On Spanish Adventures Part III: Making Up For Lost Posts

In which we cover a number of topics because things got real busy real fast.

Well now, it didn't take long for the wheels to come off this train did it? Not that I'm surprised, or upset, having time to update this blog is nice but its not vital. Things the last few days have been super crazy, but also really awesome, it's 20:49 (or 8:49 if you rather) and I haven't even left for dinner yet¹. It's one of my student's birthday today and I promised him I'd go out with them tonight, so this is going to be a long, long day.

On Tuesday we took a tour of Old Valencia, this is the oldest part of the city², and it is what you imagine when you try and picture classic European cities. Narrow streets, old structures, cathedrals, etc. I was trailing behind the group most of the time to keep people movie so unfortunately I missed most of the discussion about the history of Valencia, however, I did get a bunch of good pictures. Though they are currently stuck on my SD card until I can get to a computer lab. Hopefully I'll get some of them posted soon. The funniest thing about the old district is how it turns into a touristy area so quickly. You turn a corner and, boom, there is "Hollywood America Restaurant³." When the tour was over a number of students wanted to hang out in the area and explore. However, they were unsure of how to get back to their homes so I stayed with them so I could help them out. Most of them went off on their own, I was just wanting a place to sit down and have a cheap beer. Two of my students joined me in the quest, which was ultimately successful. It was weird drinking with students, but at the same time it was a neat bonding experience to have. These were two of the students that I knew better which helped it feel a little more normalized, we had the chance to talk about whatever came to mind. It was a cool experience.

The next day started off slower, but picked up as the day went on. After class my co-worker and I spent a few hours in the office getting some work done and dealing with some students that were going to be moving to a new homestay location. Then we had the worst lunch ever⁴. Later that afternoon we went to watch a movie as a class. The program that we are working with normally deals with students who are strong Spanish speakers so they planned to take us to see a Chinese movie with Spanish subtitles. This was not a good idea. So instead there was a weekly discussion group that was watching movies based on the works of Shakespeare. So we watched the 90's cinematic classic "10 Things I Hate About You⁵." It was pretty sweet.

After the movie some of the students wanted to go out to a club that taught free salsa lessons. So before hand I went and got dinner with some of my students. This was especially exciting because they were three students who I didn't know all that well. It was really cool to get to interact with them in a new way. We found a little restaurant at which basically everything that was on the menu was 1 Euro, including drinks. Needless to say, it was quite the value. After dinner we met up with some other students and tracked down the salsa club. It's been years since I've salsad (salsa'd?⁶), we spent about 30 or so minutes practicing various steps, then we broke off and actually danced for a minute. It was cool to notice how something came back to me. Though I also was reminded of how much concentration it takes for me to dance, which leaves me stiff and awkward. After the dance we stepped out to cool down and found a few bars. This was probably the highlight of the night for me. Just a chance to sit out at a table out on a sidewalk and talk to my students, catching them at their most real and open. It was definitely a awesome moment.

I had hoped to get to today also, but I am beat and probably should have been in bed a while ago. Check back for more later.
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1) As of writing this sentence, I doubt I'll finish this whole post before I head out.
2) Duh and/or hello.
3) That wasn't the actual name, but it's not that far off.
4) Seriously, it was so bad I'm not even going to talk about it.
5) I hadn't seen this in a while, it was about the most 90's movie ever. With the possible exception of Empire Records.
6) Seltzered?

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On Spanish Adventures Part II: The Foodening

In which we discuss some food related stories

So I apparently have real problems purchasing fruit in foreign country. A little back story: a number of years ago I was in Italy with my family. One afternoon we stopped by a fruit stand and there were some peaches that looked delicious. So I started moving them around trying to find the best one, which is what I'd do in the states. Apparently this is a no-go in Italy and some little Italian guy yelled at me. Okay, lesson learned. Jump to yesterday. We stopped by a grocery to pick some stuff up and I grabbed some bananas to eat in the morning. Eventually we went to check out. All of our stuff went through no problem. When the bananas came up woman working the register looked at them for a few minutes then said something in Spanish to my co-instructor¹. Then she grabbed the avacados that were next in line, she said something else then sent them aside as well. We paid and left, sans produce. I asked what had happened and learned that apparently we were supposed to weigh the produce before we came up to pay. Who knew. So now I've got to go back later for my bananas, which was a real bummer this morning. A banana would have been real tasty this morning with my yogurt.

Last night the big event with our students was a welcome dinner downtown. We went to a resturant/club/I don't now what to enjoy our meal. The representative from the company we are working with generously scheduled an early dinner for us, 8:30pm². We were all pretty hungry, but that wouldn't last too long as there was a ton of food. We were lucky enough to enjoy a traditional tapas meal, which was a great thing to start off with. The way tapas works is you are brought a plate of tapas (or appetizers) and everyone can try one, or two or three depending on what it was. All together we got to try nine different dishes, and trust me when I tell you that by the end of the meal were incredibly full. Here's a rundown of what we had:

• Gazpacho - a cold tomato soup, super fresh, I'd never had it before but quite liked it
• Bolas de Bascalao - Cod and breading formed into balls then fried, very good, not too fishy
• Spanish ham on bread - A famous offering, traditional Spanish ham on crusty bread served with a tomato and olive oil spread
• Cured pork loin and cheese - This was my favorite tapa, the pork loin was AMAZING I wanted to bring a bunch of it home with me
• Shrimp pancake - There was a more official sounding name but I can't rememeber what it was, these looked like potato pancakes, except with shrimp
• Croissant with eggplant, brie, olives, and tomato marmalade - This was a great combination of sweet and savory, the croissant was a nice change of pace after a lot of baguette, the marmalade paired well with the brie and brought the whole thing together³
• Fried seafood basket - This is when things started getting real, this dish included: fried calamari, mussels, a small fried white fish, and fried whole sardines (heads and all). I'm proud to say that I tried all of them, including eating the sardine, head first I might add⁴

• Fried chicken wings - served with a teriyaki sauce, probably the weakest of the offerings, especially since we had eaten so much at this point
• Fresh fruit cup - This was a simple dish to end on, but it was great way to end, it really bookended things well with the gazpacho

This morning after class I went to a bakery with some students and grabbed an empanada as a snack, but now I'm getting real hungry so I guess it's time to go find some lunch.
Random Spain Factoids of the Day

• When you buy bottled water make sure you don't by carbonated lemon flavored water. Whoops.
• Jumping from an iPhone to a cheap Samsung burner has been a real pain in my ass
• How have I been here a full day and not had any beer OR wine yet. What a travesty⁵.
• Between starting this post and now I went by a fruit market where I purchased two oranges and two bananas for .82 euros. What a deal!

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1) Oh lack of Spanish speaking ability you've gotten the best of me yet again.
2) Here's a standard Spanish eating schedule: 7:30/8:00 a light breakfast (cereal, pastry, coffee), 10:30/11:00 brunch (a sandwich and beer), 1:30/2:00 lunch (biggest meal of the day), 5:00ish a snack, 9:00/10:00 dinner
3) Plus, olives, take that, adventurous eating goal.
4) I actually liked it more than I thought I would. Though as one of my students mentioned, it kind of tasted like a fishstick, just, you know, with a head attached.
5) This one isn't a factoid, but I needed to share, what an outrageous situation to find myself in.

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On Spanish Adventures Part I: Beginnings

In which a trip is taken, a stage is set, and sleep is missed.

I'm currently writing this from a bus in the middle the Spanish countryside¹. I am on my way to Valencia for a three week study abroad trip for my job. I am incredibly excited and fortunate to be taking part in such a once in a lifetime experience. As I was planning for the trip I was trying to think of the best way to keep people back home informed about how things were going. Ultimately I decided that jumping back into the blogging pool was the easiest way to go about it². My hope is to write a post every day or so giving updates, sharing stories, and, as is typical of my writing style, regale you with nonsense riddled with misspellings³.

So how did I get to Spain? Well I'm lucky enough to be apart of a team focused on giving our students a well rounded collegiate experience, so a few years ago we began to offer affordable study abroad trips in May. Most of our students wouldn't be able to afford to a traditional study abroad experience, so a short term one like ours is a great fit. My role in all of this is as one of two instructors on the trip. It's been a long, exhausting journey over the last semester in order to get ready and now that we're here it's almost surreal. For the longest time the trip seemed like a distant object on the horizon that never came closer. Just in the last few weeks did it begin to feel real. Really I haven't had much time to process it all, or even consider what I hope to gain from the experience. We ask our students all the time what they are most looking forward to, and to be honest I don't know that I ever had an answer to that myself.

But, what good is a blog if you can't use it to process things in your life⁴. So without further ado, here is my list of hopes, wishes, and goals for the next three weeks.
1) To allow myself to be immersed into Spanish culture. As an introvert and a 9 my default is to retreat inward and to find comfort in the familiar. I want to get out and experience Spanish life and all that entails.
2) To connect deeply with the students on the trip. Of the 20 students on the trip I know about half fairly well and about 4 of them very well. I know that I won't ever know all them at the same level, but I want to get to know them all more than I already do.
3) To stay active. Whether it's working out in the morning, going for hikes, or only biking around town, I want to stay active over the next three weeks.
4) To know myself better. I am always encouraging my students to be self-reflective and to look inward. This last semester it hit me that I don't do this often enough myself. I hope that upon returning to the states I better understand what motivates me, what my goals are, and of who I am as an individual.
5) I want to be an adventurous eater. Food is weird guys. I'm not an olive fan, I'm not a mussel fan, I've never had sardines but they don't sound too good. Guess what foods I'll see a lot of the next three week? Olives, mussels, and sardines. I'm going to force myself to try some things that I might not normally enjoy. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
6) Have a wealthy Spanish countess fall madly in love with me⁵. This one's self-explanatory.
Random Spain Factoids of the Day^TM:

• Our contact in Valencia looks like a Spanish Agent Coulson.
• My room reminds me a lot of Bruce Willis's place in The Fifth Element⁶.
• Paella count: 1

Our bus ride is almost over so I'm going to wrap things up for today. Be sure to check back tomorrow for more.
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1) As I was typing that sentence I looked to my left and saw a herd of sheep.
2) Granted this pool may have dried up two years ago, but I just couldn't bring myself to great a tumblr account.
3) And of course footnotes, lots of footnotes.
4) I mean, that's why Livejournal was created.
5) I don't know if there are Spanish countesses, but a guy can dream.
6) Which really was Bruce Willis at his finest.

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On an Unexpected Entry

In which, at long last, we have something to discuss.

It’s been a long time since I last wrote anything. There have been a number of reasons, not feeling motivated to write being among the top. But this morning I woke up and felt the need to write. In particular I felt the need to write about Jesus. Today is Palm Sunday and across the world priests and pastors and teachers and believers read what is commonly know as “The Triumphal Entry.”

Growing up I was familiar with the text, mainly for the fact that at church they would give all the kids palm fronds to wave around. I would usually just pull the leaves off of them and was lucky to have anything left by the time we headed home.

A few years ago¹ I was asked by my community-mates to prepare a short sermon/discussion about any text I wanted for a spring retreat² we were taking. The retreat happened to fall on Palm Sunday that year so I dug into the passage of Jesus’s entry as told by John. What I learned was amazing and beautiful, as a result this became one of my favorite passages in the Gospels.  

To get us rolling here is the relevant text that I want to discuss³:

The next day a huge crowd came to the festival, having heard that Jesus is coming to Jerusalem. So they got branches of palm trees and went out to meet him and were roaring:

‘Hosanna [literally, O please save us now]!                          Blessings on the One Who Is Coming in the Name of the Lord!      Yes, the King of Israel!’

But Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written in Scripture:

‘Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion;                                          Look! Your King is coming,                                                       Sitting on a donkey’s colt!’

Four short versus, and yet, there is quite a lot going on here. First a little historical background to set the stage. At this point in history the people of Israel were under Roman rule. While there were some Jewish leaders in positions of power they didn’t do much of anything without the say-so of Rome. And this situation was not a new one for the Jewish people. They had be toiling under the rule of various people for many years. But there was hope in the Messiah, it was believed that one day a Messiah would come, throw off the shackles of bondage, and free Israel.

People wanted a leader. A revolutionary. A king. And many of them found this in Jesus. So they decided to announce that fact in a very obvious way, that sadly isn’t as obvious to us now. When the passage starts we find that, upon hearing that Jesus was approaching, the people gathered palm fronds to waive around. This may seem like simple way to get a parade going, but there is a deeper meaning going on as well.

Palms, at this time, had an extremely patriotic mean. They were used when the temple was rededicated, and more importantly when Israel rebelled against Rome two previous times the rebels printed coins with palms on them. Simply put; the palm was a symbol of rebellion and of war.

Maybe you think that we are reading too much into this. Perhaps the people just didn’t have time to pick up confetti and signage so they went with the most available thing? Perhaps, but let’s look at the next little section, when the people start chanting. The first two lines are quotes straight from Psalm 118. The last line though? They added “Blessed is the King of Israel.” And that is a large addition. They were calling for Jesus to take his place as a new King of Israel and cast off the Roman rule. They want him to enter with sound and fury, a great warrior and rebel.

Jesus, being Jesus, responds in a beautiful way.

“But Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it…”

Horses are majestic creature, they are graceful and when you stroll into town on one there is a high likelihood of looking like a boss⁴. Donkeys on the other hand are more awkward, they tend to jostle their riders. It’s tough to look regal on a donkey. A grown man riding on a young donkey? Even tougher. Jesus very consciously chose to ride in on an animal that would downplay his grandeur. He took on a role of humility, certainly not the role of warrior or rebel that the people were hoping for. In fact, culturally, his choice of ride said exactly the opposite.

When a king rode a horse his purpose was one of war, he meant to conquer. When he rode a donkey he was coming peaceably. Jesus was sending a clear message to those who wanted him to be a conquering hero, that wasn’t his way. He wasn’t going to be overthrowing anyone, at least not in the way people hoped. Jesus wasn’t out and out deigning his role as a king, he still entered in a kingly fashion, but he wasn’t your typical king.

There is a very strong nationalist vibe going on during the beginning of this passage. The people wanted Jesus to be their king, the king of Israel, a king FOR Israel. When I think about this moment, this point when people loudly cried out for Jesus to be just for them I think of a lot of the voices that I hear in this country today. Often I hear politicians, church leaders, and talking heads bring up how the United States is “God’s country” or that we are blessed or in some way specially set aside by God. In the passage when the Israelites waved the palms a close analogy would be a group of people waving American flags as Jesus entered the city.

Certainly there are people out there that would have no problem with this. However, I believe that Jesus, through his actions, pushed back against this view. Jesus didn’t come as a warrior king for one nation. He is a peaceful king for all nations.

Please don’t read this to mean I am taking a negative view of patriotism. That is not my intent. However, patriotism wrapped up faith, and in Jesus, is something that I think is dangerous and is something that we need to avoid. As we enter into Holy week I hope that you will think about this passage, envision the palms not as the symbol of one nations, but of all nations. When celebrating the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus join me considering all of our brothers and sisters across the globe.

Ironically the Pharisees bring it all together in verse 19 when they say ‘See you’re getting nowhere at all! Look! The whole world is going after him!’ Jesus came for all of us so that we may all have the opportunity to know him.

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¹ I can't believe it's been two years, what the what.

On the Season of Awards

In which we reflect back on some of the momentous occasions of the past year.


It's award season again, or at least it was¹. The Oscars have come and gone and praise has been placed upon actors, directors, producers, and others in the film industry. I hate movie awards, you can read all about it here.

This year, however, I am going to handout some awards of my own.

• Most Badass Hero That Might Also Be Autistic, Maybe - Ryan Gosling (the Driver), Drive

• Best On-Screen Duo - James McAvoy & Micheal Fassbender (Professor X & Magneto), X-Men: First Class

• Best Movie That the Trailer Made Look Terrible - Rise of the Planet of the Apes

• Most Likely to Remind You of the Wire - Attack the Block

• Most Forgetable Blockbuster - Cowboys & Aliens²

• MRR (Most Rediculous Runner) - Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

• Least Favorite Movie - Sherlock Holmes

• Rookie of the Year - John Boyega, Attack the Block

• Most Magical Film Experience - Hugo (in 3D)

• Most Hottest Actor³ - Chris Helmsworth, Thor

• Most Cutest Actress - Jodie Whittaker, Attack the Block

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¹ Honesty time, this post was supposed to be written over a week ago

² No joke, as I was thinking of these I forgot about Cowboys & Aliens and almost awarded it to a different movie

³ Thanks Colleen for the award name

On A Very Nerdy Birthday Request

In which a new birthday request is granted, a list is made, and things get geeky.


My friend Brendan, aka B-Carl, aka Beez, aka Professor Beezley¹, made a request for a birthday blog post. His request: "Why Marvel is better than DC." If you didn't know, these are two comic book companies. Marvel is responsible for: Iron Man, Spider-Man, the X-men, and the Avengers. DC is responsible for: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman².

You're about the reach your geek quota for the day. Hold on to your butts.

Top Ten Reasons Marvel is Better than DC³.

Number 10: Runaway teenagers fight crime with their psychic dinosaur.

Number 9: Luke Cage and Dr. Doom have a frank discussion⁴. 

Number 8: Criminal, some of the best stories I've ever read, in any medium.

Number 7: Syllable counting heroes = adorable.  

Number 6: Mustache buddies.

Number 5, Part I: You are going to want to make this big...

Number 5, Part II: Seriously, it's insane⁵.

Number 4: I love that the dudes watch their friend get kicked through a train.

Number 3: Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy, I don't need to add anything else.

Number 2: Stop. Deadpool time.

Number 1: Kate Beaton does Marvel!

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¹ Okay, so no one has called him this. Yet...
² Some real original names these authors came up with
³ In no particular order
⁴ Ah the 70's.
⁵ And I don't mean that the art is insanely good, though it is, I mean that it's something a crazy person would dream up

On Random Thoughts Part IV: Widdle Baby Gets Her Way

In which we, unexpectedly, return to random topic jumping.

Last week, after I got home from work, I saw that Sarah Street had left me a Facebook message suggesting topics for the blog post I had just finished. I told her she was too late, she told me that I should make a post that covers her suggestions. Now I'm not one to cater to the whims of the masses¹, but she had some good suggestions, so here we go.

Sarah says, "Write about..."

The Grammys - I'm not an awards show guys, and I'm not really much of a music guy either. Which isn't to say I don't like music, I just tend to listen to things people suggest, or to music made by people I know, so I'm usually out of the loop about the big artists of the year. So needless to say I don't really care about the Grammys, like, at all. I was shocked to see that Kanye was up for some awards, not because I didn't think he deserved to be, but rather because it seems like his album came out forever ago as opposed to last January².

Gardens - My most vivid garden memories involve both of my grandparents' gardens. My grandpa Joe (mom's dad) had a garden up in Wisconson, and more than anything I can remember that he grew beets and would pickle them, so everytime we went to visit we would eat beets out of mason jars. I loved them, but we never had beets any other time, or any other way, until recently when I started roasting them. My grandparents on my dad's side (Kenneth and Katherine) had a garden as well, I remember it was on the other end of their property by a creek. To get there you could either walk through the woods or follow a long path all the way down from the house³. I can still picture sitting on my grandfathers lap as we drove the riding mower down to the garden, everything about their backyard has a mystical glow about it in my mind. I also saved my sisters life once when she almost fell in to the creek, I only bring this up now because if she is reading this I want her to remember it when she is comes to a later item.

Olympics - Let's get this out of the way right up front: The Winter Olympics are way better than Summer. Curling alone would do it, but add in an event where you ski and then shoot targets, or guys flying down an icy mountain as fast as they can on a tiny sled, it's just way more exciting. I guess the Summer Olympics are coming up with year, maybe I'll try and watch some soccer⁴. Maybe.

Favorite 90's singers - In the early 90's it was easily Boyz II Men, who are one of three artists to replace themselves as #1 on the Billboard top hundred⁵. In the later 90's I was more into alternative rock (or Alt-Rock if you will). Groups like Cake, Sublime (who were really more Ska-Punk), Green Day, The Offspring.

Most useless article of clothing - Thinking about this as a guy was tough, I feel like there isn't much we have to wear that doesn't serve a purpose. However, I did come up with two things. One that I've warn and one that I haven't. Vests, either sweater or suit, are kind of dumb, just put some sleeves on there. Sock garters, I don't know if any men still use these⁶, but we've got elastic now, your socks will stay up on their own. The vests are what I have worn.

Buffet Lines - Years ago, when I was on staff with Young Life, I asked one of the students that I knew what he wanted to do for his birthday. He told me that he wanted to go to the Black Buggy Amish Buffet in Washington IN, which was like an hour away. It was summer so I said, "Sure." So Nick (the student), his friend, a co-leader of mine (also Nick) and I drove up to Washington to get Black Buggy. The thing you need to realize is that Black Buggy has the best buffet ever. It's legitimate Amish food which means it is a) delicious and b) very, very heavy. What makes this story more ridiculous is that we ate, then immediately headed back down to Newburgh because there was a Ultimate Frisbee game that evening. Eating at a buffet, driving an hour, then playing Frisbee was not the best decision I've ever made. Food was good though.

Circus Peanuts - What idiot invented these? They have everything going against them: bad taste⁷, gross texture, sad looking. When you eat them you end up feeling like you wasted your time and come out a worse person. They are the Michael Moore of candy.

The MLS - I've never seen an MLS game, I'd like to at some point. I think it would be a fun experience.

My wedding - I'm taking this to mean Sarah's wedding, not my wedding. And that's going to get me into some trouble. My sister got married last October, the wedding was down in Nashville, TN. It was an amazing weekend, I had a fantastic time, the food was great, we took pictures all around the city, the venue for the reception was phenomenal, my sister was as beautiful as any bride has ever been, and as an added bonus, she married a great guy. I say all that so that you will understand how serious I am when I tell you that when Tim and Sarah got married a month later it was the BEST wedding I've ever been to (dear sister, please remember that I once saved your life). It was a great combination of lots of friends, lots of dancing, lots of beer, great food, face plants, post wedding hangout, reunions, laughing, and them more dancing. This picture sums it up pretty well.

Photo by Cathy & David Photographers
http://www.cathydavidphoto.com/

So congratulations Tim and Sarah, my sister probably hates me now.

Steve Martin - You know what movie I really love? Bowfinger. Here's some things it's got going for it: Steve Martin being funny, Eddie Murphy being funny (surprisingly), Yoda directs⁸ it, rips on Scientology, Heather Graham doesn't ruin it (surprisingly), a great Robert Downey Jr cameo. I wonder if it's on Netflix Instant view?

The color orange - Would that be a 2 wing 3, or a 3 wing 2?

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¹ Oh, wait. That is totally what I do
² Technically, the January before last
³ It probably wasn't as long as I remember, but I was much smaller then
⁴ Or football, if you rather
⁵ The others were The Beatles and Elvis
⁶ Other than to denote stereotypical rich guys in movies
⁷ Taste is the most important part
⁸ Frank Oz, who was the voice and puppet master for both Yoda and Fozzie Bear