Tonight’s the night we change the clocks to finally be back in line with the US! It has been very strange to have to re-figure the time difference when calling home. So, technically, it would be 12:49 right now instead of 11:49, but who’s counting. We did sleep until 10 this morning after all!

The video shoot is over, I was exhausted, and after 3 days of standing in a dark room behind a camera, guess what we did to celebrate? We went over to work on the house. The house we’ll be moving into, as soon as the painting and refurnishing is finished. SO.. last night and most of today was spent over there, priming some walls, doing some tilework, and so on. More or less, playing with toxic chemicals. We left most of the windows open (they have screens) when we left tonight so that the house can air out overnight, and possibly not smell as toxic when we go back tomorrow. We can’t start painting yet since we haven’t bought the paint, but we’re going to get as many of the walls covered in the strange Spanish version of primer as possible.

Spanish primer (at least the type we have) is so watery that it runs all over the place when you’re putting it on! I don’t think I’d ever primed walls before, in any country, but I surely didn’t think it seemed right to have such runny liquid being used as primer. It was more like using a rolling paintbrush to wash the walls with a watery, bubbly cleaning solution. Very strange.

Well that’s the latest from our household — the sleepy kitty is curled up in her red basket on the table next to me, Tim’s on the couch, and we’ll be off to bed in just a few.

See the pic below to join our house-renovating experience!

Tim in the kitchen, putting special primer on some of the tile so we can paint over it in a solid color.

Today, Tomorrow, and Friday.

Pray for the video team as we record 19 programs during these three days: stamina for all involved; clarity of thought and voice for the Arabic presenter.

Check out my previous post for a story I wrote describing what it’s like to work in a video shoot at MMC, and you’ll better understand better what my day was like today. :) 

Preparing to start an Arabic video shoot at Málaga Media Center (MMC) is not nearly as simple as saying those three words.

“Quiet on the set!”

“Is his mic on?” “Somebody check his mic.”

Native North African “David” fiddles with the electronics box for a lapel microphone clipped to his tie, flips a switch from “standby” to “on,” and his voice is suddenly heard through the speakers in the control room.

“Can we have a mic test? Just talk for a while so we can set the levels.”

“Ok that’s good, you can stop talking now.”

“Tell him he can stop talking now - we’re almost ready to start.”

The floor manager grabs David’s attention from the darkness of the studio; David nods back, smiles, and gazes calmly at Camera One.

“Teleprompter ready? Okay, roll tape!”

“Tape’s rolling.” “Whenever he’s ready he can start.”

(more…)

bi-sa-la-key-day-ra

“What a joke” / “You’re joking” 

It wouldn’t be a Málaga sunrise without a crane obstructing the view.