What's in a name?

A vacationer by any other name would still have really memorable experiences... but wouldn't be immortalized in cyberspace like we are.

Being the caring people we are, the faithful chroniclers of this trip know that not every reader out there has sufficient understanding of Spanish to understand the bulk of the nicknames in the post below. So, instead of forcing you all to babelfish it, I'll translate for you and offer some context (aside: I got to watch "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on the plane flight back to Cali, which finally helped me understand the sci-fi geek culture of stuff like babelfish and the significance of 42 - the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything).

Without further ado...

Karen "Gato Negro" Chiu
Why?
The picture is pretty much self-explanatory. In Madrid, outside of the Palacio Real, Karen, Joy, Andrea, and Mike finished up the tour and were sitting outside, waiting for the rest of the group. Karen took out a snack from her purse, when all of a sudden, the (pictured) black cat came out of nowhere and began racing immediately at her... food. All the girls screamed, and eventually the cat took up position very menacingly close to Karen. She then uttered plaintively, "Why aren't you a dog?"

Esther "Frodo" Huang
Why?
Esther was perhaps the only sane person on our trip. Thus, we dubbed her basically as our social conscience. She carried our burdens.

Bob "Brick Steve" Lin
Why?
Frankly, I'm not totally sure how I acquired my nickname. I mean, sure, I made good use of the Rick Steve's travel guide at a couple of sites to offer trivia and details about the things we were looking at, but I certainly wasn't reading it "like the Bible" as I've been accused of. Heck, towards the latter half of the trip, I was reading the Lonely Planet guide more often since it had a more in-depth history of each city. But I must admit, I kind of like the "Brick" moniker. I'm sure it'll come in handy on the basketball court. It's certainly better than the "Lonely Man" nickname I'd probably have gotten if I had been reading the Lonely Planet guide from the very beginning of the trip.

Joy "Ilicito" Lok
Why?
Joy was probably the most mischievous member of our group. No other person was quite so persistent in performing illegal acts like taking pictures when cameras aren't allowed (the Beatles paraphernalia picture was in the British Library exhibit, with no cameras permitted), sneaking into barred off areas, and the like. Hence, "Ilicito".

Joy was also the subject (victim?) of more than a few hilariously weird and embarrassing situations that probably merit their own entry.

Mike "Ojo Bizarro" Pih
Why?
Mike had the uncanny Forrest Gump-like ability to be present for just about every weird experience we had. While generally walking the furthest out in front, he still managed to come back to the group in time to catch the latest cat attack or illegal picture... almost as if he knew they were going to happen ("He can see things before they happen"). Hence, "Ojo Bizarro", or the "Bizarre Eye," one who witnesses weird things. It also happened to be the name of a restaurant in Granada.

Andrea "Jamon" Wang
Why?
"Jamon" is Spanish for "Ham," which is most appropriate for Andrea. As our resident food expert, she led us to many Spanish restaurants with big hocks of ham hanging in the window. Ham with melon, ham in sandwiches with cheese, ham with chocolate (kidding on that one, but I wouldn't put it past the Spanish, actually). The dual meaning of the nickname, however, is Andrea's inimitable ability to put on a particular face whenever a camera or video camera is pointed in her direction. There are tons of pics with her attempting to look innocent, diabolical, or like a bull - "ham"ming it up for all it's worth.

Joseph "Doc" Huang
Why?
The nickname was something of a duh moniker, since Joe is our only PhD, but he also played the role of unintentional amateur psychologist for much of the week, asking probing serious questions in an attempt to get to know the group better - questions like, "What types of nonfiction books do you read?"