Barcelona is a lovely city with hills on its sides and the Mediterranean Sea just in front of it. The old city is surrounded by a fortress and is darker and older inside. The modern Barcelona with a happy, peaceful feeling is romantic like a fairytale basking in sunshine. Yet, according to friends who lived there, there had been a lot of bloodshed in the last century even up to today, due to terrorism.
The daily life in Barcelona is prosperous, dynamic, enchanting, full of contrasts and delightful surprises. One of the surprises was the Chinatown.
Yes, did you know there is a Chinatown in Barcelona? Friends said it used to be a place with dirty, urine-smelling roads, call girls on benches waiting for customers in front of run-down buildings, and even a black woman or an African lady hanging from a window, inviting the passers-by.
The Chinatown in the Gothic quarter that I visited felt different to me. One relic from the past in that same neighborhood was a church with nicely refurbished interior but a dilapidated exterior; yet, still very beautiful, surrounded by carefully restored gray stone buildings. In fact, gray seemed to be dominant on all these cobblestone roads. Such a contrast to the rest of the city!
The gray color here had a shine to it even on the pale faces of the residents. On the narrow, crooked lanes, gray was even better accented by the bridge-like overpasses from building to building. Those ancient cobblestone lanes appeared to be subterranean, as if carved out of one long tunnel, with sunlight coming from above the overpasses. This melancholic panorama of dark against light, shadow against sunshine, eerie yet with poetry appeared as if it came from an artist’s charcoal rendering.
On those stone buildings with their rough surfaces sticking out of the facades of the edifices, some of the stones were as big as boulders. The winding narrow lane, which the church was situated on, opened to a larger street with a bar-lounge where, I imagine, many Spanish and French poets and thinkers of the past sat to drink their absinthe, beer, or sangria.
A few steps later, things changed completely, for the other roads of the Barrio Chino (China Town) were comparable to the ones in New York City. Here, the streets were wider with many buildings stacked against each other, hosting many businesses and shops with colorful signs in Chinese, some also in Spanish and Catalan.
One day, I had the honor of visiting such a shop.
“The ice on the moon is much more abundant than they thought, did you know that? Si Senoras, inside the craters to the north of it,” he said, folding the daily El Pais.
I was surprised that Pepe, the tall, dark, handsome owner of the interiors store–to where I had accompanied our hostess Delia to buy fabric–would suddenly come up with a remark like that, but then they were acquainted with each other. Delia worked on the same street where Pepe’s shop was.
“At the moment, I’m interested in Barcelona but moon may be my next stop,” I tried to say with my rusty Spanish, hoping the words didn’t come out crooked to mean something else. Sensing my hesitation, Delia nodded in approval.
“In that case, I’ll tell you about Barcelona,” Pepe said, pulling a bundle of folded fabrics down a shelf to reach to the green and blue damask cloth Delia had requested.
Pepe said that Barcelona was built about 200 years before Christ, believe it or not, by Hamilcar Barca, a general from Carthage who invaded the Roman lands by passing through the impassible mountains but failing at the end. I commented about remembering from my school days that the Romans had invaded Carthage and had razed down the city with salt.
Pepe laughed. “Women always like the gossip part of history.” After he cut the fabric, he handed it over to Delia. “I held it with my fingertips, so I wouldn’t contaminate it for you,” he said in a serious tone.
“Cut it out, Pepe,” Delia replied, her face changing suddenly.
I didn’t say anything because what happened between them appeared to be private at the moment.
Pepe had to be interested in churches, since all he talked about were the churches in Barcelona, especially the Gothic Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, the one built as a monument to Columbus. He said another cathedral that was the most enormous but still under construction since the nineteenth century was the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia but he called it la Sagrada in short.
From the tour bus a day before, I remembered seeing the curvy, ornate, and titanic La Sagrada. To me it looked scary and horrendous like a giant towering over its surroundings with its tall spires; it did not seem to be the fantastic building everyone raved about. Not that there is anything wrong with La Sagrada, but I just prefer small churches. The smaller they are, the cozier they seem.
Listening to Pepe, I had an uneasy feeling. He was not even speaking in Catalan but luckily in Castillian to us; yet, he was talking of something else other than the church’s architecture. Probably, he wanted to mention the importance of churches to the city. I haven’t read the Bible in Spanish but I believe his speech was interspersed by quotations from it.
“Pepe knows so much about churches,” I commented to Delia, once we were outside. “He seems to be so religious.”
“Almost fanatical, but he wasn’t always like this. Pepe has become a dedicated church goer; he never falters. The truth is, rather than a shop attendant, he is an artist. He works with gouache and is quite famous,” Delia said. Then, she added hesitantly, “He started up with the churches after the illness.”
“He didn’t look sick to me,” I said.
“He has Kaposi’s Sarcoma, Sida (Aids) you know.”
“Awful!”
“Pepe’s gay,” Delia said. “He, unfortunately, thinks the end of the world came for him. So, now, he is addicted to religion.”
To continue…
Joy Cagil is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Creative Writing. Her education is in foreign languages and linguistics. She has trained in psychology, humanities, mental health, women’s issues, and visual arts. She has also traveled to various places in and out of the country. Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/joycag
So often small business owners will design their own advertising and some do an exemplary job, but then some don’t and it is a shame really. As a former advertising representative for an Aviation Trade Journal in my younger years, well let’s just say I am pretty aware of the costs of all sorts of advertising, whether it be print, radio, TV, billboards, bus stop benches or even the Bus itself with one of those new shrink rap signs; boy those are cool and they better be as the cost alone is about $18,000 just to put it on the bus.
It is great to see your ad the top of page 3 of the local newspaper, as you know that will certainly generate some interest. But are you delivering the right message to all your thousands of potential customers out there?
Is that message consistent with other advertising? If you are not delivering the right message and it is not consistent you might be actually diluting your brand name, turning off your preferred future customers and cutting into the Return on Investment for that advertising. Don’t waste money.
When designing an add take a look at it and think to your self, does it grab you in under 2-3 seconds. You should be able to tell right away. Then does it tell the right story; that is to say does it deliver the proper message? Consider all this in 2006.
Over the last 3-4 years the web has exploded with a very large number of people trying their hardest to earn some extra or a full income with MLM, affiliate and product marketing. With such a large number of people in this space the competition is fierce! However, the good news is that the global scope the internet has just begun and the possibilities for the individual have also skyrocketed.
Like many in this space I was struggling with the same questions 3 years ago when I started. I was excited and anxious to get my feet wet and had very high hopes. But, I soon discovered that if you move too fast and don’t sit back an evaluate what you really want you can waste a lot of time and money. I know I did! Thankfully, with a significant amount of time and effort I was able to make back what I’ve put into it and earn some more.
To tackle internet marketing head-on you must pick something that you are passionate about! Stop and ask yourself this question: Am I going to market to marketers or market products and services? What I mean by this is - are you going to create new marketing strategies and/or be a marketing affiliate, or, are you going to create and/or sell a product?? Make sure you answer this first.
Then, seriously ask yourself: Am I going to get into an online business that I enjoy? This is important!! Don’t try to earn extra income just to earn income - do something you are really interested in and love and stick to it! I suggest getting away from your desk or computer and taking a walk - try to imagine what it would be like if your online internet business was a success. What would you really want to be doing that drives you? If you love marketing then do marketing - if you love coffee then do coffee. The possibilities are endless! It’s easy to get excited about a money making idea and forget your own passions.
Along with passion if there is one thing to remember for any online marketing endeavor, content is king! You are better off creating a site loaded with content than a site with great design. I’ll give you an example - take a look at Bruce Clay’s internet consulting business at Bruceclay.com. He is #1 in many search engines for search engine placement sent SEO consulting. Why? Pure content - its loaded and its original. In fact, if you create a site using strict XHTML div tags only and start applying content then you can add the CSS skin later. You can also hire any offshore talent to do that for you. I have seen very simple web sites at #1 in Google only because they have content and nothing more - no layout or menus. This is one of the reasons that blogs are highly successful in the search engines. Another reason to focus on content is that great design takes time - a lot of time. And guess what, it won’t help your site gain momentum like Bruce Clay’s site.
So, sit down and spend some time determining your passions are. Then create your online marketing plan of action and hit it head-on!
D James is a Internet Marketer and Web Developer.
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Most people would think of fall as a season when trees are changing colors and dying. For many, the autumn leaves are our last dance with color before the dark, gray winter sets in. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Fall flowers can offer a splash of rebirth and color in a season otherwise known for falling leaves.
Bulbs are living plants and contain their own storage of food. They are quite self-sufficient and will strive to bloom, no matter when or where they are planted. Fall flower bulbs are planted in the spring or summer and flower in the early fall. Some examples are lilacs, colchicums, and saffron crocuses. The colchicums are extremely unusual in that they will bloom without being planted, though they do need soil to develop roots.
When selecting fall flower bulbs, you should look for bulbs that are firm and free of visible defects. If you desire large flowers, buy large bulbs. Small bulbs will produce smaller flowers.
Most fall flower bulbs cannot survive the winter. These have to be dug up each fall and stored until planting time. Bulbs should be stored in a cool, dry place. A dry basement is ideal. If you do not have a basement, a dark, unheated closet or utility room will also work.
For individual planting directions, use your package. Most bulbs grow best in well-drained, loose soil. Standing water or excessively moist soil will cause bulbs to rot. Do not plant bulbs at the bottom of a hill.
Bulbs should be planted six to eight inches in the soil. Cover and pack firmly. After planting, water your bulbs thoroughly. Water them occasionally, and they should bloom in early autumn.
Flower Bulbs Info provides detailed information on wholesale, discount, spring, summer, and fall flower bulbs for sale, flower bulb catalog and company information, and advice on planting flower bulbs. Flower Bulbs Info is the sister site of Flower Delivery Web.
