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Noted Abroad

Noted Abroad

February 1, 2010

Baby, It’s Cold Inside by Charlie Geer Summers in Andalucía tend to be hotter than the winters are cold, and for centuries local building practices have reflected that fact. The white limestone façades and spacious central patios, the stone floors and shady alleyways — in August, a resident appreciates this kind of thing. The problem [...]

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Noted Abroad

January 31, 2010

by Charlie Geer Baby, It’s Cold Inside Summers in Andalucía tend to be hotter than the winters are cold, and for centuries local building practices have reflected that fact. The white limestone façades and spacious central patios, the stone floors and shady alleyways — in August, a resident appreciates this kind of thing. The problem [...]

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Noted Abroad

January 21, 2010

“Sport” Rhymes with “Boat” by Charlie Geer An American ESL instructor in Spain can expect to use not American but British materials in the classroom. The textbooks, the handouts, the CDs and DVDs…all of these will be British. Because the UK is a member of the EU, British materials are both geographically and bureaucratically more [...]

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Noted Abroad

January 7, 2010

Let’s Just Say by Charlie Geer This week Noted Abroad offers a few more examples of found English. We might say the examples are self-explanatory, except that really they are not self-explanatory, or in any other way explanatory. We might say the examples speak for themselves, except that really they don’t speak so much as [...]

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Noted Abroad

January 6, 2010

“Sport” Rhymes with “Boat” by Charlie Geer An American ESL instructor in Spain can expect to use not American but British materials in the classroom. The textbooks, the handouts, the CDs and DVDs…all of these will be British. Because the UK is a member of the EU, British materials are both geographically and bureaucratically more [...]

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Noted Abroad

January 1, 2010

A Lovely Day for Sports-da-Fé by Charlie Geer Lest we get to thinking that Americans are the only people capable of combining sports and church — see the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Hunters for Jesus, etc.—here we have a photo from Sevilla that shows the baby Jesus wearing a Real Betis soccer uniform. It’s hard [...]

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Noted Abroad

December 23, 2009

A Forthright Fragrance by Charlie Geer Some people like subtlety in their incense — a light touch, just a trace of the chosen bouquet wafting about delicately, threading the air. Other people prefer a more candid incense, one that is not ashamed to come right out and take charge of the room: a frank incense. [...]

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Noted Abroad

December 17, 2009

Funny Looking by Charlie Geer “Fany Look” is one of many beauty salons here in Puente Genil. You might reasonably assume Fany Look to be a beauty salon owned by an individual named Fany. It ain’t necessarily so. What the proprietor may be going for with “Fany” is “Funny.” We’ve already seen that, because the [...]

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Noted Abroad

December 10, 2009

Because I Said So by Charlie Geer This week Noted Abroad turns off the television. Our friend John B. once pointed out that all you have to do is turn the thing off, and as a matter of course, unless you want to pass the rest of the day loafed on the couch staring blankly [...]

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Noted Abroad

December 3, 2009

The Porn On Offer by Charlie Geer Even the occasional flipper of channels will eventually discover that, in Spain, pornography is broadcast on network television after a certain hour. Here we are cruising past the late-night news, the Real Madrid highlights, a WWII documentary…and BLOMP! BLOMP! BLOMP! BLOMP! we have porn. Sadly, any thrill this [...]

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