Luna nueva

Me siento orgulloso, afortunado, contento y más fuerte de haber conseguido el título para enseñar español aquí en California ¡y un trabajo! Pero de haber dormido tan poco y cuidado cada uno de mis palabras y gestos a lo largo de este curso en la universidad/en el puesto interno, estoy cansado. ¡Y no es casualidad que me hayan salido unas diez canitas! Hoy deshaciéndome del estrés y de la ansiedad sobrante (típico de los profesores en junio), encuentro la paz en este bonito tema de India Martínez. Con él me conecto con la libertad espiritual y con los deseos de aventuras nuevas.

¡Que la luna nueva nos traiga la suerte y la fuerza para emprender nuevas aventuras y conocer nuevos horizontes!

Último capítulo de Málaga

Just thinking about Spain and feeling thankful for such a beautiful adventure.

Para que salga en este blog algo que representa el <<último capítulo de Málaga>>, aquí os dejo el vídeo que hice sobre nuestro año en nuestra Málaga. Os quejasteis cada vez que os grabé con el móvil, pero veis que ahora y para siempre tenemos este rencuerdo!

Keep adventuring, loving, and laughing, my friends! I take you with me everywhere.

Love,
Luc

Last Class with Graciela

This past Saturday, I met with Graciela, a private student of mine, one last time before her Trinity oral English exam that we'd been practicing for together over the past few months.

Every week from January on, Graciela and I would meet to chat in English and put essays together about different topics that might come up in her oral exam. The topics were personal values, society, the natural environment, unexplained phenomena, public figures, the working world and a topic of her choice (Yes!! I remembered all of them!). Putting these personal essays together, we talked about jobs, our respective homelands, our hobbies, and our musical tastes. In one of my favorite classes, we worked on an essay about R&B queen Beyoncé Knowles. Not even my idea, I swear!

Graciela and I laughed so hard together on a lot of occasions, sometimes uncontrollably. On one occasion, I was trying to explain the difference between "take something out" and "leave something out," and my Spanish translation may have come off a bit suggestive. Word for word, I said something along the lines of "one means take it out, and one means don't put it in." It hit me later why that might've been something to laugh at.

I had so much fun hanging out with her once a week, and she taught me something important by example. Graciela is a P.E. teacher and also makes time to perform as a singer, dancer, and actress (and, of course, study English). She told me with such firm conviction that she could never just do one thing with her time. What a novel idea!

The example she sets really resonates with me, as do those of a good number of my friends and older mentors out here! Because there are things that I want to do in my life apart what I do to make money. I want to go to Asia. I want to get better at making videos and taking pictures. Maybe I'll take a dance class one day to learn how to move my arms and legs simultaneously. Who knows? I think getting to know Graciela and some teacher friends at my school has influenced my ever-evolving answer to that "how do I want to spend my time in this life?" question. It will be super important for me to enjoy my career, but of course that's not the only way I'll spend my time.

Sunday brought the news that Graciela passed Saturday's exam, which means she can now teach at a bilingual school like the one I work at! So in honor of this renaissance woman and all-around badass, please enjoy this video of her doing her thang:

Congrats, Graciela! Thanks for the memories and the wisdom!

Awesome

Last month, my friend Lindsay sent me this "Journal of Awesome" in the mail that's full of doodles and space allotted for daily entries about whatever makes the current day awesome. It's gotten me in the happy habit of capturing pleasant thoughts that are the product of this time in my life.

Today I want to share something awesome! You know that Sunday afternoon feeling that makes you want cry a little inside when it hits you that the following day is Monday? I don't get that anymore. Every Sunday, I remember 'wait, my job and the people I work with are very pleasant'. That's no small deal! What does that say about what I do every day?

Time on earth's all about quality of life and enjoying the ride, isn't it? So wait, could it be that there are jobs that allow for this kind of experience back home? Something about being in Spain makes me  seek things out that I wouldn't think of back home. But hey! They have cool jobs, nose piercings, hair dye, messenger bags, and approachable strangers in the USA! Right?

I'll keep attempting to capture these memories in journal entries, pictures, and videos so I'll one day be able to draw from this time in my life and remember what made it work so well.

Dear future self, please take care of your friends and yourself as you move forward, and keep Spanish in your life.

Happy Monday!

Seville in Sixty-seven Seconds

This past weekend, my buds Esther, Mish and I took a little trip out to Sevilla, which is just a two-and-a-half hour train ride northwest of Málaga. Here's a short videoillo of the weekend:

Saludos para quien esté leyendo!

-Luc

One Month

Are you recording?

January 17th, 2014 - February 17th, 2014

I Love a Montage

I sure do! Man, I wouldn't trade these memories for a bazillion bucks/euros/quid.

Y ahora nos queda por hacer algo en España :)