Martes, 14/03/06

Palabras positivas y negativas hoy en la clase, manana nosotros comenzamos el tiempo para pasada.

Which I think means that we’ll spend the next three days doing that, and then wrap it up in time for the weekend. We’ll see. I’ve got a lot of memorization to work on, and while I’m not really falling behind, I am having more and more stack up for continual review, which makes things sorta dificile.

After class, I went to the bagel barn and uploaded the past several days of blog, but couldn’t get any of the photos to load. I don’t know whether it was a server problem or a connection problem, but either way, I blew an hour and a half in the attempt. I can’t complain, it’s amazing I can get a connection down here at all. I’ll just be thankful for that, and let the rest slide.

I walked around for awhile this afternoon, studied and read in the park, walked some more, took some photos___ moving from walls to doors these days, I mostly like the surfaces and textures (and colors of course) of the deterioration.

Contemplating multi-media next art group… painting/sculpture/drawing/book body of work. bible/history/literature content along with thoughts of future direction. I’d like to puzzle out and experiment around with method ahead of time… of course that seldom seems to work. I’d like to stretch canvases and I’d like to play with wood/plaster/burlap sculptures… Maybe I’ll just paint landscapes.

Went to no sé for dinner and some studying. Came home and made flashcards for the stuff from yesterday and today. I’m a bit concerned that I might get slammed with a lot of info tomorrow, maybe not.

Drew some pictures this afternoon, need to draw more, haven’t been doing it. Drawing today made me feel good. Tuesday night drawing at the Y, wonder if Tim’s there.

That’s it. Goodnight.

Miercoles, 15/03/2006

The tricky thing about being in a foreign country… well one of them, is figuring the ins and outs about purchases. I mean you can just be a tourist and stay at the hotel and eat at the restaurant, but not only does that get old after a week and a half, but also it seems to miss the real experience. The reason I want to learn Spanish is so that I need not feel as much an outsider as I do. I’ll probably always feel to some degree an outsider here, because I don’t have the features of the locals and because even in Venice, I feel like an outsider.

I’ve got access to a kitchen here, but it’s not much of one and preparing meals for one always complicates things. It usually ends up easier, quicker and more satisfying to go out and get something at a restaurant. But, having sampled a wide variety of places to eat in Antigua, and being a creature of habit, lately settling down to just the few favorites I’ve chosen, I felt like maybe I was taking the easy way out. So today, I went to the market and bought an avocado, two tomatoes and some lovely soft freshly baked rolls (all for a total of Q2.50 (33 1/3 cents)) and brought them home and had a great lunch.

I wonder what other culinary bargains and experiences are out there. It’s embarrassing that it’s taken me two weeks to start experimenting on this stuff, but there are an awful lot of good restaurants to try and I have been exploring other parts of life here. Nevertheless, I think this is going to open up a whole new door to discovery for me… and the girl at the panaderia down the street has a lovely smile…

Past tense seems to be going quite a bit quicker than present, which is good, but I still am going to have a lot of work to do. I’m able to catch more of the conversations I eavesdrop on, but the speed at which the locals speak still leaves most of it a mystery to me. Alejandra speaks nice and slowly for me, although I guess she’s speeding up a bit, but still speaking clearly. Today was the beginning of the third week. Hmmm, all of a sudden more than halfway done. More past tense tomorrow and then on Friday normal class ends at 10:30 (instead of the usual 12 noon) so that we can all head off for a day at the hotsprings. Should be fun.

I just wrote an email to liz, and this chair is not the greatest for extended sessions at the computer, so I think I’ll call it a night and read myself to sleep. I picked up a history of the Plantagenets the other day___ I left off with Henry II’s death, but there’s plenty more where that came from… it’s kinda interesting, it’s an older book and I think historians tend to be more receptive to Eleanor these days, at least I’ve always kind of liked her… I’ve never been able to make up my mind about Thomas a Becket though.

buenas noches.

jueves, 16/03/06

I’ve been wondering for awhile now why it is that children so often seem so much happier than adults, regardless of circumstances. I think teaching at the school planted the seed of that thought, and I remember it rising to the surface when I watched born into brothels which showed kids in an exceptionally difficult environment, but although they struggled, they nevertheless found time to be kids and have fun. The adults around them however were somber and bitter, and yet were often only maybe only ten (or fewer) years older than the kids. I wondered as I watched… what happens between childhood and adulthood to drive the joy from our lives?

Now, I’m not saying that adults aren’t ever joyous and that it’s easy being a kid, because I know neither of those views would be accurate, but you rarely see an adult experiencing the joy that is commonplace for a six year old. For that matter though, you seldom see an adult throwing an impassioned tantrum. It seems that the range of emotions is more extreme in children and the obvious explanation seems to be that as we grow (mature?) we develop the ability to control our emotions. Clearly, being in control of our emotional selves has its advantages when it comes to the practical side of life, but I look at these joyfilled kids and wonder if the price is worth it. Emotional control is not easily turned on and off… we become so adept at suppressing our emotions that we forget how to feel them… perhaps we should focus more on experiencing the extemes rather than protecting ourselves from them.

Of course it could all be the chemistry of childhood and adolescence that makes the difference… hard to say.

There is something wonderfully uplifting about watching children play.

It might also have to do with hope, possibility, optimism and a disregard for the immanence of personal mortality.

And then there’s love and faith issues… which children (in their youthful wisdom) seldom ponder.

We finished the past tense today, although I guess we’ve got something to work on yet for the first 2 ½ hours tomorrow. Then we head off to the hot springs; should be fun.

I really don’t know what became of the day… explored mostly I guess. Wandered around, watched children playing, read for awhile, ate an apple, did my homework… and here it is, time for bed.

Goodnight.

17/03/06 viernes,

tied up a few loose ends concerning Spanish past tense in class and then around 11 headed off in a brightly painted bus for the hot springs. The springs were a bit unlike what I expected. They were natural thermally heated springs, but the water was contained in what amounted to a concrete swimming pool with a gravel bottom, through which the water entered. There was a small stream of water that ran next to the pool, but that was a sclose to a natural looking setting as it got. Nevertheless the area around the spring was mountainous and beautiful and the day was pretty and warm… maybe a bit too sunny___ I returned with a pinkishly burned face. I was smart enough to put my shirt back on after an hour or so in the sun, so the rest of me didn’t get scorched.

The day was nice and was made up of maybe an hour in the pool and then a few hours sitting around the edge, drinking cervezas and talking with the other students. There was a guy from Holland, another from Israel, the three Norwegian girls, a girl from Australia, an American from Oklahoma and I. I enjojed the talk, it was pleasant to speak at length in English, I guess I haven’t really done that since the last evening of scrabble with nyama and jaron. I’m sorta torn between wanting to avoid English and wanting to communicate easily and fluidly. I guess that’s ok. A little harmless internal conflict just adds some spice maybe.

We got back around 4. made vague plans with some of the others to meet up later for st patrick’s day beers, but I ended up, taking a walk, buying some food at the Mercado, trying to check my email, but couldn’t get a good enough connection__ managed to upload a letter to anya, but couldn’t download anything except 34 pieces of spam, out of ninety emails… probably most of the other 56 were spam too, but you never know___ hidden amidst that spam are often a few gems from loved and missed frinds. So I’ll try again tomorrow and see if I have better luck.

I’ll maybe go to the bagel barn in the morning and try to upload this. I’ve got a lot of studying to do this weekend. Hmmm, after this weekend there’s only one weekend left before classes are over. Seven more days of class, next Tuesday will be it. Time’s flying by.

I hope all of you are doing well.

Goodnight.