excuse me while i time-travel real quick.

So, I figured out how to time travel/teleport. Well it's the closest thing to time travel or teleportation that I think I will ever experience in my life. I've done it twice now via my taste buds. 

Most recently, I made sweet potato fries with chipotle-mayo dip (vegan mayo, because I hate mayonnaise normally, even on salad olovieh) because I was craving the ones from 6th street grill so badly.

And as I bit into it I was suddenly transported to 6th and Olive in my beloved Eugene, 

sitting in a booth at 6th street grill with a group of friends sipping on a cold deschutes brew and being collegiate.

I MISS COLLEGE. I yearn for it. I pine for it. And I know going back to gradschool will never be the same (even though I know I will go to grad school probably when I'm thirty something after having worked in the field for a good amount of time and knowing exactly what I want to go back to study) Also I feel insane even saying this because I REMEMBER how exhausted I was from college upon graduating, and now 6 months later, I miss it.

my weekends heavily revolve around food. Carolina and I get together and go grocery shopping at least once a weekend (normally 2 times) and we make delicious food! we're both really experimental and enthusiastic about food and cooking so we are a perfect match. its so fun. We just monopolize the kitchen, and talk and cook and drink tea for hours. and then we feast. its my favorite thing every week.  Last night we made mirza ghasemi and it was really good but it was missing that amazing smokey flavor because we made it in an oven instead of over a charcoal grill. We also made hummos and annihilated it with pita bread, and also sweet potato fries with chipotle-vegan mayo dip. kind of a tapas night. OH, we also were going to make pesto sauce so we could just whip up quick pastas to eat for dinner during the week, but carolina accidentally bought bay leaves instead of basil....I guess she had always only seen dried basil and made her purchase based off of smell. So, no pesto last night but we will do it today. I told her she could use her bay leaves for in curries (we made green curry and vegetables over quinoa last week [i believe it was last week...time's been flying]) OH we also made this amazing miso soup with seaweed and some other things in it i probably cant remember because i was so high from all the delicious food i was consuming. oh soba noodles. there were soba noodles in the soup too. YUM.

yesterday I also made november soup again! succesfully without scalding any body parts! (side note: burn totally healed and no scar! way to go, body!)  and I fed some to one of my room mates! even though she was making fun of me when I came home from the grocery store saying "oh here you go again with all your VEGETABLES  jajajaja (thats how spanish people laugh pronounce the j like a really hard h or kh)" [ok another side note: spanish people would make excellent farsi speakers because they definitely can roll their r's, and make the kh AND GH sound!!! the only thing is they only have one a sound, and in farsi we have 2 so thats actually kind of why my name sucks here and they call me chayanne, but other than that one vowel, oh and also the fact that there is no difference between b and v in spanish, i'm pretty convinced they'd be really great at farsi] ok and my room mate REALLY LIKED the soup and wanted the recipe!!!!!! TOMA!!!!! (thats what spanish people say when they want to be like "yes! score!") so this was a huge "toma" for me.

ok like 2 more side notes:
1. i definitely prefer south american spanish accents to spain spanish
2. why am i a weirdo for liking vegetables? why cant we (as in me and spanish people) just agree that their obsession with beer and ham is just as extreme as my obsession with vegetables (and nutrients)? i mean no one is going to convince the other party to change their diet, but lets just agree that we are both equally extreme. that way we don't have to rip on each other's diets all the time. it will be a happier world.
3. ok fine this is 3 side notes. this is how much spanish people hate vegetables, I was having my 4th grade students (or maybe it was 6th, I cant remember) write little essays about their families [im having them practice making introductions, thesis sentences, organized paragraphs in the body, and a conclusion while including the topics they need to know for their language exam at the end of the year. because they didnt know anything about writing composition before and it was terrifying.] and one of my students was like "my mom is great because bla bla bla. and my dad is really weird because he likes vegetables!" ...HAHAHAHAHA! i was like this is absolutely perfect. the epitome of spain's feelings towards vegetables. my dad is weird because he likes vegetables.

oh and i went to hare krishna on friday with juany and kati and elena and her danish friend morten... (morton?) and it was great, as usual, i stuffed myself until i had a stomach ache. not wise. and then juany invited me to her house on sunday (today) at 2 (in 2 hours) for a potluck/learn how to make mexican food lunch partay!!!! i'm very excited. I went to another one of these once and they were making venezuelan food and it was really fun/good.

[carla, my room mate just came out to the living room drinking a coke, she just woke up, and i told her about my dinner last night and she just made fun of me for only eating vegetables....siiiiigghh, oooh, man.]


k now i'm going to go have breakfast. I'm making this smoothie [i really hope carla doesnt come into the kitchen while i'm making it because i will never hear the end of it "zumo de espicanas! jajaja!"...fabulous] ::

spinach
almond milk
flax seed
bananas
a bit of peanut butter
(TRUST ME ITS AMAZING AND NO YOU CANT TASTE THE SPINACH. try it.)

XO

check list

☑gym membership at holiday gym: bought.

☑half marathon in April: considering  it {thoughts?}

☑grocery store: pillaged.

☑new vodafone contract confusion: resolved

☑Yves rocher appointment: attended. (on time? : almost.)

☑London plans for MA BIRTHDAY: figured out (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

☑november soup: boiling as I type this!


☑good day: yes.

✌

{peace!} 

oh hey, p.s. forgot to mention that on Friday I made dinner bags [salami, cheese baguette sandwiches; muffin; water; and i think we had some fruit in it too, like a tangerine] with josh (my co-worker) and his girlfriend and their friends from their church (i brought Carolina with me too) and we went around madrid (well, plaza mayor/sol) 

                                                            plaza mayor

and gave the dinner bags to the homeless people around central madrid. As difficult as it was to do, I loved it. I want to do it more.

Guess what IIIII diiiid!?!?....

!!!!

 [I'm going to do a p.s. right now, and it's a Pre-Script. (Rather than post-script) So, I guess that might also be called an "announcement": I'm going to see if I can start writing my blog entries using better punctuation and capitalization of the necessary letters and better grammar in general]

I had an outstandingly super day yesterday,  
January twenty-first, two-thousand and eleven.

✺ First, I woke up and made myself an excellent smoothie and had some delicious tea for breakfast. And I took my vitamins :)


[Okay, this grammar plan already isn't working because I know I can't start sentences with "and" but basically, if I write using perfect grammar then I don't sound like myself. Who speaks using perfect punctuation? Who ever says "oh, the next word out of my mouth can't be "and" because I just ended a sentence" ??? No one. Except, maybe Obama because he is perfect. I'd rather sound like myself and start sentences with "and" when I write than have perfect grammar and sound like a boring word document. New plan: I'll just capitalize the letters at the beginning of sentences and use apostrophes when necessary and start my sentences with whatever inappropriate words I want.]


(M.S [mid-script] I like ✺ way more than ❦. Also, I have provided a map showing my displacement today.)

✺ Then, I (went  up to Tetuan [#1] and) got my NIE!!!!! YESSSS! I got my official Spanish ID! NOW I'M LEGITIMATE and don't need to carry around my passport anymore. I always felt so vulnerable when I did that. So, it's a huge relief that I have my NIE now. (Notice how I received it half way through my contract here? Such is Spanish bureaucracy.)


✺ After, I went to Gran Via [#2] and RAN (because I was running late) to Navarro Estilistas, a really cool salon I discovered in Chueca (the gay neighborhood in Madrid) and the blond lady sitting on the left side of the couch greeted me, and the guy just to the left of her chopped off all my hair while the girl sitting to the left of him gave me a free manicure and the guy standing on the right brought me green tea...They pampered me for 2 hours! I've never sat in a salon for that long in my life. I had a great time. They were awesome and their customer service was such a treat, because that just doesn't exist in Spain. And now I love my hair and I can't wear it in a pony-tail anymore (which is good because now I'm forced to not be lazy and actually DO my hair and look like a decent human-being when I go out). 

and the reason why I decided to cut my hair was because it was just weighing me down. It was too much of a hassel to fix it everyday, it was always tied back, and I just thought it was ugly. And I needed something new and fresh. It was so cathartic getting it cut. I'm so happy about it.


✺ Next, I met up with my awesome friend Elena at the Hare Krishna center in Tribunal [#3] which I've written about before.  As always, we stuffed ourselves to food-coma-oblivion. [Side note: This place is all you can eat delicious vegan food for 6 euros, and I used to eat 1.5 rounds, but now I finish the first plate with difficulty. My stomach has shrunken, and therefore, my appetite as well which I don't like because I enjoy eating food for long periods of time and I can't anymore :(  ]


✺ Later, I made the pilgrimage to Mecca (Ikea) [which is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy down the blue line at Las Suertas stop #4...bottom right of map] and I definitely semi-napped on the metro due to the food coma. And then I arrived and walked [honestly, I was basically skipping I was so excited about my hair] approx 5 minutes from the metro across this strangely vacant and windy suburb of Madrid through the giant shopping mall and to Ikea. 

this one took 5 minutes

Then, I naturally walked 7 times around Kabba (walked through the Ikea display route) 

...and  I  bought this bed frame for only 30 euros!!! (and I bought a pretty red towel and pink rose scented candles...who AM I??) 


THEN, I stuffed everything (except the bed) in my purse and proceeded to carry the bed (well, it was disassembled and packed into a box, but the box was still as long as a bed) to the metro stop (which took 15 minutes, and I definitely wasn't skipping anymore). 

this one took 15 minutes

And onto the metro I went, bed-in-tow, up the light blue line again to Tribunal, transferred to the dark blue line, and made my way through the center of Madrid during Friday rush-hour (the simile of an ant carrying a cookie can appropriately be drawn for this scenario) and up and down stairs and escalators and elevators and through pushy crowds and across streets and into my apartment [#5]! 

And now you can call me Haj Khanoom.

(for those who don't speak Farsi or Arabic, haj khanoom is what you call a muslim lady who performs the pilgrimage to mecca). WHICH I DID. Obviously.


 ✺ Then I rested for 2.5 minutes, realized my arms no longer functioned from carrying a bed across Madrid (but then got excited because that means it was an arm workout! I'm still sore.) and went to lovely Carolina's house [in Goya #6] where we made delicious green curry with tofu and quinoa for dinner. And for dessert a bunch of fresh lychee (we bought for like 25 cents from her LEGITIMATE chino -which I've also written about before) and for thirst quenching: umeshu (japanese plum) liquor mixed with carbonated water (this thing tastes like candy). And laughed our faces off as we always do. 


✺ Finally, I did something I haven't done in ages: I went out on the town with Elena, and Katy and her 2 awesome friends: Juliet (who gave me an amazing compliment on my eyebrows. My favorite type of compliment.) and Guillerme (Remember ll sounds like y. Also Guillerme and Guillermo mean William in Portuguese and Spanish, respectively. Weird, huh?) to some really cool joints that I really liked. At this one place, called Tupperware, they were playing Spoon and Animal Collective and it BLEW MY MIND because those are 2 of my favorite bands, and everyone was like "man this music sucks" while I, in the meantime, was fighting back tears because it reminded me so much of Oregon and all my friends back home and of going to Sasquatch with Keon, and urban farm in the Spring of '09 when I was obsessed with Spoon, and my adorable room in my cute house (Monticello) on 1375 jefferson street in Eugene... so I went and attacked the DJ and thanked her for being such a ROCKSTAR. Then, I went upstairs to the bathroom and waited in line for way too long, but made a new Spanish friend named Carla, via my feather earrings I had made and was wearing (those things are girl magnets). I actually found a fly fish shop in madrid where I can buy feathers and make more! Oh and some guy there made fun of my name (typical) and I yelled at him (also, typical) and I was pissed off for 2 seconds, and then I remembered what a good time I was having so I got over it. But, HONESTLY, why are we still making fun of peoples names?? How OLD ARE WE? I seriously want to get "no como el cantante"(not like the singer) tattooed on my forehead.


✺ LASTLY,  I came home at 3:40AM. Fell asleep by 4AM and woke up at 7:30AM. I have no idea why I woke up, I was just bored of sleeping. (I think I am the most extreme/hardcore early-bird EVER). And now I'm going to Carolina's for breakfast :) and I don't even need to do my hair because it miraculously still looks amazing from last night. I love it when that happens! Oh, and on TOP of everything else, they banned smoking indoors in Spain, so now, I don't get a black lung every time I go out and the next day my clothes and hair don't smell like smoke! AND IT'S SUNNY OUTSIDE!! AND IT'S ONLY SATURDAY!! I'm in such a good mood, I don't even care that the freak who lives above me is still playing Good Charlotte, I'm actually humming along.

I just had such a great 24 hours! I had to share!
p.s. (post script this time)  next time you wake up, start the day with Queen's greatest hits, I know it's counter-intuitive, but it's WONDERFUL. 
I'll end on this note:

Sappho, i've missed you.

flowers in my room!

[I was considering titling this post "Stop! Sappho time!"]

I've been  mentally restless lately. I believe this has been the primary reason for the long, rambling, scatter-brained blog entries, and difficult to follow thought process. I think working on my portfolio is helping.

But still...something doesn't feel right...it's time for some Sappho...

Sappho is my favorite writer EVER, in the history of humans. 

Sappho was:

❦ a woman

❦ she was born sometime between 630-612 BC

❦ she was a lyrist (≈ poet, but it was to be recited with a LYRE accompaniment so -> lyrist...i guess  that's where the word lyric must come from. cool, huh? )  

❦ She lead an aesthetic movement that concentrated on the theme of individual human experience, as opposed to the classical theme of gods.

❦ She was a lesbian (actually, bi) 

❦ and her work describes love and loss as it affected her personally. 

❦ what remains of Sappho's work is just in fragments. this is because the christian church actively destroyed and neglected to copy her work because of its homosexual content. 

❦ Also, apparently she was small and brown (represent!)

[p.s. what IS this ❦ ? it kind of looks like a pepper on a vine. no? i can't tell if i like it.]

What I like most about reading Sappho is that it makes me realize how insignificant I am.  

Just a tiny speck in time

("we live in the flicker"-heart of darkness).  

Just a tiny speck in the universe.

we always say "humans have existed for approx. half a million years" those humans were people. individuals. and all those people have felt these feelings i'm feeling now for years and years and years. (even if my feelings or problems aren't about love or loss, reading Sappho makes you realize,  'if they felt the same way i do about love and loss 

then they probably felt the same way i do about a lot of things'.

I just think its amazing that as much as technology and fashion and architecture can change, human emotions are the same.

It just makes me realize my "problems" are not all that bad.

and really not that big.
(i don't even have any problems right now, what am i talking about? i guess just if i'm ever feeling melancholy or...etc)

if you're ever feeling kind of emotionally heavy, and you don't want to anymore, read Sappho, and then realize that:

two thousand-something-years-ago a lady felt the same exact way and wrote about it. 

Or, if for whatever reason you don't have access to some Sappho...

zoom out of your body, of whatever room you're sitting in, of your town, of your state/province, of your country, of your continent, of the world, of the universe, and look around at all the huge asteroids and meteoroids and comets (and probably alien spaceships) flying around and black holes collapsing, and suns exploding, and all the galaxies being formed and then look back at earth (if you can even see it) and realize how small your problem is. 

its not to put you down or to make you feel bad, its just to put perspective on things. 

and take away the gravity of your problem.

your problem is probably not as big as a galaxy, or the sun, or even a comet.

really now, Sappho time:

1:

I tell you

someone will remember us

in the future.

2:

I desire

And I crave.

3:

You set me on fire.

 4:

As a wind in the mountains

assaults an oak,

Love shook my breast.

5:

“Virginity, virginity

Where will you go when you’ve left me?”

“I’ll never come back to you , bride,

I’ll never come back to you.” 

 6:

Sweet mother, I can’t do my weaving—

Aphrodite has crushed me with desire

for that boy.

7:

Like a sweet-apple

turning red

high

on the tip

of the topmost branch.

Forgotten by pickers.

Not forgotten—

they couldn’t reach it.

8:

Like a hyacinth

in the mountains

that shepherds crush underfoot.

Even on the ground

a purple flower.

9:

The stars about the fair moon 

in their turn hide their bright face 

when she at about her full 

lights up all earth with silver.

10:

…Again and again…because those

I care for best, do me

Most harm…

11:

...but you have forgotten me… 

12:

Of all the stars, the loveliest…

*

[they're just so simple. in vocabulary, in length, the subject. At the same time they are so vivid and profound and timeless]

"healthy"

i think this entry is especially convoluted and my thought process is very scattered, so to help you understand what i´m trying to write about i will explain the 2 main points :

1) why does the definition of healthy vary culturally?
2) why is it so hard to live my definition of healthy? 

food:i love it so much.

meat: love the taste.
cheese: again, really love the taste.
(but i´m determined to ween myself off them)
living in Spain: not conducive to the type of healthy diet i want to maintain. I am tempted every where i go to stuff my face with cured meats and delicious cheeses. {But my dedication to not consuming animal products has not faltered. i persevere :) }
All they eat in Spain is meat, bread, cheese, potatoes, meat, olive oil, cheese, and meat and ham and ham and ham.. repeat that for 5 courses. multiply that by  (lets say 6) loooong hours spent eating lunch/snack/dinner. and you have a SERIOUSLY unhealthy diet.

Which brings me to my next point. "Healthy" is culturally relative concept. Completely. I have learned this recently.and I think its fascinating.

*In Spain if you don't eat meat they think youre deathly-unhealthy. And you already saw my outline of spanish quizine above. and the only vegetable they eat here is cauliflower (which isnt even green) and they boil the LIFE out of it until its just soggy mushy lumps and then they drizzle it with olive oil. {2 quick cauliflower anectodes: 1)whenever spaniards ask me if i like spanish food [they expect and want to hear your praise of it] i always say 'yes, but you hardly eat vegetables' and they always retort with 'WE EAT CAULIFLOWER!'. 2) one time my roommate came home with cauliflower, and i got excited because i really do like cauliflower when its raw. its just so fun and crunchy, and i snapped off a little piece and ate it. and she just stared at me like she had seen an alien. and she was like 'what. are. you. doing?' (in spanish) and i was like 'its good, you should try it' (in spanish) and she was TERRIFIED. and didnt try it....i was like, thats lame (in my head, probably in english).}

*in The Netherlands they chug buttermilk like twice a day (which always sounds so much better than it actually tastes, doesn't it? disappointing every time) because they say its healthy. also, when its sub zero outside in the dead of winter they open up the windows and let their rooms fill with freezing air and they SLEEP in the freezing rooms with the windows open because they think its healthy. and then when its freezing outside, and they're walking around, running errands or whatever, their small talk about the weather is "look at this healthy weather!"...WHAT?!

* In Korea people DO NOT drink water. gross story: my friend ashley {who is teaching english in korea through Epik } told me sometimes in school when she goes to the restrooms and the previous user has forgotten to flush, there will be NEON ORANGE pee in the toilet! and they all think its weird she walks around with a water bottle drinking water all day. true story.

*and in Iran, pickled vegetables, yogurt, and turmeric are basically part of every food you eat because it aids digestion and is "healthy". and In western cultures, yogurt is viewed as a dessert cuz they only eat it with tons of sugar or like fruit jams, and hardly anyone eats pickles. and if they do its just pickled cucumbers.And they eat unbelievable amounts of fruit. Also, back on the topic of cold things, there is this concept of "chaidan" (haha) in Iran, which is basically getting sick from being exposed to cold weather. (obviously this does not exist in holland) though it does exist in Spain. Spanish people are "frioleros". i like that word. it means basically, "quick to get cold". como yo (like me).

also, in Korea people wear those face mask things when they are sick so as to not spread disease, in America people just cover their mouths when they are sick. likewise in Iran. in Spain people cough and sneeze in your face, no coverage of any facial orifices. ever. a very "i'm taking you down with me" sort of mentality. this is why i have been sick over 60 times since i've been here.

ok so my point is: all these countries have scientists, they all know about nutrition, germs, and about biology and the human body...WHY are our definitions of "healthy" SO different? My concept of health is a hybrid of Iranian and American ones. naturally... biassedly.

k so back to spain...I hate grocery shopping here for MANY reasons. but lately because finding vegan/vegetarian/my definition of "healthy" food is very difficult, and also expensive. for example: WHEAT BREAD is an exotic commodity here...you have to pay way more for "pan integral" and its hard to find a good one. ok and today, I went grocery shopping, and already it sucks that i have to go grocery shopping because there are no grocery stores near me {i have no idea why} so i have to go 2 metro stops away {ok i know thats not THAT far, but when you have bags of food, yes it is.}*

{side note: my room mate JUST got back its 1:12 in the afternoon. shes been drinking since about 4 yesterday afternoon. spaniards really do party for 24 hours. I can hear her having a really (not) great time in the bathroom right now. ok this is for another post, but it REALLY irritates me when spaniards make fun of americans and say AMERICANS drink to much. PLEASE! if we're going to point fingers, lets start with the Irish or Russians, who i think the whole world can agree drinks the most. then, we can start talking about what lightweights americans are compared to the rest of the world. seriously, we're workaholics, that means we don't have TIME to drink that much.}

* so i go to corte ingles, which, i know, its not the cheapest supermarket, but they have the widest variety and are most likely to carry the things i want. the relative convenience is what keeps me a loyal customer. and I was looking for flax seeds, and it was in the "special section" which is the "healthy-hippie-granola-organic-natural" section. i had to buy all my "normal" groceries and then go to another section of the store and then buy all my "hippie food" from this other totally separate section (that was also way more expensive) with its own cashier and everything...its all food! i mean fine, make an isle for it. but a totally separate store?!

why is there such a huge divide between healthy food and normal food? shouldn't normal food BE healthy food?? its this kind of mentality that really frustrates me. it also exists in the architecture world with normal architecture vs. green architecture. these definitions and boundaries need to go away. I dont know why people are so against living happy lives. why is mainstream always the opposite of healthy and environmentally responsible? why is taking care of our planet the alternative? why is the status-quo sub par in so many situations? why does trying to take care of yourself mean going broke? what kind of backward system is this? if you want to be so fat you cant fit in a roller coaster or on an airplane seat and die really soon its super cheap! if you want to be a healthy active member of society who can contribute for many years, sorry...its going to cost you. (has anyone seen wall-e?)

ok i can feel a conspiracy theory coming on. so i'm going to finish this here.

so again, to summarize the KEY points I was trying to make:1) why does the definition of healthy vary culturally?
2) why is it so hard to live my definition of healthy? (because honestly being spain's definition of healthy would be really easy, and really cheap)

right-hand left-hand right-brain left-brain

I always wished I was left handed. I don't know why, it just seemed cooler to me. But in reality, my left hand is pretty useless. It lacks coordination in a very essential way. I think the most I use my left hand for is typing. I was trying to paint my nails today, and as always my left hand looks better than my right hand because my left hand sucks at painting the nails on my right hand. {and actually what i do when i'm painting my right hand is i hold the brush in the left hand but i end up moving my right hand underneath the brush to paint the nail...so the brush and my left hand  pretty much remain fixed! that's how much i hate using my left hand.}

Since my right hand has 24 years of experience over my left hand, I want to start forcing myself to use my left hand more so its more useful. I don't know why i care about this. i just do. it seems so insignificant in the scope of the world and of life.  but I have 2 hands and 2 arms and i basically only use 1. And i would like to use both. because I think that will be more efficient. I can start by doing small things like simply holding more things in my left hand. {i always carry things in my right hand/on my right arm} i brush my teeth using my right hand, i can easily switch that. just any small task that doesn't require THAT much coordination, i can start using my left hand for. and then I can start using my left hand for more coordinated things once I've got that down. 

All this talk about left vs right hand stuff got me thinking about brain dominance. My daddio sent me this a while back. Its really interesting. I think its good to understand how your brain works. It can help you do better in school, at work, in social situations, pretty much in every aspect of life. Also, it makes for an awesome conversation topic. It can also help you understand why your friends are the way they are sometimes. If you have a friend who is always late and you just can't understand WHY {they're probably right brain dominant}. Obviously, its not good to not be punctual, and they should work on improving that, but don't get too mad at them, apparently it's a birth defect {haha just kidding} it's just how they were born, it's how their brain is wired, and it's harder for them to be on time than you realize.

If you're not sure what side of your brain is dominant take this test. I'm 30% left brain and 70% right brain. The result gives you a really thorough explanation of your brain!

so, i did a load of laundry today in an attempt to check off some things from my post-travel-to-do-list ...and i put my cellphone charger through the wash...! what brain side dominant is THAT?? its no brain dominant. i guess when unpacking i pulled out my cellphone charger and dumped a bunch of clothes on top and when i scooped up the clothes to put in the wash, the charger came along! a good thing came of this though: now when i charge my phone it's with clean energy! (badam-ching! har-har...sorry, it had to be done) seriously though, the charger still works. and it's clean.

So, what side of your brain gives you bad taste in music? because there is a person in my apartment complex who is obsessed with this horrible good charlotte song. and i'm going on to the 4th day of hearing it on repeat all day. I have to keep on playing music in my room to drown it out. but sometimes i dont feel like listening to music. but i'd rather listen to anything that THAT HORRIBLE song. maybe I should rick roll this inconsiderate neighbor of mine? They definitely deserve it.  If i'm lying in my bed, the sound is coming from the upper right hand corner of my room. In architecture we have a term for this: structural born sound transmission. It's when sound gets transfered through the structure of a building. As opposed to air born sound transmission.  {speaking of architecture I'm putting together my portfolio!!! I'm excited by this. Though it does still feel a bit daunting, I want to start designing and being creative again. I've been feeling brain dead lately since I haven't been making or designing or creating things with my hands...this might have something to do with why i forced my friend josh to make his girlfriend a pillow for christmas...}

sorry had to hid his face for his privacy, but you can see he's SEWING!

he made a California shaped pillow with things sewn on  that represent his girlfriend

well, i didnt FORCE him, i highly highly highly recommended it. And then he got really into it and I got to help a little, but he did it like 99% all on his own! I was really proud of him!

 *     *     *     *

and time for a real update:

*I got my 5th (and hopefully last) bank card yesterday. it works, and I have hidden my camera charger so it can never again demagnetize anything.

*I got all my paperwork taken care of to get my NIE  on tuesday or friday.

*I'm going to get a cellphone contract with Vodaphone today! No more pay-as-you-go!
*i guess i left my window open again last night and woke up with a violent itching on my right hand's pinky knuckle and buzzing in my ear. and when i turned on the light i saw a nother HUGE juicy mosquito buzzing around my room. i tired to kill it, but i was too groggy and my reflexes were too slow, so i was never able to kill it. it just kept on buzzing around. so i left my door open and went completely under the covers {and over heated and nearly suffocated} because mosquitos love me and i think my body reacts more severely to the bites than most people. so that wasn't fun.

ok that's all for now...

At least I had Anni {this is a random one}

Anni and Joseph Albers

on Tuesday in art class with the 6th graders i had to tell them that I was weary of doing the picasso face project with them {even though i had them bring boxes in around the 2nd week of school} because last term they proved to be severely incapable of having attention spans longer than 1.5 seconds {which also means inability to follow directions} or being able to do anything on their own {monkey see monkey do is NOT a given with these children}. It's really unfortunate, because I love my students so much more than I ever thought was possible, and I love art. And I really want to do fun projects with them. But that really is impossible considering their lack of really basic skills like listening and copying.

so anyway, i proceeded to over estimate their abilities AGAIN when I thought doing an anni albers project would be easy. Anni Albers is my favorite artist ever and i am fascinated by her jewelry and textiles. but i also swoon for her "triangle exercises" {i actually dont know the real name of that series but "triangle exercise" seems appropriate} its SO SIMPLE yet infinitely interesting to stare at. its just a canvas with a grid. and then she draws a diagonal line in each little square and then she picks which half of the square to color and then it makes a really beautiful pattern. she has a bunch of them, and i love them all. PRETTY SIMPLE...RIGHT?? WRONG!! i'll cut this story short. but it took them 0.5 HOUR to even understand how to make a grid...i think ill just make a grid myself on adobe illustrator and print it out. then all they have to do is make diagonals and color triangles. i dont know how to dumb it down more than that. i guess i could add the diagonal myself and then they'd have to just pick a half to color...i probably wont do that though because the diagonal part is fun. haha..."fun"...i'm a freak. ANYWAY, the art lesson was very frustrating{as usual}, but at least i got to do my own mini Anni Albers triangle project. It was my favorite thing that day...

My 2nd favorite thing was probably the sunset. It was neon orange, and when it dropped below the cloud line in the horizon it highlighted the super grey clouds bright pink!! It was SO beautiful, it was difficult to concentrate on my private lesson with Pelayo {who really does have a learning disorder}. Speaking of suns, has anyone noticed how much later its getting dark!? Maybe it seems more drastic to me because I just returned from Norway. And, another thing that might be especially notable because of this Norwegian contrast is the weather here in Madrid! its so warm!! Today its going to be 58°f (14 °c)!! It already smells like spring-time :)

and the 3rd favorite thing was the lentil soup (reminds me of persian adassi!!) at lunch.

Speaking of soup...On tuesday I went to Juany's house because she was making mexican soup!!!! not only was the soup delicious, and I got to hang out with some of my closest friends from Madrid after 2 weeks, but guess what i FOUND?!?!?!?!?  THIS BABY::

my lovely knitted warm grey dress/sweater that i thought i lost in barcelona!!

THATS RIGHT! I DIDNT lose it! I KNEW I was more organized than I thought!! I didn't leave it at Alba's house in Barcelona...I forgot that that night, after we went to park Güell I was visiting the girls in their hostel and I was getting ready to go out that night and wanted to wear something that I had layered under the grey knit sweater/dress so I took it off and had Juany put it in her suitcase to bring back to Madrid for me! And then I COMPLETELY forgot, and when I went to her house to eat soup she returned it to me and I was so surprised and sooooo happyyyyyy!!! :) I wore it the next day to work to celebrate. Yay for happy endings!!!

speaking of superficial things like clothes and appearances...

i may or may not have gotten extremely sick of my hair today and am seriously considering cutting it short again...i just feel like i've been working so hard to grow it out and i still haven't reached my lady godiva goal (hair so long it covers your boobs)...also i am admittedly, a little fearful of getting it cut in Spain, i could just wait until August when i go home for a bit?

also two people told me i looked like i had lost weight.  i wasnt trying to, but could it be because of  this decrease in my consumption of animal products...? It's only been 2.5 weeks...

speaking of animals...Tiger mountain peasant song by Fleet Foxes has been stuck in my head for a few days now. And not in a good way. its a good thing I didn't have my ipod because i would just listen to it all day long. Actually I think i still managed to overdose on the song, even without my ipod. 

speaking of ipods, I don't like it when everyone is plugged into them during their morning commute. I think creates a very large barrier between people and the outside world. Basically removing your sense of sound. I don't like how disconnected people become because of it. Has anyone ever been lost and wanted to ask for directions, but the only person near by had an ipod in?? it makes you feel like youre intruding on them. Plus when you are plugged into your i-pod it makes you seem less approachable. and you never know when you might meet your next best friend, it could be on the metro on the way to work or when you least expect it (or if you think you dont want to talk to someone, but it turns out to be great!) ! so every now and then, i get the urge to just disconnect from the world. but generally i think its good to stay tuned into the world around us.

and now for something COMPLETELY random and irrelevant:

Today, I sassed out the chino that works next to my building. "chinos" as they are called in Spain, are SUPPOSED to be CHEAP places (always owned and run by Chinese immigrants) that you can get really random things. kind of like 7-11 in the us, but more random and cheaper. EXCEPT the chino by MY house is a complete bastard! rude, and UNBELIEVABLY expensive!! he charges like 10 times as much as OPEN CORE (which is infamously the most expensive grocery store in madrid/spain)  which also happens to be right by my house. So i wanted to buy a 1.5 liter of Aquarius (a drink) and in Open core it was 1.64 euros. and I (rightfully) thought, "maybe it'll be cheaper in the chino"(because it SHOULD be). so i go there, he has a small one (not sure if it was even 1 liter) and it was 2 EUROS.....are you KIDDING ME? so i was like "em...son mas baratos en OPEN CORE!" (uh...its way cheaper in OPEN CORE)... and he just stared at me...(normally they will bargain!) so i was like "no, no lo quiero es demasiado carro" (no i don't want it its too expensive.) and then i went back to open core and bought the giant Aquarius and went back to the chino and showed it to him and was like "esto cuesta 1.65 en opencore" (this is 1.65 in open core) and he got mad (haha...hes a bad businessman! i was only trying to help him have more competitive prices and more customers! no one will buy a tiny Aquarius for 2 euros he is insane.) and he was like "son iguales!" (they're the same!) and i was like "no son iguales esto es mucho mas grande y mas barato!" (they are NOT the same this one is WAY bigger and cheaper!) needless to say I'm boycotting him. and its not because i'm cheap and dont want to spend 44 extra cents. because, as we all know, i can be pretty liberal with money (especially when it comes to food) it's just the principal of the mater. AND when I talked to my room mate she was like "si es gilipolla" (ya, he's a dickhead).

and now here are some random images that I like and wanted to share::

I still have a soft spot for Audis probably because i grew up in them

haha simply adorable!

keon, this ones for you...bahahahahahaha!

i just like this. but sometimes i really think the captions could be switched.

amen

I dont get it. but i like it.

summer time!

good design is infinite

another one for keon, haha..awww poopy!!

california dreamin'!

my friend carly is getting married and these fingers actually look IDENTICAL to her and her fiancé...bizarre.

gross

I love Hyacinths, I love this picture. Reminds me of Eid e Noruz :)

glorious

I saw a lot of these in Norway

*FIN*

*NORDLYS*

I CANT BELIEVE I EVEN GET TO WRITE THIS POST!!!!

I saw the northern lights!!!  

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!

THE ONES I'VE WANTED TO SEE FOR SOOO LONG. I did it! Actually, I didn't do it, I couldn't have done it without Trish, and her amazing friends in Bodø and Tromsø who were so generous and let us stay in their wonderful homes. And all the people around the world who were sending us positive vibes :)

  i still got to see them live, with my own eyes!

The Aurora Borealis was ::

alive. She teased us mercilessly, playing hide and seek for 2 weeks. We heard so many rumors... someone saw it in Tromsø when I first arrived to Oslo, it was in Bodø 2 hours before we arrived there, people saw it in Tromsø WHILE we were there...locals laughed at us when we said that's why we had ventured above the arctic circle...we wanted so badly to see Nordlys. 

She made us work for it, and finally, on the last night Nordlys showed herself.  She was the most graceful and majestic thing I have ever seen. She teased us at first showing herself as just a soft cloud-like glow, slightly green. And then she danced for us, just a little, in white and pink. We were hooked. 3 hours later she gave us the most stunning show we could have ever imagined in white, pink, purple, green and yellow. 

She is so beautiful and she knows it. She is fickle and arrogant. you cant predict her and you cant tame her.  Everything is on her terms. There is nothing you can do but just sit and admire her beauty when she chooses to treat you to it. You even think you can touch her she seems so close at times, like shes about to brush herself against your face, but she is 100's of kilometers above you. and you are shocked. overwhelmed. stunned. awe struck. it brings you to your knees and you know shes dancing only for you. She is a surprise every time. She looks like fire, like smoke, like light rays streaming through branches, she looks so familiar but unlike anything you've ever seen before.

As I was watching i felt full. I felt humbled. i felt healed. I forgot my burn, my sore throat, my aching foot, i even forgot the freezing cold. The experience will make you religious and it will make you cry. It reminds you that even in the darkest coldest parts of the world, the universe is still working. and I think its perfect that you can only see such an amazing phenomenon in one of the "most difficult" places on earth. It's hope.

No words or pictures can bring her justice, but here are some pictures anyway. I hope everyone gets to see her one day.

Mission accomplished!!

Heading back to Oslo! saw the most incredible northern lights last night i can't wat to put up pics. I will write more about them later... Just wanted to update to say my foot is much better, I asked Eric Chen ( old highschool friend and med student) and he said " is it red and swollen?(that's what she said) if it's not you're fine. Just don't walk on it too much". He actually said " that's what she said" haha I'm glad med school hasn't killed his sense of humor. Good news is it's not red and swollen. Bad news is I need to walk. trish thinks her toe is broken though. I hope not. Ok taxi will be here any minute so I should go. Can't wait to write about what I saw last night!!!!!

battle wounds {and November soup}

Knitdick and Nordlys by Oslo based graphic designer and friend, Jon

Coming to Tromsø has given a whole new meaning to the term "beauty means pain". The Pain that Trish and I have endured to see the beautiful northern lights is really adding up. It's pretty shocking. We have even begun writing haikus (3 lines,5,7,5 syllables)  and sonnets (14 lines of rhymed couplets in iambic pentameter) about it. between the two of us we have:
*a very enlarged right tonsil thats almost beginning to look like a goiter
*a very senstive and peeling and dry brand new tattoo (Trish's. dont freak out mom and dad)
*a VERY sore right foot that may or may not be a stress fracture
*a swollen red and purple right food 2nd toe
*body aches and general head cold
*knee and hip pains
*lack of sleep
*oh and a crazy burn on my left underside of the forearm. {where you test to see if baby milk is not too hot}

i guess im just getting sick, and i have a sore throat, and I dont know whats going on with my foot. ill go to the doctor on friday when im back in spain. my knee and hip pains i think were from the cold but theyre gone now, thankfully. lack of sleep from trying to stay up and watch the lights, and the burn is from making november soup. November soup is what Christina fed us one night in bodø. it was so delicious and simple that trish and I wanted to make some while we were in Tromsø. It turned out great but at the cost of my left arm. I literally gave my left arm to have some November soup. Anyway here is the recipe:

*12 deciliters (dl) water
*3 dl soymilk
*8 cubes of vegetable broth
*6-8 potatos
*4 carrots
*1 onion
*1 celery root
*salt and pepper to taste

*boil the vegetables in water with vegetable broth until the vegetables are done. use a handmixer {or other blending device} to blend the vegetables whilst adding the milk. let it boil for a bit longer
serve with sour cream (we used vegan sour cream) and crutons!
{i like things spicy so i like to add chili or extra pepper.}

tonight we are taking a tour to go out of the city and see the (damn) northern lights which have been so elusive. Please wish us luck

I will leave you with our Tromsø trip inspired poetry collection::
{I should preface the poetry by explaining that nordlys is Norwegian for northern lights, and Knitdick is a christmas gift Trish received. It is a knitted dick as the name implies, and it has been the cherry atop this entire trip.}

Haiku 1:
Trish is sound asleep
Shayan stares at the black sky
Waiting for nordlys

Haiku 2:
Tonsil-goiter, ow
Thigh hives, Sore hips knees and foot
Such is arctic life.

Haiku 3:Relentless coughing
Insomnia and steel abs
Tatt aches, numb fingers.

Haiku 4: (2 parts)
Our host wakes at four.
"airport taxi comes at six!"
He sighs. Too early.

I look to the sky.
Like nordlyset in Bodø,
The alarm's too soon.
{there were nordlys in Bodø 2 hours before we arrived}

 Haiku 5: (4 parts)

To see the whole world
one need not join the navy.
Just be a knitdick.

An oddity rests
in the nook of each photo.
Beaded masterpiece.

Like "Amelie"'s gnome,
Knitdick will travel at length.
No book shelf her home.

How could they have known
a gag gift from Christmastime
Would journey so far?

Haiku 6:

No more haikus now.
Again, nordlys didn't come.
Disappointment shows.

Haiku 7: (by Jon)

KnitDick bows his head
In disappointment and shame
Maybe next time, yes?

TrisHaiku: (by friend, Dana)
i think you are swell.
norway is rude for stealings.
i'll come visit soon.

Haiku 8:

trish sleeping again
shayans left forearm skin burns
and burns and burns and burnburns

Haiku 9: (3 parts)

Trish grows much sicker.
The sick moves from chest to head.
Sleep: a remedy.

Still, she takes up watch.
4am, bring us nordlys.
So I can then sleep.

Shayan's turn to doze.
November soup: delicious!
But not when burning...
(dedicated to Shayan's scalded forearm)

The hunt: (a sonnett written at 3 am)

To travel north to see the lights above,
It takes its toll on unsuspecting girls.
Nordlyset gives our sanity a shove.
The crazy in us violently unfurls.

Our battle scars, too numerous to name.
Sore throats and tonsil-goiters, how they ache.
November soup has set Shy's arm aflame.
No pants for Trish! Cold, for the tattoo's sake.

A fractured foot, a broken toe we share.
'Tween two of us, the bus fares will be high.
With all the body aches and cold we bear,
With no success, you'd think nordlys a lie!
(you'd think nordlys would come to tell us "hi"!)

The sleeplessness has caused us all of this!
Will fortune grace us with the nordlys bliss?

hopefully the next piece of poetry will be about actually seeing the nordlys...