Life Recipe

There's no recipe is there mom?

Here are some things you told me a long time ago, which I've only recently really learned...

Be honest, Be honest. People know when you are lying, and it's just bad karma.
Only your perspective controls your situation.
You can't be something you're not- if they aren't going to like you, YOU might as well like you.
Only you can decide your value (your friends won't always be there to vouch for how awesome you are;).
You can't ask for something from someone that they can't give, you just have to accept them for who they are.
You can't replicate experience had by another, so don't try. This is your life.
Don't compare yourself to others there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
You should probably know WHY you like the ideas which you like.
Insecurity is overrated, and everyone is insecure. Bridge the gap.
When you are asked a question, think about what you really think the answer is.
Do what it is that you want to do, and trust that others will do the same.
Take care with your words.
Don't try so hard, it's exhausting.
Be aware, think about a situation, try to predict a situation, but more than that... be willing to fly by the seat of your pants!
Don't over-analyze, it's about enjoying doing something good.
Sometimes, somethings, will have significance only for you.
You do little things everyday for those things which you love and believe in.

Have more to add to this mix?

Second Hand Thanksgiving

Today was the second day I woke up to gray skies and wet ground. That almost never happens in Sevilla. It was also the second day I ditched class. All for the best however, I've never once gone to school on Thanksgiving, and well I just don't think it's appropriate to start at 21. I suppose I already celebrated. As most know I had about 13 people over for a thanksgiving celebration the past Saturday and it was really nice but it wasn't exactly Thanksgiving.

I've been in Sevilla for 2 months now. Renting an apartment for two months, buying groceries for two months, but not really living. For example, I don't have a single English book to read, I don't own a long sleeve shirt here, and I haven't been doing my homework. However, this morning I got through about 4 weeks of homework - mission partially accomplished. Then headed into town intending to price items (like books and clothing) that I would probably later buy at the outlet mall.

Instead when I arrived to lock my bike at Plaza Nueva there was a book fair. Therefore, I didn't have to go to the English section of the corporate book store after all. I found three books and am looking forward to reading them. One was given "to George with love" in Germany in 1953. Then I window shopped and wandered until I arrived in my favorite barrio of Sevilla. There I stumbled upon a second hand store. The best second hand store I've been into yet, it actually had clothes more than a decade old. It is also apart of an NGO project to raise funds for volunteers in Africa. I bought three awesome shirts that were certainly manufactured in the 70s and a sweater. Then I spent about 30 minutes speaking with the proprietor. He's from Cameron, speaks six languages and moved from London to Sevilla in August to open the store. I'm going back next week to volunteer. While I was speaking with him Syvlie (you are the best) called me to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving. My phone never rings, and even when you think you're all alone, you never are. I shortly left the store and I had a pleasant walk back to my bike and bike ride home. When I arrived home Raffa had pasta on and the three of us were able to eat together, that almost never happens. What a nice Thanksgiving dinner it was after all.

I had the best day. I have the best friends. I have awesome roommates and great plans. What a wonderful world to be thankful for.

Leaving Salamanca

I have long said that the life gives what you need. Actually... I haven't long said that at all - it just feels like it.

It has been about four months I've said this, and since I arrived to Europe I've become convinced of it. If I were to go through my journal for you I could find you hundreds of examples when things just “worked out.” Worked out, just as I needed them to work out, without any real concerted effort on my part - at all.

Life gives what you need. Some people might attribute it to something divine. I don't even know what I think about that. Normally I tell people "I'm not at all religious" if they're brave enough to ask. I'm 21 years old and the subject of God evades me.

At any rate, I do think, that if you simply breathe, and just look at things through the right lens, everything just works out. I'm not sure how I can believe that given what I just said in the previous paragraph, but I do. It has been proven to me, time and time again.

What I needed today was a cafe with a good study atmosphere. Instead, I got a bus. I'm coming back from a most wonderful weekend in Salamanca. I have a 7 hour trip home, a bus, and a lot of homework to do. On this bus however, I am seated next to the window. The window has a grand, albeit rolling, view of a beautiful autumn day outside. I have a one-euro pastry, my laptop, two old women discussing family life, and the conductor has chosen (a most rare choice) of classical music for the trip and, I already drank my cafe this morning.

When life can turn a bus into the most beautiful and quaint cafe, I'll believe it gives whatever we truly need.

Smile, try to enjoy what is handed to you, it's probably exactly what you need.

Bethlehem: Love is Greater

Today I didn't get any work done. I chatted with my friend about life. I also learned a new quote, apparently Mark Twain once said, "don't let your studies get in the way of your education." Today I followed his advice, and because I did, we have new entry.

This blog is titled The Sweet Lives for two reason. One is to remember that no matter how difficult we think our lives are, we are incredibly lucky just to be breathing. The second reason lies in the fact that it is plural. It is lives and not life because I believe that my friends and the people I have encountered in my life are irreplaceable individuals. This is our blog. A blog for anyone who appreciates life.

Two of my best friends went to the middle east two summers ago. One, Colin Almo, shared this wonderfully significant story with me:


"Bethlehem. The place of Jesus's birth. Visiting the Church of Nativity was a dream that I had long harbored. To finally be able to get that chance... To get there, however, we had to move between the Security Wall that divides the West Bank and Israel. It was easy enough to get on the bus, and head out to Bethlehem. All we needed was our passports. What is astonishing is that the sort of relatively hassle free travel between the West Bank and Israel is something that is not possible for both Israelis or Palestinians. It is their lands, and yet that cannot readily travel between them. We were dropped off at the top of a hill in Bethlehem, and we made our own way to the church. Along the way merchants bartered with us, wanting us to buy their wares. Offers of drinks abounded; a tradition in the Muslim world. The Church and a Mosque were visited. Afterwards, a journey to the longest continually inhabited place on Earth, Jericho. Waiting for a taxi van to fill up, I feel a sense of trepidation. Why? I'm not sure. It was one of two times were I felt threatened in the Mid East. Knowing that we were at the mercy of our cab driver. Knowing that no one else knew that we were there that day. Knowing that Israeli soldiers were not present should things take a turn for the worst. All of these thoughts went through my mind. When we arrived in Jericho, are more checkpoints, we felt underwhelmed. How can it be, that, with the longest record of habitation, the ruins of Jericho could be in such a state of neglect? Nothing would stop us from climbing around on them, or trying to knock over a precious piece of antiquity. Perhaps the security wall plays a part. It would not be last time that day when the wall effected us. We caught a taxi back, and asked to go to Jerusalem. We were dropped off at the wall. It's presence struck us then and there. Cutting a neighborhood in two. Standing 40 ft. high. It is a relic of a bygone time in my eyes. Graffiti adorns it's surface. One of the most telling signatures states that "Now even Jews hate what Israel does." It makes me sad, that, in a land with so much beauty and historical richness, that conflict is still rife there. Religions that speak of love were born there, and yet hate still abounds. Going through yet another passport checkpoint, which is afforded to us because we are outsiders, we headed back into Jerusalem."


Thanks Colin for letting me post this. Thanks for sharing. Adventure on!
(Nothing has been changed, what is written here is exactly how it was written to me.)

Please do not misinterpret this entry. It is not a political statement, it is here as a testimony of one person's experience with history and contemporary happenings. Let's remember that love and understanding are some of the most important aspects of life. All too often we need more of both on this earth. Love is Greater.

one moment please

When we are old we probably won't remember many people we claim to be acquainted with. Maybe despite our senile ways we will remember a few select people, our parents, our spouses, maybe our best friends, maybe not even them. We certainly won't remember that store clerk from that one Thursday or that waiter from last night. But these people existed, and in that moment they were more significant and needed than anyone else.

I have done a lot of traveling alone these last few months. I met a great deal of people, some really incredible people I don't think I'll ever forget. There are, however, people I think I might forget. Like the waiter who took five minutes from his day to just chat with me a minute to see me smile. Or the guy who worked at the Internet cafe who just brought me a beer because we had both see the land of New Mexico. I really needed that beer that day. Or that woman in the grocery store line who, while we were waiting, just smiled.

I think all too frequently we forget that we are all one, we are all just human. Those people changed the course of my day. They didn't change the course of my life. I'll never see them again. They will receive no reward for their small deed, except maybe this blog.

We are all here, on planet earth, and no one is really sure why. Just smile, you might change someone's day and that is a pretty good reason to be here.

Disclaimer on the below:
I used to think art was a pointless subject, it didn't really change much, those creative people could be doing something better. Then the other day, when I was fairly lost and confused I saw this. It was written on the window of a closed cafe, and it change something.

La Vida esta llena de incongruencias y vicisitudes
y ante tanto caos
y ante tanta adversidad
solo podemos disfrutar del momento

Signed, Grateful


The cartoon images are apart of a project against violence in the Netherlands, check it out here www.hugtheworld.net

Maybe I Should Buy A New Pair Of Shoes

In an effort to put off studying for finals just a day longer, I sit in my room listening to Juana Molina on my Pandora, and think about what it is I should wear for my honors thesis presentation tomorrow. Shoes - shoes are always my issue. I only have the three pairs, and even they barely pass as "professional." I don't want to wear either of the heels to campus tomorrow, so I decide to pull out the flats.

The flats - the flats are dark purple, with small polka dots and tiny bows, and they are currently hold a very flattened shape from a drying out processes they recently endured - smashed into a tiny pocket of my traveler's backpack so that I could pack all my goodies from Argentina safely in the bag. I pick them up and giggle to myself.

The flats have been a lot of places with me. They are often used as a stand in for flip flops, once such time they walked the Calle de los Muertos (street of the dead) and visited the Teotihuacan pyramids outside Mexico City, Mexico. The heat, sweat, and dirt mixed to make a lovely crust paste that covered my shoes and could hardly be washed off. The dust of the rest of the week only added character.

But even the dirt of the Mexico City pyramids wasn't why they were currently in the sink in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I wasn't washing off dirt, I was washing off dutch sand.
Dutch sand from the beaches of The Hague, Netherlands. It was the last night of WorldMUN 2009, and the Mar-Mars and I didn't have social event tickets. Of course, in true Mar-Mars & Little One fashion, we certainly were not going to let a little ticket stand between us and the prestigious farewell party. So we jumped on the bus bound for the last stop; beach access.

It was dark and we exited the bus with about 60 other delegates, all of whom had tickets. Not at all discouraged, the girls and I took the high road - literally. Escaping the light of the booming dance club below, we jumped the barbwire fence and made our way across the sand dunes which cover the entirety of the dutch beach.

Under the next fence and around the back of the tented night club we went, only to find there was no entrance for us. Casey (Narmar) pulled out her knife and suggested cutting through the club's tent siding on the dune facing side, reluctantly she was convinced this probably wasn't the best approach. What was approaching were the fencekeepers of the club (or rather the student volunteers of the host university) which meant we went away from the club and up the beach the other way. As we walked away however, we realized we had no where to go. Back down the beach we went, right past the fencekeepers who inquired "Excuse me, from where did you come?" "Up the beach" I replied. We giggled past, back up to the bus stop to reconvene.

Rest assured we made our way into the club afterall. Molly, in her sweet Magmar way, finagled some bracelets from departing delegates. With tape from the nearby hotel lobby, we flashed our bracelets for easy entrance. Drunk, happy and tired from dancing we left the party thereafter, only to find that rain would now soak both our clothes, and my sand filled shoes. Somehow we made it home that night.

As I scrub, my very smelly, very stiff, and very sandy shoes, I can't help but think "these were only twenty dollars.... maybe I should buy some new shoes?"

"No, they'll reshape after they dry tonight."