People make rash decisions without thinking, that's just a fact. But if something is done habitually, or with considerable forethought there is usually some form of thought process that went into the choice no matter how misguided the information was. Sometimes logic is so terribly wrong that I just wish my face would melt off, this can happen if I am forced to babysit a whiney child, or listen to a Joe Liberman interview (I admit, I sometimes listen to quotes of his just to make myself feel better). But no matter what blather I'm hearing there is always some form of explination, like a child screaming for candy, or a man selling out his beliefs for a paycheck. Sure it gets annoying, but in the end there is a desire or requirement behind the action. But I'm coming to find that logic is not universal. Spain operates on a different standard. Sure they function on some of the same factors of desire and necessity as the United States, but there is another player in the decision making process here. And I can only describe that player like this. Meh. The incomprable idea of laziness and/or impatience to make decisions is present in the United States but here it is a way of life. Many prime examples of this exist in my day to day existence.
Walking down streets on the weekend presents a multitude of examples of Spanish logic. There is, of course, men taking a whiz on the sidewalk aiming towards buildings, because the bathroom is just too darn inconvenient. In addition to not having enough places to relieve themselves Spaniards need more places to drive their cars. Just like revealing the one eyed trouser snake (Scientific name) in public is illegal so is double parking... well unless it's just going to take a minute. Cars are routinely left in the center of one lane roads while the owner goes inside to a local store to grab a bite to eat or quick beer, because what's conducting a two ton automobile without a little fermented fun juice in your blood vessels? The only people who can pass these impromptu road blocks are the ones on mopeds, and here they are everywhere. Motorcycles and scooters provide a mobility and gas effciency that would make the logic of owning one brilliant, but again the Spanish can't wait even with those vehicals. When roads get too crowded mopeds hop up onto the sidewalk and drive a couple hundred yards till they can return to the road, or reach their destination. But no matter what vehical someone is driving, if they are in Spain, the red light is viewed as more a recommendation than an actual rule. Because for a few seconds when the green light goes off for one lane everyone has a red light, so that means no one would be driving, so here they take advantage of that fact by continuing to drive. I see no potential problems with that, unless of course people going different directions have the same logic. I have only been in a car four times since arriving here, and for that I am glad.
After the weekend I'm waiting outside in forty degree (Farenheit) weather wearing shorts and a t-shirt. If I had known I would be out in the cold for more than thirty seconds I might have worn a jacket, but I was going to school, so being outside for half an hour was not part of my itinerary. I am, in fact, just outside the school's doors along with the entire rest of the shouting, crying, sleeping population of the student body. Not everyone is locked out of the school, on the contrary, some people are locked in the school. Students come to the doors looking like they have somehow gotten lost and spent the night in their cubby and now simply want to breath some fresh air. But they can't. Nope, in a great insight the school desided that not only would no students be allowed into the building before eight thirty, but if they some how do get inside, that is where they are going to stay. So we wait for a pair of men who arrive at eight thirty to unlock the double door, but now that it's open it should stay open all day... at least it would according to logic. Randomly throughout the day the doors are impassable. Teachers probably just want a break from dealing with ungrateful adolecents all day, so once the annoying little explitives are outside the teachers want to keep them there.
On other days when dealing with students gets to be too much the teachers take a different course of action. Rather than lock us out of the school, and out of their rooms, the professors decide that we can't annoy them if, they don't show up to work. Sometimes all my classmates and I are sitting in our classroom, waiting to start, for about twenty minutes, before we are informed that our teacher did not show up for that day and we have a free hour to do whatever we want. No substitute no alternative class or assembly, we just chill or, better yet, leave. Other days the teachers show up late which epitomizes Spanish logic, namely 'I'll get to it later.' If something is supposed to start at 11:30, like my surf lessons (more on those later), then they will start anywere between 11:30 and 12:00. Absolutly everything is run in a similar manner, except my host famliy. They are half French and half Politician, and thus do not function fully under the system of Spanish logic. They perfer events to start on time, and a regimented daily schdual, which is a shame, because I think I could really get used to Spanish logic. I'd give some reasons why, but I think I'll just get to it later.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Entertainment value
The economic problems in the United States have been dire, and we all got to know about this because of the great source of information we call 'The Media.' They have been willing to explain, in detail, every last horrible event that has happened to us, is happening to us, or has the slightest chance of possibly happening to us sometime in the future. And most of the time they can do it with that great air or superiority. "This is Richard Williams here with Channel eight news. Today I'm interviewing people who lost all their money to a sadistic pyramid scheme. Right now I'm here with Samantha Regents, she is one of those who has become poor and homeless after her savings were stolen. Sure the scam was pretty easy to spot but these people just weren't smart enough to double check their sources. They invested all their money without fully checking first where it was going and now they're poor. Did I mention ugly? Yeah ugly they're too... Sam, anything to add, or do you need me to speak slower?" Although I think the Media may exacerbate some of our problems.
So as I was saying before The Media cut me off; I think that the United States has a great potential to make money that we are not using. This source of revenue is our entertainment industry. In Spain I expected to see about half of everything on the T.V to be of American origin and then a healthy dose of Spanish originals. This is not the case. Almost everything I have seen or heard here has come from the shores on the other side of the Atlantic. In addition they have also adopted our ability to make almost every commercial sexist. If there is an ad featuring a sad woman, you can bet that a cleaning product will come around to make her happy, or at least a new innovation in cooking or child rearing. If a male is present in a commercial, there is only one guarantee, after using the advertised products he will be much more appealing, sexually, to women. Or it is a car commercial, the only up side is that they have yet to adopt our legal advertisements, I really don't need to hear again that I can sue the pants off a stranger because he rear ended me. Now, on the actual show front, it's true that there are some original creations of the cinema and T.V programming here, but they are few and usually of poor quality. For example there is a nationally revered film festival in my city, the San Sebastian film festival (points for creativity), where many movies of Spanish origin are aired. Some local theaters adopted these films for the length of the film festival, and I was excited when my host brother and a couple friends invited me out to the movies one night. I thought I was going to experience a Spanish work of art when we arrived at the theater and every movie it was showing was taken straight from the festival. My host brother did not have the same sentiments. I came to learn, from people checking the movies that were playing, that very few locals actually like the films brought in through their festival. Our little group decided that rather than watch one of these low budget, preachy, handycam films we would go all the way across the city to watch "The American."
The situation is virtually the same when it comes to T.V series. The Simpsons, Scrubs, American Dad, Spongebob, and other shows from America are the standard. Besides news channels the only popular T.V program I have seen over here is a drama about Spain in the 1500's. The name translates to "Red Eagle" and my host familiy here tapes every episode. I will admit, the show has its moments, times when the characters are well depicted and the situation is either emotionally moving, or hilarious, but it would not stand next to American dramas. But don't feel bad for Spain, they don't put nearly as much money into their entertainment industry: special effects pale, actors stumble, and plot lines have more budget friendly conflicts. So this is why I say we should start a sort of reverse tariff, tax other countries if they want to use our entertainment, all the way down to websites. I'm involved in a U.S based fantasy Basketball league here and the entire site is in English. Sure I've never played a fake draft before or really watched games, but the NBA is more popular than the Spanish league even amongst the Spanish, the league isn't so much for me to learn the culture, but rather earn some man points. Other ways to earn man points include getting females' phone number with all 7 digits and not using directions, ever. These are not to be confused with d-bag points which are primarily earned through fist pumping.
So I say that since we've invested so much money in our entertainment industry we should charge the rest of the world to use it. Every country is good at something and we have to embrace our skills, Germany has cars, Australia has surfboards, Japan has gameshows interspersed with truly demented and emotionally scarring horror movies, and we have the rest of entertainment. If my plan is adopted by congress, as I assume it will be, I just ask that you wait about eight months to implement it, losing Scrubs would be a severe blow for my Spanish education (I know almost every episode and therefore the direct translation for all the lines). When countries don't buy our shows we can always implement trade embargoes on other supplies, or if we're really REALLY serious, we could threaten a send over our lawyers and newscasters. The country would be on its knees in a matter of days.
So as I was saying before The Media cut me off; I think that the United States has a great potential to make money that we are not using. This source of revenue is our entertainment industry. In Spain I expected to see about half of everything on the T.V to be of American origin and then a healthy dose of Spanish originals. This is not the case. Almost everything I have seen or heard here has come from the shores on the other side of the Atlantic. In addition they have also adopted our ability to make almost every commercial sexist. If there is an ad featuring a sad woman, you can bet that a cleaning product will come around to make her happy, or at least a new innovation in cooking or child rearing. If a male is present in a commercial, there is only one guarantee, after using the advertised products he will be much more appealing, sexually, to women. Or it is a car commercial, the only up side is that they have yet to adopt our legal advertisements, I really don't need to hear again that I can sue the pants off a stranger because he rear ended me. Now, on the actual show front, it's true that there are some original creations of the cinema and T.V programming here, but they are few and usually of poor quality. For example there is a nationally revered film festival in my city, the San Sebastian film festival (points for creativity), where many movies of Spanish origin are aired. Some local theaters adopted these films for the length of the film festival, and I was excited when my host brother and a couple friends invited me out to the movies one night. I thought I was going to experience a Spanish work of art when we arrived at the theater and every movie it was showing was taken straight from the festival. My host brother did not have the same sentiments. I came to learn, from people checking the movies that were playing, that very few locals actually like the films brought in through their festival. Our little group decided that rather than watch one of these low budget, preachy, handycam films we would go all the way across the city to watch "The American."
The situation is virtually the same when it comes to T.V series. The Simpsons, Scrubs, American Dad, Spongebob, and other shows from America are the standard. Besides news channels the only popular T.V program I have seen over here is a drama about Spain in the 1500's. The name translates to "Red Eagle" and my host familiy here tapes every episode. I will admit, the show has its moments, times when the characters are well depicted and the situation is either emotionally moving, or hilarious, but it would not stand next to American dramas. But don't feel bad for Spain, they don't put nearly as much money into their entertainment industry: special effects pale, actors stumble, and plot lines have more budget friendly conflicts. So this is why I say we should start a sort of reverse tariff, tax other countries if they want to use our entertainment, all the way down to websites. I'm involved in a U.S based fantasy Basketball league here and the entire site is in English. Sure I've never played a fake draft before or really watched games, but the NBA is more popular than the Spanish league even amongst the Spanish, the league isn't so much for me to learn the culture, but rather earn some man points. Other ways to earn man points include getting females' phone number with all 7 digits and not using directions, ever. These are not to be confused with d-bag points which are primarily earned through fist pumping.
So I say that since we've invested so much money in our entertainment industry we should charge the rest of the world to use it. Every country is good at something and we have to embrace our skills, Germany has cars, Australia has surfboards, Japan has gameshows interspersed with truly demented and emotionally scarring horror movies, and we have the rest of entertainment. If my plan is adopted by congress, as I assume it will be, I just ask that you wait about eight months to implement it, losing Scrubs would be a severe blow for my Spanish education (I know almost every episode and therefore the direct translation for all the lines). When countries don't buy our shows we can always implement trade embargoes on other supplies, or if we're really REALLY serious, we could threaten a send over our lawyers and newscasters. The country would be on its knees in a matter of days.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Camera
I wish I could my camera all the time. Today for instance, I was just at the gym, thought I wouldn't need it. But I work out at a gym with ninja's. I don't mean to say these people are sneaky or have murderuos tendencies(because I'm not sure) I'm just saying they're ninjas. Today a man walked in with a Naginata, in case you're unsure, it looks badass. He sits down, and he starts on the rowing machine like he didn't just walk in with medieval japanese weapon. I don't think this is the most effective weapon in a fight, it's not discreet and does not shoot bullets as far as I know, but it's probably damn good at making sure fights don't happen. You don't mess with someone who looks like a warrior out of an Asian cartoon.
First picture in my blog, and I found it on the internet! But I assume if you read this you are probably friends with me on Facebook and can see the pictures I put up there, I upload them approximatly, whenever I feel like it. Although I will eventually get all my pictures up on Facebook at some point there will always be a great number of undocumented events I just forgot to bring my camera along for or tasks that my little powershot just can't handle.
One of the most annoying problems with my small picture taking device is that it likes to auto adjust to the lighting situation. What this means is that even when the photo is meant to be dark the camera tries to make it appear light with either a flash or a shutter speed of a second or more. So at night, or when I'm underground, all my pictures end up looking like a photo of the lock-ness monster because I can't use the flash on anything that's furthur away than a couple feet away.
But the main problem is that I'm just not patient enough to be a good photographer. That's not to say I give up on something when it gets too hard, on the contrary if I can progress little by little I will devote hours to an activity. But for me most great photos that aren't still lifes or landscapes require waiting in a location where it would be possible for a great picture to take place. Nothing happens and nothing happens and nothing happens, and then BAM all of a sudden, nothing happens. After about ten minutes I would give up, and as soon as I put away my camera there would be an amazing photo op that lasts for about three seconds. I find photography very frustrating. Like this one recent example, in San Sebastian the city is literally on the edge of the ocean, the only barrier is a break water and thirty foot high wall, but sometimes this is not enough to stop the water from getting over. A few days ago I was out for a run during a day of high waves, about one in ten would splash over the wall and spray salt water in my face. One wave was so large it sent a gyser forty feet in the air, well above the wall, and landed right on top of the only car on the road. Since I don't live in an action movie he did not fly off the road and explode, instead he just turned on his wipers and continued driving, forces of nature be damned.
If there is great demand I will start posting some select photos on the blog, but if you want to see pictures that bad, you're better off using a search engine. After all, Google doesn't miss the ninjas.
 | ||
| Don't make me go Anime on you |
One of the most annoying problems with my small picture taking device is that it likes to auto adjust to the lighting situation. What this means is that even when the photo is meant to be dark the camera tries to make it appear light with either a flash or a shutter speed of a second or more. So at night, or when I'm underground, all my pictures end up looking like a photo of the lock-ness monster because I can't use the flash on anything that's furthur away than a couple feet away.
But the main problem is that I'm just not patient enough to be a good photographer. That's not to say I give up on something when it gets too hard, on the contrary if I can progress little by little I will devote hours to an activity. But for me most great photos that aren't still lifes or landscapes require waiting in a location where it would be possible for a great picture to take place. Nothing happens and nothing happens and nothing happens, and then BAM all of a sudden, nothing happens. After about ten minutes I would give up, and as soon as I put away my camera there would be an amazing photo op that lasts for about three seconds. I find photography very frustrating. Like this one recent example, in San Sebastian the city is literally on the edge of the ocean, the only barrier is a break water and thirty foot high wall, but sometimes this is not enough to stop the water from getting over. A few days ago I was out for a run during a day of high waves, about one in ten would splash over the wall and spray salt water in my face. One wave was so large it sent a gyser forty feet in the air, well above the wall, and landed right on top of the only car on the road. Since I don't live in an action movie he did not fly off the road and explode, instead he just turned on his wipers and continued driving, forces of nature be damned.
If there is great demand I will start posting some select photos on the blog, but if you want to see pictures that bad, you're better off using a search engine. After all, Google doesn't miss the ninjas.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Prepared fresh and dairy products
My host dad likes to point out how healthy the Spanish way of life is compared to the American way of life. I'm in total agreement with him but it gets annoying after the after the 2nd or 19th time hearing the same statement, especially since I consider myself in pretty good shape. But there are some undeniable facts about the food and eating habits I've seen here that must contribute to Spain having less than half the obesity rate of the United States. Now this actually isn't an amazing accomplishment considering 90% of the countries in the world have an excess chubby rate less than half of the United States because we are rated the Number 1 country in the world. That's right, we win! Let's run a Victory Lap to celebrate...oh. right... Let's eat some Victory Hotdogs and drink Victory Beer. Victory beer, almost as good as Freedom Beer and no fewer calories!
First I'm going to talk about the school. Now last post I was pretty tough on the school, and I'm not done, but food is one place where they stand a clear mile above my high school back home. The food is prepared in ovens and stoves here! That last sentance may not seem so amazing to anyone who graduated from highschool ten or more years ago, but for the younger generation the staple "cooking" tools in a highschool are a microwave and a blender. I used to bring my lunch in the United States, but here no one brings because there is absolutly no need. Unlike the United States we can also watch our food through all stages of prepareation without losing our appetite. If we were to have mashed potatoes here I bet the potatoes would be peeled, cooked, mashed, and seasoned. If you have not been to high school in ten years you might be asking, 'Is there any other way to prepare mashed potatoes?' Let me tell you how Fairport prepared their "Mashed Potatoes," they would open up a plain white plastic package, pour dry white flakes into blender, add water to blender, blend, put on hot plate, serve with equally questionable gravy.
About a week after arriving here the school served calamari. Since I had been raised in a state that throws whatever cafateria food it can together as cheap as possible I was extremly suspicious. Calamari in Fairport would have meant, meat product that turned out too chewy to be used even as sloppy joe. After covering the fried squid in lemon juice (from an acutal piece of fruit) I cautiously took a single bite. My standards were pretty low, but the calamari was good and I finished all that I had been served. After the meal I was full but some kids were eating far longer than me and had almost three times as much food. This is because of another great accomplishment made by my school in the field of nutrition. There are no vending machines in the school, but you can purchase snacks from the dining room where they make small sandwhiches of nutella or ham or cheese, crazy european things like that. Lunches are provided by the school, there is fresh bread, as much as you can eat, and you are allowed to request more of every entree. Now at some point they do cut you off, but just the knowledge that seconds are free is a great feeling of freedom that I was unused to. Besides just meals at school another part of Spanish culture I've been enjoying has been the dairy products, for the most part.
In the United States I did not enjoy cheese much outside of the highly salty 'American' or Chedder varieties. I also shunned cheesecake in the United States, but not so much for the cheese part, more because tasted abnormally sweet, like pixie dust and unicorn blood, not like good old natural twinkes, grown right in America's gutters. But here I have found a type of hard sheep cheese that I eat everytime it is brought to the table, but I believe that once I return to the U.S and my speical sheep dairy is gone I will return to my former, cheese neglecting, ways. In addition when I return to the U.S I will start to guzzling milk again like it has a ridiculously fast experation date. Because it does, in America, but here the milk is a mutant form that can sit out for weeks without any form of refrigeration. There are of course many advantages to this. Milk can be bought in bulk, saving trips to the supermarket. It saves energy since milk can just sit in drawers or shelves and doesn't require industrial sized fridges. It helps hobos get the proper amount of nutrition. It is a common sight in San Sebastian to see a pair of men sharing a liter box of milk thus ensureing them strong bones instead of hangovers. However there is one major drawback to this liquid dairy product, it tastes like the demon spawn that it is. I can eat it on my morning cereal, but drinking it straight up is nearly impossible. It may have won the Spanish over with it's ease of use, but I hope that the FDA has some sort of flavor standards. What kind of world would it be where children dip their cookies into luke warm mutant milk? Certainly a world I want no part of. I'd almost rather have all my meals provided via microwave... almost.
First I'm going to talk about the school. Now last post I was pretty tough on the school, and I'm not done, but food is one place where they stand a clear mile above my high school back home. The food is prepared in ovens and stoves here! That last sentance may not seem so amazing to anyone who graduated from highschool ten or more years ago, but for the younger generation the staple "cooking" tools in a highschool are a microwave and a blender. I used to bring my lunch in the United States, but here no one brings because there is absolutly no need. Unlike the United States we can also watch our food through all stages of prepareation without losing our appetite. If we were to have mashed potatoes here I bet the potatoes would be peeled, cooked, mashed, and seasoned. If you have not been to high school in ten years you might be asking, 'Is there any other way to prepare mashed potatoes?' Let me tell you how Fairport prepared their "Mashed Potatoes," they would open up a plain white plastic package, pour dry white flakes into blender, add water to blender, blend, put on hot plate, serve with equally questionable gravy.
About a week after arriving here the school served calamari. Since I had been raised in a state that throws whatever cafateria food it can together as cheap as possible I was extremly suspicious. Calamari in Fairport would have meant, meat product that turned out too chewy to be used even as sloppy joe. After covering the fried squid in lemon juice (from an acutal piece of fruit) I cautiously took a single bite. My standards were pretty low, but the calamari was good and I finished all that I had been served. After the meal I was full but some kids were eating far longer than me and had almost three times as much food. This is because of another great accomplishment made by my school in the field of nutrition. There are no vending machines in the school, but you can purchase snacks from the dining room where they make small sandwhiches of nutella or ham or cheese, crazy european things like that. Lunches are provided by the school, there is fresh bread, as much as you can eat, and you are allowed to request more of every entree. Now at some point they do cut you off, but just the knowledge that seconds are free is a great feeling of freedom that I was unused to. Besides just meals at school another part of Spanish culture I've been enjoying has been the dairy products, for the most part.
In the United States I did not enjoy cheese much outside of the highly salty 'American' or Chedder varieties. I also shunned cheesecake in the United States, but not so much for the cheese part, more because tasted abnormally sweet, like pixie dust and unicorn blood, not like good old natural twinkes, grown right in America's gutters. But here I have found a type of hard sheep cheese that I eat everytime it is brought to the table, but I believe that once I return to the U.S and my speical sheep dairy is gone I will return to my former, cheese neglecting, ways. In addition when I return to the U.S I will start to guzzling milk again like it has a ridiculously fast experation date. Because it does, in America, but here the milk is a mutant form that can sit out for weeks without any form of refrigeration. There are of course many advantages to this. Milk can be bought in bulk, saving trips to the supermarket. It saves energy since milk can just sit in drawers or shelves and doesn't require industrial sized fridges. It helps hobos get the proper amount of nutrition. It is a common sight in San Sebastian to see a pair of men sharing a liter box of milk thus ensureing them strong bones instead of hangovers. However there is one major drawback to this liquid dairy product, it tastes like the demon spawn that it is. I can eat it on my morning cereal, but drinking it straight up is nearly impossible. It may have won the Spanish over with it's ease of use, but I hope that the FDA has some sort of flavor standards. What kind of world would it be where children dip their cookies into luke warm mutant milk? Certainly a world I want no part of. I'd almost rather have all my meals provided via microwave... almost.
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