Move

Okay, I want you to stop and close your eyes for just one second and think about this: What is your favorite memory of all times? Isn't it amazing how you get a moment of endless flashes of all those wonderful things that continue to make you smile? This post is dedicated to those things that make us MOVE, REMEMBER and LIVE. Before explaining, take a few minutes to watch this video. I love how as soon as they get asked the question, their eyes start to skit and they smile and say, "Oh Wow". Memory:

                                                                                     

                                  

Want more? Check this website out: http://fiftypeopleonequestion.com/    

And so, I thought I would share with you the beauty of remembering and acknowledging what we live now based on simply moving and doing those things that make us live everyday. My life these last few years have been composed of adapting to and creating endless memories.  I have so many memories! If I had to choose just one? The night my dad and I stretched out on the driveway on a warm night and waited for my mom to come home from work. We were looking at the stars and I asked him, "If infinity is infinity, what's behind infinity? If, for instance, there was a wall, would there be another infinity?" And I loved the idea that something out there was endless! And he took hold of my hand and smiled and made up some kind of story and I felt that my entire small being was an infinity, accepting that eventually there would be a wall. I was only about 10 years old and it is one of those memories that I can still feel. The warmth of the asphalt, the cool autumn breeze and my dad's wrinkled hand. Maybe, just maybe, that day was the day I thought I could do just about anything.

Years later, I find myself doing precisely that, doing what I think I should be doing. Living, teaching, absorbing and making the best of what I'm given and taking in all the endless images I witness daily.
My work alone has me running all over Barcelona from class to class, home to home, office to bigger office and walking into someone's personal life for about 1.5 hours a week (sometimes a little more) and listening to endless stories, while I correct, explain grammatical rules and repeat why, 'no, you can't say that', or 'well...that's an exception', or just listen because they just want to speak. I start at about 11am with my bag full of material and don't stop until about 9 at night, my bag weighing less and my head a few pounds heavier with thought. And so the next video I think you should watch is this amazing collage of a handsome fellow who travelled for 44 days, 11 countries, moving:

 Check out his other videos on eating and learning:http://vimeo.com/27246366?utm_medium=referral

Memory and movement, isn't it great how they are linked? After having watched this, I thought of all the places I've moved in and to, all the different landscapes, buildings, faces and languages I've witnessed and the idea is endless!

To top it off, and now that I have you thinking, I want you to remember. To live those moments that have created the you you are and to smile as Autumn starts descending on us, giving us the opportunity to breath another season and create. And to walk! Watch! Listen!  Isn't living in the now great?! And as Mr Buzz Lightyear says himself: "To infinity and beyond!!!!!!!"

Summer Part II

As soon as I got back from Corsica, I thought I'd visit my lovely friend Mary Katherine and head over to Asturies, north of Spain, bordering Galicia. Asturies is known for it's vivid cider drinkers, gray cool days, and lots of meat. Mary Katherine and I took advantage of each day and indulged in buttery pastries, small villages and simply strolled, observing yet another colorful culture.

The area is easy to get around on on buses and we made our way to places like Gijon, Cudillero, and Aviles (more names that just roll off your tongue). I got inspired and photographed the sometimes heartbreaking image of people, had cocktails at 5pm in a fantastic vintage bar, listened to the goose bumpy sound of bag pipers and captured the endless amounts of statues in Oviedo.

A trip around the world for only 2€!

The Lovely Mary Katherine

Aviles and its enchanting streets and homes

Reminiscing on time

Passing silhouettes in the tombs of Oviedo's Cathedral

Oviedo's Milk Lady frozen in time

La Regenta from Clarin's novel published in 1884 in Barcelona since it was too scandolous of a story for the conservative Asturians

 We were lucky enough to have the company of Adri, Mary Katherine's amour, who drove us to lovely fishermen villages where we watched as the sun set, ate next to an incredible lighthouse and observed the Little Dipper.

The most northern point of Spain aka: the end of the world or Faro de Peñas

 

  The Greatest part of the trip was the drive we took to Picos de Europa, a 20km mountain range with spectacular peaks and hikes for even the weak at knees, which was precisely our case. We decided to take on the challenge of walking to one of the famous lakes known as Lake Enol in the Covadonga region where apparently Pelayo defeated the Moors and modern Spain was born. Not that we were worried about history, instead we diligently concentrated on the 12.6km walk towards an elevation of 1056m, apparently thinking it would be a piece of cake...after almost 4 hours later and some "weak" moments, we arrived! And it was absolutely breathtaking with snow at the top and cows munching on pasture. Just to have decided to do it and then arrive was exhilirating (Mary Katherine, do you still differ?) and I had a moment of wow.

Lake Enol

 

Greatness

After a long and sweaty walk we went back to Covadonga and were welcomed by one of those refreshing summer mountain storms

Uninvited Guests

Where miracles happen and Pelayo is buried with his sister...
year, 716!

 All in all, it was a fabulous summer, full of green landscapes, images captured in my memory, the ease of being able to just meander through time and places waiting to be discovered and bonding with those you've decided to pack your bags with. A day before leaving I came across this graffitti written in Asturian, reminding us that there are things that are more important than money...and I can admit that there are, even in a time of crisis.