Doing a job or internship in Spain is a great way to practice your Spanish in a real Spanish-speaking environment. Your CV (curriculum) and cover letter (carta de presentación) are key to helping you get the job that you want, so here are a few tips on how to put them together and some vocabulary that you might find useful:

Datos personales

The first section of your CV should be 'Datos Personales' (Personal Information). It’s best to include:

• Nombre: Name
• Dirección: Address
• Teléfono: Telephone
• E-mail: Email address
• Fecha y lugar de nacimiento: Date and place of birth
• Nacionalidad: Nationality

You could also include whether you have a 'carnet de conducir' (driver’s licence) and your estado civil (marital status).

It is also common in Spain to include a professional looking passport photo on your CV.

Formación académica

The next section is 'Formación académica' (Education). Write the qualification you received, the institution, the city and country, as well as the dates when you were studying there.

Afterwards you can also add a section on 'Formación complementaria' (Complementary training) for other qualifications you may have, although don’t include computer skills or languages as these will come later.

Experiencia profesional

Next is 'Experiencia profesional' (Work Experience). List the dates, the job you did, the company and the location.

In the 'Informática' (IT skills) section state what you can use and how competent you are.

Similarly, under the heading 'Idiomas' (Languages) you can state each language that you know and your level, i.e. básico (basic), intermedio (intermediate) or avanzado (advanced). You can learn more about Spanish language levels here. It’s also worth putting your 'lengua materna' (mother tongue).

Datos de interés

The final section is 'Otros datos de interés' (Additional Information), where you can put down anything you think is interesting to the employer but doesn’t fit into any other category. Don’t write too much though, as the whole CV should ideally fit onto one A4 page.

Write a cover letter

An important accompaniment to the CV is the cover letter (carta de presentación).

Start your letter with 'Estimados Señores', remembering to put the date and your address at the top of the letter. There are also other options for starting a letter, depending on how formal you want to be.

You should start by stating exactly which post you are applying for and how you found out about it in the first paragraph.

Next move on to explaining why you would like to work for the company or organisation and what assets and skills you think you have that would make you good at the job. Express interest in having an interview or further contact with the employer and state your availability for work.

There are various ways to end a letter in Spanish, but a good one to use is 'Les saluda atentamente', on a separate line, then sign and print your name underneath.

For more ideas for your cover letter and some great business vocab on how to sell yourself, take a look at our Spanish courses designed for professionals.

¡Buena suerte!

You may be asking, "What is saffron?"

Saffron is an important spice used in Mediterranean cuisine. It comes from a certain species of flower which bears just three stigmas which are dried and used to season and color food. Think about Spanish paella and its rich beautiful yellow color, you may already be guessing, yes SAFFRON plays an important role in this world famous Spanish dish. Saffron is also the most expensive spice in the world by weight, it is native to Southwest Asia, but is an important product of the La Mancha region in Spain.

The saffron produced in La Mancha is high quality, sold by the thread, and fetches up to 3,000 euros per kilo. It is a beautiful red-gold and produces a rich color when used in cooking. It takes 250,000 saffron flower blooms to make just one kilo of this fragrant spice from the flowers' stigmas which are tiny filaments that collect pollen for the plant.

So what is the catch? Spain is a world famous exporter of saffron, but the numbers just aren't matching up. In 2010, Spain exported 190,000 kilos of saffron, yet according to local data, only 1,500 kilos were harvested in Spain. However, only 0.8% of the "Spanish" saffron harvest sold last year was actually grown in La Mancha.

It looks like there is some labeling problems going on.

It kind of reminds me of the time I searched the supermarket in Seattle in quest of a decent variety of non-peeled seafood (an impossible task I discovered) and scanning the spices for saffron to make my sister paella. I bought the overpriced saffron and bad selection of seafood and embarked on my feat to introduce my family to Spanish cuisine. I remember when I threw in the saffron, I was amazed by the fact that the beautiful yellow color that the saffron should emit just didn't come out. I put in more and more and more saffron, but never quite got that yellow color... Needless to say, my Seattle Paella had nothing to do with my Salamanca Paella :)

According to the farmers union ASAJA, over 90% of the exports are fraudulent. At least according to other countries' exporting standards. The industry is very profitable, earning over 47 million euros last year. However, it is a very expensive crop to grow, which is probably why some of the abnormal tactics have been implemented.

So if Spain doesn't produce all the saffron it exports, where does all this "Made in Spain" saffron come from? It seems the variation in numbers has to do with a loophole in Spanish laws, which does not make it illegal for companies to buy saffron from other countries such as Iran, Morocco and Greece and package it as a Spanish product. It is quite misleading, especially since Spanish saffron is known to be of very high quality.

Iranian saffron is a profitable option for Spanish exporters, their saffron crop is nearly half the price. However, the intensive methods used there to mass produce the product undermine the quality of the saffron. Some Iranian companies have also jumped on board to take advantage of these lax labeling laws by opening up in Spain and labeling their product as "made in Spain".

According to the Industry Ministry, a new regulation is being considered that would require producers to indicate where the saffron was grown. This would be a big improvement in current regulations, bringing Spain up to date with the International Organization of Standardization guidelines. This would, in fact, protect consumers from paying inflated costs to purchase the prestigious Spanish saffron, but it would definitely hurt the exporters whose production cannot satisfy demand.

The imports from other countries are not the only cause of the export vs. local harvest discrepencies. The Independent, a British newspaper, reported recently that 40%-90% of exported Spanish saffron was made up of other parts of the plant, not the sought after stigma. One sample found cardamom sold as saffron, which is actually a different spice.

So how to tell if you have been duped? The first thing you should do is smell your saffron. Does it smell nice or unpleasant? That is your first clue, real saffron should smell pleasant and it should take awhile to dye your food an intense yellow. Another good indicator is, of course, if your saffron bears the official "La Mancha" label.

Fraud has been going on for quite awhile. Although the director of La Mancha Farming and Livestock council acknowledges that fraud is committed, but not in La Mancha. Valencia and Murcia are likely culprits, since they do not actually grow saffron but do export it.

The ASAJA proposes tariffs to try to deter this deceiving tactic which is affecting their reputation. José María Fresneda (ASAJA) assures that their priority is to protect the farmers who do grow high quality saffron, a key ingredient in making paella "to die for".

Around 90% of Peru's tourists visit Machu Picchu, an emblem of Incan culture, but only 10% make it to the pyramids and tombs Pre-Incan Moche and Lima culture.

In the language of Quechua, an ancient language of South America, "huaca" refers to a revered object and typically is used to describe a special monument. Many have been associated with monuments of rituals or a place to be honored such as a mountain pass, mountain top, or a natural spring. The word is also used to describe the burial places and therefore the location of mummies.

The pre-Incan Moche pyramids that dot the northern coast of Peru are every bit as important and amazing as Machu Picchu, definitely worth the attention.

Huaca Rajada and the Lord of Sipán

On such place is known as Huaca Rajada, literally meaning cracked pyramid. The huaca is located near the coast in the Northern part of Peru in the Lambayeque Valley, 35 km east of the city of Chiclayo. The burial mound found hear was part of the Moche culture (sometimes refered to as Mochica), a pre-Incan culture that dominated the Northern coast of Peru from 1 AD to 700 AD.

Here, under an impressive amount of gold and other treasures (15 kilos!), the Moche people buried a great warrior priest known as the Lord of Sipán. He ruled around 200 AD and died at about 40 years of age, a millennium before the Inca would populate the world reknowned Machu Picchu. In total, four tombs have been discovered in Huaca Rajada.

The site was declared a "Golden Wonder" by Times Magazine and was featured in National Geographic as being one of the "Richest Tombs in the World". The discovery was made by archaeologist Walter Alva in 1987 and the tomb is considered one of the most important discoveries in the last 30 years, mainly because it was found intact and untouched by tomb robbers.

The site only receives 1,300 visitors a month, whereas Machu Picchu welcomes 2,800 average visitors a day.Tourists can also view the gold artifacts that were extracted, housed inside the Royal Tombs of Sipán.

Huaca Pucllana

Another great destination in Peru is the Huaca Pucllana, sometimes called Huaca Juliana. The complex features a large pyramid made of adobe and clay, located Miraflores in central Lima, Peru. The pre-Inca monument was an important administrative and cultural site, although evidence of relgious ceremonies and sacrifices have been found. From here, the clergymen claimed control of the natural water of the zone with the building of a great pyramid. The complex was surrounded by a plaza and also features a large wall dividing it into two sections. Huts and other enclosures remain intact, with some walls still standing that created courtyards and patios.

Archaeologists have also uncovered artifacts belonging to the Wari Culture (500 AD-900 AD).

The remains of Lord of the Unkus were discovered in the first tomb uncovered on the site that was still completely intact. In the tomb, three adult remains were found and one of a sacrificed child.

Visit and learn Spanish in Peru! Do not forget that Peru is rich with culture and history, there is much more to see than just Machu Picchu!

Yeah, you heard me right, a Spanish woman from Salvaterra do Miño (in the region of Galicia) has "legally" claimed ownership of the sun towards the end of last month. It took her a couple of months to do so because when she presented her m it had to be legally checked out, but the notaries could not find any legal reason why they could not grant her claim.

Her grandiose idea came from an American who has apparently registered the moon an and many other planets in his name. She heard that he was selling some of his land on the moon to John Travolta when she thought that she could do something similar.

49 year old Ángeles Durán declared before a public notary that she owns the sun, a star of spectral type G2, located in the center of the solar system approximately 149,600,000 kilometers from Earth.

Ángeles does have her logic though, she stated: "Look, if electric companies can make money off of rivers, which belong to everyone, then I hope to make something off of the sun".

She states that she is not stupid and "knows the law" which dictates by an international agreement that no country may claim ownership of any planet or star... but the agreement says "nothing about individuals", she adds. She said that anyone would have done it, but it simply occurred to her first.

Her plan for the sun? Well, you know, the normal.. charge everyone a fee for using the sun... half of the income will be for the Spanish government (she is pretty generous) and 20% to help Spain's low pension funds. How much could this mean for Spain? Well, estimates calculate that it would mean 13 billion Euros for the struggling Spanish economy!

It gets even better! 10% will be for research and education, 10% to eradicate hunger in the world, and 10% for herself! Considering the amount of people forced to use "her sun" I am pretty sure that 10% will be a nice hefty sum of money!

I wonder if international monopoly laws can come into play....?

This is not her first "brilliant" idea. She also has registered in her name Tarzan's scream (yea, she owns it, seriously) and the longest musical score in the world which is related to the telecommunications industry. If you dial numbers, certain sounds are heard that create "musical scores", which of course, are all hers! :)

Hopefully I won't have to pay for the sun anytime soon, I already have a lighting bill. But hey, maybe I will get lucky since I live in Spain and most of the money will be directed to the Spanish government, well.. maybe we who live here wont have to pay for the sun!

[:D]

On Wednesday the 17th of November a film by Spanish film director Artur Balder debuted in New York City. Balder, who is also a writer, had stumbled across the story of the Spanish population in Manhattan that came to be known as "Little Spain". Many people have heard of "Little Italy", but the story of the Spanish in the great American city was little known.

The documentary, appropriately titled "Little Spain", traces the journey of Spanidards who abandoned Spain in search of a better life in New York. The Spanish migrants settled into Lower Manhattan, throughout the 19th and 20th century forming a deeply rooted community. The community's center was 14th street, the heart of "LIttle Spain", where many signs of the Spanish still remain.

In fact, there is a Spanish social club known as the Spanish Benevolent Society, or rather La Nacional, that still exists today on 14th Street between 7th and 8th Ave. It was the clubs archives that the filmmaker dug into in order to shed light on a little known story.

His work culminated in the documentary that starts with the founding of La Nacional club in New York in 1868, and the massive migration from Spain to the US after the Spanish Empire lost Cuba in 1898. The film moves on to document the wealth and affluence of the Spanish population in New York (Golden Age) after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the community's sharp decline in the 80s and 90s.

This prominent socieity, although little know, led to a 14th Street in New York where Spanish was heard and spoken well into the 1960s. Spanish businesses filled the streets including famous restaurants such as El Coruña, La Bilbaina, or Café Madrid and also Spanish bookshops and textile stores.

In order to emphasize the strength of the community, despite the recent downfall, the film shows that a very popular Spanish holiday, St. James Day (Santiago Apostol), was still celebrated in the area until the 1990s.

There is little left of what once was Little Spain, but with the documentary by Artur Balder, the Spanish legacy in New York will live on forever.

Spaniards don't technically celebrate Halloween, but as with most commercial American holidays, every year the Halloween atmosphere grows in Spain, and you can see shops decorated in orange and black as well as some people/kids dressed up in costumes.

But it is not normal, not yet at least. This year, I, being the American I am and determined to maintain some of my holiday cheer, invited some Spanish friends over to my apartment in Salamanca to carve some pumpkins. The first feat was to find pumpkins.

Oh, you may ask yourself: "What? They have no pumkins?"

Of course they have pumpkins! But most are not the carving variety but rather the eating variety. Little do us Americans know that most of those yummy cans of canned pumpkin actually contain the eating variety of pumpkin rather than the carving variety. There are many varieties and most are not round and plump like a traditional carving pumkins but rather long and and skinny.

So, I invited people to come over and carve pumpkins (for the first time in their lives) on the 24th of October, they accepted, now I needed to find some pumpkins. I went to my husband's parent's village and after asking around we found someone who had pumpkins in a storage unit for feeding livestock. BINGO! They were round, well, at least most of them. Not the most beautiful pumpkins I have ever seen, but they were round, orange, and totally carvable. I chose some and we were on our way.

Next feat: Tools and Halloween carving designs! Yes, if we were going to do this I wanted to do it well! Luckily with the help of Facebook and a generous friend, I was able to get my hands on several sets of tools and pumpkin stencils.

It was fun, we only had one cut hand (my husband) several complaints ("What! I have to keep scraping!? Aggh!!"), one cut off set of horns ("I can't believe that after all that work to cut out the horns I just cut them off by accident!!!"), and an overall good result. They all hung out for awhile taking photos and commenting that they were, indeed, much more good-looking when the lights were out and the candles were burning brightly inside.

The seeds are still drying in my house and I fully intend to bake them tonight and distribute them among the Spanish participants tomorrow. I hope we can repeat it next year!

Spaniards, during this time, celebrate All Saints day on the 1st of November. It is the most closely related holiday to Halloween and likely has similar origins. Read about All Saint's Day in Spain. In Mexico, a simliar holiday is celebrated: read about the Day of the Dead.

Do you like to cook? The Mediterranean diet is known as one of the most healthy in the world, rich in nutrients and variety.

Even if you do not live in Spain, you can experience a large amount of typical dishes prepared at home.

This featured recipe is: Eggplant Millefeuille or Milhojas de Berenjena in Spanish. (recipe below)

"Millefeuille" is a French word which traditionally refers to a layered puff pastry. In this case, there are layers, but the plate is not a pastry.

A co-worker of mine and I both tried this dish at home, with our own variations. It was really yummy and as they say in Spanish "tenía una pinta estupenda" (It looked stupendous).

So I know what some of you may be thinking: Eggplant, Yuck! Yes I know, there are many vegetable haters in the world. However, I can assure you that a reknowned vegetable hater that I know (my husband!!) ate up the dish and said that it was good! So if that does not convince you then I do know know what will!

Try this REALLY easy recipe at home and let me know how it turns out. I used havarti cheese and shreded mozarella on top and my co-worker added sheets of lasagna.. so the possibilities are endless!

On the don Quijote website you can also find a library of Mediterranean recipes here.

Eggplant millefeuille

Ingredients (4 PEOPLE)

• 1 large eggplant
• 2 tomatoes
• Salt
• Pepper
• Some Basil leaves
• 4 slices of mozzarella cheese
• Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

Clean the eggplant and cut into fine slices. Clean and slice the tomatoes. Salt and pepper tomatoes and eggplant to taste.

Next, stack the eggplant layers as you see fit alternating cheese, basil and tomato slices between each one. Finish the stack with a slice of cheese and then place them on a baking sheet and spray with olive oil. Bake at 180º C / 356 º F for 20 minutes. Serve warm or hot.

A Spanish designer has been in the fashion, technological and medical spotlights over the last few days after revealing his fascinating new invention - spray-on clothing that can be washed and worn again!

Along with scientists at Imperial College London, Manel Torres invented a spray of tiny fibres and polymers which create a seamless fabric when applied to the body. The outcome varies depending on whether wool, linen or acrylic fibres are used and depending on what colour they are.

The ultimate figure-hugging garment, a t-shirt takes around 15 minutes to spray on – somewhat longer than the few seconds needed to pull on a normal piece of clothing! But the potential uses for this new technology stretch far beyond the fashion world, with other possible applications in upholstery for cars and furniture, as well as in medical fields, including spray-on bandages and hygiene wipes, which would not require any pressure or contact on wounds or burns, for example.

Watch a video of this intriguing new technology in action here.

If you have ever been to Spain, perhaps you know that one of the most popular and traditional activities is to go out for tapas. Tapas, also known as pinchos, are small snack size portions of food that are served in most bars throughout Spain. Normally, tapas are either complimentary or simply cost less when included with a drink purchase.

The word tapa in Spanish literally means “lid” or “cover” and it is thought that the tradition evolved from the practice of covering wine glasses with small plates of bread or cured ham to keep out insects or other impurities.

Tapas mix the concept of eating with socializing and the act is called tapear in Spanish. Bars serve as the logical meeting place and where friends or business acquaintances meet regularly. Tapas are an important business in Spain and are generally the determining factor to whether a bar with succeed or fail.

Most tapas bars do not wait tables and most people enjoy their tapa on foot along the bar’s counter where the different tapas are arranged. It is very common to “ir de tapas” which is the practice of visiting various bars and snacking in each one until you have had your meal. It is also common to dine on raciones, larger portions of any given appetizer, which are usually all shared among the group.

Tapas have become part of the Spanish cultural identity and are offered at reception banquets of high dignitaries known as tapas meetings. Nowadays there are bars that specialize in tapas which as developed into a phenomenon known as miniature cuisine. Gourmet chefs, such as Ferran Adrià, have also incorporated tapas as starters into their fine Spanish cuisine menus.

The type and variety of tapas that you will find in Spain depend greatly on the region and the cuisine of the area. There is no defining characteristic as to how large or small a tapa will be, although the majority of them are about four bites. Additionally, there are many different categories of tapas including cold or hot tapas, skewered tapas, small hot or cold sandwiches called montaditos, tapas of traditional dishes served in small clay pots or simply olives or cheese accompanied by bread.

Remember, tapas come in just about any form that you can imagine depending on the bar and the region, but here is a selection of some typical tapas:

Typical Tapas:

Tortilla Española: Spanish omelets made of potatoes, onions and eggs.

Ensalada Rusa: Russian salad made of boiled potatoes, tuna, tomatoes, peas and carrots with mayonnaise.

San Jacobos: Ham and cheese fried in bread crumbs

Croquetas: Breaded and fried béchamel with ham, fish or chicken.

Jamón: Spanish ham served in a variety of different ways: baked, grilled, cured, smoked, etc.

Calamares: fried calamari rings.

Pulpo: Octopus boiled and often served with potatoes and paprika or mixed in a variety of salads.

Patatas bravas: fried potatoes with a mayonnaise and garlic sauce

Sardinas: fried sardines

Pincho moruno: spicy pork skewer

Montaditos: small hot or cold sandwiches

Sepia: grilled cuttlefish

Panceta: A grilled pork cut similar to bacon normally served as a montadito when eaten as a tapa.

Chorizo: Spanish sausage normally served as a montadito when eaten as a tapa.

Paella, gazpacho, and other traditional dishes are also often served as tapas.

Tapas Vocabulary:

Tapeo: the act of eating tapas

Ir de tapas: going out for tapas

Cenar de tapas: to have tapas for dinner.

Picar: to snack, to pick at things

Picoteo: to go for snacks

Ración: larger portion of a tapa

Tapa/Pincho/Pintxos: Different words all referring to the small appetizers served in Spain. Pinchos is mainly used in Northern Spain and pintxos is Euskera, a language used in the Basque region.

Montaditos: small “bocadillos” served hot or cold usually consisting of very few ingredients.

Bocadillo/Bocata: Spanish “sub” sandwiches made with baguette bread.

Plancha: grill. “a la plancha” means grilled.

There can be little doubt that bullfighting is one of the most controversial issues of Spanish culture today, with both fierce supporters and opponents constantly trying to maintain and stamp out the tradition.

The former argue that corridas de toros (bullfights) represent an integral part of Spanish heritage and, what’s more, that they are a hugely important contributor to the country’s tourism industry and thus its economy. For advocates, bullfighting is an impressive sport and an opportunity for participants to demonstrate a high level of skill, while simultaneously providing excellent entertainment for the public.

Conversely, many others, including animal rights groups such as Prou! (meaning Enough!) believe it is a bloody spectacle which involves needless cruelty to innocent animals and that it has no place in modern culture. In Catalonia, Prou!’s efforts against the ruthless killing of toros (bulls) culminates tomorrow in a parliamentary vote on the banning of bullfighting, following a petition of 180,000 signatures submitted last year.

It is expected that the Catalan parliament will vote in favour of the ban, and that this will mark the beginning of the end for bullfighting in Spain, as it won't be long before many more of the country's seventeen autonomous regions follow suit.