So, as everyone knows I grew up in Greendale IN population: everyone knows everyone and their mother, brother, and who their dating. Moving across the world I must admit is a little overwhelming, but nothing compares to the differences in living in Cincinnati/Greendale and living here in BCN! This city never sleeps, well it sleeps during the day when I’m out and about trying to run errands, but I’m not counting that because it’s only a catnap not real sleep! As I’ve told most of you people get up late, work a couple of hours, eat and nap, go home, eat again around 11pm and then stay out all night drinking and socializing. It was so weird to Kate and me when we first moved in our apartment because at 9-11pm when we were tired and wanted to relax and sleep the city comes to life! The cars start whizzing by, the motorcycles and dirt bikes start their engines, people from every crevice crawl out from their nap and party. The night is blocked out by all the lights from the houses, restaurants, bars, and dance clubs. There are children running up and down the streets playing and screaming at 12am!
There are so many people here in BCN. Someday I’ll have internet and I can quote the correct amount of fools living here but let’s just say it’s a Hell of a lot! There are people everywhere at all times of the day and night. When Kate and I are strolling in around 4am there are people. When Kate has to teach on Fridays at 8 in the morning there are mass amounts of people. Some people live here and work here but there are tons of people that are just here for whatever reason taking up sidewalk space! I’ve never been to a really huge city before such as New York and I imagine it’s the same way there but its nuts. Las Ramblas is the clusterfuck of the world and there is no nicer way to put it. All Ramblas is is a huge street with mass bodies, restaurants, street performer freaks, more tourists, and people selling crap. At first we were like this street is crazy and cool but after living here I know better than to walk down it if I can help it. I would suggest that everyone see Las Ramblas because I telling you stories can’t compare to the real experience. I was told that “tourist season” was over after the first month we lived here and that everywhere would calm down and clear out…mentrosas (liars).
Another aspect of Big City Living I’m never going to get used to is the smell of a Big city! Having 5 bazillion people in one city, 70 bazillion dogs, no trees or grass, and mass amounts of garbage makes this place reek to high heaven! Every time I leave my casa I walk outside and immediately hold my breath. We have one small twig like tree that is planted right outside our door that is known as the piss tree for every animal in a 100 foot radius. What I would give for some concrete to fill in the hole so that NO dog could call it their personal urinal! Next, I walk across the street and every so often I hold my breath as I walk past the many garbage bins and recycling bins. I’ve gotten so good at holding my breath that now I challenge myself everyday to see how many thousand bins I can walk past without taking a breath. I do believe I would be a much better swimmer now than I ever was because I can now hold my breath for like a min! Sara can appreciate where I’m coming from on this part because she has a smeller like mine. I was blessed with the most sensitive sense of smell, touch, hearing… and because of this I can’t eat spicy foods, I smell everything and sometimes it makes me ill, I remember everything by the way it smells, can’t get deep tissue massages and can ease drop from far away. The only problem I have with these super senses here in BCN is the smell sense (I can’t ease drop cause I can’t speak Catalan!) Rotting garbage, animal smells, seafood, garlic, saltwater, body odor, exhaust, and KFC are all the smells of the Big City that I can’t live with.
I have decided that I do really love Europe and like Spain, but cannot live in BCN for longer than a year. I feel as if I’m being slowly poisoned by some unknown gas (thanks Kate for the idea) and that’s the reason everyone from the states is getting sick here and why I feel like shit all the time. At first I thought I was getting poisoned from our stove in our apt. or from another apt. near us, but now I believe that it’s the Metro that’s getting me. The Metro is what other places call the subway, an underground tunnel way for trains and people to get around the city. There is no fresh air in these poison filled underground tunnels and there are so many people with sniffley noses and death coughs that I am SURE that I am getting germs, diseases, and poisoned from these tunnels. There was an entire week that I couldn’t fully wake up. I had my eyes open and I was walking around awake, but I wasn’t fully awake. I felt like I was on drugs like that time I had my teeth out and was on Codine (the devil’s drug) and couldn’t function, was tired, couldn’t focus, and just felt like shit. After that week I started airing out my room daily no matter what the temp was outside and practicing my breath holding techniques in the Metro too!
There are so many people here in BCN. Someday I’ll have internet and I can quote the correct amount of fools living here but let’s just say it’s a Hell of a lot! There are people everywhere at all times of the day and night. When Kate and I are strolling in around 4am there are people. When Kate has to teach on Fridays at 8 in the morning there are mass amounts of people. Some people live here and work here but there are tons of people that are just here for whatever reason taking up sidewalk space! I’ve never been to a really huge city before such as New York and I imagine it’s the same way there but its nuts. Las Ramblas is the clusterfuck of the world and there is no nicer way to put it. All Ramblas is is a huge street with mass bodies, restaurants, street performer freaks, more tourists, and people selling crap. At first we were like this street is crazy and cool but after living here I know better than to walk down it if I can help it. I would suggest that everyone see Las Ramblas because I telling you stories can’t compare to the real experience. I was told that “tourist season” was over after the first month we lived here and that everywhere would calm down and clear out…mentrosas (liars).
Another aspect of Big City Living I’m never going to get used to is the smell of a Big city! Having 5 bazillion people in one city, 70 bazillion dogs, no trees or grass, and mass amounts of garbage makes this place reek to high heaven! Every time I leave my casa I walk outside and immediately hold my breath. We have one small twig like tree that is planted right outside our door that is known as the piss tree for every animal in a 100 foot radius. What I would give for some concrete to fill in the hole so that NO dog could call it their personal urinal! Next, I walk across the street and every so often I hold my breath as I walk past the many garbage bins and recycling bins. I’ve gotten so good at holding my breath that now I challenge myself everyday to see how many thousand bins I can walk past without taking a breath. I do believe I would be a much better swimmer now than I ever was because I can now hold my breath for like a min! Sara can appreciate where I’m coming from on this part because she has a smeller like mine. I was blessed with the most sensitive sense of smell, touch, hearing… and because of this I can’t eat spicy foods, I smell everything and sometimes it makes me ill, I remember everything by the way it smells, can’t get deep tissue massages and can ease drop from far away. The only problem I have with these super senses here in BCN is the smell sense (I can’t ease drop cause I can’t speak Catalan!) Rotting garbage, animal smells, seafood, garlic, saltwater, body odor, exhaust, and KFC are all the smells of the Big City that I can’t live with.
I have decided that I do really love Europe and like Spain, but cannot live in BCN for longer than a year. I feel as if I’m being slowly poisoned by some unknown gas (thanks Kate for the idea) and that’s the reason everyone from the states is getting sick here and why I feel like shit all the time. At first I thought I was getting poisoned from our stove in our apt. or from another apt. near us, but now I believe that it’s the Metro that’s getting me. The Metro is what other places call the subway, an underground tunnel way for trains and people to get around the city. There is no fresh air in these poison filled underground tunnels and there are so many people with sniffley noses and death coughs that I am SURE that I am getting germs, diseases, and poisoned from these tunnels. There was an entire week that I couldn’t fully wake up. I had my eyes open and I was walking around awake, but I wasn’t fully awake. I felt like I was on drugs like that time I had my teeth out and was on Codine (the devil’s drug) and couldn’t function, was tired, couldn’t focus, and just felt like shit. After that week I started airing out my room daily no matter what the temp was outside and practicing my breath holding techniques in the Metro too!
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