Curse the Spanish Postal System! I am convinced that when they see a package labeled Global Express, Overnight, Urgent, that’s the time to sip a café con leche and munch on some tapas!

When did overnight start meaning 6 days?!

All is not lost, though two days of my pueblos blancos tour already are. And since my oh-so important package containing my new debit card (my only access to cash) did not arrive Thursday (as promised), Friday, or even today, Saturday, I’ve thrown up my hands and decided I can’t postpone my life any longer waiting for the inefficient and unreliable Spanish postal system.

So off I go to Arcos de la Frontera, and later the Rock of Gibralter, before heading back to Sevilla, then Barcelona, and then Berlin.

On a different note, there is something I love about Sevilla—the birds—the chirping, the cooing, the sound of flapping wings. There’s a certain type of tree that attracts birds the same way that playgrounds and swing sets attract children. When you walk near these trees, you hear a cacophony of bird chirpings—it’s so loud you can barely hear the almost deafening hum of motocicletas and car engines that otherwise dominate the street soundscape. Thousands of birds, going about their daily business, unaware or aloof to the frantic goings-on below their tree playground…it’s lovely!

There’s also a large park here, Parque de Maria Luisa, that, if you get deep enough inside, traffic is barely audible, and the sounds you hear are only those of the birds, the occasional rustling of leaves, and the jubilant squeals and peals of children’s laughter.

I’ve been very tuned into organic sounds, especially the birds, since I’ve been in Spain. I think it all started with the Barcelona bird market. A bird’s chirp, a cat’s meow, a child’s sounds in the playground—these touch something in me that inorganic, traditional music concrete sounds cannot. Until recently, I did not consciously differentiate between these categories, thinking of all things under the broad umbrella of environmental sounds, but not that I’ve recognized the difference, I can’t believe I was so naïve! The infusion of life is what attracts me to the organic sounds, and that life gives my recordings something vibrant.

Lately I’ve been trying to think up a system for classifying sounds, but everything I come up with is problematic. Even what I said above is problematic to me—organic/inorganic—but I can’t think of a better or simpler way to explain it. Well, I guess I should say, every simple system I come up with is problematic—natural, man-made, organic, inorganic, alive, animate, inanimate—the boundaries are often just too blurry!

This is not to say that these sounds cannot work in harmony. Something I always come back to is India. I’ve been feeling rather nostalgic for the place lately, especially since I know of at least 4 other Watson fellows who are currently there, or have just left… Point being—India is loud. Very LOUD! In the four months I was there, I can only think of one time that things were quiet…and I had to take 13 hours worth of bus rides, and then hike another hour or two to get there. Yes, so India is loud—you really don’t have the luxury of differentiating between organic, inorganic, etc etc purely because at every moment you taste, smell, and most importantly, hear one billion people, and almost as many rickshaws, pigs, dogs, cows, bells, chickens, chai-wallas, camels, elephants, prayer megaphones, and so much else! Oh how I wish I had carried even a warbly old tape recorder with me! It is amazing—Jaipur Symphony, Bangalore Ballade, Mysore Minuet! I wish I had listened more closely.

I think for now I am going to put classification on hold, and just concentrate on listening.

Well, that’s it for now, I suppose. My hand is getting a cramp… I ought to go back and pack up and get ready for my 7:30AM departure for Arcos de la Frontera…

Until next time.