dummer

Well now, what's going on? Sunday was quite successful. I finally got down to making hummus, and it turned out real well. I hand-ground the sesame seeds with a mortar and pestle (yeah!), made tahini, mashed the chick peas gradually into the mix, added the lemon juice, gradually added olive oil, some water so it wasn't so chalky, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin. The whole process took less than an hour, and I have a ton of it.

It's been getting damn cold here the past week, like wake-you-up-at-5am-because-of-your-nosesickle kind of cold...but the last few days have been fabulous again. Sunny and warm. Long walks around town in a t-shirt weather. I could even have gotten away with shorts, if not for the fact that the sun goes down early so it's easier to get caught out when it starts to get colder...

And then today...what can be said about today. Another "Jerod is a dork" story. (What is it about Mondays? Last Monday was the fire alarm debacle.) This one, quite honestly, smarts. And not just because I slightly tweaked my ankle walking down a dirt path. I don't even want to talk about it, but in the interest of scientific accuracy I will eat (another) slice of humble pie and tell it like it is.

So I mentioned I wanted to walk up to the churchy-thing on the distant hill, right? Okay, today I decided, at about 10am, to go for it. Packed a lunch, threw my stuff in the backpack, and set out. My plan was to first travel to the spot I had first noticed the CT (churchy thing), get a general direction, and then make my way there as directly as possible. The problem is, between the two hills is still a big bustling city. It seems from the top of the hill that it's more residential, that the buildings might not be quite so tall and, therefore, that it'd be easier to orient to the CT as I went.

WRONG! Once you get down off the hill it's basically the same as anywhere else I've been in the city, and I gradually lost my bearings...long story short, I ended up (several hours later) ascending the back side of Parc Guell...which is the park from which I first espied the CT. I mean, I knew I'd backtracked; at one point I was getting tired and discouraged and, rather than get completely lost (off the map, I might add), I doubled back in hopes of finding my way to higher ground and finding the scent again. Well, I did that...only I completely doubled back and ended up making a big U. At least it was the opposite end of a fairly large park...oh who am I kidding. When I got partway up the hill and realized where I was I shook my head in that way that can only mean "damn. I'm an idiot."

Otherwise, there isn't a whole ton to report...I'm living. I've found my way into a great routine, one that fills every hour I'm awake with interesting activities. But most of the days are similarly filled, and so any report of them would end up being redundant. The days turn into weeks, and now the weeks have even begun to turn into months. I've been here almost eight weeks! And eleven more in front of me. I'm excited to see where it all ends up, but I'm equally excited to experience each individual day. To watch the slow benefits of each day build up into noticeable effects at the end of the week, the month, etc. Soon to be the end of the year...yeesh. 2007? Really? I feel like I missed a year somewhere in there.