Pesach 2013

At the request of Matthew McGraw I am writing this second post in two weeks:

Tonight my sister invited me to her apartment for a Passover Seder. I hadn’t celebrated Passover the past few years since I have been away at school, and to be honest, I didn’t think much about missing the holiday. Celebrating tonight brought me back to another time, and let me forget about the stresses of being in my last semester of college for a few hours.

I am not a very religious person, as y’all may or may not already know. I don’t really put any stock in a God figure, but I still try to live as a good person, with the vague feeling that some force in the universe is monitoring my life. Despite this lack of faith, I still feel a strong cultural attachment to Judaism. It’s nice to have something to identify with, because lord knows it’s hard out here for a Caucasian-American male. But really, it is special to feel part of a group, and to also honor my ancestors, who suffered more than I can imagine in the name of their religion. In keeping Jewish traditions alive, I feel closer to my ancestors, many of whom I never met as they died at the hands of the Nazis.  

In the spring of my senior year of high school, my parents told my sister and me that they were getting divorced after nearly thirty years of marriage. When Passover came around a few weeks later, both of my parents opted to abandon me like baby Moses on the river get out of town and spend the holiday with their respective families, leaving me home alone. Luckily, I was invited to celebrate Passover by my friend Stephanie and her family. They welcomed me into their home (in the true spirit of Passover) and treated me as family. I don’t know if they realized it, but this meant so much to me at that point in my life. As I was struggling with losing the sense of having a “family unit”, I was able to spend the holiday with a loving family, enjoying the holiday without any fighting or tension. Four years later, about to begin yet another chapter in life, I had another great Passover experience to remind me of the positives of religion, and of celebrating life. As great as the college environment can be, there is a certain void where the warmth of family would usually be. For me, this void makes it that much more special when I do get the chance to spend time with family, or in this case, my sister and her friends.  

It can be hard to know how to feel about religion. I grew up accepting it without much questioning, until I eventually had a moment that I referred to as “seeing the darkness”. This left me with an empty feeling, failing to see any merits of religion. Since then, I have learned to see both the positives and negatives that come with religion. For me, if religion makes someone more compassionate towards his or her fellow humans, then I completely support it. Who wouldn’t? I am glad to take away something positive from my Judaism, and to find some comfort in a time of so much uncertainty in my life.

That’s all for tonight. Until next time, here is a video of Drake dancing at his Bar Mitzvah. (YOLO)

 

Two years later: An Update

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It’s been a while since I have written in this blog, which makes sense as it was only ever intended to be about to my experiences studying and living abroad. Tonight I felt like writing, so here I am.

            In all honesty, I am not a huge fan of many college-student blogs. A lot of times the writing seems very self-impressed, with big words thrown in to assure the reader of the author’s superior vocabulary and intelligence. Having said that, here is a blog post in which I will probably commit the above-mentioned offenses:

            Tonight a group on campus screened the film “The Invisible War”, a documentary about the issue of sexual assault and rape in the military. The victims’ testimonies were heartbreaking, and the injustice of their stories made me feel ashamed as a human. The existence of a system that punishes rape victims, while condoning the actions of their violators is disheartening, and makes me feel sick to my stomach.

            My point in writing this tonight is not to give my opinion on “The Invisible War”, because it documents a subject that I am not familiar with, and about which I don’t pretend to be an expert after watching one two-hour documentary. The point, rather, is the importance in recognizing and discussing real problems, and my own personal struggle with doing so.

            For the first year and a half of college, I became passionate about many issues, most of which I had not been aware of before starting school. While this type of change is somewhat predictable among college students and can be easily mocked as a phase that we all go through, it is also important to the process of maturation and finding one’s place in the world. As I started to learn more about cooking through my work experiences, I found myself curious to learn about everything associated with food, from the ground to the plate. I had been lucky enough to work in a restaurant (Nectar) that not only purchased vegetables and proteins from local farms, but also had its own garden with herbs, vegetables, and fruit to be used in the restaurant.

            Wondering the importance of locally sourced and sustainable food (Why do chefs care? Why should I care?), I started reading books and watching films about agriculture in the U.S. and the rest of the world. I was fascinated by the intricacies of sustainable farming, and horrified by the practices of many industrial-farming operations. This served as a catalyst for me to realize and consider the vast and substantial environmental problems facing our world, and the overwhelming nature of these problems.

            Constantly dwelling on these environmental issues, in addition to the various issues of civil injustice (and essentially everything negative in the world), I found myself in a bad mental state. The problems of the world seemed so large, and I so small, and I could feel the weight of each problem on my shoulders, my burden to bear. This feeling started to subside during my semester in Spain, as I learned to carry less stress and focus only on matters that I could control.  I felt liberated, and I could feel the air and sunlight coming back into my life.

            This trip to Spain, coupled with my experiences upon returning home, changed my manner of being, or “manera de ser” as I would have said at the time. While this change was mostly positive, I found myself avoiding many of the realities of the world in which I was living. So afraid of the overwhelming worry and stress that I had felt, I chose to ignore all of the problems about which I had worried in the past. I stopped following the news, afraid of what new horrors or injustices were being reported and discussed. While my justification for doing this was to preserve my newfound mental peace, I was also actively making a decision to be uninformed and to pretend that everything was OK.

            Just recently I have starting trying to find a balance between these two extremes. Letting the major problems of the world control one’s emotions on a daily basis is an unhealthy way to live, and it took a serious toll on my well-being. However, like any problem, avoidance is only ever a temporary solution. After all, being apathetic towards the world’s issues is a large perceived fault of Americans, something that I was undoubtedly harping on about while I was initially writing this blog two years ago, as I was taking siestas, shoving bocadillos in my mouth, and going on about all the ways in which “Americans just have so much to learn about life, man”.

            So in the midst of all of this rambling, I think I am finding myself. Maybe writing this was more for myself than for any real lesson or benefit to the reader (sorry, bro). The point for me is that I’m glad that I recognized and eliminated a void that I had created in my life, and that it feels productive to face my fears and not be intimidated by life. Maybe I will post again soon with something a little more relevant. Until then:

Reflection

Last blog post. (sniff...sniff...) I know we've been through a lot on this blog site this semester, its been emotional for all of us.

In all seriousness though, the past four months have been something truly unique in my life, and something that I could never really do justice by writing or speaking of my experiences. But of course, that's no reason not to convey what I can here on the blog. Right now I am feeling a serious battle of emotions going on, making it difficult for me to really tell how I am feeling about everything. I know that a big part of me truly regrets not signing up to spend a full year abroad. There is just so much to see, learn, and to experience here and I really feel that four months was far too short. On the other hand, I'm sure that if i had studied here and entire year I would have felt like one year was not sufficient either. So, I've decided to be happy for the experience and not waste time regretting the decision to spend only one semester in Bilbao.

Regarding my study abroad program, I could not be happier with how my choice turned out. Before coming here, I definitely had my doubts about my choice. Bilbao/Getxo turned out to be the perfect place for me to study abroad, though I am sure I would have felt the same way in many other locations. In terms of learning spanish, between living with a spanish family and being in a city where english is seldom to never spoken, this program was incredibly beneficial. I make this point because I have heard a lot about study abroad programs in places like Barcelona, that are essentially "be an obnoxious american college student abroad" programs. Many people who have studied there have said that they really did not learn much spanish, due to the huge presence of english, as well as the regional language of catalan. And after all, learning the language is really the most important, and most beneficial part to studying abroad. From interacting with people in a different language, you gain access to a completely different culture, and a completely different way of life. I am so grateful for this experience and I am proud of myself for making the most of it.
With this program, I was also lucky to meet some really great people. I found interactions between us american students really interesting. Because of the small size of our group (about 30-40 students), everyone spent time together and interacted with people who they would probably not get to know in their respective schools. I found it interesting because at college, everyone is so in their "group" and you look at people in different groups and assume that you, surely, would never get along. But this semester i realized that totally different people like that can actually get along and become really good friends, and I really think the college environment would be a better place if people realized this. I feel like there is so much you can learn from someone who has a completely different lifestyle from you, and also that while you might feel like you would never have anything in common with someone upon a first judgement, you really can find people you get along with who you would have never expected.

Alright, I feel like I'm getting a little preachy and annoying here so I'm going to move on. Today I went to a medieval market in a small town out in the country. Honestly one of the cooler experiences of my semester. You just see so much tradition and so much history, and you really can't get anything like it in such a young country as the US of A. Just a ton of different stands with people selling awesome artisanal  products. I really have enjoyed days like this to be immersed in spanish/basque culture and get away from being an isolated group of americans abroad.

I'm getting tired so I'm gonna go ahead and sum this up. Borderline devastatingly sad to leave this place. It has really turned into another home for me, complete with another family as well. This area has so much personality and so many interesting places and hidden gems that I really just wish I could spend years here. It is sad to think that I will most likely never have the chance to return to this place that, like a tease, was my home for four months during a peculiar time in my life. But, like always in the US, there's shit to do, and I've got to get home, see everybody, start working again, and chase that american dream. I am glad to see my friends and family, but I realize that it might be a hard transition for me coming back.
I've had a life-changing experience here that I will remember my whole life, so it's no wonder I can't really express on paper how i feel. As always though, I hope that you guys have enjoyed reading my blog and I hope that you found some of this stuff interesting and maybe even took something from it. I'll end this with a few things I personally would like to adopt from spanish culture, things that I think might make people a little happier.

1. Stop denying yourself happiness.
If something will make you happy, buy it. don't feel guilty about it, don't deny yourself something you want because you think its more logical to "save up" your money. As unfortunate as it is, money runs our world. but you know, you can't spend it when your dead. buy yourself that glass of wine, or nice meal. And if you even try to talk to me about how "guilty" you feel about eating bread, or food that was cooked in (oh so horrible for you!!!) olive oil instead of water, or a little pastry...

2. Enjoy yourself.
Spend your time outside, get off the computer. The culture here is socializing outside, being friendly to strangers. I don't know why americans are so cold, it seems like everyone is afraid of everyone and just wants to stay in their family bubble.

3. Lose the big house.
Almost everyone here lives in tiny apartments. And they are a lot happier for it. Realizing that you don't need an excessively large house/car really allows you to use your money to enjoy the things in life worth enjoying.

Alright yall, its about that time. My friends who are reading this, as much as I've made it sound like I never want to return to the US, I really am excited to see all of you. See everyone soon

Beau

Italia

To be fair to each place that I visited in Italy, I decided to break this post up into sections for each city.
The views expressed in this blog post are solely the opinions of Beau Doin' it Big, and in no way reflect the views of BeauMoney enterprises or its parent company Big Meech inc.

ROME
Rome happened to be the first city that I had the chance to experience in Italy. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I can't convey the overwhelming feeling of being in Rome, or try to do the city justice- but I will at least try to show my impressions of the city in my limited time there.

Overwhelming is probably be the first word I would use to describe Rome. Right in front of "magnificent" and "clusterfuck". This sense of being overwhelmed mainly came from the combination of the history of the city, the sheer amount of people, and the speed/urgency everywhere. Naturally, all of the famous spots were incredible to see. Particularly the Colosseum, though allowing yourself to think about its history while inside is definitely chilling. However, this blog to me is more about expressing my opinions and my reactions to the things that I have seen, rather than just provide you with a summary of famous sites that you can hear about from anyone who has been there.
I wish I could have a more definitive stance on how I felt about Rome, but to be honest the whole experience there left me pretty confused. There were moments in which I felt that Rome was the greatest place I have ever been, and there were moments as well when I just wanted to be somewhere else.
The main thing about Rome (and many of the other places I visited in Italy) that frustrated me was the amount of tourists. Not only the amount of tourists, but also that literally everything was 100 percent geared towards tourists. While this makes it easier for the traveler who does not speak Italian and wants to conveniently see the historic sites, I couldn't help but regret the fact that I was spending two weeks in Italy without really seeing anything of Italian culture. It seemed near impossible in Rome, for example, to find a single place to eat that wasn't just serving half assed versions of Italian food for tourists to overpay for. Luckily(or not, for convenience sake), our hostel was about 40 minutes outside of Rome, which allowed us to try some great pizza in a suburban place serving real Italians. This subject requires a brief pause in the action. The pizza. SO good. Having braced myself so much(and rightfully so) for the omnipresent tourist food, I must have seemed like Mr. Obvious when, genuinely surprised, I realized that Pizza in Italy was like, really good. But really, who knew?
Overall the thing that will stick with me about Rome is the feeling i got from being there. For better or worse, the city had a feeling so different from that of any other city that I have been. That overwhelming feeling seemed like a summation of all the great positives and negatives of the city and maybe that is the reason why the "feel" of Rome was the most magical part-and also the most difficult to describe.

Florence
Totally different from Rome, with some similarities. Unfortunately, given that we were traveling during the weeks when all of Europe is also traveling, Florence was just as packed with tourists as Rome. American English and Chinese were heard as much, or more than Italian. Side note: I was really surprised to see the number of American families traveling in Italy. Maybe it's because the extent of my family vacations is one trip to Florida and several to Virginia and New York. But honestly, I had no idea so many families came all the way to Europe for vacation. I guess I was born into the wrong family.
Anyway, Florence was, in my opinion a city of more beauty than Rome. In fact, if you could somehow get rid of all of the tourists (deportation to a cruise ship for eternity?) it would be the most beautiful, peaceful city to walk around and pass the days simply enjoying the city's art. However, it's not like that, and the city is characterized by waiting in enormous lines to see any famous art or historical sites. It's funny that when touring other cities of the world, suddenly everyone becomes a humble appreciator of the arts. I think probably at this point many people stand in two hour lines for famous pieces of artwork just to say that they have been there/seen that so that when speaking with people in the future, the conversation counterpart will be assured of their worldliness and their appreciation of fine culture.
Ok, enough hating. While staying in Florence, we took a day trip To Pisa which was essentially a nice small town with an inclined tower. That's about all I really have to say about Pisa. While I liked the town, I think you can ascertain that the impression it left on me was less than profound. Next, train to "The city of water".

Venice
First thing is first, Venice is a place that from the first time seeing it on TV, I wanted to go. Something about it always intrigued me, and I am sure I am far from the only one with this feeling. Being there, honestly was pretty freaking special. Crossing the bridge into the city and catching the first glimpse of the daily functioning of this city of water really was amazing. Venice's beauty and uniqueness really was incredible and will stick with me for a while. I do have to admit that I was disappointed with the actual content of Venice. For all intents and purposes the city Venice was a tourist shopping island. Having this great expectation of the city and imagination of what it was actually like, it was a real disappointment to find that every street was filled with shop after shop selling the famous "murano glass" of Venice and nothing else. As my traveling companions felt the need to go into what seemed like almost every shop, it really got old quickly and left me longing for the different Venice, the one of my imagination.
That being said, the city was still beautiful and I am glad that I had the opportunity to experience it. From Venice, we caught a flight to Palermo, in northern Sicily.

Palermo
Palermo was a welcome change in that for the first time in the trip, I found myself away from hoards of tourists, and was actually able to catch a glimpse of real Italians living their lives normally. We were only able to spend one full day in Sicily, and we took a relaxed pace as a break from all of the running around that we had been doing the entire trip up to this point. The mountains in Sicily stood out the most to me. I really like the look of huge, old mountains in the backdrop of the Sea. In Sicily, this effect was stunning and is probably what I will remember most. From Sicily we took an overnight ferry to Naples. Never again. I woke up in the middle of the night with the ship violently rocking back and forth which kept me up for four hours feeling like I was going to barf. Not to mention that the average age on the boat was just short of dead. Nightmare.

Naples
Naples I really liked. Something about it, i don't even really know. The city just had a definite personality. I felt like if I were Italian, I would be from Naples. I can see how the city gets knocked for being dirty(it really is) and for being less safe and more crime ridden. But you know, I really felt like its inhabitants had a distinct personality that I didn't get when I was in the other Italian cities. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to Pompeii, though I did see it from a distance. Damn time constraints. Worth noting was definitely the pizza, as Naples is the home of pizza (i think). The style of pizza was more classic than in Rome, though I think Rome still ties Naples for me for having the best pizza.

From this trip I took away a slightly better knowledge of the world, and a view of some of its most incredible sites. Yes, it was disappointing to not experience Italian culture, but you can't have everything. A funny thing in Italy for me was seeing similarities to South Philadelphia and New York Italians in the people and in the food. In many places I found myself seeing people who would not have looked out of place at a Flyers game or eating a Cheesesteak or Roast Pork Sandwich in South Philly. In regards to the food, the style of pizza in Venice was identical to the pizza common in the northeast (ny, philadelphia). Also the bread in Sicily was extremely similar to the sesame seed bread so common among Philadelphia "Italians" (see A Cut Above).

In the end, I am glad to be back in Spain, a country that I have much more of a place for in my heart, even though I did very much enjoy Italy. Only three more weeks here until I fly back to the states- where did the semester go? I will be following this post up very shortly with pictures from Italy which I hope you will all enjoy. That's all for today, hasta luego, ciao.

Andalucia/Burgos

Hey everybody. "Blogging"about my impressions of Andalucia(southern spain) and of my program's trip to Burgos. A little delayed but I've been pretty busy.

Anyway, Andalucia definitely made a great impression on me. Unfortunately, my extremely cheap flight was not the most convenient so I ended up spending about as much time in transit as I did actually enjoying myself but its all good. What I appreciated the most about Andalucia was its stark contrast with the Basque Country. Probably about the US equivalent of going from Idaho to Southern California. As much as I love living in the Basque Country, this was a welcome change and gave me more knowledge of Spain.

This is definitely the Spain I thought about when envisioning Spain before coming here. One of the cooler moments was walking down a cramped street in the old part of Granada and hearing a man with guitar playing beautiful flamenco music. Also notable, we came across a hippie/gypsy band doing their rendition of "smack my bitch up". no joke. 

To me, the main difference between Andalucia and the Basque Country was the ambience and the attitude of the people. Despite the abundance of tourists, I still got a feel for the locals to some extent. My  impression was that they were more friendly and more open than the Basques. Granada definitely seemed to have a warmer feel than Bilbao, which could best be sensed by simply walking down the main streets. That being said, I still prefer Bilbao as a place to study with its absence of tourists and its unique feel. 

Shit man, I really don't feel like writing any more. This post is pretty weak and doesn't really capture how i felt in Granada. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Well, I'll put some pictures and I'll see you guys on here after spring break. 

Cumpleaños de Pilar

Alright, I felt like posting while this was still fresh in my mind- I am feeling pretty damn tired so hopefully I can still put together something nice.

I'm not sure if I have written anything about this yet, but my host dad's sister Pilar has been living with us because she hurt her arm a while back. I could elaborate but i'll just say that she is extremely nice, if a little bit depressing.

Anyway, Pilar's birthday was this weekend, so today we had a little celebration. I wanted to blog about this because it was just so damn pleasant and it was a new cultural experience.

For Pilar's birthday, we had another USAC student Premyer over our house because he stayed with my host parents last semester. So the five of us had a little birthday celebration that turned out to be the most fun 80th birthday party i've been to.

The celebration consisted of a special lunch, with a ton of food, and with the living room decked out in my parents' nicest tablecloths, glasses, plates, etc. Naturally I'm about to talk about the food. To begin, Rosa made roasted shrimp-SO good, and so much better when cooked whole in the shell. Next we had some croquettas(fried balls of bechamel sauce with ham) and calamari. After this, some awesome chorizo and then white asparagus. To finish this part of the meal was merluza en salsa, I think this fish is called "hake" in english but i had never heard of/ eaten it in the states. This fish was good. really fucking good. Just a really simple plate of fresh local ingredients. I wanted to mop the pan she used to cook it in with an entire baguette. After a good deal of shmoozing, we ended the meal with a strawberry tart. During all of this, the alcohol was flowing like I had never seen in my host parents house. We had a bottle of wine from La Rioja that I bought, a botton of Pacharán(a Basque sweet liqueur that tastes a little like licorice(to me at least)), and champagne to toast to Pilar. This definitely loosened everyone up and made for a fun ass time with my cooky ass host parents. After the meal, like the chulo padrino mafioso he is, Higinio pulled out some cigars for us to cap off the celebration. Needless to say it was a really fun time.

From this experience, I really enjoyed seeing how another culture celebrates events such as birthdays. It was nice to just relax, eat, drink, and talk as a family for a good four and a half hours of the afternoon. I feel like my host parents definitely conveyed the sense of it being a special day more than I normally feel during birthdays in the states. The whole thing just seemed simpler, but more rich. I have to say, at the risk of sounded like a lame old head, I preferred this kind of celebration to going out to a restaurant or going out, drinking too much, and ultimately behaving like a moron only because it is your birthday. While eating at a restaurant can be a special way to celebrate a birthday, I feel like the atmosphere can not match the warmth of a nice meal at home with the family. To get a little personal, I think what I really loved about it was just being part of a loving family and sharing a celebration like this without any fights or forced friendliness. I haven't thought about it much, but there really is a void in my childhood in this area of real family moments, as sad as it is to say.

OK, I'm going to bed. Goodnight everybody, I'll be writing about my trip to Andalucia hopefully sometime later this week. Hasta luego.

La Comida

(ok, having just finished writing this I realize it is a pretty damn long post about food. I urge you, please, before x-ing out and reaching for the bong, give reading it a shot, I don't think its THAT boring)
(also, wish i had some pics to post with it, sorry)

Que hay chicos? Alright, the following post will mostly just be me geeking out about food. Disclaimer: this is not a vegetarian/vegan blog, and I really do hope that none of my dear animal loving friends are offended.
Anyway, the food. Probably 90+ percent of the eating that I have done in Spain has been in the house of my host family. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I do slightly regret not being able to try more food around the city of Bilbao. The Basque Country is known for its food, and San Sebastian- a one hour drive away- is home to some of the most highly regarded chefs in the world. So yeah, part of me wishes I could be eating around more but honestly, the idea of spending ridiculous amounts of money on one meal like I would have to at a place like Arzak in San Sebastian has never sat well with me. That being said, if people didn't like to spend a shit ton on food, I wouldn't have a job at Nectar at home. To get back on track- fortunately my host mom is a damn good cook. Even though I haven't been cooking at all while living here, I have learned from watching her cook. She cooks with the ease and cleanliness that only a grandmother, who has been cooking their whole life can have. From watching her, I have learned a few valuable things as a cook.
1. Cooking economically. Rosa cooks whatever is in the refrigerator no matter what, nothing is wasted. No fancy ingredients, just solid ass food
2. Cooking healthier. Ok, we do eat a lot in her house that is not very healthy as well. The point is that many of her best dishes have been simple vegetable or bean dishes, things that are enjoyable to eat and won't kill you(as fast). Another thing about Spain, and pretty much every country besides the US for that matter. Meat is used as a flavoring agent. Example: Patatas a la Riojana- a stew of potatoes, pimenton(spanish paprika) and chorizo. If this were an American stew, it would be loaded the fuck up with chorizo and yeah, it would probably be pretty damn good. The point is that the ratio of potato to chorizo is about 9 to 1, and you still get the chorizo flavor but rather in a healthier dish. Eating a little less meat would be good for our planet and for us as individuals.
3. Cooking organized. Something I have learned to do in a restaurant kitchen setting but have failed to master(as I'm sure Sammy/Jeff/Chris knows) at home. I tend to be less than organized cooking at home for friends and family.
So anyway, I have been eating very well in their house. On Spanish food: the main difference that I have seen is the importance of natural flavors. Spanish food tends to be very mild, which some people don't really like. For me though, I can tell what the Spaniards mean when they say that they like the flavor of the ingredients, instead of masking food in spices and overcomplicated sauces. The fact that the food is mostly locally sourced helps too. One of my favorite things to eat in Spain so far has been a simple fried egg. It just doesn't taste like a frieg egg I've eaten in the States. Probably because the hen didn't live in a 4 foot cage with 5 other hens...But really, you can even SEE the difference, the yolk is a vivid orange that contrasts significantly with the eggs I have eaten in America. And the taste is fucking awesome.
One last thing. I am very proud that I have proved wrong certain stereotypes of Americans with my host family. Because I am not afraid of food, my host mom has made me food that they consider delicacies, but is scary to most Americans. For example, she has made me morcilla(blood sausage) and patas de cerdo(pigs feet). She had never made these things for students in the past, and only served them to me after I told her about going to the Mexican restaurant in Bilbao and having tacos de lengua(tongue). I really do think that these "scary" foods usually end up being the most tasty. In addition, from a moral standpoint if we as humans are going to kill animals for food, we should not humiliate the animal further by wasting it. Americans generally like to eat chicken breast, chicken wings, and different cuts of steak. This leads to MANY more animals being killed than necessary, because little Timmy America is afraid to try anything other than dry chicken breast.
Man i rambled, I hope someone out there enjoyed it.