Well, I’ve been quite lousy about updating this blog and as you notice I’ve completely turned my webpage into a page specifically about me! I will eventually get back to focusing it on linguistics and languages but at the moment I don’t even have any time! I’ve been so busy these past few months getting acclimated to Spanish culture and teaching and also studying for the GRE and preparing for grad school.  Last weekend (not this past weekend but the weekend before that) I went to Barcelona to take the GRE but I did worse than the first time and it was a huge embarrassment! I pray that G-d does let me somehow slip into a grad program (especially Hawai’i) despite my scores! I’ve been working since August on my statement of purpose and it has really changed a lot!  I’m finishing up the last few things to apply like my Statement of Purpose, my writing sample, and my department applications to have printed out and I’ll send them in the mail tomorrow so that they will make it at least by the first school’s deadline of January 6.

On Thursday I’m flying to Madrid with a friend and fellow assistant, Alyssa, from Chicago. We are going to be in Madrid for four days and then are heading over to Morocco for eight days! I won’t be taking my computer so I won’t be in contact with anyone over the holidays!

I wanted to wish everyone a חנוכה שמח  and a very Merry Christmas! I will be back on the 29th just in time for my mom’s 50th birthday!

This post is stored in the category of Made in Spain, Personal Post, Written in English and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: 50th Birthday, Barcelona, Channukah, Christmas, GRE, Hawai'i, Madrid

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So I’ve officially ended my very first week of school this week. The only thing I can say is that I’m tired! I forgot how much 12 hours of work can do to a person! HAHAHA!  Monday was a national holiday so nothing was open and it was like another Sunday. On Tuesday I headed down on the bus early in the morning to S’Alqueria Blanca. I must say that it was not as bad this time and I actually enjoyed myself a little even though at some points I felt very bored watching them color or play with “plasticine”, which is what they call “playdo” (actually the British call it this).

In my last class yesterday at the elementary school there were two German girls. One had lived here for 8 years and spoke perfect Castilian, Catalan, and German. She spoke pretty good English as well. The other girl had only been here 3 months and couldn’t say a lick of anything in any language except German. It is crazy that parents would leave their country when their child is a this age and when the child doesn’t speak the language. I think that it will seriously hinder the girl as she is about 9 or 10 years old.

On Wednesday, I got up and went and opened a bank account. My bank here in Spain is called Santander. I was under the impression that I didn’t have to put any money in to open the account but I ended up having to put in about 30€. I gave my account number to my school today so that they will be able to pay me at the end of the month. On Tuesday night I went to a Basque Cafe/Bar to eat tapas and celebrate the Canadian, Molly’s, birthday. It was fun and I met two really cool people, Kate, and Lucas. After eating our share of tapas we went to get ice cream and then sit by the Parc de la Mar just below the Cathedral. It looks amazing at night and it was my photo of the day for Tuesday.

Today was my first full 6 hour day at the high school. On Fridays, the German teacher, Gloria, doesn’t come in until nine so I had to find a ride with other people. The head of the English dept. Maria, found two teachers who work at eight on Fridays and they live very very close to me. So I got a ride with them this morning. Classes were fun today. I spent most of my time introducing myself and answering their crazy questions. In one of my classes, I was with a teacher who is 24 years old and quite good looking. In this particular class the students were aroudn 12-13 years old. She asked them to ask me questions and they were non-stop. At one point this mischievous boy who was sitting with two other boys in the back asked if I had a girlfriend after he had asked me my age. After answering to him, that no I did not, he asked the teacher how old she was. She told them to guess and didn’t tell her age, but they never really guessed right and just kept saying she was very young. Then they turned to me and the boy asked me if I thought the teacher was sexy. He started to smile and started raising his eyebrows up and down and tried to get an answer from me and the teacher and I were both laughing and trying to change the subject. It was very awkward and embarrassing and for the rest of the class the boys would look at me and do the eyebrow thing while nodding towards my female co-worker!

The last class of the day I taught the oldest students. I was given the task of teaching them the phonetics of English, which proved to be very very difficult under the circumstances. The consonants were fine as they are the same in British and American English. The vowels were more difficult and I found myself trying to imitate the British vowels, which is completely difficult. I ended up giving up and telling them the differences between British vowels and American ones.

Last weekend I put up the following ad on the loquo.com website, which is like craigslist here in Spain, to offer English tutoring sessions.

CLASES DE INGLÉS! Nativo, Titulado en Lingüística (Palma de Mallorca)

-Profesor Nativo

-Con experiencia docente

-Titulado en lingüística (entonces conzco mucho sobre la fonetica y de los dialectos y acentos)

-Para particulares y de grupos (al mismo nivel) de máximo 4.

-Para todos los niveles, todas edades

-Preparación de exámenes oficiales (IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC)

- Precio: A convenir (la primera clase es de 10€ para determinar el nivel y otras cosas)

-Zona: preferentemente cerca de Plaza de España

-Para solicitar más información o pedir una cita: derron.s.borders@gmail.com

(I’m not going to translate it) I got one hit from a guy who is applying to do a Master’s of Journalism and I’m going to be tutoring him four days a week for the next two weeks in order to prepare him for an entry English exam for the program.  I’m going to repost my ad so as to find more tutoring jobs so that I can make more money to supplement my having to travel to S’Alqueria Blanca.

I also just received an e-mail not too long ago, today, that my flight to Barcelona has been moved from 6:30pm to 11:00pm on the night before I take my GRE so I’m going to have to really be prepared so I can be ready and well rested. I’m going to try and find a hotel or hostel really close to the place where I need to take it so I can just sleep enough and get up and walk over there and take it.

Well, it’s 9:33 pm and I need to prepare dinner. I don’t think I’m going out this weekend as I have a lot of GRE preparation and study to do as well as work on Grad school stuff! I need to save my money anyway and tell myself that so that I don’t feel like a big loser! I’m tired anyway and it is actually getting colder here in Mallorca. It barely got above 70 this week and the past few days have been mid to lower 60s. With the wind it makes it worse and at night it gets down to lower 50s. I’ve been sweat pantsing it here at the apartment for the past week.

This post is stored in the category of Made in Spain, Personal Post, Written in English, Written in Spanish and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Bank, German, Grad School, GRE, Loquo.com, S'Alqueria Blanca, Tutor

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So I’ve realized how useless I become when I’m not in school. I must get into grad school! I must! I do best when I’m busy and have a full curriculum set up for me. I’ve been so idle these past two months that I’ve become depressed and very lazy. I had to move my GRE back until the day before I leave for Spain in September. My dad wondered if I’d be way too stressed to take it, but I’m not stressed out about Spain at all really. I actually got just like this before I went to France last year. I got all sloth-like and depressed and didn’t feel like doing anything! Well, I need to stop that! That is over! I’m going to sit down tomorrow and write out a draft statement of purpose! I’m going to make a list of the things I want to accomplish in grad school and in the future in the field of linguistics, a list of my weaknesses, followed by a list of my strengths, as well as what I can contribute to the programs to which I will be applying. All of the deadlines to apply are in January and I plan on getting everything finished well before then this fall! I want to be one of the first applications that ling departments receive for admissions for fall of 2010!

I’ve also changed my mind on which schools to which I will officially apply. They are:

University of Hawai’i at Manoa

University of British Columbia

University of California at Berkeley

University of Texas at Austin

University of Utah

Other than being lazy these past weeks, I’ve got to spend some time with Joan and Tom, some. I went with Joan and Megan (a mutual friend) to go to Baja Sol near campus where my friend Tom works a bar tender. Joan and I ended up seeing “The Hangover” after eating dinner and drinking margaritas. It was one of the funniest films I have seen in a VERY long time! I would have, however, rated the film NC-17 as it is pretty raunchy and inappropriate definitely for the two 12 year old boys that were there with their parents. I recommend seeing it if you aren’t too offended by some extremely outlandish things and male frontal nudity!

Last night we celebrated Joan’s 26th birthday at Brazenhead on 5th Ave. in Grandview. After I went to stay all night at Joan’s but ended up coming home early in the morning.

My niece, nephew, sister, and bro-in-law were here from Sunday night until yesterday! It is always so much fun to have them around! We went swimming on Monday and just wrestled and played around the majority of the time. I’m going to miss them again when I leave this year.  It is hard to believe that sometime I’m going to be leaving for a very long time and not get to see them! We will have to get a lot of use out of the webcam and my sister and brother-in-law will have to learn to start taking a lot more pictures and taking video of things I’m going to miss!

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post, Written in English and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Depsressed, GRE, Joan Berning, Lazy, Made in Spain, Tommy Smiley, University of British Columbia, University of California at Berkeley, University of Hawai'i, University of Texas at Austin, University of Utah

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I’ve decided that my sleeping habits have been the downfall to my existence. I’m a night owl and love to stay up late wasting time away and sleeping in really late. By time I get up and moving the day is well half way over for those normal people. I’m going to stop staying up so late and getting up at 9:00am every morning for the rest of my time here in Ohio. I’ve realized that my sleeping habits are the cause of many of my problems in France and the reason why I missed so many classes. That is not going to happen this year. I can’t let that happen as I need to form good sleeping habits if I plan on being successful in Graduate School.

I was lucky enough for one of my friends, Visa Warren, to give me her e-mail and password to the My GRE Tutor website. On this site they have tutorials on how to do well on the GRE and the different sections of the GRE, practice questions with hints and help, and practice tests. You have the option of picking different study plans and I’ve decided that I will do the 6 week study plan in the 3 weeks that I have left until I actually take the GRE on August 26th. I will take two hours in the morning to do “one day” of the 6 week plan and two hours in the afternoon to complete a “second day’s” work in the 6 week plan. I’m also using my Princeton Review GRE review book as well. I think that taking an extra hour a day looking at, studying, and learning words should help me to prepare the best I can in the next three weeks for teh verbal part of the test as this is the most difficult.

Besides using my days to practice and prepare for the GRE test, I’m also studying Catalan using the Parla.cat website. I’ve started at the very beginning of the lessons in the Basic level 1. There are 4 levels: Basic, Elemental, Intermedi, and Suficiència. Each of these four levels has 3 level lessons, which have multiple units. The level that I’m on, Basic level 1, has 7 units.  Within each there is an introduction part, three lesson parts, and an evaluation part. I’m vowing to try and to one unit per day which would put in me into level Elemental 1, unit 2 by the time that I leave for Spain. You can also download a PDF file of the units in each unit. The Parla.cat website is one of the best language learning websites that I have ever seen and I’d love to use its format to creat similar lesson plans of endangered languages that I hope to study in the future!  Along with the Parla.cat website I’m also using the following books to help progress my Catalan language learning along: “Teach Yourself Catalan”, “Llengua Catalana Nivell Llindar 1 i 2″, and “Catalan, A Comprehensive Grammar”.

I also received an e-mail from the English teacher in my elementary school in S’Alqueria Blanca, Mallorca. Below is her e-mail followed by my response in Spanish (which I will translate for the purpose of this blog).

Hi! I’m Marga.

How are you? I am writing from Majorca, concretely from the school you are
going to spend your time in Majorca.
I am the English techer from Mare de Déu de la Consolació, a school in
S’Alqueria Blanca. You are working both in S’Alqueria and Campos, so, do
you know where are you going to live or do you prefer that I give you some
advice? I live in Campos, so if you want to live in Campos there is no
problem in order to go to my school. Moreover there are two more teachers
from Campos working there. So, for the transport, there is no problem if
you want to live in Campos and to the HIgh School in Campos you can reach
it alking or by bike. So, you don’t need a car if you dan’t want to have
it.
Hoping to hearing from you soon,
Marga.

My response:

Bon dia Marga,

Com està? No parlo bé el català entonces voy a escribirle en castellano para practicar lo que ya conozco! Quiero empezar diciendo gracias por haber escritome.  Tengo que decirle que hace mucho tiempo que hablo (y escribo) en castellano. Desde que el mes de septiembre del año pasado, he vivido en francía como auxiliare de conversación, entonce olvido mucho del idioma castellano pero quiero practicar. Entonces, voy a comunicar con usted en castellano.  Si quiere, puede escribirme en catalán como quiero aprender a hablar catalán y quiero mejorar mi castellano. Puedo leer y entender el catalán muy facilamenta por que hablo francés entonces no está un problema si habla y escribeme en catalán.

Bueno, he pensado mucho sobre el lugar donde voy a vivir allá en Mallorca.  El problema es que quiero mejorar mi castellano y quiero aprender a hablar catalán con fluidez. Yo sé que en Palama hay más hispanohablantes (como lengua materna) que las otras ciudades o los otros pobles en Mallorca. Yo sé también que peudo hacer clases de castellano y catalán (gratis) en Palma. El problema es que no quiero pagar por el autobús para ir a Campos o S’Alqueria blanca tods los días.  Ricarod Sanchez me ha dicho que hay quizás alguien qui enseña a Damià Huguet que vive en Palma y que puede quizás conducirme a la escuela.  También, si vivo en Palma puedo hacer más en la tarde y los fines de semana. Si vivo en Campos, creo que teneré una experiencia más cultural y aprendaré más facilamente el catalán. En Palma sería solamente un otro turista y en Campos seré el americano que enseña inglés. Me gustaría ver que piensa.  Quiero también ofrecer clases de particular afuera de enseñar a las dos escuelas.  Pienso que si viviré en Campos voy a ver si puedo comprar un escúter. Por favor de me sus consejos.

Ahora tengo algunas preguntas para usted. Cuantos alumons hay en la escuela Mare de Déu de la Consolació?  Voy a enseñar cual(es) nivel(es)? Teneré cuantas clases?

Bueno, gracias de nuevo por haber escritome! Espero su respuesta.

P.S. Lo siento por mis errores y la calidad de mi castellano.

Translation:

Hello (Catalan) Marga,

How are you? I don’t speak Catalan very well (Catalan) so I’m going to write to you in Spanish to practice what I already know. (Spanish) I wanted to start by saying thank you for writing me. I have to say that is had been a while since I’ve spoken (and written) in Spanish. Since the month of September of last year I’ve been living in France as an English Asssistant, so I forget a lot of Spanish but I want to practice. So, I’m going to communicate with you in Spanish. I can read and understand Catalan really easily because I speak French so it isn’t a problem if you speak and write to me in Catalan.

Well, I’ve thought a lot about where I’m going to be living in Majorca. The problem is that I want to improve my Spanish and I want to learn to speak Catalan fluently. I know that in Palma there are more Spanish speakers (first language speakers) than in other cities and towns (pobles=pueblos in Spanish, I used Catalan here accidently) in Majorca. I know that I can also take Spanish and Catalan classes (for free) in Palma. The problem is that I don’t want to have to pay for the bus to go to Campos or S’Alqueria Blanca every day. Ricardo Sanchez told me that there is maybe someone who teaches at Damià Huguet (my high school) who lives in Palama and can maybe drive me to school. Also, if I live in Palma, I can do more during the evenings and on weekends. If I live in Campos I believe I will have a more cultural experience and I will learn Catalan more easily. En Palmam I would only be another tourist and in Campos I will THE American who teaches English. I would like to see what you think. I also want to offer private tutoring lessons outside of school as a second job. I think that if I lived in Campos I’m going to see if I can buy a scooter. Please give me your advice.

Now I have a few questions fo ryou. How many student are there in the primary school Mare de Déu de la Consolació? I’m going to be teaching which levels? I will have how many classes?

Well, thank you again for having written me. I await your response.

P.S. Sorry for the errors and the quality of my Spanish.

This post is stored in the category of Made in France, Personal Post, Written in English, Written in Spanish and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Castellano, Catalan, Catalan A Comprehensive Grammar, Damià Huguet, GRE, Llengua Catalana Nivell Llindar 1 i 2, Mallorca, Mare de Déu de la Consolació, Parla.cat, Sleeping, Spanish, Teach Yourself Catalan

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So, I’ve had no luck finding a job after applying at multiple places! I’ve come to realize that I will not be making any extra money this summer and that this coming year I will only be able to travel during my two small vacations and no more than that. I’m expecting to spend a huge part of what I have saved when I first arrive as I heard we don’t get paid for while after arriving in Spain. Somewhere around the end of November, maybe even December. I only have around 550€ in my French bank account so I really will need to depend on my parents to help me with buy some necessities before going.

With not having a job, I’ve been EXTREMELY lazy and tired. I haven’t felt like doing anything and that is exactly what I’ve been doing, nothing. This past weekend, though, my sister and brother-in-law got me hooked on this Facebook flash game called “Farm Town”. I’ve basically been playing it non-stop this whole week. Yesterday I started getting bored with it and today I’ve hardly played at all. The concept of the game is you are given a little bit of land and some money and you are suppose to try to grow and expand your farm by planting crops. Each crop takes a certain amount of time, anywhere between 2 hrs (for raspberries) and 4 days for pumpkins. Each crop is bought for a certain price and can be directly sold for a price, harvested by you and stored for a higher price, and even better, once you are at a higher level you can hire others to harvest it for you, store it, and it is sold for an even BETTER price! You obviously earn money when selling your crop and lose it when plowing and planting crops. You can also spend money by buying things for you farm like, fencing, paths, houses. Much of the things that can be purchased can only be purchased at a certain level. To move up a level, one must earn experience points and you do this buy planting, plowing, harvesting, and buying things at the store. The higher level you are the more money you can make and the better you can expand and build your farm. The game is overly addictive and I’m not one to become addicted to things very easily! Anyway, if you have a bit of time you may want to check the game out and see what it is all about.

I’ve decided that I can’t waste anymore time and that I need to prepare the things I’ve been saying I’ve been needing to do for the past few months. I’m going to begin my grad school applications and study Catalan and Spanish. I also scheduled my GRE exam date for the 26th of August so I’m going to devote 4 hours of study to that a day. I really need to be busy for my life to function correctly. When I’m not busy I become lazy and useless and I can’t reach my goals. I sleep to much and don’t go to bed when I can. I’m happiest when I’m studying at school and I miss school so much and can’t wait to get this year in Spain over with so I can go back and start saving languages. I’m currently reading “Language Death” by David Crystal and a thought came to my mind. If 25% of the world’s dying languages are found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, I should start learning Tok Pisin and Bahasa Indonesia, don’t you think?

Anyway, until the next time I get the urge to blog!

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post, Written in English and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Bahasa Indonesia, Catalan, Facebook, Farm Town, GRE, Jobs, Language Death, Made in Spain, Money, Spanish, Tok Pisin

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So I’ve been home in the US for about two and a half weeks now. So far I’ve visited with my grandma and my niece and nephew a lot, gone to Chicago to apply for my visa, and had a family reunion.

I had originally planned on going to Chicago by Mega Bus last Sunday night. I would have arrived in the early morning, applied for my visa and then headed home late morning. The only problem was that I was so tired from traveling home from Europe I just couldn’t fathom spending hours upon hours on an overnight bus. I can’t sleep on buses. I decided I would drive as my parents are renting me a car for the two months I’m home and I have unlimited miles on it. I ended up asking a friend I made in France, Allison Walton, who is working Chicago currently if she had a place I could crash at. She ended up being able to offer me a guest bedroom which is ten times better than a bus seat or any couch or floor. I made my way up to Chicago last Sunday afternoon and arrived at Allison’s in the early evening. We talked a bit and I finished reading “The Kite Runner” and finally went to sleep. I woke up and drove to downtown Chicago and ended up being an hour early for my 9:00am appointment. Lucky me I was let in early and the whole ordeal took only about 15 minutes. They ended up not needing my French background check and a lot of the documents I had brought with me. After the appointment I made my way home.

I’ve been applying for jobs locally and some not so local. I haven’t had any luck finding any jobs as Ohio is one of the most unemployed states in the US at the moment. I’ve been extremely lazy and not felt motivated to do anything. I really need to get my butt into gear and start practicing my Spanish and Catalan. I need to write to my schools and find out where the heck I’m going to be living. I also need to study for my GRE and sign up to take the test really soon! I promise that tomorrow I will post a daily schedule that I’m going to make myself stick to for the rest of the summer or at least until I find a job (if I do find a job)!

This past Friday my brother-in-law had to work in Circleville so he brought Brady, my nephew, with him and dropped him off at my grandma’s. I went over around lunch time and we ended up meeting my mom at Pizza Hut. After, we dropped my grandma off at her house and I took Brady to go swimming at Dave and Bev’s. We had fun swimming with Dave and ended up going home and taking a long afternoon nap. This past weekend was the Borders’ family reunion. I will someday blog my family tree in great detail and you will be able to understand the mess that is my family (not that my family is a mess but there are a lot of us!). As has been the tradition for the past few years, the Borders’ family reunion is a one big camping weekend where one day we have one big potluck dinner. My sister and brother-in-law were not camping but my parents decided that we would take Brady with us to camp on Friday night. The location of this year’s reunion was at Thousand Trails park near Wilmington, Ohio. My parents had rented out a camper for two nights. We ended up going to Wendy’s for dinner and then getting to the park around 7:45. The camper was old but still quite nice. Not all of my family camps so not everyone was there on Friday night. The potluck dinner was held on Saturday evening. All 6 of my dad’s brothers and sisters were there even though not all of my cousins were there. Overall the weather was a lot cooler than last year and the weekend was great. It was a great time had by all and it was really great to see everyone even though a lot of them I don’t really see that much throughout the year anyway, even when I’m living in the US!

I don’t really have any more big plans for this summer except maybe going to Put-in-Bay on Thursday and there is a Rotary “Rebound” meeting in August sometime. We will see how it all pans out!

For now, this is your Midsummer Update from The Glossophile!

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post, Written in English and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Allison Walton, Camping, Catalan, Chicago, Circleville, Family Reunion, GRE, Mega Bus, Put-in-Bay, Sanish, The Kite Runner, Thousand Trails, Wilmington Ohio

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So, tomorrow will mark one week since I’ve been home. I’ve actually accomplished a lot since being home. Sunday I have to drive to Chicago to get my visa on Monday. I was going to take the Megabus from Columbus to Chicago but I would have had to leave at 10:20pm on Sunday evening and I wouldn’t arrive in Chicago until about 6:30am. I just can’t imagine doing all the traveling so soon so I asked a friend I had met back in France who was an assistant who also lives in Chicago if I could crash on her couch Sunday evening. I’m still waiting to hear her official word on whether her roommates said it was ok or not. My appointment to get my visa is on Monday at 9:00am at the Consulate General of Spain at 108 N Michigan Ave. I plan on getting up early and going and turning in my application and then heading home right after.

This week, I’ve had to make the final preparations to apply for the visa. On Monday, I had to go to the doctor to get checked out to have a note saying that I could travel and teach in Spain for 8 months. Before I could do that I had to renew my driver’s license and my library card. I picked up a book on Romance Languages and also “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, which has been a pretty good read so far! On, Tuesday I went and applied for a background check. I met my best friends, Joan and Tommy up in Hilliard at Red Robin and then hung out with them on Tuesday night. I had been asked to give a presentation on foreign languages for a friend at her work at JCPenny on Wednesday, so I got up and did that and then came back to Circleville and hung out with my niece and nephew in the afternoon. Yesterday I picked up my police background check and pretty much worked on updating and recovering my external hard drive that had crashed. Today I went and applied for two jobs, one as a security guard at a company called Forward Air and the second at Verizon Wireless behind our house! I do hope I get a job soon as I’m quickly running out of money!

Tomorrow, I’m going with my parents to my cousins’ joint graduation party down in Cincinnati and next week we have a family reunion! I’ve made a goal to finish “The Kite Runner” and then read “The Simarillion” and “The History of Middle Earth” this summer before I leave for Spain. I also need to practice my Spanish and continue with my lessons in Catalan. I need to study for the GRE and take it mid August and work on getting my statement of purposes ready and e-mail some professors and ask if they would be willing to write recommendation letters for me for grad school!

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post, Written in English and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Catalan, Chicago, Forward Air, Grad School, GRE, Joan Berning, Made in Spain, Megabus, Spanish, The History of Middle Earth, The Kite Runner, The Simarillion, Thomas Smiley, Verizon Wireless, Visa

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