vocabulary with words such as houngan or mambo – meaning priest or priestess. We Haitians also includes a couple of pictures from the pilgrimage back in 2004 along with other news worthy events taking place at the time.