Hey María José,
How are you? I hope you are doing well. Well the assignment are teacher has assigned us to write to you about is about the city I live in. Well I live in San Mateo and I love San Mateo. San Mateo is a quiet and calm city. San Mateo is not big but it is not small either. It is about 15 minutes fronm San Francisco. I think you would enjoy San Mateo because it’s a city that is beautiful and relaxing. There are many places that i’m sure you would like. Well what do ou think about the your hometown? Do you think I would like it? I hope to hear from you soon and write back as soon as possible. BYE.

I’m not really sure what to consider my hometown since I’ve moved around a lot. I guess I’ll have to say it’s San Francisco since I was born there and lived there for the longest. San Francisco is really busy, it’s the city. There are huge buildings in one part which is called downtown where theres smelly streets, great shopping, and lots of people, I love it! Then there’s other parts with houses and little shops like in Noe Valley. I love it there too! I love the city overall everything about it. You’d probably enjoy it because it’s such a diverse city. There are so many different unique people who live in the city and it’s great being one of them. There’s also always something to do in the city so you’ll never get bored. You can go shopping which is my favorite, eat at great restaurants, take tours around the city, go to the movies, or just walk around the city. It’s neverending possibilities in the city.

Hello again!

As I have told you before, I live in San Mateo, California. It is a moderately small, suburban city. We have a great mall here. At the moment, a Coach store will be coming soon. You can do many things, such as go to the movies theatre, shop around in the clothing stores in downtown San Mateo, go bowling, go ice skating, or just try some of the great foods in the various restaurants we have. We have a park, called Central Park, here, which has a very peaceful Japanese Tea Garden (which is full of different plants, koi fish, and a pond) and a beautiful rose garden. I really like it here, since the weather is usually very moderate. A great temperature change for us would be 5 degrees Fahrenheit! I must admit the weather currently has a been a little strange (it rains and turns sunny on and off again), but usually, the weather is good. Then, if you want to go to a bigger city, San Francisco is a small drive away. You can visit Chinatown and buy great Chinese food and small fans, necklaces, purses, and much more from the shops. You could also shop at the large Macy’s; they have one floor dedicated entirely to women’s shoes!

I have grown up in this area for all of my life, and I’ve had a lot of fun here.

Hi ! I’m carmen, please to meet you. i’ll write you soon.

I do not have many hobbies when I am not at school, which is not often. Because my biotechnology classes sap up a lot of a lot of my energy and time, I spend a lot of time either sleeping or making up the homework time I lost because of that evil class.

However, when I do not take biotech, eat, or sleep, I like to swim and exersize. I tend to like watersports more than I like landbased sports, but I also like soccer also because of the emphasis on the legs, rather than the arms.

One final thing I love to do is watch TV and watch movies. My favorite TV show is 24; it is about this man who works in the US secret service, and has to combat different things. What makes the show so good is that there are many plot twists that occur that leave you at the edge of your seat. I also enjoy Battlestar Galactica (the new version, not the old one) because unlike the other Science Fiction television shows that air on TV, this show is realisitic in that the drama that ensues is very real to our world, yet the setting is very different and surreal in its presentation.

If you ahve any other questions for me, please don’t hesitate to ask!

-Jason

Good evening! Or, good morning? I don’t know what time it is in Spain right now, but I hope that things are going well.

Today I will talk about my hobbies. We have many of the same interests! I also like computers a lot, and I like to read and listen to music. My favorite books are in the magical realism style (¡el realismo mágico!), and some of my favorite authors are Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakami. They are both Japanese writers in this style. I also like listening to all kinds of music, except for rap and hip hop. I don’t really consider these to be music. I also love to watch movies. Do you like watching movies?

When I have time, I also enjoy walking in the mountains! A better word in English is the verb “to hike”. Hiking is a good way to exercise and also enjoy the scenery and beauty of nature. Many people miss this completely in life, and it’s good to be a part of the world around you. I don’t like running at all, but I do like swimming. The water is always nice, and it works out different muscles than running.

Well, I hope you haven’t become bored reading about all of my hobbies! Next time I write I will try posting a picture.

Talk to you soon!

Hi, Irene!

I enjoyed reading your blogs on the aragonapspanish website and this one. I truly think it’s great that you’re so actively involved in kids’ lives; I mean, while being a teacher is a huge job in itself, the fact that you teach these children while entrusting them with loud, noise-making instruments shows a lot of patience and tolerance on your part (admittedly, I wasn’t such a good flute student when I started out with my elementary school music teacher). I admire that. Also, I appreciate the pictures you have sent a few times to this website. One of these days I’ll have to send you a picture- of what, I have no idea at the moment. Haha

Anyway, with you being a music teacher and a member of a large and supportive family, I hope I’m not assuming too much by saying that you seem to be interested in music and in interacting with kids. (I would love to hear more about your nephew, Ruben, by the way.) And it’s in this case that I think we are similar. I have been playing the flute for about eight years and piano for about nine years, and though I never used to enjoy playing either all that much (I would often participate in music competitions for the flute and piano, and would subsequently become really stressed out during practices) after stopping private lessons earlier this year, only now do I truly appreciate the creativity and beauty that music brings. In addition, one of my biggest and most long-term hobbies has been interviewing and communicating with people (an odd hobby, I know). According to my mom, when I was four years-old I used to carry around this little cassette tape player with the microphone in one hand and the machine in the other. Apparently thinking that I was a reporter, I used to randomly approach people, asking them various questions and letting them speak into the microphone; lucky for both my “interviewees” and myself, I never recorded any of their responses. Nowadays the only interviews I make are for the school newspaper, The Aristocrat, which I am an editor of.

Still, being a teenage girl, it’s not surprising that my other hobbies include going shopping, spending time with friends, and watching movies- I particularly love romantic movies or romantic comedies (much to the dismay of some of my guy friends, who often dub these movies as “chick flicks”). Have you ever watched The Notebook or A Walk to Remember? They may be among the biggest “chick flicks” of all time (which one particular guy friend may attest to), but gosh they’re good!

So much to say, so little time! I look forward to hearing back from you! Take care, Irene.

-Ashleigh

Hi José! How is it going? Because of my busy schedule, I rarely have free time. When I do have free time, there are several things I like to do. During the weekends, I like to hang out with my friends. Sometimes we would go watch a movie or just do things together. When my friends are busy, I like to play on my guitar. I just started learning how to play the guitar this year so I am not too good yet. When I have free time, I would look on the web for songs I can learn to play on my guitar. Even though I am not too good with the guitar, I still enjoy playing it when I have nothing to do. When I am done with the school year, I will have a lot of free time over the summer. I hope to spend this time practicing playing the guitar and hopefully getting better at it. Another one of my hobbies is building little projects. I like making little toys and figures out of wood and other things. When I am bored and I don’t feel like doing anything in particular, I usually just watch TV. My favorite TV show is The Simpsons. I like The Simpsons because the characters always do funny things. Do you like The Simpsons? What do you do during your spare time?

Hello Pilar again!

I live in sunny California in the city of San Mateo, which is about 20 minutes away from San Francisco. While most people may think that San Mateo is boring and uneventful, I really enjoy living here. Right now the weather has been kind of funky and it’s been raining a lot, but during the summers the days are always nice. There isn’t always much to do here but go downtown or hang out with friends, but I happen to think if you’re with friends there’s never a dull moment. San Mateo is near a lot of other attractions like the city (SF) or San Jose, etc. so if you get bored, you can just hop on a train or drive in your car to the next city. A lot of times my friends and I go to the city and shop or eat, or we just hang out at each others’ houses. I love living here in California because we live near the coast and beaches. I couldn’t imagine living in a rural state with nothing but hills and plains, and no oceans surrounding me. In a couple of months I’ll be moving to wherever I choose to go to college, and I’m thinking of going down to Southern California where it will be even sunnier. How about you? How’s your hometown? Well talk with you later!

–Chanda

Hi Pilar! How are you? Today I’m going to tell you about some of my hobbies. For the most part, I’ve ending up spending a majority of my time with cheerleading and music. I love cheerleading a lot because dancing and performing at school is a very exciting activity. During the season, I practiced everyday after school, and sometimes I would have weekend practices for important performances. One of the best things about being on the cheerleading team is watching the football and basketball games. Our school isn’t that spirited but on big game days when the crowd gets big and into the games, it’s one of the best experiences ever. I only get nervous during games or rallies that are very important to me such as homecoming or halloween rallies. Being able to cheer at different schools is also a great part of being on the team. I really love my squad and it’s great when you work with a team who never fights. I also enjoy music a lot. I can never get tired of listening to music and I think I’d go crazy if I missed one day without listening to music. I take choir at school and in my spare time me and my friends enjoy going out to karaoke. Finally, as I’ve said before, shopping is my favorite thing to do ever.