testing....

Did you know, monkeys have 12 hairs at any one time??? Yes, that's true... And no, I'm not crazy... Just trying to get back to blogging seriously....

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A walk in Malaga

Calle Larios

Plaza de la Constitución

Plaza de la Merced

Tourists....

A tourist having his picture taken with Pablo Picasso, the world famous painter who was born in a house at this square.

Plaza de la Victoria

Plaza de la Victoria

Calle de la Victoria

La Alcazaba

Plaza de la Merced

Teatro Cervantes

Plaza de la Merced

Plaza de la Constitución

Mercado Central

Avenida de Andalucia

Avenida de Córdoba

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Raising Bilingual/Biracial Kids

Once again I've been too busy to be able to write this post on Monday so here it comes, a little late.

Raising my children with several languages and cultures is something I'm really proud of. I think that having my kids with the man I chose at the time was a great choice, since that gave my kids a unique mixture that will make them special wherever they go.

Some of you might already know that my kids are a lovely mixture of Spanish, Finish and Moroccan genes. On the outside you can't really tell them apart from other Spaniards, so in that way I don't think they'll ever have a cultural crisis. But what's going on on the inside is a different story.

My kids are trilingual since the day they were born - their first language is Spanish since it's my mother tongue and the language I speak with their father, their second language is Swedish since they were born in Sweden and it's the language my parents use with my kids. When my kids were babies their father used to speak to them in Moroccan Arabic, but after a few years it got harder and harder for him so he decided to use Spanish instead. But when we moved to Morocco they learned to speak perfect Moroccan and also classical Arabic.

Lot of people think that raising a bi/multilingual kid is a piece of cake, but no, it's not at all like that. First of all, you yourselves need to be fluent in the language you want them to learn, because in many cases you're the only linguistic reference for your kid. You need to be able to sing children's songs in the language and read bed time stories, in order to give them the cultural aspects of the language. You have to celebrate the holidays and incorporate them into your family's normal day to day routines. And here is where many problems start because not everyone has a partner that agrees with this. And most important of all - never give up! Even if your child doesn't seem to understand when you speak your language with him/her and he/she answers in the mayority language, keep on going, because in spite of everything, your kids is learning, he/she just isn't ready to speak the language just yet. It might take 2, 5, 10, 15 years but whenever he/she feels confident enough - or in a situation where no other language will do, you will be surprised to hear how well he/she speaks the language!

I think I've given my kids a good cultural start since they have lived in Sweden, Morocco and now in Spain. They are able to blend in in all their cultures, they speak the languages, they know about the culture and religious life and they know that they have the freedom to chose wherever they want to live in the future. My kids and I know that "home is wherever you lay your hat" and that it is posible to have several places in your heart. I think I've achived my goal to raise international kids and I'm extremely proud of my babies.

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Dream Big For Africa

I'm sure you all have heard of Malaria, since it's one of the most famous diseases of the African continent. But do you know what it really is? This is some information I found at MedLinePlus:

Malaria is a parasitic disease that involves high fevers, shaking chills, flu-like symptoms, and anemia.

Malaria is caused by a parasite that is passed from one human to another by the bite of infected Anopheles mosquitoes. Malaria can also be transmitted from a mother to her unborn baby (congenitally) and by blood transfusions. After infection, the parasites (called sporozoites) travel through the bloodstream to the liver, where they mature and release another form, the merozoites. The parasites enter the bloodstream and infect red blood cells. The parasites multiply inside the red blood cells, which then break open within 48 to 72 hours, infecting more red blood cells. The first symptoms usually occur 10 days to 4 weeks after infection, though they can appear as early as 8 days or as long as a year after infection. The symptoms occur in cycles of 48 to 72 hours.

Malaria, especially Falciparum malaria, is a medical emergency that requires a hospital stay. Chloroquine is often used as an anti-malarial medication. However, chloroquine-resistant infections are common in some parts of the world. Medical care, including fluids through a vein (IV) and other medications and breathing (respiratory) support may be needed.

Malaria kills a child every minute in Africa. You can make a difference and it doesn't take mucho of an effort. All you have to do is to text 85944 to donate $10 to @MalariaNoMore and you'll be entered to win a trip to Africa!!!! If you think this is as important as I do, please join Malaria No More and help the children in Africa have a future.

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Oh no, not again!

Oh yes, unfortunatelly it's true, I've got a cold... Again! I think it's the third time this winter, so far....
It's really really cold here right now. The weather is ok around noon, you even see quite a lot of peple in short-sleeved t-shirts and shorts. But then around 5.30 - 6 PM it starts to get colder and colder. We've had several nights with temperatures below 5 degrees C. I know, it doesn't seem so cold, in northern Europe 5 degrees is nothing... But bare in mind that most houses here don't have any kind of heating system and the walls aren't very thick so when it's 5 degrees outside it isn't much more than 15 degreen indoors and that's not a very nice temperature....
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A very special song

This is just a short note to let you know I'm still here. I've had a wonderful and peaceful weekend and I feel ready to start a new working week.

I also wanted to share this song with you. I absolutely adore it, it means very much to me. A very special person dedicated this song to me and since then I remember him every time I listen to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJmTcV6laGg&feature=related
Enviado desde mi BlackBerry® de Vodafone

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2 exams done

I sent in my first big exam this morning. According to the information on the web I'll get the result within 24 hours. Although it's an exam you do at home and you can use the books and internet it was still quite difficult because of some of the questions that were really tricky.

I had to run some errands this morning and when I got home I revised the first two units of book 2 and did the exam. I have actually studied book 2 already so all I have to do is to revise everything and do the exams. I got 16/20 on the first exam, I'm not too happy about that... Hopefully I'll get a better grade on the next exam which I hope to do tonight.

I'm off to study unit 3 now, see you later!
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Almost done

Today I finished my first big exam. It has 50 really tricky questions so I'll have to check 3 of them in the morning and then send it to my school.

I'll be busy in the morning, fixing some documents I need to take to the lawyer and then in the evening I have a class. I also need to find some fun games in English for my 2nd grade class on Friday. I just hope I'll wake up feeling better tomorrow than I did today....
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Still walking...

I've had a few days off walking because I got the flu and just couldn't bare to go out into the cold. But today I decided that no matter what I really needed that walk.

At first it was really really cold, only about 10 degrees C and it was quite windy. But I was determined that at least I would walk for 30 min. Well, after a little while I didn't even notice the cold. I was listening to music and just enjoyed life... I ended up walking for over an hour and returned home really refreshed and with a lot of energy.

I forgot to check my weight before starting doing the walks (stupid me!) But I'm pretty sure I've lost some weight already, my belly looks slightly smaller... There are still 5 months to Beach 2012 and this year I'm going to make it!!!!
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So funny

I woke up feeling a bit blue and annoyed this morning. These past 2 days a lot of things have happened, several old "friends" have contacted me all of a sudden after a very long time and that has made me really confused. I mean, how is it that when you finally meet someone you really like and is happy with, your old boyfriends turn up and ask you to come back? Some sort of 6th sense or what? They actually don't want you but they don't want you to be with someone else eighter.... And it's not just one person, I'm talking about almost every boyfriend I ever had and within 24 hours.. That really is too confusing!!!

So I really needed a good laugh to start the day off on the right foot. A friend of mine posted this link on Facebook and I laughted so hard that my tummy aches. Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did! The15 funniest autocorrects from november

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Multicultural Mondays #1

Going through some of the members of the Mom Bloggers for Social Good I stepped into a new blog hop which I just LOOOOVE!!!! It's called MulticulturalMondays Blog Hop and it's all about living with two or more cultures in your family. Wow, this is just the one for me!

I was born and bred in a multicultural family. My mom was born in Finland and my dad was born here in Spain, in Catalunia, which has its own language and traditions that differ somewhat from the rest of the country. Both of them left their countries due to bad living conditions and ended up working in Stockholm, Sweden, where they met and fell in love. At that time, the late 60s, people were not used to interracional relationships and I think life wasn't so easy on them but now, more than 45 years after they first met, they are still together. That really is true love!

Ever since I was born I was surrounded by different religions, languages and cultures, and to me, that's the most normal thing. We always mixed different traditions at home and chose the best from each country. What I liked the most was the fact that we got Christmas presents 3 times a year! But when I grew up I never thought I would end up falling in love with someone from a country far far away, just to follow the "family tradition" LOL. But I did. I fell in love with a Moroccan and got married. So by then, my family added some North African and Moslem traditions to our daily life and holidays. Unfortunatelly, things didn't turn out well, so I got divorced, but we kept some of the Moroccan traditions, for my kids' sake. Well, the multicultural story could have ended there, couldn't it? But no... I'm dating a Peruvian so nowadays we've also added a South American touch to our lives. LOL  

I can't wait to see who my kids will fall in love with, will they follow the family tradition or will they find someone closer to home? By the way, my kids are about as multicultural as there can be since they were born in Sweden, then spent 4 years in Morocco and now live in Spain. My oldest son speaks 7 languages and he's only 14!!!!!

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Mom Bloggers for Social Good

Yey! It's here, the opening day for a new project for mom bloggers - the Mom Bloggers for Social Good. When I first read about it I inmediately felt an urge to participate, because this is just what I've been looking for for a very long time. I'm thrilled to be one of the founding members of this project and I hope we can do a lot of good for many people.

The main areas this network will work with are: Children, Education, Maternal Health, Fair Trade, Workers’ Rights, Environment and Climate, Communicable Disease, Non-Communicable Disease, Access to Clean Water and Sanitation, Food Security, Malaria and Tuberculosis, HIV / AIDS, and Women and Girls. I really feel a lot for most of these areas and I can't wait to help out! Many of these areas touch me personally, so I'm sure I have a lot to share with all of you.

Please follow this network on Facebook and Twitter (#socialgoodmoms).

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Torre del Mar

Torre del Mar is a town about 20 min by bus from where I live. Since I live in a village it's nice to go to a town every now and then because the shopping is definitely much better. Torre is one of my favourite places to go to to have a coffee or just a stroll along the beach.

There are lots of Germans in Torre so it's not uncommon to find signs in both Spanish and German.

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No walk today :(

I woke up really annoyed this morning. I didn't sleep well because it was way too cold in my room and in spite of going to bed fully dressed I was still shivering for a very long time.

Houses here in Spain aren't built for the winter season, mainly because we only have really low temperatures about 2 months a year. Most houses don't have central heating either, only the modern ones. In Spain in winter we tend to put on a sweater as soon as we get indoors and take it off when we go out, since it usually is warmer outside in the sun. Funny, isn't it? Well, as someone said - "Spain is different"...
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The 3 Holy Kings came to town

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