Hey!How about get to know each other by telling few things about ourselves and who we are in our real lives?Want me to start first???

I'll go. I'm Scott, I'm a 28 yr old Superintendent for Whiting Turner Contracting Company in Las Vegas, NV. I'm 6'5", 255 lbs. My mother is Caucasian and my father is Mexican. I only learned Spanish after having spent two yrs in the Canary Islands as a missionary for my church. A year and a half after returning from the islands, I went back and proposed to the woman who is now my wife. We have a daughter who will turn three in November. In my freetime, I spend time with my family, read, snowboard, and I'm a huge USC football fan. I just moved here to the Las Vegas Valley a few months ago from Southern California. Mencey is a Guanche name, which means KING. Guanches were the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands before Spain "discovered" them and destroyed the population. That's me.

Well...I'm Valia,i'm 19 greek girl,currently living in Athens and studying arcitecture."Zoi" is a greek word meaning "life",i chose it as a nickname because my friends say i've got much life inside me.Concerning interests,i play soccer in a women's team (2,right defender)and also do swimming 3 times a week.I like music,i used to play the piano and a greek musical instrument,lyra,but now i only listen because of luck of time.I listen to almost anykind but prefer classic rock and ethnic music.I'm huge fan of Joe Satriani.In my spare time i read books,psychology,philosophy or more easygoing,mystery,art.I watch movies very often on dvd,i like cooking,travelling,dancing.Never been to Spain but started learning spanish for my upcoming Erasmus...Next please

Hola Zoi,

You may also be interested in this MadridMan thread called: NICKNAMES It was started by Anchovy Front back in 2002!

Ciao,
Carmen

ok this is off subject, kinda a strange question and i apoligize MM. But I cant resist, cuz im curious. Booklady, i noticed the 'ciao' in your message. I spent the summer in costa rica working with kids at an orphanage and they constantly used ciao, but they wrote it, "chao", a different spelling. I realize that ciao is the italian spelling, is the chao just the adapted version of costa rica? all of latin america?
just curious!

Kelly
(and as for me, im a 21 year old US college student, studying bilingual (spanish-english) speech language pathology. Play the guitar, love to dance (especially flamenco and bachata), love languages, was bitten by the travel bug in a major way while studying abroad in spain and havent looked back since )

Good question. I cannot give you a definitive answer, but unless they knew the correct spelling the phonetic spelling would be "chao." The Italian "Ci" sound is equivalent to the Spanish "Ch" sound. But, I may be reaching.

SLK
Straight Left Knee. Because I do muay thai boxing.

Female, UK. Likes travel, music, film, theatre, books. I like to sing and enjoy martial arts and boxing. I first started to learn a little spanish because I was going to see Marco Antonio Barrera fight and knew there would be a ton of Mexicans around - it's just polite to be able to tell someone you're a fan in their language.

Martín de Madrid is the name given to me by the gypsy flamenco guitarist, Curro de Jeréz when I was painting his portrait for an album cover. I am a 51 yo artist, who made the decision four years ago that I just had to live in Spain. I used to be a semi-professional flamenco guitarist (terribly horrible, I am afraid), worked 14 years in Information Services as a programmer and systems analyst before a car accident made doing that impossible. Now I paint the most beautiful women in the world as a pinup artist. My checkered career includes a stint training to be a Tibetan Buddhist monk, and, as a Navy Hospital Corpsman/USMC Company Aid Man, I also tried out for the SEAL team, but was disabled in the process. In New Mexico I served as an EMT Instructor-Coordinator and IV Tech on local volunteer ambulance and fire departments. I hold black belts (or its equivalent) in Kaju-Kempo Karate and Northern Black Crane Gung Fu, and used to teach self defense to women. In my youth I was sent by my teacher to start the Minneapolis Ananda Marga Yoga Society jagiirti (yoga center) and taught hatha yoga and helped develop grass-root social service programs. Trained as a classical realist figure painter in Laguna Beach, Cal., and before that a landscape painter in Santa Fe, NM., I now live with my wife, Giovanna, from Ecuador, about a half hour north of Madrid. Occasionally her two children, who live in Quito, Solé, 25, and Andrés, 18, visit us. My "real name" is Martin Shellabarger (my father's family was orginally from Switzerland).

Kelly,

"Chao" is (more or less) the same pronounciation the word "Ciao" has in Italian.

It comes after it, although we use it for "goodbye" , not for "hello" (italians use it both sense).

I have seen it written "Chao" in south american spanish, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it written that way in spaniards spanish.

I fact, I just looked it up in the RAE (they are no longer a filter, they admit everything) and:

chao.
(Del it. ciao).
1. interj. coloq. adiós (ǁ para despedirse).
2. interj. coloq. hasta ahora

About the topic: I don't like giving too many personal data, but I'll give this:

Ignacio is part of my first name. My degree says that I am an economist and, however, having studied the speciality of Bussiness economy, with majors on accountancy, I am more an accountant or a BA degree than an economist. I am master in finance.

I love latin dances (including bachata, Kelly ), strategy games (computer and board), among many other interests.

I used to practice soccer, basketball, kyokushinkai (mixed karate), rugby (some) and a little of any sport. Now, only ocasionally but for gym.