Mi Casa

miCasa_018, originally uploaded by Alexcia DeVasquez.
it's a day in my life.

I now understand how someone can take a picture, near the same picture from their balcony...I now understand how someone could do that for years on end. They have a view that they love. what more can you ask for? (i refer to a famous artist whom I can not remember their name...)

This is from my house today. It is what it is and it concludes the week of images.

I have learned more about myself this week than I imagined.

At this young age of 28, I have learned to relax. It is the Spanish way. I am learning to take it as it comes and be ok with that :)

28th of March

today_004, originally uploaded by Alexcia DeVasquez.

Today is the 28th of March. I have found that, although, i was really excited to start this project of a photo a day for a week, I am becoming quite reflective of my images and how I feel moving to a strange place.

I'm happy that I think this project is a great way to close a month, I surprised that when I ask my self to shoot, I started making textures and thinking about my feelings, like I'm head doctor instead of a photographer! :) Maybe it's the ADD or the ADHD.....

I believe that tomorrow is that last day before I plan for my next few mini projects. So as I prepare my photo for tomorrow, I am also planning for the beginning of next month! .....something to look forward to :)

Park 27th of March

Park 27th of March, originally uploaded by Alexcia DeVasquez.

We went to Parque las Polomas, which is a beautiful park. It literally translates to Pigeon Park, which doesn't do it justice. It is a bird sanctuary with over a dozen kinds of birds including chickens and doves, a cactus garden, home of bunnies, Ram and Emu and for it's humans it has a large playground, winding paths and library. It is far from what I imagined when I heard it's name.

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had played with the Lensbaby, so today, that was my lens of choice. While I moved the diopter early in the day and didn't realize it until after lunch, I am still happy with quite a few of the shots. To see others click here

The 25th of March 2009

250312009, originally uploaded by Alexcia DeVasquez.

The internet doesn't always work which has postponed this post. I have learned to deal with the internet because I have a beautiful view. I mean, if I can't be interconnected with the world via ones and zeros, at least I can sit on my patio and look at the refracting light.

090323

090323_0044-2, originally uploaded by Alexcia DeVasquez Photography.

Day two.

Lilo

Lilo (1 of 1), originally uploaded by Alexcia DeVasquez Photography.

Now that I'm settling in here in Mijas, I thought it is important to hit the streets near home and photograph. My project for the week is to upload the pick of the day. It's a week long project because it is a nice length.

MijasMt_226

MijasMt_226, originally uploaded by Alexcia DeVasquez Photography.

Forest

Forest, originally uploaded by Alexcia DeVasquez Photography.

I am enjoy working in bodies of work, so i'm experimenting with what look i like for Mijas and my new home.

Rocks

Rocks, originally uploaded by Alexcia DeVasquez Photography.

OCD, but not that good...

I so wanted to stop and fix the piles of shells... instead, i walked on.

Marble Roads

Someone once told me that the roads were paved in marble. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it... when I saw this and all the querries, I understood.

Still Figuring out the Basics

We have been here a month to the day. It's still pretty exciting being here. We have our one bedroom apartment, a new bed, the animals are well adjusted to their new home, and Alan has his residency. We have a bank account... to our surprise it was a bit more complicated then we thought.

Although it doesn't apply to us right now/yet, all your bills here in Spain are deducted from your bank account which also means many things like electricity, rent, cell phones (not pre-pay) are all things that you need a bank account in order to get. And with a bank account comes fees. Fees for depositing money, for withdrawing money, for having a debit card, for having a current account which is like a checking account, fees for new cards, extra cards, you guess it there is probably a fee. The only thing i didn't find a fee for was going into the bank.... i think the want to incourage visiters. :)

The fees with currency changes are just insane. One bank took a minimum of 18 euro every time you added money into the account. There may have been translation problems but I asked about getting a job here, in euro and depositing the money into the account... again it was a .035% fee to deposit into the account with a 18 euro minimum. We said we didn't like that and what she said in responce was loud for the whole bank to hear and something like that's how its done here. We decided to bank somewhere else. We went to a bank that was reccomended to us and when we tell them that the way they add fees to everything sucks for us, they smiled and responded 'I know it's strange but you can go other places and have the same problem. Part of it is international banking law and other fees are Spainish. Here is an acount that would serve you best..."

My problems with American banks will be saved for another day.
The view sometimes makes all the fees worth it.

We got a new bed!!!

Molly found a good use of the old bed. Jeni prefers the new bed.

Southern Spain is Covered in mountians

We climbed Mijas Mountian, the one with all the towers on it. This is what we saw on the other side. It was pretty amazing.


So many dishes, and yet so little cell signal...



















The 2 wholes in the mountains are Querries. they are giant but not easily seen by most of roads. The one in the middle of the frame is the one that has an entrance right near our apartment. The little town on the hill is us, Mijas. It looks far away but it was only a ten minute drive to the top of the hill.




The clouds are all at about the same altitude today after the storms this weekend but most days they are layered... it allows the sun to peek through and light the valley and sea in what i now call "Fairy Tale" Light. It lasts only about a moment but it makes me just stop and enjoy it.

link to another album :)

Random Funny Finds

The word of yesterday

Tio.
In Spanish slang people use "Tio" or "Tia" to mean buddy or friend and not Aunt or Uncle. :)

Getting Lost

Mijas is full of little paths that lead to driveways, creeks, clifts or other roads. I have been told that there is a path into town from the top of town... Seeing as I live on the edge of town, I fgured I'd find this road that i'd heard about. I took Jeni on a long walk to the bank today by ways of this unknown path. We ended up in someone's driveway and then later near this path which was a paved road but we were ontop of a cliff that was about 75 degrees. At the time I wasn't sure if this paved road would lead to town or a locked gate. I looked at Jeni and asked what the worse case scenario, would be... convinced it was one of us falling and spraining our legs or ankle and finding a locked gate with a broken cell phone in my back pocket. That being thought, we climbed up the hill to be on the save side. We ended up on that path a different way and made it to the bank. Most of town is closed except for the tourist shops and a few cafes including the bank but I knew I needed to spend some time with the ATM (figure out if it was me or it that wasn't working right) and it wouldn't be busy today; so we took the scenic route to the bank and got a bit lost, but happily returned home a few hours later.

(about the ATM: Spain calls your checking account your "credit account" and your savings is called your "current account" or "savings account" and your ATM card is sometimes refered to your "Mastercard")

Although there were times this morning I wished I had my camera, I was glad that I left it at home when I was climbing the hill/cliff with Jeni. But that left me with the itch for shooting. After resting up, we went out again for a short walk up what I call 'our hill'. I found an olive tree near someone's summer house. Tomorrow I may collect some of the sticks because I hear they have a beautiful smell when they burn. It isn't uncommon for people to pick the fruit from trees that they can reach. Because this tree is tucked away from anyone but our neighbors all of the olives were on this tree.

I believe this little white and green unit is my neighbors' mailbox or electricity gauge. If there is any reason for the city or a person to have a structure that is seen on the road, it matches the houses near by, if it is off the road, it will be painted green to blend into the hill. Trash collection is a bit differnt here as well. Instead of taking the trash to the curb once a week, the trash is left in a shed that looks like this that is build attached to the house or separate. Your nightly trash is taken to it and it is picked up once a week. It is open instead of sealed like the one in the picture so that the smell isn't super bad and it's not polite to put your trash in your neighbors' bin, so people don't.

I walk up this hill pretty frequently because it's so close. I also know that this house is one of my Spanish speaking neighbors who has two dogs :) His yard here is full of cactus. It reminds me of my grandma. I wonder if they cook with it too. Yup, I am having my moments of homesickness and shock that I am so far away from most the people I know.

Tomorrow it should be rainy but I expect that it will still be a beautiful day :)

The Bright Side Project

It is March 1st and The Bright Side is finished but they are looking into doing a phase two. It's hard to see the good in life sometimes but this project was designed to share the bright side and share art with people.