triumphs

every time i do something, i see it as a triumph. i get up in the morning with no pain: triumph. i walk well: triumph. i run three miles a day five days a week: triumph. i run with pain: triumph. i ran five miles on sunday: triumph. i have never run five miles even before i got ill, so imagine the triumph i felt sunday afternoon!

tomorrow is four years since i started the major symptoms, and today i´m walking with a crutch. i don´t have pain, really, but weak function, and it´s discouraging because it has been four years since i got ill, and it´s a reminder that i´m not on the road to recovery, rather on the road of management. as i was running yesterday, i was thinking about this concept of triumphs. i don´t see my need to use a crutch today as a setback. what i would be set back from? rather, it´s another step in my managing my disorder.

i´m training for the madrid marathon in april. yes, that´s right. a marathon. how on earth, you might say, are you going to run a marathon when you have to lift your legs out of bed on any given morning? well, i´ll tell you. last thursday i was limping pretty bad, when my flatmate, who is my trainer, saw me changing to go running with him. he asked me how i was going to run when i could hardly walk. i told him, i don´t know, but we´ll see. it turns out that i limped to the park, ran the 3 miles like usual, then limped back. the same on sunday. so there. i´m not training to win the marathon; i´m pretty much planning on being the last one to cross the finish line.

but i´ll cross it.

the flight, the elephant and the sweet tea

last night i had a dream i which i traveled to the united states (after four years of being here in spain), mediated a marriage reconciliation, helped deliver a baby elephant and secure the next generation, wrestled with a leopard, and got the secret to good sweet tea, which, according to a dear lady who shares my birthday, is pot liquor from collards. who knew? alas, we don´t really have collards here in spain.

i woke up tired, as you can imagine, from having such a busy night.

at least i got the secret to good sweet tea.

running the race

so, what´s that verse about training to run the race so as you´re not flailing your arms and what not? well, i´m running and training, and i keep thinking about that verse as i do my miles (or kilometers, as i´m counting). it´s going well, and the weather has cooperated so far. no running in bitter cold nor blustery wind nor rain. though i´d probably just suck it up, knowing my newfound determind nature to do physical activity. oh, that and the absolute gratefulness to the Lord to be able to do it!! can i get a ´wha wha´for Jesus?

ok, sorry that was corny, but hey, it´s culturally relavant. and i like being culturally relavant.

i´m currently reading a book with my community group called irrestible revoultion by shane claiborne, and it´s got my upset, raring to go, and ready to talk. but what is it about this particular book that´s got me so riled up? more to share later.

but now, to run.

football vs fútbol

http://dentites.blogspot.com/2007/10/for-love-of-football.html

this, dear european friends and neighbors, comes from a friend of mine studying in charleston, sc. though i am a natural-born american, i would probably go anyhow just to see why in the world american football is so popular in the united states, or at least for u.s. americans. well, maybe i´d have to put on my espanish accent, ju know, so as not to raise any of the suspishons. becos, ju know, my english no so gudth.

gracias, josh.

i know a man with a wooden leg named smith

oh yeah, what´s the name of his other leg?

that´s how i felt this morning when i took me about 2 1/2 hours to get out of bed. i had every intention to get up, do 2 loads of laundry, transpose notes and start writing thesis prospectus, read for my sintaxis class, go running, shower, cook for community group this afternoon, go to class. all that was transferred 2 1/2 hours later when i woke up, had to drag my legs out of bed, started cooking without running nor going to the gym, and then i had to rest. so i watched a bit of la ruleta de la suerte, which i much rather prefer to wheel of fortune. then i showered, studied and went to class. not the day i had planned, but it´s not over yet. we´ll see how the rest of the evening pans out. i´ve still got to get home, grab the meal i made and make it to community group to heat up.

this morning reminded me that despite the physical strength i´ve had in order to work out and run, i´m still reliant on God´s strength for all things. without him guiding me, it´s like what paul said about doing great things without love--it doesn´t mean anything.

soy inmigrante pt 2

this past weekend, i was a guide for students from georgia visiting madrid before starting the semester term in salamanca, the same university i studied at during the summer of 2002. it was great to show them the madrid i know and love, but to also experience the history of madrid for the first time through their eyes. i had a lot of fun showing them around to places i´ve almost taken for granted. so, i took my camera along and got some touristy shots just like they did. it´s ok, i´m with them. i´m their guide. that sort of thing. ;) i took some pictures of monuments on top of the palace, and looking at them on the screen after i downloaded them, it was so striking how blue the sky was. no, friends, that was not photoshop; the sky was actually that blue! there´s nothing like a spanish sky. of course, today it´s cloudy and rainy, as it´s turned autumn here, but still, i had a great glimpse of it on friday!

so, the reason for the immigrant title of this post is the confirmation by my students that i am, indeed, an immigrant--almost more spanish than georgian. it makes sense. my english is awful (i´m constantly catching myself translating from spanish to english), i eat late, i drink coffee three to four times a day, i walk everywhere, i can spot an ´immigrant´from 50 paces, walk fast on the sidewalk, and fight my way on and off the metro. these are things that were quite strange to these georgia students. but to me, it´s just a way of life. i think with my own flat, i´ve finally settled into a routine and a new way of life. yes, i know, there´s so much i have yet to learn and so much that has been a combination of instinct and previous knowledge. but, i´m feeling more at home here.