one WORD, many meanings, many WORDS, one meaning.

I work as an Interpreter mainly because I love the mysteries of languages. I speak three, but it's not enough. One language is multiple and infinite. In addition, languages are living beings, they develop in length, width and height. They are born, young, old and die. Sometimes they even get sick! They are polluted with other bugs of a civilization and even with other languages.

As you may realize, they are much more alive than a human being!

And then it’s like your family, you may like it or not, but you have no choice but live with it, speak it! Or do like I, learn the one you really love, find the one that really helps you express what you have to say.  I was lucky to be born in a Spanish speaking country, see. Even after speaking two others, I think it’s the richest. And I have my theory for the reason. The extension of lands where it's spoken is so broad, big and large that it embraced several cultures, history eras, and a large variety of people.

The main difference between Spanish and English is that Spanish speakers have many words to say one meaning, whereas the English speaker learns a limited lexicon and can communicate everything, because one word can be used for many meanings. For example, the "unique" verb "was like" can replace them all. The verb to get is to have, to eat, to attain, to obtain, to arrive, to achieve, to earn, to win, and many many  more. In Spanish it would be impossible to communicate all that with just one verb! 

This weekend we enjoyed many goodies from Argentina and Uruguay thanks to Central Market with several of my friends who are from different Latin American countries. There were alfajores (two cookies filled with dulce de leche and completely covered with chocolate or decorated with coconut flakes). Well, DULCE DE LECHE, is manjar, arequipe, dulce de cajeta, manjar blanco depending where the Spanish speaker comes from. The variety is so big that sometimes it can encounter problems. For your own good, please don't say dulce de cajeta in Argentina...

I learned...

I learned that life is too short to waste a minute. Especially wasting it with negativity, bad or sad mood, enmity, or destructive behavior. I've been on the negative side for a long time, so I know how much time I wasted. One day I decided to make my life happy and chose to adopt a positive mindset.
Lately, I discovered that it's true that faith moves mountains, but also that love melts them. One act or gesture of kindness, goodness, love, gratitude or goodwill can talk clearer and nicer than any word. And looking at the positive side of people and things can make me enjoy life to the fullest.
There is too much misery in the world and I can make my day joyful just by loving all people, what I do and all other living creatures around me.
Try one whole hour, one whole day, one whole week, one whole month of Love and Gratitude in your mind and then tell me your experience. Please... I love you and I thank you for being there.

What's wrong in Nacirema: great commercial skills.

In Nacirema, one tribe makes sure that the neighboring tribe has enough tools and arms so they can always be in danger and busy fighting them. The same tribe is also very interested in buying from the second tribe some herbs and other substances that can alter the person's mood for entertainment, so they "can enjoy life" -they say. So, the second tribe is happy to produce and sell them those substances and herbs or exchange them readily for arms that can help protect their secret substance production.
In modern days we all admire the great commercial skills of these peoples! They are really prosperous peoples!

Sweet Love Preserve from Nostradamus.

Saveurs du monde.net published the Sweet Love Preserve recipe for Saint Valentine Day. I took the liberty of translating it because I think it's interesting and also it should taste very good. Enjoy!

"Physician and alchemist, famous in the Renaissance times, Nostradamus published a Treaty of preserves where the following recipe is included 'for those females whose frigid womb makes them inadequate for conception and the satisfaction of legitimate appetites'.

Ingredients

- 1 kg of honey from the mountains

- 300 g of fresh ginger root

Preparation

1. Peel and clean the ginger; cut it in fine sticks, wash them several times;
2. Place in a pot and cover with water; boil 10 min.;
3. drain; and restart the process 2 more times boiling 10 min. and one last time boiling 20 min.;
4. drain all night;
5. in a pot with a heavy-base, boil the ginger in the honey during 15 min.;
6. boil it again next day and the following day always only for 15 min.;
7. Save it in a glass jar and have one soup spoonful when you need to recover your ardor."

Austinians freeway solidarity

I amaze at the solidarity of Austinians in the freeway. I spent 75 minutes to go from Round Rock to downtown Austin today. Why? Simple solidarity, I call it. A car had had an accident on the entrance ramp from 183 into I35 and the police was present. So, everybody else drove at -5 miles an hour just to take a look at the scene. Nice, the public was regretting not having the TV handy, and very happy to be able to watch live!
I remember a couple of months ago when there was a building fire by the I35 freeway and the traffic had slowed down from Round Rock on going south at rush hour. Everybody felt so much solidarity with the owner and inhabitants that they have to slow down to take a little look at the fire and/or what was left from the house!

Yes, I agree, everything in Austin is so... weird!

groupo de rua, or where is the music?

 

groupo de rua

My son (21) and I went to the Hogg Memorial Auditorium, in UT Austin, last night to see Groupo de Rua. After half an hour of watching open mouthed 9 people writhing on stage like madmen accompanied by dead silence, we looked at each other with a question mark face: and the music? 

I guess their work reflects the depressing street life, where all young people can do is entertain themselves using their own bodies to express their lack of everything else. These 9 men's gloomy -even grim- faces, and awkward body movements send all the negativity, sadness and desempowerness' vibes from a life without hope, full of obstacles and standbyness that make it almost empty, stagnant, which was well transmitted by the vacuum of music. It made me think of the same impression I got every time I saw En attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot) by Samuel Beckett. With the only difference that Vladimir and Estragon actually made me laugh even in spite of their tragic frustrating quest. Well, I may not be the only one having a hard time understanding some phenomena of our modern society, am I? Follow the link under the pic to read a different review and this other comment on their multiple presentations around the world.

The House of Sand

Some people are never happy with the place where they live, or they're always looking for something else, or always wanting to go back "home". The movie The House of Sand takes the audience in the journey of two women trying to escape their "house of sand", the challenge of their lives, only to find out that happiness is not somewhere in a longed for place, but in themselves. What's important is not the place where we live, or the circumstances around, but what we do with what we have.
"Man went to the Moon -María says- only to find more sand!" A film to be watched and thought about.