El Filosofo

saturday i started organizing my classroom. my classroom used to be an in-school-suspension room, so the filing cabinets are full of students' trouble files, behavior contracts, and forms for lunch detention. the storage area has been used as a mass storage area and janitor closet, which came in handy when i needed to vacuum the carnage of an ant infestation plus cobwebs and egg sacks. i unpacked my boxes and got things a bit settled.

last night i had a dream that i showed up for the first day of school to find my classroom taken over by a drama teacher. there were costume racks all around, a piano, sewing machines, she had painted everything green. apparently i had a first period prep but that i was going to be sharing the room with this teacher. i called the principle in and he was very sorry that it was like this, and there were some things he said would have to go, but i was stuck.

in other news i finished reading lazarillo de tormes and started reading blink.

i also made cookies on a low broil setting, so when the cookies were 'done' they were still gummy on the bottom.

school is ok. i'm taking econ 110 from a doctoral candidate, which translates to he follows the form of the book but isn't as good as it, he uses the book his mentor suggested (i really prefer one that i've used before), the midterm we took was clever, but completely confusing in its wording.

i'm watching the sotomayor hearings and shots of the full room are rediculous. they should have un-manned cameras on everyone that's important that goes to a feed everyone can use. instead they have crowds of news people crawling around on the floor of a standing-room-only chamber. how does that look professional?

My tomato plant has a blossom. i now have two chive sprouts. i made the deans list for the first time in my college career. i successfully made french onion soup without worcestershire sauce or beef stock. i hiked squaw peak last week and saw a wild turkey. cucumber sandwiches are all the craze. i was looking through stuff from my pre-college life, and my freshman year in high school i ran a couple laps at the race for the cure in coconuts and a grass skirt and wore a chester the cheetah costume for a fund raiser. we're about halfway done with angels and demons. did you know that the title on the title page is an ambigram? i'm going to california in two weeks.

about a month ago i wrote down little notes about a dream i had. it was a very stressful dream, and had to do with teaching with zero preparation, plus the state curriculum officer, administration, and parents were all going to be in my room. now i look over the notes of the dream and i can still visualize it, but it just doesn't seem like that big of a deal. was i really that stressed out? its all for naught since i got a 4.0, i have a job, and this 'vacation' time with Kamila is a blast.

on my mission i converted to being cold. before then i would just say 'being cold is a state of mind'. to a certain extent that was true, but it led to back pains all winter because i would tense up all my muscles instinctively to fight the temperature. so as a missionary i decided it was ok to be cold. i gave myself permission to bundle up and wear thick coats AND sweaters and scarves (at the same). the other day i converted to umbrellas. i always figured if it was raining enough to really soak me, an umbrella wouldn't really do much good. if it wasn't, then i would just be fine with a bit of wetness. but i gave in and started using an umbrella, and i liked it.

once upon a time i took a test. to be a teacher i have to be "highly qualified" in my subject. to prove that i have to take a test called the PRAXIS made by the same people as the SAT, etc. i begrudgingly took mine in march. it was down at UVSC (and i don't really care that they're UVU now). the ladies administering the test took themselves very seriously. i, on the other hand, did not approach the situation that way. since i got there at 7 in the morning and didn't start the test until 830 i was both irritable and a little giddy due to lack of sleep and to counter my test anxiety.

ok, i'm feeling angsty, so i'm going to finish the story of how i was accused of gross unprofessionalism later.

The Inconsistent

When I sent you my melons, you cried out with scorn,
They ought to be heavy and wrinkled and yellow;
When I offered myself, whom those graces adorn,
You flouted, and called me an ugly old fellow.

translated from an Iberian Moorish poet

the other day i saw a guy riding his bike with a double bass over his shoulder. just thought i'd share that.

i made falafel from scratch. and lasagna. not the same night. both turned out great.

i got a job teaching at Orem Jr. High. i'm not sure what exactly i'll be teaching, but most likely it will be kids. turns out that if i want a job its good to be an intern--i'm cheap.

i get much joy out of voicing my opinions about the broken system that byu is. i'm not sure how many people are truly happy here with the way things are. even the people part of mainstream byu culture recognize that they are being cheated out of something, they're just not interested in finding out what that is.

i'm not sure who to talk to about this, but pretty much all education majors i talk with feel the same about our 'core' ed clases: multicultural ed, ed with disabilities, and management. we want more time in management (which is currently lowest), and we feel the other two could be covered in a seminar each. is it important that the students actually get something out of the class?

i've been making a mental list of the out-of-state license plates i've seen. i plan to map it out and see who's missing. mostly it's new england. got alaska AND hawaii on the list.

for the first time since i graduated from high school i'm not doing anything after the semester. i'm not moving, i'm going to be working, but its not going to be full time at the MOA, i don't have to travel across the country, i'm not going right into school. its nice. i might actually get something of a vacation.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me. My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- No guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done sometime this year.
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story, a CD, something blinky or shiny. I may draw or sculpt something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to repost. We can all make stuff!

ok, i have a very "different" situation here in Salamanca. I am not a normal student, since i'm so much older and i already know so much spanish. but i'm also not a native and don't have adegree, so i'm also not exactly at the same level with the professors. still, they've recognized that and are adjusting my course here to reflect that.

as part of that adjustment they thought it would be a great idea to give a cultural talk about some topic that interests me. i thought it would be great experience and a challenge, and i chose the Golden Age of Spain because i know enough to do a lesson and discussion on the topic. today i was in the office cause they were planning the activities for the next couple weeks. the topic turned to 'el Zorro', nickname of Jared White, good friend of mine and a student here a couple of years ago under the same circumstances. it came up that we were both mormons, and the director asked if i would do a cultural discussion about mormons since the topic interested her and some of the other teachers quite a bit. so, duh, i agreed. and next thursday i'll be doing a lesson on the mormon religion and mormons in spain. no way. i'm pretty excited. nervous, but excited.

this week i've been taking it easy. just writing in parks and cafés. i also finished the epic Poema del Cid in school. it is a fantastic story with a true hero. in every battle he asks for Gods help, and after every victory gives him thanks. he fights alongside moors, and never goes into battle unless provoked. although wronged, he remains loyal to his king. he holds his wife and daughters as his most prized treasure, and so he is generous to all his knights. perhaps his only flaw is that he is too good, too generous. as there are hundreds of arthurian legends, i only wish that there were more legends of this hero his knights and their successes.

one evening a group of us went on a cultural adventure going for Tapas. its tradition to go out with friends and grab a drink and a Tapa or two. the history is, in madrid there were a lot of bars, and thus, plenty of drunks. so the bars would make sure that their customers ate something before having their drink, so they would put a little plate over over the glass to "tapar" the drink. if you didn't eat, you didn't drink. a Tapa can be almost anything, a few battered shrimp, a pair of ribs, a little ham sandwich, a short shish kabob, stuffed muscle, etc.

yesterday carlos sastre from el barraco, ávila, spain (its about 50 km from here) won the tour du france. earlier this summer spain won the eurocup in fútbol, and things are looking good for the olympics. its a pretty good year for spain. when spain wins, its always "we won" but if spain loses, its always "those player aren't worth anything". when spain won the eurocup, even all the french kids living in salamanca were cheering "yo soy español!" apparently soccer is a very religious experience, and you DONT go out to a bar or get together with friends to watch the game. you can't bear to miss anything for someone cheering too loud or crossing in front of the tele. but, once spain won the quarter finals they started putting up a big screen in the main plaza and projected the games. it would have been fun, but i think i'm glad i wasn't here.

the main cathedral in salamanca is actually two. the first one was built in the 1400s, but then after all the conquests in the new world, they got a little more money and built a second, bigger cathedral almost on top of the old one. the also built a clock tower that was even used as a watch tower during the napoleonic wars. i have yet to go in and really take my time in the cathedrals, but this week i climbed the tower. inside they have some treasures from the cathedral archives including original printings of the complete works of homer, plutarc, and aristotle, original documents of communications from the pope and king regarding the sale of lands for the cathedral and appropriation of funds for its construction.

this weekend i went on an excursion to a couple medieval towns. la alberca lies in the sierra de francia, named because there were a number of french settlers that were sent to repopulate the area during the reconquista. we also went to ciudad rodrigo, another medieval city with a full castle and moat. i'll have pictures up soon, but i've already uploaded some new ones to the salamanca album.

I arrived in Spain on Sunday, and after getting to Salamanca I started my whirlwind of a trip. Salamanca was a Roman outpost on the trail from the silver mines in the north, but it is most famous for its university which was built in 1218. Since then it has been known  as the university town. Almost all of the famous Spanish authors (at least the ones I know and love) studied here, from Cervantes to Unamuno. Now it houses hundreds of language institutes beside the programs from the University itself. As a University town there is a bar for every 200 inhabitants, and a very active night life. That’s not just for students－ old and young go out in the evening to pass the evening in plazas and parks all over town.

My study program is through a language institute, so I study language with other kids from the States, Serbia, Switzerland, and France.  We have a grammar class which usually turns into a conversation class learning things about culture, politics, debating things like economic systems and healthcare. In spanish. It’s a lot more fun than I imagined, since I’m not much of a debater. My second course is literature. All the other students are taking a culture or commercial spanish class, so I take my text and a two-volume dictionary into some upper classrooms. I’m working my way through the epic spanish poem El Cid, and I am loving it. If anything, the fact that I actually have the opportunity to just read the works that I’ve experienced in classes, but never been able to fully enjoy. I also take my time in my celda to write and to read other random bits like a short biography of Miguel de Unamuno and ‘sayings for the student’, an old book of wisdom for students of the university.

My first task is to learn better Spanish, which I get through the school. My second is to get to know the Spanish people. It’s proved more difficult than I ever could imagine, since I’m surrounded by foreign students every day at home and at school. So one day I was wandering through a park and there were a bunch of old men playing yard games. One, la petanca, was a type of lawn bowling played with fist-sized metal balls they would roll down a dirt patch to reach a little marker. It was fascinating seeing the expressions, the players and bystanders, these old chaps heckling each other and arguing over every little thing. I am a bit obvious, as you might imagine. I’ve let my hair grow and I have my handlebar moustache back accompanied by a beard. (I look very spanish, just missed a couple centuries :) ) but they paid me a huge compliment by thinking I was a journalist from northern Spain taking pictures for a story. One of them took me over to another playing field where they were playing el calvo. They each had a  steel brick about 8 inches long, carved down and curved. They would take a running start and heave the thing towards a wooden L-shaped hook laid out in the sand with one  part sticking up. Their brick would hit that part, and sent the hook flying into the air with a load of sand, sending out a metallic THWACK. It was a thrill. Hopefully I’ll be able to have a bit more of a native experience while I’m here.

My third task is to take advantage of the historic and cultural wealth held in this little town that calls itself Roma, la pequeña, or little Rome because of the number of monuments. I went to see a live production of Molina’s Burlador de Sevilla. I won’t go into it, but for those of you that saw me doing spanish theatre, this was considerably different. I’ve also been able to see a stunning flamenco performance. I haven’t actually gone to any museums here yet. Its only been a week, and I’ve spent it going around trying to get a feel for the city and exploring its boundaries and alleyways. It’s actually served me rather well, and when I randomly met a group of professors and grad students from BYU I was able to show them around and share what knowledge I had gleaned from my wanderings.

This weekend I had the enormous opportunity to go to Lisbon. My two professors Dale Pratt and Valerie Hegstrom, whom I consider highly responsible for getting me to Spain, and I also consider to be my mentors and friends, have been living in Lisbon for the past three months working on various research endeavors. So I took a long weekend to visit them and to get to know Portugal. It’s kind of the Canada of the Iberian peninsula－ its really, really cool, but kind of forgotten. Taking the train through northern Portugal was delightful with amazing pastoral scenes, and the centuries of history tracing the landscape. Lisbon is a beautiful city which, in being somewhat forgotten by the world, has a very nice, clean atmosphere. I cannot detail all that I did. I mean, I saw a castle, monasteries, cathedrals, museums, churches, city streets, plazas, etc, etc. All in a couple days. I’m surprised at how much we got done, and couldn’t have asked for more. In the end I learned tons about Portuguese history, and opened a little place in my heart for this little country on the edge of a peninsula, inseparable from the sea.

¿Te burlas de mi soledad,
Con tu rugido?
¿O lloras también conmigo
En el suspiro suave?
Siempre lo que me pagas
También quitas
Tu olor
Me susurra de vida
Y la muerte enrolladas en una
Sueños
Sueños quebrantados, sueños vivos.
Imágenes sueltos
La mente deslazada, corriendo
Por las arenas
Agitada
Una mar aprisada, deseando
La calma
Paz en el vaivén
Socorro en la voz de la cuna
Y luz
Un punto que brilla
Alumbra en tu profunda oscuridad
E inmensas
Incomprensibles distancias
Comienzo y fin
Respuesta y pregunta
Consultas de la vida que conoces tan bien
Y más, más, más que aun me ocurre
Mas nada
¡Ay!
¡Ay, ay de mi!
El alma revuelta
Pero no busco razón
Las palabras volviendo a la boca
Los ojos
Cerrados
Para no ver tu azul
Y hallar otro horizonte
Mis oído cerrados
Al aliento de tus vientos
Conocimiento
Y caricias tramposas
Será otro día
En que me hablas de cosas
Escondidas
Que siempre he conocido, y
La sencillez que jamás
Conoceré

This was one of the most detailed dreams i had. it also runs along a coherent time line and story, which is practically unheard of in my dreams. a couple cinematic references that i can think of off the top of my head are The Island and Equilibrium. it runs a little long, but i left out  a lot of detail as well. if i were writing a screenplay, i would fill in the holes, but i'm just laying it out how i got it.

 

 ever have a dream that you wanted to remember so you wrote it down? ever not have enough time to write down the dream, so you write yourself notes to remind you about it later that day? ever forget to write about the dream? happened to me.


i have had a couple of dreams that have stuck around in my head. both happen in cities in argentina. here's one:

my mum's wedding

http://byu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8662&l=9e106&id=558409746

in the grits means going through rough times.  i love the south, but the weather is something else.  yesterday i i had to go to the middle of nowhere to do a service call.  it was exactly like my mission--hot, semi-tropical, dirt roads, trashy houses...  i think the reminiscence of the experience makes the unbearable atmosphere a little better.

we've been driving to augusta georgia this last week and we will be for at least the next two weeks.  it sucks, since we have to stay in a hotel every other night, or so, but work is pretty good.  i beat my best week by 5, which is really good.  the one guy in the office who's experienced only had me beat by 1.  its funny to pass the outlying areas of columbia and remember the times when we complained about having to travel 30 minutes to our area.  i try to comfort myself by remembering that some people commute  over an hour to work every day.  the sad thing is that the semblance of a social life that i led back in columbia is pretty much shot.  even if we do get done at a reasonable hour, by the time we get home, it is less reasonable.  the only people up at that time of night are not people that i'm looking for.  i have been getting calls from a girl that i've gone out with a couple times.  i feel a little bad since i was going out just for the sake of going out and she lives the closest to our apartments.  thus, even though i'm not really interested in going on, and there is little chance of it going anywhere, i've started this quasi-relationship.  oy.

sunday i took my day off seriously and planed a trip to the coast.  i planned on going to charleston and the beach.  alone.  but, i was informed that a group was going down.  i figured if i went with them, i could share expenses and glean any information i needed for future trips. 

lessons learned:
-the water tastes a lot less bad as the pacific.
-the seaweed is a lot more irritating to the skin than its pacific counterpart.
-people you can't stand are utterly loathsome when they become drunk, and people you like become much less likable.
-a boisterous irish drunk is still a lot more fun to be around, and is at times very funny, than an angry white-trash alcoholic.
-i'm never going to take chances with my free time--no more excursions or any activities unless i have a clear exit.

the girl that has been calling me saw my roommate at church, and wondered if i had gone to the beach alone.  she figured it couldn't be true, but then, 'guys do do weird things like that.'  i guess there are some people that do everything in a group.  of course i like company, but i also don't mind being alone.  and if the choice is hanging out with a bunch of drunks i can't stand or being alone, guess what i'll choose?  anyway, i got enough info so that i can go on my own and have a day that i can enjoy fully.

yesterday we had quite a storm.  i guess this is what the call a depression.  a couple weeks ago we had one that was more of a gutter washer.  i used to love storms, and especially rain.  i think i still do, and will again.  but right now it affects how much i get paid.  the last two saturdays were really really good days.  the first two, not so much because it was raining and the sales guys don't go door to door quite as willingly when it never stops raining. 

yesterday i went to a job at 900 but it cancelled.  i got one at 1200, and did it in an hour and a half.  i didn't get home til 1000.  what did i do?  in the morning i went to a flea market, which was really cool.  in the afternoon i would have gone to a park, something, but it was raining.  so i sat in my car and listened to the lord of the rings for hours and hours.  i took a nap.  i went shopping and bought bacon and cheese from a local farm.  i bought some shrimp fresh from the coast from some guy in his truck on the side of the road.  apparently the sales guys had been done for the day for a couple hours, and i only knew because i happened to ask close to 9.  so, yesterday was frustrating.  luckily my roommates are great and i can actually count them as friends, so the rest of the night was fine.

now as for that flea market.  there were a couple permanant shops, but mostly everything else was mobile.  one entire section was just for tables full of, esentially, garage sale stuff.  people had discount shoes, tools, bread, etc.  there was produce, motorcycle detailing while you shop, military surpluss, a shop dedicated entirely to different types of scissors, and there were pets.  it was incredible.  some guy had a mandolin that he had bought at a garage sale that morning.  there were swappings, barter and haggle, everything.  it was a lot of fun.  probably the most redneck/white trash thing i've participated in yet.

the other day i happened on a couple berrys growing on a tree.  so i called mom, and she looked up berrys and berry trees and found out that i had stumbled on a mulberry tree.  so i picked some, and they were good.  and they turned my hands dark and bloody red.

i mentioned that i had changed my feelings about storms.  i've also changed my feelings about a couple more things.  i used to like driving.  driving accross the country was great and i enjoyed it quite a bit, even though i was alone.  but now i don't.  i'm living in my car.  i drive out to an area, and then wait around for a job.  yesterday it was all day.  and after a trashy day, i still had to commute back home.  i'm getting to be less and less of a fan.  i used to love cities.  i think i still do.  but the problem with cities is that you get suburbaia and sprawl.  we haven't stayed in the city too much, but i like it when i go there.  we mainly stay on the outskirts of the metro area in new neighborhoods.  everything is paved.  as much as they leave the woods intact, you still hit these swaths of fully developed land that are killing me.  the cookie cutter houses and planned neighborhoods are starting to make me sick.  i once considered living out in the country as an option, but that would just increase the times i would have to drive in to the city.  and with suburbia already crushing my will to live, i don't think that will be an option.

in my lingustics class black dialects never really registered. i had no reference point. now i wish i could go back through a lot of the topics we hit because i now have examples. this guy was giving me directions and kept telling me to "go skrate until you see...". i was giddy all afternoon with nerdy excitement.

a girl the other day at church was describing how she had just been recruited for choir that same day and her experience while singing. "ooo, my voice was rattlin'" the rest of the company then told us how in the south they're a bit more free with their craziness. i'm not entirely sure what they meant by that, but i'm starting to understand.

i never understood 'the gossip'. i understand gossip and how people pass it on, but now i know who the character is. after a job this lady walked out with me and we 'shot the breeze' for about an hour. my job was to agree with deep 'mmmm hmmm's, disbelief, and when she said "I tell you sum'n" of "I tell you what" i just had to say 'what' or 'hmm?'. we could have gone on for hours if we had a porch, some lemonade, and a mind to.

one night one of the techs was having some trouble reconnecting the phone line. he had been at the home within a reasonable amount of time, but it was getting late. couple other factors played in the the circumstances when she said "boy, you betta' get my phones workin' by 9 o'clock, o' we gonna faaaall out".  our resident southerner (he was the tech, and he's from florida) figured that its short for 'fall out of grace' with one another.  that has been our adopeted southern phrase, and you'll hear it at least every day.

i'm sure i'll get more one we get out of suburbia, but these ones are good.

1: ya'll. thats a given. i used that one before i got here, but not as much as i do now.

2: pine straw. thats what they call pine needles. and aparently its one of the most comon forms of 'mulch'. or, instead of black plastic and bark, they just spread a blanket of pine straw about 6 inches thick around shrubs and trees.

3: mash. when you want to arm your system, you just mash this button right here. i've slipped into actually using it--not on purpose. i've also picked up a bit of the accent. its not a twang or a drawl. it just sings a little bit, and the tone lifts at the end.

i'm the first person from idaho most people have met. and yes, they commonly confuse it with iowa. most people aren't familiar with the geography once you get north and west of kansas. at least the people i've talked with.

today i saw a cemetery in the middle of a neighborhood. i stopped and asked the guy across the street, and he just sees people come every year to clean up the grounds, is all. it was just a little family plot that the city has overtaken. there were some stones still readable from the mid 1800s. this place has history.

so, let me run you through my day. i wake up around 700 for some odd reason, but then sleep til 900 or 1000. i'm not sure why because i usually go to bed around 100 or 200, and i'm not used to getting up early. hmm. but the morning is spent doing things around the house, organizing tools, running errands, etc. then we have our meeting at 12. we have an average of one meeting a week, but we still show up. we replenish our stock of equipment (different panels, door sensors, motion detectors, etc.) and put togther signs or anything else that can save us time once we get to a house.

sometimes we have jobs that have been scheduled from other days. i had one the other day at 800, one today at 200. an installation takes anywhere from an hour and a half to 4 hours depending on the phone situation. phone lines are troublesome and cable phones are worse. if you want to know why, ask. some days we tag team--one guy helping me, then i help him. we basically sit and wait for a call from the secretary telling us we have an install. sometimes we go from one to the next. today i finished a job at 400, waited til 700, started another one, but they had to leave. so i waited around until 930 in case another one came in. some days are crazy busy and others are almost boring.

luckily i found two awsome things. one--a library. i got the lord of the rings trilogy on CD, and i've been going through it enjoyably. two: clemson university has its center for agricultural studies just up the road. they have a huge wooded area with an alegator habitat, small lakes, etc. so today i just parked in some shade and listened to my book. it was beautiful. anyway, if i only go as fast as i'm going i'll get 10 installs a week, which is pretty good. i've been getting weekly checks of over $350, and thats at the base rate and after they've taken out taxes and rent. so i'm happy.

the roommate situation is also very good. i have my own room, and its bigger than the living room at my last apartment. i have two roommates for now, and they're both very cool people. both responsible, smart, and fun. so now all i need is a girl to hang out with on the nights that we get done at 900 and not 1100.

i went to see spiderman 3 and was quite dissappointed. i didn't have high expectations, but it was poor nonetheless. it was cheesy and lacked an plotline independant of the other movies. weak.

i started listening to Pride and Prejudice on the trip over, and was also dissppointed. i heard that jane austin is a terriffic author and that the movies don't do her justice. maybe it was just that i was on the road and not in the mood, or perhaps that i already knew the story, but it just did not captivate my attention.

so, i switched to Eragon. i haven't seen the movie, but i hear its a low class LoTR knock-off. the book was, indeed, based on a world simmilar to middle earth, but it held its own. i enjoyed the concept of magic, and the dragon-rider character is cool. eragon was a severely tragic hero with many flaws and quite a few mishaps due to his own immaturity and inexperience. i recomend it, and i'm looking forward to reading or listening to more.

i'm at the local library, and i just signed up for a card. i might be a nerd, but for some reason a library always seems like home.