In Our Last Episode

We discussed that there was stuff for me to do up here in the Wisconsin house. I suppose I'll make a short list of the more important tasks on the docket, but trust me, there are more. Many more.

• Fix outdoor stairs down to the dock (done)
  
• Scrape and prime weaker parts of the outdoor paint (done)
  
• Fix stairs from outdoor stairs to dock (confusing I know)
  
• Create a living space in the basement OR transform the garage into living space (big project)
  
• Investigate shoreline erosion control and implement plan (I say it that way to make it sound more impressive. This may go on a résumé…)
  
• "Get rid of junk"
  
• Sell things (including a boat and a brass bed frame. Anyone interested?)
  
• Etc.
  

The aloneness thing I mentioned last time is not so bad anymore, and no doll lost their head in the process of me coming to grips with it either. Overall, it's mostly just been quiet, with me just hanging out. As you might have noted above, I completed two of the easier tasks I was assigned this week, without major mishap. Recreationally, I went to my first disc golf tournament this week and, well… stunk horribly. It was random doubles and my partner and I tied for last out of twenty pairs playing. It sucked. More for him, because I was hitting all the trees and he was making all the decent shots. Oh well. There's always next time, I suppose.

No Promises

But I decided to revive the blog, under the presumption that maybe, you know, I could post once or twice a year. This is probably more for my benefit than anyone else's (OH YEAH! I REMEMBER GETTING KICKED IN THE BALLS IN SPAIN!!!). I don't mind.

So, in the headlines for this week, I graduated! Exciting, yes. Unexpected? Not really. The ceremonies (yes, plural, at least for WashU) were as Bil Lepp describes: a lot like high school, long, boring, and not obviously necessary. They did, however, follow a wonderful week of fun for me and my college friends that we made sure to capitalize on. In other news, my diploma is in latin, which is great for my wonderful girlfriend who knows the dead language, but not so great for me. I guess I will have to trust the University when it says I graduated (Amy refuses to do it for me). Hopefully none of my future employers will bother to ask, because I certainly will be able to verify nothing.

Currently I am in Wisconsin, looking after and fixing up my parents' summer home. I have quite a long list of tasks which I am being paid to do, and I quite like the area and the house. This does, unfortunately for me, leave me all alone in a large house for the first time. I will admit, I am freaking myself out. My mother has the unfortunate hobby of collecting small dolls and decorating the house with them. I have found myself turning around the corner and nearly taking off little "Josefina's" head with a well placed roundhouse kick. I am sure neither she nor mom would appreciate that. I am told by others in my predicament that living alone will become normal soon enough, and the risk of beating the stuffing out of a doll should also decrease accordingly.

I will update more with detailed descriptions of the tasks I am undertaking and perhaps some pictures in the (relatively) near future. In the meantime, be sure to check out your more regularly updated web postings. This certainly is not one of them J.

I will be a Jedi, just you wait...

So I got kicked in the balls today. Great news, I know, but I also am not the first WashU student to endure that sort of pain, and Eric had it worse by far. Regardless, I will attempt to buy a cup before my next forray into sparring.

Aside from that, things have been going well. The weather got much better this weekend then it had been previously, and it looks like it will stay that way for the foreseeable future (ie, this week). This makes me excited both to take more walks/runs in Parque Retiro and to explore for the first time la Casa de Campo, the larger (albeit less exciting, or so I hear) park in Madrid. I have had an unusual amount of free time, at least, for a WashU student, and that has been reflected in a) my time spent outside of the house and b) time spent exercising. Given that my independent research project has started up, I may not have as much as I have had in the last few weeks. We shall see.

Also on the plans for this week is to finally get a fix for my inner geek. The Star Wars Exhibition is in Madrid, closing this weekend, and I should be going tomorrow to check it out. I´m excited. I have made many new friends here, but there has been an upsetting lack of geekiness in my life as of late. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the fact that I was writing a DnD book with some friends when I got the most stereotypical response: They said "really..." and glanced at me with those eyes that say "how could you be doing something that dumb/geeky/waste your time." We proceeded to have a mini-debate about whether or not games or drugs sucked more of people´s lives away. This has been the only two sided discussion I have had with someone about some sort of fantasy topic (other than me sharing my geeky knowledge with people mildly interested when I can´t contain myself), and that is depressing. Hopefully the exhibition will help me out. I must say, I´m excited to receive Jedi Training...

Today´s Topics: Independent Research, Kick Boxing, and More Food!

My long overdue blogpost will begin with an update of my more academic progress. As some of you may know, I am currently a Mellon Fellow studying poverty in the Appalachian Mountains. In order to keep that up, I have decided to opt out of taking a fifth class here and instead am continuing with that project by doing independent research here as well. I will be comparing it to some Spanish region (to be determined) and will be writing a twenty page paper in Spanish about the topic. Exciting. However, that isn´t important. What is important however is the fact that I had my first meeting with my mentor today.

The meeting became a reflection of cultural differences between the US and Spain. A meeting with a professor in the US, in my experience, is rather businesslike. You walk in, talk about whatever work you came to ask about, be it homework, an academic question sprung from class, or whatever. Then you leave, with little to no small talk. I have been specifically warned not to talk about my personal life with professors by grad students (who, presumably, have personal experience). While I did not share any personal details of my love life with my mentor, we met for about an hour, and for half of the time we just chatted, about, well, nothing really. He asked how I liked Spain, and I asked how he liked America. He talked about studying in the states and meeting his wife in Wisconsin (who now lives here, presumably). We talked about where I lived and the adjustment to the Spanish eating schedule, and by the end of our conversation I had been invited to his family´s country house to the northwest of Madrid. It was a cool experience, and I´m not sure how serious the invitation was (though it sounded serious), but it was definitely a noteworthy difference between here and the US.

Many of you know this also, but it´s worth mentioning in the blog. I have began taking kickboxing here early in the semester. WashU is paying for the intruction fee, though I am paying for my own equipment, and it´s actually a lot of fun. There are 10-20 people in attendance on any given day, and most of what we have done thus far is technique. Jabs, uppercuts, hooks, kicks. At first it was pretty intimidating. Here I was walking up to a bunch of built Spanish guys with their hands wrapped as if they were going to emulate Street Fighter, not really knowing the language, horribly out of shape, and without recognizing a single face. As the weeks went on, however, it has been quite fun, and I´m starting to actually get in shape (gasp). We´ll see how that works out by the end of the semester.

Counter-balancing the getting in shape aspect of my life, however, is the food. As I might have said in a previous post, the food here is delicious. However, I have erred before when I said the food was healthy. A more accurate simile would be to say that it is like weather in the midwest; it can´t really decide. Some days it´s very healthy. For example, earlier this week we had a vegetable puree, a salad, some fish, and microwaved potatoes. Very healthy, very balanced. However, last night, what I had for dinner was a soup consisting of chicken broth and noodles, croquettes (deep fried), and ham and cheese sandwiches (deep fried [no joke]). Carb city anyone? That said, my family also loves to give me more and more food, and (just like at home) I have readily accepted the position of garbage can. It doesn´t help that everyone else in the house is on some sort of diet, so any excess of food is immediately given to me to finish off. Oh well. Hopefully my new found love for kick boxing and exercise will balance everything out, and I´ll end up in exactly the same place when I get back...

Anyway, those are some of the more mundane things going on. More (perhaps more exciting) things to come shortly.

Finally, I have WiFi

But only on Thursdays. Sadly. Anyway, here is a post long overdue. Enjoy!

2/4/09

Today I was inspired to blog. Yes, inspired. And what inspired me, you ask? Was it some beautiful sculpture or piece of art? No. Was it the pain of classes, or some intriguing intellectual question? No. Did I get mugged, and need to let everyone at home know that I’m all right now, though with several bruises? No. Well then, Tim, what the hell was it?!

Cheese.

Yes you heard me. Cheese. For the first time over the course of my time in Spain, I have actually been surprise by food. Others on the trip were surprised (and some, appalled) long before. In our paella, a shrimp was served whole, with the head still on, unnerving a few members of our company (I just finished reading LotR again, pardon the strange language). But I have seen that for years, both at home and at restaurants. Did the sight of a piglet dead but whole at the butcher’s shop phase me? Nope. Once you’ve seen cow penis frozen and sold at a supermarket, any sort of meat will fail to surprise (I swear, you could play baseball with one of those things).

No, what got me was cheese. We had just finished our traditional ginormous (spelling, anyone?) meal, and I was waiting on dessert, when my señora asked me if I would be willing to try cheese. Sure, I said, I love cheese. What she brings out was a piece of cheese, clearly prepackaged and in the shape of a flan. Fair enough. But what got me was that they used to putting fruit jam on top. Jam! Nothing in American, Southern, or Asian Cuisine prepared me for this strange culinary combination. Once over my surprise, I tried it, and (as expected) loved it. And that was one of two culinary delights of the week, the other of which I’ll get to some other post.

Clearly this is probably more exciting for me than to you, and it is highly ironic that I spent more time describing my encounter with a piece of cheese and jam than any single experience with a cultural icon since my arrival. But, it cannot be helped. That said, it is time to back track a little bit and describe a little of Granada for you, so we can eventually catch back up to the present.

I (as well as most of the others, I believe), fell in love with Barcelona, and was not quite so impressed with Granada. However, it did have it’s perks, and it’s one really awesome site, which is worth the trip should you ever come to Spain: the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a palace/fortress that was built by the Moors during their long time in Spain. It sits on the top of a small, green mountain overlooking the city. Behind it are snow capped peaks, the combination of which makes it look like something out of a fantasy novel. Walking through the halls and imagining what it was like in its hay day put me in the mind to write more fiction, though I have yet to begin.

What makes the sight even better is the Plaza of Saint Nicholas, which is located on a mountain directly opposite the palace. I went there twice: once during the day, and once for the sunset. Gorgeous. With good reason Bill Clinton once called it the most beautiful sunset in the world (funny story and side note: the authorities put up a plaque that said “Bill Clinton was here.” By the next day, there was graffiti next to it saying “and so was I” and “me too.” The plaque itself didn’t last the night before being smashed).

Well, I’ll let you go with that. I saw free flamenco too, which was awesome, and got free tapas with drinks at various bars, a must if you go to Granada. And I turned 21, as roughly 50 people noted via Facebook (all of whom I still have to reply to). Well, time for me to sleep, and/or watch the equivalent of Fox News with my host family. ¡Adios!

Repeat that one more time, and slower please...

Hmm, just got out of my first "regular" class (aka for natives) and I hope that I can get a decent grade in the class. Really. It´s called "Social Politics and the Welfare State." For those of you who know me, that´s a great class for me and my interests. However, the fact that it´s a regular class was not quite so forgiving. The professor walked in, put up a slide, made a joke about having to come in early (9 o´clock class with a 45 minute commute is a bitch, especially when dinner is at 10), and proceeded to talk. Fast. And quietly. The following is a brief description of a portion of the lecture.

"One of the important parts of what we´ll be studying in the first section of this class is the powers of the state. There are three basic concepts that we will look at surrounding the state. The first is..."
*someone coughs
"...the third is..."
Shit, wait, what were the first two? Damn it, now I just missed the third...

Luckily for me, the slides were provided for me after the class, and (due to sheer coincidence) I found an American partner for the joint project we have to do. Unfortuneately for me, due to my broken Spanish and the inability to understand my professor, he now thinks I´m the dumbest person in his class. Sweet. Exacerbating this problem is the fact that this is not, in reality, the first day of class. Everything started last week. However, I found the room number through a link on the translated, English portion of the university´s website. The room number that link gave me was wrong. So I missed the first week of class before realizing my mistake, and am very behind on understanding what I need to do for class.

*sigh*

On the bright side, of the two hours I spent in class, he only spent roughly 20 minutes bashing America!

Well...

So, my computer is having some issues. Aka it is refusing to read flash drives (I think). Therefore my previously written post on the Alhambra, Granada, and cheese will have to wait until a later date. Oh well.

I am currently sitting in a computer lab at Carlos III, the university at which I will be studying for awhile. My schedule is basically set; I just have to make sure that I can count the regular class that I want to take for credit in the poli sci department back home. I´m pretty pumped to take almost all of my classes, which is good, and also the first for a while. I will be taking: The Art of the Short Story (see, Fiction Writing), Spanish Language, Spanish Culture, The Politics of the Welfare State, and an independent study (aka branching off of my Mellon Project). It´s looking to be an interesting semester, especially if you include fencing, kickboxing, and whatever else I decide to do in my free time. I´m certain I´ll let you know about the more interesting things, and possibly some of the mundane things in a more interesting way (I hope). For example:

Yesterday I went to Mass in the park (yes, church). There was a procession beforehand honoring San Blas where they carried a ceramic statue of him surrounded by flowers down the street (in a box with carrying sticks?) from the church to the park where we had Mass. It initially promised to be an interesting procession for me, but boring for the average American student, when I discovered something interesting. For the people of this church, this walk was probably sacred at one point, but it seemed like the city of Madrid could have cared less. At one point, they set him down to look at the building he (presumably) used to live in. However, the way they set him down made it look like instead he was blessing the neighboring Doner Kebab (think gyroesque fast food restaurant; they´re EVERYWHERE). In addition to having blessed one of my favorite foods, Saint Blas proceeded to pass the biggest sex shop I had yet seen in Spain thus far. Perhaps he should have taken the time to stop there instead of making me feel better about eating what is possibly the best tasting health threat in Europe. After these adventures, we then proceeded to Parque del Retiro where I found out after mass the San Blas is the patron saint of throat problems (who knew?) and they would be passing out bread afterwards that would keep you from having any throat sickness for a whole year. All in all, a pretty productive morning I would say.

The rest of my time here has been spent pretty uneventfully. Classes are just getting underway, and already I have learned more about common problems of American Spanish speakers than I´ve learned in all my time taking Spanish in high school or WashU. Well, that´s what studying in another country will do for you I guess. Next things to do: Find a fencing club, start the kick boxing class, make Spanish friends. Check.