Articles by mgedwards

¿El Nuevo Chávez?

Now that I’m back language training in Washington, D.C., I’m spending a considerable amount of time studying Spanish.  In fact, it seems as if lately the only writing I’ve done has been in Spanish.  Although I’m making progress with my language study, I am still at the intermediate level.  I have a good grasp of complex Spanish vocabulary, but my grammar is still very poor.  Every day I will write a short summary of a news article in Spanish for class, and after I correct it, I’ll post it for you to read.  If you know Spanish, you will probably dissect it and realize just how poor I am in Spanish.  If you don’t know Spanish, you may be able to get the gist of the article by noting the over-reliance on English cognates.  Either way, I hope you get something out of it.  As long as I’m writing these summaries, I might as well post them for you to enjoy or to edit.
 
This first summary discusses an article I read in The Economist last week.  The article talks about Father Lugo, a former Catholic cleric who is a possible presidential contender.  Paraguayan presidential elections will be held in 2008.  The Economist article I cited is located at http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8670481.
 

¿El Nuevo Chávez?

 

Próximo año la gente de Paraguay ha a elegir un nuevo presidente.  Padre Lugo, un clérigo católica trabajaron en San Pedro, un área de Paraguay muy pobre, recientemente dejó el clero y entró los políticos a hacerle el nueve presidente de Paraguay.  Todavía el no declaró su candidatura oficialmente, pero algunos partidos de la oposición política desean a hacerle su candidato en el próximo elección presidencial.  Muchos paraguayos le gustan, así que es posible era el próximo presidente de Paraguay.  Porque Padre Lugo admira el presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, y el Paraguay, algunas piensen que si Padre Lugo era el nueve presidente, el sistema político y económico de Paraguay transformeré mucho.

Burn calories, not gas

We arrived in Washington, D.C. without motorized vehicle in tow.  The car we shipped to Korea is now on a ship in the Pacific Ocean bound for a U.S. port where it will sit for three months until it heads by ship once again to Paraguay.  We explored the option of taking it out of storage to use during our four-month tenure in the United States, but we were told that the cost will only be covered for a single destination.  If we wanted to divert the car from its journey to Paraguay, we could do so, but we would have to cover the cost to ship it again from Washington to Paraguay.  We didn’t even check to see how much that would cost–most likely astronomical. 
 
So now we’re hoofing it here in Virginia, so to speak. Although a shuttle runs from our apartment complex directly to work, for the most part we’re on our own.  Ironically, our former neighbors in Seoul are now living in the same complex, and once again they’re graciously offering to let us use their car, just as they did when we first arrived in Korea.  I appreciate the gesture but feel a bit awkward following them around the world and using their automobile.  Nah, I’ve adopted a "feet first" philosophy here.  When possible, I shall walk.  The weather hasn’t been so good (it snowed yesterday), so our movements are a bit restricted, but I did manage to find out that our apartment is one hour and 15 minutes from work while dressed in business casual and carrying about 40 pounds. 
 
Without a vehicle we sacrifice some mobility and need to be more flexible and strategic when planning ahead, but we make up for this by burning more calories, burning less gasoline (Conservatives, read "save money," liberals, read "help the environment"), and reducing our automobile budget, particularly maintenance.  It’s a win-win proposition.  We need a car in Paraguay, and we needed a car while living in Seoul, but Washington is a pedestrian-friendly city.  Whether it’s the Metro, the bus system, or a relatively straightforward grid design, Washington makes it easier to eliminate the need for an automobile.  It would be easier if we lived near a Metro station, but our apartment’s shuttle system is more than adequate.  That’s fine–I’d rather walk.

Time, strength and money

It snowed today in Washington.  It was a good day to reflect on something other than my never-ending to-do list, so I pondered three things that people are often preoccupied with, time, money, and strength.  When you’re young, you have plenty of time and strength but no money.  This is my son’s case.  When you’re in your prime years, you tend to have money and strength but no time.  That’s me.  When you’re in your twilight years, you have time and hopefully have money, but you often don’t have strength.  That’s my grandmother, whom I visited in Montana a few weeks ago.  She is in her mid-90’s and wheelchair-bound.  It would be nice to have more of all three in order to enjoy life more.  Sometimes we trade one or more of these for the other; for example, we sometimes pay someone to do a task for us to buy us some more time.  Or we let our strength escape us because we are so focused on making money that we have no time for strength.  Or we spend so much time on other pursuits that we end up broke and/or without strength.  I think a balance between all three is best.
 
Blog Notes:  I didn’t really have time to write this tonight, and it isn’t one of my finest entries, but I am determined to make time to blog.  If we don’t take the time to do what we want to do that will help us enjoy life, what makes life worth living?