LETTERS FROM HOME

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the Maples want more sunlight
And the Oaks ignore their pleas. -Rush (Neal Peart)

This is an email from Kevin and Heather that made my month:

Jay, We were sitting around the dining room table tonight and to help Colin learn to read I wrote the first stanza of "The Trees" and asked him to read it. He did well.

Heather said, "Do you know who wrote that?" and he responded "Geddy Lee?" Heather said, "No, you're favorite drummer wrote that" to which Colin replied,"He's not my favorite drummer...Jay is" Too cool. Hope all is well. Cheers,

TIME DRIFT
this is from last week--------
Toro toro taxi
'See you tomorrow, my son."
She watches a big truck
graze her hip...

-Dire Straits

Well, after a great Saturday night and lazy Domingo morn, I did go to see the bulls at the Plaza de Torros on the east side of the city. Beautiful brick building. Inside, the best seats are just concrete. I swear - it's the closest thing you'll ever see to a gladiator match. The plaza has that feel. And there's no end to the gore and horrific violence. I love it.

Sydney and I went and it was a good time. Only 5 euro. But we only saw three fights because I we went by my watch. It was supposed to start at 18:00 (6pm), but i didn't know Spain went to daylight savings last night. You think someone would have mentioned it. I mean, i got the big Madrid paper today. I didn't see a peep about it. So I found out at what I thought was 8pm, that it was truly 9pm. I want that fucking hour back! I have a class at 8 am tomorrow!

So now I guess it'll be bright till like 8:30 pm. Crazy. I remember July in Vancouver. The sun sets at 9:30pm!!!!

Well, it's 1 am and i still need to iron and hang laundry.

I'm busy as hell this week, but will try to write ASAP. Hug your kids for me.

night falls on the city
like a blanket on a cage
-Big Country

I got a buzz out on the patio IM-ing Mel. I smelled a strange smell and realized they were paving Calle Bravo Murillo below. What a stink! It smelled like burning squirrels.

Martes

Tuesday to you. Seriously talked today of setting up our own English school with Kristen and Stuart. They are very into it, as am I. I'm noticing the students really getting into the classes where I actually teach business: marketing, case studies..whatever. So if I did that and K & S taught grammar and speaking, we could rock. Maybe me in Sevilla and them in Madrid. We'd also make sure every course had two teachers, preferably from different countries, so that students learn different accents. We already have California, New York and the Irish countryside. It's just a pipe dream at this point, but I think we could have 2 or 3 competitive advantages, and ususally one is enough.

What to call it: Momentum Business English? Chupa Mis Huevos English? Continental Business English? Who knows? Oh well. All will be revealed.

I enjoy teaching. I really do. Just like Babe and Steve Martin, I think I've found my special purpose. Today I substituted a class at Accenture, and we got into talking about cultural diversity (as the regular teacher had instructed) and I would up using some shit I learned in Grad School about how science has backed up that diversity is good, by talking about the difference between the potato crops of the Aztecs and the Irish. The potato was the staple of both cultures.

The Aztecs had over 30 varieties. If a blight hit a few varieties, the others were unaffected. The Irish, over time, began to grow pretty much one variety for their own consumption (It's sad footnote to history that the English were exporting beef and other crops out of Dublin while the Irish starved to death).

I also taught the Vietnam war and the Kennedy assassination (not sure how that really happened- i guess in context). So it's been fun. I smell a class on english written literature down the pike!!

Tomorrow is Wednesday. On Monday night I feel like I've been at work for three days. Then it's Tues. Then it's Wed and in Spain, that's virtually the weekend. Thursday certainly is.

Are you all familiar with The Red Hot Chili Peppers' STADIUM ARCADIUM? Liistening to it now. Well written tunes, outrageous lyrics, great bass and drums, and John Fruciante justs puts on a fucking guitar clinic. Outrageous! He's unreal.

2:30 AM. Time for bed. Sweet intoxicating sleep. Rest my brain.

KATAMARI
That's how i roll
I won't sell my soul
I tried so hard
to bring you back to the fold

It's all just as well
I'll see you in hell
My heart is the place
Where Lucifer fell

I miss all my clan
it's not who I am
and I was the one
always with a plan

That's how i roll
I won't sell my soul
I tried so hard
to bring you back to the fold

It's not what you are
but what you aspire to be
We all need a beach
to run and be free

manic frustration
verbal masterbation
for fuck's sake
pour me another libation!

That's how i roll
I won't sell my soul
I tried so hard
to bring you back to the fold

I'm not being wise
it's not you I despise
It's the decit and the darkness
the deception and lies

I'll see you on the Last Day
when everything's stripped away..
On the Last Day..
everything stripped away

I don't wish you malice
I reject the magician's chalice
When it's time for life to cease
all i want is peace.

That's how i roll
I won't sell my soul
I tried so hard
to bring you back to the fold
-Me

4-7-07

4 in the morn, Will go to bed soon, Not too tired as I slept from 5am to 5pm last night. I slept for 12 hours. That's half a day.

Vale. (Okay in Spanish- they use it more often here than I use oxygen).
We went down to Sol. It was fun, We didn't stay long. Just a few hours.

Darth confirmed that the date is the 11th, or otherwise the 18th. They'll know on monday.
She seemed pissed that I knew. Not to worry. I protect my sources. It's the 1st Ammendment. And Darth can kiss my Jedi ass.

This whole week has been great. Just a celebratory feel throughout the city. And so many hotties! Life is good.

Happy Easter. Happy Spring. Be happy, cause that's what it's all about.