Monday, February 1, 2010

Star-Spangled Banner

So I was walking through the mountains with my counterpart, Roberto, today. He asked me if I had learned the Guatemalan national anthem yet, which I hadn't. He began to teach me, which didn't take well. Then he asked me to sing the States anthem. I started in on The Star-Spangled Banner, and halfway through, he interrupted me and kindly requested a translation. I obliged. The translation went a little something like this: "Hey, can you see the time of the morning when the sun first rises, it's very early in the morning. What we happily, like if you had a son and he just scored a goal in a soccer game, showed at the stars final light. It had grand stripes and bright stars in the hard fight and we watched something like a river without water going through the sky. And the missles red light, also there were explosions in the air that gave evidence in the night that our flag was still there. Still is the star-spangled banner waving for the land of the free and the house of the brave!" He wants me to translate it again next year when my Spanish is better... I agreed, I can't do Francis Scott Key like that... unacceptable. Good news though, in two weeks I'll be recieving more top notch Spanish classes, courtesy or the Peace Corps, when I head back to Santa Lucia for Reconnect! Already Feburary, boy how the time flies...

3 comments:

  1. Funny;-). I'm sure Roberto is a little confused, but I bet he got a kick out of watching you try to explain.

    Our Internet has been out about a week...because of rain. Dad said he'll write something as soon as we get it working again.

    Love ya and think of you continually!
    Mom

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  2. hey Barrett--I think you are for sure a much better spanish speaking person than I would ever be! You did a good job of explaining the Star Spangled Banner! Do you get to come home in March for a break? Or do you wait until the summer? Cold here and was out of electricity for 3 dAYS!!! No fun without electricity or water--but I guess you already know that! Love you, Aunt Sueann

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  3. Can you perform your spanish rendition of the star spangled banner at reconnect? See you in a few days!

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