International Dinner

Lisbon, Portugal,

My stomach is still full after a feast prepared by a guy that works here at the hostel. It started with Portugese Gazpacho, followed by four or five different pastas. At the table there were the Portugese guys who work here, a German guy, a Swiss guy, a girl from Singapore, two guys from Malyasia, a Japanese guy, a Venezuelan guy, an Australian guy, and myself, the American. It was pretty cool to be eating dinner with such an international group of people. Lisbon seems like a cool city. Today I went to the Aquarium. I Loved it. I had a conversation with the adorable sea otters and I stared for minutes into the eyes of a monstrous Grouper fish, only separated by inches of glass. I truly Love observing animals. I also happened to shoot almost an hour of video... wanting to share the experience with my family when I return home. I also realized how important it is to take measures to protect the environment. Practically every informational sign in the place mentioned how the animal was negatively affected by humans. It's very unfortunate. Yesterday I arrived here at eight in the morning on a night train. After exiting the station and thawing out from the frozen tundra of a train cabin, I made my way to a square to await the opening of the tourist office. Along the way, I was guided by a friendly, English-speaking policeman. What a refreshing experience to meet a friendly policeman. I sat in the square where people were setting up for a celebration of St. Martin, I believe, the Patron Saint of Chestnuts... or at least chestnuts are a big part of the celebration. While I sat and journalled and read, I was approached by a scruffy, toothless, old man wearing a dishevelled brown suit trying to sell me hash or pot. I declined to which he said he'd give me a good price. I declined again. Eventually, I found the hostel that had been recommended to me by the Australians I met in Seville. I dropped off my bag and headed out to a nearby town, Belem, where the museums and national sites were free until 2 PM. I visited the 500 year old Monastery and a little tower right on the water. Nice buildings, but only buildings. Again I realized that I really don't care for things, as much as life. That's why the Aquarium was so great today. I have gone a couple days now without my digital camera and I feel pretty good about it. I had decided that I'm not going to replace it. I was compulsively taking pictures and missing out on the moments. Now, I'm not taking pictures and I think I'm able to appreciate more whatever I'm looking at. Plus I notice the pictures that other people take, and I know that I'd be taking a picture too of the same meaningless old building. I've thought about the moments before my camera stopped working. I was at the Alhambra, in Granada, taking pictures of the old, intricate designs on the walls. A woman walked up and I stepped aside to allow her to take pictures. In her broken English, she suggested that many people just take pictures and don't actually appreciate whatever they're seeing. I agreed but continued to take meaningless pictures. Not fifteen minutes later, my camera broke, my last pictures of a few goldfish swimming in the pool. Goldfish swimming in a pool? Give me a break! There I was in Granada, Spain and I was taking fricking pictures of goldfish. I deserved to have my camera broken. Anyway, I'm at peace with the whole thing. That's not to say I'm not shooting tons of video....