So Emily, Cass, Brittany, and myself met up with Ignasi and Billy on Saturday night to go out in the Marina area of the city, which we had heard nothing but good things about. I hadn’t been out in Marina since back in 2011 (going to the Oveja Negra over there and to Razzmatazz for the Skrillex concert). We eventually found our way to the massive Oveja there and got a table in the middle, quickly followed by a massive beer tower. We played a few drinking games to get the blood flowing again; after a few rounds we had changed the rules so that we could only speak in Spanish, while Ignasi could only speak in English. Win win for everyone! After Oveja Negra we walked to another local bar in Marina and treated ourselves to “el agua de Valencia” (aka a lethal mixed drink served by the liter consisting of cava, vodka, orange juice, and I’m not sure what else).
On Sunday Cass and I went to Marta’s to see her and to go FCB jersey shopping with her. She is gifted at getting the pricey tourist shops to bargain and we ended up getting two jerseys for 24 euro each instead 28 originally. I got Messi and Cass got Neymar Jr. Check that off the to do list finally – now we are ready to properly cheer on the team! Another highlight of my Sunday was getting to finally Skype with Cortney – hadn’t gotten to really catch up with her since she left for Dallas. It was like we hadn’t skipped a beat.
Monday night Cass and I strolled down to the boardwalk area near Barceloneta to check out the last night of the fair festivities there. It was… like the Lancaster County Fair but with euro swag added. They had “Euro Disney” booths & rides, a Bingo station, kiddie rides, “adult” rides, bumper cars, a Ferris wheel, and of course plenty of fried foods. Like the children we are, Cass and I rode the Ferris wheel and were decently pleased by the views afforded to passengers from the very top of the huge structure. What we thought would only go around a few times definitely went around a least a dozen so that was interesting.
Evidently this time of the year is the bad allergy season around here – You can imagine by joy at this realization. Currently I am struggling to breathe through my nose and mosquitos recently plagued our apartment. Thankfully, we now have repellent and a few killing strip things hanging around. Tuesday afternoon I took the metro down to Poble Nou and Damian and I hung out at the beach for a bit before walking back to his apartment to have licuado y croissants con dulce de leche (Damian’s family often makes licuado de bananas which is a chilled drink of bananas, milk, and sugar). It was delicious! I also got to meet his dad, stepmom, baby half-sister, and puppy – Pepa. His little sister, who they call la abrileta (April), is adorable and I’ll be doing an English lesson with her today! Anyways later Tuesday night I went to Alex’s bar to watch the FCB game and study up on bartending there.
Yesterday I finally finished reading John Irving’s The Cider House Rules; which I commemorated by watching the movie version immediately afterwards. Although I am a fan of Toby McGuire and Charlese Theron, the film left out / altered many key details from the novel so that was a bit disappointing. In between this and nursing my allergy induced cold, yesterday I was also studying up on bartending know-how. Last night was my first night of training behind the bar at Betty Ford’s (a bar/ restaurant in the Raval area). I have always liked this bar and it has always been my first choice in terms of bartending so I was stoked! I trained with Carles and Dave and they were super nice and taught me a lot already. I even made a gin & tonic and several Micheladas last night. The only faux pas was when I brought someone a caña en vez de una clara, but that got cleared up in no time. Overall, it went so well and they asked to train again with Carles on Sunday night!
It’s quite overcast here today, which of course makes you want to do nothing productive. But alas, I will soon head to the public library up by Lesseps to return the DVDs and check out some new teaching English materials as I have my particular con Abril esta tarde. Tomorrow I have another first particular con un chico se llama Martin; he is an adult though so I am more used to that kind of lesson. I am looking forward to start reading Gone Girl, getting my second care package from my mama, and hopefully carving some pumpkins soon! Speaking of my mom – Congratulations shout out to that woman for doing so well on her month of dieting! You amaze me.
Until next time, xoxo.
SAMHOPEHANSEN 