GRA 345.1 - Blog #8

Whenever my roommate and I finish dinner with our Señora and host sister, who is 28 years old and also speaks English, we talk about our days and whatever other topics come up in conversation. Last night, we shared YouTube videos with each other. YouTube is a huge sensation and a very effective way of reaching people all around the world. A lot of people post videos and become famous (such as pop singer Justin Beiber) or people who post videos to share with family (Charlie Bit My Finger). I asked her abouta video one of the teachers I teach with told me about – La he liao parda. I did not understand a lick of it until my hostsister explained it phrase by phrase. THEN Ithought it was hilarious! My roommate and I then showed our host family videos suchas Charlie Bit My Finger, Scarlet Takes a Tumble and Old Man Gets Hit By Bike.

La he liao parda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICQrvG6jfOA

Charlie Bit My Finger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

Scarlet Takes a Tumble: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIwTYL1fwJk

Old Man Gets Hit By Bike: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghs3Cr2gWTQ

I think it’s awesome how it does not matter what language YouTube videos are in because people can understand enough/get a general idea through the occurring actions. It is still the same thing that makes people laugh such as in Video 1, the manner in which people speak and their facial expressions. Video 2, little kid gets hurt and then laughs again. Video 3, someone falling and getting hurt. Video 4, another person getting hurt.

Some things are universal – like a smile or a laugh. No matter where people are in theworld, we all experience the same emotions. I have seen here that people in Spain behave more or less the same as people in the United States. At Colegio Pintor Rosales, where I teach, the kids ages three to twelve are no different from any in the United States, except for the language they speak and maybe sports they play. They still cry, scream, hit each other, laugh, jump, run, have too much energy, rebellious and are loud and are learning. We may have different laws, rules and fashion, but we still all deal with happiness, sadness, anger, pain, grief, love, etc. We even have economic crises in common!