Changes

So, since being here in Europe I have changed a lot. The most dramatic changes for me is the no shopping rule I’ve been living with, my change in diet, and my general disregard with fashion. Lets start with no shopping. I can not say that I haven’t bought anything since living here in BCN, but I have put myself on a budget of buying only things I HAVE to have. When I packed to leave I was drunk (thanks everyone for the limo) and I didn’t pack the way a smart person would. I “forgot” all the essential things like socks, jackets, long sleeves, adequate footwear, ect. So, I have had to buy a few things, but my normal days at the mall are no longer. It hurts to report, but it’s true. Second, my taste buds have had to blossom since living here in Spain. Here is a list of foods that I never ate in the US, I call them the Kate made me do it list: guacamole, avocado, red and green peppers, Skyline Chili, garlic, ham (only Spanish cured ham), mushrooms, coffee, spicy salsa, fish, seafood, sushi, black beans, steak, hummus…
Kate will eat almost anything and she’s like you have to eat it so just eat it and I do. I NEVER ate Skyline Chili in the states and now I kill some dip or some on my hotdog just because it’s different and has taste! The third change is my fashion here in BCN. It’s not that I have lost my touch or gone blind, but because my amazing closet is somewhere buried in my rents’ basement I don’t have much to work with. If you have been checking out my photos on webshots you’ll see what I’m throwing out! I work with what I got here in my tiny closet. I know it’s not that big of a deal, but I hate looking sloppy and sometimes it just happens here! There are also other personal changes that actually mean something but I’ll keep them to myself and see if you can pick em out when I come back.

Sailing:

When Kate, Annie, and I first moved to BCN we decided we need to make friends. That’s pretty obvious because everyone wants friends, but we decided we needed friends who had certain attributes. Kate wanted a friend with a boat, I wanted someone who spoke the language and knew the places to go at night, and Annie wanted the know about good food in BCN! Well, needless to say we got all that and more! I met Marc (my intercambio) at TEFL the last day of our teaching. He speaks Catalan, Spanish, English and whatever else I can’t remember. He also has a friend Antonio who owns a sailboat. Their other friend Roger is a photographer who knows all the great places to eat and go out in BCN. We have hung out with these guys ever since meeting at the Marce Festival. One afternoon the guys asked us to join them for a sailboat experience. Just to give a little background I had never sailed before and am afraid of water, Kate and Annie have had some experience sailing, Marc gets seasick, Roger sailed halfway across the world with Antonio, and Roger’s nephew Nolask had never been sailing. We got some sandwiches and boos an d jumped on the boat. Marc was already rethinking his decision of coming with us when it was too late and we had untied and set off to sea. Nolask is a curious, energetic, young man who was jumping up on the front of the boat to have the sea splash him in the face that is until he was in the back puking his guts out! Annie turned about 37 different shades of green and was right beside Nolask puking the entire time! It was great. Well, not them puking but I had a great time with the sea air flowing through my hair and the water splashing up in the boat and seeing the fear in Marc’s face! Roger and Antonio told Kate and I that the winds were pretty strong and the waves were super choppy, but we were having a blast. We only decided we had to turn back when Annie was threatening to jump off the boat in the freezing water and swim to shore! I was pretty happy with myself because I wasn’t afraid and I held down my breakfast! We got to the shore and went to the beach and ate our sandwiches, lomo con queso, and drank bottles of Cava. Annie chilled out on a towel for the remainder of the day to settle her tummy! Marc being the responsible adult figure he is decided to teach Nolask how to kill someone with his bare hands! It was pretty funny to watch Nolask practicing on Marc! I have to point out here that we had only met these guys maybe two times and we were in some town we didn’t know! Real smart. After a great day the guys decided it was out of the way to drive us home so told us we needed to take the train…so like em! So, I can’t remember details but Roger and Ant have sailed for super long distances for long amounts of time on that boat. I could not imagine, but I’m up for sailing any sunny day!

The night I should have died:

One night Steve called me and was like let’s drink. Since I can’t say no we decided to go to this place off of the Ramblas where Steve knew the bartender. We started out with some of his roommates from his flat. I met a dude from Indiana who knows Baundi and played soccer with him at Hanover (random, small world) who also hung out. Anyways, we met a couple who was on holiday from Ireland and that’s when things got ugly. All I remember is someone asking for shots and then I took it and it was lights the fuck out! I heard something like oh yeah it was absinth…and then next thing I know is I’m flying over the rooftops of BCN. Yeah, I did say flying! I guess some of us decided to go up on the roof terrace of Steve’s flat and then somehow we ended up roof jumping over 6 story buildings. This is when I should have died. What the Hell was I thinking…well duh I wasn’t. I must have thought I was some crazy athletic cartoon character who could leap over gaps in roofs and bounce if I fell! The cops were called on us and we had to RUN and then FLY over the roofs to get to safety. I don’t remember much but that it seemed like a dream and I would have chalked it up as one except I had bruises and cuts all over to prove that I was a dumbass! The next day we met up with the couple again and they informed us that their last day in BCN was spent in bed because they were so sick from the previous night of drinking! Go us! Steve feel free to add anything I left out!

Monday Dinners:

Every Monday Kate, Kris, Steve S, and I get together at our casa and cook dinner and drink wine and catch up. Kate cooked the first meal and made chicken stir-fry, Steve was next with amazing Carbonara; I made Mexican night with tacos and tonight is Kris’ turn. I made a cheesecake just in case Kris isn’t up to par! Kate has been brainstorming some dinner ideas such as breakfast foods and I think I’m going to try to find the ingredients to make my famous lasagna (be jealous Bob and Sam)! All we have to do now is figure out how to convert the measurements and we’re golden! Who knows how many kilo liters are in a liter…not us!!

One Sunny December Day:

Remember when it was December 8th and we were having a picnic in the park…well that was today! I talked to mom the other day and she said Lakota had a snow day and everyone from home has been facebooking me about the cold weather! I still think it gets too cold here for my tastes, but it is “temperate” and I haven’t seen a single flake of snow so I guess it’s alright. Kate and I met up with a lot of other TEFL teachers and friends at Parc De la Ciutadella and had lunch and cava. Parc De La Ciutadella has the Arc de Triomf, the Catalan Parliament building, museums, and a botanical garden. That night everyone met out for drinks for Steve Allen’s birthday and Kate, Danny, Steve and I had sushi at a really cool neighborhood near our hood. I am definitely going to take people to this stretch of bars and restaurants because there is such a wide variety and every place is cool in its own way. I do believe I made an ass of myself after drinking wine to pregame, sake and vino at dinner, vodka at the first bar, going to Sub Rosa (I already explained this place puts drugs in their drinks), and whatever else I drank at the other 50 bars and clubs we ended up in! Thanks Kris for taking care of me!!