Please check this out:

     My amazing friend Kara sent me something earlier today that I haven't been able to get out of my head - Nicholas Kristof's Advice for Saving the World. Please give it a read.

     Kristof, a prominent human rights columnist for the NYT, is probably best known these days for his coverage of Darfur. He points out that he often struggles with finding the right angle to strike home the point he's trying to make in his stories - something I remember always having an issue with in my own work (which pales in comparison - both in context and ability - to his).

     In this article, he makes the depressing, yet obvious point that we've been conditioned as a society to not respond humanistically to horrific tales of genocide when told on a massive scale. And he's right. 
     Two years ago, Kara and I went to Cornell with a few friends to listen to him speak about activist journalism, which drew an embarrassingly small crowd. About halfway through his speech, he presented a slideshow of his travels in Darfur, and stopped to point out a stone-faced, 9-year old boy who had his leg hacked off in guerilla warfare; or a weak, smiling 12-year old girl who was recovering from a gang rape by Janjaweed militia. I remember him noticing the number of people - probably including myself - who had straightened up in our chairs. "Ah," he said. "I've finally gotten your attention."

Photo by Nicholas Kristof, taken from a Dec. 5, 2008 National Geographic Adventure article

     Now, in the hope to garner public awareness for the greater good, he suggests that aid groups should invest time and energy toward a marketing strategy similar to what major corporations spend each year to promote a damn can of soda. This will take significant amounts of revenue, which many aid orgs. are already severely lacking, but donor juggernauts like George Clooney and Oprah already seem to have gotten behind this kind of humanitarian cash promotion. It may seem dangerous, or even unethical to mix such business with non-profit, aid organizations, but then again we've become a culture that only responds to flash-pan marketing, so who's to say it can't hurt to try. Any thoughts?

Colder weather, and the holidays that come with it

     November practically flew by, which is terrifying to me. It's already a week into December, and our jam-packed holiday vacation is fast approaching. I should probably get my hands on a guidebook to start looking into what to do in Berlin (i.e.), besides walk through beautiful Christmas markets crying into my pint glass (yes, I'll be allowed to walk through the streets drinking, I hope) because I miss my family. 
     But seriously! The season has finally changed from summer to a weird fusion of fall-like temperatures with wintery-themed visuals: trees are losing their leaves, Christmas lights are abound, the local shopping center is impossible to walk through without getting mowed down by a frantic Spanish family either missing one last crucial shopping item on their list, or a child. 
     PUES! In the States when it starts to chilly in October/November we at least have Thanksgiving to look forward to. Jules and I had started preparing ourselves for the fact that we wouldn't be partaking in this year's festivities way back in September, but still.. as the day approached and I talked to more of my friends from home who had started fasting that Monday to prepare to ingest some 5,000+cals between Wednesday-Thursday evening, I couldn't help but feel a little self-pity. My two aunts actually CRIED when they found out that I was alone at my piso on Thanksgiving for cripessake! (Jules was on her way home from a private lesson! I was Skyping with them before they went to celebrate with the rest of my family) On Thanksgiving night, we celebrated with wine and popcorn, which was sufficient enough for us seeing that we had to teach the next day and preferred a resaca (hangover) in place of a food coma.
     Still, we began inquiring among our British/Spanish friends if they would, in fact, enjoy celebrating such a feast with us in a setting that included both an oven and living room? (Our piso lacks both). Jill, a local business owner of Torres, a private English learning center in Ecija, volunteered to host all of us out at her home in the country where there would be a large oven and enough space to seat at least 20 of us. Our friend Natalie, who works at Torres with Jill, volunteered to let us use her oven the night before to cook up our signature dishes: for me it was my aunt's sweet-potato casserole and grandmother's sweet rolls.
     Sunday came, and it was such a success! I think the official count was at 17 people: two of my students were there, haha - I tried several times unsuccessfully to push my sweet-potato casserole on them. Pues, nada. Such is life!

The feast: a 7-lb. chicken (stores in Spain don't put out giant turkeys until Christmas); my sweet-potato casserole, Jules' homemade cranberry sauce; steamed green beans with almonds; migas, a lovely Spanish take on stuffing here; rolls and pureed "mashed" potatoes that we butchered with Nat the night before. 

Jules pushing more food on Nat

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After the Thanksgiving weekend, December was here and Christmas began to take hold of Ecija. Last weekend, we were treated to our first medieval festival. I think I mentioned earlier that Ecija is an old Baroque town with a dozen ancient churches.. anyway, this fair comes once a year - there were all kinds of yummy, homemade treats including crepes, cookies from the nunnery and sushi. Yes, you read that correctly. See for yourself!

The medieval fair

My favorite light display in Ecija - and it's right down our street!

CREPES!

PYROTECHNIC Nativity display! Sans caganer, unfortunately.

Palm trees in the salon getting jazzy for the holidays.

Of course, it wouldn't be Christmas for me without decorating every square inch of my apartment.