Dinner!

Sometimes I have Opinions

I've never been one to follow the news, even having studied journalism. So when I was told about the channel here that shows news in English everyday, I wasn't especially thrilled. Internet news I'd do sometime, but TV + news was just about the opposite of what I did back home. Then somewhere between having an abundance of time and not much to do, I turned on the television and ate my breakfast like a proper American.

They show dead people on TV here. Did you know that? In all my years in the states, I don't recall ever seeing a body on TV, much less a whole room of corpses. I was beside myself, as this was definitely breaking the journalistic standards I was taught. I didn't pay much attention in school, but I learned at least this much. Did they just show a man bleeding to death in the street? Perhaps a slip-up of the cameraman. Given the current conditions of the world, there was not a shortage of these footages to prove that it wasn't. Reporters were front line alongside the rebels in Libya, recording the battle while being shot at. 5,000 are dead in Japan, and you see a room full of unidentified bodies. Maybe this is a bit gruesome, and by some standards perhaps unnecessary. We don't need to see draped stretchers to know there are dead bodies under the rubbles. We know.

I've come to think this way being accustomed to the sanitized news of U.S. We've become so advanced that we can afford to live in a separate reality. We'll eat chicken breasts but we don't want to even see the rest of the chicken(topic for another day). Tell us the number of casualties, but don't you dare show us a body. We know the world in theory, but in reality we're getting further away with every wall that's put up to soften the truth. Anyone will acknowledge that humans are not numbers, but what does that really mean? It's easy to say that five were killed in a clash with the army, but attach faces to these five and the pictures change. The numbers are suddenly real human beings with lives like yours and mine. Vietnam was the first televised war in the States, and the country erupted in one of the largest protest movements in history. It's not that we don't know what it means to die, but sometimes it takes more than a number for it to really register. How much respect are we really showing the dead if all that they've become are forgotten digits?

It's not that I'm eager to see more deaths on TV, but perhaps a bit less censoring will do us all some good. Not only have we been isolated from some basic realities of life, but the rest of the world barely exists for Americans. For a country of such high economic status, our international knowledge is abysmal. I was never avoiding the news. I was only avoiding the self-absorbed crap that America thrives on. I can only hope that one day the country will stop reporting on every burglary in the neighborhood and start paying more attention to the world outside our white picket fence.

Out My Window

It's raining all week, like the sky is crying for all the people dying. I've been thinking of this song.

Parc Güell

I have to be honest and say that the last one was actually taken by my friend Alfie. I think it's actually the only photo in this entire blog that wasn't mine. (I'll tell him you liked it Claire).

Found One More

My Town - Sant Cugat del Valles

So for the past few weeks, I've been seeing silverfish around the house. The strange thing is that it's always been just one, and frozen in motion, too. I open the bathroom door, there's one resting on the floor. I go take my jacket, there's one by the hook. I go to the basement, there's one on the stairs. The very same one, perhaps? It's starting to remind me of that gnome that turns out to be in the background of all your photos. You know the one.

Beaches and Sitges

My dearest Canon - I cannot believe I left you for three weeks. Oh how I missed you and the way you make me feel like I am whole. You are capable of producing so much color that flickr can't even handle it(and thus flattens them below). I will never leave you again.







It was CarniVAL week(aka Mardi Gras in the States)! I went with some friends to a parade in the nearby town Sitges(gay central of Spain apparently). We got there during the kids parade in the afternoon, then had a picnic on the beach joining the hundreds of other adults all waiting for the sun to go down(and the real party to start). Somewhere between drinking and personally not liking taking photos in big crowds with loads going on(detrimental to my journalistic career, I know)(probably the latter), these are all I got. I mean, sometimes it's just like, I just wanna chill.







Monday was holiday. I spent all afternoon on the beach. Oh Barcelona, I'm falling for you.

Walk in the Mountain

Photo quality has been sub-par(especially here, not sure what happened). I know. Still trying to figure out the new Lumix. Will stop being lazy soon and start use my real camera.

On a different note, Television > God

Colonia Güell - Santa Coloma de Cervelló

Another mini-excursion to a nearby village.

Colonia Güell is a small colony built around a textile factory in the late 19th century. Eusebi Güell, the businessman who initiated the project, commissioned Antoni Gaudi to design and build parts of the colony, the most famous piece being the Crypt(which was sadly closed). This will probably be revisited on a day when its open. A few quick photos for now...




This photo feels awkward to me. I liked it a lot, so I framed it.


A small abandoned castle nearby, a.k.a. local youth playground.

I went to bed at 4 in the morning on quite a grungy couch last night. Too tired to write anything more descriptive than a wikipedia replica. Sleep now.

Wealth Gap...in yo face!

It's been Two Weeks

Today I went swimming at the local pool with a new friend Cristina. I never swim, but I try to say yes to all and any invites these days. Swimming caps are compulsary! But the self-consciousness fades fast once you see that everyone else looks like alien eggheads too.

Kids whine a lot.

Extended family birthday lunch at the mountain house. Hablenespanolmuyrapidoaqui! Pero esta muy bien para mis oregas ingles. I had my first full(broken) conversation in Spanish with someone I don't know! Yo aprendo! Tomorrow I have a meeting again with Ani's friend whom I'm doing language exchange with. Then one more week and I think I can start lessons in Barcelona(unless I puke on the train and decide my body will never adjust and will always get sick after riding).

Spanish is hard. No. Let me re-phrase that. Learning a new language is hard.

This week I had a dream that I flew back to the states after two months in Europe. I was so happy to see everyone, but immediately after it hit me what I had done and I thought shit, why the fuck did I just come back?
Then I woke up and realized I was still here. And was happy.

Arenys de Mar

Day trip to the beach!







I guess this could look disgusting if you don't like seafood.

Calçotada

I must be progressing. During my 18 hour trip, flight and layovers included, I had my first ever full conversation with an airplane neighbor. And it turns out she likes to travel too! And is from France! And now lives in Miami! And studied in Sweden! And is now trying to move to Brazil! And has a real job with Evian! So she just gets transferred worldwide while having a real job with a real salary and doesn't have to watch kids to survive!

... my time will come...


I'm not complaining though. My family has been really nice and welcoming(and they're not forcing me with a gun to write this either(and this neither)). After surviving through the "freeze" of Houston, which delayed my flight, I finally got to Barcelona and was immediately taken to a traditional Catalan picnic(in an effin mansion in the mountains!). I was offered a lot of beer, onions, and sausages. The weather was incredible.

Si!

Yo tambien!

My photo got in the Times!

CLICK