Here is an article from the New York Times about what is currently happening here in Spain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/world/europe/hunger-on-the-rise-in-spain.html?_r=0

Here is a slideshow that goes along with the article from above

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/09/24/world/europe/20120925-SPAIN.html?smid=fb-share#1

This is how I feel everyday

I just realized that two days ago was my one-year anniversary of my arrival to Spain. First time in a while that I have spent an entire year in only one country.

Welcome to the world Lara!!! My new Spanish niece.

I passed a kidney stone yesterday. How was your Monday?

Missing my football but thanks to the ESPN app I'm not completely missing out

First time that I've missed opening weekend of college football and the NFL. Speaking of that, welcome to the SEC Missouri. Go Dawgs!

Another video from the Paralympics. 4x100 sprinters talking about the race and their lives.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nbc-news/48923966/#48923966

So sad

NJ.com : In wake of horrific Camden killings, investigators test strains of PCP

I'm back in Murcia now and I start working again on Thursday. I enjoyed my time at the beach but I was ready to get back and start working again.

Sweet dreams!

http://dailynightly.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/31/13596377-finding-the-ability-in-his-disability?lite

This is a link to an article about the brother of a friend of mine who is competing in London in the Paralympics Games.

I want to wish a happy 34th anniversary to my parents!!!

My favorite vehicle has made its way to Spain! I prefer a different color though.

Here are some pics from here at the beach!

I just lost a lot of respect for a couple of France's basketball players. No need to be sore losers, especially in The Olympics.

On a different note, I went and took a bunch of pictures the other night here at the beach and I'm going to see if I can get one published in the newspaper here. Everyday the publish two photos so I think I might have a chance.

Happy birthday to the one and only, MLM II! Happy birthday pops!

One of my best friends dad passed away last week and it has been difficult for me since I'm not there in Tennessee to be with him and my friends. It has even been a little bit more difficult because I had originally planned on being home this month. Thoughts and prayers for the Sproles family. Don reached out to many people over the years and will be missed by all of them. R.I.P. Don

I just saw my old classmate Davis Tarwater walking out at the Olympics. Good luck!

The best thing about the next five weeks is no alarm clock!

Classes finally ended today and I am already at the beach. I hope my students do well on the exam tomorrow!

 
Estadio Nueva Condomina
Murcia's soccer stadium

I would love to have a porch like this one day.

Facebook reminded me how far away I am from home.

Happy 4th!

I was watching a show on tv about a British man that travels around the US and today he went to Nashville. It felt good to hear southern accents and to see all the food that I miss. To top it all off, one of the last things was a woman in a bar singing Rocky Top. I know I am a Georgia boy but it felt good to hear Rocky Top!

I went to the beach with the Spanish nephews this past weekend in Aguilas. Here are a couple pics of them.

 

 

I forgot to say that the game looked like one of my JV games from high school once they took out all the stars. What a drop off in talent.

I just watched the NBA Finals and it reminded me of why Dwane Wade is my favorite player. I also enjoyed seeing the Heat role players having a big game. It's time for football now!!

Boooo, I had to take the tram and walk to school today. Last week was too good coming and going by car.
But I do get to wear shorts to school this week so that makes a big difference for me.

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!! This week has been glorious because I haven't had to walk to or from school not once this week. You all really don't know how important that is for me. Now I am heading to Aguilas for the weekend to see all my old friends. Have a great weekend!

No working in my classes this week because we will be watching The Lion King! I think I'm doing this more for myself than for the kids!
Hakuna Matata!

Happy fathers day to all the fathers out there!!!

Next week is the last week of classes!!! This month I had two hrs a week with a group of 7yr olds and two hrs a week with a group of 9 yr olds and they are exhausting. I like them but I'm looking forward to not having them in class.

I finally got my real residency card today. Officially legal again!

I also want to say that I saw a massive snake today when I was leavinh school. Somebody had just hit it and it was going crazy.

This story was a topic at my school today and I had the joy of telling my co-workers that not only is he from my country and my state, but he is also from my city.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/may/31/magistrate-hes-prolific-but-knoxville-dad-doesnt/

Keep the family I stayed with in London last year in your prayers. They had their second daughter on April 14th and every since then both her and the mother have been in and out of ICU with some sort of infection.

Just when things finally start getting better, here comes another setback. After finally getting my residency straightened out and my school working on my contract, the HR lady receives an email with a list of all the rules to contract an American. Everything was okay more or less except that they have to have had a residency card in Spain for three years. I will have had mine for two years in October...
So they can't offer me a contract until the 2013-14 course. This means I will have to work for the government again next year. At least I will have a job though. Around 22% of Spaniards cannot say that right now so I am grateful.

After yet another trip to the Oficina de Extranjería today, number nine to be exact, I finally have my temporary residency card. I have to go back in a month to pick up the real card and then repeat the process in about four months!

Trip number eight to the Oficina de Extranjeria. Hopefully this is going to be my second to last trip here. Next should be to pick up my cardand then to do it all over again in October...

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there!!!

Yesterday was a good day. I had a decent day at school with the kids, I got to talk with my parents for awhile and it was the season premiere of a Spanish version of the show Wife Swap. Pretty good day I must say. I hope everyone else had a great Friday as well!

Happy birthday to me!!!

Last week was my first week of teaching two classes by myself. The teacher who I was working with is no longer with the school, so the classes are mine. The students, who are teachers at the school, are very happy and looking forward to finishing the class with me.

Thank you mom and dad!!!

I waited an hour for them to tell me that they are really backed up. Hopefully within a month I will finally have my card.

I had a good two-week break but it's back to work tomorrow.

7th trip tola Oficina de Extranjeria (the Foreigners Office). Let's see what they tell me this time...

Here are my pics from the show at my school.

http://youtu.be/vgAsgEUBbuk

Here is a pic from a performance put on at my school by some of the teachers and students. It was about the 200 year anniversary of the Spanish constitution. I'm working on putting my pictures together with some music for the school. Once completed, I will post it here. Adios

Today is Father's Day in Spain so Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Someone posted this on Facebook and I thought I would share. So if you were wondering, no, learning English is not easy.

One of the teachers at my school set up a tank in the lobby about a month ago. Since then I have been missing not having my own tank. I bought a fish on Thursday for the tank and went to a store yesterday and looked at some more. The result of all this is last night I dreamt that I had not one or two, but three fish tanks set up.

It is officially warm here again. Today was the first day of wearing a t-shirt and not having to carry a jacket. I didn't have to leave until 9:30 though. We will see what the weather is like tomorrow morning at 7:00.

My new toy, well, my new accesory for my toy. Finally got a tripod to help compensate for my shaky hands.

I´m glad to see that "The Artist" won five or six Oscars. It was an excellent movie and I think a lot of people are going to miss out on it because it is silent and in black & white. I myself was quite hesitant about going to see it but I am glad that I did however, 100 mins was a little long for my taste. It´s amazing how much can be expressed without the use of words. If I have some time this week I plan on watching "The Help." I have heard nothing but good things about this film as well so it´s time for me to sit down and finally watch it.

The twins: My Spanish nephews dressed up for Carnaval.

Here are my dad's photos from his mission trip to Mbale, Uganda. Enjoy!

https://picasaweb.google.com/109712721187749832528/UgandaMbaleAndKayungaJanuary2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCJPptuatxaXFwgE

Another video Cal made for Lay's. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6B2AOjORxAo

Carnaval Carnaval!!!

Heading back to Águilas tomorrow for Carnaval 2012. I'm looking forward to seeing a bunch of old friends even though it will be colder there than it is here.

Made my fifth trip to the Oficina de Extranjeros today to be told that my insurance papers have to be translated into Spanish so that they are sure that my insurance isn't just valid in America. I guess international travel insurance isn't specific enough. Now it's time to begin the search for an official language translator to translate my info. I'm sure this won't be cheap.

I made another trip, number four to be exact, to the Oficina de Extranjeros (the foreigners office) today and was told once again, something different than what I was told in my previous two visits. Now they are saying that I need a different insurance than what I have. Something that they told me was fine in October. Who knows when all this will be settled.

Big congrats to Cal. He won the Europe division for his Chevy commercial and will be traveling internationally once again for an  awards show and party. Proud of you man, keep up the good work. I had a sneak peek of his next commercial and it looks like another winner.

Cal's video again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLZ9WnSnHUU&feature=colike

This is amazing! Here is the conversation that took place with the captain of the Italian cruise liner and the Port Authority.

Schettino: "Now I'll go back up", he claims. "I came out to check out to figure out what was happening."
PA (Port Authority):"Will you be the last on board?"
Schsttino:"I will be the last on board."
00:42am

PA asks how many people still need to be evacuated.

Schettino:"I called and they told me there are about 100 people. I am coordinating the operations. But I can't go back on it. We have abandoned the ship."
PA:"Captain, did you really abandon the ship??"
Schettino:"No, no, I am here, I am coordinating the evacuation."
PA:"Captain, this is an order, now I am in charge. Get back on that ship and coordinate the operations. There are already casualties."

Schettino:"How many?"
PA:"You should tell me that! What do you want to do, go home? Now you get back on that ship and tell us what can be done, how many people are still there and what do they need."
Schettino:"OK, OK, I am going."
(The captain will not get back on the ship)

This is from an article on msnbc.com. Here is the link for the entire article.
http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/16/10164356-captains-favor-to-head-waiter-to-blame-for-cruise-ship-disaster

This morning I was looking through the National Geographic while I was in the library and came across an article about an amazing place that I visited 2009. It is about the Flysch Cliffs in Zumaia, which is in the Basque Country in northern Spain. The article is in Spanish but I will also post the link for the pictures from the article.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com.es/2011/12/23/escrito_las_rocas_2.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com.es/2011/12/23/escrito_las_rocas.html

New pics!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamal424/

Back to cold weather after having two weeks of wonderful, warm weather for Christmas break. I had forgotten how cold and dark it was at 7 in the morning. First day at my other school went well though. First full day there will be on Friday.

Back to cold weather after having two weeks of wonderful, warm weather for Christmas break. I had forgotten how cold and dark it was at 7 in the morning. First day at my other school went well though. First full day there will be on Friday.

For New Years in Spain, everyone eats twelve grapes. There is a bell that rings every two or three seconds and you eat a grape each time it rings. Well last year was my first year attempting this because my first year here I spent New Years in Portugal. To my surprise, the grapes we had were not seedless so I was thrown off from the beginning and never recovered. I gave up and ate the grapes casually. This year I did better, but not by that much. I did know that the grapes were not seedless though. I made it to about the ninth or tenth bell when I realized I had way too many grapes left. After the last bell rang, I still had three or four grapes left so I shoved them in my mouth of course, which was still full of all the other grapes that I was still trying to chew. Needless to say, I was not able to tell everyone happy new year because my mouth full of grapes. Maybe next year...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Benidorm was quality and pics will come soon. Back in Murcia for New Years Eve!

Watch this if you have a sec. It´s my roommates commercial he made for Chevy and if he wins the contest, it will be played during the Superbowl. Gracias

http://chevroletroute66.mx.msn.com/#/video/1350969827001/13384.EGAN2VIQNQAUL2BS

Yesterday I went to a small beachtown with two teachers from my school: Pedro and David. David has an exhibition of Belenes, nativity scenes, there at the church and we went to see it. Belenes are so much more common in Spain than in the U.S. It amazes me how much the people here are kind of obsessed with Belenes. They are literally everywhere you turn. I think that it is good though, just so different from what I am used to. I will post pics later because right now I am about to go to another beach town, Benidorm, for the next couple of days. Adios!

So I still have not recieved my residency card. When I turned in my papers, I was told that if I did not recieve a letter in two weeks saying that they needed something else, everything was fine and I would recieve my card in about  month. That was eleven weeks ago. So I figured I would go by the office and see what the deal was now that I had some free time. After talking with three different people with three different answers, I figured out that I did not have my card because they needed another paper from me. One very important fact is that I did not know this because they did not tell me. And they weren't going to tell me. When I asked the lady if this would be the last thing I needed to turn in she said, "I don't know." Oh Spain...

Just saw on Facebook that another friend from college passed away on Dec. 23. We had some Spanish classes together and he would always check in and make sure everything was going well in Spain for me. R.I.P. Asa. Prayers for you and your family. You inspired me more than anything else during college to be a better speaker of the Spanish language.

Merry Christmas everybody!!!

I got this from a friend. I don´t know where he found it though. Enjoy!!


Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa, 
Not a creature was stirring -- Caramba! Que pasa? 
Los ninos were tucked away in their camas,
Some in long underwear, some in pijamas,
While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado
In hopes that old Santa would feel ...obligado
To bring all children, both buenos and malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.
Outside in the yard there arose such a grito
That I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world do you think that it era?
Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero.
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados
Were eight little burros approaching volados.
I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre
Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
"Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, ay Berto, Ay Chato, ay Chopo, Macuco, y Nieto!"
Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho
He flew to the top of our very own techo.
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chiminea,
Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,
With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,
He filled all the stockings with lovely regalos --
For none of the ninos had been very malos.
Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone like the viento.
And I heard him exclaim, and this is verdad,
Merry Christmas to all,
and Feliz Navidad!

Christmas break is here! No more classes until Jan 9th.

University of Georgia head football coach Mark Richt broke NCAA rules by paying his coaches out of his own pocket. He just gained more respect from me. Go Dawgs and Go Richt! Here is the article:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/35476/the-audacity-of-mark-richt

Sad to hear about the passing of a friend that I went to elementary school with. It is amazing the number of people that I know under 30 that have passed away over the past three years. Rest in Peace Aubrey. Thoughts and prayers for your family, especially your little girl.

Sepia (cuttlefish), prawns and salad for lunch. The Medieterrenean diet.

I'm having issues uploading my pics to Facebook but I put a couple pics up on Flickr. You can see them on the right side of the blog under the borrowlenses.com ad. These will have to do until I post the rest on Facebook.

Just spent an hour talking to the librarian about movies and the NBA. Now it is time for class with these crazy little 5 yr olds.

Day three was a chill day. Walked around a bit and went to a mall that is close to the house where I am staying at. Night plans included walking around and going to see a comedian who turned out to be pretty good. Last night was also the big game between Madrid and Barcelona. Barcelona won and we got to see everyone celebrating. There is this one fountain where everybody celebrates each Barca victory and we just happenend to be there right after the game ended. Pics and videos will be posted tomorrow, maybe. Now it is time to head to the airport. Back to work, my short vacation is over.

Day two was another success. Got to see and go in the infamous Sagrada Familia as well as visit a little beach town that is about 30 mins outside of the city. I took a bunch of pics so I will try to get them up asap.

I had good first day in Barcelona. Pretty much spent the entire day just walking around. It was a holiday so there were a ton of people out.

I am heading up to Barcelona tonight! Pics and stories to come next week.

Yesterday, one of the teachers from my school gave me a ticket to go watch Murcia's basketball team play. I've been wanting to go see a game so that made me happy. And I got to go for free so even better. They ended up losing but it was good to see some basketball finally. It also made me miss playing and now I want to go play. I enjoyed the game and I will definitely be going to see at least a couple more games. Overall, it was a bad weekend for my sports teams. North Carolina (NCAAB), Georgia (NCAAF), Detroit and Cincinnati (NFL) all lost.

Another quality video from my roommate Cal. The kid has talent.

\\http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOzKdZI24dk&feature=g-user

Here is the link to my old pics from my first two adventures in Spain.

http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424

Today my Georgia Bulldogs will play for the SEC championship. So, like every other Saturday, I will be proudly wearing my red and black.  Two months have passed now and everything is going quite well. My school is full of nice people and the students aren’t too bad either. Earlier this week, the lady in charge of the program I worked with the other years here sent me an email asking if I wanted to work some extra hours at another school. I obviously said yes and I will begin working in January. I’m quite happy because this means more money!

This year I am also enrolled in a Spanish class. We meet twice a week for 3 ½ hours. It is quite intensive considering what all we have covered in just two weeks of class so far. There are only five of us so that makes it even better. Over the past few years I have wanted to actually study Spanish again because four years has already passed since I graduated from college.

Next week is our first break in December and Wednesday night I am flying to Barcelona to see some friends and I will fly back on Sunday. I haven’t taken any pics in a while so I’m excited for my first trip with my camera.

Hope all is well with everyone!! 

Finally posted some new pics on Flickr so go have a look!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamal424/

My roommate Cal from last year won a video contest for Pepsi and last week he got to go to London for three days for the awards show. Here is the link for the video:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxvsx6fOPqc&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

Happy birthday to my mother, Mrs. Mary D. Martin!!!!!!!!