Citizen Reporter

These hotel people can’t handle me. I sneak into there lobby and when they ask who I am… if they even ask.. I say I’m waiting for someone.. and I’m a journalist and there’s going to be an interview. After that they never ask with who, which is good because I run out of bullshit.

Greetings from Lisbon, Portugal sports fans. Where Wi-Fi is more privatized then…. umm… something private. I’m paying a pretty penny for this quality time, and while I write lots of new podcasts are being sucked into my beautiful powerbook.

I’m such an outsider here now. I realized that this morning when I woke up with the roosters crowing (yes we have roosters in lisbon where I live) and went to the bus station that no longer exist. I walked right up to the dark and abandoned building, as if in denial, I tried to open the door anyway. Who knows, maybe there was just 1 bus left waiting for me. – Apparently not. Missed my bus, and hereby forced to wait two more hours to see my moma and papa, who have hidden themselves away in a tiny corner of the Algarve, right on the border with spain.

I’ve lots of topics to discuss, economics, politics, human relations, metro ettiquette…. it all rushes through my head as I get around town. One thing for sure, Amsterdam is in no way a big city, compared to this place. Never in Amsterdam am I completely inundated and engulfed by a mass of people walking in the opposite direction. Here.. it happens constantly. Oh bicycle, I miss thee already.

No photos yet. Podcast is in the pipe if Id find the time to put it together. And hooray for Lance, a true bicycle hero. Rumor has it, he’s going to run for gov. of texas! How cool would that be, a governer of texas who speaks french and owns a passport. BREAKTHROUGH.

2 weeks. 15 days actually. Technically that’s 50% of the amount of vacation I’m allowed as a Europeeuhn. Yet being a migrant worker in Holland, I tend to fall through the cracks for alot things I’m “supposed” to have. The point being; 15 days is the longest vacation I have had since… hmm.. maybe since last summer. My destination: Portugal of course.. and more importantly- the awaiting arms of moma and papa.

While in Portugal, I will of course visit my wise and all-powerful friends JP and BadHareDay whom I’ve known since our days teaching English to the rich and famous. I mention this because I spoke with BHD online last night, and he expressed great frustration with my post about the big london bombings a few weeks ago. He said, to paraphrase as best as I can, that if I claim to be a pacifist then I should condemn the london bombings just as I condemn the invasion of Iraq. He reminded me of the non-violent philosophies of Ghandi and MartinLutherKing, which as a pacifist I should be familiar with.

I’m excited to see him, my longtime friend, when I arrive in Lisbon, and I know this discussion will continue. Hell, he’ll probably point out how I misunderstood his disagreement with what I write in this post. But in my own defence I must say the following:
Part of my aim, as a blogger, is to write something from my own unique point of view. Which of course might be shared by others, but is meant to be an original thought. There are plenty of bloggers out there condemning the bombings in london and describing how terrible it is, I have no desire to be YET another.

But I do desire to present a different way of talking about world events such as these. To do more than just say — thats terrible — but to examine what are the causes and factors that influence these events. And I do this not only because I feel there’s a lack of this kind of critical thinking in media, but because it just comes naturally — it is how I, as a simple and often ignorant human being, look at the world.

Back to my vacation, it’s maté time, oh and this man and this feminina are off on vacation as well.

2 weeks. 15 days actually. Technically that’s 50% of the amount of vacation I’m allowed as a Europeeuhn. Yet being a migrant worker in Holland, I tend to fall through the cracks for alot things I’m “supposed” to have. The point being; 15 days is the longest vacation I have had since… hmm.. maybe since last summer. My destination: Portugal of course.. and more importantly- the awaiting arms of moma and papa.

While in Portugal, I will of course visit my wise and all-powerful friends JP and BadHareDay whom I’ve known since our days teaching English to the rich and famous. I mention this because I spoke with BHD online last night, and he expressed great frustration with my post about the big london bombings a few weeks ago. He said, to paraphrase as best as I can, that if I claim to be a pacifist then I should condemn the london bombings just as I condemn the invasion of Iraq. He reminded me of the non-violent philosophies of Ghandi and MartinLutherKing, which as a pacifist I should be familiar with.

I’m excited to see him, my longtime friend, when I arrive in Lisbon, and I know this discussion will continue. Hell, he’ll probably point out how I misunderstood his disagreement with what I write in this post. But in my own defence I must say the following:
Part of my aim, as a blogger, is to write something from my own unique point of view. Which of course might be shared by others, but is meant to be an original thought. There are plenty of bloggers out there condemning the bombings in london and describing how terrible it is, I have no desire to be YET another.

But I do desire to present a different way of talking about world events such as these. To do more than just say — thats terrible — but to examine what are the causes and factors that influence these events. And I do this not only because I feel there’s a lack of this kind of critical thinking in media, but because it just comes naturally — it is how I, as a simple and often ignorant human being, look at the world.

Back to my vacation, it’s maté time, oh and this man and this feminina are off on vacation as well.