Thank all of you for reading and commenting my blog this month! I've learnt a lot from you. And of course, I'd like to thank the BBC Learning English staff for giving me this great opportunity, specially to Neil! Thank you so much for your advice. And I'd like to apologize for not writing more often, I didn't have enough time. Keep on learning English and if you have the chance, come to the UK!

See you Paloma

This is my second week in Loughborough and I'm glad to be here, sometimes it's good a breath of fresh air! In this entry I'd like to compare some of the differences I've seen between where I live at the moment and my home in Spain.

Food
In Spain we have breakfast when we get up, lunch around 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. and dinner at 9 p.m.- 10 p.m. The main meal is the lunch and most of the people who have a full time job have a break for lunch. Here they have a sandwich for lunch at 12 p.m.- p.m. and the main meal is the dinner. They don't have many typical dishes as we do, but I like what they cook. We rarely use butter (we use olive oil) and they use it very often. What I really love from English food is the puddings and the influence of India as they usually eat Indian food. One of the things that I like to do when I'm abroad is going to a supermarket to know what they can buy. I'm very impressed of the variety of food that they have here. You can find many ready-made meals, sandwiches, crisps of every flavor, lots of cakes, biscuits, drinks... In Spain we think that the tea time is at 5 p.m. Wrong! They drink tea all the time! British drink 165 million cups daily. I love tea as well.

People and lifestyle I've met really nice people here. This is the third time that I work as au pair, and I've always worked for the same family, so I just have good words to describe them! British people are in general friendly and have a smile for you. They are extremely polite, please, thank you and sorry and the most said words! They love cards! They have cards for every occasion and they really use them. It's one of the things that I love. Talking about politeness, some weeks ago I found an article about a woman who went to visit her fiancé's family and after that she received a letter from her future mother-in-law. She was indignant about her bad manners and she gave her some advices. Here's the link.

Where I live, in summer there's always people outside. The day before I came I had dinner with some friends in one of those restaurants that I told you which are in Pedregalejo and we stayed there from 7 p.m. until 2 a.m. There were many people all the time, even children. And shops in Spain close at 8.30 p.m. Last Saturday I went for a walk in Loughborough and at 5.30 p.m I had to go back home! All the shops were closed and everybody was having a drink in the pubs or making dinner at home. But something that I like is that shops are open on Sunday, something unusual in Spain. I think that the weather is one of the reasons that make our lifestyles different. But as Neil said last Sunday was sunny and hot for the first time that I've been here! Everybody was outside, sunbathing and enjoying the wonderful day. Someone sunbathing in Queen's Park, Loughborough, UK.

This weekend I'll go to London because one of my sisters is coming with her husband. It's a city that I really love, there are plenty things to do and see. I'd like to go to Greenwich, Camden Town and Borough Market. I'd like to discover new places in London! Neil, which is your favorite place in London? Is there any well-kept secret away from the hordes like Pedregalejo is in Malaga? And the rest of you, have you ever been to London? Wich is your favorite place or where would you like to go? Have a nice day!

In my last blog entry when I said native home museum what I meant was that there is a museum in the same house where Pablo Picasso was born. They tried to show us the house like it was when he lived there. Sorry, I thought it was the right word!

Last saturday I went with my family to a restaurant by the beach to say goodbye to the sun, the nice weather and the Spanish food. I took pictures of everything that we ordered.

Sardines. I'll explain later how they cook them.

Paella. (I prefer my mum's paella!)

Clams cooked with garlic, parsley, olive oil and water.

Fried little squids. (One of my favorite!)

Fried Anchovies.

Fried aubergines. We eat them with sugar-cane syrup.

If you go to Malaga and walk along t of these promenade seaside restaurants don't worry if you see a man cooking sardines in a boat full of sand. It's very common! I asked the man who was cooking them how they do it and he told me that they put the sardines on a cane, being careful of putting the bones of all the sardines on the cane (not some of them under and some of them on). Then they put the canes in the sand near the fire.

As I told you before, I love my mum's paella. She cooks it almost every sunday and all my siblings come to my house to have it too. Some of the ingredients are prawns, chicken, rabbit, peas, peppers (red and green)... Here is a picture of my mum's paella.

I'm in the UK at the moment! I arrived at East Midlands Airport last Monday evening. My plane was full of tanned British, I think I was the only Spaniard on board!
As I told you on my first entry, I'm working as au pair until the 17th of August. It is the third time that I work for this family, so we already know each other. Although it's cloudy and cold I'm happy to be here, I really love this country and its people!
See you soon!

Hello Neil and nice to meet you! Thank you for helping me to improve my English. I’m looking forward to going to Brighton. I’ve seen it many times in pictures and on TV and it looks very nice. I’ve heard that it’s similar to London but with sea.

Picasso was born in the first floor of a building located in a well known square in Málaga, Plaza de la Merced. Here you can see this beautiful building.

Many people thought he was Catalan, as he left Málaga to live in Barcelona at the age of ten. You can see the influence of his birth town in some of his paintings, like “The Yellow Picador”, “The little Picador”, “Doves” or “Bullfighting”, most of them related with bullfighting, as he used to go very often to “La Malagueta” bullring with his uncle and his father.

 

As I said, we are very proud of him and we are trying to show to the world that Málaga is not just sun and beach, it’s also art. There’s a very interesting Picasso museum, a native home museum, a Picasso walking tour...

Another famous person from Málaga is the actor Antonio Banderas. We are very proud of him as he is one of the Spanish actors who have success in Hollywood. He’s very proud of his birthplace too. He comes to Málaga with his family very often and you can see him under his sunglasses and a cap. He comes every Holy Week and he takes part in the processions. He is the officer of a Catholic religious brotherhood and on Holy Thursday night he is a Man of the Throne with his peers at the Submarine of Holy Mary of Hope (Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza). It’s a bit difficult to explain what it is, so you better watch this video. He’s one of those men who carry this very heavy throne:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dNVEkkWJZE

He does a lot for his town like a charity for helping financially students from Málaga to study abroad, he has invested in Andalusian products, he has shot some films here and he is a supporter of the football team Málaga C.F. Have a nice day!

I have been working as au pair in the UK the last two summers and at the end of this month I'll go back to work with the same family. So I'll share the experience with all of you!

In this month I'd like to show you a bit of my city and my culture and of course while I'll be in the UK I'll show you where I live and some of the things that I find peculiar or interesting about the British culture.

Málaga it's a very interesting city for foreign people as it's warm and sunny the most of the year, and you can go to the beach. Many retired English and German people live here and during the academic year there are lots of foreign students. So it's easy to find someone to practice languages with.

Yesterday I did the last exam of the month, so now I'm on holidays until September! And today I went with some friends to my favorite place in Málaga: Pedregalejo. It's a promenade seafront where there are restaurants, pubs... and we had lunch there. It's a really nice atmosphere because you are having a delicious meal while you can see the beach and a nice view of Málaga. Every time I leave my city I spend my last hours here, and when I'm abroad this is what I miss.

In Pedregalejos there's a historical building called "Los baños del Carmen" where there's a terrace bar. It was built in 1918 as private beach, and until then there was no beach where men and women could be together. In 1920 a pier and a cinema were built, and years after they built the restaurant, a tennis court, a football pitch and a dance floor. But most of those things have disappeared. The building is damaged but everybody loves being there. There are many cultural events there, like a short film contest (all of them have to be recorded in this place) or a market every first Sunday of the month.

Yes, what you see in the sea is a bride being shot by the photographer who is in the sand (the man in black).
These are the views from "Los baños del Carmen":

These are the views from the promenade seafront.

Which are your plans for holidays? Do you stay in your hometown or do you go somewhere else?
Hope you liked it!