Readers, we need to have a serious talk.
Things just aren’t, gosh how do I say this, sitting well with me.
Here I am, with a million things to say and no ears (or computer screens) to preach to.
Remember when I had that little blogger blog? With its boring template and crap spellcheck? Well, apparently people were reading that one since I had over 50 followers. This blog, with its own domain name and way cooler, um, everything, has just 11 (OMG THANKS). Seriously where are you guys?
Maybe I’m wrong as to think that just 11 of your read my blog, but I’m getting desperate. I want my own version of a Facebook news feed to show up in your mailbox once or twice a week. I want you to sit next to a good friend of mine on the ORD-MAD route and casually mention you know me (this is a true story courtesy of the Doles). I want you to know what it’s like to be me.
So I’m going to bribe you. After all, it works with my babies (along the lines of, “Be quiet for three minutes and color and I’ll give you each a piece of candy”). I’m holding a subscription drive. See that little banana-yellow box up there? It says EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION. You put your email in there, and then you write me in the comments. On October 18th, I will pick one winner to receive a gift basket of tapas favorites from Latienda.com, a Spanish food import company if you’re USA or Canada-bound. If you’re here in Spain, I will send you a Christmas lote of about the same price from El Corte Inglés. And if you’re elsewhere, lucky you. I will send you some goodies from Sevilla (maybe even the Duquesa de Alba).
Let’s recap:
Sign up with your email.
Write me in the comments (as WordPress sometimes tells me he “thinks” he knows where someone is from and is often wrong) to tell me you’re in the Cool Kids Club and tell me one thing you’d like to see featured on Sunshine and Siestas. Want to learn more about obnoxious Spanish grammar? Or see more pictures of my pretty face? Or should I not talk about babies at all since they’re germy? I want to know!
Do it before October 18th. Do it now or forever not get your tapas and polverones.
Is it possible that I can get a replacement $350 Dolce and Gabana Watch? Because…I feel like Spain owes me that. And to me, you are E-Spain.
Dying. Only because you had no idea. I will ask Spain if she can lend me the money…are you even subscribed!? I think you are!
I totally think Spain has a lot of extra money right now. I read about that in the news a lot.
Nice work moving on to your own domain! Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us! I’d be keen to see weekly glimpses into the Spanish tapas scene. Make my mouth water with some culinary delights…
You don´t know me. And I (technically) don´t know you. But I read your blog all the time. I also am an American living in Spain, teaching English and just got married to a Vasco so I can relate to your stories!
Your name sounds familiar – you’re Katie’s friend, right? Are you still living up in País Vasco? I have been dying to go back there and see some of the other small villages. Please let me know if you’re ever in Er Sur, and thanks for subscribing!
Yeah…I am Katies friend! Still living in Irun and working on setting up my own English academy. Want a job here? jajaja Let me know if you are ever up this way and I will show you around. And I will do the same if I am ever in your neighborhood!
i was already following on google reader but i’m a classic lurker. time to come out of the woodwork! i’m a fellow american living in spain – still toying with the idea of starting my own blog but never manage to get around to it. yours will have to suffice for now more stupid spanish grammar, please!
Love lurkers. I do quite a bit of it myself! Thanks for reading, Joy! And blog!
I’m subscribed through my blogspot blog but is it better if I subscribe via email? Either way, I’m here, from Jakarta, reading along.
Food, since I’m dying on the other side of the world without my jamón (plus patatas bravas, polbo á feira, Estrella Galicia, good queso, filetes from La Bombilla… just to name a few things off my head). Ahhh PR is cool, but I’m still homesick for España.
Oh, you did NOT just mention La Bombilla! Kike may have to head to Galicia for a training course, and I am DYING for them to send him so I can show him around LCA! Hope all is well…and get back to blogging!
Yeah, hi. I think we have met once or twice. I’m an 85 year old Ayamontino man with 4 teeth. I love your blog and read it religiously- when I’m not out riding my donkey on an old man bar crawl, of course. Surprisingly, I would love to see more nerdy information about some super awesome Spanish grammar. Maybe some work on /s/ elision in the Andalusian accent? The sociolinguistic pressures of dropping the stigmatized ceceo in exchange for the regional seseo of Sevilla? Some focus on the prototypical syntactic structure of some oraciones exclamativas? HOMBROOOO!
I corazón ju.
Oh, I forgot to request what I would like my present to be if I am chosen. I would like to go with the Duquesa de Alba package, please.
Once she gets married Wednesday, she’s all yours, mi arma!
I’ve been following your blog, I just have my blogroll bookmarked on my computer. I’m generally interested in reading anything about Spain… but most definitely food (and recipes), and any Spanish phrases, words, etc.
Thanks, Lindsay! Looking forward to reading yours, too. But about the recipes…my boyfriend calls me a Blue-Eyed Homer Simpson…so we’ll see! I do consume quite a bit, though!
Hey, yo. I’m all signed up but I don’t need a lote or anything. Just a visit! And my vote is for more posts on Spanish. I love learning
I subscribed. For some reason, your new blog wasn’t going to my Google Reader. WTF, Google Reader?
I had to abandon that one…Too much work at school and that stupid DELE exam.
I lost you in the move. I suggest you post a reminder on your old blog for people who are still following it like I was. Now I’ve changed the google reader subscription but also subscribed by email cause I want to win free food. But Kaley from Y Mucho Más probably deserves it for pointing me here.
Hi, thanks for the update! I kind of did everything one afternoon pretty bored in America and didn’t realize that I’d lost so many, as I never bothered to check stats before. I’ll see if I can’t draw some more attention on the old domain.
More food posts! And DELE posts!
That is, if I study for the DELE!! I am so bad.
You don´t know me either, but I suppose that´s the good thing about internet anominitiy. I know you from Tracy who was in Málaga a few years ago. I´m one of the few who extended the 2 year beca for a lifetime of Costa del Sol and siestas. Would love to hear more personal thoughts about “doing real life” (aka, marriage, babies, aging parents, suegros vs. padres, etc.) here sin la familia americana.
Here’s my thought about babies: YIKESSSSSS! although my suegra is trying to get her neighbors to sell their apartment next door to us at a discount price for me, the Nov and all our little Spanish niños. Thanks for subscribing, lady! And what’s new in Málaga?
PS. The DELE isn´t as scary as it seems. Tackled that sucker in ´09 with flying colors. However, anything above a C1 was NOT recommended by the testing proctors for guiris since even Spainairds suspenderlo… suerte!
Thanks, lady. I think I’m psyching myself out since I’ve got C2 books and I’ve heard the books are harder than the actual exam. Ya te cuento!
Here’s to writing something entertaining. As many of us aspire to do the same, actually putting it to action takes so much more “cojones”. I think you should blog about the overall stereotype of young american women traveling to Spain and it’s impact on Spaniards and those american travelers alike…. just a thought!
Take care, and think of me when you raffle off the Spanish goodies, I have been in Iowa one month and I would already kill someone for some jamon serrano…
Hola! I’ve been following/creeping on your blog since I was an auxiliar in Castilla y Leon back in 09 and since I’ve moved back to Chicago I’ve been living vicariously through you and your writing. Love it, love photos of all things Spanish and would love if you wrote more about the DELE (I’m contemplating tackling that monster next year).
A girl after my own heart, with CyL and Chicago connections! Funny story:I started writing about the DELE yesterday and realized that I was much better at not studying!! Thanks for reading!
I’ve been reading, but I’ll subscribe via email as well!
As for something I’d like to see on here: lots of suggestions of awesome places to visit in Sevilla beyond the ones every tourist guide ever gives you.
I barely got to talk to you the other night!! I will grab my tour guide flag and parade my guiris all around Sevilla if that’s what it takes! I just finished updating a guide book, so you can trust I’ve discovered some new places, as well. Thanks for reading!
I know, we’ll have to meet up again soon! I can’t wait to feel like a group of German 70-somethings in this guiri tour group.
Sure, I’m a new reader, but I dig edible loot as much as any other fan! Checking out your posts over the past couple months, I’d really love more quirky little bits of Spanish culture, especially if they’re Sevilla-specific; for me it’s really interesting to compare your experience with the best of Spanish silliness to my own in Madrid.
Not a huge fan of polvorones but I’m sure they could be a gift …. Love all your wisdom and anecdotes. I am always looking for ideas for the classroom sine I’m still able to call myself an auxiliar!
Hey Allison! I really should put all of these years as an ESL “professional” to use, shouldn’t I? Thanks for the advice, and have a great school year!
Just signed up. Maybe I’ll pass your link on to my high school kids in my Spanish class…. give a little “here’s a reason to learn Spanish” zumo to them… I’d like to see more about legalities and paperwork for someone who has lived there for a while and wants to stay for good… especially if her novio doesn’t live in andalucía and the pareja de hecho wouldn’t work for her unless she moved to extremadura 😉 just kidding, that’s a whole other blog!
I took the DELE so if you wanna know anything, let me know. I also know a DELE course teacher I could possibly hook you up with…
And btw, coming from a girl who has been banished to the USA (at least until Nov. 1, 2011)…. I could really use a gift basket 😉 Besitos!
Since I’m not in Spain and still want to be, I’d love to hear and see all sorts of photos, from your daily routine, or when you go somewhere for a puente. I want to join the people living vicariously through you! Plus, the south of Spain is a place I didn’t get to visit much, and id love to start mapping out the places I’ll go when I am allowed back (banned for 2 years, growl.)
TWO YEARS?! Did they tell you that at customs when you went back? Madre mía Kelly! Well, we will just have to fiz that once I’m back in Chicago de la Frontera, huh?
As for posts on everyday life por los Andaluces, certainly read back, too! I’ve been keeping up with this blog since 2007, so you’ve got some reading to do! Thanks for subscribing, lady!
They were more focused on making sure I made my flight and getting me out of the country as fast as possible. They mentioned I would get a fine for 500 euros and face a POSSIBLE ban from Switzerland, but not all the Schengen space. Sigh sigh sigh, oh well, I knew it was a possibility. Now I have to wait for the fine to come in the mail, bleh. I guess its a lot of time to plan my trip back? Trying to gain some optimism over this, it’s not easy though!
I have been reading back in your blog and love all the photos and tidbits of things I have never seen or heard of. Keep it up lady, some days I just need a huge Spanish fix ya know?
Hmmmmm, what do I want from you? Advice of any kind. Most of the articles I found the most interesting I would have never thought to write, do or see. So guide me dear one, as you already have been doing
If you were a small child, I would be squeezing your cheeks right now, A!!
I didn’t realize you’d moved to a different site–am subscribed now!! I definitely need a dose of Spain now that I am back in France. I am having a lot of trouble because I didn’t realize how much I would miss my querida España. Try not to brag about all of the wonderful Spanish food you are eating too much!!
Just came to Seville to work as an auxiliar. I´d like to see more posts on colloquial Spanish expressions. Especially, on colloquial Andalusian expressions. That´s what´s been giving me the most trouble since I got here. Should I win the lote, I´d like one of those Corte Ingles baskets, preposterously large, delivered to my front door by a moaning, cursing delivery man.
I got a lote last year and had him curse to me over the phone that I was making him come to my house when I was out of the country, so the groaning could most certainly be arranged at no additional fee, I’m sure! Thanks for subscribing, and hope you’re having a gret start to your year!
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