Spanish welcome in a pan.

I arrived the 23rd of december at Spain, having been awake for 24 hours in a role. After having a hard time recognising my brother and my mother (I was looking for a woman and a boy, but my brother is already a man, he has grown up so much since August), we got in the car and rode for 4 hours to get to Valencia.

Valencia is in the east coast of Spain, and is where my father's family is from. We usually spend there Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had dinner, a great home made vegetable soup, that tasted like glory after 6 months of residence hall food. I spent hours and hours talking with my namesake cousin, in spite of being almost literally dead from exhaustion. I finally went to bed at 2 a.m., Spanish time, which was 9 p.m. in Des Moines, Iowa. I had been runing on a low battery for 36 hours.

Next day, I was woken up by my father. It was 2 p.m. I went into the kitchen, following the marvelous smells that emanated from there. Paella! One of my favorite dishes ever. Specially when it has been cooked by my grandmother, who is the greatest paella-maker ever.
We were a very big party (all my father's side of the family, plus my mother and my mother's mother) of 12, plus two big-sized dogs that fortunately got on very well from the first moment.

Plates wouldn't fit in the kitchen table, so we decided to eat the paella at the regional style: directly from the pan with a spoon.
It was great. We ate. We drank toasts. It had been a while (almost two years) since we had all been together. Nothing was left of the big paella.

Later, we had coffee. A good and strong Spanish coffee. And we played a game called "50x15." It's based in a TV show of general culture questions. The host of this TV show has a very particular way of talking; he makes many gestures with his face. My brother started imitating him, because he can move only one eye brow. It was hilarious. My aunt (whose name is also Yolanda -we are three in total) gave him instructions and he acted like a puppet.

Finally, we all dressed up and prepared for Christmas dinner (which we usually start at 10 p.m., here in Spain). My cousin, who is studying to be a cook, did great dishes, such as Lorrein Quiche, cheese and tomato bags, and other delicattessems. Of course, we also had the traditional ovened lamb leg.
At midnight my 4-year-old cousin started to get excited. Santa Claus was about to arrive. We sent her with my brother to brush their teeth, and used that time to put all the presents around the tree.

I love the faces of small children when they see all the presents. She was a bit dissapointed because she didn't get to talk to Santa Claus (here, Papá Noel), but she soon forgot as she started to carelessly tear apart the wrapping paper. The big hit of the night: a monkey doll.
The saddest thing was the departure between the two dogs: Pongo and Laki. It had been love at first sight.

So long, Andrea.

The 22nd of December was a day with contradictory feelings: I was very happy, because I was going back home, but I was very sad, too, because I won't see my friend Andrea in a very long time.
He is "the Italian guy," and I've been hanging around with him all semester.

We went together, with Rita, to Las Vegas and Chicago, and he tried to watch some musicals for my sake, even though we decided at last that he had tried enough.
He called me "Goda," because he says I am a little bossy, and I am always right. Rita invented "Goda," which is a Spanglish word. In Spanish, to make the femenin of a word, we usually add an "a," so it means goddess.I was his Secret Santa, and he gave me a movie, "Shall we dance." He knows me very well.
I will miss him very much, especially having lunch with him and Rita, and talking about how bad is the food at Hubble, which he pronounced without the "h" sound.


I also loved how he pronounced my name, Yolanda. I enjoyed every moment with him, and I am very grateful to have known him.

I hope we can keep our promises and meet each other again this summer, in Barcelona. But until then, so long, Andrea.

So long, Carpenter.

My last two days at Drake for this semester were crazy. I moved to an apartment, but I didn't have time to install yet, that I will have to do when I come back in January.
I took some pictures of my room at Carpenter Hall, because I spent a lot of time decorating the walls, and it was a bit sad for me to take everything down.

A night in the rain.

Yesterday was a special day. My parents gave me thumbs up to move from the residence halls to an apartment with some French friends.
We were having a party, because one of our friends, an Italian guy, isn't coming back after Christmas, he was here only for a semester.
So, some friends helped me carry a lot of my stuff in their car, but I still had some things to bring. My friend Rita and I left the party, and came back to campus, to take the rest of the things with a taxi. We were waiting for the taxi for one hour, because it is a service that the University provides called "Safe Ride", but sometimes it doesn't work very good.
When we arrived at my new home, we took all the things from the taxi, and rang the bell (I still don't have my keys.) No one answered. Everyone had left the party, and gone out to a bar.
It was raining. It was 1 a.m. The street was dark. We were standing in the doorway, with all my things around, including a fan. I don't know if it will work after yesterday.
Finally, we called a taxi, but it took another 30 minutes for it to come back.
Here is what happens when you wear mascara for your eyelashes, and then stand 30 minutes in the puring rain.

You are the person of the year!

Time magazine has named "you" person of the year. It praises the interrelation between persons, and not politicians or great men, to help make the world a more comprehensive place.
Read here the full article.

"Breaking and entering."

There are many interesting movies coming to the screens, and many others that have already come by, and now are getting international recognition. With the Golden Globes, the European Academy Awards, and the Oscars, we can enjoy very good movies now in the theatres.
One of the movies that is opening soon is "Breaking and Entering, " by Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain). Here you can read an interesting article of how Minghella gave birth to his idea, from the New york Times.

Three colours.

Kristof Kieslowski started his career shooting documentaries and short films. Later he became associated with the "cinema of moral anxiety,” which grouped several Polish directors. His best known work is the three colours series "Blue," "White" and “Red". "Blue" shared the Golden Lion at Venice in 1993, and "White" earned Kieslowski the best director prize in Berlin, 1994. "Red" brought him an Academy Award nomination for best director in 1995.“Three colours” is a series of interrelated movies. They don’t have the same characters, but similar topics. They all explore the loving nature of the human being, and how it can get corrupt by the things that happen to us in our lives. “Blue” and “Red” are in French, and “White” is in Polish with some fragments in French.

“Blue” stars Juliette Binoche as a tormented woman who has lost her husband and child in a car accident, but survived it herself. Her love for life keeps her from committing suicide, but she tries to live as simply as possible, with no contact with other human beings, in order to avoid another heartbreak.

“White” stars Zbigniew Zamachowski, Polish actor, as Karol Karol, a loving young man who gets thrown out by his 6-month-long wife, Julie Delpy. Delpy appears in this movie as a cold, heartless woman, who despises her husband because he can’t perform sexually. Karol finds himself thrown out with only a bag full of priceless what valuable-less belongings in the streets of Paris, knowing very little French and without a Passport that will allow him to return to his motherland, Poland. Eventually he gets back, and works upon a sweet vengeance against his pitiless wife.


“Red” stars a very young and angelical Irene Jacob, as a fashion model with a big heart. One night, she runs over a dog, and takes her to the veterinary, saving her life. When she tries to return the dog, she finds a careless old owner who has the habit of spying on the airwaves the telephone conversations of his neighbours. First, Jacob’s character despises him, but through very long and honest conversations they get to know and care for each other.

Apart from a brief cameo of Juliette Binoche’s character from “Blue” at the beginning of “White,” the trilogies don’t have an obvious connection until the end of “Red,” when the main characters of all three movies suffer a ferry accident. A great way of Kievlowsky of reuniting the movies is using a very simple anecdote. All the three protagonists sit and watch how an old person tries to put a crystal bottle in a recycle bin, struggling because it’s too high. Only Jacob’s character helps. Maybe because she is young and hasn’t suffered as much, maybe because she is truly good inside.

Krzysztof Kieslowski, died in 1996 at the age of 54, leaving behind him a wonderful collection of movies, that make us think about human nature in a way that not many directors can achieve.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

At last!, the trailer for the fifth movie of Harry Potter series. The Order of the Phoenix is one my favourite books of the 6, even though some people say there's not enough action in it. It's great!
So, here is a little video with some interviews and footage from the set. Enjoy!