It's 11:23 A.M.
Fifteen thousand feet over St. Tropez, en route to Venice.
While we're up here, let's talk about flying in Europe. Positive experiences, everyone? Sure, the planes are small, and, not five minutes ago, I paid 3 USD for a Dixie cup and a tea bag, but they get us where we need to be. Unless, of course, you're Max Su.
As he reported in his post on Valencia, Max is a cursed traveler, and I mean it: the kid has a Kennedy Family level of bad mojo. So as Paige, Katherine and I were checking in at el mostrador for our flight to Lisbon, Portugal, we weren't at all surprised to see that Max's boarding pass, in fact, read: "Suarez."
And, no, not mi amiga, Betty.
But all's well that ends well, and, a few hundred Euro and several hours later, we were all in Lisbon enjoying the sweltering, face-meltingly hot weather.
(You'll notice, gentle reader, that my commentary on the Lisbon weekend may carry an unusually high degree of sarcasm, but that elevation, from acerbic to darn near vituperative, is a defensible one. You see, in light of the rolling-in-the-puppies-sacharrinity Paige, Katherine, and Max all share, it is my place, nay, my duty to restore balance to the universe. Yes, just like in Star Wars.)
Back to Lisbon. After four flights of stairs, we were greeted at our hostel by Mona, our host and newest friend from Somalia. In a shocking twist, Paige and Mona became B.F.F.A.E.S., a development after which the former offered to bring the latter a beer from our night on the town. Mona may have won Paige's heart by having some genuine life-troubles, but she didn't get on my good side until the following morning, when she arived with some sort of fabulous breakfast roll concoction/jamboree/carbohydrate medley. Even a heart of stone may melt over a good bread, gentle reader.
We had a wonderful, if largely uphill visit to Lisbon. While we toured a castle, wherein Paige attempted to do to a peacock what she had done to poor Mona (obviously with less success), Ms. Smiley managed to flash at least three strangers, one of whom attempted a Kodak moment. I shall attribute the, wait for it...exposure...to the inimitable Katherine Wilson, who nearly lured Paige over the castle wall in search of the most-cutest-everest profile pic. Bending at the waist thirty feet above ground level isn't the wisest of postures, and, while Katherine may have been the responsible party, everyone below reaped the yellow, polka-dotted consequences.
After touring the city, castle and all, we decided to embark on a day trip to The Beach and a picturesque little town called Sintra. The Beach featured, as you might expect, men, women, and children in questionable states of dress and nearly uniform degrees of unattractiveness. The sand was hot, and the water frigid, but good reading and good company cover a multitude of annoyances and old guys in borderline-pornographic banana hammocks.
Suddenly, after what seemed only four long hours, six long hours had indeed passed. We realized that we needed to pack it up and begin the journey to Sintra if we would be able to explore the mythic village before nightfall. In order to meet our ETA, we were required to delay lunch. Mistake numero uno.
Two hours later, we were wandering the streets of Sintra, and idyllic town to be sure, but one in which nearly every storefront lay shuttered and dank. The certain person who had planned this portion of the trip (let's call her Pamela Snaggletooth) had neglected to realized that by five p.m., the entire town could, in fact, be closed for business, which was quite a disappointment to us, having neglected our almuerzo. Luckily, we stumbled into a quaint cafè and had a fabulously delicious meal. It's true that we paid very dearly for the privilege (so dearly that Pamela herself felt it necessary to exit the restaurant with pockets full of free mints), but, at the time, the meal was well worth the cost.
After "lunch" ended at six thirty, we began our tour of Sintra. No longer starving, we stepped out of the cafè and breathed a sigh of relief . Lovely flowers over there. Ahh, see! A castle on the hill! May I have another mint, Pamela? It's a bit chilly, hmm?
The girls lasted about ten minutes before the demanded that we return to Lisbon. We had, after all, forgotten to dress properly. We spent three hours traveling to a restaurant where we paid far too much for a lunch in the middle of the afternoon, and we left Sintra without ever having begun.
Now I know this may seem like an excessive amount of lampooning, especially where poor Pamela is concerned, but the trip really was a bit of a wreck. Not very well-planned, you see, but, without a doubt, gentle readers, four of the most enjoyable days of my life.
We have the best friends - better than other people who claim to have "the best friends." They are wrong, and we, dear amigos, couldn't be more right.
So this rather lengthy post goes out to all the folks I haven't seen in a few weeks. I really do miss you, and I hope you know that I'd go to Sintra and back just to see your snaggletoothed little face.
Mushy Mushy,
-A.
P.S.
This was, as I mentioned, written on an airplane. I was delayed in posting until we arrived in Venice, where I have now paid six Euros to make this post. Pictures to come, and, you're welcome.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
A Moor Once Said...
2:13 AM Barcelona, Spain
Tonight is second to last night in Barca as we leave for Venice, Italy tomorrow. Its so weird to think that as my adventures abroad are ending, for so many its just beginning. So for Katherine, Sol, Paige, and iFran (and anyone Im forgetting) i give you this word of advice:
“All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.” - Paul Fussell
Compliments of travelquotes.com
Its actually not important what the quote means. Quotes are just fancy ways of saying things we already know anyways. As a matter of fact i just googled "travel quotes" and that one looked long (thus good) but not too long (thus not too boring, because, well, it still is boring). Anyways, what i want to say is that Im excited for you guys. You have no idea how much! So heres a more applicable quote,
"I so excited for you guys!"
-Max
Traveling allows you to think of things, wonderful and fascinating things that you may not have ever thought of before or without such circumstances. For example, yesterday on the metro i was looking at Cody's arm hair and i thought,
What if my mutant super power was the ability to control hair. Like Magneto (the villain in X-Men) who has the ability to control metal, but instead, hair. In one part of the first X-Men movie, Magneto bends Wolverine's skeleton (Wolverine has a skeleton made entirely of metal - he is pretty much indestructible. He's the one with the claws(see figure 1). Also, he can regenerate and heal himself). This of course causes him excruciating pain and renders him incapable of movement. So, what if i could i pull all of one's arm hair out with my mind. Or pull one's hair just enough to hurt them so they would be rendered incapable of movement like Magneto did to Wolverine. Imagine all of your hair on your body getting pulled out all at once. But then again once i made the X-Men team i don't know if anyone would take me too seriously. "oh, there's max with his mediocre mutant powers," they would say, "Cyclopes, cover for him will ya?" and then Cyclopes would have to make sure i didn't get hurt and probably be responsible for causing real damage to the enemy.
But if i did have the power to control hair i could help a lot people. like alex.
I did actually find a good quote on travelquotes,
“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” - Moorish proverb
But see, you already knew that too. Seek after those people whether its to meet new people and make new friends, or just to meet new people and realize again and again how great of friends you already have.
Sol, Paige, Katherine, Anna, Zach: Barca was incredible with you guys. There's nothing like 10 people in The Pug all at once. Everyone else, be jealous - i would be. Beckham, Im counting the days. Matt and Kelly, i will see you so soon. Courtney, remember to clear your schedule for July 3rd, Im making a stop in "God's Country." I love you all very much. Blogger is sucking it up - i'll upload figure 1 later.
Fondly,
Max Su '10
"Díme"
3.58pm, Florence, Italy.
Right now I am sitting at a little bar slash restaurant in Florence, Italy. The pizza here is very good! But first, how I got here.
We left andrew with a hug as we walked to the train station to catch our Eurail sleeper to Venice. We left in plenty of time so as to not be late for a crucial part of our trip: the train. Our train was to leave at 8.38 as confirmed by the website. We made reservations that morning and the woman said ok and booked us up. So we got there at about 7.45 and the station was totally deserted. Good sign, no? So we went and asked where the 8.38 train was and were told that no such train exists, and in fact, our train left two hours ago along with our non-refundable 75EUR/each reservations. Swell.
After a momentary freakout and some tears from angela, I turned on what French I knew and my negotiating abilities and went to work. After about 2 hours and some help from a wonderful French man, we had tickets for the next day and 50eur each returned because we got the normal cars, like we wanted originally. Wonderful! And we got another night with andrew.
The next day, we did catch our train and met a really cool guy from buenes aires getting a PhD at the university of Missouri. Dario. He had a really nice camera and lens so we got to talking and ended up touring Venice all day with him the next day. Pretty cool! He left for Florence, but we are meeting him for dinner tonight.
Last night was our first time to stay with someone we didn't know at all, via couchsurfing.com. Her name is slyvia and she lives in Venice. We met her around 7 after we left dario. She was really nice, and her from Paris, sylvie, was incredibly cool. (she had a fashion mullet! Love it)
We went to an interpretive dance show that was THE weirdest thing I have ever seen, and I'm not just saying that. Picture this: white stage, white fog, white table: stage middle, woman in white night gown with tall fur boots on. She runs into the table, backs up, goes again. Repeat for 1.5 hours, add a pant suit, a chandelier on wheels, and train noises in the backgroud and you got it. Soo weird. So after that they took us to a bar and sylvie taught me to roll cigarettes, to save money. All in all, pretty fun.
In Florence now, hope to meet up with anna sometime! Its good to read all of your posts. Thomas, I dunno about laundry. Court, we'll be back soon! Miss you all.
Aaron
Right now I am sitting at a little bar slash restaurant in Florence, Italy. The pizza here is very good! But first, how I got here.
We left andrew with a hug as we walked to the train station to catch our Eurail sleeper to Venice. We left in plenty of time so as to not be late for a crucial part of our trip: the train. Our train was to leave at 8.38 as confirmed by the website. We made reservations that morning and the woman said ok and booked us up. So we got there at about 7.45 and the station was totally deserted. Good sign, no? So we went and asked where the 8.38 train was and were told that no such train exists, and in fact, our train left two hours ago along with our non-refundable 75EUR/each reservations. Swell.
After a momentary freakout and some tears from angela, I turned on what French I knew and my negotiating abilities and went to work. After about 2 hours and some help from a wonderful French man, we had tickets for the next day and 50eur each returned because we got the normal cars, like we wanted originally. Wonderful! And we got another night with andrew.
The next day, we did catch our train and met a really cool guy from buenes aires getting a PhD at the university of Missouri. Dario. He had a really nice camera and lens so we got to talking and ended up touring Venice all day with him the next day. Pretty cool! He left for Florence, but we are meeting him for dinner tonight.
Last night was our first time to stay with someone we didn't know at all, via couchsurfing.com. Her name is slyvia and she lives in Venice. We met her around 7 after we left dario. She was really nice, and her from Paris, sylvie, was incredibly cool. (she had a fashion mullet! Love it)
We went to an interpretive dance show that was THE weirdest thing I have ever seen, and I'm not just saying that. Picture this: white stage, white fog, white table: stage middle, woman in white night gown with tall fur boots on. She runs into the table, backs up, goes again. Repeat for 1.5 hours, add a pant suit, a chandelier on wheels, and train noises in the backgroud and you got it. Soo weird. So after that they took us to a bar and sylvie taught me to roll cigarettes, to save money. All in all, pretty fun.
In Florence now, hope to meet up with anna sometime! Its good to read all of your posts. Thomas, I dunno about laundry. Court, we'll be back soon! Miss you all.
Aaron
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Auf Wiedersehen, Bonn
5:37 pm Bonn
Today is a poignant day as I pack up all my stuff. I was sorting through my belongings and stumbled upon a picture of all you guys and started to cry... oh no wait, got ya! Sorry, I decided to replace my normal introspective and thoughtful post with one of a lighter spirit.
True, I am leaving Bonn in a couple days, and tomorrow I will be taking most of my stuff to my friend Travis' host family's house (where I will be staying from July 11-18 helping remodel their local church) but there are no tears, I am really quite ready to move on to bigger and better things. But for a proper farewell it seems fit to answer all your dying questions about Germany:
No, everyone doesn't have blonde hair and blue eyes, in fact you are more likely to run into a Turkish person than a model Aryan. But I am fairly sure that only three black people live here. One of them wears a long bright orange tribal robe with a rice farmer hat, I think he is just here on UN business. The other two sit in the marketplace and carve weird African sculptures to sell people.
Yes, it is perfectly okay to never lock the door to the bathroom. Germans love saying that since they have to cram 90 million people in their Texas sized country that there is not enough room for privacy. Walking around in underwear around the house or outside is also acceptable.
No, there is not just bratwurst and sauerkraut here. Germans favorite food is probably pizza, go figure. All Germans love ice cream as well. In the morning the housewives will walk around together with their monstrous trike strollers and eat ice cream, during lunch all the business men stroll around the gardens eating ice cream, and at night all the old people sit down at the ice cream cafes and spend their large socialist welfare income on 5 euro ice cream masterpieces.
Yes, Germans drive fast on the autobahn. Mr. Kausmann (my future host father) drives the family minivan at 100 mph on the way home from church, and is passed by many a sports car, quite exciting! In fact Germans like driving fast in general. Their stoplights go from red to YELLOW then to green. This gives all drivers a chance to rev their engine before the green light to facilitate speed, and all the pedestrians in the cross walk a chance to have a heart attack before getting run over.
This may make you wonder if pedestrians are scared of cars. Why yes, they are. Nobody in their right mind J-walks. Twenty people will stand and wait for the green walking stick figure to light up before they cross the street, even if there is no car in sight. I usually just cross anyways and get patted on the back when I get to the other side for being so brave.
Yes, all Germans do drive a BMW or Mercedes or Volkswagen. German's are very proud of their cars and their ability to park on the oversized sidewalks. Some Germans like to be cute and drive smart cars, but you can tell they feel guilty about it.
Yes, Germans are avid people watchers. Many of them do it as a second job to pay for their pizza and German cars. Train and streetcar car law prohibits keeping your eyes to yourself. When somewhat inevitably stares at you, you can suddenly look at them they will turn away but look back once you turn your head again. Some of them will get smart and actually watch you via the reflection of the window. I don't really get it, but since I don't want to fit in I fight back fiercely by staring holes in people over the top of my book, which is written in ENGLISH.
Yes, German children are very spoiled. The two youngest kids in my house cry at least five times each day. I like to find where they are while they are crying and just look at them. They will stop for a second, but will quickly re-contort their faces into anguish once they realize I have distracted them from their acting.
So that's Germany for you, or at least the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia. There are castles absolutely everywhere, and everywhere is absolutely beautiful.
Since public grass typically grows very high (it's part of the natural feel) there are a lot of bugs I've noticed. Mainly I notice this when running since I typically swallow 1 bug and have no less than 10 bugs stuck in the sweat on my chest when I get home. I have been collecting them all and plan to make a flea circus.
Sometimes the kids like to stand in their doorway across the hallway from mine and look at me and close the door once I see them (they start their staring tendencies early!) So we will play this sort of peekaboo game for a few minutes. One day I decided I would sneak up on their door in between them opening it. When they opened it I yelled, and the 8 year old girl screamed so freakin loud! She hasn't liked me since that day, when she has candy to share with her brothers and sister she won't give me any, and when me and her brothers play soccer she usually chases me with broom which I take from her and put on the roof of the house > then she likes me a lot more.
So anyways, that is the extent of my story telling as of now. I need to start packing and getting all in order so I can watch the Germans beat Turkey tonight in the semi-Finals. I'll be traveling Germany on a bus trip with the school from June 27 - July 3, then flying to London to see A-fran, doing a little traveling alone and starting my church work on July 11. All the while carrying only my backpack (i'm banking on you having laundry capabilities, A-fran).
Love you all, it may be a week or two before I can catch up on your adventures, but don't worry about me, I'll be quite busy exploring.
Auf Wiedersehen (until we meet again),
Thomas
Today is a poignant day as I pack up all my stuff. I was sorting through my belongings and stumbled upon a picture of all you guys and started to cry... oh no wait, got ya! Sorry, I decided to replace my normal introspective and thoughtful post with one of a lighter spirit.
True, I am leaving Bonn in a couple days, and tomorrow I will be taking most of my stuff to my friend Travis' host family's house (where I will be staying from July 11-18 helping remodel their local church) but there are no tears, I am really quite ready to move on to bigger and better things. But for a proper farewell it seems fit to answer all your dying questions about Germany:
No, everyone doesn't have blonde hair and blue eyes, in fact you are more likely to run into a Turkish person than a model Aryan. But I am fairly sure that only three black people live here. One of them wears a long bright orange tribal robe with a rice farmer hat, I think he is just here on UN business. The other two sit in the marketplace and carve weird African sculptures to sell people.
Yes, it is perfectly okay to never lock the door to the bathroom. Germans love saying that since they have to cram 90 million people in their Texas sized country that there is not enough room for privacy. Walking around in underwear around the house or outside is also acceptable.
No, there is not just bratwurst and sauerkraut here. Germans favorite food is probably pizza, go figure. All Germans love ice cream as well. In the morning the housewives will walk around together with their monstrous trike strollers and eat ice cream, during lunch all the business men stroll around the gardens eating ice cream, and at night all the old people sit down at the ice cream cafes and spend their large socialist welfare income on 5 euro ice cream masterpieces.
Yes, Germans drive fast on the autobahn. Mr. Kausmann (my future host father) drives the family minivan at 100 mph on the way home from church, and is passed by many a sports car, quite exciting! In fact Germans like driving fast in general. Their stoplights go from red to YELLOW then to green. This gives all drivers a chance to rev their engine before the green light to facilitate speed, and all the pedestrians in the cross walk a chance to have a heart attack before getting run over.
This may make you wonder if pedestrians are scared of cars. Why yes, they are. Nobody in their right mind J-walks. Twenty people will stand and wait for the green walking stick figure to light up before they cross the street, even if there is no car in sight. I usually just cross anyways and get patted on the back when I get to the other side for being so brave.
Yes, all Germans do drive a BMW or Mercedes or Volkswagen. German's are very proud of their cars and their ability to park on the oversized sidewalks. Some Germans like to be cute and drive smart cars, but you can tell they feel guilty about it.
Yes, Germans are avid people watchers. Many of them do it as a second job to pay for their pizza and German cars. Train and streetcar car law prohibits keeping your eyes to yourself. When somewhat inevitably stares at you, you can suddenly look at them they will turn away but look back once you turn your head again. Some of them will get smart and actually watch you via the reflection of the window. I don't really get it, but since I don't want to fit in I fight back fiercely by staring holes in people over the top of my book, which is written in ENGLISH.
Yes, German children are very spoiled. The two youngest kids in my house cry at least five times each day. I like to find where they are while they are crying and just look at them. They will stop for a second, but will quickly re-contort their faces into anguish once they realize I have distracted them from their acting.
So that's Germany for you, or at least the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia. There are castles absolutely everywhere, and everywhere is absolutely beautiful.
Since public grass typically grows very high (it's part of the natural feel) there are a lot of bugs I've noticed. Mainly I notice this when running since I typically swallow 1 bug and have no less than 10 bugs stuck in the sweat on my chest when I get home. I have been collecting them all and plan to make a flea circus.
Sometimes the kids like to stand in their doorway across the hallway from mine and look at me and close the door once I see them (they start their staring tendencies early!) So we will play this sort of peekaboo game for a few minutes. One day I decided I would sneak up on their door in between them opening it. When they opened it I yelled, and the 8 year old girl screamed so freakin loud! She hasn't liked me since that day, when she has candy to share with her brothers and sister she won't give me any, and when me and her brothers play soccer she usually chases me with broom which I take from her and put on the roof of the house > then she likes me a lot more.
So anyways, that is the extent of my story telling as of now. I need to start packing and getting all in order so I can watch the Germans beat Turkey tonight in the semi-Finals. I'll be traveling Germany on a bus trip with the school from June 27 - July 3, then flying to London to see A-fran, doing a little traveling alone and starting my church work on July 11. All the while carrying only my backpack (i'm banking on you having laundry capabilities, A-fran).
Love you all, it may be a week or two before I can catch up on your adventures, but don't worry about me, I'll be quite busy exploring.
Auf Wiedersehen (until we meet again),
Thomas
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Montz described it as an "adult cartoon"
7:35 pm College Station, TX
I'm very happy to inform you all that I am currently reading the first addition to the 407 coffee table that will be located in our living room next to the toile couch (right, anna?). The title? You may ask. "Welcome to Tranquility" by Gail Simone. For those of you that have not taken ENGL 374, Gail Simone writes comic books. That's right. I'm reading a 142 page comic book. Let me take a few lines to describe the cover of this $19.99 book. Of the 12 semi-human looking characters on the front, 5 are in spandex, 3 are in white hooded suits...weird, and 4 are in lab coats. Another intersting observation: two of the girls are wearing bunny ears with their pink somewhat low cut (oh wait, no, incredibly low cut) spandex outfits. Final note: one of the characters is a skeleton. Ebay it. Buy it. Read it in one long sitting. Love it forever. Get ready roomies, you guys can share in august.
I'm wrapping up my final week of summer session I. "Women Writers" has been riveting. Dr. Montz really knows how to rock a class of eleven. My last day of work at the Children's Museum of Brazos Valley, CMBV if you will, is tomorrow. Don't worry kids, I'll be back in August. Big news, five representatives from the Fightin' Texas Aggie football team made an appearance two weeks ago. Yes, I met THE 12th Man. We're dating. I've tweaked my resume over the past month in college station. Professional Dino Camp bone excavator, 'Reading Rocks' 11:00 storyteller, 'Monday Madness' AND 'Wacky Wednesday' arts and crafts director. Anyways, I've been busy. My future employees will pay me the big bucks.
Miss all of you so much. Don't get me wrong, I really am glad you guys are having incredible summers, but I'm about ready to wrap this one up. Bring it home team. Let's close this chapter.
I'm praying for you all. I know it's been said, but this past month spent without most of you has been quite an awakening. We have an incredible home base. The guys and girls that we have surrounded ourselves with for two years now has been a blessing. A rare blessing.
Guys, thanks for being our rock. Girls, back me up, they've held this team together. Thanks for the houses, the encouragment, and the example you all have set. Yes, I knew this before you all left, but seeing what most girls have come to expect as normal in a guy has reminded me of how little we have thanked all of you.
Girls, thanks for being genuine. I hear some pretty interesting stories from my coworkers at the museum. It's hard to explain why it's important to have girl friends that hold you accountable on issues other than clothes and makeup. I really can't wait to catch up with all of you. dinner. dessert. as long as there's food. and hot gossip. kidding.
Sorry for the cheese, but I've had alot of time to think. Be safe. Take a million more pictures. Come back with stories. Get ready for a few more hangout spots come August. And I'm sure all the girls will agree, we welcome brownies, cookies, low fat yogurt parfaits, and any other creative house warming gift you guys choose to bring to our new front doors.
I'm very happy to inform you all that I am currently reading the first addition to the 407 coffee table that will be located in our living room next to the toile couch (right, anna?). The title? You may ask. "Welcome to Tranquility" by Gail Simone. For those of you that have not taken ENGL 374, Gail Simone writes comic books. That's right. I'm reading a 142 page comic book. Let me take a few lines to describe the cover of this $19.99 book. Of the 12 semi-human looking characters on the front, 5 are in spandex, 3 are in white hooded suits...weird, and 4 are in lab coats. Another intersting observation: two of the girls are wearing bunny ears with their pink somewhat low cut (oh wait, no, incredibly low cut) spandex outfits. Final note: one of the characters is a skeleton. Ebay it. Buy it. Read it in one long sitting. Love it forever. Get ready roomies, you guys can share in august.
I'm wrapping up my final week of summer session I. "Women Writers" has been riveting. Dr. Montz really knows how to rock a class of eleven. My last day of work at the Children's Museum of Brazos Valley, CMBV if you will, is tomorrow. Don't worry kids, I'll be back in August. Big news, five representatives from the Fightin' Texas Aggie football team made an appearance two weeks ago. Yes, I met THE 12th Man. We're dating. I've tweaked my resume over the past month in college station. Professional Dino Camp bone excavator, 'Reading Rocks' 11:00 storyteller, 'Monday Madness' AND 'Wacky Wednesday' arts and crafts director. Anyways, I've been busy. My future employees will pay me the big bucks.
Miss all of you so much. Don't get me wrong, I really am glad you guys are having incredible summers, but I'm about ready to wrap this one up. Bring it home team. Let's close this chapter.
I'm praying for you all. I know it's been said, but this past month spent without most of you has been quite an awakening. We have an incredible home base. The guys and girls that we have surrounded ourselves with for two years now has been a blessing. A rare blessing.
Guys, thanks for being our rock. Girls, back me up, they've held this team together. Thanks for the houses, the encouragment, and the example you all have set. Yes, I knew this before you all left, but seeing what most girls have come to expect as normal in a guy has reminded me of how little we have thanked all of you.
Girls, thanks for being genuine. I hear some pretty interesting stories from my coworkers at the museum. It's hard to explain why it's important to have girl friends that hold you accountable on issues other than clothes and makeup. I really can't wait to catch up with all of you. dinner. dessert. as long as there's food. and hot gossip. kidding.
Sorry for the cheese, but I've had alot of time to think. Be safe. Take a million more pictures. Come back with stories. Get ready for a few more hangout spots come August. And I'm sure all the girls will agree, we welcome brownies, cookies, low fat yogurt parfaits, and any other creative house warming gift you guys choose to bring to our new front doors.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
From London to Paris
12.55am Paris, Francis
Bloggers and Blogettes: It's been wonderful thus far! We arrived in London early (645am) on the 20th after having not slept at all on the plane AND staying up all night the night before so that we could sleep on the plane. Great idea. So we started off finding the bookstore to get the travel book that I think I may have left on the plane, still not sure where it went. They have Border's in London, who knew. After that we headed over to Cafe Nero to get a jump start to last the rest of the day. From there we began touring as tourists do. We went to the British Museum, saw the Rosetta Stone, St. Paul's the London Bridge and such. We actually took a nap on the grass at St. Paul's because we were so exhausted. Carrying around packs will really take it out of you. Oh yeah, and not sleeping for 36 hours. We met up with the guy we were staying with (Richard) at the London bridge. Richard is about 65-70 years old and the jolliest old man you ever did see. We both loved him. He bought us dinner (and wine) and then we headed back to his house. And when I say house I mean water tower from 1890 that was renovated circa 1979 to be offices and an apartment at the very top. SO cool. It has marks on the bricks where it was shot up in WWII. If thats not legit I don't know what is. We slept in the very top of the tower where there were no windows at all, we went to bed at 9.30pm and got up at 10.30am. Mmm jetlag. Out for traditional fish and chips and then back to London for Big Ben, Westminster, and Buckingham Palace.
We got to Paris around 11.30 that night and managed to find our way from the international train station to the Eiffel Tower, the gleaming beacon of tourist hope. Along the way we saw a real life drug deal! A man climbed up and grabbed pills out of the ceiling and sold them to another man waiting nearby, we were in a bad part of town for a bit. Luckily we had our giant backpacks, American accents, and we were staring at the ticket machine for 10 minutes deciphering between pounds and euros. We ran the place for all they knew! Andrew came to get us at around 2am from the tower and we had the best time ever. We got dinked through paris! And what that means, for those of you who don't know, is that we sit on the back of their bikes as they ride through the city. I fell once, Angela got dumped twice. Quite the experience, especially after they have had a bit o wine. Livin the dream.
Today we did all things tourist: Notre Dame, Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, whatever-their-giant-cemetary-is-called, and so forth. Out for dinner, drinks, and crepes with Andrew, and here we are. It has been so good to see Andrew and makes me really excited to get back home and share the laughter all together. I hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to hear from you all. I'll post pictures later. (*Edit: posted one! Nothing like hanging out with your roommate at the Eiffel Tower. Miss you TalTal.) All the best!
Aaron
Bloggers and Blogettes: It's been wonderful thus far! We arrived in London early (645am) on the 20th after having not slept at all on the plane AND staying up all night the night before so that we could sleep on the plane. Great idea. So we started off finding the bookstore to get the travel book that I think I may have left on the plane, still not sure where it went. They have Border's in London, who knew. After that we headed over to Cafe Nero to get a jump start to last the rest of the day. From there we began touring as tourists do. We went to the British Museum, saw the Rosetta Stone, St. Paul's the London Bridge and such. We actually took a nap on the grass at St. Paul's because we were so exhausted. Carrying around packs will really take it out of you. Oh yeah, and not sleeping for 36 hours. We met up with the guy we were staying with (Richard) at the London bridge. Richard is about 65-70 years old and the jolliest old man you ever did see. We both loved him. He bought us dinner (and wine) and then we headed back to his house. And when I say house I mean water tower from 1890 that was renovated circa 1979 to be offices and an apartment at the very top. SO cool. It has marks on the bricks where it was shot up in WWII. If thats not legit I don't know what is. We slept in the very top of the tower where there were no windows at all, we went to bed at 9.30pm and got up at 10.30am. Mmm jetlag. Out for traditional fish and chips and then back to London for Big Ben, Westminster, and Buckingham Palace.
We got to Paris around 11.30 that night and managed to find our way from the international train station to the Eiffel Tower, the gleaming beacon of tourist hope. Along the way we saw a real life drug deal! A man climbed up and grabbed pills out of the ceiling and sold them to another man waiting nearby, we were in a bad part of town for a bit. Luckily we had our giant backpacks, American accents, and we were staring at the ticket machine for 10 minutes deciphering between pounds and euros. We ran the place for all they knew! Andrew came to get us at around 2am from the tower and we had the best time ever. We got dinked through paris! And what that means, for those of you who don't know, is that we sit on the back of their bikes as they ride through the city. I fell once, Angela got dumped twice. Quite the experience, especially after they have had a bit o wine. Livin the dream.
Today we did all things tourist: Notre Dame, Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, whatever-their-giant-cemetary-is-called, and so forth. Out for dinner, drinks, and crepes with Andrew, and here we are. It has been so good to see Andrew and makes me really excited to get back home and share the laughter all together. I hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to hear from you all. I'll post pictures later. (*Edit: posted one! Nothing like hanging out with your roommate at the Eiffel Tower. Miss you TalTal.) All the best!
Aaron
Friday, June 20, 2008
Late to the game...
Howdy Agriculturists,
Seeing as this is my first time, Im not entirely sure how this is to work. But in keeping with the appropriate theme of the website, it is 3:47 and I am in God's Country (Prestige).
Its good to hear from everybody, I have certainly enjoyed getting caught up with the entries in the past week since my discovery of this website (sorry Aaron)...Sounds like everybody has had quite the summer thus far. Keep a good account of all these stories, I cant wait to hear about the material that is too inappropriate, or long winded to publish. Yall stay safe and continue to tell your stories.
Life in the oil patch has been booming. I am pleased to report that the state of the union is strong. contrary to popular American belief, our economy is not in recession, oil companies are not the cause of the world's greatest problems, and the democrats marginalizing oil profits and pointing fingers are not the answer. Regardless of speculations and controversy, work has been good. I have very much enjoyed being back with the company. I have been learning, challenged, networking, and earning. Lots of travel included, seems like I make a business trip every week to somewhere in Texas. Ive also had the privilege of spending plenty of time in Cstat. Things are very different: Campus is empty, Koldus is quite, and the Prestige isn't partying.
That all I really have for now. My bland stories cant really stand next to yall's adventures, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I was alive and kickin. Take care of yourselves, look forward to Gig'Em week in the fall. No matter where yall go this summer, Remember where you came from...God Bless America
theres a spirit can ne'er be told
Eric A Beckham
Seeing as this is my first time, Im not entirely sure how this is to work. But in keeping with the appropriate theme of the website, it is 3:47 and I am in God's Country (Prestige).
Its good to hear from everybody, I have certainly enjoyed getting caught up with the entries in the past week since my discovery of this website (sorry Aaron)...Sounds like everybody has had quite the summer thus far. Keep a good account of all these stories, I cant wait to hear about the material that is too inappropriate, or long winded to publish. Yall stay safe and continue to tell your stories.
Life in the oil patch has been booming. I am pleased to report that the state of the union is strong. contrary to popular American belief, our economy is not in recession, oil companies are not the cause of the world's greatest problems, and the democrats marginalizing oil profits and pointing fingers are not the answer. Regardless of speculations and controversy, work has been good. I have very much enjoyed being back with the company. I have been learning, challenged, networking, and earning. Lots of travel included, seems like I make a business trip every week to somewhere in Texas. Ive also had the privilege of spending plenty of time in Cstat. Things are very different: Campus is empty, Koldus is quite, and the Prestige isn't partying.
That all I really have for now. My bland stories cant really stand next to yall's adventures, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I was alive and kickin. Take care of yourselves, look forward to Gig'Em week in the fall. No matter where yall go this summer, Remember where you came from...God Bless America
theres a spirit can ne'er be told
Eric A Beckham
Overcoming the World
Bonn 7:26 pm
Dearest friends,
Today I had a certain out-of-body experience during class. While sitting silently and listening to the typical banter in the classroom I became suddenly aware of the haughty remarks, the insincere laughs, the fake smiles and the underlying selfishness of the people I have been forced to spend my last month with. It is something I have always noticed, but it has not been until today that I felt disgusted and almost angry with the company I have had to endure. Foreign to my typical calmness, I experienced the desire to yell at each of them condemning their selfishness and questioning their maturity. "How can you people be so disillusioned that the cravings of sinful man can satisfy you?" I thought. So I left and went on a walk and was reminded of a few things (from 1 John).
First that those around us are led by others whose viewpoints are stuck in the world. They do not have the counsel of the One who is in us, who is greater than the one who is in the world. They act exactly how depraved man should due to the sin which entangles us all.
Also the fact that because we are born of God and are his children, we have overcome this grasp of the world. This puts us in a position to love, not to distance ourselves from those who are lost in the darkness of being apart from God.
Being in the company of only two genuine believers here, with whom my relationship is still in infancy, has led me to rely thoroughly on our God for peace and guidance. It has been a sweet time being here alone with only God as my comfort, but I grow ever eager to see you again.
Here is the garden inside the courtyard of the cathedral of Bonn I have had the privilege of discovering. It has been a great place to meet God in the seclusion and protection of the high cathedral walls.
Having a fantastic time here! Germany is beautiful everywhere, I wish you all could see it with me,
Thomas
Dearest friends,
Today I had a certain out-of-body experience during class. While sitting silently and listening to the typical banter in the classroom I became suddenly aware of the haughty remarks, the insincere laughs, the fake smiles and the underlying selfishness of the people I have been forced to spend my last month with. It is something I have always noticed, but it has not been until today that I felt disgusted and almost angry with the company I have had to endure. Foreign to my typical calmness, I experienced the desire to yell at each of them condemning their selfishness and questioning their maturity. "How can you people be so disillusioned that the cravings of sinful man can satisfy you?" I thought. So I left and went on a walk and was reminded of a few things (from 1 John).
First that those around us are led by others whose viewpoints are stuck in the world. They do not have the counsel of the One who is in us, who is greater than the one who is in the world. They act exactly how depraved man should due to the sin which entangles us all.
Also the fact that because we are born of God and are his children, we have overcome this grasp of the world. This puts us in a position to love, not to distance ourselves from those who are lost in the darkness of being apart from God.
Being in the company of only two genuine believers here, with whom my relationship is still in infancy, has led me to rely thoroughly on our God for peace and guidance. It has been a sweet time being here alone with only God as my comfort, but I grow ever eager to see you again.
Here is the garden inside the courtyard of the cathedral of Bonn I have had the privilege of discovering. It has been a great place to meet God in the seclusion and protection of the high cathedral walls.Having a fantastic time here! Germany is beautiful everywhere, I wish you all could see it with me,
Thomas
The Recognition of Beauty
In response to the flood of e-mail and questions I received since my last entry, I have decided to expound on the usage of "*" in my last article.
It is clear when one reexamines my last work, that these "*" were cleverly placed where I used English grammatical style in a new way I have learned while abroad. So as one examines my last post, look for these little guys. You- or mainly just Alex hopefully- will observe the use of puns, alliterations, and even high level vocabulary words.
Now please see this not as a highlight of my own knowledge, but rather if you choose to give credit anywhere allow it to go Mr. Toney, my grandmaster.
Adeu,
gran negocio
My first rodeo
Well, well, well...
It's 4:31 p.m. where I am.
I've been trying to expand my spanish speaking skills my entire trip and have learned that everyone speaks english. So in an effort to please Alex, my entire time in Spain hasn't been used for my own enjoyment but rather equipping myself with an effective english vocabulary and/or unique phrases so I could come home at least being better at one language.....I know, i know I learned a little bit of Swahili while in Afreeka but I feel that the language was no longer legit when one its subscribers*- Kiba (pigeon)- reeled off this sentence over lunch, "Ya brother, I love newspapers.....of news." Now, why Kiba said this, I am unsure. It should be no issue* of linguistic barrier that newspapers are indeed made for news. After all, the name is quite foretelling. That is like declaring you like apple trees but only of apples. Apple trees of any other fruit i dont love as much. But because Kiba said this I am attempting to mind dump all things African and become focus my efforts on a language Alex will enjoy and benefit from- English.
I have become quite patriotic over my few days "in the brush." Now I am unsure the origin of this redass for America attitude I've adopted but I've narrowed it down to a few things:
1. The euro is worth more than our dollar when God knows our country would dominate the EU in anything albeit* soccer. (God bless Kobi Jones)
2. You can only get free refills in Hard Rock Cafe.
3. I got 7 blisters, 2 in grown finger nails, and 1 impaling by a coke lid in Africa. I would've gone to the hospital but all the doctors were giving tours of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
4. There is a teen club directly across the street from where we live that we cant partake in due to ethical boundaries. In America, I have Beckham where those things wouldn't stop me.
It feels so good to contact you all through "the blog." One might ask theirselves, "Why hasn't Cody blogged yet." Previously, I would've answered with something to do with the 56K internet connection throughout all of Africa. It would've been a lie. The reason is that the Deathstar couldn't make the trip to Africa and therefore to Espana. So as it rests in College Station in its port, I am becoming acquainted with the world of Mac compliments of Zach's little baby. I have been severely limited in my usage thus far. I don't understand many of the "features" on this machine. So this friends is my reason for lack of blogging. I am becoming "acquanited" with technology, but it is a process friends! Please respond to this blog with the answers to the following questions:
1. When I put the cursor to the far left corner, where the hell does everything go!
2. Why can't I double click anything?
3. What is Leopard?
4. Why do the icons bounce up and down when I press them? It's as if they're excited to be locked in this Macintosh all the while definitely desiring to be inside the wonderful world of windows.*
Anyways, I appreciate "The Mac" and as a part of my cultural experience and acceptance of "difference", I will spray paint a large apple symbol on the hood of my car when I get home with Aaron's help.
The crew ditched me and when to Portugal last night. So I decided to stay home and watch the Portugal v. Germany game because I missed them so bad. For dinner I ate frosted flakes while listening to the Foo Fighters. Dane Cook also made an appearance. After that, I made Zach a few appointments with me on his "i-Cal" with me to play, train romo, and teach me to fly. This application is apparently some Mac creation where you actually have a calendar on the screen and its interactive. Took me three hours to play this little prank. After that, I tried to create an account on couchsurfing.com but I couldn't figure out how to save and upload my picture, so I gave up.
Today, I think I might go outside.
I miss all of you and I can't wait to reunite in College Station.
The Tallahassee Heroes- I love you all. I can't wait for our next jam session. I think I'll put the keyboard in the garage under the kayaks, next to our new drum set, or somewhere between all the bikes.
Much love,
gran negocio
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The Time Has Come
2.22 AM - Coppell
Well gang, this is it. My time has finally come! I leave tomorrow at 11.50 for London. The past few weeks have been pretty uneventful, but quite a bit of fun. I took a miniature road trip last week to get out of the house. I went to Georgetown first to see a friend that lives there, and that was quite a bit of fun. From there I traveled on to College Station to see Master Wayne and Courtney. It was awesome to be back there, I just walked around The Tallahassee all by myself and got really excited to be back there with you guys, all in good time.
I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Beckham while I was in town, although when I arrived he was asleep and when he woke up I was asleep. Gotta love naps. Then I had my proudest moment ever: Eric Beckham wooing the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2012. It was amazing! He got to give the speech at the New Student Conference, and he totally dominated. He got like 8 phone numbers. He was articulate, funny, serious, inspiring, awe-inspiring, and good looking. Wish you guys could have seen it. Court and Master Wayne will vouch for me.
As for Master Wayne and I, we did the usual: watched the Office. it was a time of unparalleled bonding. We also went to see The Happening, which was good not great. Since everyone else was gone, there were 6 empty beds in the Prestige and so naturally we both fell asleep on the couch. I moved to Max's bed at 9 the next morning. Thanks Max.
Then I went to see Matty at camp! It was pretty cool, he totally dominates that place. Everyone loves him there and he is the man, but what would you expect. It was a good time. Laundry, eating, and thats about it. Perfect.
Well I should be off. I have to pack and get ready to catch a flight. I will keep you guys updated as much as I can. Miss you all.
Well gang, this is it. My time has finally come! I leave tomorrow at 11.50 for London. The past few weeks have been pretty uneventful, but quite a bit of fun. I took a miniature road trip last week to get out of the house. I went to Georgetown first to see a friend that lives there, and that was quite a bit of fun. From there I traveled on to College Station to see Master Wayne and Courtney. It was awesome to be back there, I just walked around The Tallahassee all by myself and got really excited to be back there with you guys, all in good time.
I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Beckham while I was in town, although when I arrived he was asleep and when he woke up I was asleep. Gotta love naps. Then I had my proudest moment ever: Eric Beckham wooing the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2012. It was amazing! He got to give the speech at the New Student Conference, and he totally dominated. He got like 8 phone numbers. He was articulate, funny, serious, inspiring, awe-inspiring, and good looking. Wish you guys could have seen it. Court and Master Wayne will vouch for me.
As for Master Wayne and I, we did the usual: watched the Office. it was a time of unparalleled bonding. We also went to see The Happening, which was good not great. Since everyone else was gone, there were 6 empty beds in the Prestige and so naturally we both fell asleep on the couch. I moved to Max's bed at 9 the next morning. Thanks Max.
Then I went to see Matty at camp! It was pretty cool, he totally dominates that place. Everyone loves him there and he is the man, but what would you expect. It was a good time. Laundry, eating, and thats about it. Perfect.
Well I should be off. I have to pack and get ready to catch a flight. I will keep you guys updated as much as I can. Miss you all.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
hello hello my friend good blog very good price for you my special friend
22:55
Riad Massine II
Marrakech, Morocco
Salaam! (sp?)
This keyboqrd is crqwy qnd is not like ours in the Q,ericqs: If I qtte,pt to type qs I nor,qlly zould it zould be reqd qs so:
So instead I'll write this blog at 12.3 words per minute. Oh, the trouble I take to entertain my loving audience:::
First, a quick run through of the sights, sounds, smells, and smugs of Marrakech- donkeys, orange juice, monkeys that touch me, hookahs, hash, mint, mint tea, trash, mushy things that Sol steps on,orangejuice, Sol getting scared, Sol getting scared again, Sol getting uncomfortable because the monkey is trying to touch her, french, arabic, spanish, italian, german, czech, dutch, mosques, muslim prayers, cats, cats, cats, cats, men that blow kisses atme Sol, heat, sunshine, rooftop terraces, orange juice, kabobs, eating sheep brain, and orange juice.
Pictures soon, check out my flickr.
Sol's message:
23:20 pm
First of all, my apologies for not blogging until this date.
Now, I am pleased to inform you guys that Zach and I are having a splendid time here on African soil. I have to defend myself and inform you guys that I have only been scared because there are dirt bike drivers that are mental and are not considerate of pedestrians in the narrow labrinth-like streets of the souks. Oh and I also was scared because we were followed by a dodgy character to our Riad late last night, but fortunately we finally arrived safely.
Well today we went to a huge beautiful mosque, a Quran school, some old architectural ruins, some gardens, and were hassled by many vendors at the souks (of course Zach didnt get annoyed by them...) Well the pictures will explain how beautiful Morocco is.
Oh I guess thats why they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Au revoir,
Zach and Sol
,
Riad Massine II
Marrakech, Morocco
Salaam! (sp?)
This keyboqrd is crqwy qnd is not like ours in the Q,ericqs: If I qtte,pt to type qs I nor,qlly zould it zould be reqd qs so:
So instead I'll write this blog at 12.3 words per minute. Oh, the trouble I take to entertain my loving audience:::
First, a quick run through of the sights, sounds, smells, and smugs of Marrakech- donkeys, orange juice, monkeys that touch me, hookahs, hash, mint, mint tea, trash, mushy things that Sol steps on,orangejuice, Sol getting scared, Sol getting scared again, Sol getting uncomfortable because the monkey is trying to touch her, french, arabic, spanish, italian, german, czech, dutch, mosques, muslim prayers, cats, cats, cats, cats, men that blow kisses at
Pictures soon, check out my flickr.
Sol's message:
23:20 pm
First of all, my apologies for not blogging until this date.
Now, I am pleased to inform you guys that Zach and I are having a splendid time here on African soil. I have to defend myself and inform you guys that I have only been scared because there are dirt bike drivers that are mental and are not considerate of pedestrians in the narrow labrinth-like streets of the souks. Oh and I also was scared because we were followed by a dodgy character to our Riad late last night, but fortunately we finally arrived safely.
Well today we went to a huge beautiful mosque, a Quran school, some old architectural ruins, some gardens, and were hassled by many vendors at the souks (of course Zach didnt get annoyed by them...) Well the pictures will explain how beautiful Morocco is.
Oh I guess thats why they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Au revoir,
Zach and Sol
,
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Why you should/shouldn´t travel with me.
So I know it has been a long time since I´ve posted but believe it or not its because i´ve been busy (yeah, what the heck right? Its summer) … (I have adopted 40 people from the CEA program to mentor, disciple, and teach leadership skills to occupy my time) and not just lost somewhere in Spain – as that would be expected by now.
“I am learning discipline, expanding my memory, and punctuality”
- That is actually a self quote at dear ol Beckham’s birthday party.
However, it is almost impossible for me to wake up in the morning to go to class (especially after hitting the discotecha hard with zach until early morning… and that black vodka drink haha jk …. … …….. ), I constantly forget where I am in the city (but good thing Alex and lonely planet are BFFs), and well, I am becoming more punctual I think, although the remnants of antipunctuality (Africa) has deterred me a bit.
With all that said, Spain has been a wonderful place to refine my skills so that hopefully afterward, when I return to the states, Beckham will finally accept me. For example, this weekend…
Flying by the seat of my pants (and Chelsea’s) I decide to go to Valencia which is another beach city on the coast of eastern Spain. Beautiful. I leave the two points which complete my equilateral triangle (Cody and Alex) at home and embark with John Alford and some other CEA friends (the ones that will be co-chairs next year) to the “City of Bats” … by myself. Yeah, so I wasn´t able to buy the ticket in advance so I had to wing it and go to the station the morning of and try to find a ticket (John and the others had purchased theirs weeks ago and were well on their way by now). But I do get a ticket! I think… upon reaching the station, my Spanish senses tingle and I approach a random ticket counter. In fluent español, I say “I want to go to Valencia por favor” (yup, just like that) and get handed a ticket. Cool, thanks God. On the ticket the only things displayed are the date, how much I paid, and that I’m going from Barcelona to Valencia. I turn around to see an array of platforms of which I have no idea which one to go to and of course I’m oblivious to the departure time. Oh. Well, after many charades I find myself on platform 9 waiting for a 9:30 train. At around 9:45 the monitors flash with an attention disclaimer. After staring at it for about 15 minutes, I decipher that there has been an accident and that my train will be delayed. So after waiting in uncertainty, sweating with nervousness, I make friends with a group of musician that speak English and who are also going to Valencia!
Thank you God number two.
They then tell me to hop onto a train with them which was on a different platform, which I do, of course. Don´t worry guys, I asked them if they were sure first. After boarding the train my senses tingle again and I am positive I’m on the wrong train. As I get up to get off the train, the doors close and the train starts to move. So, I’m panicking again – more sweat stains. In my dire situation, I pray that it works out somehow and right before I begin to black out, my phone rings and its John.
“hey, did you just get on my train?”
John’s train apparently was delayed as well and as they passed through Barcelona Sants (my train station) a large group of people boarded, including a group of musicians and a totally oblivious kid with a neon hat.
Thank you God number three.
Anyways, I would totally recommend Valencia. Its history is incredible which is matched with its great cuisine and attractions. The hostels there are nice too and people are friendly. I ended up running into my musician friends again whom I thanked over and over again.
Thank you God again and again.
The train ride back was not nearly as exciting except for the occasion where I offered the scary man sitting next to me candy so he wouldn’t rob me. He didn’t rob me. I was missing Alex and Cody by now and was ready to get home.
With all this adventure, it is good that I have The Pug where positivity and negativity (not talking about me and Alex) clash into a chaotic, yet harmonistic aurora borealis where I can lay my weary head.
It was good seeing you Thomas and I’m more than excited to Paige and Katherine soon!
Safe and sound,
Max
“I am learning discipline, expanding my memory, and punctuality”
- That is actually a self quote at dear ol Beckham’s birthday party.
However, it is almost impossible for me to wake up in the morning to go to class (especially after hitting the discotecha hard with zach until early morning… and that black vodka drink haha jk …. … …….. ), I constantly forget where I am in the city (but good thing Alex and lonely planet are BFFs), and well, I am becoming more punctual I think, although the remnants of antipunctuality (Africa) has deterred me a bit.
With all that said, Spain has been a wonderful place to refine my skills so that hopefully afterward, when I return to the states, Beckham will finally accept me. For example, this weekend…
Flying by the seat of my pants (and Chelsea’s) I decide to go to Valencia which is another beach city on the coast of eastern Spain. Beautiful. I leave the two points which complete my equilateral triangle (Cody and Alex) at home and embark with John Alford and some other CEA friends (the ones that will be co-chairs next year) to the “City of Bats” … by myself. Yeah, so I wasn´t able to buy the ticket in advance so I had to wing it and go to the station the morning of and try to find a ticket (John and the others had purchased theirs weeks ago and were well on their way by now). But I do get a ticket! I think… upon reaching the station, my Spanish senses tingle and I approach a random ticket counter. In fluent español, I say “I want to go to Valencia por favor” (yup, just like that) and get handed a ticket. Cool, thanks God. On the ticket the only things displayed are the date, how much I paid, and that I’m going from Barcelona to Valencia. I turn around to see an array of platforms of which I have no idea which one to go to and of course I’m oblivious to the departure time. Oh. Well, after many charades I find myself on platform 9 waiting for a 9:30 train. At around 9:45 the monitors flash with an attention disclaimer. After staring at it for about 15 minutes, I decipher that there has been an accident and that my train will be delayed. So after waiting in uncertainty, sweating with nervousness, I make friends with a group of musician that speak English and who are also going to Valencia!
Thank you God number two.
They then tell me to hop onto a train with them which was on a different platform, which I do, of course. Don´t worry guys, I asked them if they were sure first. After boarding the train my senses tingle again and I am positive I’m on the wrong train. As I get up to get off the train, the doors close and the train starts to move. So, I’m panicking again – more sweat stains. In my dire situation, I pray that it works out somehow and right before I begin to black out, my phone rings and its John.
“hey, did you just get on my train?”
John’s train apparently was delayed as well and as they passed through Barcelona Sants (my train station) a large group of people boarded, including a group of musicians and a totally oblivious kid with a neon hat.
Thank you God number three.
Anyways, I would totally recommend Valencia. Its history is incredible which is matched with its great cuisine and attractions. The hostels there are nice too and people are friendly. I ended up running into my musician friends again whom I thanked over and over again.
Thank you God again and again.
The train ride back was not nearly as exciting except for the occasion where I offered the scary man sitting next to me candy so he wouldn’t rob me. He didn’t rob me. I was missing Alex and Cody by now and was ready to get home.
With all this adventure, it is good that I have The Pug where positivity and negativity (not talking about me and Alex) clash into a chaotic, yet harmonistic aurora borealis where I can lay my weary head.
It was good seeing you Thomas and I’m more than excited to Paige and Katherine soon!
Safe and sound,
Max
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Welcome to the Timbers!
8:39 in Tyler, TX.
I hope everyone is doing well! Today is my day half of my day off and TP and Bren came in town to hang out with me so we are a hotel. Last night there was a domestic violence call below us and at 2:30. Well, at least that is what private investigator Brenda Pierson could tell from looking out the window.
My life at Pine Cove is amazing. When I first was driving in I could have run my car off the road wanting to know why I came back to the dreaded place. But, the Lord being as good as He always is taught me otherwise. We had a camper this week from Cairo, Egypt and he was the bomb. He came up to me on Friday night and said, "Hey Usda, did you know I got baptised in April?" Of course I had no idea so he followed it up by saying," Well, I just wanted you to know that and that I love you." Really? a 9th grade boy just said that to a guy he hadn't known for a week. That is just one of the cool stories from this past week. Aaron came and visited this weekend and it was awesome to see him before he leaves for London on Thursday.
On the other side of things, I had a dad question my intelligence because of my camp name, then he found out that I went to Texas A&M and said, "That explains everything." It was awesome, we should all be offended as a part of the Aggie family.
But seriously, I am praying for all of you guys as you are either starting or rounding up your adventures. I found this passage the other day during a quiet time and it has become my prayer for The Tallahassee, but I think it could be applied to our friends as well. Romans 15:1-7...if you have a Bible, check it out. But, if not here you go:
15:1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
I know, it's legit.
I love you guys and can't wait to see all of you in August. Please be safe.
Matty
P.S. Katherine thank you so much for the brownies, for everyone else.... you fail.
I hope everyone is doing well! Today is my day half of my day off and TP and Bren came in town to hang out with me so we are a hotel. Last night there was a domestic violence call below us and at 2:30. Well, at least that is what private investigator Brenda Pierson could tell from looking out the window.
My life at Pine Cove is amazing. When I first was driving in I could have run my car off the road wanting to know why I came back to the dreaded place. But, the Lord being as good as He always is taught me otherwise. We had a camper this week from Cairo, Egypt and he was the bomb. He came up to me on Friday night and said, "Hey Usda, did you know I got baptised in April?" Of course I had no idea so he followed it up by saying," Well, I just wanted you to know that and that I love you." Really? a 9th grade boy just said that to a guy he hadn't known for a week. That is just one of the cool stories from this past week. Aaron came and visited this weekend and it was awesome to see him before he leaves for London on Thursday.
On the other side of things, I had a dad question my intelligence because of my camp name, then he found out that I went to Texas A&M and said, "That explains everything." It was awesome, we should all be offended as a part of the Aggie family.
But seriously, I am praying for all of you guys as you are either starting or rounding up your adventures. I found this passage the other day during a quiet time and it has become my prayer for The Tallahassee, but I think it could be applied to our friends as well. Romans 15:1-7...if you have a Bible, check it out. But, if not here you go:
15:1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
I know, it's legit.
I love you guys and can't wait to see all of you in August. Please be safe.
Matty
P.S. Katherine thank you so much for the brownies, for everyone else.... you fail.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Va bene.
Team! I'm late in the game... it's been a while since I've blogged. I'm sad to say that up until.. oh, about 30 seconds ago...I've been lurking.
It's 9:30 pm in Firenze, Italia- the 3th most visited city in Italy. I wake up every morning to tourists franticly navigating through the crowds. Mostly Asians. I'm always on the look out for Max, but I haven't found him yet.
Florence is wonderful, and I'm proud to say that I no longer consider myself a tourista. I wear skinny jeans, dark clothing, and I carry Italian leather. I can communicate with the locals (kind of), and my daily intake of cappuccino = sweet eugenes x 10.
It's been a long three weeks! So much has happened... let's see. I'll hit the highlights. 1. My favorite city to visit so far has been Venice. It's SO cool. It's just a bunch of tiny little islands linked together by bridges. Crazy. How does that work? You'd think they'd eventually start to drift apart..at least a little.. but they don't. The picture above is from the top of Venice. 2. Horseback riding through Tuscany was wonderful. I used to think that the most beautiful place in the world was the Texas Hill Country, but I'm afraid the bar has been raised. 3. Listening to music on the Ponte Vecchio every night (the Ponte Vecchio is the famous old bridge in Italy with all the shops) 4. Consuming my weight in gelato 5. Flirting with a worker at St. Peter's basilica so we were able to climb the top of the dome for free (GREAT view of Rome!) 6. Waking up with a new mosquito bite on my face- every day.
Right now, I'm watching Harry Potter 4, blogging (ovbi), and booking my flight to Barce. I miss all of ya'll terribly! Over these past few weeks.. I've cried, thought, and prayed.. a lot- and here are my thoughts... I didn't realize how lucky I was to have you guys as friends, until we were separated. I took for granted the encouragement, love, and sincerity that I received from all of you on a daily basis. Being here and meeting new people has made me realize how unique our friendships are- and I miss our community. It was really hard adjusting at first, but I eventually came to realize that God has His own agenda for my stay here in Italy- and I truly believe that for all of our summers. So, with that being said- amongst the classes, traveling, sunbathing, and sleeping- don't forget about the greater purpose that we, as believers, are called to.
More updates to come- Peace out.
T-minus 2 days
3:12 pm Dallas, Texas
I just finished vacationing with my family in a beautiful, timeless utopia, known as Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts, staying in a quaint cottage that overlooks "Singing Beach." Quaint meaning two bedrooms, one bathroom, and 5 steps needed to get to any part of the house, which now the entire Smiley family has squeezed ourselves into- somehow I ended up on the couch. Needless to say, good quality family time has commenced upon arrival.
This vacation is always the joy of my family's summer. For one, we get to see our beloved Aunt and Uncle, but also it is a great time to catch up on pleasure reading. Clay decided to be quite the Crusader this summer, taking on books by Christian heavyweights like C.S. Lewis and John Piper. However, about 70 pages into John Piper's "Desiring God," he found a small business card, titled "Metroplex Atheists." It goes on to say, "If you are looking for us, we are looking for you," followed by a number and address in Dallas. (Warning: This book was bought at a Borders in Dallas- the atheists have infiltrated our ranks and are planting business cards in the Spiritual section worldwide!). We debated calling the number and setting up their leader with a one-on-one with the Jude, but after some thought, we decided against it. Instead, Clay has abandoned "Desiring God," and is now using the hedonist/SKETCH card as a bookmark in his John Grisham. hmmm....
Well, with that, I am signing off. This most likely will be my last post from stateside.
Paige
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Sketch
For everyones viewing pleasure (particularly those who like to use the word "sketch" [particularly Piage]), here is a picture of an actual car I saw while in Barcelona.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Ethpanya
7:37 PM, Bonn
First, if you are planning to save big money by using one of those bargain airlines that they have over here, don't forget to account for the extra fees of trains and buses to get to their obscure airports. It took a train, a bus, a plane, and another bus to get me to Barcelona, but it was definitely worth it.
Best things about Barcelona:
1. Remembering just minutes after arrival that Spanish people are white
2. Seeing friends for the first time in three weeks.
3. Exploring the city for 6 hours and almost getting lost while the aforementioned friends learned things like "photography" and "sports"
4. Lots of Forn
5. Saving 15 Euro total for bringing my own water everywhere
6. Watching dogs pee in the street because Barcelona doesn't have any grass
7. Following Alex the Navigator through obscure alleys to surprisingly fine dining
8. Dancing in club "Opium" with 500 other locals, including that bald 40 year old guy that was with us for half an hour
9. Getting naked on a nude beach to change from my boxers to my swimsuit and getting gawked at because apparently "nude" beaches are really just "topless" beaches
9.2. Staying up til 3 every night with Cody to catch the NBA finals, even though they only came on once
9.3. Noticing that every thousandth man I see has long black hair, a white button down shirt, and is posed casually in a doorway and I can't help but wonder if he is a sword fighter
9.5. Spending the last night in a Muslim bar eating pitas, hummus, weird tea, and excellent hookah, then running into some Germans in the street and talking to them
10. Walking through Barcelona at 4:30 am to catch my bus to the airport and being impressed that I saw only 6 people on my half hour trek
Even though it's pretty dirty and over-populated, Barcelona is a fantastic city. I'm pretty sure I've only tapped it's potential. But bottom line, it was good to see friends.
See you all soon,
Thomas, aka Tomas, aka Tomath (Spanish people have lisps)
First, if you are planning to save big money by using one of those bargain airlines that they have over here, don't forget to account for the extra fees of trains and buses to get to their obscure airports. It took a train, a bus, a plane, and another bus to get me to Barcelona, but it was definitely worth it.
Best things about Barcelona:
1. Remembering just minutes after arrival that Spanish people are white
2. Seeing friends for the first time in three weeks.
3. Exploring the city for 6 hours and almost getting lost while the aforementioned friends learned things like "photography" and "sports"
4. Lots of Forn
5. Saving 15 Euro total for bringing my own water everywhere
6. Watching dogs pee in the street because Barcelona doesn't have any grass
7. Following Alex the Navigator through obscure alleys to surprisingly fine dining
8. Dancing in club "Opium" with 500 other locals, including that bald 40 year old guy that was with us for half an hour
9. Getting naked on a nude beach to change from my boxers to my swimsuit and getting gawked at because apparently "nude" beaches are really just "topless" beaches
9.2. Staying up til 3 every night with Cody to catch the NBA finals, even though they only came on once
9.3. Noticing that every thousandth man I see has long black hair, a white button down shirt, and is posed casually in a doorway and I can't help but wonder if he is a sword fighter
9.5. Spending the last night in a Muslim bar eating pitas, hummus, weird tea, and excellent hookah, then running into some Germans in the street and talking to them
10. Walking through Barcelona at 4:30 am to catch my bus to the airport and being impressed that I saw only 6 people on my half hour trek
Even though it's pretty dirty and over-populated, Barcelona is a fantastic city. I'm pretty sure I've only tapped it's potential. But bottom line, it was good to see friends.
See you all soon,
Thomas, aka Tomas, aka Tomath (Spanish people have lisps)
Sunday, June 8, 2008
The Spanish are friendly-ish
kind of...
14:43 Barcelona, SP
First- a photo of Alex being fruity...
Greetings from Catalunya. I deeply apologize for my lack of bloggings recently. I know that so many of you dine on my words for the inspiration and energy to make it through your days. The first things you would notice about me if this were a video blog, is:
1) my lack of wearing street clothing 2) bed hair 3) the shades of my apartment being tightly drawn.
At this point I will provide another list to help illustrate to you why it is almost three in the afternoon and I'm just getting out of bed. Possible contributing factors could be:
1) pregaming (pregaming is dangerous and irresponsible, it should only be done around trained professionals, like Max) 2) Spanish clubs are awesome 3) Among other drinks- three I coined "The Elena" after the Bartender that was making them for me- I don't know what was in them.
The sun comes up early here, and Max and I can tell you about the exact time. 06:15.
In other news, life here really is rough, it's stressful, we get no sleep, there's no good cooking or wine here, no one speaks Texan, and we're forced to hang out with our friends just about 24/7. Hate it.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
I wish I were in Dixie, Hooray
9:44 PM the Mount Ida, Arkansas
Hey guys I don't have any awesome pictures, or anything cool, really. There is a little guy from Honduras that I talk to in spanish sometimes, but thats about it. I have been taking out the trash for 6 days now and it gets better every day. Overview of my typical day
6:45 AM: wake up and drive food around camp
7:30AM: eat as much fiber as possible at breakfast so as to avoid death by constipation
8:00 AM: get in a crappy chevy pickup and pick up trash with a guy named Will Poly from Auburn
11:45 AM: go to bible study, scheduled for noon
12:03 PM: leave bible study to drive more food around
1:30 PM: eat lunch
1:43 PM: eat dinner
1:45 PM: wish I was having "rest period like everyone else"
1:50 PM: resume picking up trash
2:29 PM: dump coke/skittles/root beer/powerade/little kid saliva/spiders/chili cheese sauce/napkin/daiper/sock/jelly/honey all over my legs after a trash can containing the listed items breaks while I carry it
2:30PM: laugh and be like "what the hell am I doing here, I should be in New Guinea"
3:30PM: finish trash run
3:31 PM: play NBA JAM on our 8 foot basket
5:00PM: set up some stuff including but not limited to Large inflatable bungee runs and velcro walls, haybails, little signs, tables, etc
7:02 PM: see a kid chaffing really bad because he has worn his swimsuit for 4 days straight
7:46 PM: watch Joe kill a poisonous snake with a log
9:00 PM: take down all the stuff we put up 4 hours earlier
11:00 PM: realize how hungry I am because dinner is 13 minutes after lunch here
11:21 PM: screw around with friends
12:12 PM: set my alarm
12:25 PM: Remember why I am here
12:26 PM: ZZZZZZZZ
That's it. In conclusion, I have 2 odd connections that I have found
1) I met some girl that facebook stalked Rob Watson when we were in high school
2) I met one of Weezy's friends from high school, and yes everyone likes him as much as we like master wayne, and yes he is just as weird
All is well in Dixieland
the city of light
4:31pm- paris, france
bonjour
things in paris are wonderful. i mostly just hang out in front of the eiffel tower, drink wine and a plethora of other beverages all while enjoying exquisite cheeses. that is really all i have to say. life is good. come to paris, we will have fun. much love.
andrew
12:54 AM- wonderful College Station
Despite the fact that the French and Spanish weather is currently in the 60's, I thoroughly enjoyed today's heat index of 105 with 86% humidity.
Despite the fact that my friends currently have a glass of wine with every meal, I am proud to be in a country where i would be arrested for holding alcohol by fat incompetent police officers
And Despite the fact that most of you "went out" last night, I love the fact that my parents are still enforcing my high school one o'clock curfew.......
Really I've been thinking and I've decided I am going to stay here for the rest of the summer
k
Despite the fact that the French and Spanish weather is currently in the 60's, I thoroughly enjoyed today's heat index of 105 with 86% humidity.
Despite the fact that my friends currently have a glass of wine with every meal, I am proud to be in a country where i would be arrested for holding alcohol by fat incompetent police officers
And Despite the fact that most of you "went out" last night, I love the fact that my parents are still enforcing my high school one o'clock curfew.......
Really I've been thinking and I've decided I am going to stay here for the rest of the summer
k
Friday, June 6, 2008
It's 2:00 p.m. in Branson, MO
Greetings world travelers! I hope this post finds you all well and having tons of grand adventures! As for me, I am spending a 24 hr period away from kamp (camp with a K is how we do it at Kanakuk) in the lamest town in the world, Branson. In case you were wondering Branson gets about 7 million tourists a year, why i have no idea, but you can imagine what that makes traffic like when there is only one main road that has two lanes. Also I am currently writing from Panera Bread and am literlly cornered by old people (they run this town). But that is ok because I have been able to check the blog, read about what ya'll are doing, and live my life through you guys. And I got to talk to Thomas and Cody in Barcelona and Kelly in Spain with Skype, yay!
Anyway, I am about to finish my first week of kamp. I have been residing in Teepee 4 with 11 ten year olds and my co-counselor Maggie. With the exception of a minor catamaran mishap where I got myself and 5 kampers blown half way across Tablerock Lake, all is well. The theme for my kamp this summer is Gladiators which is so fun because I get to see about 100 boys from the ages of 7 to 12 dress up like little killing machines and hit each other with their fake swords once a week for the next six weeks (if you have never witnessed something of this nature, it is very amusing). And my girls get to be princesses which is also quite fun. I am excited about being here for the next 5 weeks and will hopefully have a few more stories to tell. I love you all and cannot wait to be reunited back in C-Stat!!!!
Katie "I HATE Branson" McGrath
P.S. Write me letters!!! (please)
Katie McGrath
364 K-Seven Drive
Lampe, MO 65681
Greetings world travelers! I hope this post finds you all well and having tons of grand adventures! As for me, I am spending a 24 hr period away from kamp (camp with a K is how we do it at Kanakuk) in the lamest town in the world, Branson. In case you were wondering Branson gets about 7 million tourists a year, why i have no idea, but you can imagine what that makes traffic like when there is only one main road that has two lanes. Also I am currently writing from Panera Bread and am literlly cornered by old people (they run this town). But that is ok because I have been able to check the blog, read about what ya'll are doing, and live my life through you guys. And I got to talk to Thomas and Cody in Barcelona and Kelly in Spain with Skype, yay!
Anyway, I am about to finish my first week of kamp. I have been residing in Teepee 4 with 11 ten year olds and my co-counselor Maggie. With the exception of a minor catamaran mishap where I got myself and 5 kampers blown half way across Tablerock Lake, all is well. The theme for my kamp this summer is Gladiators which is so fun because I get to see about 100 boys from the ages of 7 to 12 dress up like little killing machines and hit each other with their fake swords once a week for the next six weeks (if you have never witnessed something of this nature, it is very amusing). And my girls get to be princesses which is also quite fun. I am excited about being here for the next 5 weeks and will hopefully have a few more stories to tell. I love you all and cannot wait to be reunited back in C-Stat!!!!
Katie "I HATE Branson" McGrath
P.S. Write me letters!!! (please)
Katie McGrath
364 K-Seven Drive
Lampe, MO 65681
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
It's 11:11 A.M. in Barcelona, Spain.Ever seen a postcard with the words "Wish you were here!!!" scrawled across the back? Excessively enthusiastic punctuation aside, I've never been much of a fan of the time-tested platitude. You see, when I take vacations, I'm trying to get away from you. It doesn't work so well if you're here with me. Vacations should be a time of reflection, meditation, and of course, room service.
So, for two days, that was Spain. I lounged in a luxe hotel room: the photograph to the left is the view from my balcony, and, yes, if you look closely, you'll see a green icon at the street's end denoting the entrance to the American Embassy, which is, in some circles, known as Starbucks. I ventured out into Barcelona, slowly but surely, enjoyed some truly fantastic carbohydrates, and began blazing a trail for my comrades-in-coffee, Max & Cody. I was enjoying my own company, thanks very much.
Then, everything changed. I had the pleasure of taking a thirty dollar - I'm sorry, thirty euro taxi to another hotel where our CEA orientation was to be held. Within minutes, Max & Cody interrupted my enjoyment of Sydney Bristow's butt-kicking (she lives in my laptop) to rub their freshly unshowered bodies all over me. This was truly sick/nasty, but probably not in the way it sounded in the sentence above. I was, if begrudgingly, truly glad to see them.
For the next few days we enjoyed, but, at least together, the process of having our personal freedoms slowly stripped from us by the friendly CEA staff. They herded us around like cattle, or worse, like the junior high set at church camp for hours upon end, mostly warning us not to get too plastered. So far, we have succeeded in their eyes by avoiding the two evils: death-by-tequila, and speaking-too-much-English.
After our fantastically fun orientation, we were escorted to our tres chic apartment, which we call, simply, The Pug. We have given the apartamento this designation due to the similarities it shares with the canine of the same name, that is, it's so completely unfortunate-looking that we can't help but love it. Pictures to come. The shower spews water all over the floor, and, by proxy, all over the apartment; we're at least twenty minutes from our classes by way of metro, and the charming air shaft, upon which our windows open, smells like a sweaty cigarette with an untreated foot fungus. But, The Pug, well, we loves him.
Wish you were here.
-A.
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