Futbol Granada

hello friends and family. its been a week since you last heard from me and things have continued to improve with time. alot has happened in this last week. i have started to get into my routine, in the sense that i have figured out how to fill my days other than just reading, watching tv, and going out. my new theory is that everyday i try to exercise the mind body and soul, and then the special gland dedicated to having a good time. of course i dont get to all three every day, but its a theory that helps me focus my energies. thus far i was having some trouble finding a place to work out, mostly because it seems as though the soccer games here a re TOO organized, its impossible to find a pick up game where you can just play. so the good news is that i finally found a place to play soccer. its not a professional team or any team for that matter, but rather a consistent pick up game (halleluia). the university has a few indoor soccer courts (although they are outdoors) and ive been going down every to find some guys to play with. i really enjoy walking down even though it is a little far, like 20 minutes (only because i walk type a fast now, especially down hill) and i play for a few hours, do my stretching routine and take the bus up. since im not too attached anyone there the whole routine is a bit of a solitary meditation, it gives me time to get out of the house on my own and just think to myself without too much purpose. on another soccer note, i have now become an official Granada CF hooligan. one of the guys i play with invited me to come to the game last weekend with him, only to find out that he was a hardcore fan and we stood in the corner singing all the songs and saying some of the most profane things i have ever uttered to the opposing players and their relatives. it was awesome, exept that the team lost for the first time at home in a year and a half and to make matters worse the most hated player on the other team scored both of their goals, it was quite demoralizing. but yea, im gonna get a jersey, learn all the songs and all that jazz. i have always been a soccer fanatic, and now i can go to a game every other weekend and act like a maniac, instead of just yelling at the tv.

as far as the mind goes, i started my arabic classes today, and they went extremely well. im really exited about throwing myself into it, i know its going to take more effort than i have put into just about any other scholastic pursuit, but that exites me. its quite an undertaking, though, its like i need to grow another brain in order to learn it. despite the fact that its just another language, its so different than english and spanish. ive always heard that arabic is a poetic language, and after only one class i can start to understand what is meat by it. just the way it is written is so much more fluid, and im not talking about the shape of the letters either. ill describe it better later when i know more. but im really exited about it and im quite confident that by the end of this year i will be able to communicate in arabic. i think that the key will be to not try to compare it to english or spanish, but try to learn it like a baby, with a blank slate. the biggest stumbling block, as with most new things, will be to try and relate it to what i already know.

and as for the soul, i want to start sculpting. last year a took a sculpture class, and while i enjoyed it, i didnt really like the projects that we undertook. what i want to create are small 3D peices out of whatever, wood, wax, stone. i have always been atteracted to subtlety and i find that im no good at drawing so sculpting has been especially attractive to me. so i think i will start sculpting when i get a moment of inspiration.
the book i have been reading lately (The Mayan Factor) has been boggeling my mind body and soul. i really cant even get into it because i dont know what to say, other than that it is completely crazy, and i love it. it may not be the most accepted line of thought, but i think that i have become more and more attracted to that kind of thing as i get older and realize what accepted academia is really about. i want more about the science of magic, the expansion of the soul and consciousness, and galactic space travel. any suggestions? i highly recommend this book to people who want to challenge themselves and everything they have always though. ill say more about it when i finish it.

silvio and mom are doing very well. hes been horseback riding almost every day, and hes been hanging out with his friends and all the things thirteen yearolds do.

hasta pronto
-e