photo

Flickr and photo galleries

I have been struggling looking for an image gallery solution for the school's website. It all seemed complicated via Drupal and most people recommended using Gallery and integrating it into Drupal. I had resisted. It seemed too much of a hassle. I looked for ways to integrate Flickr into Drupal and found nothing really useful. In the end I installed Gallery 2 into this site, along with the Flickr plugin to import/export image from/to Flickr.

I'll keep testing it here and in the mean time posting my pictures both to the Gallery on this site and my Flickr account... What will I lose by not using Flickr? Well... all the Flickr funtionalities, but mostly, I think, the community and showcase the huge site provides. Anyway... you'll still find photos on Flickr, but I'm starting my own gallery here. As with most things on this site, images have a CC license.

Llegó la navidad | Christmas is here

Ayer llegó la Navidad a casa de mi padre. Con la maravillosa ayuda de la chica azul hicimos el pesebre y ayudamos un poco con las demás decoraciones navideñas. Jacinto hizo el árbol con mi padre.

El pesebre, este año, tiene cancha de fútbol en un estadio en algún lugar del altiplano (supongo que en Boyacá), Beethoven dirigiendo la orquesta con Papá Pitufo, un avión volando sobre Belén y el mejor paisaje pesebresco de muchos años. Abajo las fotos.


Yesterday Christmass came to my father's house. With the marvelous help of the blue girl we made the manger (word I learned thanks to her) and helped with some of the other decorations. Jacinto made the tree with my dad.

The manger, this year, has a football (soccer) court somewhere in the area near Bogotá (Boyacá, I suppose), Beethoven conducting the orchestra with Papa Smurf, a plane flying over Bethlehem and the best landscaping in years. Pictures below.

Haciendo pesebre

Beethoven y Papá Pitufo

El proceso.The process. Beethoven y Papá Pitufo.Beethoven and Papa Smurf.
La cancha de fútbol en Boyacá

Jacinto y el árbol

Cancha de fútbol. Football (soccer) court. Jacinto y el árbol.Jacinto and the tree.
Ninjas .
Los ninjas. The ninjas. .

Zoo

Yup, I went to the zoo. Sunday was a rainy day while I walked along the paths and watched some animals shiver and others sleep or walk around. Then we had a picnic by the lake in Tominé and drove back to the city.
Pictures!

A cold monkey Eating what?
They're keeping warm Pissed serious monkey
Same guy A very patriotic bird
 
The bored king of the zoo  

Medellín and El Tintal

Wednesday I went to Medellín, invited by Fundación Terpel to read and assess classroom projects from teachers in public schools applying for a tiny grant. I'd never been to Medellín and didn't really get to know the city. From the airport to the hotel, to the airport and lots of work. I did go out to Parque Lleras Wednesday night and drove a little around on Thursday. It rained and I didn't see any pretty girls, an urban myth of that city from my point of view.
Friday I had another interview at the Ministry, for a different position, working with virtual communities. I think I asked for too much money, but have to wait... they said they'd call next week.
Yesterday I went to "El Tintal" the new library, etc. in the south west of Bogotá. It's near the end of the world, but it was nice. I went with a couple friends and their friend, took tons of pictures and had some fun. It's nice urban develpment area, far far away from anywhere I would live, but nice.
Today we will be going to the zoo in Parque Jaime Duque. I'll take some pictures and post them tonight... some monkeys for Anne, and more...
It's been a fun busy week.

Alameda el Porvenir* Paisas eating "chócolo"
Bikes and cows in the cicloruta El Tintal library
Cows by the Alameda Mr. and Mrs. Jaramillo

And finally a short video of Camilo and his wife, Cati, running in the cicloruta... he he he: the mpeg of the race.

*Belated correction.

 

Pictures were promised

the sign
the attitude-less singer

Pueblo de Brujas - Witch Town

Idioma 1
El martes por la noche terminé mi paper, o algo así (creo que voy a poner un par de imágenes más, aunque eso es trampa pues la fecha límite era el martes). Como esta semana es de vacaciones (Spring break), no tengo clases y estoy más bien poniéndome al día con algunas cosas que tenía atrasadas, además de haciendo trabajos... tengo otro que debo entregar el otro martes. Ayer, para aprovechar un poco las vacaciones, fui de paseo a Salem, el pueblo de las brujas, con mis amigos Knut y Yenda.

Fue un paseo divertido. Almorzamos en un buen restaurante, Victoria Station, y luego paseamos por el pueblo. Conocimos la casa de Nathaniel Hawthorne, el autor de La Letra Escarlata y otro poco de cosas que no he leído (o más bien la casa de su prima que lo inspiró para escribir "The House of the Seven Gables"). En general caminamos por ahí, vimos casas bonitas, tomamos fotos, compramos dulces en una dulcería que dice ser la primera del país, "Ye Olde Pepper Candy Companie", y regresamos por la nochecita en el tren. Algunas de las atracciones principales del pueblo, como el museo de las brujas no estaban abiertos en esta temporada. De pronto hasta volvemos más adelante en el año para ver eso y hacer el tour completo, je. En todo caso fue divertido el paseo.

En otras noticias, el pelo se me estaba cayendo a pasos tan agigantados que hoy decidí ir a la peluquería a calvearme. Así que ahora tengo el nuevo look a la Bruce Willis... de hecho no me he afeitado, lo que quiere decir que hoy tengo más pelo en la cara que en la cabeza.

Language 2
So, I finished my paper, or kind of, on Tuesday night and yesterday went on a day trip to Salem with my friends Knut and Yenda (from the dorms). It was fun to do something other than staying in Cambridge for the break. We ate at a very decent restaurant (the prime rib was pretty good), Victoria Station, and then went on to visit some of the tourist attractions, like Nathaniel Hawthorne's "House of the Seven Gables" and a candy shop that claims to be oldest in the country, "Ye Olde Pepper Candy Companie". We didn't visit the Witches' museum and some other witch-related attractions that were closed for the season. They will open in a couple weeks, and we might even go back to see them. It was all pretty fun... oh, and by the end of the day I bought some girl scout cookies at the train station, very American of me, ha.

Other news... my hair had been falling so much in the past few days I felt like I was living with a dog or something. In the morning my pillow was like if a dog had slept there... so today I went to the barber shop around the corner of Everett, on Mass. Ave., and asked the guy to shave my head. He first thought it was a joke and then did it. "How do you want it, sir?" "I wanna shave it all off." "Ha, ha, ha. Now, seriously, how do you want it?" Anyway, my hair is gone now. Fortunately, in Yenda's words, I don't have a head like E.T., so I don't look too bad. I guess that is good, ey? Now I'll have to shave... I have more hair on my face than on my head!

Fotos - Photos

Salem Witch - Bruja de Salem Knut and Me - Knut y Yo Candy Shop - Dulcería

So you believe me I went to Salem
Para que me crean que fui a Salem

With Knut by the House of the Seven Gables
Con Knut en la casa del libro de Hawthorne

The Candy Shop
La Dulcería

At the Restaurant - En el Restaurante "Friendship" (the ship) @ Salem - Junto al Barco "Friendship" en Salem Baldy - Calvito

At the restaurant
En el restaurante

By the ship "Friendship"
Junto al barco "Friendship"

Baldy today
Calvito hoy

Far Side of the Moon

Tonight I went to "The Far Side of the Moon" at the American Reportory Theatre on Brattle St... Amazing!!!! The story of two brothers, their woes, the loss of their mother, Phillipe's search for meaning and attempt at defending his dissertation... André's everyday shallowness... all this intertwined with the race to the moon, the Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin, and theme... leit motif of the narcisism of humanity... and man we are all so narcisistic and selfish! Sometimes it's good to watch a good play instead of a lousy movie (especially if with student discount you pay only 12 bucks)... it may even make you think, feel stupid, reflect... those things we never get to do here at school, ha.

I was really impressed by the performance, and by the play itself. I wonder if I can buy it... the book... The stage was relatively simple, with just some sliding panels, a moving mirror-thing, two projectors, a video camera. They did a great job with not much... they used video brilliantly, projecting angles we could not see into the screen and making projections part of the scenery and props the actor used. The actor himself did a great job, really great, and the storylines were amazingly well intertwined... at parts hilarious, at parts awfully, humanely sad... Led Zeppelin and Debussy and original compositions. I loved it. I totally loved it... and I remembered how much I like the theater! (You can really tell I'm no theater critic, right?)

Too bad tomorrow is the last performance and they are already sold out.

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