recuerdos de inglaterra

hi from the land of rain and darkness. okay so its a harsh way to start out, but we've been here 5 days and 4 and a half of them have been filled with dreary clouds and dripping rain. other than that i have had a splendid time.
england = no sun

a few english experiences that have been had that have been (nice run of h words there followed by beens) crumpets (being the american i am i smothered them with peanutbutter and jelly) tea (i've had three cups, in the previous year i drank 4 cups total) fish and chips (now that's niiiice) followed by the inevitable skinning in the exchange rate between the pound and the dollar. since when should the english pound be worth more than the dollar? you could fit like 12 englands in the US. bigger country = stronger money

thats my take anyway. and now that ive alienated my british readers... i should say that i really do like your country. BUT tell your customs officials to be a bit nicer to me when i come to visit! nice american = easy time in customs

my good friend juli from spain came with me. he's got good english, but maybe not as good as mine. well he walked right through customs. im not bitter, i just think that better english = easier time in customs when entering an english speaking country. why don't the english understand this concept?

throwaway comment to the english: if i really disliked your country i wouldn't have bothered to come.

maybe i should name some things i like about england....
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well im just glad good quality humo(u)r is never lost on a tru brit.
brit = good laugh

i will probably wrap this up now. when we reach the sunny land again i will write something perhaps slightly more worth reading... CHEERS!

tasty

chompin on some churros. i walked 15 minutes in driving rain for them! so they had better be good!

día 25

well we are fast approaching Christmas. fast approaching the time of year that i seem to enjoy more each time i experience it. my appreciation for the time of year and the cold weather (its really the only time i won't complain about my numb hands and frostbitten ears) is slowly and steadily growing. now don't take this to mean that i now like christmas films or those stupid glowing santas. i despise them more than ever. i think because both are entirely false. what i do have is a soft spot for 'O Holy Night' which i could listen to on repeat without problem for the good part of a december night.

perhaps i am stopping more then ever. and just being. being aware of being. i have a lot to be thankful for. i am blessed because i have two families. one where i live and one in indiana. yesterday i suddenly realized that i am missing my family. i am missing being able to spend christmas with them. to stop with them and just be. to eat with them and laugh and experience those moments where only until afterwards does one actually realize they were happening. i am able to do that with one family but not the other right now. being away is making me more away of what i actually have. acutely aware in fact of how i am blessed beyond measure (to have family wherever i go). is there anything else one could ask for?

have a blessed Christmas.

and to my family: miss you all and looking forward to the next Christmas i get to spend with you!

My favorite song. And it's been a long time since I've been able to name my favorite. So it's called Manda una Señal by Maná.

I would apologize for it being in Spanish but I like it in Spanish so I'm not going to.

This is some random kid drumming it with the song in the background. So you don't see the band but hey, I enjoyed it so I'm posting it!

what i've got here are a few vids taken from my camera. im no professional and neither is my camera so please don't be too harsh on us. one is of a small spanish pueblo. i held the camera up to the window as we drove through. it's not at all like the city where i live but it certainly is a normal small town, pueblito here in spain. the other two vids are of some flamenco that jeremy and i saw in seville. maybe the lighting and the sound isn't great but you get the idea of what flamenco sevillano is like... que os disfrutéis!

What we've got here is the beginning of a week with Jeremy. Quality time. Catchuptime. Well spent. Second sign down is my town. We were five hours away in Madrid, walking the streets and constantly I would see signs pointing to the city where I live. It's not that big, but all the signs made it seem like the place to be! The second picture is Jay taking some pics of the sidewalk. Whatever floats his boat. Okay, so the truth is that it said Madrid and he was getting a cool shot. All in all we hit up Madrid, Seville and the hometown Badajoz. Not bad for a stay less than a week. Anyways, I'm not going to rehash the entire trip but thought I'd stick up a few things. We saw some flamenco in Seville too, I'll try and get some video up shortly...

double quote

O momentary grace of mortal men,
which we more hunt than the grace of God.
-Shakespeare, Richard III

To love a person means to see him as God intended him to be.
-Dostoyevski

not stalking just observing

I can stare out of my thin slice of a window down into the life of another. I can see down onto their patio and in through their large double-paned sliding glass doors that are never shut with the curtains that drape their edges. I can see what is playing on the television and I can see what is hung out to dry. I can tell when they get home and I can tell when they go to bed. If they smoke, I can watch. If they play cards, I can see their hand. If they stand outside at the edge and look down at the people passing below them, I can stand looking down at them.
It makes me wonder if there is a window into my life that someone can silently look in through, without me having the slightest clue.

veinticuatro

well im 24 now. i just figured the world should know. i passed a good birthday. filled with, well you know, work and a bit of celebration. i'd say the highlight was the actual evening. about 10 oclock we were off to a sweet mexican restaurant, actually more spicy than sweet, for some quality fajitas with wicked hot green salsa. much quality later i was stuffed but still found room for a mango dessert. liquid mango with whipped cream on top. a sufficient end to a good day. but it didn't end there. we were off after that to pass some of the good night away. a band called the purple experience was doing their best impression of jimmy hendrix. they were old, they were white, they were spanish, but sure could rock. and rock they did. purple haze, all along the watchtower, and other numbers were belted out. not bad, not bad. if you were to try and talk to them in english however, you'd only get as far as hello and a blank stare. that's cause all they'd done was memorize the words. don't look too suprised. i could give you the names of a handful of english singing bands around here who couldn't pass third grade english. its just the way it is, something about english music.

and so i passed into another year, 1 something in the morning, listening to several pony-tailed, beard boasting, seventies rockers, doing what they love to do. until next year!