Opinions, art, debate
I was walking around a local bookshop and was enchanted (pun!) to find a beautifully edited collection of books by Elizabeth von Arnim:
I had no idea she had been discovered and translated into Spanish. Such joy!
Von Arnim is an excellent author and I recommend her books in any language.
Turns out that retirement-age men getting completely naked on the beach is a new trend here in San Sebastián. We saw another one today. He got so desperate that he started climbing gigantic boulders by the pier with the goal of towering over the bathers and ensuring that nobody failed to see him.
The overwhelming quantity of Palestinian flags now started to make sense. People don’t know what to do with themselves in the midst of unrelenting opulence and beauty, and they experiment with ugliness to break the monotony of placid enjoyment.
Shop attendants and receptionists in France are, indeed, stereotypically and almost comically rude. I’m starting to think they play it up on purpose to delight the tourists who are eager to have the real French experience of proverbial rudeness.
My French exceeded my wildest hopes, though. One woman was so taken in that she addressed a very animated speech at me that I understood only very vaguely. At the height of my linguistic enthusiasm, I immediately bought a French book and started reading it. Which, as we well know, is my response to any eventuality that befalls me.
Photos don’t begin to transmit how beautiful the views actually are. Unfortunately, the bus trip to France from Spain was so jerky that we dedicated the first hour in the country to a competition in projectile vomiting. But it was worth the trouble because this is the most stunning place we’ve ever seen.
Klara is unimpressed with the views. “Yes, yes, I know,” she says sarcastically. “This is yet another most beautiful view on the planet. Can I have another ice cream while you are at it?”
Ice cream here has an absolutely Soviet taste, which is a high compliment.
We crossed into France, and things are looking up already. No Palestinian or rainbow flags, I’m speaking French everywhere and everybody understands, and for the first time on this trip I had a tasty meal in Europe. We went to a touristy place and had a salad, and that salad changed my entire philosophy of life. I wonder what their haute cuisine is like if a small touristy joint does such sensational food.
N had something they call “bagel with smoked salmon”, and he laughed for 15 minutes because that was no bagel. It was much closer to ambrosia than anything else.
We can’t get used to Spanish mealtimes, and N ended up having to eat an atrocious dish called pig ears. Because that’s what it is. His good cheer over being on this trip made him say the dish was fine but it was a typical Spanish horror of food.
We are off to France tomorrow. Let’s see what’s going on there in terms of food.
These men were recently apprehended at the US border had released into the country for reasons nobody can explain. Why it’s hugely necessary to let people in first and process their immigration cases much later remains a mystery.
In the meantime, references to the origins of the mysterious “men” who rape and murder their way through the country are being removed from reporting. For instance, it took forever to get out the fact that the rapist and murderer of Rachel Morin was hiding illegally in the US from murder charges in his native El Salvador.
There are more cases than one can reasonably list. Here’s a kidnapping and rape of a child by a dude who crossed illegally from Ecuador. Nobody knows what his antecedents were because nobody cared to find out. He was simply brought in and unleashed on the children of New York, two of whom he proceeded to attack with a machete, kidnap, and violate.
Does anybody know why milk and eggs aren’t stored in refrigerators in grocery stores here in Europe? I spent 20 minutes searching for milk and disbelieving the shop attendants who kept pointing me towards unrefrigerated aisles.
It was probably not the best idea ever to bring an 8-year-old American child on a European walking holiday. We manage 10-12 km a day but then she gets tired and wants to go home.
On the positive side, San Sebastián is peppered with playgrounds. There’s a playground every couple of blocks.
Also, we saw a Palestinian flag on a Catholic church, which is one of the most ludicrous things I have seen on this trip. What else can possibly be in the running? you’ll ask. Well, today the waves are big and the tide has started to come in. Everybody who wants to swim and not surf is relegated by the lifeguards to the smallest stretch of the beach next to enormous green boulders. An older gentleman planted himself in that spot, stripped naked and strutted around. Every once in a while, he’d wrap himself in a towel, then strip off again, and so on. A resigned elderly wife picked up the towel whenever the old dude dropped it.
These aren’t homeless people. These are very well-groomed, well-heeled tourists. Their eccentricity isn’t completely out of place but one doesn’t necessarily want that around one’s child.
There is no better description of the type of people who put up Palestinian flags all over Spain. They believe that condescending to something scary will make it less dangerous. Because it’s all about words. It’s all about positioning. You can conjure reality with rituals.
N was doing so great with his Duolingo that I felt it would be great also to have something to do during breaks. Of course, I could choose any of the languages on offer but I already learned German back in college, and I remember a lot.
Based on the last names of my Jewish ancestors, they trudged through what today is Germany after the expulsion from Spain. As a result, I feel some affinity for the country and the culture. Learning a language with no particular goal is enjoyable, relaxing and fun. I highly recommend.
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