Two Weeks at a Time: or, Death By Revision

Either way, it's going to be worth your time just to have a look. Or it may not. Remember how my last entry described our experiences in and of Barcelona? Right, in very cursory fashion. Well, I plan to expand upon that entry by highlighting some of the key events of the following days. Mostly, I'll be talking about our trip through the rest of Spain in as few days and words as possible. We didn't really see or visit the rest of Spain, but we caught some of the high points of Andalucía, which is probably my favorite part of Spain. This is where the Moors set up a rival caliphate to that in Damascus during the middle ages, and single-handedly dragged southern Europe through the dark ages and into the pre-Renaissance. Without these happy Arabs and Berbers, the rest of Europe would have been hopelessly mired in stupidity and ignorance, in part forced on them by a greedy and power-hungry class of ecclesiastical and civic leaders, well into the modern era. Of course, the Moors probably weren't the nicest people to have around in every situation, particularly when it came to religious or cultural differences with their subjects--I wasn't there, so I can't really say what the daily effect on people's life was. I can, however, say that there are no records or historical accounts of the Moors doing anything like what the Spanish did during the Inquisition, and in fact most of the ancient and medieval sources paint a Moorish government that represented almost the exact opposite of the powers behind the Inquisition (despite what the good people responsible for that little publication on the "Cathedral of Cordoba" would have you believe).

So, Moorish Spain. Al-Andalus. We all know that the Inquisition was so successful and so thorough that no Moors, Gipsies, or Jews remained in Spain after the early sixteenth century, right? Anyhow, that's what they say here in Extremadura, so it must be true. I'm pretty sure the Jews, Moors, and Gipsies who converted to Christianity were probably allowed to stay in Spain, but of course their conversion will have changed their blood-line, thereby allowing Spain to maintain its purity. Ok, enough about that, but it's kind of ironic that people still believe this trash, isn't it?

Moorish Spain is magnificent. The Alhambra is nice and everything, but to me, the coolest thing about Moorish Spain is the indoor gardens, patios, courtyards, small town plazas, and parks, all of which, barring perhaps the last two, are really just survivals from the Roman period in Spain. None of these features is entirely typical of the northern half of Spain, where the dark castles and fortified houses of the upper classes offer a stark contrast to the open, gardened, atrium-style house-and-bath complexes of their southern neighbors. Apparently the northerners were forced to adopt a darker and more dismal view on life upon the realization that the weather in the northern half of Spain is substantially harsher and less enjoyable than that in Al-Andalus.

Ok, so the Alhambra is all windows and gardens and decorative plasters, a castle-palace reserved for the head-honchos of the Moorish elite, to be mimicked by anyone who could afford it, but never really satisfactorily copied. The palace in Sintra, Portugal, originally had some pretty impressive imitations of one section of the Alhambra, but after western Iberia was recaptured in the 12th and 13th centuries, most of those rooms were gradually adjusted to fit into a more "modern" style. If you can get to the Alhambra someday, you should check it out. Just don't accept any of the rosemary kindly offered by the nice ladies outside--you can pick your own for free if you really want to, but who wants rosemary, anyway?

Maybe I'm giving the Moors more credit than they deserve. I have this theory that the cities that are really "Moorish" today in Spain were still pretty much Roman cities when the Moors arrived in the early 8th century--cities like Córdoba, Sevilla, Cádiz, and maybe Cartagena and Toledo. If that theory is true (and it must be, since it's my theory), much of what I love about those cities is really just the survival of Roman traditions and ideals. It's probably safe to say that the Moors preserved what would otherwise have been lost forever, at the hands of the Visigoths or whatever the Christians in the northeast of Spain should be called, and I'll even allow for the possibility, at least, that the Moors actually improved on some of what the Romans left behind. Incidentally, I'm not sure what that "left behind" is supposed to mean: surely the Hispano-Romano-Visigoths mostly stuck around when the Moors arrived, eventually mixing with the newcomers to provide a relatively homogeneous group that we refer to today as Spaniards. One of the great things about Spain today is the vast variety the country offers in terms of virtually everything. And that must be due at least in part to the fact that this was a crossroads of cultures throughout its history.

Well, I haven't said much about our trip, and maybe I won't today. It seems that I'm less interested in what we did than in what happened before we got there. I guess that's why I'm an archaeologist and not a sociologist or something like that.

But, speaking of sociology, and more generally of current events, what's the deal with this "swine flu" business? Is it just me, or should we all be mounting class-action lawsuits against the news media? Today's stories on the BBC and CNN illustrate just how far we've come in the 10 or 14 days since this thing hit the fan: we're now referring to this potential pandemic as little different from the standard seasonal flu outbreak. For example, here's what the BBC says in this story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8030365.stm), "Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova [of Mexico] told the BBC that, based on samples tested, the mortality rate was comparable with that of seasonal flu." Really? I'm supposed to be panicking, or so it seemed three days ago. In fact, some mucky-muck at the WHO told us the most troubling thing about this flu is that it's infecting otherwise healthy young people in Mexico (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/25/swine.flu/index.html). Yet, for all the hype, according to all the stories coming out today, the death toll is much lower than initially projected, and as tragic as it still is, is largely limited to people who already had serious underlying health conditions (including the unfortunate case of a toddler brought to the US from Mexico for treatment, the only confirmed death in the US attributed to this flu outbreak). I'm not saying this isn't a serious concern, but I do think that the media have done such a thorough job over-reporting a flu outbreak with fewer than 1000 victims worldwide (and just over 20 deaths confirmed!) that now we're all behaving like the poor souls in that movie Outbreak from the 1990s. I'm pretty sure that the annual flu outbreak in the US, and around the world, claims far more victims than this one ever could, and also receives FAR less attention than this one is receiving. If we panic every time a new strain of the flu hits major cities, we're going to have to just get used to panicking, because the flu mutates so fast it seems there's a new strain popping up every day. Why else are we getting new shots every year, and how is it that those shots are largely ineffective on so many strains of the virus? The flu is a major concern, and we should all avoid putting our fingers in our mouths and coughing in each others' faces. But shouldn't we all be taking those simple precautions anyway? It's gross, isn't it? I mean, I've had this cold or cough or something for a good two weeks now, but you don't see me coughing in people's faces, wiping my phlegm all over doorknobs and the like. I'm pretty sure I don't have the new flu, but if I did have it, I don't see how panicking and going on a world-wide crackdown would really help. More realistically, I should probably drink loads of water, get lots of rest, seek medical advice, and follow through on a full antiviral regimen, as prescribed by a qualified medical professional. I'm prepared to panic over all this if it's still in the news in a week, though....

Work, As Usual

Many of you will have grown weary of repeatedly reading through the old postings during the past month-and-ten-days' hiatus, so I have finally decided to post a new blog entry. I should point out immediately that there is no way I can cram all of the nothing of the past few weeks into a short posting, so I'm planning to make two, maybe three. That being the case, today's entry will serve as an introductory briefing, which you can read to decide whether you want to read the ones that will (eventually) serve as the body of this very long series of entries. Boring goring zoring loring doring noring foring....

Ok, so here's the deal: Alicia and I did our usual thing in early March - she competed in a talent show at our church, we attended about 500 hours of services and events associated with that "gran concurso de talento joven," and, as always, we plugged away at our various work- and research-related activities. I don't have to tell you how much fun all of that was, so I won't. You can try to imagine it. It will be better for everyone that way. So much for early March. Oh, I also gave a nice chapter portion to my adviser. Turn, turn, turn.

When later March arrived, so did our friend Safa from America (that's the United States of America, as opposed to all of the Americas, which some people think they can refer to as America, even though that makes literally no sense at all. At the very least, they should say "the Americas" or something similar. But I digress...). Actually, he didn't so much "arrive" in the classical sense, since we were in fact forced to meet him in Madrid. So he arrived in Spain and we met him in Madrid. Whereupon we all decided that, while Madrid is a fun and interesting and nice and pleasant city (if you can avoid Madrileños, which is easier than you'd think), Barcelona must be infinitely more interesting, fun, and adventure-laden, if perhaps not nicer or more pleasant than Madrid. After this decision had been made by us, our friend's family rushed us hearts-in-throats to the airport, because I wasn't about to pay 100 euros for a one-way train ride when I could pay half that to fly in half the time. So airport, airplane, Barcelona. We had things perfectly planned so that, by great coincidence (my "planning"), FC Barcelona would be hosting some team (let's call them "Small-Towners In The Wrong League" or "Impish Upstarts 2008-2009") only 2 hours after our arrival in Barcelona. This would, in theory, give us enough time to get settled into our friend's apartment and then take the metro back to the Nou Camp, all before the game even had a chance to begin. MacGyver seems to be the origin of my use of the phrase "in theory." But Homer also gets some credit for asserting that, "in theory, communism works. In theory."

Where were I. Ah, so if things went according to coincidence, then we'd be able to show up at the stadium where one of the great footballing powers performs in time to actually watch them destroy some sorry team that probably won't even be in the first division next season. Right, so as you may be expecting by now, the plane that was supposed to get us there in half the time of a train ride ended up leaving an hour and a half late, meaning we left when we were supposed to arrive, meaning, eventually, that, while we arrived less than an hour after we departed, we also arrived in Barcelona a half hour before the match started. If not for our suitcases and sundries, perhaps we could have adventured it. But I'm not that adventurous, and besides, I had a strong feeling that we might be sleeping on the street that first night, as I hadn't actually been able to properly confirm our lodgings with our host-friend. This could go on and on, but we didn't get to the Barcelona game, we did have a nice place to sleep (ask Safa how awesome it was!), and we eventually had a decent meal for a decent price in what is anything but a decent neighborhood of Barcelona.

We decided to masquerade as silly tourists the following day, and so we purchased the two-day ride-the-open-top-buses-all-day pass to be able to see all these much-hyped Gaudí sights throughout the city without destroying our legs trying to hike it all. I got the idea of doing these open-top-bus tours from my brother, who is usually humiliated by anything that might draw any sort of attention to him, so I decided that if he's willing to do it in Madrid and in Paris, I can break down and ride the trap bus in Barcelona. It was kind of pricey, but I'm not sure I would have made the effort to go to all these different sites in Barcelona without the bus to tote me around (and guilt me into touring even when I didn't really feel like it!).

Let's see. SO, Barcelona at night. If you're interested in what goes on on the street known as Ramblas or in the nooks and crannies leading this way and that through the Gothic district and so on, you'll have to ask elsewhere. It's not my scene, and I'm not really up for those kinds of adventures anymore - maybe I really AM getting old.

Well, that's the first installment. I left all the really exciting things for next time. Or the time after that. It's called "building the suspense," and successful writers use this tool to actually increase their audience as the installments are periodically released. The rest of us use it to drive our readers away by murdering their interest gradually over long periods (Dickens taught me how...)

Another Newsy Update

Since we haven't posted since April the 23rd, and since today is Saturday, and since some things have actually happened over the past few months, and since I have done enough work for one day, I have decided to blog a bit. It should be observed, as always, that the things that I choose to blog are not necessarily the same as the things my faithful readers will consider worthy of note. That said, I begin:

Alicia graduated in June, and as you all will remember, I secured an outside funding source to maintain our extremely modest lifestyle in Spain for 9-10 months, beginning in September. Last time I wrote, we were still figuring out how Alicia could justify accompanying me to Spain, given that finding work for her would be extremely difficult, and securing a visa so that she could conduct such work nearly impossible, in the small amount of remaining time. Since then, Alicia has been admitted into Master's program in Nursing, and thus will be able to work toward that degree even while living off in the virtual "boonies" of Spain. By the time we return to the U.S., she will have completed some 3/5 of her degree, and we are both projecting completion dates of our respective degrees for the year 2009 (read "twenty-aught-nine," or simply "aught nine").

For my part, I have spent a good deal of time tracking down the books and articles that will be most difficult to find in Spain, furiously taking notes that I hope will be relevant to the larger project, or in some rare instances buying the books so that they can accompany us to distant lands (via surface mail, no doubt).

The past few postings I have made focused largely on my mom's recovery from oral cancer, and I believe another short update may be appropriate in that vein. From what I understand, her recovery continues to go well, though she does experience quite a bit of stiffness (or did a few weeks ago) in her neck and shoulder due to the surgical interventions in those areas. Her speech has rapidly improved since the second operation, though I suppose that she will continue to struggle with certain sounds, particularly in Portuguese, for some time. Those wondering how she feels about the recovery in general will draw some conclusions from the fact that my parents have been in Angola for the past 10 days, the very initial stages of a four-month visit to their home-away-from-home away-from-home. In other words, whether or not my mom is recovering as she should be, it is back to work as usual for both of them. I must admit that this is not exactly how I envisioned the months after her relatively major operations, but in some ways it's not really my business.

We are looking forward to having my parents visit us in Spain once they have returned from Angola, and after we have settled into whatever apartment we are able to find between now and then. It is perhaps somewhat ironic that the 10-month period of our stay in Spain will only overlap my parents' time in Portugal by 3 or 4 months, as they also have a trip to the U.S. planned during that time.

Some might argue that this is a relatively short post, but I have run out of clever things to write.

Until we write again,