Fjords are Fun

Just got back from Norway and wanted to jot down a few quick highlights before I collapse for the night.

1. Norway-not as cold as previously though (aka not the north pole)

2. Out of 10 people on a boat only 2 where not blonde haired and blue eyed (and that includes me)

3. Vikings still roam the Earth

4. Party like a rock star has nothing on "Party like a Viking"

5. Norwegian spoken quickly sounds like a CD on fast forward

6. Everyone there starts learning English from Elementary school

7. Sailors often have good stories, but something about Vikings, Polar Bears, and Glaciers bring it up a level

8. Norwegian....not an easy language

9.

10. And oh yeah....They don't stamp your passport if you're going to or from the EU


Number ten came as a bit of a shock because they aren't in the EU and means that I will be taking another journey back home 3 days....insanity.

I'll give a much more detailed account tomorrow, but for now I am too tired for such things

Hasta luego y donde esta la fiesta este fin de semana?

Another successful weekend

So all and all another good weekend, not too restful but good just the same. Two excellent things came out of this weekend: First, on Friday I moved up in the world into the big/amazing/best room in our flat. No more mattress on the floor for me!! The wardrobe alone is about the size of my last room and very nice. In addition, I now have a proper desk and will no longer be typing from the floor or a chair. I actually don't think I have enough stuff to fill all the storage in here which is amazing and will hopefully lead to a cleaner, neater living space. Possible fears: The nice big window I have has no screen, or bars or anything, when open it is a giant whole in the wall that starts about my knees so I now have an unnatural fear of opening my window and falling 6 stories to my doom. It also lets so much coldness into the room that I think if I don't blink enough my eyeballs will freeze....note to self....talk to Ricard about heating.

Second awesome thing was finding an incredible Jazz club called the Harlem Jazz Club. Thank you Adrein and Capusien (sorry I have no idea how to spell that despite the fact that I have been told I pronounce it well). I have been hoping to find a place with live music...or really anything that isn't dance remixes of American music. Well I couldn't have found a better place. The Music was amazing, the bar is small and smokey like any good jazz bar should be, and the crowed was lay back but still very enthusiastic about the music. Even though I only caught the last hour or so it was great and I can't wait to go back.

Lets see...other than that I did the normal bouncing around in Barcelona and went to see a movie with Alexis which turned out to be really good. It was called Cassandra's Dream and is basically a modern day Greek tragedy (which they briefly mention in the movie and I would like to look up to see if the one they talked about has a similar story line). But now I'm just getting off my first day of work without the safety net of James buzzing around and It actually went really well. Matthew and I worked together all day (no Spanish learning there) and didn't really have any problems other than Maxiem asking us to change a tack set back after a sail was already put together. And then I spent most of the afternoon helping to put in a new sewing machine for the 3rd time although somehow this time it took waaaay longer to do.

Well I guess thats about it for now...I also managed to eat more over the weekend than I normally do in a month so now its back to the workout routine.

Estupido

Ya know...I've never been the smartest guy, the most clever, and definitely never had an exceptional memory. But, before coming here I thought of myself as a fairly capable guy. Able to get things done, concentrate when need be, a fairly quick learner even. Well...I sure am glad I came here and started making sails so that I could clear all that up and realize I'm an idiot.

Its amazing...just amazing, how many stupid things I can do in one day, much less to one sail. Crooked batten diamonds, battens put in the wrong place, tapes cut to the wrong length...not being able to remember which way is up half the time. Its just amazing...and I have to ask the same questions every day, every day since I've been here. It truly is incredible that James hasn't just killed me in order to get things done properly.

Same thing on the Spanish front...sometimes I convince myself I'm getting better, but then people have to ask me simple question 5 times and then I struggle to answer it to the point where I don't think anyone wants me to help them do anything at this point.

Well...like it or not I guess all that is gonna have to change. Tomorrow my crutch gets pulled out from under me, no more training wheels, no more Yoda, no more translator. Tomorrow is James' last day before he finds some place to go snowboarding and Bastien is leaving to go home to France for good so I'm on my own.

Ok...not entirely, there is the new French guy who does speak English and enough Spanish to get around, and there are plenty of people downstairs who do speak English, but regardless, work is going to be a whole different ball game. I know I'm gonna realize I haven't learned near as much as I should have, but at the same time I'm a little excited because I know within a few weeks I will be much more self sufficient at work, and who knows....maybe in a few months I will be able to understand enough Spanish to have a conversation about something other than how bad my Spanish is and the ever popular "Que frio no?" Si...it is cold, yes.

Anyway, wish me luck on another Barcelona weekend before my short week on my own and then a weekend in Norway...should be interesting

vamos a la cine

So I missed a night of blogness....oops, but it was for a good reason...sort of. About 4 pm yesterday at work I got asked if I wanted to go to the movies (this took place in Spanish and thus took several attempts). My initial reaction was no because I had zero food in the house and needed to go shopping, plus it would throw off my routine...then I realized the reason I have a routine was because I couldn't find enough to do so I figured going to see some random horror movie in Spanish could be a fun adventure or at least something new.

So we went straight from work, which means I looked like a homeless person with hopelessly torn jeans a old regatta shirt that is now way too big and the good old red jacket. The movie was at Mataro Parc which is a huge and really cool mall just two towns over and it was getting all decorated up for Christmas which was fun and festive, but kinda made me miss home. We were about an hour early so we went and got a beer and some tapas, which was good, I haven't actually had any tapas in over a month now that I think about it. When we got there Carlos asked me if I wanted some popcorn or something which I kinda did, but not enough to pay that much for it so I passed. Although I felt kinda bad about it after cause everyone else got something and kept offering it too me, which I accepted with nothing to share back with...oh well.

The move was called "Rec" as in an abbreviation of Record and was filmed in Barcelona, although mostly in one building. It was a horror movie thats a cross between The Blair Witch Project and any zombie movie you've ever seen. So there was alot of running around and shaky camera stuff that kinda makes you feel sick after too long. Along with alot of overly loud screaming that kinda gives you a headache....so now that I'm nauseous with a headache I can try to enjoy the movie. Unfortunately it really wasn't that good....and not just because I couldn't understand half of the dialogue. Like the Blair which and most zombie movies, there wasn't much plot too it and it just kinda ended abruptly in a failed attempt to be dramatic.

On the plus side most of the dialogue was curse words when people freaked out and the "tranquilla" which was people telling them to calm down. So at least I could fallow it. Also it was actually fun just to go to the movies, which I haven't done in forever. And its always good to do something new, especially with some Spanish folk so I can try to practice and whatnot.

And now...well now its late and I'm tired so I'm gonna try to get a good night sleep and have a good Thursday, that leads to a great Friday and another exciting weekend.


PS: Movie theaters here have assigned seats and two different kinds of seats, no doubt with different prices. There were two rows right in the middle that were red with cup holders and head rests that the other chairs (like ours) did not have. But the theater wasn't full...so who cares if someone doesn't sit in their assigned seat?....This is the plan for next time

survived another weekend

It's about ten pm and I'm working my way to sleep but I figured I'd comment on the weekend. I was unsuccessful in finding any of my friends that I had lost numbers for but in the process I did manage to find the bar where one used to work. It turned out to be much bigger and nicer than I had previously thought and ended up spending alot of time hanging out there. Its a huge Irish pub called Irish Rock Cafe, and they have some pretty good food, if you're willing to pay for it, and live music every weekend so I definitely plan on going to hang out every now and then. I saw a band play that was just 3 guys with a guitar, a bass, and what i think was a mandolin, but they played everything from Bob Marley to Irish jigs.

Friday I ended up meeting Alexis in Barcelona and it was great to have a friend to go wander around and bar hop. We had never really hung out without James and Helena so it was cool to hang out and actually have a conversation. Because it was Friday and I had been at work all day I was pretty tired...I had planed on a nap, but Guitar Hero got in the way...happens. Anyway, I started out tired and wondering how I was gonna make it through a long night, but after a few redbulls and adventuring into some new places I was energized and we ended up dancing on a stage at the Jamboree with a bunch of overly intoxicated tourists. But all and all it was alot of fun and now thats one more English speaking person I can call up to go hang out.

Most of Saturday was spent watching a cd of old English tv that James gave me...Fawlty Towers and Men Behaving Badly. Ridiculous and funny and very English but it was a good way to recover from a late night. I managed to convince myself to go out again that night and planned to meet up with my roommates Bastien and Mathew but unfortunately never got ahold of them once I was downtown. I went back to that Irish bar, this was the night I saw the live music and had a decent hamburger, and then hung around Las Ramblas eventually ending up back at the Jamboree in hops of bumping into some people I know go there alot. Unfortunately, this did not happen and I spent too much of the night just kinda hanging around there, and occasionally getting the energy to go dance with random people. Toward the end of the night I did get hit on shamelessly by a 32 year old English teacher from Venezuela ,which was interesting but by that time I was glad to have someone to talk to. Unfortunatly, by that time I was also feeling kind of sick from the giant hamburger and fries I had had for dinner....its sad, but I don't eat that kinda stuff much any more and apparently it didn't sit well. Anyway, thats a long way of saying dancing wasn't really gonna happen with my stomach not feeling so hot and the teacher eventually gave up and went dancing with her Italian friends. Although, I did end up talking with one of her friends who was visiting from Venezuela and spoke no English. It was slow going in a very loud night club, but I was glad I'm able to understand enough to have a slow broken chat in Spanish at 4 am. if need be.

I also learned an important lesson about walking home from the clubs....if you're a decently dressed white guy and you're alone...then don't. Find some other way, take a bus, or train or something, but don't walk up Las Rambles unless you want to get harassed by an African "Lady of the evening" every 20 feet. Live and learn.

Anyway, it was a good weekend, and I'm now entering my last week of work with James and Bastien still there so I should get some sleep so I can practice being self sufficient in the morning.

Buenas Noches self and anyone who may read

Another day, another dollar

I can feel work slowing down. Day by day, there is less and less to to do and we spend more time at the end of the days looking, or avoiding looking, for work. I don't know if its a good or bad thing really. It can be kinda nice not to be crawling around the floor all day, but I hate just pacing around looking for sails that aren't there, especially when there are alot of other people in the loft working. I think that's the problem really, not working when others are. Even if there really aren't sails to be put together I see other people doing stuff and feel like I should be helping, or at least not standing around.

Oh well, so it was kinda a slow day today. Although, we got in some sails that were made in South Africa and all we had to do was put on the luff and measure them. Interesting side note about sails from Africa; they have to get sprayed with insecticide that smells like diesel and after about an hr they kinda make your head and stomach hurt. Also, they are a hundred times cleaner than the ones that come out of our loft, and less wrinkled, which makes me think we should be taking more steps to keep the loft clean so the sails don't come out looking used.

Anyway, enough of business. It's almost Friday!! Wahoo, I'm excited. Although, the big plans for the office football match seem to have fallen through because we didn't reserve the field or some nonsense. I guess I'll find out for sure tomorrow, but either way at least its the weekend. Not sure what all I'll end up doing...at least one day, maybe tomorrow, I'll head into Barcelona and see if my friend still works at this bar called McCarthy's bar and maybe I can reclaim some phone numbers. Also I think I'm gonna do a flashback and write about "buscando setes"...Here we go~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (bet you didn't know this is what a flashback looks like)~~~~~~~~

So this last weekend was defiantly an adventure. I had been giving James a hard time about it all Friday and neither one of us could think of any reason why anyone would wake up at 8 am on a Saturday, to drive 2 hrs into the mountains to look for mushrooms. But somehow by the end of hanging out Friday night, I was going too. So the next morning, Helena, James, Alexis (James' sister), and I piled in the car for a journey into the mountains. The car ride consisted of drifting in and out of sleep while bad techno remixes played on the radio. We stopped once at a roadside diner type place and ordered some food and coffee, but it was really crowded and they took so long we just left. Finally we finally got "there". There, was the side of the road on a curve like a hundred we had passed on the way but apparently, it was the good spot to be. So we hop out, and it is much colder than I would have liked in my T-shirt, but the view is very nice. Rolling hills and mountains that go on and on and nothing but one or too small random homes with a few goats and cows milling about. The thing that immediately surprised me was that there were no fences. We just walked off the side of the road off into the hills in sight of a small cabin but no fences surrounding property the way you see along the highways of Texas.

So looking for mushrooms is just that, you tromp around with your head down searching the ground for mushrooms, but not just any....oh no...there is a special kind and nothing that I find that fits the description is right. after a few minutes of that I get a little tired of looking at the ground so I just kinda explore. It was amazing, just running around the woods in the mountains, fallowing random little creeks, and climbing up inclines. At one point I heard Helena call my name and looked down and they were all about 60 feet below me fallowing a little stream so I ran back around and met up with them again. My camera was unfortunately out of battery for this whole thing, but James and his sis got some pictures, so when I get those from them I'll put a few up.

We did find a few mushrooms...and by we I mean Helena (the mushroom authority that turned all our finds down) and by "a few" I mean 2. I guess we were out there for about 3 hrs so I don't know if it was worth the 2 mushrooms but it was defiantly worth the views. And I think I found something better anyway....a whole cow skeleton. Just laying there in the woods. At first all I saw was a giant leg bone which kinda freaked me out and then I looked a little farther down and there was the whole back and a big skull, which was much more interesting than the mushrooms. It had been dead a long time and picked pretty clean but if you got really close it still smelled pretty funky, I tried to convince James to put the skull on the front of Helena's car but he wasn't touching it and Helena would have killed him. So after that whole excitement we decided to head back which was a quite a long way especially when you don't know exactly how to get back but we did fine. At one point we actually did hit a fence out in the middle of the woods, but not like a barbwire fence or anything, just a wire that we all thought was surely electric... all of us except Helena who, before any of us could stop her, touched it. Well, she got lucky and we found out a few feet down there was a break in the wire but it was a close call. That is till we came to another one at the road that we all stopped and stared at again. All except Helena who reached out and tapped it...Again nothing. So she put her hand on it and stepped over, but as soon as she had gotten her leg over to the other side she started jumping around waving her hand and screaming....we all laughed and jumped it without touching. Apparently it had given her a pretty big jolt and burned her hand and feet, but not too bad to cause any lasting damage or anything.

So we finally got back to the car and headed to a restaurant in a very small town on the way home. Unfortunately it was full, because it smelled amazing but we were able to find another place a little farther down the road. This place was interesting, it was quite literally someones home and looked and felt it. It was as if someone had just set up alot of tables around their house and had strangers come eat....which now that I think about it is exactly what it was. It was a nice meal too, or at least mine was good, the others had a few complaints about there and eyed mine jealously, but we had a nice Spanish/English chat and then headed home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(Flash forward looks very similar to flash back)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So that was Buscando setes, or Bolets, if you're Catalan. It was one of several stories I'll be slipping in along the way with this new semi-daily routine. I say semi-daily because tomorrow is the weekend and every rigid, disciplined routine I've come up with here disappears on the weekends so it's very likely I wont be back on till Sunday or Monday. But have no fear all you eager readers, I shall return with more interesting stories to keep you entertained while you're at work at your desk jobs or sitting in class not listening to professors. Until then I wish you all the best and ask you to pray for the well being of me and my belonging over another dangerous weekend in Barcelona.

Abrazos,
Barrett

Turning over a new leaf

So I haven't been on here in a long time...another month about. Seems like that's how long before I start feeling guilty and come back to it. There really are a lot of thing I keep replaying in my head and trying not to forget before I write them down in here. But I don't think I'm going to try to do that today. Today I hope will be the start of regular posting again. I think if I just come home and write a little each day then it will become a habit and I wont have month long gaps in between entries. Also maybe I'll end up writing something other than play by plays of my weekends.

For all those who may actually look at this from time to time, I'm doing well and still very much alive. I'm getting to a point now at work were I can do sails alone which actually makes the days go by much faster but also means I am working alone most of the time. Which is probably a good thing to get used to because in the next few weeks James and Bastien are leavin so that takes away the usual people I would work with. Although there is a new player at the loft and in the apt. A new French guy named Mathew (pronounced with a thick French accent so it kinda sounds like a sneeze) but he seems like a cool guy and speaks English well.

I recently booked a trip to Norway for a weekend for my every-three-month-leave-the-EU-adventure. Should, if nothing else, be an adventure. I'm meeting up with a guy named Thomas Okslo and actually gonna go sailing.....in Norway....in December....BBBRRRRRrrrrr. But hopefully that shouldn't be too bad.

Also, I had a great weekend, two weeks ago, when I got to go see the start of the Barcelona World Race, which was amazing. I've never seen such a crowd, literally hundreds of spectator boats came out to watch. Everything from million dollar yachts, to a guy speeding around in an A-cat, as well as myself and a few people from the loft in a double decker party-esk boat. It was a great start as well, people were worried because there wasn't much breeze but it picked up a bit right before the start. And right at the beginning of this downwind start one of the boats starts struggling against the edge of spectator boats trying to find a good angle with clean air and as he does a boat comes from right behind him, pops the spinnaker and flies into the crowd at top speed with boats scattering but staying close as he speeds by to take a huge lead at the start with most of the fleet fallowing his lead into the crowd. It was a crazy scene with boats clamoring to get out of the way while others rushed to get closer and helicopters buzzing around only feet above the masts of some of the boats. I have a million pictures of all this to sort through but when I get the highlights I'll put them up on here.

In general, everything is goin pretty good. I do get a bit homesick from time to time when work gets tedious or when I can't find anything to do on the weekends, but I'm making new friends too. I had a decent little group of friends that I met who are going to school here but unfortunately last weekend I lost my phone....actually it and my ipod were stolen when I fell asleep on the train....I know...I'm an idiot...lets all just move on. So now I don't have any of their numbers anymore and no way to get a hold of them. I think I remember where one of them works however, so this weekend I'm gonna try to go find em, but chances are slim that I'll run into them again.

Well for everyone back at home, I love you all and hope everything is going great. Oh! and enjoy Thanksgiving....I keep sayin I'm gonna make a turkey or somethin, but the more I think about it the less I see myself coming home from work and cooking all afternoon to have solo Thanksgiving. Everyone keep in touch, and for those of you who don't have it, go download Skype, its a free online phone and then we have bi-coastal chats!

Adeu,
Barrett

Welcome back

Captain's Log.... It's been over 30 days of radio silence....Recon mission Spain has continued in hiding.....Now that it is becoming once again safe to transmit, updates concerning operation BARCO (BArrett ReCOn) (also "Boat" in Espanol) shall be reestablished.

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Ok, So really I'm just lazy and most days are the same with days of insanity sprinkled about. I'm going to run through a months worth of respectable stories in Chronological order, and I know you're thinking "holy crap this is gonna be insanely long" well it might but I'll do my best to hit the highlights.

1. "French Chick Teaches Southern Boy About Manners"
So I'm the first person in the house ready every morning, one day I accidentally sleep in but wake up at 8:00 when people normally leave. So I rush out of my room to get ready only to realize the roommates have left me without so much a knock on my door to see if I'm alive. I dress, grab a banana and run downstairs just in time to see them drive past so I chase them down yelling and hop in. The only explanation I get is from Hugo "It's only a 20 min walk.", "Well its only 2 seconds to knock on my door." Lame and ridiculous but I relax because I get a ride and don't have to make the 30 min walk to work. I get to work and briefly tell James about my quick morning, "Nice of them to wake you", "I know, right"....when from behind me I hear Camille saying something too me about knocking on my door and I think its some joke or something, but then realize she is yelling at me because I am so rude and she is not a taxi (she doesn't even drive, it's just her car) and I don't say thank you enough. I now walk to work every morning not because she told me to, but because I don't need some crazy French chick thinking I owe her something, plus I'm the only one in the house that makes it to work on time.

2. Someone Put the DPS in the American Embassy
So I'm coming up on 3 months here and we realize I don't have a proper visa so Ricard and I are going to the American embassy to see if I can get an extension. I'm actually really nervous about this because there is a chance if I screw this up I could get booted out of Spain real fast. So the morning of I wake up on the bright, shower, shave, put on nice clothes that I haven't worn in years only to find $71 in the pocket of one pair of pants! Ridiculous and Awesome all at the same time. So I leave way early to make sure I get there on time using crazy trains and a cab to meet Ricard at the Embassy. I get there half an hr early and wait till he gets there and then we go get a coffee and talk about everything I can and shouldn't say, which turns out to be I can say whatever I want because in their it's America and they aren't gonna kick me out of Spain and should help me with anything I need. I also found out that Ricard can't even get in the door because he's not American so I'm flying solo. Well it turns out this big meeting with the people at the Embassy is me going into a very nice complex, through very intense security and walking into a very small room that is the equivalent to a small DPS. And indeed the whole process is very much like getting a drivers licence, I wait in line to find out that they can't help me. Basically I am handed a piece of paper that has an overview of all the visas and the address of the Spanish consulate I can talk to. This all adds up to one thing, I'm going home for a little while! Which I'm actually very excited about as long as I get to come back to Spain.

3. There's No Place Like Home
So I get to come back to Texas which is great, I can't wait to see family and friends and have a week off of work. Unfortunately it's only a week so I'm gonna have to do alot of bouncing around to see everyone. Which I do, I spend the first half of the week bouncing around seeing friends while they are at work or lunch breaks, then going out with my parents and family friends at night which is great fun but after a few days I have a serious need for Austin food, the sailing team, and some Longhorn football. The night before I leave I drive up into Houston to meet up with Derek, Christian and Kristen and grab a drink and hang out. It was actually a great night, we hung out and told stories and just goofed off and they all reminded me how good of friends I made at school and that I have more than one family to come home to after Barcelona. I also found Derek can't come to Austin with me, ridiculous, and that you can buy tamales from some guy wandering around a bar at 1 am, awesome.
Austin is great, but tiring. The first night I drive over to Will's and never leave. Everyone has school in the morning so nothing big goin on this Thursday night (like that ever stopped them before) but Will, Sarah, Mike, and I had alot of fun hanging out drinkin and catching up on general craziness. The next day I get in a nice round of disk golf with Will before he takes off to sail in Fort Worth. Disk Golf.....amazing sport....best played with a bag of beer. After that I got picked up by Genessee who became my party planner for the rest of the weekend. Party that night: awesome, except allergies and falling asleep on the couch way early in the night only to find out the next morning that Neville was doing handstands above me for photo shoots...I'll find pictures. Next day was a trip to the greenbelt (beautiful) before tailgating and Longhorn game (amazing). All I could have wanted, just wished we could have gotten more friends organized to come play, but it was a great time and so amazing to be back in that stadium. Then it was off to downtown to party like a rockstar, which Genessee, her friend Phil, Neville and I did admirably. Ending with a delicious Best Wurst. The next day before I left I hung out with Sarah and tried to say adios to some people before I was gone.
Last Supper with the fam was great, birthday cake, pesto, family and friends and a slightly out of place serious discussion on world politics but its was great all the same. I think I may have even surprised a few people by knowing something about what goes on outside of Texas. The next day mom took me to the airport and sent me on my way. It was great to see everyone and I love you all. To those I didn't see I still love you, we just need to work on scheduling.

4. Sneaking into Spain, Just Like Sneaking into a Movie, just takes longer
So it turns out France (my plane destination) is not actually on the way to Spain. Here's the rundown on a 37+ hr adventure:

Planes are nice, but long layover in London is tiring and expensive. Marseilles is pretty enough but as soon as my bus get close to the train station it looks like the wrong side of the tracks. "Information guy" not funny with the "Sorry, I do not speak any English at all" remark before telling me how to get tickets. No direct train to Barca and have to wait about 2 hrs to leave Marseilles. Bathroom costs 50 cents. Sign above train doesn't actually tell you where you're going. I don't speak French. Have to get off at unexpected station because "we're on strike?" Lost in translation. Get on wrong, but much nicer car and hope no one finds me reading in my stolen private room. Exhausted. In Parpignon for the night, find weird small hotel across the street from train station. Have to take bath because there is no shower curtain. 5 Euro breakfast is croissant with a side of bread. I'm really early but can't figure out why no sign has a train going to Barcelona. Use tourist sign language and hope to god this the right train. Beautiful scenery, water on the left is a good sign. People get on that speak Spanish, another good sign. I'm in the wrong seat but don't care to move. Hope they don't check my passport too closely. They barely look at it. Finally make it back to Premia, back tot he flat. If I sleep now I'll never get on the right time. I walk to work.


So these are all my noteworthy adventures so far! I'll save birthday weekend for next time, you must be tired of reading and I'm getting hungry. The reason I haven't really been updating as often is because most days look like this:

6:30 am-7:30- wake-up, dress, eat, walk to work
8:00 am- 5:15 pm- work
5:30- 6:00 pm- lay down and stare at ceiling
6:00- 8:00- workout, run
8:00- 9:30- shower, cook, dinner
9:30- 1030- read
10:30 pm- 6:30 am- ZZZzzzzzZZZZzzzz

There ya go, you just got caught up on most days for the last month. In reality I've been meaning to do this for a long time but the only reason I did today, was because it's raining and I can't run so I had the time and extra energy, but I'll try to work this into the schedule when there is something to mention. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing great back home! And if anyone out there hasn't given up on me and still checks this thank you for believing I'm still alive.

Love you all,
Barrett

Stir Crazy

So my holiday trip around Spain seems to be a plan for another holiday. Thus far I have accepted the fact that I need to save money and be productive with my time and, despite a ridiculous sleep schedule, I've done pretty well with this goal:

Flies gone from kitchen: Check

Find where to buy soap: Check

Order transcript: Check

Work out: Check

Keep myself alive: Check

Learn Spanish:...next on list

However, while going through this list one slow step at a time, I have had a little extra time on my hands. In addition, no one is back in town yet so this has all been a solo mission and anyone who knows me I don't do that well bummin alone for days on end. And did, I mention I spent 3 hrs one day finding a movie theater so I could see Transformers in English? Well it was definitely and adventure in disguise and I was thus inspired to make my own transformations:

So I hadn't shaved in over a week and it was getting a bit ridiculous....

So I shaved...but left the mustache, but it wasn't a very good one. (ps: I look kinda weird with my hair back like that huh?)

So since the mustache wasn't good enough I figured I'd go for the Captain Morgan rather than the handle-bar mustache

But that picture made me laugh alot.....like this:

So I though maybe if i trimmed it more I could pull off a Captain Morgan pirate look...

The answer was an obvious NO and it made me make this face...

But then I thought...what might help?

This made me laugh again, but then I started twisting my newly drawn mustache and thinking of new ideas....

Although as soon as I saw these I ideas all I could think was "why does anybody ever do this?"

But at this point I had to go ahead and see what the mustache looked like...

Which turned out to be terrible, maybe I shaved too much, maybe its not grown out enough anyway, probably both...so....I guess there is only one thing to do...

Oh, I know you are can't wait to see what I look like....keep in mind, it's been like 4 years...4 years, since anyone saw me clean shaved, 4 years since I even touched my chin....

Crazy I know, just to think about.....its so crazy...

I wonder what I do look like....

Ok ok, here it is....

And I don't even think it looks that weird...could be worse...

And just so you can compare...

So thats what I did with my spare time. First time in sooooo long! Many of you who actually read this have probably never seen me without it, insane I know. So what ya think? could be worse huh? Maybe next I'll shave my head....could be a bit extreme. Well anyway, I've accepted it, and now I'm looking for more exiting things things to fill my last days of holiday, I've been hitting the beaches a bit more so hopefully I'm a little more tan than I am in these pictures. Well for all those back home, I hope all is well and Texas and all of the South isn't falling apart without me.

NOT DEAD!

Now I know there were some worried folks out there but I assure all I am still alive and kickin. This has completed the Sarah portion of my holiday which means I now am not playing tour guild and bouncing around Barcelona all day everyday and can update my public on the adventures...and reassure all that I am still breathing and haven't wandered off the map.

I'll try to sum up the ten days with Sarah here without being overly detailed and such but I'll start by saying much fun was had. I got off work early the last Friday of work to go meet her at the airport...which ended up taking over 2 hrs because of some bad directions I got from some metro worker. Which also means it took me longer to get to the airport from Premia than it did Sarah to get there from Madrid.....ridiculous. But I did make it, and only about 5 mins after she had gotten there so that was good. That night was interesting. We went to a work dinner at a pretty cool restaurant that I cannot now remember the name, but it was good. We got there about half an hour late after hanging out with Adrian and then trying to rush showers and such which didn't work too well. Once getting there however, we had a relaxed and Spanish-length dinner which was nice because there were like 3 appetizers which meant Sarah got a nice taste of all Spanish had to offer...or at least everything that didn't have meet. Toward the end of dinner James even showed up with his newly arrived friends from England. Sarah and I finished our time at the restaurant at the English speaking side table talking to James and his friends and having some drinks. The after dinner adventure was interesting. We headed to some bar that was doing some kinda weird karaoke and had overpriced drinks but it was nice enough and everyone had a good time talkin and hangin out for a bit. We ended up next door at some dance club but more or less took over the upstairs bar above all the dancing craziness. We spent the time bouncing around all the work folk and James' friends just talking and drinking and goofing around, but it was in the end a good night and I think everyone had fun.

For the rest of the week Sarah and I did everything we could find to do around Barcelona. We went to the beach here a few times, we bar hoped in Barcelona. We had a few lazy days, that helped up prep to go adventure to some places that I hadn't been. That turned out to be nicer than me trying to play tour guilde because I didn't feel any pressure to find cool stuff to do because we were both equally lost. We found a very cool national art museum that was huge and as any good Spanish attraction had a bar/cafe to recharge half way through. We were there for about 5 hours but really only saw about half. I ran through most the the rest, but Sarah , hung out and bought some gifts at the gift shop. It was a good change from bars and wandering...however after we took the bus down and ended up back at Las Rambles for a little dinner and bar hopping on our way home. In the same area we found a cool Greek garden that I forget the name of but apparently the do little plays and stuff there and it was really cool just to spend an afternoon walking though some really nice gardens with statues scattered about.

We also spent some a day doing some of the Goudi things I had done with the Frenchies. We didn't get to go up inside the Sangra Familia because one of the elevators was broken and the wait was over 2 hours. But I think Sarah still enjoyed it and then we went to the Parc Guill (think that is how it is spelled, minus some crazy punctuation) which was alot nicer with Sarah than with the French family, it also helped that it was after one stop, instead of 5. We ended up finding it by fallowing some equally lost tourist up a giant hill which was not the way I went last time but it was cool to see a different part of the park and be able to rest and have a expensive sandwich and some sangria as we were attacked by pigeons.

So at this point I think I've given most of the highlights. Once I get some pictures from Sarah's camera I can put up some photo adventures. As for now I've finally come out of vacation stupor and managed to clean the apt, the disgusting fridge and even go to the store so I can have a dinner that doesn't involve pasta and tuna....not that there anything wrong with that. As for the rest of my vacation...which is until September 3rd...which is amazing. So I think I'm gonna take a day trip to Tarragona, unless I can find some cheaper trains to Malaga where I would really like to go. Unfortunately, even staying in Barcelona for ten days has sucked out alot of my money so we'll see what I can work out. But now that I have come out of vacation coma for the last 2 days I have even got a few emails out so hopefully I can graduate soon so I'm thinkin anything is possible.

Hope all is well back in the US of A and everyone feel free to email or get in touch whenever, I should be around for the next day or two at least and I'll probably even take the computer if i leave town so I hope to hear from ya soon.

Hasta luego!

Almost killed a man in Barcelona, just to watch him die

Ok, this is attempt number 2 for this particular story so we'll see how it goes.

So last Friday was pretty lay back and I just hung around the house. Although, to Adrien's surprise I did make dinner, chicken tacos for all!

Saturday I met up with James and Helena and her sister and went to the beach for a few hours. It's always a good day when your biggest concern is trying not to get sunburned. There was also some beach Foosball involved which is always good, although James actually beat me a few times so I guess I'm gonna have to go practice or somethin, cause that just isn't right.

After hitting the beach I came home, showered and napped. When I finally got movin again Adrien was headin out to play tennis and wasn't planing on comin back till late. So once again I was home alone and that means only one thing...Barcelona trip. I had a quick dinner and grabbed a few things; Zune, the $200 American I found in my backpack that needs to be exchanged, all the important stuff, and I headed out.

The trains are still messed up but I am now an expert so I headed to Clot to grab the subway to Placa de Catalunya and to see where the night leads. Then in Clot I had a new first time life experience; I got pick-pocketed. That's right you read correctly, pick-pocket attack.

Let me set the scene. So I'm waiting around the subway listening to music and double checking to make sure I'm headed the right way and all that. I also tap my pockets, little travel routine to make sure I have everything, and all is well. So the train comes and there is only one kid in front of me but as soon as he steps on the train he stops and starts looking at a map so I'm trapped in the door. I go to walk around him and he sways, so I move to go the other way and he sways back. I'm already pissed at this kid for not just getting on the train when someone behind me starts pushing to get on. So now I'm irritated and just put a shoulder down and push past the kid in front of be while nearly running over the kid behind me as well. I tap my pockets...no wallet...my heart jumps...I spin around fast enough to see my wallet disappearing behind the backpack of the kid behind me and before I think about it my hand juts out and grabs his wrist hard. I yang his hand up and it's empty. "Give me my f%#king wallet" (in English) and the kid looks at me not surprised or at all concerned and then looks and points at the ground where my wallet lays as if gravity had reversed itself in my pocket causing the wallet to jump out on its own. I release the kid and snatch up my wallet and check it. Everything is there.

I'm so unbelievably pissed. I feel totally justified in throwing these two little punks out the closed windows of the train as it rockets down the track. I want to just grab the kid and lift him off the ground and shake him, and I'm pretty sure I could, both of these guys are tiny. But I don't.

Ya ever wish you could just summon up a few notoriously aggressive friends? Some that maybe would have enacted a little of their own justice. I dunno, I guess it's better I didn't damage the two kids and drag them to the police by their hair in the middle of a crowded train.

Anyway, I had all my stuff but I was in a pretty crappy mood by the time I got to Barcelona. It was already later than I had hoped it would be so I only had a few hrs before I had to catch a train back. I headed over to my favorite bar and had some sangria but I didn't even really feel like finding and fast friends so I just hung out for a little over and hour and people watched. After which I just headed back home and got some sleep.

Well that's that story...unfortunately I think I told it better the first time, but that version was lost to the interweb. So as far as I'm concerned the subway is an evil place that gets me lost and steals my money so I can't wait for them to fix the trains. As for this week I have 3 and a half days between me and a 3 week vacation! Also Sarah is coming to visit Friday so it'll be cool to have someone to hang out with and hopefully do some traveling around Spain with. Well, until next time,

Adios amigos

Almost killed a man in Barcelona, just to watch him die

BLARGA FAM EDJN: FDS J:O.....So I just spent my whole lunch break typing out the weekend and then highlighted it to spell check it and accedentally hit the "k" button and now the whole thing is gone. I will rewrite it today but wanted all to know my frustration.

A weekend to forget

I'll start out with a brief bit about last weekend for contrast and because it was a pretty good Sunday after Scuba diving Saturday. I got to sleep in till like 11 and then I met up with James, Helena, Richard, and Carlito and we all went to this restaurant on the beach in Masnou that has really good paella. It was a great afternoon just hanging out, eating good food and having some...I don't remember what they are called, but it’s a beer with I think like lemon fanta in it, but it’s pretty good. I got to talk to Richard alot, seeing how he doesn't speak and Spanish, and he's a really interesting guy. He is working in Jordan teaching kids on a US military base, but he himself isn't at all in the military. Being there he has a pretty unique view of international relations, and the war, and government and politics in general. He also had a few cool stories about meeting different Queens, and some mercenaries, and all kinds of crazy things.

After hours at this restaurant eating paella and hanging out we went back over to Helena's apt and it was nice just to hang out, and talk, and watch TV with friends. Its simple stuff like that that I've kinda missed since coming here. All and all a really nice day and after watching the Simpsons in Spanish I decided to head home and was asleep by about 1030, anther glorious addition to the day.

Now, I had to get that down in order to move on to this weekend, specifically last night. I will warn you all now that this story will most likely make you laugh, cry, and question how it is I have managed to keep myself alive to the ripe old age of 22.

The day started out nicely and productive with my first hair cut in Spain, which went surprisingly well. I pretty much hate getting my hair cut mostly because of the forced small talk with chatty hair cutting ladies...but this isn't near the problem as soon as they realize you don't speak the language. Also the haircut turned out well so I was feeling pretty good about that. I spent awhile debating how to spend my day, and decided I'd head over to Barcelona and see what there is to see and maybe try to buy a book or somethin.

It takes me about an hour to actually get there because they are doing something with the train lines or something, and I couldn't take the direct route that I normally do and it took me awhile and a bit of back pedaling to actually get to Barcelona, but I did get to see the pretty nice main train station in Barcelona that I hadn’t been to yet. So I got there and wandered about for a bit. I finally figured out where the black sheep bar was, although it was closed when I got there cause it was only about 5 in the afternoon. So I walked down las ramblas, and entertained ideas of walkin down to the beach but its pretty far and would take alot of time, and I needed to find a place to exchange my last American hundred dollars before I did much of anything. So I did that, and walked down to the harbor for a bit, and had some tapas and did some people watching. I eventually ended up back at El basc de les fades, bar place around 93o (I know there is a big chunk of time missing but it was mostly walking around and playing foosball by myself). I ordered up some sangria and took a seat to relax and rest my feet and immediately picked up on some American speak behind me. After about a minute I go ahead and swing my chair around and introduce myself to the random English speaking folk. We talked for about an hour or so which was cool but pretty uneventful.

Then they had to leave, and it was about time I head back home anyway so I don't have to worry about getting stranded in Barcelona when the train stops running. So I head back and spend some time staring at the posted signs about the weird train situation and figure out I actually have to take a different train to another station to switch trains and then go home....Now this is the point of my evening that life starts to go downhill...although I don't know it yet.

I hop on the little packed subway with alot of other people who seem visibly irritated with the train situation being all screwed up. I ride the train as more and more people get off and I wait for the station I'm looking for....which never comes. I end up riding the train till the last stop in a place called Sabadell and get off and try to figure out what I did wrong, which now seems so simply obvious that I was on the right track but going the wrong way. Its only 11:30 so there should be plenty of time to catch the train going back the other way. However, it quickly becomes obvious that the train station here shuts down earlier than in Barcelona. So I head about ground to look for a cab or bus back to Barcelona so I can hopefully catch one of the last trains back to Premia.

I emerge on what I begin to call the Sabadell Circle of hell. It’s just a big roundabout, but I end up walking around the dame thing 3 times because there are signs pointing to Barcelona but they don't really line up with the exits and I'm trying to position myself between the circle of hell and Barcelona so I can find a bus or something goin that way. Eventually I give up with that and wait at a taxi stop and pray I have enough money to get back there. I end up kinda stealing some guy’s cab by accident and then spend a little time trying to explain that I need to go the Placa de Catalunya (The train station in Barcelona that can take me home). The guy keeps asking if I mean Parca, or placa...I think that’s what he was asking. Anyway I think we have finally figured it out and he drives and then points at an empty park. A little annoyed I try to explain that I need to go to Barcelona to catch a train. He thinks about it a minute and starts diving while he explains he will take me to the bus that goes to Barcelona. Cool, no problem we get there and I pay him and I hop out and start looking of a bus schedule or something when a bus shows up. I hop on and look at the time, I'm not exactly sure how far away we are but I figure there is still a chance I can catch the last train out, otherwise I'll just get like a 12 euro hostel in Barcelona and go back in the morning. We wait for a little while and a few more people hop on and we head of, stopping and picking up some loud annoying kids at one point that start running up and talking to the driver while he’s driving and being annoying. At one point we sat at a stop for like ten mins while the kids and the driver yelled at each other about something and I think he was trying to kick them out.

All I knew was that the annoying kids were ruining my chance to make it back home and if I had had any idea what was goin on I would have kicked them off myself for being little shits. Eventually we get going again and make a few more stops and by this point I've just kinda zoned out staring out the window and listing to music on my Zune. That is until the bus driver comes up and starts talking to me and I realize the bus in empty and I catch the phrase "este es el ultima parada" translation: this is the last stop. So I get out and realize very quickly this is not Barcelona.

I look around a bit hoping everyone from the bus may head in a common direction that may lead to a main part of town and I can try to get a taxi home. Unfortunately they all pretty much scatter so I figure I better just pick a direction and go. Honestly at this point I am lunar navigating around this place trying to find a cab. Every now and then I find a street sign and some say Barcelona and Placa de Catalunya on them so I'm hoping I'm close and try to fallow them, but not many streets are well marked. So I leave the moon to my back and start walking.

And I walk....and I walk. It’s actually a really nice night and not really all that late, and I have my music goin so I'm just tryin to keep myself from goin in circles and fallow the randomly placed signs. I'm in a pretty nice neighborhood and there are some nice hilltop views and such. And I walk....FINALLY! I find Placa de Catalunya....the same park the taxi had taken me to before the bus stop. A little disheartened I walk through the empty park which is nice and even has a creepy swan in a pool staring at me. And I walk on...

I listen to music and walk. I walk out of the nice neighborhood. I walk past a Sony industrial warehouse....and I walk. I come to a crossroad with no signs or clues and I walk...I leave the building and end up on a road fallowing the one sign that had something about a train station and Barcelona. I eventually end up walking along what in the daytime I'm sure is a busy road with forest on either side...and I walk. I'm getting tired. It's getting late. I hit a bridge with a narrow walkway that scares the hell out of me and I stare at my feet and try not to look at the ground very far below me as I keep a death grip on the railing. And I walk...

I find a bus stop on a hill overlooking some lights, buildings, civilization. It is 3:3o in the morning. I have been walking for over 3 hours. My legs ache and my feet are scraped up from walking along the grass and rocks in my sandals. I sit down. My feet are pounding. I am only sitting a minute and get up and my legs stain against me. They are already cramping. I find the bus schedule. No busses till 5:45. I look down the hill at the lights, and I walk.

My zune stops playing and gives me the low battery sign and I turn it off. I walk in silence and listen to the sound of wind and the road as distant cars dive home at this late hour. I am passing more buildings and see what looks to be a busy well lit area up ahead and I hope to find something promising. I come around the corner and stop. I laugh to keep from screaming...It’s the circle of hell. The same one I had left 5 hours ago so hopeful I was on my way home. If I had been in a car I could have driven to France in this much time. I should probably stay here and find a cab but I don't want to look at the place so I walk. I find the main road heading toward Barcelona. My right knee started hurting hours ago but now I'm limping as my left leg cramps from trying to take the weight off my right. I find a gas station and buy a bottle of water and a sandwich. Now in the light I look down and realize my left hand is completely black....it’s from the bridge, dirt from the handrail I wouldn't let go of for anything. I carefully open the gas station sandwich so not to touch it with my diseased looking hand. I'm so tired. As I walk away a cab full of loud drunken Spaniards pulls into the station for gas. I stare. It's my cab. The cab driver filling up the tank is the same one who should have taken me to Barcelona 5 hours ago. I turn and walk away.

Finally, I find train tracks...either way I go must lead to a station. I'm hopeful. But it's not long before the train tracks diverge from the road and I cannot fallow. I walk through a roundabout, with trees in the middle of it and find a sign. It doesn't really help. I keep walking past car dealerships and eventually hit another gas station. It's locked by the guy is still in there. I'm almost to out of it to put a sentence together but I ask about a train to Barcelona and he speaks in rapid fire Spanish and points back the way I came and then makes a big hook motion with his hands...I get the idea and head back. I'm disoriented. Everything looks familiar but not enough so that I can get a barring on where I am. I briefly find the train tracks again, but am forced to cross a road, and avoid a tunnel. My legs and mind are Jell-O. I walk. I figure I'll ask someone else at the next gas station I see. I walk. I come around another corner in and endless night of corners and I nearly collapse.....I found a gas station. It is the same gas station I had gotten bad directions from 40 minutes ago. I've somehow made a huge circle and I just stare in disbelief at the now empty station.

I do the only thing I can and turn around. I find those tracks again. At one point there are stares going over a short bridge. I climb them....slowly. At the top I look out over the maze I have been walking through. I see the train station. No more than a hundred yards away. All lit up, empty but lit. I shuffle toward it slowly like a zombie in the B grade horror movie I feel I am trapped in. I get there. Train Station to Barcelona. I go to buy a ticket and just start shoving change into the machine praying I have enough. I have exactly 1.85. The cost of a ticket. I go down to the tracks and sit down and take my sandals take my sandals off so I can examine my now black feet. I have a dirt tan line where the strap is but its not white underneath, it’s red and swollen. I check my phone for the time. Its 5 am. I've been walking for nearly 6 hours. The train doesn't come for another 30 mins. I look at my Zune. It turns on but gives me the battery warning. I put on "Alice’s Restaurant" because it's long and makes me smile and takes my mind off my night. The train finally comes.

I stumble on. I can barely walk after sitting and I try to stretch out my legs. Each stop brings more loud drunk young Spanish kids from local clubs. I few especially annoying guys are screaming and chanting and singing. I finally....finally get to Barcelona. I emerge up the stairs as if reaching the summit of Everest exhausted and excited staring up at the morning sky with the sun just coming up. I look around. This is Barcelona. But it is not Placa de Catalunya. I don't know where I am. Again.

I walk down the street and soon get an idea of where to go. The walk is slow and painful but I find where I am going. I go down into the familiar station where I know right where the ticket machines are and go through the gates where I know exactly where I'm going to sit and wait for the train. Then I see the signs...all the signs reminding me why I ended up this way in the first place. I can't take my familiar train home. I stare confused at the sign and a lady comes up who works there, "Donde vas?". I struggle to answer and she asks "English?" thank god she speaks some English. She tells me I will have to take the L1 underground to Clot, then get on a train to Mataro. I walk out of my familiar gate over to where the big red L1 line was and I stop once again and have a bit of a flashback. This is the exact spot. The spot that if I had taken a little extra time I would have realized that I need to walk left instead of right. I look at the time. 6:3o, I was in this exact spot 7 and a half hours ago making a simple mistake that would send me to the Sabadell circle of hell. I take a left.

The Clot station is confusing and I end up going up and down the same flight of stairs 3 times before I manage to find where the right part of the station is. A lady helps me but then accidentally closes a gate on me as I try to walk through. I finally find the train that will take me home. I sit down and feel the blood rush into my feet so that I can feel my heart beat in the souls of my shoes. I reach for my phone to check the time....my phone is gone. It must have fallen out of my pocket on the last train, or maybe I dropped without realizing getting my ticket to show the lady so that she could close the gate on me. I don't care. I just want to be home and in bed.

I drift in and out of sleep all the way to Premia. Every 5 mins I am woken up by the door alarms at every stop screaming at me. I get to my stop and stand up and my legs don't work. I can barely move but I stumble out and stare out over the water with the sun coming up and a cool breeze blowing. I head for the stairs. Another coincidence. The guy coming up the stairs a little drunk is the same guy who stands on the corner and waves to us everyday as we go to work. He doesn't recognize me but I smile. These coincidences all night have made me wonder if someone up there is working hard to get me home, or just laughing my endless stream of stupidity.

The walk home from the train feels like it takes another 7 hours. I get to my apt. I open the front door. I go up the elevator. I let myself into my empty place. I make myself take a shower, and clean my feet. I find there are blisters on the bottoms of them underneath all the dirt. I stumble out of the shower and go to my bed. I close the metal window cover so that it will be pitch black in my room. I look at my computer just long enough to get the time. It is 8:3o. I've been trying to get home for almost 10 hours. I close my laptop and the room goes dark and I am asleep.







Wow. Ya know the whole time I was walking last night I was kinda thinking about this and narrating it to myself as I went but it was scary to write it out. It was such a ridiculous, terrible adventure. It is now midnight on Sunday and I have spent the entire day in my dark room happy as a clam so sleep and poke around the internet and watch movies. My legs are unbelievably sore but I keep trying to stretch them out a bit. Mom and Dad I know when you read this you will worry as you probably should. If nothing else I will be more careful reading train station signs from now on and if I'm ever lost again, I'm not getting out of a taxi unless it is dropping me off at home, I don't care how much it costs. And don't worry, I'm never going to Sabadell again as long as I live.

Hola el mundo

Another weekend, another adventure,
Last weekend was Scuba diving extravaganza. We planed to get up and leave by 8am (crazy Brits) and head up the coast about 2 hrs to get to the dive place. The car ride allowed me a little nap on the way which was nice because the only music the radio would pick up was bad techno that went to static and back every two mins or so. We got there with only a minor incident of getting lost so we still made it on time to do the dive Richard (very interesting friend of James) wanted to. James and I where planning on doing a beginner dive that was a little later because James isn't certified and I haven't been in awhile so I figured I'd just stick with him. Richard was doing his 300th dive and has all his own gear, as did everyone else on that dive.

So here's the thing about our little dive. This is what I had heard about it: "Its a Tri-dive (I'm thinking 2 shallow practice and a real dive) and they go over some some basic stuff with you first and there are some head diver guys that kinda walk y0u through a few things and then they take ya down and its about a 15-20 min dive." Cool so that sounds bueno, I figure I can kinda hang and play around while they are going over really beginner stuff and then we'll all go for a real dive.

This is what it actually was: the Try Dive is where they throw about 20 people in a boat and motor out to a shallow dive spot where they send about 4 people down at a time. However, each person is with a master dive guy that holds on to your tank and basically pushes you around underwater for a like 15 mins and drags you back up to the surface. This was really annoyed especially since I had no idea that was the plan. I kept trying to swim and see stuff but I ended up just kicking the guy alot as he drove me around. After awhile I realized what the deal was and figured I'd just relax and enjoy being underwater.

Don't get me wrong...it was nice to go diving, I love being under the water and there were a few big schools of fish so that was fun. But ya loose alot of the freedom when some guy is pushing you along, especially when he is only pushing on one shoulder so your continually spinning to the right ever so slightly.

Anyway, I was one of the first to go and so I had alot of time after which was actually alot of fun. James and I hung out and snorkeled around. The water is pretty clear and the little cove they took us too has this huge overhang that is about a hundred feet above the water and juts out about 30 feet. It was a very pretty place, and I'd really like to go back and do some real diving, especially after I heard about some of the cave stuff Richard did.

But I'm only on my lunch break so I'll have to finish up about the rest of the weekend later. But it was a good weekend, with alot of fun, alot of friends, and alot of Spanish.

Hasta luego

Multiple perspective blog

Hope everyone liked Nicola's entry, we thought it'd be kinda a cool idea, but I'm gonna fill in two little parts she left out.

First of all I had a minor heart attack when I went to Barcelona to meet them. I told them I'd call them when I got in but unfortunatly as soon as I tried to make that call my phone informed me I had ran out of credits and needed to "recargar" it. Finding a card was no problem, but navigating the all Spanish pre-recorded system in the middle of the busyiest tourist street in Barcelona (possibly the planet) took about 25 mins of pulling my hair out. In the end I actually ended up stumbling accross a help menu that let me change the language...but it turns out I was only one button click (out of ten, I was counting) away from doing it in Spanish, which I was proud and annoyed by. Now some of you may be saying....why not just call from a pay phone?....TRIED IT! more complicated than the damn recharge system. But eventually I figured it out and got ahold of them, and since neither one of us knew exactly where the other was we just walked down the main street in opposite directions till we saw each other :)

That first night was nice, just talking and telling stories on the beach while the overly enthusiastic British guys ran around the beach naked. I showed them around as best I could and we saw some cool street performers and I took them to a cool little bar so it was all bueno, except for that unnecessary mad dash to the metro...oh well.

The girls were exhausted so I didn't wake them up when my stupid alarm woke me up at 7 am. I got a little more sleep after that bust spent most of the morning reading on the deck until they got up. The beach was great, except for the sunburn that fallowed. We took some weird underwater pictures with Nicola's cool camera so hopefully I'll get some copies of those soon. It was nice to just hang out with friends with no intense schedule or anything we HAVE to do.

That night, as you may imagine was pretty crazy. I had kinda guessed it was gonna end up that way when we were eating dinner at 1100. With the metro closing in about an hour it was all or none situation and I think we made the right choice. After dinner though we needed some liquid motivation so I introduced them to the "carajillo" which is espresso and cognac and will wake up the dead.

Clubbing and bar hopping in the mall is an odd experience but turned out fun, and I find out now that there are actually more clubs on the roof?! Maybe next time. I think Nicola failed to mention it but before we actually made it to the club we wandered a bit around the harbor and found what turned out to be a private party in some bar...the conversation with the door man went something like this:

Bouncer: "You on the list?"
Me: "No, do we have to be on the list?"
Bouncer: (stares at Nicola and Cleo) "....No"

So we go in with hotness points...or at least they did and I was bodyguard. Unfortunately that was the only cool part about the whole thing. There were alot of over 30 and overly trendy people dancing and talking in what would be a cool place if it had been air conditioned and wasn't 4,000 degrees. We had a round of overly expensive drinks and decided to head back and see if the line for the other club went down.

It hadn't but we had little else to do so we decided to wait it out...which lasted about ten seconds before we worked out a rotation system so two people could go to the bar across the mall and one could wait in line and we would rotate till we got to the front. Poor Cleo however was the only one who ended up waiting in line (THANK YOU!). So we got into this place...well I say that but once again the girls did and I was stuck with a 15 Euro cover charge! Which is obscene but the girls helped me pay for it. It was a fun rest of the night there. Alot of dancing and even more of me playing defense between the girls and every guy in the bar, but in the end I think everyone had a good time.

As expected, the walk and then train ride home was extremely long as the sun came up. I was the only one barely staying awake on the 20 min metro because if we missed our stop it would be bad news. So we finally made it home and collapsed.

The next day was pretty much what you would expect, alot of lounging, except for the 20 min voyage to find food that Nicola mentioned. It came time for the girls to head off to their next destination so I waked them down to the metro to see them off. It was a great weekend, one of the best since I've been here. It's always nice to see good friends in a new place and I'm glad they were able to come even if just for a few days.

As for adventures to come, I actually have a scuba trip in the works for this weekend with James and a friend of his from England. I'm pretty excited to do some diving and any plan on the weekend is a good one, there's nothing worse than a wasted weekend. I'm also trying to work out plans for me 2 weeks off starting August 10th. Hopefully I'll get some traveling in, just need to decide where.

And for now....well, I'm down to like 3 Euros so I need to go to the bank and exchange some more American dollars so I can go to the store and be able to eat...should be a fun adventure trying to talk to people at the bank. Actually....I just realized there is a pretty good chance the bank is closed by now...hmmmm....could be an adventure for tomorrow.

Anyway, everyone keep commenting and writing me so I stay on top of this whole blog thing...I do like doing it but when I'm tired I have a tendency to collapse instead of update. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll get caught up on some overdue pictures of Barcelona and other fun stuff, but until then...

Abrazos