Find the latest Hollywood news from Fox Hollywood and get movie reviews of latest Hollywood movies, hot photos and the latest movie clips and trailers
Sunday, June 19, 2022
Monday, January 18, 2010
Linger longer, learn the lingo
Latin America is an increasingly popular holiday destination for Australians. The thing is, most of us head there knowing little in the way of Spanish, unless you count si, no and gracias. While this won't matter so much if you're sticking to major tourist spots such as Machu Picchu, staying in five-star hotels or mingling with fellow English speakers on the gringo trail, if you're looking to leave the beaten track, chat to locals, sleep in humble B&Bs, ride local transport or eat in down-to-earth diners, it's essential that you know a bit of the lingua franca.
Fortunately, Spanish schools have swelled across South and Central America in the past few years, offering every chance to learn the lingo, while immersing yourself in the culture.
Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Santiago (Chile) are the obvious - and most expensive - options, especially if you want to indulge in city life. If you'd prefer less hustle and bustle and more bang for your buck, you won't go far wrong with these sublime spots.
Arequipa, Peru
Lima may be its capital and Cusco its tourist darling but Arequipa is, quite simply, Peru's best-looking city.
Set against a backdrop of enormous snow-layered volcanoes, it has magnificent architecture and a fabulous selection of cafes, restaurants, museums, shops and parks, making it a wonderful place to stay a few weeks.
It's also a smart place in which to knuckle down and start swotting up on your Spanish. Not only is Arequipa budget-friendly, it's far from clogged with English speakers, unlike Cusco, where they're everywhere.
I found it much easier to learn Spanish surrounded by people who couldn't speak English, forcing me to speak their language. Like they say, practice makes perfect. Well, almost.
The Spanish School Arequipa (spanishschoolarequipa.com) offers beginners' courses for $US125 ($135) a week (20 hours class time).
Sucre, Bolivia
Just strolling the streets of sunny, postcard-pretty Sucre, with its blaze of ornate whitewashed buildings, manicured parks and colourful plazas, is a pleasure.
It's remarkably laid-back for a capital city - a status it guards jealously from the country's biggest metropolis, La Paz - and it's a wonderful place to pitch up for some Spanish classes.
Private lessons at Bolivian Spanish School (bolivianspanishschool.com) cost $US6.50 an hour, although it's half the price if you study in a group.
After class, Sucre offers a string of excellent bars and restaurants to hang out in. The newest is Florin (Calle Bolivar 567), a stylish Dutch-Bolivian place that serves an excellent blend of national and international food.
Don't leave without trying Florin's delicious "pique a lo macho". One of Bolivia's most famous dishes, it comprises a jumble of chips, beef, chicken, salami sausage, tomatoes, onions and peppers, lashed with a creamy "beer" sauce.
Boquete, Panama
Rural and idyllic, the highland town of Boquete is the place to base yourself if you like long walks in the verdant countryside, quiet evenings and fine coffee from the award-winning local plantations.
Panamanians say Boquete has changed beyond all recognition in the past decade because of the influx of elderly Americans retiring there.
But it's still a sleepy place and Spanish is, by far, the dominant language used on the streets.
Panama is one of the Americas' more expensive places to study, though still less pricey than Buenos Aires or Santiago.
Boquete's highly rated Habla Ya Panama Spanish School (hablayapanama.com) offers a selection of tailor-made courses, with discounts the longer you stay. A 60-hour crash course is $US500 ($538).
If you'd prefer to learn by the seaside, El Paraiso (elparaisoschool.com) offers week-long courses at Bocas del Toro, a beautiful archipelago on Panama's Caribbean coast, a three-hour drive from Boquete. The price is $US205 a week.
Medellin, Colombia
Though other Latin Americans will disagree, Colombians claim they speak the purest form of Spanish in the Americas. And if you believe Paisas, the people from Medellin, there's no better place to pick up the language than in the City of Eternal Spring.
Back in the 1980s and '90s, you'd have been mad to come here. Medellin was under the vice of drug lord Pablo Escobar and murder and kidnappings were rife. With him long gone, however, this perennially sunny city is much safer, very friendly and a joy to spend time in.
Medellin's plush upmarket suburbs such as El Poblado have scores of excellent restaurants, cafes and bars that are filled with beautiful people who are eminently approachable - especially if you can speak Spanish.
There are some fine Spanish schools in town. Enroll at Nueva Lengua (nuevalengua.com) and you'll get 20 hours of lessons for $US180. Nexus Academy (nexusmedellin.com) is another option.
Antigua, Guatemala
There are more Spanish schools in Antigua than coffee shops - and that's saying something. This gorgeous old colonial town is arguably the prettiest in central America and certainly the most popular with foreigners but it won't be to everyone's liking. In fact, some moan that it's too touristy and not the real Guatemala, largely because it's clean, safe and well-run.
But despite a heavy smattering of tourists, there are worse places to learn Spanish. And with so much competition for your custom, you're bound to find cheap deals - including packages that enable you to stay with a local family.
By lodging, you can immerse yourself deeper in Guatemalan culture and practise your Spanish at the dinner table while sampling the local cuisine.
For a full overview of language schools in Antigua, see visitguatemala.com.
Academia de Espanol Antiguena (spanishacademyantiguena.com) and Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquin (spanishschoolplfm.com) are long-standing institutions. Expect to pay about $US90 for a 20-hour course, plus $US70 for a week's lodging.
Honorary mentions
GRANADA, NICARAGUA Super-cheap Spanish schools abound in this gorgeous colonial town, which sits on the banks of Lago Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. See granadanicaraguaspanish.com.
CORDOBA, ARGENTINA Dubbed one of the cultural capitals of the Americas, this vibrant university city is awash with theatres, museums, cafes and bars — plus a handful of Spanish schools. See coined.com.ar.
CUENCA, ECUADOR This charming colonial town, tucked amid Andean mountains and valleys, boasts pleasant drinking and dining spots and is a fine place to learn Spanish. See sicentrospanishschool.com.
Source:smh.com.au/
Canadian aid workers say aid slowly reaching Haiti quake survivors
TORONTO — Help was slowly starting to reach desperate survivors of the earthquake in Haiti Saturday, despite the massive infrastructure damage suffered in the disaster, Canadian aid groups said.
World Vision, UNICEF and the Canadian Red Cross said planes with relief supplies landed at the airport in Port-au-Prince Saturday and more are on the way. Supplies were also being trucked in from the Dominican Republic, the Red Cross said.
However aid workers describe a chaotic situation with people sleeping in the streets, damaged hospitals and some roads that are difficult to travel.
Steve Matthews of World Vision Canada said in an interview Saturday from Port-au-Prince that the chaos there has increased over the past three days and it's harder to get around the city but aid is getting through.
"It seems that those who have cars that didn't have gasoline for them have found fuel and they're out driving around," said Matthews, 52, who's from London, Ont.
Some streets remain inaccessible but the main roads can be travelled although debris on the side of the road makes the lanes very thin. He described a surreal scene as he drove at night, illuminated by headlights.
"You see things along the edge of the road and you're kind of (think) what is that and then you realize it's 300 people sleeping basically side by side by side along the edge of the road and that's all over the edge of the city," he said.
"When they're sleeping it looks kind of freaky because it looks like dead bodies. In this city that's been destroyed, that's in rubble, that's pulverized, it's very surreal, very eerie."
The priority remains on search and rescue operations as time starts to run out, said Isabelle Marin of Montreal, with the Panama-based Red Cross Pan American Disaster Response Unit, in an interview from Port-au-Prince Saturday.
Marin said there is still hope of finding people alive in debris. She told of a dramatic rescue of a family that had texted they were trapped in rubble in Port-au-Prince, despite the limited communications there.
"Our team leader today managed to relay a (text) message practically across the world, through Canada, through here, through Panama to Europe back to the search and rescue unit so they could go and rescue a family that had contacted by text message that they were trapped under the rubble," said Marin.
A convoy of Canadian Red Cross doctors and nurses also arrived and set up base camp Saturday, said Marin.
An emergency hospital advance team from the International Committee of the Red Cross went to the hospital in the centre of the city Saturday and performed triage, she said.
Two cargo flights with hospital and surgical supplies have landed and a Canadian cargo plane has landed, said Marin.
Within the day or two, a Norwegian Red Cross field hospital will be set up to provide "the emergency health care that's very much needed," she said.
Canadian doctors and nurses will be part of an international team that will staff the field hospital.
"The International Committee of the Red Cross actually has 40 tonnes of supplies that will be on the ground within the next 24 hours to be distributed," said Katie Kallio of the Canadian Red Cross in an interview from Ottawa on Saturday.
The Red Cross, which has been in Haiti since 2006, already had some supplies in the region which it quickly deployed. From its warehouse in Panama, it has sent 15,000 blankets, 3,000 buckets, 6,000 tarps, 4,000 mosquito nets and 2,000 jerry cans to the quake zone.
The Haitian Red Cross Society has hundreds of volunteers on the ground distributing these items. For them, and it's overwhelming, said Kallio.
"These are people who not only see the immense needs but they themselves have lost their homes, they've lost their families. Members of their own neighbourhoods and communities have been affected by this," she said.
A plane carrying water and sanitation materials from UNICEF landed at the Port-au-Prince Airport on Friday while another arrived Saturday, said UNICEF Canada president Nigel Fisher in Toronto.
"That means water purification tablets, jerry cans, larger bladder tanks, oral rehydration salts given to children when they have diarrhea to stop that. We had several water and sanitation engineers on the flight," said Fisher.
The distribution of water bottles has been proceeding although some locations have been difficult with a large crowd forming, "and in one or two places it was getting a little rough," said Fisher.
But on the whole, he said, UNICEF has not seen too many incidents.
Source:AFP
World Vision, UNICEF and the Canadian Red Cross said planes with relief supplies landed at the airport in Port-au-Prince Saturday and more are on the way. Supplies were also being trucked in from the Dominican Republic, the Red Cross said.
However aid workers describe a chaotic situation with people sleeping in the streets, damaged hospitals and some roads that are difficult to travel.
Steve Matthews of World Vision Canada said in an interview Saturday from Port-au-Prince that the chaos there has increased over the past three days and it's harder to get around the city but aid is getting through.
"It seems that those who have cars that didn't have gasoline for them have found fuel and they're out driving around," said Matthews, 52, who's from London, Ont.
Some streets remain inaccessible but the main roads can be travelled although debris on the side of the road makes the lanes very thin. He described a surreal scene as he drove at night, illuminated by headlights.
"You see things along the edge of the road and you're kind of (think) what is that and then you realize it's 300 people sleeping basically side by side by side along the edge of the road and that's all over the edge of the city," he said.
"When they're sleeping it looks kind of freaky because it looks like dead bodies. In this city that's been destroyed, that's in rubble, that's pulverized, it's very surreal, very eerie."
The priority remains on search and rescue operations as time starts to run out, said Isabelle Marin of Montreal, with the Panama-based Red Cross Pan American Disaster Response Unit, in an interview from Port-au-Prince Saturday.
Marin said there is still hope of finding people alive in debris. She told of a dramatic rescue of a family that had texted they were trapped in rubble in Port-au-Prince, despite the limited communications there.
"Our team leader today managed to relay a (text) message practically across the world, through Canada, through here, through Panama to Europe back to the search and rescue unit so they could go and rescue a family that had contacted by text message that they were trapped under the rubble," said Marin.
A convoy of Canadian Red Cross doctors and nurses also arrived and set up base camp Saturday, said Marin.
An emergency hospital advance team from the International Committee of the Red Cross went to the hospital in the centre of the city Saturday and performed triage, she said.
Two cargo flights with hospital and surgical supplies have landed and a Canadian cargo plane has landed, said Marin.
Within the day or two, a Norwegian Red Cross field hospital will be set up to provide "the emergency health care that's very much needed," she said.
Canadian doctors and nurses will be part of an international team that will staff the field hospital.
"The International Committee of the Red Cross actually has 40 tonnes of supplies that will be on the ground within the next 24 hours to be distributed," said Katie Kallio of the Canadian Red Cross in an interview from Ottawa on Saturday.
The Red Cross, which has been in Haiti since 2006, already had some supplies in the region which it quickly deployed. From its warehouse in Panama, it has sent 15,000 blankets, 3,000 buckets, 6,000 tarps, 4,000 mosquito nets and 2,000 jerry cans to the quake zone.
The Haitian Red Cross Society has hundreds of volunteers on the ground distributing these items. For them, and it's overwhelming, said Kallio.
"These are people who not only see the immense needs but they themselves have lost their homes, they've lost their families. Members of their own neighbourhoods and communities have been affected by this," she said.
A plane carrying water and sanitation materials from UNICEF landed at the Port-au-Prince Airport on Friday while another arrived Saturday, said UNICEF Canada president Nigel Fisher in Toronto.
"That means water purification tablets, jerry cans, larger bladder tanks, oral rehydration salts given to children when they have diarrhea to stop that. We had several water and sanitation engineers on the flight," said Fisher.
The distribution of water bottles has been proceeding although some locations have been difficult with a large crowd forming, "and in one or two places it was getting a little rough," said Fisher.
But on the whole, he said, UNICEF has not seen too many incidents.
Source:AFP
Panama Names December Students Of The Month
PANAMA - Panama Central School officials recently announced their Students of the Month for December. Those chosen are as follows:
Cathleen Monroy, ninth grade and the daughter of Carlos and Joan Monroy of Panama. Her hobbies include swimming and basketball. Her favorite subject in school is art, her favorite musical group is McFly, her favorite TV show is Gossip Girl and Beverly Hills 90210 and she belongs to the Spanish Club.
Jade Annabel, 10th grade and the daughter of John and Verna Lepley of Panama. Jade's hobbies include listening to music, bowling, singing and acting, tennis, volleyball, hanging out with friends, baking, and trying and learning new things. Her favorite school subject is Spanish, favorite music groups are Chosen, KJ52, Kutless, Scapegoat and Skillet, favorite TV shows are Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, Bones, the Flintstones and the Closer and she belongs the Drama and Language clubs, Acettes singing group, church youth group and IMPACT.
Chris Enlow, 11th grade and the son of Jeff and Larissa Enlow of Panama. His hobbies include playing in the Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament every year with Nick Lenart and Zach Lubi, watching the Syracuse Orangemen, Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Braves, Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres play and hanging out with friends or family. Chris' favorite subjects in school are math and gym, he enjoys any new music, his favorite TV show is SportsCenter and he is a member of the National Honor Society, chorus, Panama United Methodist Church Youth Group, and is on the Panama basketball, football and baseball teams.
Ashlyn Ruth, 12th grad and the daughter of Lisa Minton of Jamestown and Tim Ruth of Ashville. Ashlyn's hobbies and interests include varsity soccer and basketball, indoor soccer, fashion and hanging out with friends. Her favorite subject is economics, her favorite musician is John Mayer, her favorite TV shows are Law and Order and Gilmore Girls, and she belongs to the Language Club, National Honor Society, Band Council and the Pride Council.
Source:post-journal.com/
Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. March
Source:wjhg.com/
Tyndall Federal Credit Union Has Reached $1 Billion in Assets
PANAMA CITY, FL - Tyndall Federal Credit Union is pleased to announce that the credit union reached a milestone of $1 billion in total assets at the end of December 2009.
“We were able to achieve this milestone as a result of the hard work of our employees, prudent guidance from our Board of Directors, and most of all, our member-owners, who have trusted us as their financial provider,” said Jim Warren, President and CEO of Tyndall. “We hope all of our members are proud to say that they own a $1 billion credit union.”
Tyndall Federal is a federally chartered, not-for-profit financial cooperative serving over 100,000 members worldwide with assets of more than $1 billion. Currently, Tyndall has branches in Panama City , Panama City Beach, Tyndall Air Force Base, Lynn Haven, Parker, Port St. Joe, Marianna, and Chipley , Florida . Tyndall also has a new branch location in Dothan , Alabama which was opened in late 2009.
Source:fosterfollynews.com/
“We were able to achieve this milestone as a result of the hard work of our employees, prudent guidance from our Board of Directors, and most of all, our member-owners, who have trusted us as their financial provider,” said Jim Warren, President and CEO of Tyndall. “We hope all of our members are proud to say that they own a $1 billion credit union.”
Tyndall Federal is a federally chartered, not-for-profit financial cooperative serving over 100,000 members worldwide with assets of more than $1 billion. Currently, Tyndall has branches in Panama City , Panama City Beach, Tyndall Air Force Base, Lynn Haven, Parker, Port St. Joe, Marianna, and Chipley , Florida . Tyndall also has a new branch location in Dothan , Alabama which was opened in late 2009.
Source:fosterfollynews.com/
Russia rows back on plans in Nicaragua channel construction
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accepted over a year ago his Nicaraguan counterpart's proposal to study the possibilities of participation by Russia's state and private sectors in an enterprise to build a canal through Nicaragua.
However, Sergei Aristov, a Russian deputy transportation minister, gave on Monday a less optimistic remark on the proposal, saying that Russia must first review its foreign financial ambitions in the light of the ongoing global financial crisis.
"Considering the financial situation in the world, as well as the beginning of the Panama Canal reconstruction, the given issue needs additional elaboration taking into account the altered economic conditions," Aristov said at a meeting with Nicaraguan Deputy Foreign Minister Coronel Kautz.
Russia was hit hard by the global economic and financial meltdown, prompting authorities to devalue the national currency, pump liquidity into the banking sector and provide loans to domestic businesses to keep the economy afloat.
With the federal budget deficit expected to hit 6.8% of GDP this year, the Russian government will have to resort to borrowing on world capital markets for the first time in 10 years to bridge budget gaps and maintain macroeconomic stability.
The proposed canal, whose construction is estimated by experts at $18 billion, would be able to accommodate ships larger than those that can pass through the Panama Canal, even after its enlargement.
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti)
Source:en.rian.ru/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)