Category Archives: Friends / Family

Zinedine Nothing

Zinedine Napoli.JPG

Almost every Friday at FON, we have Jornadas de Fútbol; in other words, we play a nice soccer match between the techies on the ground floor and the finance, legal, and marketing guys on the third floor. Can you say, “East Side” ? Because I had been traveling almost every weekend for the past month or so, this is the first time that I have played in quite a while.

We always play fubito, meaning 6 against 6 on an indoor court about the size of a basketball court with a smaller and heavier than usual ball. Unlike Indoor Soccer in the States where you can use the walls, in fubito you play with the same outdoor soccer rules, and you have throw-ins, corner kicks, etc. when the ball goes out of bounds. Recently, we have been playing outdoors on a really cool fubito court with artificial grass. The problem today was that it was 32 degrees Celsius (or 90 degrees Fahrenheit), and we were slow, pathetically slow. For the first time since the Jornadas began, we on the third floor got our asses kicked (Dorothy from the ground floor scored two amazing golazos).

Now, I am not the kind of guy to be upset about losing or to sulk. I simply like to enjoy the game win or lose, but today I (as well as our regular superstar Berga) played pretty horrendously. No big deal right? Well, there is kind of a small problem, a minor fiasco. Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under FON, Friends / Family, Zizou

El País Cambiante

Libertad Cuba.jpg

I just discovered that a friend of mine in Argentina has a pretty cool blog. Although the photo here is not of Argentina, I think it goes well with the blog’s title, El País Cambiante – the Changing Country. Check it out.

4 Comments

Filed under Friends / Family

Research and Study Group on Gender in Morocco

moroccanFlagLg.gif

If you speak and or read French, here is a really interesting new blog, GREGaM – Groupe de recherche et d’études sur le genre au Maroc. I don’t read or speak French, so you’re just going to have to trust me. One of its creators is a friend of mine. Well, actually I don’t know her that well, but she a friend’s girlfriend and is a very smart and fascinating academic. Check it out!

2 Comments

Filed under Friends / Family

The Beautiful Sana’a

sanaa1.jpg

My friend Fadi has always introduced me to really fascinating stuff, like the works of Amin Maalouf, Carnet de Routes and Suite Africaine, Coltrane’s Olé, and one of my favorite novels of all time, Albert Cohen’s Belle du Seigneur. One thing I particularly enjoy is going to his apartment where he has wonderful things from all over the world. In particular, I always find myself staring at a painting of Sana’a, the capital city of Yemen. Sana’a (not to be confused with the Arabic name Sanaa) is portrayed like an intricate beehive of blues, browns and whites.

The other day, I decided to do some research on the city and found that it is just as interesting as the painting. Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family

A No-Worries Saturday

Reading.JPG

There is nothing like having a no-worries Saturday, where you leave all of your problems behind, sit outside and leisurely read a book.

Leave a comment

Filed under Friends / Family

Neta and Crespells

 

Last night when I entered my apartment, I found to my great surprise that there was a gift-wrapped box waiting for me on the table. My friend Manolo happened to be in Madrid just for the day, and, having keys to my apartment, entered and left the box on the table. The timing couldn’t have been better nor could be my intuition. I had just finished on Saturday morning my last shipment from home of Nutter Butter cookies, my personal favorite.

So when I saw the box, knowing that Easter had just passed, I hoped for the best. I opened the box and what did I find? Crespells! Homemade by Neta the matriarch of sa meua famili mallorquina. Crespells are traditional Mallorcan Easter cookies. Neta always cuts them in the shape of roosters (her favorite animal), Mallorcan peasant girls, and the traditional Star of David (Mallorca has a long Jewish history). Of course, I went straight for the Mallorcan peasant girls. It is so nice to have friends who think of me and treat me with such warmth and kindness. I really don’t deserve it, especially after having eaten all of the evidence.

Leave a comment

Filed under Friends / Family, Living la vida española

Dorothy y sus cocineras

Dorothy estrenó casa el sábado y para ello contó con la ayuda voluntaria de la ONG “Compañeras sin Foneras” compuesta por Neska y Elena. Ellas pusieron las recetas de la madre de Dorothy a la práctica . Todo lo demás es historia para los que recuerdan. Y para aquellos quienes la noche les confunde todo, ellos viven con la sensación de un gran éxito culinario y con la realidad de un grandísimo dolor de cabeza. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under FON, Friends / Family

Berga Wears his Sunglasses At Night

Solo le faltó ponerse el desoderante.

Leave a comment

Filed under FON, Friends / Family

La Playa de Salinas

I am in Salinas in Asturias, spending a few days with my friends Santi and Clara, their 2 year old son, Javier and with Javier’s grandmother Amparo.

Leave a comment

Filed under Friends / Family

Cumpleaños Feliz

A pesar de mi gran deseo de que cada uno de mis amigos se fuera a casa a leerse un libro tranquilamente, mis amigos (salvo el Gran Huja) me obligaron a salir. Lo que no supe fue que mi querida amiga, la bella Laurita, con la colaboración de Berga y Neska, había venido desde Úbeda (Patrimonio de la Humanidad) para hacerme una gran sorpresa.

Ya con el pase de los años he perdido esa ilusión juvenil de celebrar mi cumpleaños. Sin embargo, Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under Friends / Family