January 1st, 2011
The New Year began with a late wake up call at 2pm after an exhausting past two days. Exactly what our bodies had ordered since we woke up just a little more refreshed than usual. Breakfast is always in style in Barcelona so we decided to have some eggs, croissants, and fries at "Brava Cafe". Although we had dressed to be out all day long - the day was too gloomy for anything but sitting on the couch watching music videos until dinner time with some of Gitzel's French friends from Lille who were also vacationing here in Barcelona. So that is exactly what we did. Watched music videos while I unpacked my suitcases. Dinner was located in the district of Gracia, a new part of town to us at a Lebanese restaurant next to a small plaza. There are so many restaurants here and even way more plazas. Random plazas on every street it seems. But I was starting to love that about this city. At dinner after meeting Gitzel's friends and ordering dinner - her friend Pierre-Etienne started up a conversation with us. He was sophisticated, funny, charming, and could hold a conversation very well. I was starting to fall for the French charm until I was told that he had a girlfriend. I thought well, at least I can make a new friend to visit in France if I decide to go during my stay here. Afterwards Pierre invited us to continue to hang out with them as they made their way to the shiisha spot; but we chose not to go and were ready to call it an early night. By the time we got home it was already past midnight and we really couldn't understand where the time had been flying to since we had arrived here. Gitzel and Kafiyah went straight to sleep on the sofa bed in the living room and I concentrated hard on falling asleep in the bedroom. With one minor problem. My next door neighbor was having too much of a good night with his music blasting through my walls. I found myself jamming to the Spanish reggae instead of falling asleep since we planned on waking up early the next morning. After a while of this struggling to fall asleep and jamming to the music I decided I was for once going to start "really" practicing my spanish with my next door neighbor by forming a correct sentence to say to him about the music. I concentrated hard on my perfect sentence and practiced exactly what I would say to him; "Lo siento pero por favor puedes reducir la música porque estoy tratando dormir."; "I'm sorry but can you please lower the music because I am trying to sleep." As I opened my door excited to have my perfect sentence and ready to knock at his door- the lady from one floor down was also at our gate and said something to me about the likes of -- is the music coming from here? and I said yes and then she says to me is it bothering you too? and I answered with "mismo" meaning "the same" instead of what I meant to say which was "yo tambien" me too. With her interruption and my forgetting a simple word, I was already starting to get apprehensive and not so sure about knocking at my neighbor's door. As she stared at me, and I wanted to make a dash for my door - she rang the doorbell and I heard my neighbor approaching. Once he opened the door and his dog ran towards me - my mind went blank and I kept thinking the dog was going to attack me as he tried to calm me down when he saw my expression. The lady looked on at this brief scenario and continued to say nothing. I spaced out completely; forgot what I came over to say as he stared at me waiting for an explanation; and all I managed to say was ....
Lo Siento...Por Favor...La Música...Dormir
Sorry...Please...The Music...To Sleep!
1/2/2011
Sunday started with Kafiyah telling Gitzel and I that our 2 hour laughing session after my mishap wasn't funny at all. But me and Gitzel continued to laugh about it anyway as we dressed for the day ahead. On the agenda was Breakfast; Arc de Triompf; Port Vell; the Beach; and Lunch at Orgasmic. As if the stairs weren't enough - walking was going to be a part of my daily diet starting with today's 10+ miles of walking in the city. Breakfast was taken para llevar from la panaderia downstairs and we made our way to the Sant Antoni station. My new best friend around the corner from my place. Since we had found a shortcut on the metro the night before - we took our shortcut to a new metro line and arrived at Arc de Triompf as the sun started to peer in. Finally some sunshine. It has been cold and rainy the past few days. But this rain isn't like Arizona rain. I LOVE AZ rain and its gloominess. This was a different type. One I didn't enjoy so much. Perhaps because it was just putting me to sleep and nothing else. As we walked around Arc de Triompf; this towering arc placed strategically in the middle of the street, I gazed around and enjoyed my scenery whilst snapping photos for my future postcards that I planned on sending to friends. There were parks all around and people up and about after sunday service walking their dogs or hanging out with their families. We then walked over to the waterfall and gazed at the magnificent sculptures that surrounded it and also at the people swing dancing nearby. After our self guided tour of the area and our fair share of photos we decided to walk to Port Vell and the beach. What a walk! but well worth it once we reached the port and saw the beach and its beauty in daylight. It had been 8 years since I had been to any beach and the feelings of comfort and bliss seeped in as I just stared at the blue water. By this time we were starving after our mini breakfast of chocolate napolitan and juice; and we decided it was time to head to lunch at Organic is Orgasmic - a place suggested to me by my friend Safia. Orgasmic had delicious food and we were glad that we were able to enjoy such great food after 6 hours of covering Barcelona from East to West by foot. Then came the last exhausting step of the night by walking upstairs and we were ready to sleep. That is until me and Gitzel are able to talk forever and we found ourselves already at midnight and craving French fries from the kebab place. We went downstairs in our pj's and were given free fries and invited to dinner for tomorrow night since we bailed on new years once again. This time we didn't refuse. As Kafiyah was leaving to catch her taxi at 4 am to go visit Córdoba and I was closing the door behind her, my next door neighbor's girlfriend came out with the dog leading the way once again. This time however, instead of attacking me - he was headed straight in to my apartment and I was trying to close the door against him as the girl screamed "Max Max Max" in fear and panic as I expect she was thinking I was gonna kill her dog. and all I managed to say once again as I almost killed her dog was...
Lo Siento...Lo Siento...and closed the door behind me.!
My one-word Spanish is coming in handy.
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