Americano at large ...

Wish me luck ...

2007-09-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

Over a year has past since I started this blog to chronicle my European "education" ... which was unfortunately cut short when I (near as I can figure) simultaneously caught every cold and flu that I had missed out on upon my brief return to the US in July ... I missed my flight to Madrid, and subsequently my month and a half in Spain ... I beg my good spanish friends to forgive me ... perhaps Spain was not ready for me yet ... you will have a few more years to prepare :)

I am back in Cleveland now, and seeing how the good things have stayed the same during my absence (like bbq's on the front porch) ... my immune system is fully recovered just in time for my Infectious Disease rotation as I begin to pretend to be a doctor for real this time ... armed with my new perspectives and a massage table (I'm also taking classes to get certified in massotherapy), I'm ready to make a healing difference in peoples' lives ... all I have to do is remember all of the medicine that I forgot during my year off ....

Wish me luck ...

Final Few Days ...

2007-09-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

During my final few days in Italy ... went to the sold out summer opera annual premiere of Verdi's Aida in the Verona amphetheatre (although unfortunately they didn't have live elephants this year) ...

And then was joined by a very dear friend, who helped me explore Urbino, Vicenza and gigantic quattro formaggio pizzas (lactose intolerance be damned!) ...

And then graduation ... according to the EU and three universities, I'm now credentialed as a advanced master of bioethics (finishing magna cum laude ... whatever that means in this situation ... if the priests in my program only finished cum laude, does that mean that I have a greater command of ethics?!? God help us ...)

What an interesting journey it's been for all of us ... much like with the quattro formaggio, I guess I just need more time to digest it all

Under the Tuscan Cloud ...

2007-06-14T23:58:00.000-07:00

Spent a few days in the towns surrounding Siena and Firenze trying to get in touch with my inner Medici … trying to avoid tourists and amazing rain storms, and discovering that beauty is to be found everywhere -- even out of bathroom windows !

Rome if you want to ...

2007-06-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

Rome is a city that obliterates reasonable perspective ... from the Pantheon (a spectacle in engineering that has been in continuous use for nearly two thousand years, with its original doors) to the Vatican Museum/Basilicae (the greatest demonstration of Renaissance politics and imperial power) to the 3rd century Christian catacombs (22km of underground passageways) on the Via Appia, Rome makes make most modern marvels seem unnecessary and redundant. It took me a great deal of effort to see the city in its past glories (with far more substance than its surface value as a modern tourist Mecca), and I believe, perhaps more than any other city, a full appreciation of it is very much an acquired taste.

Raphael started his best work there when he was 22 …
Michelangelo was 23 when he did his Pieta …

I’m 27, and have only just finished yet another Master’s thesis, which probably wouldn’t be enough to cover the Sistine Chapel (nor be nearly as decorative) … although it sure would be fun to try :) ...

but then again, don't they say something about Rome not being built in a day ...

We Saw Warsaw ...

2007-05-27T23:24:00.001-07:00

Met up with some friends in Warsavia and Krakovia for a few glorious days of music festivals, fellowship and Polish alcohol (Zywiec and Wodka Zoladkowa Gorzka) … enjoying the multiple realities of an emerging capitalist Eastern Europe that is still shedding its Soviet skin … hoping that what survived the cold war doesn’t fall victim to market forces ...

Examining the lounges that now repopulate the Kazimierz district (the old jewish ghetto) … Attending mass in one of Pope JP II’s old churches in Rynek Glowny and then crossing the street for a coffee at one of Lenin’s favorite old cafes ...

A disturbingly gorgeous day at Auschwitz … while I can see why “writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric’’ (Theodor Adorno), it seems as though nature doesn’t always agree …

My backyard ...

2007-05-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

If I had to find a word to replace ‘music’, the only word I can think of is ‘Venice’” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Living only 30 minutes from the “Most Serene Republic”, I often find myself wandering the canals searching for inspiration, hunting ghosts or just entertaining foreign dignitaries (most notably, my parents) … Here are a few of the better images that I’ve captured while contemplating the How and Why -- trying to get intimately familiar with the Where …

The Ae-NEIL-id

2007-05-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

As I am in Europe getting a Master's Degree in a Philosophy-related discipline, a visit to ancient Greece seemed to me a required experience ...

Walking in the footsteps of Socrates and Aristotle in the big museum known as Athens ... trying to convince everybody (with great success) that I'm a student from Holland so that I could see all of antiquity for free -- debate the ethics of that !

I believe that God created the color blue for Greece ... this works on several levels as the Greeks are also notoriously pessimistic (documented to have a worse outlook on the coming year than even Iraqis), but I can't really understand why ...

After a few days in Thessaloniki developing a 10-euro-a-day cheap coffee habit with local student friends, I made the voyage out to Santorini (the most visually stunning place I have ever been) .... where I rented a quad to explore the island's red/black sand beaches and wineries, and to hunt for colors, shapes and shadows (in true Platonic fashion) of all forms ...

For more spectacles from my odyssey, wander over to the "Greece" photo link on the right ...

Padova ...

2007-04-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

The last chapter in my formal European education ...
Benvenuto a Padova !

Settling down to classes at Universita Padova - the third oldest in the world (1222) and the host to some of the most important discoveries/work of Copernicus, Galileo, Dante, Veselius, Donatello (unfortunately, not the ninja turtle) ... and hopefully, me

A few days of orientation, including a reception at city hall in the Prato Della Valle (largest square in Europe, second only to Red Square in Moscow) ...

English is a luxury, and I've been told that my Italian is like a Spanish girl's English ... although nobody seems to know what that means either ...

And of course, getting used to the Italian lifestyle ... nothing working quite right the first few times (cell phone, PAINFULLY slow internet, Italian beauracracy) ... 3.5 Euro three-course meals (with unlimited vino rosso in the soda dispensers) at the University mense/canteens ... and the fact that it is perpetually 75 degrees and sunny.

Oh, how we suffer for our art ...

Loose Ends All Tied Up ...

2007-04-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

My final few days in the Netherlands have been rather intense ... finishing exams, struggling to complete my thesis, working on a few manuscripts ... we will see whether this addiction follows me to Italy, or if pasta will be enough to occupy my attention ...

Competing with this alleged productivity ... an indulgence in the sights and smells of a welcomed Dutch Spring ... A visit to Keukenhof Gardens, the largest flower garden in Europe open only two months a year, with more colors than an enormous Crayola box !

I've posted more pictures of this and my journeys to Budapest and Vienna on my secondary Flickr site (I maxed out the free limits of the first one) ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/7761422@N08/ ...

Tonight I got to witness a lopsided 2-1 slogging of Eredivisie powerhouse PSV Eindhoven by the home side of NEC - Nijmegen ... a beautiful fairwell to my days as a temporary Nederlander (an eendagvliegen, of sorts)

Wien ...

2007-04-04T05:32:00.000-07:00

On to Vienna, for more culture, cafes and caffeine ...

Spent the majority of my time searching out the elegant cafes that were the storied favorites of Klimt, Hitler, Beethoven, Freud, Trotsky, and my grandparents ...

After an afternoon waiting in line, standing room tickets for Beethoven's Fidelio at the Staatsoper ... better than the otherwise-120 + euro price of admission ... the simple pleasures of feeling cheap and out of place ...

A tram trip out to the Zentralfriedhof to see the grave of Falco (the man with the genius to ask WHAT IF Mozart had been a member of an 80's biker gang) as well as the graves of Brahms, Beethoven, the Strauss clan and 2.5 million other non-musicians ...

And no Vienna trip / reinactment would have been complete without a late night screening of an original print of the Carol Reed/Graham Greene/Orson Wells classic The Third Man in a small theatre off the Ringstrasse ... definitely a highlight, and certainly worth the trademark Anton Karas tune stuck in my head all the way to Bratislava !

Separating the Buda from the Pest ...

2007-03-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

(subtitle: The Fourth Noble Truth)

With a week before my exams and a weath of reading and theory to still digest, I grabbed my books and headed towards the appropriately-timed Spring Festival in Budapest, Hungary.

By night, studying in opulent fin-de-siecle Hapsburgian coffeeshops ...

During the day, wandering in search of sun, scenes and sensations ... (such as this rhino with cherry blossoms, an all-too-unlikely combination)

And no Budapest experience would be complete without indulging in their numerous spas and baths (photo below of the idyllic Gellert Baths was pilfered from the internet ... understandably, cameras are not permitted in such environments ... fortunately, I was)

Most importantly, I was able to complete the virtuous cycle ... after being hungary in turkey (passing through Istanbul on my way to Amman in December), I was finally able to eat turkey in hungary this week ! Poetic closure ....

De Hoge Veluwe ...

2007-03-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

On little more than a rumor and a hunch, I followed the springtime weather (and, technically, also a train and a bus) out to De Hoge Vueluwe National Park (about 6 km outside of Arnhem) ... the largest of its kind in Holland, it is home to a 26 km bicycle circuit through a wealth of the most wonderful and peaceful landscapes ...

After meandering through hours of vast and vacant landscapes (not encountering another soul), I stumbled upon the Kroller-Muller Museum ... the personal collection of the the park's benefactors houses a very familiar collection of Van Gogh's and Picasso's as well as a fine collection of pointalist works ...

The Museum also is home to Europe's largest sculpture garden ... spread out amongst the surrounding forrest ...

The day was so magical and the scene so magnificent that this short entry cannot begin to do it justice ... The source of some of my most pleasant memories of Europe ... I felt like I might be starting to understand what Aristotle meant by Eudaimonia ... (feel free insert your favorite "it's all greek to me" joke here____________ )

More of the day's beauty can be found on my Flickr site ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/nixdorff/

Nixdorff in Dusseldorf ...

2007-03-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

Or was it the other way around ? It all depends on your perspective ... my first return to Germany in almost 12 years for a slight change in my own.

A quick daytrip for a Picasso exhibit focusing on his prolific years as an octogenarian ... I wonder if this is how the world is going to look to me in 50+ years

Escaped from the rain and the cold (you would think I would be used to it by now) to get overly-caffeinated and read some Heidegger and Husserl in a Starbucks on the Koningsallee ... seemed the most (ironically) apporpriate thing to do on several levels ... a wonerfully self-indulgent phenomenology !

Karnival ...

2007-02-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

The university is closed for Karnival festivities and southern Netherlands is very much alive ... some images from 3 days of spectacle in Maastricht, Eindhoven and 's-Hertogenbosch (yes, the town's name actually starts with an apostrophe) ... perhaps the most authentic way to experience the Netherlands !

Nijmegen for a day ...

2007-02-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

My winter months in Nijmegen have seen little but rain and work (and episodes of The A-Team with Dutch subtiltes ... after countless hours of direct observation and inquiry, I can report conclusively that "I pity tha fool" has no direct Dutch translation) ... so when we had an unseasonal day of sun yesterday, I emerged from my hibernation to explore my surroundings in search of some eccentric beauty ...

Circle of Healers ...

2007-01-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the honor of watching a project of mine over the past 10 months blossom in Southern California. About 40 miles outside San Diego, 60+ med students, residents and physician mentors gathered for the seventh annual National Circle of Healer's Conference/Retreat, sponsored by the American Medical Student Association. We had expert led (and volunteered!) workshops on narrative medicine, non-violent communication, communicative/therapeutic drumming and shamanistic journeying.

Initially, I was thrilled to have this opportunity to design a healthy weekend party with a $7000 budget for some of my dear friends (both present and future) and to invest myself around the creation of an intimate space and a vision (using communication to channel personal inspiration into the physician/patient encounter) ... to give authority to my seldom acknowledged hippie/granola side ...

Over the months, though, this project grew to strain me both logistically (attention to minutiae in coordinating something 9,000 miles away) and metaphysically (maintaining some non-attachment so that I didn't overwhelm the project with my own needs and expectations)

In the end, it was a bit of a blur (perhaps due to the jet-lag), but we got rave reviews from all of the mentors and participants (most of whom had spent around $500 each on airfare and program fees to be there that weekend) ... no one was hurt, we home-cooked all of our vegetarian meals, and it looks like we might have come in under budget ... unfortunately, as I consigned myself to the business of making sure things ran smoothly/promptly, I did not put myself in a very good position to properly appreciate the weekend ... but this is a small price to pay for it all.

The project wouldn't have been much without the help and support of my planning committee (Dave, Evan, Sonia, Sonya, Sahana, Amy, Marcy) and I guess the true testiment to the weekend was that while helping to make sure things did not go awful, awry or askew, they all seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves -- and for that I am very thankful

Continuing with my counter-intuitive winter pattern, I experienced my coldest night of the year in the hills around San Diego ... 15 degrees F ... the coldest temperature on record at the retreat site, with about half an inch of snow as icing on the frozen cake .... I should have expected it, especially when I met the camp site caretaker, who was actually named "Frosty" ... Fortunately, we had a glorious indoor fire pit and enough firewood and space heaters in the cabins to make sure that nobody really noticed ...

Some images from that weekend:

Hurricane Season in the Netherlands ...

2007-01-20T06:05:00.000-08:00

Having survived Hurricane Cyril (dubbed by the Germans who recorded 123 mph winds ... we only saw 84mph winds in the Netherlands, but evidently enough to cause quite a few people to get blown into the canals in Amsterdam and halt transportation) -- amazingly, no reports of significant flooding despite most of the country (ironically, the most densly populated one in Europe) being below sea level -- I am settling into my homely new apartment in Nijmegen (pronounced : N'aye-may-hen). Despite the 30-40 minute commute to school (with bus transfers) I am quite happy with my situation here, and am enjoying a renewed focus on my studies, research and language skills (watching the likes of Ali G with Dutch subtitles ... hopefully after a few months of this I will be able to speak Nederlands like Borat!) -- imagine, finding discipline in the Netherlands!

Some pics of my spacious apartment's living room and kitchen

My brief backyard, and a nearby football pitch ... a very residential feel for a change !

Magic of the Middle East ...

2007-01-01T07:23:00.000-08:00

The magic of the Middle East ... snow on palm trees (despite 5 days in Sweden, my first snow of the year was in Jerusalem), rainbows in the desert (Dead Sea) ... not a very conventional week in Israel ... meanwhile in Jordan, a snowstorm dumped a meter of snow on Petra (thus preventing my much anticipated and fantasized visit, and requiring the army to rescue via airlift 61 Greek tourists as there were no snow plows) ... an interesting, but by no means entirely satisfying, trip

Jerusalem is an amazing place ... too much history and culture ... From getting lost in several bibilically-famous sites of miracles and daringdo -- Temple Mount, Gethesemane, Via Dolorosa, Golgotha, etc -- to the current dynamics of the Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian Quarters ... I can start to understand why it has been the most contested-over city in history

I loved Tel Aviv (probably should have gone to med school there instead of Cleveland), I hated the border crossings (that held a travel partner for 5 hours because he has a muslim name and has been to lebanon and syria) ... but the spas and hammams more than made up for all of the hassles and slight misfortunes

New perspectives were my Christmas/Hannukah/Eid gifts ... from getting a glimpse of life behind the West Bank walls in Palestine to hearing about the vehement administrative support for holocost deniers in elite, secular Jordanian schools, the area just grew more complex by the day ... on my last day I found myself in arabic markets shopping beneath the glow of Al-Jezzera replaying the inapproprately-timed execution of Saddam Hussein (accompanied by somewhat accusing stares as many Jordanians and Palestinians were very supportive of the former regime), as if to remind me of the part that I have to play in the entire drama -- and that it is impossible to be just a spectator anymore

I'm very thankful for my arabic-savvy host (Abi) and traveling partners (Abi & Ali) for the week, as well as the Fulbright expat group for more exposure and inclosure than I could have mustered on my own ... shukran!

I've posted 60+ of my favorite pictures from the week at my new photo site --
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nixdorff/
You don't need to sign-up for anything to view them, and it's much easier than uploading a dozen pictures to my blog ... so enjoy at your leisure !

Christmas in the West Bank ...

2006-12-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Jerusalem and "the territories" ... a quick update as to how I spent my Christmas in the Middle East. All of the big christian midnight masses were "sold out", so I attended a English Epsicopalian service outside the walls of old jerusalem ... for the day, we travelled to Bethlehem in the West Bank to the Church of the Nativity (seemed the most appropriate thing to do) to light a candle for my grandmother ... staying in the Muslim quarter of the old city, it is strange to see picutres of Arafat alongside pictures of Santa Claus ... 'tiss the season ...

A strange seasonal message brought to you at the West Bank border crossing

The much less seasonal insides of the West Bank ...

Oh, how Bethlehem has changed in 2000 years ...

La Fiesta De Mi Despedida ...

2006-12-22T02:46:00.000-08:00

As a celebration of my final days in Leuven, my beloved Spanish threw me a surprise going-away party ... a most unexpected yet appropriate end to my three months here ... I will always remember Leuven as being more Spanish than Belgian ...

And of course no Leuven celebration would be complete without the Turks !! God bless you all ...

And of course no Leuven/Spanish celebration would be complete if it didn't spill over into the clubs at the wee hours of morning ...

Ah, the end of an era ... thank you all for a wonderful chapter !!

The Stockholm Syndrome

2006-12-21T07:03:00.000-08:00

Subtitled: Still looking for something Sweder ...

I made use of the cheapest round trip ticket imaginable (.02 Euro + taxes and fees) to visit one of the most expensive cities on the planet (mixed drinks for about 10 Euro, coffee for about 4 or 5 Euro -- the Italians in the group were almost in revolt) ...

Stockholm ... where the sun rises at 10AM and has set again by 2PM, and everything is covered by a perpetual layer of frost ....

Christmas markets were everywhere ... where one could enjoy a warm seasonal Glogg

One of my favorite parts was this open air ice rink where I found that I could skate as well as some of the Swedes ... which seemed somewhat unnatural (particularly for someone originally from Texas)

Numerous museums (mostly free) ... my favorite was the Alfred Nobel Museum (ironically, the man who endowed the Peace Price is most well known for his invention of dynamite) which featured an exhibition of the paitings of Winston Churchill

By far the highlight of the trip was a day trip I took to Sodertalje to see a Swedish Master's League Ice Hockey Match (SSK vs. Bjorkloven) ... Swedish hockey is beautiful thing ... much more fluid with more finese and less sluggish boards play ... the crowd was equally appreciative and amazingly attentive to the game as well ... In the picture below, if you zoom in on #33 (upper left), you will see one of the purest smiles -- which, afterall, is what hockey is all about

Signs of the Season ...

2006-12-14T04:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/Wright Bros. Day are fast approaching ... A few local signs of the season:

I had my first two oral philosophy final exams this week ...

The area nearby my house has been turned into some sort of seasonal village (Leuvenuse Kerstmasfest) ... filled with venders selling crafts, waffles, fudge and hot wine ...

A stage with choirs and a PA system blaring Bing Crosby ad nauseum ...

Some of my Spanish friends are very cold despite being dressed warmly ...

All signs that the year and my time in Leuven is drawing to a close ...

A Trip to the Belgian Promised Land ...

2006-12-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

Subtitled: Neil and the Stella Factory ...

As I close in on my final few weeks in Leuven, I got the opportunity to make the obligatory pilgrimage to the Stella Artois brewery (by appointment only) ... the juggernaut that fuels the economy and spirits of this university town, and is, in a word, omnipresent.

The technological heart of Leuven ! -- Monitored like a nuclear power plant, and not one person to be found playing Solitaire or MineSweeper ...

Some of the vast (*echo* vast, vast) sea of brewing drums ...

The beginnings of a labyrinth of beer kegs ... incredulous, I kept looking out for umpaloompas

The Stella experience is not complete without training and evaluation in beer pouring technique ...

Now I can officially consider myself having lived in Leuven !

ICTY ...

2006-12-04T11:52:00.000-08:00

Adding to what I now realize could be seen as a travelogue of atrocity/genocide tourism (Dachau, Tibet, Rwanda, Ypres ... ), I joined a law-faculty sponsored trip to Haag (mispronounce as "The Hague") and the International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY for short) where we got introductions from various Leuven alums working on a range of ICC business and got to sit in on the Milutinovic et al. (Sainovic, Ojdanic, Lazarevic, etc.) trial ... rather erie seeing them in person in the courtroom ... I was lost in my thoughts all afternoon, and didn't pay much attention to the boring testimony or the funny outfits of the lawyers ...

Understandably, security was very tight, so I was only able to abscond with this picture of the exterior of the old insurance-company-turned-temprorary-court ... fairly unassuming

When a Discourse Becomes Stereotyped ...

2006-12-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to go to the European Commission last night as a friend invited me to a forum on the status of Roma/"Gypsies" in the EU ... with the recent additions of Bulgaria and Romania, there are now an estimated 10 million Roma in the EU (more than the entire popuation of Belgium) facing important issues such as discrimination and challenges integrating into the global economy ... once again I got to (this time honestly) play the part of the ignorant American (even to all of the stereotypes that they were trying to dispel) ... it was very informative ... I met a Lithuanian girl interning in the EC who had never met an American before in Europe ... so I evidently dispelled some stereotypes of my own ...

I ended up going out for drinks with some of the participants (at an Irish pub ... so much for stereotypes), and missing the last train back to Leuven ... leaving me to explore Brussels (once again ...) until the first train at 5AM ...

The train back was beset by a group of loud and obnoxious Loyola College students (appropriately enough) ... and I understood much clearer some of the stereotypes against Americans ... the worst ones are those rare ones that you can't escape because they end up to be occasionally true ... I apologized to all on the train for them once they had left (but that didn't make me feel any better about it all)

In Flander's Fields ...

2006-11-28T03:32:00.000-08:00

In a field trip of sorts, my programme organized a day around the Belgian town of Ypre (Ieper), the site of 250,000 casualities during WWI and some of the nastiest trench warfare ... There is a very high-tech, interactive museum (more tastefully reminiscent of the Rwandan Genocide Memorial in Kigali than of the unnecessary technology of Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam) in which you follow a narrative around the museum (in the form of a coded card that triggers story updates as you passed terminals throughout the museum ...)

Interestingly enough, I was already familiar with my surrogate character ... Harvey Cushing -- famous Hopkins neurosurgeon and Yale alum whose grave I have run past many times in a cemetary that is less than a mile from my residences over the past two years in Cleveland ... the world keeps getting smaller ...

Ypre was the first place that modern biological warfare was used ... in the form of Chlorine and Mustard gases.

There are numerous trenches/underground bunkers, unexploded ammunition and bodies that are still being discovered (almost on a weekly basis).

They also exhibit the largest WWI Commonwealth cemetary with almost 12,000 graves ...

I looked up Ypre in my "Satchel Guide to Europe (published 1894)" to which I've been adding my own accounts along the way ...

The only mention of the town was with regards to a festival that they would have the first Sunday in August (incidently, immediately following that discription the authors went on to describe "Swiss wrestling matches") ... I guess a war can put a place on the map just as it wipes it from the face of the Earth ...

History Repeating ...

2006-11-25T12:56:00.000-08:00

Some reflections from a day in the city of Ghent ... a city that needlessly ceased to have much meaning to Americans after the Treaty of Ghent (in which the US promised to halt hostilities against the Native Americans ... a false renewal the Thanksgiving spirit) which ended the War of 1812 with the British (a failed war which the US started ostensibly to challenge a blockade, but covertly to conquer Canada) yet was merely a prelude to the unnecessary death and suffering in Louisianna (the infamous Battle of New Orleans which occurred two weeks after the treaty had been signed). Perhaps history does repeat itself in more subtle ways ...

Otherwise it's just another a large town with losts of canals and churches with art that you're not supposed to take pictures of ...

A turkey of a different color ...

2006-11-24T09:47:00.000-08:00

My first Thanksgiving away (amazing that this is only the first, having long since abandoned the sacredness of the Christmas and Easter rituals) ... consisted of me giving a presentation on acute pain management for recovering addicts, abstaining from watching American football, and enjoying Lebannese/Palestinian delicacies and Syrian melodies with some Basque friends ... can you find a theme?

The Best in American Cinema was Originally from France ...

2006-11-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

A wet and rainy evening spent in Brussels (goes without saying) at a museum exhibition on Charlie Chaplin followed by three of his silent films with live piano accompaniment ...

I most enjoyed a picture of him with Einstein (which I lifted from the web and posted below for your enjoyment) ... I wonder what a contemporary equivalent pair would be, or if there could even be a current match of two geniuses both of their calibre and as well-appreciated as they were in their day...

Flying Blind ...

2006-11-20T16:05:00.000-08:00

I had a very interesting 72hr trip back to the US for meetings in Washington DC ...

My 23 hour transit from Brussels to Baltimore was colored by two flight cancelations, a few hours sitting on a runway in Newark, a bus delay and a train derailment (fortunately not my own) ... lest I forget - a Channel 7 news interview as I sat in Union Station plotting my next move ... thank goodness for friends and family ...

I enjoyed the pause of a morning walk around the neighborhood in Baltimore and feeding ducks before spending a lovely afternoon with my grandparents (my reward) before scrambling back to DC for meetings Saturday and until my departure on Sunday ...

I felt a little like a zombie ("ssombie" as my Castillian friends would say) and somehow I neglected to take any pictures (for those of you keeping score)

Testimony ...

2006-11-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

Enjoyed a quick visit from the folks this week ... immersed them in the wonders of Leuven and Paris (a first time for both) ... showed them the good company / colleagues that I keep ... and managed to have a good time without international incident ...

Tool concert in my backyard

2006-11-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

Last night I enjoyed an unexpected concert by the innovative American band TOOL -- arguably one of the only widely successful rock bands emerging for my generational cohort to exhibit true musicianship (with their polyharmonies, complex rhythm layering and abrupt, yet interwoven, changes).

Evidently, after selling out their show in Brussels (7,000 seats in 10 minutes) they decided to add a relatively unpublicized show at a convention center in Leuven (a small college-town venue in comparison with the big city stadiums they usually play on tour throughout Europe and the States). It was definitely one of the very best shows I have ever seen (a true audio-visual spectacle) and am very glad that I finally got to see one of the bands that helped guide me through some of my adolescent angst. It was also very interesting seeing them with Polish, Greek and Spanish friends ... many of whom had very different identifications with the music, but a very similar appreciation ... it made it seem less like a concert and more like a true musical event.

Belgium is evidently still full of surprises ...

Cantus

2006-11-02T02:21:00.000-08:00

Last night I was priviliged to participate in a most enjoyable Belgian ritual ... the Cantus ... a three hour multi-lingual sing-along centered around an elaborate system of drinking rules and tremendous amounts of Belgian beer ... somewhere in between Oktoberfest (as I have been led to believe) and Cups at Mory's ... regardless, it will probably be weeks until me and my liver are on good terms again

This is Halloween, This is Halloween ...

2006-11-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

First off, kudos to anybody who recognized the "Nightmare Before Christmas" allusion in the subject heading ...

The town came to life for Halloween ... From the hundreds of riot police that filled the city (evidently last year the occasion was marred by somewhat unruly protests by the right-wing political party ... because, naturally *sarcasm*, when one thinks of Halloween one thinks of immigrants -- their main policital raison d'etre) to the numerous celebrations and decorations that had a slightly unfamiliar flavor to an American raised on trick-or-treating and ghools & goblins ... less gore, more frivolty ...

At one point, I ended up a party at "the Ring House" ... a residence so named not because it is on the "ring road' that encircles Leuven-proper, but because they have a boarded-up well in the basement (a la "The Ring" movies) ... that made me slightly uncomfortable ...

My costume for the evening was a suit I made out of some of Leuven's highly-discernable garbage backs (they have a hightly structured and regulated trash collection system here) with a sign saying "More American Trash" ... those who didn't know me were confused, the others who did were highly appreciative of my lighthearted, multi-layered critical commentary ... (although not nearly as developed as last years --> authentic arab clothing -- keffiyeh and all -- with a "Hello my name is : Peaceful Arab Majority" nametag and a stuffed-animal monkey with "Curious George W" nametag draped around my neck and over my back ...) I ask you, what good is a Halloween costume if you can't be sardonic and glib at least for one night ?!?

Anyway, a good time was had by all until about 7am ... in typical Spanish/Italian style

So as not to fall off the face of the Earth ...

2006-10-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

I've gotten into this nasty habit of only posting when I have images to share and describe -- as if my time here was strictly pictoral ... such is difficult to maintain, however, when the better part of your week is spent either at the library or in bed coping with a protracted stomach virus ... it does a great deal to ground your perspective, but makes for lousy entertainment (and even poorer pictures) ...

As such, no real "adventures" over the past week, but in an attempt to push on with more content ...

Rediscovered a great indep-films theatre, and saw the new Soderbergh film ("Bubble") -- a locally-acted character-piece of people's attempts to fill empty lives while flirting with poverty in rural Ohio. It has somewhat of a surprise ending (if you could imagine such a thing given this backdrop) and is a somewhat sobering perspective on modern American life.

A friend discovered a local bar with several dozen board games ... most of which are in Dutch and are unintelligible (like "Het Veiligmeesters op Amsterdam") , and others are more familiar (like "Risk" "Taboe" and "AntiMonopoly") although still in Dutch ... the joys of spending the better part of an evening trying to conquer Australia without directions ...

As you can all see, this philosophy-thing is taking quite a toll as some might argue English is becoming a distant second language for me ... perhaps it might be best if I stick to pictures afterall ...

Somehow it's still sunny outside ...

2006-10-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Making the most of my first sick day in Belgium --

... Frustrated that chicken noodle soup is so difficult to find here ... I had to settle for this box of a creepy green ninja (whose pupils clearly tell us he's suffering through some sort of cholinergic crisis ... which then begs the question of what are in those little squares ?!?) offering me these tasty chocolate treats that have absolutely no business being a breakfast cereal ...

As if that wasn't enough:

... Missing a birthday party for a Spanish friend (and from what I hear, you DON'T want to miss Spanish birthday parties)
... Missing a symposium entitled "Jihad vs. McWorld" (personally, if given that very bleak choice, I might have found myself rooting for Jihad)
... Received an invitation in the mail (the first mail I've gotten that hasn't been from the police ... yay!) to a good friend's wedding next month in Reno ... tragic timing

Also tasked with submitting my Master's Thesis proposal before midnight (although I think that is unrelated to the violent illness) ...

The moral of this story, there are occasionally sour days in Shangri-la

To end/redeem this episode on a high note ... there is this car that keeps parking on my street ... one day I'll find this Wincor chap and find out what he did with my final "f" ...

Weekday Warrior ...

2006-10-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

There is quite an interesting phenomenon in Leuven: every Friday, almost all of the Belgian students (more than 20,000 in aggregate) take trains home for the weekend ... leaving the college town virtually deserted but for the international students. This is quite a reversal from the States as the social life of this town is strictly (and strongly) a Monday - Thursday affair.

I spent yesterday wandering around town (and the internet) looking for a thesis topic and ended up at a Polish house dinner - not really sure how successful I was, but at least there was good vodka involved. Today, randomly, I took the first train that came into the station and almost two hours later ended up in the coastal town of Blankenberge (or as I call it, the "Atlantic City" of the North Sea ... but with only one casino) ... I spent the day walking up and down the beach, enjoying the unseasonable sunshine and exploring the lichen-covered jettys

12 hours in Paris

2006-10-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday night / Sunday morning I was able to enjoy the "nuit blanche" cultural phenomenon yet again ... this time in Paris (thanks to Thalys' 30euro RT train tickets) ... The Louvre was kept open until midnight, and the Pompidou until around 4am -- both free of charge -- along with several other venues/concerts in the Marais that entertained until dawn.

Surprisingly, out of all of my European counterparts, I had the most extensive experience in Paris (a week er so), so it was largely up to my vague recollections and an even more vague map to navigate us through the evening ... fortunately, no one was hurt, and a good time was had by all ...

Life imitating art ... striking the pose of the Nike -- winged victory of Samothrace

Contemplating a Parisienne homeless life in front of Notre Dame ...

Some amazingly intelligent commentary via innovative (and often interactive) art is on display at the Pompidou -- some of it via Bluetooth to your cell phone ... highly recommended to anybody in the vicinity with an open perspective and a (albeit sometimes sardonic) sense of humor ...

3 Pictures from a seat in Leuven

2006-10-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

When Art Becomes Psychoanalysis ...

2006-10-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I was late to meet with somebody to attend a lecture on cultural readings of Belgian art ... rushed in and took the last seat in the packed auditorium just as the lights dimmed ... apparently not for a lecture on Belgian art, but for a 3-hour long documentary through which Slovenian philosopher, psychoanalyst and unintentional-comic Slavoj Zizek posited the necessity of film for moderating relations to fantasy and for understanding post-modern identity ... I guess you can never really be sure what you are going to get here ... tonight there's supposed to be a debate around the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict by representatives of various European think tanks -- so we'll see what that ends up becoming ...

And for the more visually enthralled, pictures of/from the library two minutes away from my residence ...Notice the statue of the bug on a needle (center) ... constructed to commemorate the University's 575 anniversary and to reflect the relationship that it has with the town of Leuven ... I have yet to hear an interpretation of this manifestation that is truly satisfying ...

Life's Rich Pageantry ...

2006-10-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

So while I was at a Bioethics conference on Friday, somebody stole my bike (or "my bike went missing" if you're teleologically inclined) ... I am in awe of the beautiful irony ... probably all for the best as the brakes and lights really didn't work very well, which probably would have gotten me into trouble later ...

We had a stunning lightning display last night that I spent 15 minutes struggling to capture on film in the sqaure in front of the library ... surprisingly, the 100 meter+ statue of the fly on the needle (foreground) did not act as a lightning rod

There is a great cafe in Leuven called STUK that shows independent films and documentaries as well as has free live jazz every Sunday night ... once again, I struggled with finding the appropriate lighting .... I guess you could say that I spent all night seeking illumination ...

A good kind of exhausted ...

2006-10-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

NuitBlanche 2006 ... a festival of unknown origin and support that keeps local museums and clubs open and (virtually) free from 7pm to 7am one night a year ... last night it was in Brussels (next week in Paris), and most of those left in Leuven for the weekend went down to check out the culture that Brussles has to offer (which is surprisingly more than just Jean-Claude Van Damme) ... at the very least, a great way to explore a city in a high energy environment

The before picture (although I guess we forgot to get an after picture) ... any night that begins as the only guy in the presence of 13 Turkish and Spanish women could be considered a great fortune in and of itself, and at the very least a catalyst for unpredictability.

A drum party that broke out towards the center of town at about 4 AM and enthusiastically lasted until around the time of the free breakfast (croissant and coffee, of course) at around 5:30

The illuminated Grote Markt with singers performing various styles from Italian opera to Arabic ... Of course this picture was before the comically-unforseen (as Leuven and Brussels typically get more inches of rain a year than London) rain storm ...

Unfortunately, my old age is getting to me, and I had to forego the music festival this afternoon in Antwerp to return to Leuven for some sleep.

2006-09-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

Conveniently enough, the European Association of Centres for Medical Ethics (EACME) has their international conference in Leuven this weekend ... thrilling sessions such as "On theological anthropology and biological life limits" and "Enhancement, cosmetic pyschopharmacology and identity." Most sessions seem to be struggling with developing a sort of "ethical empiricism" despite not really having a firm grasp of measurement methodological issues. A popular framework seems to be a notion of pragmatic hermeneutics, which while making the entire process more iterative, risks falling victim to the critiques of moral relativism. -- just to prove that there is actual thought going on in between the festivities here.

An amusing sidenote is that the conference is being held at the Begignhof campus of KU Leuven, a UNESCO world heritage site that used to be pestilence houses and is now used for special events and student housing ... the plenary sessions are being held in a church built in 1305 ... it's nice to finally be at a school not fanatically engaged in building construction.

2006-09-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

Last night was the WelkomStudenten concert in the Oude Markt ... thousands of students, a historic square dating back to the 1400s, and one mediocre DJ with a gratuitous light and lazer display ...

the astute observer will notice two things (1) without a memory card -- hopefully arriving from Singapore soon -- my camera can only hold four pictures and (2) I've been wearing that grey hooded sweatshirt too much and need to diversify my wardrobe ... I invite any other thoughtful insight ...

2006-09-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

First day of classes ... our courses are spread throughout three different faculties (Philosophy, Theology and Medicine) and two different hospitals ... 29 classmates from 16 different countries -- should make for an interesting mix once we all get over the disorientation and all arrive in the correct location at the proper time (which, incidently, changes weekly) ... makes me feel a little bit like a freshman again

Sept. 26, 2006

2006-09-28T00:37:00.000-07:00

What I did on my wonderfuly international 27th birthday:

ushered in the early morning in a city park with some Italians

played a pick-up game of soccer with random Belgians

sat at a cafe and read for a few hours from Harrison's Manual of Medicine (not too sure why, but I've been doing that recently)

received a birthday cake on the steps of city hall from my Turkish friends

ended the night at some fakbars (student bars) with some Spaniards

I can't help but wonder how my 28th birthday might turn out (any guesses?)

Brugge and Beyond

2006-09-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

A weekend "dis"orientation trip to Brugge -- the rather disappointing "Venice of the North" that has been transformed from a quiet medieval village into a colonial Williamsburg-esque playground for elder tourists that specializes in the lace and tapestries ...

Understandably, a few of us didn't last long in that city, and took a train to the beach town of Oostende for a rare beautiful day on the North Sea ...

Any town that is constucting a ferris wheel in front of the church is alright by me ... and then the beach ...

2006-09-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

First day of orientation for the internationals ... all of the circumstance without the pomp ... fun with friends (Italian, Argentinean and Turkish ... I'll let you guess who's who) at a carnival set up a few blocks from my house and at the saedes sapientis statue that university students adorn on their whims with different attire ...

I know why Columbus left Genoa ...

2006-09-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

recovering from the second overnight bus in three nights, and am now square with logistics ... presentation performance went well, and the pitchblack french countryside at 80 km/hr is more inspiring than one might think ... genoa is strangly reminiscent of baltimore, with thankfully limited tributes to its native son christopher columbus {the man who pioneered and innovated slavery on a large scale in the west, argueably ushering in some of the worst of colonialism -- for more on this, read historian Howard Zinn} ... glad to be back in Leuven

my first pic-o-the-day ... a small park by my new residence

2006-09-16T03:01:00.000-07:00

On my way to make a presentation at the AMEE international conference in Genoa, Italy on Monday ... we will see what inspiration I can find on an overnight bus trip to Milan ...

sept 11 flight a success

2006-09-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

in belgium now ... temporarily living in a monastery, and looking for less sanctified accomodations ... also hope to make my computer more internet friendly soon as i hate punching along on european keyboards ... until then,

Still Practicing

2006-08-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

As I prepare to leave, my friends are sad to see me go ... but eager to see me return with Belgian chocolate, Italian wine and Dutch _?_ (eerily enough, several people have so far replaced the ? when posed this riddle with "children" ... not exactly an epicurean delight like the others)

To start things off ...

2006-08-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

A moment of silence for the pristine blog ... *pause*