Well, it's been a while.

Things I'm especially fond of or interested in these days: This American Life on NPR, Cat Stevens' "Peace Train," writings of Jack Handy for the New Yorker and various other publications, anything by Julio Cortázar, love song mixes, love, hope, excitement, outside, cooking pasta and making guacamole, breaking old habits, the idea of growth. Also, universal health care, world economic systems, change, and running for ICC president next year. Food.

So much for writing a blog keeping people informed on happenings in Spain. I think that out of all of the blog posts I've written, probably only 4 or so are really about Spain. As usual, it's great here, though this semester has been very different from the last. For a while I felt that I had fallen off the face of the planet, as I was no longer seeing many of my Spanish friends, nor going out and being spontaneous as I had in the beginning. That was distressing. I think I've managed to strike more of a balance now between romance and...everything else (that's kind of how the categories tend to exist for me in practice at the beginning of a serious relationship. There's that one other person person (Alex), a little bubble in which the two of you fit, and then everything on the outside). But that's no good for anybody. Balance in all things.

School is wrapping up, which means exam season has arrived. Next week Friday, instead of taking an exam, I will be performing (as Vulcano, the lead role) in an 300 Millones, a play by the Argentinian writer Robert Arlt. I have a 15 minute monologue and am essentially an oafish Satan figure. Needless to say, the part comes naturally. I'm nervous, as I still haven't perfected my lines, but I'm also excited--we'll be performing in front of a large crowd of students, hopefully. We've worked hard on this project, and though I did my fair share of complaining in the beginning, it's turing out to be something I'm really proud of. Hopefully somebody will tape part of it. That'd be a cool thing to have, even if it ends up being a disaster, which I really don't expect. Oy, I'm procrastinating and not writing a very interesting post. I'll try to come up with some good observations or reflections on Spain and post them in the near future. Here's something to chew on, from my friend Chelsea last night. Spaniards have a tendency to dress like they're much older than they are when they're young (e.g. that 10-year old girl walking down the street wearing something out of a bad MTV video at half past midnight looking like she's about to go to the club, or dance on the pole), and act like they're much younger than they are for a very long time, for example, the 29-year-old who still lives with his mom because she does his laundry and cooks for him. It's actually less common here for a university student (most of them are older than American university students) to NOT still live with her parents. Not a bad thing, but certainly very different. Actually, if you ask most of the students still living with their parents, it tends to be more of a bad thing than a good thing, and yet that's just the way it works (unless you're very wealthy, in which case you probably share an apartment with other university students and just go home every weekend so you can get your laundry done and pick up a week's worth of already prepared food, like my master violinist roommate, Omar). Okay, that's all for now. Sorry for the weak post. I'll come back with more stuff, of better quality, in the near future.
Love,
Aaron

And now with a word from my good friend, Cat Stevens...

Peace Train

by Cat Stevens

Now I've been happy lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
something good has begun

Oh I've been smiling lately,
dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be,
some day it's going to come

Cause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country,
come take me home again

Now I've been smiling lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
something good has begun

Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train holy roller

Everyone jump upon the peace train
Come on now peace train

Get your bags together,
go bring your good friends too
Cause it's getting nearer,
it soon will be with you

Now come and join the living,
it's not so far from you
And it's getting nearer,
soon it will all be true

Now I've been crying lately,
thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating,
why can't we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country,
come take me home again