Galician Cherries

I am always surprised by the fertility of the land here. Well, it rains all the time and for a person coming from California and Syria, this abundant water is incredible to me.

Sunday I went to a friend´s house and she showed me their garden. They had planted (and growing) there: lettuce, spinach, leeks, onions, blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes, cherries, apples, nectarines, hazelnuts, walnuts, oranges, olives, rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme, squash, pumpkins, eggplant, artichokes, and I´m sure I´m forgetting something but you get the picture. This further proves that water is life. There is water here and sun as well, along with good soil, and voilá...food!

Yesterday I went to have lunch with one of my Galician Mommies, I have two :). She brought me a plastic bag full of cherries from her tree. After my lunch of tortilla española with fresh bread, tuna and peppers, I had a café con leche and then sat in the sun with my mamita and ate fresh, homegrown cherries! I just wanted to share that with everybody because I keep getting requests for updates and you guys just want to know about my life, so there you have it, a small detalle (detail) of my life here.

Un beso.

It´s been a while

Excuse my absence. Theobroma has been inactive due to my incessant traveling and lack of internet.

I´m writing today, a bit sporadically, because I have received a lot of complaints for not writing. I want to comment about having a positive attitude. Today the husband of my roommate told me that if somebody punched me in the face on the street I would forgive them saying it was an accident. He thinks I´m too positive.

I also want to throw this out there as some food for thought, I came to the conclusion today that the way we spend our money and the attitude we have towards money reflects our personality. For example, I spend a lot, arguably all of my money, on traveling, chocolate and other people. I think that´s suitable for my personality. What do you spend your money on? And by my definition, how would that describe you?

Today I am going with some co-workers to lunch in the beautiful stone village of Allariz that is built along a river.

Tomorrow I will be heading to the beach with some friends who have been telling me that Galician beaches are better than Californian beaches. I think that´s quite a statement, I will go, see for myself and report back to all of you, hopefully with pictures.

Be happy.

These are the days

On my walk to school today, I caught myself thinking "those were the days," about my days at University. I always swore to myself that I wouldn´t say that. It always upset me when I caught grown-ups saying "those were the days...(sigh)...when I was thin/happy/in shape/when I went out/when I was beautiful etc. It always annoyed me. I decided from a young age that I wouldn´t be one of those people. Every age is different and every stage of your life can be fabulous, if you let it. I´m optimistic but I´m also realistic and I understand that yes, we go through rough patches and hard times, but that´s natural and I believe that how you react to hardships and struggles is what defines you as a person.

I told myself, in the future I will probably look back nostalgicly and say "those were the days" about now, my life at 22 in Ourense, Spain. I came to the conclusion to adopt the philosophy of these are the days, yes, these are the best days of my life because the past is gone, the future is uncertain, and all we have is the present.

Hay que vivir (one must live)

Hay que vivir. Hay que + the infinitive form of the verb in Spanish is One must...

The title of my post today is "one must live." It has become my favorite phrase in Spanish.

Last night in Ourense it rained all night. I woke up to the sound of the rain several times through the night and what a beautiful thing. It has been raining on and off since Friday, and now, as it's Tuesday, it is still raining. Today my students had an exam and my boss told me that I didn't need to come to my classes as they had exams and I had planned, with one of my co-worker friends to go on a hike, she finishes work early on Tuesdays and as I didn't have work today due to exams, we thought we'd take advantage of our day and go for a hike. Despite the rain, we were both willing and eager to go hiking. We drove to the nearby town of Allariz, parked and started walking along the river. We took umbrellas but after about 3 minutes of walking with an umbrella, I got annoyed and put it away, as did my friend. I hadn't brought an umbrella with me as I think they are extremely obnoxious, but my friend had brought me one and told me "I knew you weren't going to bring one for yourself." I guess I'm that obvious.

We hiked for about 3 hours along the river, climbing up stone walls to avoid the overgrown riverbanks and through mud and marsh. It was beautiful. We saw ducks swimming and watched the rain penetrate the river with numerous drops. We felt the cool rain drip on our heads and down our faces as our bodies were warm with sweat from the hike. Afterwards, we went to a bar for a glass of wine and a pincho (tapa) of bread with a sardine. Delicious. We had a cool, crisp, dry, Albariño wine (white).

Then we went to a restaurant for an amazing 3 course lunch, where we split a bottle of wine and then enjoyed café con leche (coffee with milk; a strong, baby latte). We had an amazing conversation and toasted about 15 times, to life, to love, to living, to the rain, to feeling alive, to feeling.....

I feel that there are many people out there who are not really alive, and what a pity that is. We have one life, so far as I know, and why not enjoy it? Hay que aprovechar. (One must take advantage)

Think less, do more

I am a huge planner. I love to-do lists and thinking about how I will organize my day or my travels or anything. As much as this is comforting to me and the way I am used to doing things, I recognize that it is important to sometimes just do. Often times we talk ourselves or think ourselves out of an idea that we are excited about and truly want to pursue. So I think we should plan when needed but know when to let go and just do. I can´t tell you when that is but it´s best to follow your heart.

The Secret Life of Bees

I just read the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

What I love about reading books, stories, etc., is that they have a completely unique effect on each person. When you read a book, you bring to it all of your life and experiences. You relate to the book by what you know, your beliefs. And how the story affects you could be completely different from how it affects the next person. Something that could make you cry could make another person laugh. Reading a story is an experience, at least for me. I develop relationships with the characters, relating to some, disliking others and hoping the best for others. I remember situations I have been in in my life that are similar to what the characters are going through or I put myself in their position, trying to think how I would behave. I laugh, cry and crinkle my brow when necessary. I could not completely relate to everything in this book but I thought about it and I related on an emotional level, but not to the experiences.

This book is very well written. What I love about it is that it is so real. It does not try to hide the ugly truth that exists yet shows that beauty can come from even the ugliest of situations. It taught me to be open to life and to think outside of the box. We can find happiness in the most unexpected places, we just have to be open to it.

I read, and really like the quote "The mind is like a parachute, it works best when opened" by Frank Zappa. I thought it fit to part of the moral I made of this story and serves as a great life philosophy.

Blind for a Meal

I saw in my Berlin welcome card discount book an advertisment for "unsicht-Bar" reading: "Eating in total darkness is an exciting and unique experience - and a truly unforgettable event! During the evening you will be looked after by our blind and partially sighted staff."

Cool!

I suggested it to my travel companion and he was not excited about it. He thought it sounded weird. Weird is one if those words I don't really understand. Yes this place is not normal, but then, what is normal? I guess eating dinner in pitch black, out at a restaurant is not "normal," but either is jumping off of a bridge with a cable attached to you but I know plenty of people who have done that! I flagged the page in my book and kept reading.

Later in the day, as we walked through a park behind the Brandenburg Gate I said "Okay, I know you don't really want to go to the blind restaurant but I really want to and I'm going to make you." He laughed and said "I think it's going to be really weird, but I want to go."

Way to go "open to try new things" even though they are "weird!"

We arrived and put our coats away and were given a menu written in a riddle, giving vague clues as to what the meal would be. The menus were titled vegetarian, from river and sea, poultry, etc.

We both chose from river and sea. We were met by our blind waitress, Angela who gave us directions as to how things would work. She had one of us put our hands on her shoulders and the other put his/her hands on the others shoulders. She led us into the dining room and when we arrived at our table she took me by the hand and showed (had me feel) the table. We were at that point disconnected from our arm-shoulder chain and my friend said "Wait! Uh, I've lost you!" in a very scared tone. I thought it was super cool because you are forced to rely on someone else for help and even though we knew that this blind feeling was temporary, we freaked out equally.

I felt uncomfortable. I was a bit nauseous and under my ears were tight, right at my jaw. My eyes straining to search for sight, to no avail.

We were brought our first course, salad and more than being delicious, it was a spectacular sensation tasting food that you could not see, nor had prior knowledge as to what it was.

Angela checked on us frequently announcing her presence at the side of the table so as to not frighten us. We spoke a lot. I don't mean over-dinner conversation, I mean with Angela. She would ask if we were finished eating, she would tell us that she was going to take our plate and from what side. It was an amazing lesson in communication.

Afterwards I remember feeling extremely thankful for my eyesight and just everything. Both my friend and I were shocked and impressed by the experience. If you ever have the chance to do something like this, I highly suggest it.

Night life

Last night my friend and I were walking around the Casco Viejo (old part of town) talking and taking pictures. She was taking pictures and I was talking, what´s new? We were standing in a plaza looking up at the Cathedral when a man started to walk towards us. He saw we were taking pictures and asked if we wouldn´t mind taking his picture and then erase it, just so he could see himself. We did.

When he saw his picture he was really surprised. Apparently he used to have really long hair and he had just cut it. He told us that he was an alcoholic and lived on the streets. He talked to us for about an hour telling us about his children, how proud he was of them, he cried telling us about his family. He showed us a deep, stapled scar he had on his arm. Of course there was a story behind it. He wanted to stop his girlfriend who is addicted to drugs from buying drugs. He positioned himself in her route so she would have to see him as she passed to buy drugs and there he cut his arm. He passed out and woke up with her in the ambulance. He said he succeeded, he stopped her from buying drugs. It was a small victory, but a victory nontheless.

He told us about his past and about how he lives on the streets. He said when the people he loves are happy, he is happy. He lives for people. He thanked us time and time again for listening to us.

I thought it was a pleasure, we as people, are here for each other. We are social beings and thrive on speaking to one another, being heard, seeing emotion in the eyes of our audience.

What I started thinking was, what does it take for us to realize these basic things in life, like being happy, living for those we love and not obsessing over the little things that don't actually matter? Does it take losing our job, our money, our house to realize that those things are important for our life but do not define why we live? Shouldn't we try to be happy while we have these things and/or in the midst of any crisis, which is when we need it the most?

People forget that we're going to die

I seriously am bombarded with philosophical questions all the time. I mean maybe it's me because I think a lot or maybe it's the people I hang out with or maybe I read into things too much...

Today I was giving a private English lesson to a woman, people in Spain like to have these conversation classes to talk and practice their English. One of the really important parts of learning a foreign language is practice. I mean anybody can study grammar but you have to listen and speak to actually be able to speak. And native English speakers are hard to come across in my small city of Ourense, so I have lots of people who like to talk to me in English.

One of my students is literally a doll. She's my mother's age and just full of life and thoughts and opinions. I normally bring with me questions to stimulate conversation, sometimes about travel, love, life, money, work, etc. Each week a new theme. We have never finished one list of questions because she just goes off on tangents about one thing and her thoughts on love, how we should live, how people are stupid (generally speaking), etc.

Today our topic was money. Her response to one of my questions was "people forget that we are going to die and we are here temporarily, if they are reminded of that, they will live their lives differently." I LOVE IT.

I think people need to not obsess about things so much. Let go and live! Take a step back for a second, what are you doing with your life? Are you happy? Is what you're stressing about going to matter in 30 minutes? Tomorrow? In a year? LET GO.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

This video was played in my Philosophy class. It seems to be an Australian ad campaign about parenting and the responsibility of adults/parents and their tremendous influence on children, which more often than not, is subconscious and more detrimental than we think.

The video was played twice, I didn't watch it the second time because it was repulsive to me. I guess that means it succeeded in its purpose because most ads and media are aimed at our senses. They attempt to "shock and awe," and that, this one did.

After watching the video, the class split into pairs and was asked to answer 3 questions:

1. How did you feel about this video? Please recall specific scenes.

2. Do you think you influence anybody with your actions?

3. Do you agree with the message of the video: "children see, children do?"

Here are the responses of my students, 17 and 18 year old Spanish students:

1. Rage, anger, disappointment, helplessness, sadness, it's wrong, terrible

2. Most of the students thought they influenced their younger siblings and/or cousins. One student disagreed and said he influenced everybody he spoke to.

3. All of the students agreed with the message of the video.

The teacher then posed the question, do people influence children more positively or negatively? All of the students said negatively, except one student, the same student who said that he believed he influenced everybody he talked to. He said they were equal. I agree with him and want to expand on what he said, adding my own thoughts. I think children are sponges, they are born as blank slates and absorb from their environment. "Good" and "bad" are a bit abstract and their definitions can vary, depending on whom you ask. I think we can all agree that the scenes shown in this video are bad, a child smoking a cigarette, a child throwing rocks at a caged dog, a child flipping the bird, etc. What this video failed to show is a mother listening to her child tell her stories, or a father on a bicycle ride with his child, a grandparent reading a story to their grandchild or a neighbor teaching a child how to bake cookies. Patience, love, the desire to teach and entertain younger generations.

Negativity sells and is more outrageous than positivity. It is also more harmful and thus we should be conscious of the impacts we have on those around us. We should also be aware of how positive actions affect others, smiling at someone could make their day. We never know what our neighbor, classmate, colleague, etc. is going through in their personal life. A little bit of patience and understanding could give them the peace of mind, encouragement and strength to face their struggle. Or maybe your neighbor, classmate or colleague is not going through any problems, but seeing your smiling face everyday puts them in a good mood, that good mood causes them to smile at another person and look at that chain reaction! I guess it's a little more work to be positive but the effects are endless. I'm sure we've all been the recipient of a random act of kindness. I'm also sure we've all witnessed unnecessary outrage. It's just up to us to make conscious decisions about how we want to live. We define ourselves by the decisions we make and our actions. It IS conscious decision and I think it's a lifelong commitment at attempting to be a good person, having patience with others and being willing to help. We will all need help one day and we will also at point in our lives be able to help others. Let's take advantage of what we have, and do what we can to make the world a tiny bit better.