Jeremy

14th of August, 2006

well i have had time to fully digest spain. it was an eye opening experience. the only thing that i really didnt enjoy on some level was the travel situation. i went to a bull fight, which was interesting. i spent lots of time at the beach and at school. the program has room for improvement, but is better if you go into it with an open mind. i have included various pictures of my trip in spain. if you are considering this program, i give it two thumbs up.

1. Vicente Blasco Ibáñez: He was born in valencia in 1867. he was a novelist and a politician who was exiled from spain for his political views in 1923. he died five years later. his most acclaimed work was Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis, which translates into "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse". he wrote several novels that took place in valencia.

2. Joaquín Sorolla: he was born in valencia in 1863. he was an impressionist painter who became known for his ability to depict the effects of light.

3. Barraca: is a type of house that is typical of valencia. it is made of different things, but it is basically a shack.

4. Chufa: is a similar in taste to nuts. it is made into a drink called horchata. i did not try the drink after multiple reports of the drink not being very tasty.

5. Oldest Horchateria: there are two that claim to be the oldest. both are in the plaza Santa Catalina.

6. Valencia the song:

"Valencia es la tierra de las flores
De la luz y del amor
Valencia tus nmujeres todas tienen
de la rosas el color
Valencia la sentir como perfume
En tus huertos el azahar
quisiera en la tierra Valenciana
mis amores encontrar


La blanca barraca la flor de naranjo
La huerta pulida de almendros en flor
La turia de plata y el cielo turguesa
Y el sol Valenciana van diciendo amor


Amores en Valencia son floridos


Como ramos de azahar
Quereres en Valencia sus mujeres
Con en alma suelen dar
Pasionens en la huerta Valenciana
Si le dan el corazon
Sus hembras ponen alma y ponen vida
En un beso de pasion


Valencia es la tierra de las flores
De la luz y del amor
Valencia tus nmujeres todas tienen
de la rosas el color
Valencia la sentir como perfume
En tus huertos el azahar
quisiera en la tierra Valenciana
mis amores encontrar"


7. Santiago Calatrava: is considered by most to be the most famous architect from Valencia. he was born in valencia on July 28, 1951. in valencia, his most famous work is the arts and science museum.

8. La fideuá: is a seafood dish that is similar to paella with few exceptions. one of which is that it is sometimes made with pasta instead of rice.

9. acequia: is an irrigation canal

10. Dama de Elche: Found by chance on La Alcudia, a nearby archaeological site in 1897, the Lady of Elche is a well-known polychrome stone Iberian art believed to be produced in the fourth century B.C. although some scholars and others date it to the Hellenistic or Roman periods.

It represents the bust of a woman with a very complex headdress and big coils on each side of the face. Who she might have been also remains a mystery--perhaps a goddess or an Iberian princess. On the back it has a hole, possibly for the deposit of the ashes of the deceased. It could be therefore be an example of a cinerary urn typical of Iberian funerary rituals.

Nevertheless some scientists debate the correct date for the original work and even its veracity. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/esanchez/dama.htm



14th of July, 2006
¡WARNING! THE FOLLOWING IS NOT INTENDED FOR THE FAINT OF HEART OR THE CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN. IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED OR CONSIDER YOURSELF CONSERVATIVE, PLEASE STOP READING NOW. OTHERWISE, ENJOY.

contrary to what david says, the night life only gets started at one in the morning. the only night, so far, that i have gone to a club, the first club had no one in it because it was too early. it was only aobut 12:45 am. the lack of air conditioning is kinda a problem, but i am becoming accustomed to the heat.

walking everywhere is interesting, it kinda reminds me of new york. you get to interact with the people more like that and you also get to see the sights, sometimes at an agonizingly slow pace.

as of present, david and i have an 11:00pm curfew, so we havent been going out much. hopefully this will soon be resolved.

everything here is more expensive than it is in the states with a few exceptions, most notably, american cigarettes and domestic liquors. these two things are about 30% cheaper here than in the states.

there are lots of things to look at, such as buildings (wonderful architechture, if you like that sort of thing) and off the top of my head, traffic. the traffic is crazy, with all the mopeds and people running red lights and double and triple parking. apparently it is custom here to leave your car in neutral if you double or triple park. one night david and i watched a man push a car out of his way to leave a parking space.
the man was driving a compact car, so the space that was left was compact size. then this guy in a big body benzo comes and tries to park there. he procedes to ram the car behind him twice before he decides that the space is too small.

oh yes, mullets. there seems to have been some sort of outbreak of mulletitis here. it plagues the young and old alike and doesn´t discriminate according to gender.

the television here is also different. it is in no way censored. the other night i was watching the news and they were doing a segment on the ¨heat wave¨ that is going on currently. one woman that they interviewed was topless and seemed to care less that she was on television, baring her breasts to all of spain. and then there are commercials that have nudity in them. also, langdon says that at midnight, xxx porn comes on the public access channels, if you like that sort of thing, langdon.

enclosed are pictures of my home for the first night in spain, the airport in madrid. for those of you that dont know, my luggage was lost and no one could give me a straight answer as to where it was, so i decided to stay in the airport all night with a woman that i met who had similar problems with her luggage. allegedly, our luggage was supposed to arrive at 8am on the first flight from casablanca, which it didnt. but enclosed are some pictures of the airport, me and the baglady and our cart, the girl that stole my bed while i was outside smoking and the cleaning dude that wouldnt just leave the towels outside the door. also im including some pictures of spain itself.

enough rambling. hasta luego.