jenniferdebeer

in my personal homepage to date i´ve mentioned that my learning Spanish goes back to when i had received and read the English version of Christopher Unborn by Carlos Fuentes (Cristóbal Nonato in Spanish). but thinking further, i recalled that the subtle Spanish influences go back further than this, but admittedly Fuentes´s "influence" was the proverbial "tipping point".

for one, i recall that my aunt Peggy (mom´s sister) had brought my sister and I flamenco dolls when i was aged six or so (see pic above, courtesy of http://www.flamencoexport.com/imgx/productos/munecas/669.jpg)

i copy the pic since the doll looks a lot like the one i had. she too wore an ochre/yellow dress, though her headpiece was yellow and not black like in the photo. and i had a male doll (this was before SA markets were open, so no Barbie and Ken, thankfully!!). i don´t know what became of those flamenco dolls, now that i think about it.

and then, another thing is that i saw a Don Quixote television series when I was about the same age (six), on South African television. the way memory fades, i´d somehow always thought that it had been a British animated version, but scouting around on the Net now, i see that in fact it was a Spanish production. See YouTube clip.

and more than that, that the voice of Don Quixote was none other than that of Fernando Fernán Gómez, highly acclaimed Spanish actor (though, truth be told, probably i watched a version dubbed to Afrikaans. but it is funny/amusing seeing the YouTube clip since i see that the series intro song was kept intact. jejejeje).

and more still, when visiting Madrid i make a point of going to the cinema to see Spanish films. in late-December i went for my graduation ceremony, and so took myself along to see the documentary about ...Fernando Fernán Gómez, called "La Silla de Fernando", recently (Sept. 2006) screened at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

okay, all of this does start to sound a bit creepy ;)

but well...