Créixer / Masá'il

This week I've been reading a novel in Catalan called Tots els ports es diuen Helena by Joan Barril. I'm 65 pages in, and I'm really enjoying it so far. The other night, I read a few passages that I liked so much that I got out of bed to write them down in my notebook:

"Un dia vaig voler saber com eren els Reis i quan vaig treure el cap per la porta de la sala vaig descobrir la mare embolicant regals. Vaig maleir la meva curiositat, perquè a vegades el plaer del misteri és infinitament més gran que la certesa de tal com són les coses. Però la temptació de saber la veritat sempre és massa gran. Créixer és no negar-se a buscar."

"Créixer deu voler dir explorar i acceptar la vida tal com l'anem descobrint, fent-li preguntes amb la mateixa naturalitat amb què la vida ens dóna respostes."

Translated into English:

"One day, I wanted to find out what the Three Wise Men looked like, and when I peeked my head into the living room, I discovered my mother wrapping presents. I cursed my curiosity, because sometimes the thrill of mystery is infinitely greater than being certain about how things really are. But the temptation to know the truth is always even greater. To grow up is to not refuse to search."

"Growing up must mean exploring and accepting life as we find it, asking questions just as naturally as life gives us answers."

I didn't realize it at the time, but it is a very befitting concept to be pondering at the beginning of the Bahá'í month of Masá'il (Questions).

A Flag of Hands

A friend brought it to my attention that Juanes has a new album. One of the songs on it is called Bandera de Manos. Since I couldn't find an adequate translation of it into English, I decided to try my hand at it: (ha!)

A FLAG OF HANDS (Bonus Version)
Juanes, La Vida Es un Ratico

Let’s all make a flag
A flag with black hands
A flag with white hands
For a better world

Right now, let’s all make a flag
A flag with mixed hands
A flag with immigrant hands
For a better world

We’re tired of hearing
The same old outworn stories
Tired of so many unfulfilled promises
Let’s lift up our souls and voices

Let’s hold a demonstration of love
Show that war is no excuse to continue like this
Burning the skin of your hands,
Which are my hands
Of your soul, which is as my soul

How ironic life can be:
While thousands die of hunger
Our leaders buy arsenal and sow agony

Let’s all make one flag together
Let’s all break down barriers
For a better world
Right now, let’s sow peace
More justice, more dignity
Freedom, equality
For a better world

The original Spanish lyrics can be found here.

Flying

It was a blustery autumn day in Barcelona
The wind carried me on my boomerang
Past fallen palm branches
And motorcycles, lying in the fetal position on the pavement

Dried leaves scattering about
Sign posts wobbling to and fro
I zoom by effortlessly
Down the diagonal

Door County Syndrome

Those who know me well know that I put a lot of thought into most decisions, big or small. Whether picking classes, deciding on a paper topic, spending a gift certificate, or choosing tea, I usually take longer than normal to make up my mind. I even caught myself recently spending entirely too much time in the bottled water aisle at the supermarket. There were so many to choose from!

My dad has labelled this phenomenon "Door County Syndrome" and calls me on it from time to time. Many years ago, when I was younger, during a family camping trip to Door County, Wisconsin, we visited an ice cream shop that offered so many wonderful flavors. I probably vacillated for fifteen minutes trying to decide which one I wanted.

I was reminded of my syndrome when I read this yesterday, in a post on lifehack.org:

Embrace limits: There can be no creativity without limits. Sounds strange, but limits are the cause and reason of creativity...

Infinite choice is paralyzing; limits give us something to work with — or against — so we can at least get started.

The truth and wisdom in these words is astounding. Here are some examples of ways in which I embrace this philosophy:

1) Vegetarianism - After 8+ years of not eating meat, being a vegetarian has become very much my modus operandi, and it's mostly inertia that keeps me going. But from time to time I am reminded of the actual reasons why I restrict my diet thus. It's potentially healthier, better for the environment, less gross, etc. Another positive aspect, however, is that at restaurants it drastically reduces the number of menu items that I have to decide between. Sometimes it is a bummer when there are few or no veggie options, but I do a lot better with 4 choices than with 24.

2) Translation - I think one of the main reasons why I am so attracted to translation is that it allows for an incredible amount of creativity, but within bounds. The translator is very much a writer--he can and must be resourceful, play with words, re-express ideas in any of a number of ways, and exploit the subtleties of language, with one key restriction: the meaning of the original text must be preserved. Thus, I can write (which I have always enjoyed) without having to deal with the unpleasant "what am I going to write about" stage. Score!

Another area in which this concept of infinity vs. limits comes into play is entirely open-ended questions, which I abhor. I don't need you to formulate everything as a "yes" or "no" question, but give me something to work with, geez!

Un viatge andalús

This past weekend I went with four other students in my program to Granada and Sevilla, two cities in the Andalucía region in southern Spain.

A verbal description will follow, but in the meantime, take a look at my photos.

Castanyes torrades

This evening I rode my bike all the way down to campus, to find out that my Pragmatics professor was out with a migraine. The trip, however, was not made in vain:



As I was leaving, I passed by a woman on the side of street selling roasted chestnuts. Never having sampled the delights of their flavor, I was intrigued, and turned back to purchase a dozen. At 20 eurocents a piece, they were a bit pricey, but incredibly delicious nonetheless. Instead of going straight home, I took a walk around campus with a newspaper pocket full of warm chestnuts, and finally ended up sitting on a bench eagerly eating them like a squirrel.

Apparently there is a very important custom here called the Castanyada, which is celebrated on All Saints Day (November 1) and involves roasted chestnuts. I can't wait.

Un partit amistos de futbol sala

Some background:
Barcelona is in the autonomous community of Catalonia, a semi-self governing region of Spain. Due to oppression during the Franco regime, among other reasons, Catalans are generally not fond of Spain, and there is a significant separatist movement that would have nothing to do with it. Regardless of personal political leanings, most Catalans are extremely proud of their culture and language, and displays of nationalism are abundant.

This past Friday there was supposed to be a soccer game between the national teams of Catalunya and the USA, but the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (The Royal Spanish Football Federation) did not approve of the match, and denied permission for it to be held. This was ostensibly because it was scheduled too close to other international games, as well as on Día de la Hispanidad (Hispanic Day), a Spanish national holiday. As an act of defiance, the Catalan Court Soccer Federation set up two matches against the USA court soccer team, to be held on Friday and Sunday.




I went to the second game on Sunday night, which was in a small indoor arena and was sparsely attended. It was fun, though. I went with my Catalan language exchange partner, Marc. He told me to bring my American flag, but, alas, I did not have one.




The USA team lost both games, 7-1 and 6-1. I missed the only American goal, as I was too busy taking a picture. Only afterwards did I realize that I happened to capture it going in.

Excursiones y fotos

This past weekend we went on two excursions: Saturday we visited two Cistercian monasteries, the Monastir de Santes Creus and the Monastir de Poblet; Sunday we went to a Birds of Prey show (seriously) at Cim de les Àligues, then to the beautiful nature area at Sant Miquel del Fai. The monasteries were interesting, and they almost made me want to become a monk and pray, work, meditate, and copy manuscripts all day. They actually do allow guests for up to week...we’ll see.


I’ve uploaded a bunch of photos to my Flickr account for your viewing pleasure. They can be accessed by clicking the mosaic to the right.

In other news, I broke the toilet, and my Semantics professor finally came to class! I think I will enjoy the course, as the first lecture was quite interesting indeed. I also joined an Easy Catalan Reading Club. I missed the first meeting last Wednesday, but went today to pick up the book and CD and had a nice conversation with the instructor (in Spanish).

Ponte mayonesa en la pasta

I woke up this afternoon to this note, which lay on the floor outside my bedroom door. From the top, it reads:

Put mayonnaise on the pasta
---
David,

I’m leaving dinner for you in case I don’t get back in time.

Bye,
Rosa

Save gas, avoid tolls with US-41

So this is kind of random, but I was cleaning off my desktop and found some screenshots that reminded me that I was going to post this.

As you may or may not know, there are 2 (principal) ways to drive between Milwaukee and Chicago: on the Illinois Tollway (I-94), or by taking US-41 and thereby avoiding the tollway.

For a long time, I was curious about which is the optimal route. Each seems to have its advantages: the tollway has a faster speed limit and there is less stopping (which ought to improve gas mileage), while US-41 is shorter and has no tolls.

The day before I came to Spain, I had to make a trip to Evanston to pick up an international student ID card, since the STA Travel in Minneapolis messed up and didn’t issue me one. It was then that I decided to do an experiment. Here are the results:

Route 1: Interstate 94 (Tollway)

The route indicated on the map, which goes from Start to End using I-94 is 28.8 miles long. My dad’s car reported an average of 26.2 miles per gallon on this route. Thus, we burned 1.1 gallons of gas, which, if gas costs $3 a gallon (I am completely unaware of current gas prices), equals $3.30. Add $3 in cash tolls and you get $6.60.

Route 2: US Highway 41

This alternate route, taking US-41 towards Waukegan and then meeting back up with I-94 after the tollway ends, is shorter, at just 24.7 miles long. As predicted, the gas mileage obtained was not as good, due to occasional stopping and inconsistent (and lower) speed limits. We got 25.6 mpg, thus burning 0.96 gallons of gas, which cost a total of $2.89. And, no tolls. Woo!

While there are more factors in play (vehicle wear, travel time, time of day, traffic conditions, driving style, externalities, social ramifications of not paying tolls) that this study does not take into account, it can be reasonably concluded that:

For occasional travel between Milwaukee and Chicago, it is a more economical and environmentally-friendly option to avoid the I-94 Tollway and instead take US-41.

Bragging, not complaining

The Mediterranean diet, as it is called, contains a lot of olive oil. It‘s poured over salads, pasta, vegetables, and just about everything else. Tonight for dinner I had: green beans and potatoes (covered in oil), followed by an egg and shredded carrots--fried in oil. ¡Qué rico!

Commuting by bicycle is a wonderful thing. By the time I got home today, I was soaked in sweat and smelled like a combination of B.O. and exhaust fumes, but it was worth it. There are two main categories of streets on my route: those with a separate bike lane, which allows me to zoom along unhindered; and those without, which require riding slowly on the sidewalk, dodging strollers and pedestrians, and making extensive use of my bell. Both are fun in their own ways. As far as I can tell, it‘s well nigh impossible to ride in car traffic here, at least on busy streets.

I went geocaching today and was finally able to get rid of a Geocoin that I picked up in Mequon, WI months ago. I had to ride up a long, steep hill, and then carry my bike up several flights of stairs to reach the park where the cache was located. When I arrived, I was discouraged to see that the trail map was more complex than is apparent from Google Earth‘s satellite imagery. Nevertheless, I forged ahead and walked almost straight to the target--without GPS. It felt good.

Catalán seems like it will be a good class; so, 1 for 2 for today. Tomorrow: Fonaments de la traducció, followed by Pragmàtica de l‘espanyol.

Primera clase

Today is the first day of classes in the Facultat de Filologia at the Universitat de Barcelona. My first class, Semàntica Espanyola, was to begin at 11:30am. I arrived a bit early, waited outside the room until someone came and let us in, and then took a seat. We waited on the professor for thirty minutes, after which someone with authority came and said: «No viene. Hasta el jueves.» And that was that.

At 3pm I have my Introduction to Catalan class. Hopefully that one goes better.

Una nueva bicicleta y la Sagrada Familia

Friday I went ahead and dropped 200€ on a bike. I decided to go with a plegable (folding model), which allows me to carry it up to my apartment and therefore drastically reduce the potential for theft. Plus it's cool. I'm quite excited to begin commuting to school (3.8 km each way) by bike – it ought to be much more exciting than staring out the window or reading free newspapers on the train. Also, I look forward to travelling the routes in my book and exploring the city.


Yesterday, I went with a couple friends from the program to see el Templo de la Sagrada Familia (Temple of the Holy Family), Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece. It was pretty cool. We took an elevator up one of the towers and then explored a bit. Various passages were closed, so it took a while to find our way out–we had to climb up and then back down a few times, all the while inching past others travelling in the opposite direction (the staircases were about 1.5 people wide and a bit claustrophobic.)

Last night I discovered that if I sit in the laundry room I can access two open wireless networks. It is nice to not have to leave the apartment to steal internet (I used to go up a few stories and sit in the stairwell, but one of the neighbors yelled at me.)

Por fin

Finally.

I’ve been in Barcelona for 16 days, and I’m finally getting around to writing a blog post. I could say I’ve been too busy, but that would be both untrue and a bad excuse. I think I just have some sort of internal resistance to writing things down.

Things are not bad here; I’m living in an apartment with a señora and her dog, Terry. I’m starting to become familiar with the city and where things are in relation to one another. A curious thing about maps here: ‘up’ is not north, but rather something like northwest. Everything is rotated 45º clockwise so that the Mediterranean is on the bottom.

Orientation week was exhausting, jam-packed with jet lag, information sessions, walking tours, bus tours, and eating. After that, we began a 2-week intensive Spanish writing course, which ends this Friday. Next Tuesday, classes begin at the Universitat de Barcelona. I will be taking FONAMENTS DE LA TRADUCCIÓ, SEMÀNTICA ESPANYOLA, and PRAGMÀTICA DE L’ESPANYOL, in addition to Introduction to Catalan Language in its Social Context. I look forward to all of them.

As of last week, I am the proud owner of a Barcelona library card. I’ve been stopping by my neighborhood library almost daily to use the wifi (pronounced wee-fee) and enjoy the musical selection. It is a nice place to be.

I was quite pleased to discover that I can walk from where I live to the Barcelona Bahá’í Center in about 10 minutes. Last Friday night I attended Feast there and was promptly invited to a weekend retreat which I highly enjoyed. It was a welcome break from the general loneliness which I’ve been feeling.

I desperately want a bicycle. I’ve gone a few places to look at them, but haven’t been able to find a suitable bike for a suitable price. Now that my financial aid has come in, though, I might just increase my budget and get a decent one which I can resell before I leave. On Saturday, I nearly bought a lame department store bike out of desperation, but I resisted and instead purchased a book, Barcelona amb Bicicleta, which, despite my only understanding about 85% of it (it is in Catalan), has increased my desire for a set of wheels. The subway is great, but a bike would be so much better.

I will post for real soon...

But in the meantime, I have this for you:

Re: visa status request

I love the email correspondence of the Spanish Consulate in Chicago:

From: Consulate of Spain in Chicago Spanish Government
To: Daniel Greuel
Date: Jul 30, 2007
Subject: Re: visa status request

YOUR VISA IS READY FOR PICK UP AT YOUR CONVENIENCE. NO APPOINTMENT IS NECESSARY. OFFICE HOURS ARE 9:00 AM TO 2:00PM, MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY (except holidays). JUST BRING SOME ID.
Sincerely,

Yep, that's it.

The Hidden Words

Several weeks ago I put together a trilingual edition of the Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh. It has the original Arabic and Persian parallel with Shoghi Effendi's translation into English.

For those unfamiliar with the Hidden Words, here is a description, taken from Bahá'í Publishing:

A collection of lyrical, gem-like verses of scripture that convey timeless spiritual wisdom "clothed in the garment of brevity," the Hidden Words is one of the most important and cherished scriptural works of the Baha'i Faith.

Revealed by Baha'u'llah, the founder of the religion, the verses are a perfect guidebook to walking a spiritual path and drawing closer to God. They address themes such as turning to God, humility, detachment, and love, to name but a few. These verses are among Baha'u'llah's earliest and best known works, having been translated into more than seventy languages and read by millions worldwide.

The book can be downloaded here: Hidden Words (PDF, 642KB)

For best viewing:
Preview for Mac OS X: Go to View->PDF Display and select "Facing Pages" in conjunction with "Book Mode"
Adobe Reader (Windows/Mac): Go to View->Page Display and select "Two-Up" with "Show Cover Page During Two-Up"

teeth and bones

dan: are you lying through your sinful teeth, or are you really away?
marjan: I'm 'busy'
dan: ah, yes, i suppose there is a distinction there
marjan: haha, that's pretty funny - lying through sinful teeth
marjan: cause teeth can't sin!
marjan: they're inanimate
dan: yet the sinful are sinful to the core
marjan: ouch
dan: and the teeth, being along with the bones elements which do not perish, are eternal bearers of evil doings.  therein lies the deadly sin.
marjan: wow
marjan: that's almost profound

The masses are waiting

Today I spent a few hours putting Spanish subtitles on the second part of the hilarious "Masses are Waiting" series.



I used subtitle.in, a not-quite-polished (there are some annoying bugs, and i almost lost hours of work) but still very cool tool for adding subtitles to YouTube videos.

You can see all of the videos here:

Masses are waiting (pt. 1) | with Spanish subtitles
Masses are In (Masses are waiting 2) | with Spanish subtitles

The videos are about the Ruhi courses that Bahá'ís around the world are offering to anyone who's interested. Check out this introductory video. Interested in joining a study circle? Fill out this form or call 1-800-22-UNITE.

Covetousness, Greed, and Information

I don't consider myself very materialistic in the acquisitive sense, that is, I don't think I have excessive desire for money or things, but I've noticed myself being rather greedy when it comes to information. I really like to have access to DATA in a clean, well-presented, easily accessible, quick-loading format (PDFs are my favorite). Not only that, I like it to be on my hard drive, not the internet. Oh yeah, and without copy protection. Some examples of this:

• I'm reading this book over at NetLibrary called Becoming a Translator. I can access it 24 hours a day, whenever I have an internet connection. It's as simple as logging in and clicking on the title in my favorites list. I'll probably read through it once and never look at it again, yet I found myself saving each page to disk (and taking screenshots of photos). These will probably end up compiled into one nice, polished PDF file.


• A while ago, I found a large plain text file that was a database for a bilingual Persian-English dictionary (the same one found on farsidic. The entries were encoded like this: "play bAzy krdn", with the Persian terms represented in Roman script. I went through the trouble of finding a script (buckwalter2unicode) designed to transliterate Arabic, modifying it to do Persian, and processing the files so that the entries came out like this: "play بازی کردن". Then I made the fonts pretty and converted the files to PDF (the English-Persian file is 1422 pages). Now I have a searchable, browseable dictionary that doesn't overheat my processor when I open it (the huge text files made the fans in my MacBook go crazy). All this, when I could just content myself with searching the same dictionary online.


• YouTubia. I just found this yesterday and haven't really used it yet, but it gives me a rush just thinking about it.

...and the list goes on. Today I read the following in the Hidden Words:

O QUINTESSENCE OF PASSION!
Put away all covetousness and seek contentment; for the covetous hath ever been deprived, and the contented hath ever been loved and praised.
Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, Persian no. 50

I reflected a bit on the above, and thought of this quote from Some Answered Questions:

...greed, which is to ask for something more, is a praiseworthy quality provided that it is used suitably. So if a man is greedy to acquire science and knowledge, or to become compassionate, generous and just, it is most praiseworthy.
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 215

So, is my informational acquisitiveness a praiseworthy kind of greed? I am, after all, thirsting for knowledge, right? Or, am I being covetous? What's my motivation for being so acquisitive? Am I afraid the internet will fall apart and I won't have access to this information forever? Or do I simply love HAVING stuff, whether or not it is tangible?

It's hard to say, there's probably a bit of both going on. I almost certainly overstep the bounds of moderation when my acquisitiveness clearly violates license agreements, as in the NetLibrary example above. Ah well, it's something to work on. More positively, today I paid for software! (I have been using Nisus Writer Express for quite some time, and had found ways to circumvent the limitations of the demo, but now I'm legit!)

Wow, that was a long entry. So much for easing back into blogging.