hola el mundo!

Hello world!

Well its Saturday night and I've had a great few days that I have neglected to report so here goes the readers digest version....

Thursday night I went with James and his girlfriend to go seem some fireworks at the town over ( I know...a little bit of a third wheel but I was invited damn it). It started around 11 and we got there a bit early and had a beer or two on the beach and talked....well I talked to James in English and she talked to him in Spanish so it was like a conversation. Anyway the fireworks started and it was a great show! I was expecting just kinda a local town show but it really could have rivaled any 4th of July back home. It wasn't quite as long but there were some effects I had never seen and it was an all round great show, by the end it was so bright I had to close my eyes and so loud I should have covered my ears. An interesting note is that here there is kinda a finale but you really know the whole thing is over when there are three evenly spaced and very loud BOOMs. (I have firework pictures....coming soon)

So Friday at work was interesting...there is defiantly a Friday mentality where everyone is still working hard, but yo can tell they are all checking their watches every half hour. We got alot done, and really it was kinda a slower day at the loft because we had to go find sails to work on instead of having a pile to do. I took alot of notes and helped the seamstresses with sails alot. The last half hour everyone is so pumped for the weekend it is no longer subtle how they are watching the clock and me and James actually spent about 15 mins "going over notes", which did involve checking the notes I had taken but also doing our best to come up with words for me to learn which included ever cuss word we could think of. On our way home we noticed it was pretty windy and I mentioned that I was planing on going to the beach. After some not so friendly back and forth between Elena (James' girlfriend) and James he said he would meet me there and bring his kite (apparently they had planed on going shopping which I think he actually still did, but she was still kinda mad....go figure). So we met up and headed down to the beach a bit late. In case you were wondering about the whole kite thing...its a 12 meter kite-boarding kite that can very easily get you airborne and is used with a harness. It was a blast, although I got dragged along the sand which is like 90 grit sandpaper and bled a a little, but was still so much fun and I can't wait to do it again (also got some great pictures that are yet to come). I headed home after that to get dinner and have a drink and relax. I met Camille's boyfriend who is in town visiting and a very nice guy who does indeed speak very good English. Also that night I actually was productive and managed to finally unpack and move in a little bit which is a nice feeling but also makes the whole thing a bit more real.

This morning I slept in, which was glorious except for the kids yelling at like 9 through my window which was way before I had planed on getting up. I managed to fall back asleep but was woken again by James asking if I was about ready to head out to Barcelona like we had planed. I of course said I was ready and threw on some clothes and grabbed my camera and headed out the door to meet him. After about a 20 minute train ride we arrived in the middle of the city and I got the grand tour by the always hospitable James. We walked up and down seeing different public squares, and some churches and cathedrals. The main street called "Las Rambles", is home to tons of shops and malls, and restaurants and anything you could ever want. We made our way down, stopping for some tapas, and...a drink I can't remember but its basically espresso and cognac, which will put a spring in any one's step. So I saw the amazing Barcelona Cathedral which has a different saint every 6 feet and a cool courtyard in the middle. We also checked out a few of James' favorite bars and talked about...well everything...Barcelona, our families, I told him a few choice college stories, and just had a good time making our way from bar to bar, shop to shop all the way to the beach. At the beach we walked through the harbor there and made our way to a little beach bar/restaurant and had what was basically a chicken ceasar wrap, but was very good and it was nice to take a break and hang by the very crowded beach for awhile. After that we headed back up Las Rambles seeing some new things like alot of living statues, a few open air pet shops, and alot of local artists. One of the highlights was visiting James' favorite bar, who's name translates into "the black sheep" and having a beer and I spotted...yes you guessed it....FOOSBALL! So after we got our beers I asked if he wanted to play and he said he played ofter so we headed over. (This isn't really big enough to warrant its own paragraph but this one has gotten long).

So I guess I played down the fact that I've played foosball a bit but James soon found out I new what I was doing. However, the tables here are very different, the people look like little action figure soccer players and actually have two separate feet. On top of that the whole table slopes into the middle from both sides so its a bit harder to control the ball. However, I figured the whole thing out pretty quick and managed to win the first game by one point which warranted a rematch....To James' disappointment however, the second match was quicker and I only gave up one point. After such a beating James asked if we could sit in the smoking section and I said sure and grabbed two more beers.

After a good chat about work and politics and life in general we headed back to the train to head home after a long day of walking. I finally made it home in time to watch about an hour of tv on the internet and get an invite to dinner with the Frenchys (Camille, her boyfriend, and his friend). They made a great dinner that I was very grateful to have and we had another conversation that spanned many topics and languages, and I tried to throw in the very limited French I knew which they thought was great. After dinner I did the dishes and thanked them for the meal and now I am here at my computer once again chronicling my adventures before I forget them.

It isn't even quite midnight, but after a full day of walking and drinking I'm pretty tired and ready for bed so think its about that time. Maybe tomorrow I'll go lay out on the beach and start the new book I bought in Barcelona...or hell, I might even go back to explore for myself!