does anyone read this?

so i haven't blogged recently, and i've been to paris and portugal in that time.. but i really don't want to write a ton because frankly i'm lazy and a little tapped out mentally at the moment, literally. 

so instead of words, we'll do pictures. it'll be like show-and-tell, without the tell. cool.

PARIS

SEMANA SANTA pt.1

Mama Lundquist is in town!

She got in last friday, I picked her up at the airport with a coffee (of course) and from there we proceeded to explore Madrid until Monday. So far she has seen: Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Plaza Cibeles, (3 biggest plazas in Madrid), Museo Prado, Museo Sorolla, (2 of the best!) the royal Botanical Gardens, Cafe Gijon (old literati cafe) and Cafe Comercial (oldest cafe in Madrid). We also went to the Sunday Rastro aka outdoor flea market, the zoo!! (which i always get really excited about and then proceed to get sad once i see the caged animals), a flamenco show at Casa Patas, and churros w/chocolate.  She

 drank sangria, ate a variety of tapas, and even saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And she is now an expert on the metro system. I'm so proud.

On to Toledo...

... on Monday, we made a day trip to Toledo aka the medieval capital of Spain. Aaron would've loved it.. I begged mom to buy him a sword or a suit of chain mail or at the very least an old metal chess set. She settled on a letter opener-shaped-like-a-sword. Lame! Anyway, it was cool, very old-worldy and castle-y and Lord of the Rings-y and such. And they even had a doner kebab! 

In other news, we also went to Sevilla for a few days. I like to think of Sevilla as the bat cave of Catholicism: like the home base, the place to always return to. I think every Catholic in Spain was there this week. Not being religious myself, it was more interesting for me from a cultural viewpoint, but i know mom liked it. Small cobblestone streets, processions with big floats (floats?) of the virgin or jesus with candles, incense, men/women/children in hooded KKK-esque cloaks, crosses, the whole deal. It was especially beautiful at night when everything was lit up.

We walked along the Guadalquivir River, I translated every item from each menu even though we would just end up ordering randomly anyway, she worried about finding souvenirs for each of my 12 brothers and sisters, we both got exhausted walking hours each day. But it was well worth it and a great time all in all. I've really missed her! And i'm glad to be able to share some of what i've learned and experienced with her. Yay family :)

Aaand tomorrow.. I'm heading to Paris! I don't speak a word of french and it might rain, but i could give a shit. It's going to be me, a bottle of wine, and a good friend in front of the tower/ Versaille/ Moulin Rouge/ the Seine/ Disneyland (just kidding.. no but really)/ Notre Dame / Louvre etc. Life could be worse.

Cuento nuevo

The most recent assignment in my short story class was to apply the theory of spacialization, or making a space/place the protagonist. Essentially.

So here's my attempt, once again, in Spanish (how I wrote it) and below, translated into English:

Ok scratch that, I just realized I can't copy/paste into this stupid blog. I'll just write it in English.

--------------

     He lived his entire life within four walls. He began to become aware of the walls while sitting in a chair within his office, which sat in the middle of a commercial street in the center of the city. This building looked like all the others: tall, made of straight lines, with a grid of mirrors that reflected the grid of streets and people below.

     It was Wednesday, a day in the middle of a long and normal week. Behind one of the windows, he was seated as his desk. He had received a new project, from a habitual client. Using a calculator (although he had the ability to do the formulas in his head, his boss had imposed a work code that demanded the use of calculators), he passed the day finding and writing numbers on the pages, white squares full of numbers.

     All of a sudden, he couldn't breathe. (This had occurred before, but in recent days with more frequency.) With an effort to fight off panic, he reached for his tie, to loosen it, although he knew that the strangulation came from something different, something bigger and darker, something that he would not be able to escape. The four walls of his office, white and tall, seemed to move in on him quickly, the door disappeared...

     And suddenly, as quickly as the feeling had come, it left. With sweat on his upper lip and without a word, he returned to his work, until the day ended and he could leave with all the other workers, faceless in the darkness, the black walls of night replacing the white ones of the office.

     He drove, walked, arrived at his apartment building. From outside it looked like all the others: old, but clean, with some windows illuminated creating a grid of light and darkness. The hinges on the front door had not been oiled for some time, and emitted a strange sound when pushed, punctuated by the sharp echo of his shoes against the floor. The lights of the elevator were broken, and within their glass box, flickered.

     His wife had prepared dinner, like all the previous nights and all those that would pass, and when he entered the apartment, was already seated at the table. For the first time, he paid attention to the construction of the kitchen: small, with a very low ceiling (lower than he remembered), and only one wall had a window, also small.

     That night, his wife rejected his new suggestion to eat outside, on the balcony, and later, rejected his sexual advances in the kitchen while leaning against the oven. So they made love, without interest nor passion, in bed, surrounded by four white walls of the canopy, made of fabric but in his mind, as strong as wood.

     The daily rhythm continued, each day the same, identical and without end, like the numbered squares of the calendar that hung on the wall of his office. The attacks continued, and each time one occurred, he became aware of more and more walls that surrounded all parts of his existence: those in the movie theater, in the super market, in the hallways of the metro, each enclosed space smaller than the one before. Each night was also the same. He laid with open eyes, for many hours before falling asleep. And without time to rest his mind, began to dream, always the same. He is looking at a large space, large enough to be interminable, and at the center (if an interminable space can have a center), is a toy, like any child's toy. The toy is constructed like a square, painted with images from the city and from nature. It is playing music, squeaky and strange, and all of a sudden it opens with a "pop!", but instead of a clown jumping out, it begins to suck him in. He tries to fight it, but little by little loses, until...

     One day, a Wednesday, after dinner, while the gas continued to fill and heat the oven, he put his head inside it. Inhaling freely for the first time, he realized that his death, like his life, would occur within four walls. His last breath was laughter.

     Although he died with a smile, at the funeral (as the few attendants would later say), his open eyes seemed to be full of terror when they closed the lid of the coffin, terror for the realization that death, like life, is nothing more than an eternity within a box.

more on Valencia...

¡VALENCIA!

So after the festivities of las fallas, 3 girl friends and I stayed in Valencia to explore the city on Friday and Saturday. 

On Friday, we walked to a square to see a famous, giant (literally, HUGE) statue of the Virgin and Christ. It's made from a wooden grid, and then is covered head to toe in bouquets of flowers. The ground all around the statue is covered in a thick blanket of flowers. You could smell it (so sweet) from a block away. Really beautiful.

A little while later, we came upon a man offering horse and buggy rides through old town (i.e. the historic center) of Valencia. For 7 Euro each, he took us down tiny streets, through busy intersections (definitely got strange looks from drivers!), and alongside old bits of castle walls. It was fantastic.

After the tour, we hopped on a bus and headed to the beach. It's been too long! This was my first time seeing the Mediterranean... so blue! The sand was so fine, and I spent most of my time searching for sea shells (I'm such a kid, it's my favorite thing about the beach).

That night, the girls and I did some bonding over wine, chocolate and gouda. (yes, I love my life here in Spain.) The next day, after sleeping til noon (oops), we did a little more touring, got some fresh squeezed orange juice and gofres (waffles..so good), then headed to the train station for the 3 hour ride back to Madrid. Overall, loved this weekend.

¡Quémalo!

Or, in English, "burn it!"

This was the chant of the crowd around 1 am, as we waited in suffocating closeness, eyes on the prize, or in this case, the huge 3-4 story-tall sculpture that would soon be burned to the ground.

This, is Las Fallas.

The day started at noon, as we piled onto a bus and headed towards

 the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia. Four hours later, we disembarked into a place that can best be described as Disneyland-meets-war zone. The air was filled with smoke and the resounding 'boom' of fire crackers. Streets were blocked off, each intersection filled with one of the huge sculptures. The sculptures, which Valencian artists take all year to build, are filled with political and social satire; for instance, we saw one with America represented as a drunk bald eagle sitting on top of an egg which was the world, and another with Obama knocking George Bush out in a boxing ring.

After walking through the streets for a while, we sat down on a curb with thousands of other people to watch a parade. First came women in elegant 'vestidos,' followed by dancers and a brass band. Then came the fire throwers, i.e. people with tridents that shot out a continuous stream of sparks... pyromaniacs, all of them. It lasted over an hour, and was quite the spectacle. 

After the parade ended, we continued to walk the crowded streets. We watched a group of women doing traditional African dance to the accompaniment of drummers, ate Valencian paella (traditional rice+meat dish of the region) from a street vendor, and watched a mini-Falla (a small version of the big-burnings, done earlier in the night for the kids).

Around midnight, we headed towards one of the biggest intersections to watch the burning of one of the sculptures. First there was an elaborate fireworks show, literally right above or heads (I still do not understand how these things are legal..), which was beautiful. Then a string of firecrackers went off, leading all the way to the head of the statue, lighting it on fire. The thing immediately went up in flames, everyone was cheering and screaming, I was so close I could feel the heat on my face. Bomberos, or fire fighters, began hosing it down right away but to no avail... it burned for minutes, and for a while I was certain that the buildings surrounding it (we were literally in the middle of a city intersection, surrounded on all sides by apartment buildings) would go up in flames too. 

¡Qué guay!, no?

All in all, the coolest cultural experience of Spain thus far. ¡Viva las fallas!

Hansen & Backstreet Boys in Madrid?

...yea, that's what we heard last night at the bar. I think when the djs see a group of 10 Americans trek in, they grab some US Top 20 from the 90s and throw it on... and of course, we eat it up it. :)

In a little over 12 hours, I'll be getting on a bus with a bunch of friends and heading to Valencia (Mediterranean coast city of Spain) for Las Fallas, a HUGE celebration/festival. Basically they build huge beautiful paper mache statues/floats, parade them threw the streets while people spontaneously put off fire crackers, then at midnight they burn everything to the ground. The finale is a fireworks show, which i've heard can rival Disneyland's... which means the expectations are pretttty high. 

I learned about the Fallas a few times while studying spanish at UCLA, so I've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. I'm going to take a million pictures!

Me and a few close girl friends are going to stay Fri and Sat after Fallas, to explore Valencia, go to the beach (yes!), get authentic paella, get a tan, etc. I guess it'll be allllrigght... :)

Forgot to mention..I'm a published author!

..sorta. Another girl from the EAP program and I volunteered to write an article for the EAP blog about our program's trip to Andalucia way back when. They're supposed to post it soon, so here's the link: 

http://www.eapenmadrid.blogspot.com

It's not up yet but check back!