tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89278492024-03-13T22:36:43.389-07:00Chapter Twenty-FourElyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-30709701903619193862011-05-15T07:42:00.000-07:002011-05-15T07:42:34.980-07:00Nap TimeI need to finish packing, then I may take my Sunday afternoon nap. I'd seriously be willing to switch the order on those two activities, but I decided that it would be a good idea to use my bed as a staging area so until I finish packing I don't have anywhere to nap.<br />
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After I get back home, maybe I'll be able to catch up on my blogging. If nothing else, I have a bunch of pictures to share. For now here's one to tide you over, in honor of today being Good Shepherd Sunday.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AegFhNG71Hg/Tc_iXuHmE1I/AAAAAAAAAG8/FM2GgAJI-ls/s1600/UK+10+day+278.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AegFhNG71Hg/Tc_iXuHmE1I/AAAAAAAAAG8/FM2GgAJI-ls/s320/UK+10+day+278.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>For the annoying customs and immigration people who will want to ask all sorts of silly questions when I enter the US again: I have not been anywhere even remotely agricultural in the entire time I have been out of the United States. I don't know why you might think otherwise. For everywhere else: if you go to England and take the drive up from Salisbury to Avebury to see the neolithic stone circles, earthen-works, and barrows (which you totally should) security at the site is basically comprised of a sign next to the gate latch that says 'please don't let the sheep out'. The adult sheep do not particularly care about the humans who occasionally tramp through the fields to point at the rocks they're grazing around, but this about as close as you can get to the lambs before they shy off. <br />
For extra bonus fun, bring a dog that's used to life in the city with you. Watch it go nuts trying to figure out what it's supposed to do about these interesting new creatures. This is only fun for the dog. The sheep know what their dog is like and are prepared to ignore any others, much the same way that they are prepared to ignore tourists. <br />
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I'll see you soon,<br />
EllyElyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-76920720936893993772011-04-13T11:24:00.000-07:002011-04-13T11:24:34.590-07:00Preview of Comming AttractionsI'm about to take off for Easter Break, which means I will be effectively out of communication for the next week and a half (more so than usual I mean). <br />
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For the curious, my schedual looks like this:<br />
April 14 - 16: Vienna, Austria<br />
16-21: homebase in Canturbury, UK; day trip to Bath, Salisbury, etc<br />
21-23: Bratislava, Slovakia<br />
23-25: London<br />
April 25: return to Madrid<br />
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Overlapping dates represent the days I move from one city to another. I'm quite looking forward to it. At some point in the future, there will be pictures.<br />
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-BethElyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-87614008984596419032011-02-26T18:34:00.000-08:002011-03-02T15:06:05.953-08:00Pictures from Pompeii<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Italy/Pompeii/Pompeii270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Italy/Pompeii/Pompeii270.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Rome%20Pictures/Pompeii/Pompeii270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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I was in Rome last weekend for my winter break, and I took a day trip down to Pompeii. I have a bunch of pictures to share. Right now they have all been unceremoniously dumped <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Italy/Pompeii/">here</a>. Further details will have to wait until tomorrow, because it's really late my time, and I ought to be in bed. The picture on the left is me crossing the street. The sidewalks are raised about a foot above the road. At intersections, there are a series of stepping stones, which allow pedestrians to cross without touching the street, spaced in such a way that the wheels of a cart can still fit around the cross walk.<br />
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As a further note, links to pictures on my older posts are now almost assuredly all broken. This is because I have finally enacted a much needed re-organization of my photo bucket. I do intend to go back and fix the now broken links, but it will take a while because there is only one of me and there are so very many of them. The good news is that this re-organization has allowed me to see just how much I haven't shared yet. It turns out that I've been selfishly sitting on quite a lot of pretty pictures. Expect to see lots of them in the coming weeks.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-11326514601125397652010-12-14T16:39:00.000-08:002010-12-14T16:39:11.693-08:00Almost HomePart of my brain is worried about adult things like have I packed all the documentation I need in order to re-enter Spain next month? What time do I need to leave my apartment in order to check in on time at the airport? Am I sure? Because I'm really bad at math, and this would not be a good time to miss-read the clock and show up an hour late? For sure, sure? What's the most up to date map I can get for Dulles airport, and more importantly, how do I find out things like which gate my flight from Madrid will arrive at, where is the gate for my flight on to DFW, and is two and three quarters of an hour enough time to get from the one to the other, knowing that I will have to go through passport control and customs somewhere along the way?<br />
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The other half of my brain keeps saying things like, "I'm gonna' ride on an airplane tomorrow! Yay! I love airplanes!"<br />
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This is not as helpful as I would like.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-15207862697589816132010-11-29T10:48:00.000-08:002011-03-02T15:09:43.245-08:00Adventures, I Have Had Them<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Spain/Avila/MadridSeptember099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Spain/Avila/MadridSeptember099.jpg" width="320" /></a>I went to Avila the first weekend I was here. I've actually had the <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Spain/Avila/">pictures</a> up for a while, but I'm just now getting around to writing about it because I am a bum. It's an easy day trip from Madrid (less than 15 EUR for a round trip train ticket) both because of it's distance (about an hour Northwest) and because there's really only three things that you would go to Avila to see. Those three things are, in no particular order: the cathedral, the medieval walls, and St. Teresa's birthplace. In the picture on the left, I'm standing on one of those things and a second is in the background. I trust you can work out which thing is which, and which is not pictured.<br />
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I went to the cathedral first, and found that I had it mostly to myself. The end of September is the beginning of the off-season, and Avila isn't at the top of the tourist list anyway, so instead of having to fight hordes it was just me, a few pairs of Spanish and Japanese tourists, and a French group. As for the cathedral itself, well the only interesting things are the fact that it's apse is actually a part of the city walls, and that it has a secret passage way that leads into the old city. Disappointingly, despite all sorts of signage talking about the secret passage way and its discovery (including several pointing right to the entrance) , the public is absolutely forbidden from exploring it.<br />
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Another thing the public is absolutely forbidden to do is take pictures, although given the guard/visitor ratio I probably could have gotten away with it if I had wanted to. Alas, the only thing I wanted pictures of was the one thing in the whole city I absolutely would not dare approach with my stupid flash-happy camera: the 15th century illuminated choir books. Naturally, since I have an interest in it, this was also the one thing about which the sleepy ticket agent/souvenir vendor did not have a book.<br />
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Something that kind of bothered me was the half-assed way that signage was applied to everything. It was not informative (i.e. nothing was said that I could not figure out myself by looking at the various items), and the signs themselves looked as if they had not been made or applied with much care. Especially in a sacred setting, I'm of the opinion that if you are not going to do something well, it is better not to do it. I would rather you gave me enough light to read the Latin inscription on a statue's base than have a poorly translate English card pasted next to it. <br />
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St. Teresa's birthplace was long ago converted into a convent, complete with a chapel on the location of her old bedroom. Like all pilgrimage sites in Spain, this one has over the years acquired a thick layer of bling that almost completely obscures it.<br />
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In the basement, there is a nice little museum explaining the events of Teresa's life. At least it is a nice little museum if you can read Spanish, which is the only language option there. I can read it well enough to get the gist, but by the time I left I had a splitting headache. Included in the museum are her writings, including a few of her actual manuscripts as well as printed versions. That's interesting for three reasons: 1.) she has a very distinctive style of handwriting, that is regardless of content, quite attractive; 2.) the printing press was still the hot new technology at the time, so the fact that her writings were noteworthy enough to print during her lifetime is interesting; and 3.) she is the only female Doctor of the Church which not only puts her in the same select group as Sts. Jerome and Thomas Aquinas, but means that essentially she was cannonized for her writing. For a woman in 16th Century Spain to have had the sort of influence that she had and continues to have, is absolutly mind boggeling.<br />
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The museum also includes exhibits about the founding of her order (she thought the order she was a part of was not strict enough, so she started her own), and her friendship with John of the Cross (Avila's other local Saint). There's the expected bit about the process of her canonization. To me the other truly interesting thing was a room about all the other Saints (and yes, the capital S is important). Whose lives were directly influenced in one way or another by St. Teresa. Most of them are there because they were members of her order or else the order of monks that St. John of the Cross founded. There are over a dozen, from John of the Cross, to a couple of martyrs of the Holocaust. To me, the fact that she lead others to a Saintly life is the most powerful testimant to her memory.<br />
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There are relics of Teresa and John on site (part of her finger and a ring, some un-specified bone of his). The relics themselves are located in a small room that is only accessible through the gift shop. I have a hard time not being insulted by this.<br />
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As for the city walls... well they're walls. And they wrap around the old city. The apse of the Cathedral actually forms part of one of the walls, and unlike most medieval structures in Europe, the walls have miraculously not been disassembled and used as pre-made construction materials elsewhere in the city. I bought the ticket and went for a walk until the combination of hurting feet and the sneaking suspicion that Spain is trying to kill me with non-OSHA compliant railings led me to decide that I did not want to stay in Avila for three more hours, no matter how attractive the guidebooks say that the walls are at night.<br />
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I exchanged my train ticket for an earlier one, and was back in Madrid in time for dinner. Including the train ticket, I spent just under 30 EUR on the trip (a number that does not include meals, because I ate lunch and dinner in Madrid), which is not to bad for one afternoon of site-seeing.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-88577642055790433302010-11-29T09:35:00.000-08:002010-11-29T10:49:42.646-08:00The BBC Lied to MeMore specifically, the BBC's weatherman was wrong today. The guess on the temperature was about right somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 degrees (just above freezing, but is sounds a lot colder in Celsius than in Fahrenheit), but it was alleged that today would be sunny (as per usual) with some rain later in the week.<br />
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Today it snowed.<br />
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It wasn't a very hard snow, and it's not sticking, so in practice is like a very persistent rain, but it was still snow. All in all, tonight is a good night to stay in, curl up around my coffee pot, and write, which is what I'm doing. It's finally clicked in my little head that the semester will be over in two weeks and that if I am going to finish my final papers (two 12+ page research papers, one 40 page play) I need to do a lot of preparation work <i>now</i>.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-72787061907983359072010-10-27T22:56:00.000-07:002010-10-27T22:57:37.234-07:00On Cow SqueezingsAs a graduate student, two of my primary <a href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=582">food groups</a> are things-that-can-be-eaten-from-a-bowl (cereal) and things-with-caffeine-in (coffee and tea). As such, the state of milk is a concern to me. Here is a list of the attributes I associate with milk I buy in the United States:<br />
-comes in a jug<br />
-sold by the gallon or half-gallon<br />
-available in whole, 2%, 1%, and skim verieties<br />
-goes bad in about two weeks<br />
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Here are the attributes of the milk I buy in Spain:<br />
-comes in a box<br />
-sold by the liter or half-liter<br />
-available in whole or semi UHT <br />
-goes bad in about 4 months<br />
It's that last item that is a concern to me. I can't help but think that somewhere between me and the cow, something has gone horribly wrong.<br />
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For the record, the milk here is thinner and smells different from the milk back home, but it tastes just fine.<br />
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Also my travel plans have changed. Due to ongoing strikes in France (boo french-y frog-ies!), RyanAir canceled the flight that would have taken me to London this weekend. Why a strike in France affects a flight from Spain to England, I'm not sure, but I had to rebook anyway. Assuming everyone is back at work, I will be going to London next weekend instead.<br />
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In the meantime, I have a long weekend because All Saint's Day is a holiday here. Since I don't want to waste the chance, I will be going to Berlin this weekend.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-17721079514353006582010-10-21T19:42:00.000-07:002010-10-21T19:42:22.819-07:00What I've been up to<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7z6NtB-xtxI/TMDvO2cqLGI/AAAAAAAAAGg/ZDAk8KyLUdk/s1600/madrid+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7z6NtB-xtxI/TMDvO2cqLGI/AAAAAAAAAGg/ZDAk8KyLUdk/s320/madrid+006.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>There's been some interest in what I've been doing in the month or so since I arrived here. (By which I mean that my mother worries if she isn't updated frequently.) The long answer involves a day trip to Avila (a post of which has been stuck as a draft for most of the past month), a run to IKEA (unusually frustrating), and moving into my apartment (far more difficult than it needed to be, due to a lack of communication between the schools various campuses). The short answer is the picture on the left. That's what I've had to read since I arrived here. It's not quite complete. There was a copy of <i>All My Sons</i> that I borrowed and returned, and several hundred pages of pdf that I opted not to print. In addition, there's the 21 pages of A4 that I've written an turned in, at a rate of approximately an hour's worth of work per finished page. That's not counting the 5-7 page paper I have due tomorrow, or the two annotated bibliographies I have due next week. Other time consuming tasks I have include going to class, knitting, eating, and catching up on my sleep. <br />
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Apparently I'm going to take breaks from all of this soon. Next weekend I'm going to London, and the first weekend of December I'm going to Prague and Budapest. I know I'm doing this because in a fit of cabin fever I just gave RyanAir and the Deutche Bahn a bunch of money to get me there and back, and I wouldn't want to waste my investment. Knowing me, I will take a bunch of school work with me, and forget something essential like my toothbrush or socks.<br />
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If I get really adventurous, I might go to the Zoo tomorrow or Saturday to see the new baby pandas.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-60350964484824538782010-10-12T18:10:00.000-07:002010-10-12T18:10:09.195-07:00Sock!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Stuff%20I%20Made/sock009-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Stuff%20I%20Made/sock009-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I've got a post brewing about my latest adventures (trips to Avila and IKEA, and moving into my apartment), but for now here's an update on what's really important. I finished another pair of knitted socks. More pictures are <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Stuff%20I%20Made/">here</a>.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-84379540333774239032010-09-22T12:30:00.000-07:002011-03-02T15:12:37.846-08:00Temple of Debod<a href="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Spain/Madrid/Temple%20de%20Debod/DSCN6917.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><br />
<a href="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Spain/Madrid/Temple%20de%20Debod/DSCN6917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Spain/Madrid/Temple%20de%20Debod/DSCN6917.jpg" width="240" /></a>So today after class I went to the Temple of Debod, which is a 2,200 year old Egyptian temple currently located in a park here in Madrid. What is Egyptian construction doing in the middle of Spain, you might ask. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_debod">Wikipedia</a> has an answer that is not awful. Long story short, Spain helped Egypt move a bunch of stuff when the Aswan Dam was built, and Egypt gave Spain a temple that wasn't particularly important as a thank you gift.<br />
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I went there today because the site is small enough that I could get to it and see the whole thing between the time my classes ended (5:15) and the time it gets shut for the night (8:00). The Temple was actually quite small, I thought. All the doorways where very narrow and on the second floor my head was barely clear of the rafters. The stairs were tight enough that they had to put guards at both ends to direct traffic up and down. There was not room for two people to pass each other on those stairs, even if they were really good friends. <br />
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On the other hand, from the outside it looks pretty cool. It's in a park on a hill, so there are nice views of the city to be had from it, especially around sunset, when the locals come out to enjoy it. Everything is pretty well explained, if you can read Spanish. The English versions were less helpful. The also had a pretty nifty system of lights projected inside, which highlighted the architecture, and explained what it was. I dumped a bunch of photos into the <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Spain/Madrid/Temple%20de%20Debod/">bucket</a>, and I think this is once case where the pictures definitely do a better job of explaining what I'm on about than I can do on my own.<br />
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Most importantly, at least to the view of this poor student, entry to the temple is free. I took the metro to get there, because I was coming straight from class and had a backpack full of books. Someone with a more touristy agenda could walk from Puerto del Sol or the Palace, or take the metro if they were feeling lazy.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-8261123046007693732010-09-21T05:25:00.000-07:002010-09-21T06:00:11.100-07:00Arrival in MadridGetting set up in Madrid was easy. Getting here was a long and boring process.<br /><br />For starters, I didn't get a lot of sleep on Saturday night, because I was dithering about getting everything packed, and I was excited about leaving the USA again. Then, I got up early to go to church with my parents one last time. We went to St. Nick's because it's on the way to the airport and the service time was confinent. Aside from my allergies deciding to act up during the lessions, it worked out rather well. <br /><br />The frist leg of the flight was from Dallas to Tornoto. My Air Canada flight turned out to actually be on Air Canada Jazz, which is their puddle hopper/low fares service. In other words, instead of the big plane that I've come to expect on international flights, it was a little commuter plane. On the other hand, the flight was nowhere near full, so I had an entire exit row to myself. Aside from food being considered a frill, and thus not included, it was a pretty nice flight. <br /><br />Then came a six and a half hour layover in Toronto. That may be the most soulless airport I've ever been in. If it weren't for the occasional advertisement for their free wi-fi service there would have been no way to tell it was in Toronto. If it weren't for the Tim Horton's and all the left-over merchendice from the Olympics in the duty-free shop, you would never know it was in Canada. The free wi-fi, by the way, was free, but it was also so unberably slow as to be practically useless. I was unable to check my email successfully, much less skype into my D&D game back in Texas, like I'd planned on. On the other hand, I used the time to write a 3 page paper for my class on Emily Dickenson, so it wasn't a total waste of time.<br /><br />The flight from Toronto to Madrid, despite having a Lufthansa flight number, was served by Air Canada, with a Canadian crew, in a 767 with a giant Maple Leaf on the side. The entire thing was tri-lingual English/French/Spanish, which gets old real fast if you are at all proficient with all three languages and you just want to know what your options are for in-flight movies. I was seated in the very last row of the sterrage section, next to the window, which meant every time I wanted to go tot he bathroom, I had to climb over the sleeping Spanish lady next to me. That happened a lot, becuase I have never been able to sleep sitting up, and I was guzzeling water in a more or less successful attempt to stave off dehydration. <br /><br />Getting setttled in Madrid has been painless. My Spanish is adiquite for getting a taxi, checking into a hotel, and buying a cell phone. I've finished the paperwork necissary to get a permanant resident card (now I have to wait for an apointment, which will basicly be whenever they feel like it). This will be my second day of classes, and also the day I turn in my second paper. Tomorrow I have an appointment with a real estate agent to see an appartment, and hopefully, sign a lease.<br /><br />Hasta luego.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-550638045596957302010-09-20T05:58:00.000-07:002010-09-20T06:02:06.319-07:00I Live!I have arrived in Madrid, and will be giving the MA thing another go. The blog shall be back for the ride, since I now have something interesting to write about. I'll write more later. Right now I'm very, very tiered because I still havn't mastered the art of sleeping on airplanes.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-10741819873071210922009-11-07T02:20:00.000-08:002011-03-02T15:15:51.243-08:00North Italy PicturesBy popular request (OK, the same person asking me multiple times) my pictures from the trip through northern Italy I took in 2006 are up. You can find them <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Europe/Italy/Rome%20Pictures/North%20Italy%20Trip/">here</a>. I just dumped them all into the photobucket. No discrimination was made between the ones that are worth looking at and the ones that are so blurry you can't even identify them. Browse at your own risk.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-25152505346847406742009-11-02T18:28:00.000-08:002009-11-02T18:42:27.221-08:00NaNoWriMo '09Well, NaNoWriMo has begun again, and since I originally started this blog to keep track of my writing progress it's time to update again.<br /><br />I left the house today and camped out in a Starbucks with my laptop and did some writing. I got about 2000 easy words in, which put me about a thousand words ahead (4,415 words at the moment) on day two. I was home in time for Top Gear.<br /><br />Now you're probably thinking: You haven't updated your blog since February, and that's all you're going to say? You went to Starbucks and watched some British TV? <br /><br />The answer to your incredulous thoughts is yes. That's all I've got to say. If you wonder what I've been up to in the meantime, I've got some photos up <a href="http://yaminohon.deviantart.com/">here</a>. Some of them were even taken within the past year.<br /><br />That's all for now.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-49156135584807341922009-02-13T21:33:00.000-08:002009-02-13T22:05:52.028-08:00My Horoscope for TodayI read my horoscope in the paper, mostly because it's printed on the funny pages<a href="#L1">*</a><a name="L1r"></a>. I figure I might as well read it, since I already have the paper open to that page. It's like getting a fortune cookie every day, except I have to share it with everyone else who reads the <span style="font-style:italic;">Dallas Morning News</span> and I don't get a cookie. <br /><br />Today my horoscope actually managed<a href="#L2">**</a><a name="L2r"></a> to reflect the very things I had planed to do today (stay out of an argument, go bake something). How's that for a crazy coincidence? The paper also said my day was a 5 out of 10, which sounds about right as I'm still unemployed and I have this nasty chest cough which makes me sound as though I'm being savaged by a dying goose<a href="#L3">***</a><a name="L3r"></a>.<br /><br />Also, I made a new <a href="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Stuff%20I%20Made/scarf011.jpg">thing</a> today. It's sort of a <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Stuff%20I%20Made/?action=view¤t=scarf012.jpg">mini-scarf</a> neck warmer <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Stuff%20I%20Made/?action=view¤t=scarf014.jpg">thing</a> that <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Stuff%20I%20Made/?action=view¤t=scarf015.jpg">buttons</a> up one side. The yarn is some cheap acrylic stuff I got in Spain, but ended up not using for a Christmas present after all. I hadn't crocheted anything in a while, and that seemed as good a reason as any to start trying to clear the junk out of my stash.<br /><br />Later,<br />Ely<br /><br /><br /><br /><a name="L1"></a>*where it belongs <a href="#L1r">[back]</a><br /><a name="L2"></a>**though the Monkeys on a Keyboard Theory of Shakespeare Composition <a href="#L2r">[back]</a><br /><a name="L3"></a>***And no, I didn't bake anything today after all. No one wants to eat anything after I've coughed on it. <a href="#L3r">[back]</a>Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-91309285200288282482009-02-09T22:40:00.000-08:002009-02-09T22:49:26.784-08:00The Importance of Watching the Super BowlMy brother informs me that not watching the Super Bowl is the first step to becoming a pinko commie, so it's a good thing I watched the first half, even though my preferred sport is futbol, not football. After the half time show I got board and wandered off to make dinner, but the TV stayed on, which is alomst like watching it. I guess this is my way of saying that I resent the implication that I might be harboring any bolshivik tendencies.<br /><br />In other news:<br />-My job search proceeds slowly. I'm told that I picked a really lousy time to join the job market.<br />-Rewrites on my novel are coming along well. I might have something ready to submit this summer. *crosses fingers* <br /><br />Later,<br />EllyElyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-2891682416185718812009-01-31T18:48:00.000-08:002009-01-31T19:00:05.018-08:005 Year Old HumorI should clarify that this is not a joke that I have been hoarding for five years<a href="#F1">*</a><a name="F1r"></a>, but rather a joke told to me by a five year old kid who has learned about synonyms and puns but does not understand them.<br /><br />Q. Did you hear about the fuzzy who lost his left side?<br />A. He's OK now! [cue riotous laughter] Get it? Get it?<a href="#F2">**</a><a name="F2r"></a><br /><br />The original telling of this joke occurred somewhere on I-35, while mom and I were taking my brother back to college station. When we finally got the joke, I very nearly fell out of my seat laughing, but I was physically restrained by my seat belt, so I settled for laughing until I cried.<br /><br />Later,<br />Elly<br /><br /><br /><br /><a name="F1">*</a>Although I do have a tendency to repeat jokes until I get the response I want. <a href="#F1r">[back]</a><br /><a name="F2">**</a>Translated into adult-speak, the punch line of this joke is actually "He's all right now." <a href="#F2r">[back]</a>Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-40573430798344522872009-01-23T23:58:00.000-08:002011-03-02T15:43:42.535-08:00And We're BackI was going to make regular updates over the holidays. <br />
I was going to update at least once a week in 2009. <br />
I was going to write an interesting re-cap of all the things I've done in the past year, especially the things that happened since my last post, such as narrowly avoiding be <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/USA/Missouri/">squished by a tree</a> and teaming up with Mom Lady<a href="http:///#F11">*</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8927849&postID=4057343079834452287" name="F11r"></a> to build a gallon-sized <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Stuff%20I%20Made/">graham cracker cathedral</a>.<br />
Unfortunately, I've been stricken with a horrible case of MaƱana Fever <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8927849&postID=4057343079834452287#F22">**</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8927849&postID=4057343079834452287" name="F22r"></a> So, instead of doing any of that, I'm going to make an observation about the weather: if this cold-one-day-hot-the-next pattern we've had for the last month or so keeps up, we are going to have some interesting storms this Spring.<br />
<br />
That is all.<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8927849&postID=4057343079834452287" name="F11">*</a>her super power is Being My Mommy. This is important. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8927849&postID=4057343079834452287#F11r">[back]</a><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8927849&postID=4057343079834452287" name="F22">**</a>Differential Diagnosis: Procrastin-itis <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8927849&postID=4057343079834452287#F22r">[back]</a>Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-37136178841636508592008-12-17T15:45:00.000-08:002008-12-17T15:46:22.731-08:00G.T.T.I'm <span style="font-weight:bold;">G</span>one <span style="font-weight:bold;">T</span>o <span style="font-weight:bold;">T</span>exas. <br /><br />I should be there a little over 20 hours from the time I hit post.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-30500717567468505692008-12-12T10:19:00.000-08:002008-12-12T10:41:37.800-08:00Zuh, What?It finally clicked in my little head that I'm flying home this Thursday. So, I thought I would refresh my memory and look at my flight information so I could make sure I had a ride home from the airport and all of that.<br /><br />Can someone please tell me what I was thinking when I booked a seat on a flight that leaves Madrid at 6 a.m.? With only an hour and a half<a href="#F1">*</a><a name="F1r"></a> to change flights in Frankfurt?<br /><br />Later,<br />Ely<br /><br /><br /><a name="F1">*</a>That sounds like plenty of time, but really, it's only just enough. EU arrivals are on the opposite side of the airport from international departures, and in between I have to go through two security checks (at which any liquids I may or may not have purchased in the duty free shop and subsequently forgotten will be confiscated) and passport control. I've complained about this before, and you'll probably here about it again.<a href="#F1r">[back]</a>Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-70900865291637254652008-12-06T07:25:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:38:20.256-08:00Lentil SoupA staple of dinner here is lentil soup. Despite the fact that none of us actually like it, we have lentil soup at least once a week. I have nothing against lentils in principle, it's just... they're lentils, and when boiled for hours to make the stock for a soup they tend to loose all of their flavor and (paradoxically) make every other ingredient in the soup (from chorizo to carrots) taste like lentils. The end result is a dark brown mush that I have had to eat once a week ever since I got here. Back in September lentil soup was something that I was mostly indifferent to; now I want to call in sick to dinner every time I see Juan or Ana setting out soup bowls.<br /><br />The rest of the this post is kind of like that soup. This is sort of a grab bag of things which are mostly innocuous on their own but -- taken in combination after four months of exposure -- are really starting to annoy me.<br /><br />First, I would like to address the club hoppers who make the move from Dreams to Joy between two and three in the morning every damn day. Would you all please shut up? I'm trying to sleep. That goes double at five in the morning when the clubs all close. Whatever you do, stop singing. Your voice is not attractive, and after you've had that much to drink you don't even remember all the words. Just. Shut. Up.<br /><br />Second, I would like to address whoever is responsible for the civic infrastructure on Calle Arenal. Why does the trash get picked up at 1 a.m.? Why can this not be done at some hour when I am not trying to sleep? And the guys you sent last week to use a jackhammer to remove random paving stones and replace them with un-leveled piled of sand? That wasn't funny. I starting to wonder if my randomly non-functioning knee isn't connected to that time I tripped on the place where you removed a tree and replaced it with a pile of sand. Why are you creating more obstacles?<br /><br />Third: to the writers of CSI (any version). When was the last time an episode did not include a murder/manslaughter/negligent homicide? I thought the team investigated all sorts of crimes. To the Miami people: the only member of your team I liked was the ME, and she's left the show. Horatio's sunglasses are not enough to get me to keep watching. Please get off my TV. To the Las Vegas people: how is it that you can kill off Warick (who I kind of liked) but Sarah (who I hate almost as much as I hated the Sarah/Grissom relationship story arc) still isn't gone even though she technically left? To the New York people: congratulations, you're the only iteration of the show where I like all the characters. Please keep it that way. Also, the "member of the team has been taken hostage and/or seriously injured plot" has gotten old and stale. If I recall correctly, the only team members who have not been sucked into either of those plots are Sid and Adam, both of whom never leave the lab. Also, I notice that suspects try to run a lot more in New York than they do in Las Vegas. While I enjoy watching Detective Flack tackle people as much as the next fan girl, it's getting kind of old.<br /><br />Fourth, to people who write knitting patterns: is there some sort of law that states that every printed knitting pattern must include at least one typo that will result in me having to frog at least two rows in order to correct? The pattern I'm working from now makes the rather blatant error of giving directions for a stockinette rib stitch instead of a seed stitch. For any readers who don't speak knitting, and have followed the post thus far, the directions to produce something like this:<br /><br />V - V - V -<br />V - V - V -<br />V - V - V -<br /><br />were labeled as the pattern for this:<br /><br />V - V - V -<br />- V - V - V<br />V - V - V -<br /><br />Speaking of knitting, I finished Juan's Christmas present. He teased me one too many times about making something for him. If I understood the Juan-ish correctly, he was asking for a gray knee length slip [translator's note: that could mean boxer shorts or it could mean slip, I'm really not sure, and either way, I'm not knitting it] with an American flag on the butt. What I made him is a basket-weave scarf. It's knit from pink acrylic (2 EUR for 200 grams), which experienced knitters will instantly recognize as really, really, cheap. The yarn was thin and the only needles I had on hand are 7mm and solid aluminum, so I doubled the yarn when I made this one. Even after I made the tassels, I still had a ball a little smaller than my fist left over. <a href="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Stuff%20I%20Made/Madrid003.jpg">Take a look</a> if you dare.<br /><br />On the subject of knitting needles: solid aluminum is a bad choice of material for a large-gauge needle. It's just too heavy, and using these stupid things is about to kill my hands. Why can't I find another option in this city? Surely plastic or bamboo needles exist in this country, why doesn't anyone sell them?<br /><br />I think I'm done complaining about things that don't really matter now. Thanks for reading.<br /><br />Later,<br /><br />ElyElyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-52922981052379352962008-11-27T12:19:00.000-08:002008-11-27T17:10:15.453-08:00Happy Thanksgiv-a-dring-a-dring-ling<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7z6NtB-xtxI/SS8REoIbAJI/AAAAAAAAAFg/ccDD25G6InY/s1600-h/Christmas+Time+020.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7z6NtB-xtxI/SS8REoIbAJI/AAAAAAAAAFg/ccDD25G6InY/s320/Christmas+Time+020.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273452459864031378" /></a><br />So Thanksgiving in Spain is just another Thursday. An effort was made to celebrate here in the apartment, but two of my roommates have relatives in town, so Megan, Renee, and Emma were all out visiting, and for dinner it was just me and the three vegetarians. Dinner was pretty yummy anyway, but I'm struggling to deal with the fact that this is apparently a pie-free country. <br /><br />Christmas decorations went up on Tuesday, because we got tired of waiting. There's me and the tree on the left. It was sort of an adventure, because we were all working in a confined space, with Juan up on a ladder, and the one person (Ana) who was trying to coordinate our efforts was speaking only in Spanish. I've got a few more pictures of the decorating, in various stages of completion, which you can see if you follow this <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Madrid/Christmas%20Time/">link</a>.<br /><br />If you scroll down below, you will see that I have finally finished my post about Rome, which is backdated to the end of last month (between "When in Rome" and "Juan-ish"), when I actually wrote most of it. It's actually been written for a while, I was just too lazy to type it up. My photos of Rome (which may look suspiciously similar to some that I took when I was there two years ago) are all <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Madrid/Rome/">here</a>, although I have not managed to caption or even tag most of them. <br /><br />I've got a write up of my Berlin trip written and typed, but it needs to be cleaned up (and possibly broken into pieces, I was pretty long-winded there) before it will be readable. In the meantime, you can see my photos of the trip (again, caption free at the moment) <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Madrid/Berlin/">here</a>.<br /><br />London, I have neither written or typed about, but here's the <a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/umbrakatze/Madrid/London/">link</a> to the photos.<br /><br />In the next couple of days, I mean to get captions up on all of those, even if they're just of the "this is a building" variety. In the meantime, if there is any of them catch your eye and you want to know more, either comment here or send me an e-mail and I'll do my best to answer questions.<br /><br />For something more interesting than a list of things I haven't done, I now turn to Juan who recently explained to us how Obama ruined Christmas <a href="#T1">*</a><a name="T1r"></a>:<br />-His first act as President-Elect was to free the Elves who were forced to work in Santa's North Pole Sweat Shop<br />-This has brought Santa's entire operation to a halt (no elves = no toys)<br />-Even if there were toys, they could not be delivered, as Rudolph's nose was found to be causing global warming<br />-Rudolph was then shot by Bruce Willis, who was quoted as saying "Yippie-ki-yay"<a href="#T2">**</a><a name="T2r"></a><br /><br />Later,<br /><br /><br /><a name="T1">*</a>Loosely Translated from the Original Juan-ish <a href="#T1r">[back]</a><br /><a name="T2">**</a>Explination for Mom and Other People Who Don't Watch Action Movies: this is a reference to the "Die Hard" series (starting liberal actor Bruce Willis), the first of which did take place at an office Christmas party. <a href="#T2r">[back]</a>Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-89478597974635065832008-11-13T15:04:00.000-08:002008-11-13T15:05:38.311-08:00Ceci n'est pas un UpdateSorry for the quietness of late. I have much to tell, but it will have to come later, as I'm going to London for the weekend.<br /><br />-ElyElyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-3474446609399824692008-11-05T08:17:00.000-08:002008-11-05T08:18:58.780-08:00But I Don't Want to Be a SocialistUnfortunatly, there are fewer and fewer places in the world I can go to get away from socialism.<br /><br />That's all I've got to say about that.Elyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8927849.post-3662360954403033632008-11-03T12:59:00.000-08:002008-11-03T13:13:20.245-08:00Juan-ishMy host father, Juan, does not speak English. He does not speak Spanish either. He speaks Juan-ish, which requires special skill to translate.<br /><br />Things I've learned today:<br />-Juan is from Ft. Leramie, Wyoming<br />-Juan is the 5th Beatle<br />-Ringo Star is not Chinese<br />-"Jingle Bells" actually begins "Wrinkle birds, wrinkle birds" and is properly sung to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"<br />-Pallea is made from Jackalope<br />-Amanda is from the North (New Hampshire), therefore all her family members are all penguins, and when they go to vote, they drop sardines in the ballot box.<br /><br />Speaking of voting, don't forget to vote tomorrow. You'd be better off going earlier in the day then later if you want to avoid a line. Maya's boyfriend Nick (who is visiting us this week) voted early, and he said he stood in line for an hour, and this was in Orange Country. I voted absentee (mailed my ballot a couple of weeks ago, thanks for asking). The statistics-making-people are saying that in this election roughly a third of the voters have voted early or absentee, which I think is interesting.<br /><br />Tomorrow night I'm planning on staying up for the election watching party, which really means getting up early on Wednesday. 7:00 in the central time zone in midnight here. So, even though the polls should be closing on the west coast at about 2 a.m. my time, I'll be stuck at school because the metro doesn't re-open until five or six. Watching returns means an all-nighter, but it's OK, pizza will be for sale.<br /><br />-ElyElyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11038408625945701874noreply@blogger.com2