My brother's been cloned!!!!

This other dude supposedly goes by the name "Dan" but I'm not convinced... Can you tell which one is which?

Arrrr, me damn hook keeps slippin' off me stump!

Highs and Lows

This blog is a little late coming, but I wanted to comment briefly on some high points and low points of my trips to Girona during the last few weeks of the summer.

High points included:

Some beautiful views of the Pyrenees and ponies...

Remembering what it's like to have hair (so sweet of Raquel to aid me with this process)...

And, of course, Albert's amazing gourmet cooking...


The one low point was getting my ass whooped in Nintendo Wii by Gemma and Oriol...


Yes, they look very sweet with these kitties, but don't be fooled -- when given a controller, they are vicious!!!

Anglit Bevakasha!

A brief walk through the streets of Jerusalem reveals how "in" it is for places to have English names. All the trendy restaurants, bars, and cafes have either both an English and Hebrew name, or just an English name. But it is not so simple to open an establishment with an English name in a country where many people don't speak great English -- one always runs the risk of losing clientele who don't understand the relation between an establishment 's name and its product. Hence, Israelis often choose to do away with all efforts to be playful and ironic, opting instead for clarity and directness (not so out of line with general Israeli character). This explains the presence of popular chains like "Coffee Shop" and "Meat Burger."

I can picture the boardroom conversation:

Well Dudu, I don't know, don't you think we're being a little redundant with "Meat Burger."

Not at all, Yossi, you know very well how many places have gone 'green.' You order a burger these days, and you don't know what you're gonna get -- real meat or that fake tofu crap! This is a meat establishment and I'm damn well proud! Are you not proud of our establishment?

I didn't say I wasn't proud, Dudu. I just...

Are you going 'green,' Yossi?

Fine, fine, "Meat Burger" it is!

Olé!!!

Spaniards are generally quite apathetic when it comes to nationalism -- ask most people what they think of "Spanishness," and they'll likely point to colonialism, the inquisition, fascism, maybe bullfighting... but when Spain's national selection plays an important game, the flags, jerseys, and capes come out in full form. It is hard not to get wrapped up in all the fervor here!

Adversity, hah!

The other evening, my housemate, Gemma, returned home at 2:15am frantically trying to wake me up to let her into the building after having been robbed while listening to music in Barceloneta. Someone had snatched her purse, which contained a hefty sum of money, her credit cards, keys, cell phone, passport, national ID, and other important things. To my surprise, rather than pout about the annoyances and difficulties of recuperating all she had lost, Gemma soon returned to her usual smiley and happy self. Last night on the way to a party I had to ask her how she managed to stay in such good spirits despite what had taken place.

She remarked, "Look, I can either be depressed and without my purse, or I can be happy and without my purse -- either way, I won't have the purse."

"But still, Gemma, it's such a pain -- I'd have a tough time returning to my normal self."

"I believe that we can find some good in everything. I mean, I've already begun to find some good in what's happened. For instance, I lost my only pictures of my X-boyfriend, and this has helped to liberate me from the relationship. To give another example, I lost all my phone numbers, including those of people who treat me poorly. So now they can't contact me, since I won't have another phone for fifteen more days, and I can't contact them. So, you see, some good things have come from this."

If only I had such an ability to stare adversity in the eye and say, "Fuck you," like she seemingly does.

Felisha's Birthday!!!

Today is Felisha's 1st birthday, a momentous occasion that she'll definitely forget, but that is nonetheless momentous. I talked to her over skype a little, but she seemed more interested in eating the camera than having a conversation with me. She did, however, give me one of those smiles that lights up the room before understandably demanding her birthday dinner:-)