First posting for 2008

Well guys, another update finally. It's been overdue for a while.

Well, what's new? In my quest to find people to practice my Catalan with now that I've left Catalonia, I discovered an organization called AICS (the American Institute for Catalan Studies). It's like a cultural center for Catalan things here in Houston (or a casal català as they call such things in Catalonia). Anyway, they had one of their semi-annual cultural events in December, which I attended. Wow, how exciting. I met a lot of Catalans and had a great time. I met the board of directors of the organization as well and they adored me, being that I'm a Texan with no real connection to Catalonia other than my crazy love story and linguistic interest but I speak Catalan pretty fluently and am interested in their culture... so I left them with a really great impression.

Then they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

The president of the organization asked if I would lead the youth portion of AICS and help organize stuff for the youth in Houston's Catalan community. Awesome stuff. And now they want to send me to a conference for casals catalans all over the world as their youth representative in April for five days in Catalonia! Awesome stuff some more!

Well, the fun doesn't end there! In December, a reporter from Catalonia doing a documentary on Catalan products sold outside of Catalonia found me on the internet. She was sending a camera crew to do interviews with some guy who sells Catalan nugats here in Houston and while they were at it, they wanted to interview some Catalans living in Houston and also people interested in Catalan culture. Well, this woman searched on Google for "catalan" and "houston" and up popped my blog. She read my story and watched my videos about my story with Rubèn and she said that it was such an interesting story that she asked me if they camera crew could film me and do several interviews with me in various parts of Houston. And on top of that, she offered to pay me money to just hang out with them and interpret.

Well, they came, and it was an awesome week. We had so much fun and I feel like I made three new friends who live in Barcelona. You know, I've learned three very important and practical languages (French, Spanish and Portuguese) and nothing too interesting every came of it. And now, I just recently learned this little bit European language and suddenly all this cool stuff is happening because of it. Who could have imagined that speaking Catalan would bring so many fun opportunities to my life. Maybe I should learn another small language!

So what else?

Well, there is my weight loss. In 2007, over all, I have last around 50 pounds. When I got back from Catalonia, I had lost about 55 total, then I gained like 15 back in September and October... and since then I've been working to lose it all again. Well, I lost about 10 of those pounds and I'm almost back to where I was. 2008, I plan to lose thirty more pounds maybe. We'll see what happens.

Here's a visual aid to help things out. I started it over. At first I only wanted to lose 50 pounds... well, now I've gotten there so I've upped my goal. I think I should weigh around 120 with my height... actually, I just want to lose my fat. So whatever weight I end up with after I lose the fat is good for me. In any case, I made a ticker to show what's going on. :)

And... well, here are two new photos just for fun. :)

This is me playing with some blue contacts. I think it made me look kind of evil. Hahaha!

This is me when I went out to the Red Door with that camera crew and some other people we met. Miquel (Miki) is the one right behind me with his hand on my shoulder and then there is Enric next to him, this one with his tongue sticking out and the crazy face. The girl and the guy with the cigarette are some people we met through interviews and stuff. Anyway, Enric and Miki are awesome. I miss them!