Lamentations, Hallucinations and Fermentations

It’s Tuesday evening and I just finished packing my clothes, &c. for my trip. Tomorrow, after work I will head down to the Bahnhoff (train station) and take the train to Frankfurt. Once there I will board a plane that will take me to Madrid, Spain. I will stay in Madrid tomorrow evening. Thursday morning I will drive the rental car south to Cordoba, where I will spend the night Thursday. Friday I will head down to a small town called Lebrija in the province of Sevilla. There I will do my very best to help celebrate the exchanging of vows between my friend Nancy and her new husband Nathan.

Nancy said that she would introduce me to plenty of Senoritas, and I told her that I would be willing to forgo aesthetics for a certain moral ambiguity…

Friday night will be spent in Lebrija, and from that point on it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen. I wanted to head toward Gibraltar, but I don’t know if I will have enough time. I want to get back to Madrid by Sunday morning so I can check out a Van Gogh exhibit at a Museum there, and then go to a Bullfight Sunday evening.

I think there is the need for some spur of the moment time, and I’ve scheduled it for Saturday.

Seeing as how Spain is the home of some of the world’s greatest hams, the awesome spicy chorizo sausage, and the ultimate rice dish … Paella, I think I’ll need some time to savor the flavors. Add some Spanish wine to the mix and I may not get out of Lebrija.

I am scheduled to arrive back in Frankfurt on Monday evening around 8:00 PM. This translates into not getting into my bed until at least 10:30 Monday night. Tuesday morning I may be heading to Africa for work. I won’t find out until tomorrow morning (Wednesday) and I’ll be all packed for Spain by then, as I am leaving directly from work.

The thing is that if I am going to Africa next week I need to start taking malaria pills … well … yesterday. I’m cool with picking them up tomorrow and starting the regimen immediately; however, the particular regimen of pills that I would be placed on … sometimes cause … well … hallucinations. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d normally be all for this type of thing. However, seeing as how I’ll be in Spain, I’m a little worried about the effect of the Sangria on the malaria pills. I am also hoping that it doesn’t start to kick in during the Bullfight.

Can you spell inturnashunal insadint?

I’m not sure yet if I will be taking my laptop, but I’ll take notes and lots of pictures wherever I end up. Just hang tight for a while, because I’m not sure when the next update will be. So for now, I’ll leave you with two pictures of recent meals.

The first one is my Labor Day Breakfast …



Waffles, Blutwurst, eggs, and a tomato. Delicious

Next we have tonight’s dinner …



A couple of hot dogs with cheese, kimchi, and a Schneiderweisse. Of course both the dogs and the kimchi were from jars, so it was not as good as it could have been. But I believe that this combination has the possibility of being something special.

When I opened the jar of kimchi, bubbles started coming up inside it. Oh how I love that sweet smell of fermentation!