I'm still poking ol grandpacomputer with a stick trying to wake him up. Continue this story soon.

So I think I figured out the problem with my computer. Well the most pressing of all the little problems it's exhibiting. I hadn't checked how much space was left on the hard drive and as we all know, less space means a decreased capability to do tasks. It turns out that all the footage from my GoPro and my camera  (all in HD btw) were taking up quite a bit of space on my hard drive. So I went through and decluttered some of the files I had sitting around. Things should be a little smoother now. Although I still have a lot of gigs devoted to other. The computer tells me that some space is music and some is photos, but then there is a section that is just other. Like the designers got lazy or something and just said we'll lump the rest together and call it other. Oh well 

As for the actual content of this post, it has to do with a day last week when I was feeling a little sick (I blame the germ factories I work with daily) and it was raining a bit in Pineda so I really had no motivation to do most things. Then as I remembered I usually cook enough quiche for the week (excellent on the go snack) on Sundays, I thought I would explore the kitchen. I hadn't yet done that in the new house and to my delight I found that there were plenty of baking and cooking supplies. I guess when you go for long enough without a kitchen or a proper one at least, you forget what you can create in one. Then all of a sudden I thought to myself you know what would be cool? Making some bread. So that's what I did. I saw that we had flower, and yeast and everything else you need really so I looked up a recipe for cinnamon bread and off I went. Now I understand than maybe baking/cooking isn't the most manly or cool thing for a man to do in some people's eyes but my love for food outweighs any stereotypical negativity and then some. Plus, you can't tell me that anyone, man or woman, doesn't appreciate a freshly baked/cooked meal or confection. Truth

So off I went and I found that it's really not too bad save for the cleaning up afterwards and waiting for bread to rise. I think a more proper expression for something than "like watching paint dry" for something that takes a long time is "like watching bread rise." That business is slooow. At least after bread rises you can bake and eat it, don't see too many people eating paint after it's done. So I think I'll start baking more now. I already know how to cook pretty well thanks to some long summers back at Stanford in Mirr, but baking was like a long lost art to me but now I can just add it too my repertoire. Next week...

60 blog posts old that is. I think now that a month has gone by I can get back to attempting my previous blogging output. Now to the outside viewer they've probably seen my past posts saying I would pick the blogging back up or add the videos what not and then seen the output and deemed my dishonest. However, in my defense the ol' reliable Macbook 09' version laptop I have is dying slowly. It still works but what I'm demanding of it amounts to failed attempt after failed attempt to post things. So bare with me. I imagine my grandpa computer saying in computerese "Now lookahear sonny, I don't know what this video editing application doo hickey is but I'm not doin it! Go back to Microsoft word 2003 and type somethin. This I can handle." Just a thought. More to follow 

Gotta help out the ESL community right. More to come.

English class! For adults. I live in Pineda now but I still do most of my activities, work, school, and soccer, in Malgrat. So this past Wednesday since I had a soccer game in Malgrat (later cancelled) that night, instead of going all the way home then coming back I decided to stay for the English class that my coworkers go to. I thought what the heck, at the very least I can see if the English they are learning is on point.

The class is divided into two one hour sections. One teacher does grammar and the other does the speaking. I went to the speaking hour first and the teacher was pretty cool. We read about Nelson Mandela and it was funny listening to my coworker friends speak. They are all at different levels of speaking but they all do pretty well. I pitched in some corrections but only after the class was over. I didn't want to come into the teacher's class and start teaching it for her.

On the grammar side things were a little more lighthearted. The teacher is a little younger and the group has fun chatting it up. The lesson was really simple and we ended up just talking and exchanging stories about the content of the lesson, which was thieves and burglary. It was cool getting to hang out with the people I work with and see how they are learning English, especially since it's becoming more and more important. I think I'll go back next week as well.

Details to follow after I figure out what this day is all about.

So it turns out that Peace Day is a celebration of the life and times of Gandhi. The students had a festival of sorts during the afternoon where they all wore trash bags of different colors. They comprises the full spectrum of rainbow colors and herded out to the playground for about an hour of songs and some kind of story about peace that I couldn't understand. (It was in Catalan) I think the idea of celebrating peace is a good one. We don't have something like this in the states and maybe it would do some good to do so. Although, I must note that on Peace Day there was a fight at school so maybe just because there is a day isn't enough to deter all people from their normal ways. All in all a good experience and can't forget about all the good Gandhi did for our world.

Finally. I feel like I'm able to take a second and reflect a little about the past month or so. Granted today is MLK day and I worked 9-7 but aside from that there is still plenty of time before dinner to get some writing in. I had forgotten how easy it was to get so focused on a routine that you lose track of the hours. Between work and travel time between destinations, meals, and finding time to stay in shape it can get pretty hectic. I think that 2014 has gotten off to a good start. After spending some good time down in London and then heading off to Ireland to start the year off I felt I got some good traveling in. It's always nice to see friends especially in their home country as you can learn a lot from and insider's perspective. Unfortunately it all had to end at some point and back to the reality of work I went but I did feel recharged to a degree.

I came back to work after the break knowing that I would be switching host families at the end of that very same week so I spend the days half organizing and half packing for the upcoming move. I definitely have more things now then I did upon my arrival but that was to be expected. Hopefully on my flight home I find a forgiving airline so I don't have to wear half my wardrobe on the plane. I didn't know what to expect with the new host family but from my brief meeting with them a few days before the break I had a good feeling. Turns out they are pretty awesome and I really like having more space and most more space. Being a bigger person in Spain makes you appreciate the little things like not sleeping in a twin all the time.

So now it's on to 2014 and we'll see what happens. I'm already liking my decision to start playing the piano because a lot of my favorite songs have at least some elements on piano and school is going well too. Can't wait for spring because even though I don't mind the cold I really like the sun. 5PM sunsets are cool and all but I miss coming home and having at least a little time before it's pitch black. Well back to work I guess. It's good to be back