Californication

When they first introduced me to their group of friends, Trevi smiled and said "Hoi Solly!," imitating my American accent in Spanish but speaking in English. "Califorrrrrrnication!!!!" (I put several r's to try to stress the fact that the r's were rolled). He touched my arm, did his little dance and started cracking up.

This was the first day I was inducted into the "Sally y los intocables" (Sally and the untouchables), our band. We will cover songs such as Californication and Ride Sally Ride, with incredible Spanish accents and the album photography will be various photos of us hiking, all in which Trevi has one leg lifted in the air, his signature pose.

The first time our group went hiking, we started out by having "Happy Coffee." Happy coffee is what Ana likes to have before hiking. It's a coffee and a Magdalena (a small, plain, Spanish muffin) to get you feeling warm and energized before hiking in the cold, sometimes wet, North-Western Iberian countryside. We did this in a teeny Portugese village, where all of the buildings were made of stone, and there was a central stone building in which bread was fired, it had no chimney, instead there was a black line showing where the smoke sat in the form of a uniform cloud at the upper quarter of the cottage, this upper portion is where they smoke chorizo and other meats for preservation. [Side note - I didn't bring a camera with me that day but the others did, so I will get pictures and add them later]. We finished our Happy Coffee and waited for the cows to cross so we could get back to our car. By the car there were sheep, a dog, chickens and a shepherd. The image was beautiful. It was really green, in between the stone bricks there was grass forcing its way through. A cow stopped for a drink of water at a public trough and one of the sheep looked at us as if we were strangers in its village. We certainly were. We got in the car and drove to the trail we'd be hiking. We hiked down to a waterfall and then up to the ruins of a Monastery from the 9th Century, yes, pictures will follow. After the hike we had lunch, the bread was dense, a dark khaki color and steam was creeping out of the basket; there was a red wine, a hard cheese and sausage. For the main course we had bacalao (cod) with potatoes, a very common Portugese dish and another meat dish which I am not quite sure what it was.

Throughout the day, I discovered that Trevi, and many other Spanish peoples' understanding of the word "Californication," which comes from the popular song, and album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. is fornication in California. I had never thought of that. How many times had I heard the song, on the radio or at a friend's house? I always interpreted the song to mean "of California," like a way of life, a mentality, a state of mind. I really don't know what the Red Hot Chili Peppers intended with the song but trying to read the lyrics doesn't help me. They are quite ambiguous, genius if you ask me, but don't really answer Trevi and my uncertainties. Well, it's more of an uncertainty for me because Trevi doesn't care about what the Red Hot Chili Peppers nor I think the song means, he likes his definition. I have decided, well, as I always thought the song meant, that it was about the Californian way of life, furthermore; a love for one's state. It doesn't help that California is the best state to be from, but anyways. What I'm saying is there's something to be said about one's home. Where they were raised and sharing common beliefs, memories, interests with those people. It's like when you travel and you meet someone from your hometown, or when you are abroad and you meet a fellow country-person, or better yet, someone from your state or region or whatever you want to call it.

I love it here in Galicia and I love hiking with Sally y los intocables. I love meeting people and traveling and just discovering little things, but I will say, there is a fat part of my heart that belongs in California.

I love myself, I want you to love me

I am really blessed in my life. I won´t begin to rattle off my blessings publicly because I believe that would be bad form. What I do want to do is share a little something I´ve learned by living, traveling and thinking (something I do far too much). If you find someone in this small world that we live in, who: gets you (or at least is willing to try), respects you, has some similar interests and values, thinks you´re cute and can live with you; and assuming that all of these things are mutual, then please, for your sake and mine, be with them! It really doesn´t matter what their income is, what car they drive, their height, ethnic background or how many tattoos they have. Please, please don´t let your mom, your friends or your own prejudices and issues stop you from being with that person. It´s not worth it. This life is short, and we really don´t know when we will die. Really. I would love to die knowing I followed my heart and let my gut guide me in my decision making. If I died today (God forbid), I´m afraid I would not have fulfilled that dream. I have let my own insecurities and my emotional relationships influence some decisions in my life. Don´t worry though! Acceptance is the first step. Or is it acknowledgement? Or are they one in the same? Anyways, part of growing up is realizing we made mistakes and then part of being a mature person is learning from those mistakes. I´m working on that. Now, I don´t only mean this for romantic relationships, I´m talking about all relationships that we have with people. Eating a meal alone sucks, if you have a worthwhile friend or lover to share a meal, drink or just some time with, do!

As for the title of my post, it´s lyrics from a great song from the early 90´s, I Touch Myself by the Divinyls. I´m pretty sure you´ve heard it, but if not, YouTube it! Quite revolutionary. It also brings back some irreplaceable memories of a person I didn´t have the strength to keep in my life.

If I can't have an ocean, a river will do

I always heard that if you grow up near the ocean, you will get used to it, and then when you go somewhere, or live somewhere where you are not near the ocean, you will miss it and subconsciously search for it. I grew up on the West Coast, in California. West to me always meant the Pacific Ocean, and where the sun sets, East was the opposite direction and I usually had a pretty good idea how to orient myself. Now in Spain, I'm landlocked. There's a river, well there are several rivers, but the big one is the Miño, and I can orient myself with the river, it is usually to the north of me, except when I'm at work, then it's south of me. The river flows East to West, I recall because on my first day in Galicia, I took a train from Vigo, where I flew in. Vigo is coastal, and after a short bit on the train, we encountered a river, the Miño, and the train tracks followed along the river all the way to Ourense. There is nothing like living beside the ocean, nothing. Last year I lived in Del Mar, a 45 second walk from the beach, literally, I would leave my house, go down half a block, cross the street, go down one more block, and be on the soft sandy beach of Del Mar. I went to the beach quite frequently, sometimes two or three times a day. I remember thinking it gets cold here at night, so I would wear a thick fleece and a beanie and go anyways.

Now I'm in Galicia, and let me tell you I knew nothing of cold in Del Mar. I slept with the window open every night and I think we turned the heater one twice. In one year. It is currently 34˚F here and I can't seem to get warm. Anyways, I shouldn't complain, I'm alive and well, I get to live in a beautiful place near a beautiful river with amazing people. I miss the ocean but am glad to have this opportunity to miss it. My love for the ocean now comes from a place of yearning and absence, and what an amazing thing!

I've included pictures and will try to post more pictures because I've been getting requests for more photos from my dear followers. These pictures are old, do not be fooled by the sunlight because that is non-existent in this month of February. These pictures are from September but you can see the river, I took them from the train coming into the place I now call home, for the first time.

One of many regal looking bridges in Galicia

Babies

So I am in class right now, is it awful that I am blogging in class? My kids are doing pairwork. They had to draw a picture of their bedroom and then dictate to their partner to draw their room based on tehir description. They are 12 years old and believe that I don´t speak Spanish. I understand but play dumb, making them explain everything to me in their broken English. I think it does wonders for their language skills. They are hysterical. The boys are always kicking the chairs of the girls and the girls are trying really hard to pay attention to me, impress me and staring at my outfit. They always have something to say to one another about my hair, jewelry, shoes etc. Some kids are so desperately attention hungry. Is that a sign of something? Is it human nature or do they not receive enough attention at home? Do some people naturally need and thrive off of more attention than others? It´s really fascinating. This age in these people´s lives is extremely crucial. I hope I can be a positive force in their lives.

Peace.

Age

I get really annoyed when people tell me I don't understand something or can't do something because I'm too young. Or they tell me a prospective lover is too young or too old for me. Most of my life my friends have been older than me, but that's not on purpose, I just like to talk to people and find, if we don't judge or think about it, we actually have a lot more in common with more people than we are led to believe or actually think. We can learn from people older than us and younger than us, and it's really important for the others to learn from us as well. It's important to know how to treat people who are older than you and by that I mostly mean know how to hold a conversation. It's also very important for the development of a child or adolescent to give them the time of day and listen to what they have to say. Despite being little, they are people and deserve the respect of being heard.

Do we have a soul?

Before last week, I had never asked myself this question. I had never even thought of it. Maybe it's because I was raised Catholic. Or maybe it's because I was raised speaking Arabic, a culture so heavily influenced by religion and spirituality that super natural references are deeply embedded in the language. Maybe because even in English and the Western culture in which I've spent most of my life there are references to the soul everywhere. Maybe everything I've ever studied in school, university and on my own was biased to the existence of a soul. Maybe it's a little bit of all of these things. Or maybe it's because the soul exists?

A friend of mine recently told me she doesn't have a soul. She didn't say I don't think I don't have a soul, she said I don't have a soul. I was shocked, I was not mentally capable of grasping what she was saying. She was challenging something I had been brought up with and something I, too, make references to in my daily life. I didn't know how to respond. Well, I responded with several questions. How? Why? What happens when we die? How do we love? How do we feel pain? What's the difference then, between being alive and dead? All of these questions had the same answer to me, the soul causes these emotions and actions. She said she's an Atheist and along with not believing in a super natural being, she didn't believe in anything supernatural. She answered all of my questions: how, she presented a long, logical explanation to the non-existence of the soul. Why, that's just the way it is, and all the logical explanations she had already listed to me. Souls, in her opinion were a product of society, first, before people really knew what was going on, the soul was a way to explain science, then the concept was taken over by religion to control people using fear and the hope of a reward system. Now, it's just stuck, due to religion, poetry, imagery, romanticism, etc. What happens when we die, our body decomposes into the earth and that's it. How do we love, well it's a feeling, caused by chemicals in our body and felt by our heart. How do we feel pain, nerves, nerve endings, chemicals. The difference between being alive and dead is the function or non-function of our hearts and brains, and consequently the central nervous system. All of her answers and explanations were valid and scientifically explicable, but I can't buy it. Or maybe I refuse because I'm a romantic or maybe I believe that science answers questions up to a certain level but then there's something called a leap of faith. In this leap we decide to put everything we don't have the answer to and label it super natural, be it religion, souls, God, life, love, etc. and we trust it. I think people's leaps of faith vary, some people have no faith in anything supernatural, like my friend. Others, like myself, can find "logical" explanations to a great number of questions using scientific proof and decide to believe in things like souls and whatnot to appease our curiosity and then there are others who put their faith in everything, they explain everything with something supernatural. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do this thing called life. Well, yes, the right way is to be content with your own beliefs, and don't hurt other people. I find that a lot of people think they believe something but that's because it's what they've been taught to believe and they spend their whole lives thinking that they're doing something wrong because they're simply not convinced in this thing they think they believe in. So, I think we should think about what we believe in, find some logical answers that we can peacefully be content with and leave the rest to faith.

I went hiking with some friends yesterday in Parada de Sil, a small municipality in Ourense. I went hiking there about 2 and a half months ago and it was amazing to see the differences. It was fairy-tale like, all green and lush, we hiked through rivers and creeks and around a monastary from the 12th century. We came across donkeys and horses and saw the green shoots of the Narcissus flower, the first signs of the coming of Spring. Here are some pictures...

Donkey! - donkeys, although once numerous in Galicia, are now on the verge of existing, in Galicia :(

Santa Cristina Monastery

A rocky, moss covered creek

Canon del Sil

Philosophy

So I work in two high schools, they are next door to one another. None of my students know I speak Spanish. Well, one does but he´s a savant. On the first day of class all of the students had to ask me a question, so they were asking "Do you know famous people?," "Does everybody in California surf?," etc. When it was his turn, he said "pass," the teacher was furious with him and after class told him that that was rude. His response was that he had many questions to ask me regarding the current state of the economy, the social security crisis in the US and regarding my political stance on the war; he felt that his questions were out of place among the infantile, empty questions of the others. He had a point. I started seeing him on my walks to and from school, we began to talk, in English of course, and one day he asked me, "Aren´t you trying to learn Spanish?" I smiled and didn´t respond. "You are living here, you speak Arabic, Spanish would be so easy for you to pick up." I couldn´t lie to him, so I told him I speak Spanish. He was agassed. He was upset at the teachers for lying to him. He paused for a second and said, "But I´m not going to speak to you in English, what you´re doing is very good, you are very clever." I made him swear not to tell the other students and I´m certain he hasn´t, he isn´t your run of the mill 17 year old, he reads Nichte and knows all about classical music, he loves art and has very opinionated beliefs, and I think he´s marvelous.

So, back to my work in the highschools. I sit in on a Philosophy class, taught in English. It is fascinating and I think I enjoy it more than the students. We were discussing life and happiness and whatnot when we got to the topic of Alzheimer´s Disease. One of the students said it´s beautiful because it´s like being born again everyday. As unconventional of a belief and statement as that may be, I loved it and wanted to share.

Please live and be happy.

Prevention is key

There is a big movement among doctors and health professionals to focus on preventative medicine. Not just a focus, but to redefine health and taking care of our bodies. It is a known fact, for example that various daily practices strengthen our health and decrease our risks of several diseases and adverse health conditions. For example exercising, among many other things, is good for our circulation, our mood, stress management, and aids in the prevention of diabetes. Not smoking is good for our respiratory system and in the prevention of lung and mouth cancer. What we eat, and the proportions of what we eat are important. Drinking fresh water, staying hydrated. Getting enough sleep, being rested. I could go on and on but I'll spare you, we are bombarded with this stuff everywhere we turn.

Today in one of my classes, we were going over vocabulary for crime and punishment. We got to talking about various crimes and how they are punished in Spain, Europe and the US. It was very interesting to hear young students have very strong opinions about a topic such as this. In the end of the class I thought, and shared with my students the idea of preventative medicine, and how we could possibly translate that over to society and behavior. If we were preventative about crime, maybe there would be less of it, and consequently, less punishment. The students all agreed that it was a good idea and the conclusion we came to was to teach by example. I think it's a great idea. So I guess I will just keep living my life the way I seem fit, and try to just talk to people, give people the time of day and share with them my philosophies on life. Hopefully I can teach someone something, and most certainly learn a thing or two myself.

Preservatives

I know this is an absurd claim to make but I thought of it and wanted to share.

So I have noticed that Galician people live a long time. There are so many strong, alive and kicking, elderly people here. Awesome. I then came to the outlandish conclusion that it is because they consume foods and drinks that are made to last. And that makes them last. For example, wine, cheese, chorizo, marmalade, liquor, etc.

That's all.

I could probably develop the idea further and do a bunch of research on the chemical reactions and derivatives of the fermentation and curing processes, and maybe I will, but for now I just wanted to get one of my numerous ideas out of my head. I feel better now.

Living out of a suitcase sucks....

Home sweet home. A cute little phrase-ito that I never quite understood the meaning of until just recently. I have been traveling and changing homes and crashing with people as a guest, sometimes welcome and others, not so welcome and last night, I found a home, and I can finally let out a deep sigh of relief.

Things all homes should have (in my opinion):

• bath robe
• tea pot
• fresh fruit
• a night stand next to a bed with clean sheets
• windows, and not just for show, to be opened for fresh air and natural light
• book shelves, with books and pictures on them
• couches and comfortable chairs
• love

I have a home! In Spain! I am living in Ourense, at the end of the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) which goes over the River Miño. The river, which is very cold in the winter, has areas of thermal hot springs, in which one can bath year-round.

Not a great photo of the Puente Romano, but you get the picture...for now.