Archives

2022


2021


2020


2019


2018


2017


2016


2015


2014


2013


2012


Published Work

What others are reading:

Is St. James Really Buried in Santiago de Compostela, Spain?

Image
As you head down a curve of the busy San Pedro street, you catch your first view of the twin bell towers of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela—and you catch your breath. Petite hatchbacks rattle across the cobblestone as your feet seem drawn farther down the path, although that might just be gravity pulling you downhill toward the old zone. You cinch up your backpack’s sternum strap for the final approach of this multiple-night pilgrimage. For not the first time on your Camino, you lose your sense of direction as you enter Santiago’s old town: granite flagstones at your feet, stone-and-graying-plaster houses on either side, and overcast skies above disorient you—yet your eyes eventually lock on to a spray-painted yellow arrow on the side of a building. Once you’re back on autopilot, you start to reflect on why you started this crazy, 70-mile-plus hike in the first place. Rúa de San Pedro, Santiago de Compostela Maybe you hiked from Sarria farther inland as a cheap and hea
keep reading...

13 Maps That Explain Galicia

Image
You may not know it, but I am a HUGE nerd when it comes to maps. On family road trips, I would pass the miles by browsing the jumbo-sized road atlas, and I even memorized the regions and provinces of Spain…for fun. So I thought I would combine my love of maps with my love for Galicia, this unique region in Spain’s northwestern corner. I hope you enjoy staring at these thirteen maps as much as I have! 1) Galicia from space (Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Even in the satellite view you can tell how green and forested Galicia really is—a stark contrast from the Castilian meseta  or flat plateau to the southeast that is mostly covered in rolling plains. 2) The Roman province of Gallaecia (Source: Wikimedia Commons ) By the 1st century BCE, all of the Iberian peninsula had come under Roman rule, and its northwestern corner belonged to the vast imperial province known as Tarraconensis. Years later, during the administrative reforms of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305), this regio
keep reading...

4 Names for “Teacher” in Spanish

Image
This week I’ll be going into my third week in Spanish classrooms, but even in that short amount of time I’ve picked up on the words the kiddos use to get the attention of me or the teacher I’m helping. No Name by Patrick Spence on Flickr 1) profe Pronounced “PROE-fay” [ˈpɾo.fe], this is a shortening of the Spanish word profesor  or profesora , which looks like our word “professor” but means both university professor and teacher in any grade. 2) seño Pronounced “SAY-nyoe” [ˈse.ɲo], this is a shortening of the Spanish words  señorita  (“Miss”) or señora  (“Mrs.”). Two syllables are always easier to say than three or four! 3) maestro Pronounced “mah-AYS-troe” [maˈes.tɾo], this word (and the accompanying female form maestra ) means “teacher,” plain and simple. 4) teacher In Spain, they learn British English in schools, so they pronounce the word “teacher” as “TEE-chuh” [ˈti.tʃə]. Sometimes they do attempt the American pronunciation, but it comes out more like “TEE-chah
keep reading...