28 Comments
User's avatar
Jen's avatar

"Should I just include a new sneaker in every dispatch from Madrid going forward?" Yes, yes!

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Jane Herman's avatar

Note taken!

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•the point of singularity•'s avatar

You are doing great Doña Juana:

Ajá This is where Juana en Madrid discovers many more things hechas y diseñadas en España.

Ok first: "me gustAría un vaso de agua, por favor"

Vaqueros= Cowboys😆

Kids Bandaids = Tiritas found in any hipermercado/supermercado in the First Aid section.

You are doing fantastic. Deberías sentirte muy orgullosa de ti.

I'm reading an amazing Trilogy by a Basque writer ( The White City Trilogy in English) and I can understand some of the coloquial regional Spanish expressions because of my son in law from San Sebastián ( you should plan a visit before you leave) and I have the RAE on my Kindle to check others we Latin Americans don't use. So...

De nada querida!

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Lindsay K.'s avatar

Vaqueros also means jeans and cowboys. 👖

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Jane Herman's avatar

Isn’t that just brilliant

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•the point of singularity•'s avatar

That's what I meant. That is why Spaniards call jeans, vaqueros, cause they were og used by cowboys ergo typical Marlboro Man

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Malwina Gudowska's avatar

Jane! You’re doing it, you’re becoming bilingual. Amazing & inspiring & I know hard it is.

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Jane Herman's avatar

SO HARD. xx

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Jane's avatar

Jane, I absolutely love your newsletters! I feel exactly the same about using AI, possibly an age thing too, I would personally also avoid the Google translate and throw myself into learning Spanish the way you are. I had no shame in France carrying around my pocket French dictionary from high school, with little scrawled notes, and using it where possible. I loved the analogy between your daughter reading and you learning a new language. I have LOVED eBay searching your recommendations (the AUD is weak against European currencies so eBay is sometimes a good resource for comparably priced items). I always love being introduced to new designers! I can't wait to read what recommendations you have next week :)

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Jane Herman's avatar

Thank you for reading Jane!

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shauna greene's avatar

love your madrid reports…keep writing

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KJ's avatar

Hola! Había sido entiendo español hace 2019 y… es difícil! Felicidades por hacerlo cuando hay AI y otro “cheats” que parece tanto más fácile… me gustaría escuchar más, y disfruta los clases y la experiencia! (Y siento, probablemente mi español no es perfecto pero decidí intentar… sin el diccionario!

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Jane Herman's avatar

I think I get the gist of this, thank you for your encouragement KJ!

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Amanda Brown - Type A Mom's avatar

Hi! Just got back from taking my kids (ages 5, 8, 11) to London - they especially loved these adventures:

1. High Tea on a double decker Peppa Pig themed bus ride around London (top level had best views!)

https://b-bakery.com/london/bus-tours/peppa-pig-afternoon-tea

2. Science Museum - lots of hand on experiences

3. Tower Bridge - they loved walking across it and seeing traffic below

I put together a “wrap report” about our trip here:

https://typeamom.substack.com/p/london-and-paris-trip-wrap-report

Have fun!!

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Molly Duffy's avatar

Thank you for the sneaker recommendation.

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wendy shippee's avatar

Jane, I am a new fan of yours! I am enjoying reading your adventures in Madrid and the fashion happening there. I love the “crochet” vase. What a great memento!

I have also looked at all your info on vintage Levi’s. I have been obsessed with vintage for many many years and am always interested in new outlets. I lived in LA in the 80s and 90s (Larchmont/ Windsor Square). During that time I lots of vintage connections but moving around I lost contacts, so it is great to build connections again as I have 2 kids in LA and visit often.

Disfruta de España!

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Jane Herman's avatar

Thank you for reading Wendy!

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BLUEKNOT's avatar

You are super brave for forgoing apps & AI to help you navigate a foreign terrain! You go girl! I love your sneaker recs. Even ordered a pair you pointed out in previous substack & love them!!

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Avra's avatar

I continue to love these stories from your new life! I can’t imagine the difficulty not speaking the language where you need to accomplish so much each day. I moved from Toronto to Vancouver in my 40’s and it was a struggle to acclimate to new weather, new people and a new job. But add in a new language! Yikes! Kudos Jane! 💕

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Alison's avatar

Absolutely loving the Madrid posts - love your curiosity and honesty and openness to the experience

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Jane Herman's avatar

Thank you Alison!

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Emma's avatar

Lovely essay!

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Michelle Harper's avatar

Our daughter first went to London around age 7 and we had so much fun!! The things she loved most were wandering through the city parks feeding the squirrels and parrots and stopping in the bookstores. The bookstores are amazing and have a great selection of British authors that at the time (7 years ago) were surprisingly hard to get in the states - our luggage going home got quite heavy. She enjoyed the aquarium as well, and LOVED Hamleys. One day she walked 11 miles and didn’t complain a bit thanks to the aforementioned activities. Have so much fun!

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Katie Colley's avatar

You have inspired me to reframe “friction” as “motivation”!

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lesley's avatar

If I remember high school Spanish correctly, vaqueros is also Spanish for cowboy! Love these updates 😍

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