¡Hola chicos/as! The world has been under lockdown for what feels like a very, very long time now, and some of us are starting to run out of activities to do whilst we are stuck at home. Banana bread? Done. Home workout? Done. Sourdough starter? Done. So what next?! Luckily, our Quarantine Book and Film Club...Read More

Spring is officially here! The weather is getting warmer, trees are blooming, a chorus of birdsong fills the air – and if, like me, you’re one of the millions of people who have seasonal allergies, constant sneezing and itchy eyes are back in full force. This year, however, spring comes with a very unexpected guest...Read More

As the world goes into lockdown and we learn to adjust to restricted living, some of us are desperately looking for ways to make confinement more bearable. Cinema and literature, with their magical ability to transport us into distant places and times, are certainly a great resource to turn to during these odd times –...Read More

It’s no secret that the best way to learn a language is to practice it as much as possible: read it, write it, listen to it and (most importantly!) speak it. It comes as no surprise that moving abroad is often hailed as the ultimate strategy to master a language – after all, it is...Read More

Last Saturday Ibérica, Canary Wharf held the first in a short series of wine tastings for Vamos. And what an experience it was. Not just because of the great wines and delicious food, but also because of what we learnt about wine and wine-making and the geography of Spain. Our ‘Wine tour around Spain’ took us...Read More

This week’s misunderstood expression is “ser más chulo que un ocho“, meaning, literally, ‘to be cooler than an eight’. The actual meaning, however, is ‘to be a show-off’. I know what you are thinking: why would number 8 (in Spanish, ocho) be related to being cool… or a show-off? Keep reading to find out! To...Read More

The word ‘lata’ has two very different meanings in Spanish. The first one is can (the metal container in which food and drinks can be kept). This is the most common meaning and the one that most people know about. However, colloquially, “lata” also means ‘something that causes distaste and disgust‘. This is why, although...Read More

This week’s misunderstood expression is “dar calabazas a alguien“, which is what you do when someone “te tira los tejos” (see last week’s expression!) but you are not interested in them. Dar calabazas, as you might have guessed, means ‘to turn somebody down‘ or ‘to reject someone‘. However, the expression’s literal meaning is ‘to give...Read More

“Tirar los tejos” is a colloquial expression meaning, literally, ‘to throw the roof tiles (at someone)‘. Surprisingly, the real meaning is actually ‘to flirt with someone‘. You may be thinking that throwing roof tiles at someone is maybe not the best way of flirting, but this idiom actually comes from a very special type of...Read More

“Cortar el bacalao” is the Spanish equivalent of ‘to call the shots‘ – meaning ‘to be in charge‘. However, cortar means ‘to cut’, and bacalao is a fish – cod, in fact – so the expression literally means ‘to cut the cod‘. A variation is “partir el bacalao“, which means essentially the same. Hence, “el...Read More