Sant Jordi (Saint George) supposedly killed a fierce dragon and rescued a princess a long time ago in some little Catalan village... so that's what we celebrate, this legend...
It's a nice day, nearly every woman you see on the street is carrying a rose! We got 4 at home, you see them on the picture above (2 for me, 1 for each daughter).

A little bit of anything

1-I never thought I'd sign books, but I did! I'm the co-author (along with 7 other people) of a book about my hometown. So yesterday we all went to the book presentation. I didn't expect people to actually ask me for an autograph! LOL... Later my daugther watched me on this platform where my boss was giving a short speech and she said to my husband: "When will they give mom her prize?"
2-Today is Sant Jordi (Saint George), the most celebrated festivity in Catalonia. Men are supposed to get books from their girlfriend/wife and women get roses. If you're lucky, you get both. So far, I have a single rose... more about it on a next post! We're going for a walk and I'll take some pictures.
3-I read in El Pais that Ratzinger (the pope) stated that "hell exists and it is eternal". His predecesor said hell was not a physical place, but he seems to need to restore our image of fire and a red devil with horns and such... I've always been afraid of the devil, and I blame it on my catholic upbringing. To this day, whenever I'm especially stressed and worried, I dream of if!!! Can you believe it? I should bring charges against the Vatican for that!

The Meaning of life part VII: Death

Death according Monty Python

Food

Alicia has always been a picky eater. About a year ago (she's 4 now) I realized I could make her try something new changing names. She would refuse to eat white beans but liked chickpeas, so I lied and told her "nooo, these are chickpeas, it's just another type, smaller, but they are chickpeas". She tried the beans and liked them. Great. Yesterday she came home from school and I asked her: "What did you have for lunch?"
-Potatoes and chickpeas. But you know what? At school they call them beans! (and she gave me a look meaning "they don't know any better"...)

Btw: We talked about baptizing the girls last night. My husband said "it's so sad, it's like bringing a priest from some obscure tribe to cast away evil spirits..."

A promise...

A few moths ago I made a promise. My husband had a medical problem, a big one, and for a few minutes, I thought he was dying. While I was driving to the hospital, right after the ambulance had left and I had placed my girls with my mother in law, I promised God (strange, since to this day I still don’t know if I should consider myself a believer or not) I would baptise my daughters if he was ok. The outcome was good enough, he needs medication but it’s ok, so… should I baptise them?
When I told my husband he wasn’t so happy. His allegations were: “shouldn’t we wait for at least two years and see if I’m really ok?” and “why didn’t you promise something that implies only you? Why didn’t you promise you’d convert to hinduism or Islam or you’d walk 40 km?” But still… have you ever done something like this? In a way, I’d baptise them. I know my mother and my in-laws would be happy. My father has always believed religion is just a big fairy tale to control people. I can’t help but feel the same way too, at least my rational side…

Mom, when I die, I'll grow again in your tummy, right?
mmmm... I don't know...
Why don't you know??
Because I don't know EVERYTHING, Alicia...
.... silence..............
And dad? Does dad know EVERYTHING?

Egypt

It was one of the most interesting visits on our trip. Chaotic, mostly dirty, but with hospitable people (the few I met, anyway). We decided not to go on the bus like everyone else, because we were travelling with three kids, and we thought we'd have more freedom if we hired a guide just for us (Ahmed). It was not that good, though. Ahmed had his schedule planned, and would give us little choices. And apparently, no matter how you travel to Egypt, you MUST end up in a papirus shop, a perfume store and a jewellery. Why?? Papirus, ok, but we didn't ask him to take us there. And perfume?? None of us wanted to go in there, so we didn't bother to step out of the bus, even though the driver stopped right in front of the shop. And, most annoying, when we went to Giza Ahmed instructed all of us, several times: "Do not buy anything from these people here, I'll take you someplace else if you want to buy souvenirs, a government-run store, with better prices". So in the end, it's like a pay-toll? If my mother wanted to take a look at what the kids were selling, Ahmed would just signal to her to get moving. The thing is, we were supposed to buy from the right people. He also lectured us about Islam. He seemed worried about the perception Westerners have about his religion, so he would talk about the good in Islam, and it was ok, until he told us he's getting married soon. My mother explained she sells bridal gowns, but Ahmed said: "oh, my girlfriend alredy bought her dress in Lebanon, but I'll keep it in mind for my next wedding". WHAT?? My mother and sister in law both looked horrified. I asked him, "so you're getting married and thinking about wife number two alredy, does she know?" And he just smiled. Nooo, he said, you can only have more than one wife if you're absolutely fair to them and treat them equally. And it's so hard to fulfill, most men just have one wife. Anyway, nobody in my family liked that part of Islam...
It was also interesting that Ahmed said according to the Koran, women must cover their head. I knew that part, but I remember two days before, our guide in Turkey (Salma) said “nothing in the Koran says women must cover their head”. And in fact, we didn’t see many women with headscarves in Izmir. Salma gave us pretty simple instructions:
1-Woman with black headscarf: fundamentalist
2-Woman with colorful headscarf: religious
3-Woman without headscarf: not religious or simply modern.

This man on the camel is a policeman. After I I took the picture, he chased me because he wanted money. I didn’t “pay”.

How selfish am I?

Once in a while, I work for my brother. That means I spend a whole day (usually saturday) helping him in his business. What do I get? A warm "Thank you". And sometimes it's not even that warm. And this warmth tends to evaporate so fast, that after a few days, he doesn't seem to remember I did something for him. So when I give him a call, he sounds irritated, he's busy, you see. He is a charming man. He's got the right look (tall, blonde, nice smile) and believe me, he'd be the best public relations, but when it comes to family, I have the feeling family for him is there to be used. I know I'll spend the 24th this month and some day in april working for him. I don't want to do it anymore. I suggested some time ago that he could give me some money. I can't remember what he said, but the word money has never been pronounced again. Am I being selfish?? I'm writing this because this trip proved to me once more how different we are. And I'm mad at him. And I guess mad at me too. He would never spend a day of his life helping me, I'm absolutely certain of that. So why do I keep on doing it?

We made it!!

We're home. We survived a 12 day cruise with the Gremlins and the rest of the family... Family relations, that's a whole another post, and a big one....
It's been interesting, exhausting, stressing and a tiny bit relaxing (about one hour of relax in those twelve days). We were a about 3.000 pampered Europeans (mostly Italians) and Americans (a minority on the ship) eating and getting glimpses of great places, while a bunch of other nationalities, mainly Philippinos, Indians, Latin Americans... worked on the ship. Kind of like living in a bubble... Hope to post something else tomorrow!

Gremlins

Forget about the cute pics. This is what my daughters looked like last night, at least to me. They did everything they were not supposed to do, messed things up, touched everything I didn't want them to touch and yes, even giggled when they knew I was reaching my LIMIT. Gremlins. And I'm taking them on a 12 day cruise... (sigh*)

Magnolia - Coincidences

One of my favorite introductions to a movie...

The remains of Carnival

PD: 4 days to go!!! We'll be going on a cruise...

copper-clappers

Try practising English with this!!

More Carnival (unexpected)

It was easy. Alicia was supposed to go to school wearing unpaired socks (guess you know what I mean). It's Carnaval, so everyday they get to do something silly. That was easy since in our home sometimes it gets hard to find a matching pair (laundry can be so mysterious) however, we forgot. Not all of us, though. My husband arrived late at night and when he took his shoes off well, this was the picture:

You don't need to take a closer look, believe me. Green sock on his left foot, and one of those socks just to be around the house on his right. He forgot to take it off in the morning and left for work like that... Shouldn't expect to be promoted, right?
Well, that's the Carnaval spirit!
PD: Did my English make you cringe, James? (you know, like those cooking programs)
Buffalo, I believe this sock is much worse than the boots Kat bought...

I'm alive and so is this blog

James, you were so kind to ask if I was ok I thought I might as well write a post about the last few days. We've been busy with the girls, work and such and it was also Carnaval (Mardi Gras). The weather was great just until the parades started! Then it's been raining almost all day but still we had a good time. Alicia dressed up as... a princess. She loves this type of dresses. Cristina was Little red riding hood. The kid in the white costume is my nephew (Pau) as a sheep. Here's some pics:

These were some really good "witches", but they had to quit because it just started raining so bad:

More news:
1-My parents decided to take all the family on a 12 day trip next month. We'll be going to Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt. I CAN'T WAIT!!
2-On our usual saturday visit to my in-laws we just found out my sister in law will have her fourth child. Kind of made me feel jealous...
PD: I still read the usual blogs, even though I've been neglecting my e-friends. I should blame digital photo-albums for that too, I've become addicted!!!

Also from Falling down...

A bit racist? but great scene anyway

Also from Falling down...

A bit racist? but great scene anyway. Michael Douglas is having a really bad day...

My movies: Falling Down

Have you ever felt like Michael Douglas on this film?
I have...

The right to go naked

We were having this discussion at work. A police officer is being judged these days in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) because he threatened a man to arrest him if he didn't dress up. You see, the young man was on his bike, COMPLETELY NAKED. There's no law against this. He has his right to go naked on the streets. I just don't feel comfortable with this law. I was labelled as "backwards" and old fashioned. Isn't that nice? Anyway, it was a friendly discussion. But still... what do you think? I feel this young man had a lot of free time and instead of spending his days just parading naked to stand for his right to go naked (silly since he does have the right to do that) maybe he should be doing something useful.
Do clothes bother you so much? How would you like to go naked to the supermarket (in the summer, of course)???

Homage to a Catalonian Christmas

This is a very good video about Christmas Catalan traditions. It's a bit long, but interesting. I'm sure we must look quite strange! What do you think?

Pan's Labyrinth trailer

I alredy posted about this movie once, I loved it. It's nominated for best foreign film, and it's a beautiful mixture of reality and fantasy. About the Spanish Civil war and a legend!

The Hudsucker Proxy

I love almost all movies from the Coen brothers. This scene is from The Hadsucker Proxy, enjoy!

God bless this man

He is Crawford Williamson Long, anesthesia pioneer. I went to the dentist.

There is No Gene for the Human Soul

This is also from Gattaca, the credits at the end of the film...

My movies: Gattaca

Are we headed this way? In a near future, will we want our children to be "designed"? Now we have the "right" to "terminate" imperfect creatures, and even create a child to save a sibling. How far should this go?

The not so nice speech!

Another great moment in The Great Dictator. And the last I post here, go rent the movie!

My movies: Bananas (1971)

This will not be among the best movies but I had a good laugh. Directed by Woody Allen when the Vietnam war was going on... and he probably wasn't that happy about it, even though Bananas is set in a Latin American country.

The use of Christmas decorations...

The Great Dictator - speech

Another of my favourite movies. For those who haven't seen it, it's the final speech. Chaplin is a "fake" Hitler... Aplicable today?

I think she wants to start her own blog... should I let her?

Kissing Hank's Ass

Is this what religions are about?

Once I met a terrorist....

Well, not exactly a terrorist. A mercenary. A member of the GAL. His name was Georges Alphonse Mendaille. I had just begun working in a local newspaper and someone told us he was living in a small town in our area. I was fresh out of university, but my boss decided I should be assigned the "easy" task of interviewing him or at least, talk to him. I figure my boss knew it would be nearly impossible but wanted to see how close I could get. Needless to say, I didn't feel confident at all, but nevertheless I tried to get to his house. I couldn't even ring the doorbell, though. As soon as I parked the car I had several policemen (in plain clothes) approaching me. I was not to get any closer, so I set to the stupid task of waiting to see if he left the house, where he would go, what he would buy, stuff like that. As weeks went by, I got tired. I wasn't making much progress. In fact, I hadn't even gotten a clear view of his face though I had seen him in pictures. So my newspaper assigned me another task: A poll. Yes. I was to interview people in that town and ask something like "Are you comfortable having a GAL terrorist as a neighbor?". It seemed easier, and had been gathering some answers when I decided to take a break and have some coffee. I entered a café and saw three men standing by the counter. One of them looked oddly familiar. I thought: well, I need more people for my poll, so I approached them and asked my question. The three of them were smiling. The oddly familiar man said no, he didn't mind having a GAL terrorist as a neighbor. His accent... I should have known... French accent... "I just need one more thing, what's your name?"... he smiled. "Don't you know??" I BLUSHED. "You should know by now, you've been following me for weeks..." And I knew. And the other two men were in fact some of the policemen. I wished earth would have swallowed me!!!!

Love letters and books

This is actually a love letter from my father to my mother, written in 1955, when they were still dating. Their language was Catalan, but since Spain was under Franco’s dictatorship our language was in fact forbidden and they had to write in Spanish. It would have been hard to write in Catalan for them, since they could not even learn it at school. Or even speak Catalan at school, it had to be Spanish. Things I learned while reading his letter:
1-He used English sometimes. It’s a language he always liked.
2-He wanted my mom to buy the book “Vile Bodies”, by some Evelyn Waugh.
3-More interesting: their plans for the weekend. He was telling my mom about the “liberation party” at his hometown. I asked him what it was about. Well, whenever Franco’s guys would enter a town that day was the “liberation day”. And they should celebrate every year. How ironic is that.
I was going through some old books and papers at my parents’ (today was my mom’s birthday and we spent the day there) and found some interesting old books. Like this bunch:

One of them (Randall and the River of Time) is about “a man enslaved by the desires of a scheming woman”…. Now, no publisher would have that on the cover of a book today! It’s just not… politically correct.

Happy 2007 !!

We had a very quiet new year's eve. We had nothing planned, and the girls stayed with their cousins for the night at my mother in law so in the end, we decided to go for a walk. We strolled down the old part of town, where I used to live when I was single. Most restaurants were closed, even Le Bistrot, our favourite spot when we were dating. It's a very nice restaurant, halfway up these stairs:


As you can see, the streets were empty!
In the end, we went to a Japanese restaurant. We had some wine,
salad, Okonomiyaki (the round thing), Karai Sake Maki (salmon sushi), another "maki sushi" (can't remember which) and ice cream with chocolate.

Silly toys

I bought this "baby bouncer" or whatever it's called, when Alicia was only a baby. It never worked with her, never liked it. Cristina seemed to like it a bit more, but wasn't so thrilled either. You have all sorts of toys and artifacts for kids, and so many of them are just useless and silly. I recorded this with my camera when she was only 4 months. The sound didn't work, but since she didn't talk yet, it's ok :-)

My life in the United States

One of the greatest experiences of my life was studying in the United States as an exchange student. Not only because I had the chance to learn English, but because I experienced living as a foreign person, and that’s a humbling and enriching experience in many ways. My host family was/is really nice and we still keep in touch. Actually, they’ve visited my family in Spain twice alredy, and hope they’ll be coming in years to come. I was only 17 then, in my senior year in high school, in San Francisco. I was very very shy then and mostly, I kept to myself. Most of the Americans I met were nice, friendly and open. I have to say, though, that my classmate’s knowledge of the world in general was quite poor. Being from Spain, I belonged to a big Hispanic sort of Disneyland where we all eat burritos all day. And I’m not kidding. Everyone seemed to assume I had been to Acapulco, knew someone in Buenos Aires, and my last name should be Gonzalez. Even my host family prepared a spicy meal the first day I was in SF, since they thought I was used to eating burritos and tacos. I wasn’t, in fact I had never had Mexican food before, and I had a hard time pretending I liked it. Among the nice things I “discovered” while living there were:

In the food category:
1-Pancakes and Maple syrup (those huge breakfasts! My whole family would eat with a single American breakfast!)
2-Chocolate fudge cake
3-Ketchup (it has become more popular in Spain over the years)
4-Kimchi (my host family had 3 adopted korean children)
5-Burritos

In the social/cultural category:
1-People in general are more open. I think Catalan society and probably much of Spanish society is not so used to foreign people.
2-They really do research/investigation. The best doctors in Spain seem to end up there.
3-Hollywood. And I don’t mean teenage movies. If cinema was a Lumiere invention, it was actually developed in the United States as a form of entertainment and ART. Some of the best first directors were European but ended working there (Ernst Lubitsch, Joseph Manckievich...) So THANK YOU!
4-Rock and roll.
5-My husband insists that I should add Dream Theater.
6-Since he added his group, I'll add his most hated movie director: Woody Allen. (He thinks he's overrated)

In the political field:
1-Marshall Plan. Europe was rebuilt after WWII and actually, the war was won thanks to the US. (Sorry about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, though)
2-The first constitution (1776?? Sorry James, I forgot the year)
3-Individual freedom. Michael Moore can actually make a movie like Bowling for Columbine and everything's fine. He even won an Oscar!

The not so nice things:
1-George Bush.
2-George Bush senior
3-Did I mention George Bush?
4-Excessive foreign intervention.
5-Many people seem to think the US is the only free country on earth and the best by all means. To these type of people (I've known some) the world outside the US can be dark and sinister, jammed with dangers, potential terrorists and people chanting death to America. My advice would be, don't be so afraid, TRAVEL. You probably run a higher risk in the US with so many uncontrolled guns than in any other country.
6-If you are jobless, you don't have access to proper health/medical care. Health and education should not be linked to money!
7-McDonalds.
8-All the dictators planted in Latin America.
9-American football. (Sorry)

Anyway, I love the US! (just change your president, please)

Waiting for the wise men

Yes, on January 6th the Three Wise Men will visit our home, and leave all sorts of presents for the girls (one for me would be nice, too). They visit every year, since it's a major festivity all over Spain and in some Latin American countries. The kids behave their very best, because they know the Wise Men see everything!... In Spain this visit is carefully planned. The "kings" as they are known to children, parade on the streets with their servants and all kinds of stuff on the 5th, before dinner. It looks real and they are so impressed!! Sometimes one of their servants (pages would be the right word in English?) visits before the 6th of january to pick the letters the kids have written with their "list" of gifts. The little ones are usually quite scared. I don't blame them. Some are really sophisticated looking but others look quite ...odd. Like this one:



I don't know about you, but I wouldn't sit on his lap. My almost 2 year old didn't like him either! He actually visited her nursery school!. He is what we call the "white king". The second is the "not so white king". Kind of Arab looking. And the third one is the "black king". When I was little there was no immigration from Africa, and since black people were an oddity where I live, the black king actually had his face "painted" and looked really black. They didn't bother with brown paint! Here's the "not so white" king (we call it ros, in Catalan) parading on the streets of Barcelona, with journalists and stuff. You see how real this gets!



PD: I did some research. Jesus wasn't born on December 25th, or January 6th. We don't know, do we? And the Bible only talks about some "magu" (wise men) visiting Jesus, but we don't know if they were three or five, or twelve. So the Church actually mixed pagan winter festivities with religion to make it a big festivity!

PD 2: Feel free to correct my English! I post fast and don't have that much time!

Merry Christmas!! Bon Nadal!!! Feliz Navidad!!!...............

Lessons from a 4 year old...

We were late for school. One of the two elevators in the building wasn’t working. I cursed: Collons!!!
Later, A said from the backseat: “Mom, why did you say Collons”
Nuri: “I was angry. I know I shouldn’t…”
A: “Next time, just say: this elevator is not working, let’s try the other one…”

She

It looks idyllic, don’t you think?. It’s a nice place. A nice house, with a big garden, an orchard and a tiny tiny farm. It’s where my in-laws live, and we visit every Saturday. Physically, it’s such a nice place. But…it’s not really relaxing. My in-laws, and especially Marshal woman, believe in hard work, cleaning, and nothing else. And their home is the NO house. There’s so many things on the NOT to do list that it makes it hard to have a nice time, and sometimes it looks more like a museum. Kids and adults are to follow the same rules there. NO hands on walls (they’re white and your dirty fingers would spoil them); NO hands on doors (fingerprints); NO eating outside the dining room (bread crumbs are terrifying); NO leaving the table until everyone has finished everything on the plate. NO touching the heating system. Their thermostat reads 14 degrees celsius (57.2 fahrenheit). If it’s colder than that, it will turn on. If not… well, you freeze. Of course, everyone knows that and we all dress accordingly on Saturday. My sister in law told me once that when she was still in school and was studying at home, if she complained that she was too cold to turn the pages of her book her mom would say: “put your gloves on”. Great. Today I just discovered another NO. We were in the living room and it was quite sunny so I drew the curtains.
Enter Marshal woman: “Who drew the curtains?”
Nuri: “I did…”
Marshal woman: “Ok, if it’s just for today…”
I guess I looked puzzled so she added her logical explanation: “the sun might discolour them”. Great.
Another side to her personality. She’s so stingy sometimes it makes me angry. And it’s not that they don’t have money. With Christmas approaching, she asked me what the girls might like. She made it clear she doesn’t plan to waste more than half an hour shopping, you see, buying toys it’s not in her “pleasant things to do” list.
Nuri: “Well, if you want, I alredy bought a game of playdoh for A, it’s wrapped and you wouldn’t have to go anywhere”.
Marshal woman: “Perfect. Tell me the price and I’ll give you the money”.
Nuri: “It was a bit expensive, about 40 euros” (I know her, I was preparing her for the shock)
Marshal woman: “errr…. And what about puzzles, does A like puzzles?”

Another bit of conversation, this time with my husband:
She: “L, is there anything you need for Christmas?”
Him: “Well, a pair of trousers would be good”
She: “No, not that”.
Him: “Ok then, I also need a pair of shoes”
She: “No, not that.”

Later I asked him, “so what did you agree on?” And he said: “Nothing. I guess I’ll get another pajama.”

She’s a teacher, and her profession has permeated her personality so much I think she feels all of us are in her school. The kids are either afraid or hypnotised. Today my 2 year old had lunch with us (she usually eats sooner and has her nap) so Marshal woman had a chance to teach her too. “C, not with your fingers, use your fork to eat those macaroni!” C looked at her, she had one macaroni on her left hand and the fork on her right, and she actually left it on the plate and used her fork, with her eyes fixed on grandma. She doesn’t dare disobey her…. Yet. Nor do we.

Àvia i néta... Nadal 2005
(my mother and my little daughter, last Christmas)

Husband, sleeping with an unknown dinosaur...

Traditions: the Tió

Here’s a picture of me (on the right), my brother and sister when we were kids, celebrating a tradicional festivity, the Tió. I have no idea how this translates.
The Tió is celebrated on Christmas Eve and it dates back centuries ago (I know that’s not very accurate, but I’m no historian). After dinner, kids gather close to the fire, where we place the Tió, which is a humanized Log. Like this pic:


He’s usually covered with a blanked so that he doesn’t get a cold, but the real use of the blanket is to hide the presents. Kids are sent to another room to recite Christmas verses, because that’s what the Tió likes. Then they go back and hit (yes hit) the Tió with sticks chanting “caga tió, caga turró, si no en tens més, caga diners”. Now, the translation will not be very nice because the Tió is supposed to “shit” the presents. Quite scatological, yes. I hope I don’t offend some sensibilities here. Then they remove the blanket and Oh SURPRISE, there’s presents. This ceremony is repeated again and again until the presents run out. We call it “Caga Tió” (making the Tió shit). Mmm. Definately not classy, but the kids love it.

PMS Survival Guide

A must for all men out there!

The Gandhi Tantrum

Whenever this 22 month old cutie above doesn’t agree with MY rules she just drops to the ground and sits or lies there. Apparently, waiting for me to change my mind. No fuss, no shouting. She just sits there. And I have to drag her. I call it the Gandhi Tantrum. Non cooperation is the strongest form of protest, I’m sure. It must be exhausting to fight someone who isn’t even willing to fight, to begin with. I know, trust me. At times, I’ve felt like those British in India. You have to COME HERE!. Nothing. She’s not interested so She waits. Patiently. Until my little empire falls apart and she can build her little Republic.

It's MINE!!

My 4 year old went to some theater yesterday with her class at school and watched a play called “It’s mine”. The plot: Two brothers/sisters who refuse to share toys and fight all the time. PURE FICTION, as you can see. In the end, they all learn to share. At home, I realized the message had not sunk in.
So strange. We have this obsession with telling kids how important it is to share whatever they have, but as adults, we find it almost impossible. We like to stick to OUR things. We pretend we like to share.

-“Can I borrow that book?”
-“Sure!” (just make sure you give it back to me soon...)
-“You were not planning to read it right now?”
-“Oh, no, I have plenty of books to read...!” (actually, now that you have it, I’m finding it more and more interesting)

Now that I think of it, my father is this type of man. He seems to find the most interesting side to something WHEN you get your hands on it. Until then, that precious object could just be collecting dust, but now that you have it in your hands and start showing interest, it suddenly becomes precious. Childs act like that too (sorry, dad).
Child 1 has a ball. Nobody pays attention. He drops it.
Child 1 has a ball. Child 2 looks interested. He’ll never let go.
I guess the bottomline is: what’s the point of having something nobody wants? It’s probably not that good, right? But if YOU want it, it MUST be interesting.

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worklunchworkkidssleepbreakfast.....

I hope this explain my previous post.

Today I only feel like shouting, so with all due respect...


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forgetful mom

My mother is quite a forgetful woman (And I think I may have inherited that). Three years ago She gave me this ring for my birthday. Nice, very nice. Gold, with my name on it. Thank you mom. Now, two years ago she gave me the exact same ring.

-Err... mom??
-What? Don't you like it?
-Yes, yes... sure... it's nice...
-So??
-Nothing, last year was also nice!

Also, not long ago, She gave me this bracelet with my age on it. She was quite enthusiastic: "I thought we could add a number each year, it would look so nice, don't you think?"

NO, I DON'T THINK SO. Mom, once you get to 30, you don't want to be reminded each year how old you are. And, people would know just looking at my wrist!!!!: "Hey, Nuri, you have more rings on your bracelet every year, must be getting old!!"

No, thanks. Really.

PD: Have you ever flirted with the "Delete this blog" button?

Cultural alliance anyone?

Is there hope in iniciatives such as this?
When Spain's prime minister, Zapatero, called for this cultural alliance, two years ago,
he was labelled all sort of things. Pacifist doesn't seem to be a nice word. He was nicknamed "Bambi" by his detractors. The idea behind this is that our enemy is not Islam, it's unresolved conflicts and western endless intervention in the Middle East.
Do you think it's naive?

Hero of Islam?

These women, at a demonstration in Pakistan, are holding this sign that reads "Saddam, hero of Islam". Can anyone tell me why Saddam might be considered a hero of Islam, please?

Is this a sign?

Two days ago I was driving and when I stopped at a traffic light, this bird perched at my rearview mirror. It kept trying to get in the car, and eventually flew away when the light was green and I drove away. Yesterday exactly the same thing happened. The same bird, or a close relative. And it's not that there's a lot of those birds around, in fact, I had never seen one of those, and I use that road quite often. If I believed in reincarnation, I'd think my grandmother or my aunt are trying to tell me something!

Planes and kids

Travelling with a 4 year old who is on a plane for the first time in her life might not be the best idea if you’re afraid of flying.

-Can I roll down the window? (Don’t even try!)
-Why are the clouds beneath us?
-Why did the plane stop? (We’re still flying sweetheart, if the plane stopped we’d be marmalade)
-What’s this man doing, why is he crawling on the floor? (watching safety instructions)… er…this means you’re not supposed to crawl on the floor.
-Will we go down this slide? (safety instructions again)… I hope not…
-Why are people clapping? (when landed)… they're glad we didn't crash!!!!

Being a politician can be tough..

One of the Catalan candidates to elections, Mr X, went to a neighborhood in the outskirts of a big Catalan city.
So this man, who is expecting at least his family to vote for him, didn't have a sweet day. He represents the type of party who is in favor of restricting immigration 100% and is not a big fan of social security and such "help" from government. I think the American model would be more what he has in mind (no job, no health insurance, right?) Anyway. In these neighborhood mostly gipsies aproached him. Complaining that since there's a lot of Moroccans and Romanians and Pakistanis, they're not getting as much money from the government as they used too.
Interesting.
I think the gipsies are one of the ethnics groups who have more trouble integrating into any society. Oh, and aside from listening to the gipsies complain that they're not the poorest anymore, a kid actually demanded Mr X that next time, he should bring along Ronaldinho to their neighborhood. You know, so that Mr X's visit is not so boring. Poor Mr X

About details

My husband took daughter 1 (4 years old) for a walk. They went near the cemetery. She asked: "what's this?"
Him: er... it's... a warehouse.
(silence)
She: It's big, who owns it?
Him:... the Town hall. Everybody owns it a little.
No more questions were asked.
...........................
Me: you told her it's a warehouse???
Him: I didn't lie! I just omitted a little detail!

Yeah... they store dead people. A little detail.

Elections in Catalonia

There’s parliamentary elections in Catalonia next week. I had no idea that there was a group called Alternativa Española but I just saw their “ad” on TV. And well, it’s one of those that want to make you want to be afraid of almost everything. The world is a chaos and worse! Muslims are taking over Europe!.
There’s a law against racist/xenofobic parties, they are plain illegal but this one seems to have sneaked in. The former government had no problem in making Batasuna illegal because they did not condemn violence. Does anybody care about groups like this? If you’d like to see their ad, this is their web, scroll down and click where it says “visionar video electoral”. It’s in Spanish, but you’ll understand the message... Spain is breaking (Catalans are to blame but they omit this part in their Catalan campaign, otherwise they’d get next to 0 votes), too many immigrants, too many muslims... Their web page is called 12deoctubre, in a tribute to the “discovery” of America. And their poster (scroll down a bit more) portrays a blonde kid with the Spanish flag on his cheeks, and one of Columbus’ ships in the back. I wonder what good did Spaniards do to America?

Surprise!

I was hoping my little daughter would start speaking in sentences one of these days, but I was not prepared for her first sentence. It was:

"LONG LIVE BARBIE!"

Can you believe it? I hate the damned doll!

My movies: Ninotchka...

I love the dialogues in this old comedy. Greta Garbo is the leading actress in this movie by Ernst Lubitsch. She plays a very serious Russian Soviet sent to Paris to bring back three comrades who have succumbed to the Western World's delights.
Here are some quotes and dialogues, some between her and an American (Leon) who she seems to despise but secretly fins attractive:

Ninotchka: We don't have men like you in my country.
Leon: Thank you.
Ninotchka: That is why I believe in the future of my country

Ninotchka: Why do you want to carry my bags?
Porter: That is my business.
Ninotchka: That's no business. That's social injustice.
Porter: That depends on the tip.

Ninotchka: What have you done for mankind?
Leon: Not so much for mankind... for womankind, my record isn't quite so bleak.

Leon: I'll picket your whole country! I'll boycott you! No more vodka! No more caviar! No more Tchaikovsky! No more borscht!

Comissar Razinin: This anonymous report was sent to me. They're dragging the good name of our country through every cafe and nightclub. Here: How can the Bolshevik cause gain respect among the Muslims if your three representatives Bujlianoff, Iranoff and Kopalski get so drunk that they throw a carpet out of their hotel window and complain to the management that it didn't fly?

Russian Visa Official: Everything is in order. Enjoy your trip to Russia, Madam.
English Lady Getting Visa: Thank you. Oh, by the way, I've heard so many rumors about laundry conditions in Russia. Is it advisable to take one's own towels?
Russian Visa Official: Certainly not, Madam! That is only Capitalistic propaganda. We change the towel once a week.

Ninotchka: The last mass trials were a great success. There are going to be fewer but better Russians.

PMS and Metamorphosis

When I have PMS, I feel I might be the leading actress in the movie "Species". You see, I feel compelled to eat, I crave chocolate and sweets. Thank God it's only a few days. But I wonder if, one day, I'll end up wrapped in a coccoon waiting for a big metamorphosis, just like the girl in Species.
I have to say, though, I don't look like her (sigh) I'm not an alien, either.

Stupid traditions (part II)?

In some parts of Spain, there's a celebration called Moors and Christians that commemorates the battles between muslims and christians when Spain was under Islamic domain. It's just a festivity, and a very beautifully recreated one, but some have felt intimidated because some muslims felt it is offensive, and an imam in Malaga asked for this festival to be abolished. The funny thing is that the imam who asked for that is Felix Herrero, a christian convert. I have mixed feelings about this, but this festivity is not meant to denigrate muslims, even though the term "moor" is not.... nice. I must say that the organizers of this festivity actually censored some parts of this holiday, without anybody asking them to do so, because they realised it could really be offensive. That's the case of "the Mahoma" in which, in some cases, a toy doll representing the prophet was burned.
Another curious thing is that actually many muslims (born muslims, not converts) have spoken in favor of this festival, and say that if we keep "deleting" things in order not to offend muslims, Islam will still be associated with little tolerance.
Another curious fact: more people want to join the muslim army than the christian one. "To fight under the moorish flag is a source of pride", says Fernando, one of the "fighters" and also organiser. To him, and many others, this festival is exalting arab culture, and all the good they brought to Spain.
Here's two pictures. The one on top is a muslim army. The second one is christian. Who do you think looks more fierce? What do you think, should festivities like these disappear?

No comment

It's on slate, by Ann Telnaes

More magic realism...

This time it's from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. I just saw his new fim, El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) and loved it. I was close to tears at the end of the movie. How can the post-civil war in Spain be mixed with such fantasy? Just leave it up to this fantastic Mexican storyteller...

Stupid traditions (part I)

Bullfighting



In most of Spain, it's still the damned national FIESTA, and it must be on TV (the state controlled channels, not the private ones) once in a while. So part of my tax money goes to this stupid fiesta in which a bull is being tortured and killed while a crowd of people watch and cheer the torero. There used to be bullfighting in my hometown and it was mostly attended by tourists. It's closed now. I'm so glad. Some will say it's art, and I'm sure there's many artistic ways to kill, but to me, it still means enjoying while you see an animal being tortured to death. Sick. You cannot perpetuate anything in the name of tradition. Traditions are not sacred. Some just have to disappear. Do you know of another silly tradition that should belong to the past?

One hundred years of solitude

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. At that time Macondo was a vil of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point….”

From Cien años de Soledad (one hundred years of solitude) one of my favorite books...

I'm not anonymous anymore!

According to my four year old daughter, I'm the third from the left. If you happen to see me on the street, please say hi. She's the first one on the right. Her hair is so much nicer, I know.

Converses de nit

Ella: Saps que hi ha bolets que es dicen rovelló?
Jo: Qui t’ho ha dit?
Ella: L’Esther. I uns que es diuen cames de rata.
Jo: Si? (cara de sorpresa)
Ella: Sí, perquè s’hi assemblen. I saps com es diuen els bolets dolents?
Jo: No, com es diuen?
Ella: Doncs…. Es diuen…. (no se’n recorda) es diuen… bolets que no són bons. No! Es diuen bolets “pordus”.
Jo: Pordus?
Ella: Sí. P O R D U S, i n’hi ha uns que es diuen trompeta. I uns altres que es diuen trompeta borda.

Moors and Christians

When I was little, we used to play a game called "Moors and christians". We really knew nothing about history, but it was fun. There's two teams with an equal number of kids and someone in the middle (leader) with a piece of cloth (there's some distance between both teams.
Each player of each team has a number from 1 to the number of players in the team. The leader places him/herself in the central line, between the two groups and shouts a number from one to the maximum is the number of total players in a team).The person of each team who has that number runs and try to catch the handkerchief, and run back to his/her team. If he succeeds, the one who failed is "converted" and his/her number is supposed to be for another player of his team. It was really fun. I tried to draw the game:



But it looks more like Martians against Plutonians...

Sabates noves

La baba, que sempre et mima, et va regalar aquestes sabatetes de la Blancaneus, i no te les vas treure de sobre en tot el dia. I la teva germana també les volia, i anava assenyalant amb el dit "anita, anita" (sirenita, sirenita). Es confon, per ella, totes les princeses són una.
Una altra cosa que m'agrada molt és estirar-me al llit amb tu a la nit fins que t'adorms (encara que de vegades em faig pregar). I sempre tenim les converses més interessants.
A-On dormen els tigres?
M-A la selva
A-Però no tenen sac?

New hijab?