a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

I busted out of bed to take a shower and eat something at 1. My friends had said that they’d come by at 1:30 or 2. Around 4, I gave up on them. I left them a note to say I went to Starbucks. At Starbucks, Mikaela was online and invited me to a movie. What about the fact that you guys never came? I said I’d love to go to the movie.

So far, I’m not impressed with my friends’ sightseeing motivation levels. I’ve determined that tomorrow I AM going to see something with or without them BEFORE noon. I can’t believe I’ve lived here for a week and not seen any of the main sights! (Yes, La Rambla, yes, the parades, but I have high goals for myself seeing things in the month I’ll be here). I just don’t really value laying around in bed on the weekends.


This is the bike shop where Rik works. This bike just happened to be strategically parked out front. Love it. Also, I feel I should note that he was playing the guitar (and periodically singing along) earlier in the afternoon and he's quite good.

On the way home from Starbucks, I decided to walk further up on my street. I passed my building and my note was gone. At the end of my block, there’s an adorable super-Spanish square with an old looking light brick clock tower with molded shields and a metal adornment on top.

There are TWO internet cafes up there. I went down a side street and found out along with all of the cute buildings with all of their balconies and stuff, there are cute SHOPS! Naturally the only one that I went into had Buddha in the window. I AM drawn to Asia. I’m learning. I’ll be back there soon enough, I predict.


I went home to drop off my computer and found my own note taped to the door of my room. Rik must have brought it in thinking it was TO me instead of FROM me. That was nice/not helpful, but it didn’t matter anyway because, as it turns out, they weren’t looking for me.

I got my things together and got on the “tube” as Steph says. I met my friends at the Vila Olympica. I was a little late and Steph said she was about ready to give up on me. I wanted to ask if she was kidding. I was 15? Minutes late compared to their 2+ hours? I think they must have absolutely forgotten saying we’d meet today or something!

We wandered around between huge buildings and eventually found the cinema. We got snacks and saw Todos Estan Bien. Everybody was NOT fine. The movie was a bit depressing.


Then we went in search of food. We went down to the restaurants alongside the port. They have “tents” that are permanent right next to the water. Almost all of them looked fairly empty. All of them had a bulldog of a salesman out front trying to lour in people walking by on the street. One gave us “free” champagne and a ham sample. Another offered us ham and described their fixed menu special. We ended up at one that offered us free drinks and told us about the authenticity of their paella. They brought us a pitcher of sangria and coca lites and then our main meals. We stayed and chatted for a bit, making it back to the subway around midnight. We’re trying a bit to adapt to the local sort of routine for eating and living. However, we did not adopt the going out culture tonight. Home to BED.