A Perfect Evening Followed by a Mess

Dinner was perfect last night! We found a little port called Porto Andratx and this little restaurant called La Gallega (thanks to the recommendations of our tour guide, Moses). Perfecto. This is where Renee and I wanted to stay. It is an idyllic little Spanish port with fishing boars and little shops and old houses. The night did not start out perfect however. I was a typical tourist and over tipped the taxi driver. Once Renee and I had realized the mistake, which was almost immediately, we were completely stressed.

But once we were seated, our waiter took wonderful care of us.

We sat on the street (almost reminiscent of van Gogh’s "Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum") and I ordered through my broken Spanish The waiter (whose name we never did learn) was very patient and kind. He brought us the Mallorican special, which was like a lobster bisque with huge pieces of lobster. He’d come by frequently to check on us, and one time I told him (again, through my broken Spanish) that he looked like Robert Dinero, only more handsome. Of course, we all had a great laugh. After diner, Renee and I walked by an almost full moon on the docks and danced in front of some fishermen who were playing some sort of game with dice. Quite the magical evening!

Today, we spent all day at the beach. There are some fruit vendors who walk around the beach selling (of course) fresh fruit. Renee and I got some melon. It didn't sit too well with Renee; her throat started to get a bit aggravated and it pretty much bothered her the rest of the day.

That evening we decided to go to Palma to find some dinner and explore a little. We found this one place called Aboca (or something like that) that was a little cocktail bar, but looked like an exquisite museum or palace. But we weren't looking for cocktails, we wanted some food. So we went on. We stopped at a place that was enormously busy and i thought we were pretty lucky to find some seats. However, out new waiter was much less patient with us than the one from the night before (the Robert Dinero guy). I had no clue what was on the menu, so we just chose a few things.

We ended up with ham on melon. Then same melon that didn't sit well with Renee We also got some cheese and bread, olives and bread (more bread and Renee hates olives) and tuna in a tomato sauce (Renee hates tuna). So we ate as much as we could despite out situation and once we were finished we asked for the check. Only every time he would come by, he motioned that he wouldn't bring us the check until we ate more food (there was a lot leftover). So, like little kids that are trying to pull a fast one over on their parents, Renee and I traded plates, cut up the food to make it look smaller, spread the food around all the plates and generally tried to make it look like some food was missing....

Mallorca Shows Its Good Side

A couple of days ago (actually, it might have been yesterday) I received my first complement on my Spanish. This person who was acting as a sort of guide for Renee and I said that I have a good Spanish accent (I guess that means I sound like a Spaniard speaking Spanish and not an American speaking Spanish). However, just a couple of days ago (in Madrid), I was completely stressing out because it seemed that I had completely lost any ability to communicate....

Today, we went on a tour of Mallorca and bought some Mallorican pearls and other such stuff. This tour has returned some of the charm to the island and I really look forward to our next tour, which we'll take on Saturday. Right now, we are getting ready to go to a restaurant that was recommended by our tour guide.

Oh, I almost forgot! We went to some caverns off on the east cost of Mallorca — they were fabulous! One of the largest underground lakes in the world is part of the caverns and part of the tour is to see a little show on the lake.

The show is a little Stravinsky sonata played by a small string quartet and an organist who are all in little gondolas. the boats are decorated with little Christmas type lights and it makes it seem like they are ghost ships. they didn't allow any pictures (sorry!), but the caves were really cool. Renee said they reminded her of where Gollum would have lived...

Moving Around Spain

We arrived in Mallorca today after an early start and long morning. We got up at 5am to get our flight and then our flight was delayed. We finally got to our new hotel, but it was too early, so we had to wait about an hour or so before we could check in. It's a good thing sleeping on the beach doesn't take too much energy.

It is pleasant here in Mallorca, but so far, from what I have seen, most of its charm has been sold to the English...

However, as I don't really know much about Mallorca yet, I'll reserve judgement. Instead, I'll recap our last few days.

Madrid was pretty cool. I wish we had more time to spend there, but as Renee said, it is probably better to leave too early then too late.

Our first day in Madrid was basically us being completely excited to be there, yet too exhausted to deal with everything. We walked around our hotel area, caught a bus downtown to see some things, but ultimately (and against our original design) had to go back to the hotel for a nap. Jet lag is a terrible thing.

After our nap, we took another walk. As part of our second neighborhood tour, we serendipitously walked into an open-air festival/market, which was really pretty fun. At one point, some guy came walking up to me and, in broken Spanish, tried to ask me if I could take a picture of him and his friend. I barely understood him, so I asked, in English, if he spoke English. He was slightly taken aback, said he did, and we continued to converse in English from that point on. It turns out that he and his buddy were from Austin, Texas, students at the University of Texas. It's a small world, or something like that...

We walked back to the hotel just as it was starting to get dark, which is when we caught the sun setting against the cathedral near the Royal Palace.

On our second day, we were going to go on a tour of Toledo, a smallish town not far out of Madrid. However, after we bought our tickets and such, we realized we missed the bus. We were able to trade them in for, of all things, a bull fight. Not exactly what we were hoping to see, but in the spirit of the anthropologist, and with little else to do, we headed out to the stadium.

If you have never seen a bull fight before, I don't think that I would be able to find the words to get the visceral experience accross. But the wierd thing was that, despite the grotesqueness and obvioius brutality, it was amazing how quickly that everyone in the stadium grew accustomed to the violence.

We had seats next to an Italian family; I barely know Spanish, and I don't think they knew any, although Spanish and Italian are fairly close. So, I conversed a little with the father of the family; they had two little children, probably no older than four of five.

When the bull fight first started, we were all on the edge of our seats, completely spellbound by the pagentry and costumes. Then, as the first bull died a quite extravagent and messy death, most of us were repulsed. But soon, it became old hat. The kids weren't watching any more, not out of repulsion, but out of boredom. Renee and I, who were trying to absorb as much as possible, were starting to wonder how much longer until we can get back to the hotel and nap....

During our last day in Madrid, we headed out to the Prado, the Hard Rock Cafe (mostly as an air-conditioned break than anything else) and generally tried to take in as much of the city as we could.

Renee and I have to get up early tomorrow for a little excursion, so I need to cut this short. It seems as though we have been getting up early (like 6am) and going to bed late (like 1am) since we have arrived. We’ve had to take some naps in there, but it is hard to say if we have not adjusted well to the time change or (more probably) we just have one crazy schedule. Let’s see if we can get through tomorrow without a nap. Although, I have a feeling we'll be forced to whether we want a nap or not.... So, here's our pictures of Madrid. Enjoy. I'll write again soon.

Estamos en España

Adjusting to the time difference wasn't all that hard, but Renee and I sure did get grumpy there for a little while as our sleep deprived bodies and minds tried to navigate through this foreign land.

We did a lot of site seeing; took a bus tour of Madrid and then walked around for a bit. I am trying very hard to maintain my vegetarian lifestyle, but it is not easy. I don't know the language very well and when I order food, I don't always get what I am expecting. And, because of my lack of knowledge, it is next to impossible to fix what I need to fix...

This is interesting also in another sense. This is the Spanish culture that I am trying to experience, so why not live and eat like a Spaniard?

But let's look at that even further. Let’s pretend I am an anthropologist. To what level should i compromise my values to experience the ways of a particular culture? Where and how would I draw that line?

For example, if I don't believe in a supreme deity, should I participate in their religious rituals? How about if I don't believe in eating meat? Or murder? Or hazing? Fill in the blank with the most preposterous ritual/event you can think of; should an anthropologist check his/her values at the door and fully participate? Or should they just observe?

For those of you thinking the observation choice is the easiest out, when was the last time you truly learned or experienced or understood anything through pure observation?

I am quite confidant that the vast majority (99.99%) of the people need to actually "do" what they want to learn or experience to understand it completely. it is one thing to watch a football game; it is an entirely different experience to play in the game....

I am a Married Man

Right now, at this very moment, while I am writing, I am sitting in the JFK international airport at gate number 8 waiting to board an Iberia airlines flight to Madrid for my honeymoon. Yes, my honeymoon. That should at least give you some clues as to what I’ve done over the last two days...

Friday, August 11, was incredibly hectic, yet not all that stressful. It started out just fine:

Jeff and I woke up around 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning and went to downtown tom's river for some bagel and coffee. We hung out there until it was time to pick up Christina (Jeff’s girlfriend). Jeff and I got a little lost trying to find the train station, but it all worked out. We got back to the hotel around 2:00 or so and got ready for the big event!

Christina video taped us getting ready for the wedding and she also taped the actual event. Jeff taped the reception.

Yesterday, Renee’s dad had a huge picnic with maybe 40 or 50 friends and relatives.

Ok. Writing is going to be hard. I am on the plane now, but while we were waiting to board (and while I was writing everything up to this point), an alarm was going off for no apparent reason. Now, that I am on the plane, I have no space to write (my tray is currently holding both my and Renee’s dinner).
Anyway—back to what happened:

I am not sure how they keep (or if they keep) official tabs on such things, but i believe Renee's dad threw the party of the century. Everything was perfect. The funniest part of the reception was the throwing of the bouquet/garter. Sandra’s boyfriend Eric caught the garter, and Renee's cousin Katie (who is only 14) caught the bouquet. For those of you weak on wedding tradition, the guy who catches the garter has to put it on the leg of the one who catches the flowers. And every inch above the knee is a year of good luck for the bride and groom....

So, Katie’s dad is a really big, huge guy. he was standing right behind Katie with the look of a nervous father. Once Eric realized who Katie’s dad was, he dropped the garter, backed off from Katie, walked over to him and shook his hand. But he eventually put the garter on. I think we only have about a year of good luck....

Back to the present:

I am only on the plane, but my Spanish has already been called into play. The flight attendants seem to know English, but only use it as a last resort. My mind has started to make the switch over to thinking in Spanish, and i think it would be cool if by the end of our stay in Spain, I will have written at least one small entry entirely in Spanish.

I am off to sleep now, in hopes of getting adjusted to the new time zone....