Fall Mornings

I had the most wonderful sleep the last two nights. Well - not the MOST, but it was so much better than it has been the last month or so because there has been a sudden cold front blow in and yesterday it poured rain. This morning I woke up and opened the windows and it was that nice crisp fall air that gives you the motivation and the energy to get your ass in gear. It's great. It's also the last day of August which I can't really believe. I've written about 25 pages of my thesis - only 100 more to go! haha, but we're getting there. It's starting to move on it's own a bit now which is nice and as of tomorrow the libraries will be open for normal hours again so that will be really helpful. It also means that beach time is coming to an end though and I really don't feel like I went as much as I should have this summer, so for the next month I need to make it a promise to myself that I will get down to the water once a week. It's doable :)

So yes, I will be coming home the beginning of December as you hopefully got from the last post. I'm a bit up and down about the decision, but sometimes you just can't have everything you want and so this is what I'm faced with. Unfortunately, the reality is that Spain is not going to bounce back anytime soon and I have to get on with my life. The only jobs really available here for me are either not legal positions (meaning they won't help me get papers) or they are jobs which I know I won't be happy getting out of bed each day to go to. I wasn't born to be an english teacher or club promoter, I know exactly what I want to do I just don't know where I'm going to do it. So yes. I'm very excited to see all of you at Christmas this year and thank god nobody needs to mail me anything because I know that was a nightmare for you last year! And any requests for things from Spain, now is the time to put them in because Steph and Dad will hopefully be coming an a month or so and I will have them haul back a bunch of stuff for me.

The flight is a return flight, but it doesn't seem likely that I will be getting on the one coming back here. It was just a case of the return being significantly cheaper than the one way, and I guess it's an escape route if things at home just really aren't working out for me. But I have a lot of decisions to make and things to figure out before I get home. Thesis to finish, computer programs to learn, job applications to prepare, school portfolios to design and then of course a bunch of last minute trips to make sure I don't miss out while I'm over here because who knows when I'll have the opportunity to come back. So yes, for now I'm living the dream! Gotta take it one day at a time.

Love you all, hope you're happy with my decision too.

xB

Bugs, Roommates & Immigration

These are the things which fill my brain with grief these days. Why? Because I have a bug infestation (or so it feels some days) including cocroaches, fruit flies, silverfish, ants and moths. It's disgusting and driving me insane, so after thoroughly bleaching the entire kitchen last night, removing any and all food they might have, I sat down said roommate to explain that there must be NO FOOD left out, counters and floors must be spotless, dishes must be completely rinsed with no food on them or cleaned. And I get home from the gym to find what? Kitchen counters with crumbs (and ants) shelves with bread (open) and dishes with fruit smoothie all over them in the sink (and fruit flies). Lovely. Just. Lovely. I'm ready to lose my mind some days I swear.

And immigration - this is also really bugging me right now. It's so much harder than I ever imagined to be an immigrant. Seriously. They make it so hard and deep down I feel a little bit entitled to some courtesy that they don't seem to feel they owe me. But here I am - spending hard earned Canadian money in their economy ( in the tens of thousands ) and I'M the one who's got it all wrong while they are off taking 4 weeks summer vacation on top of the other 30 days a year they are going to have?!?!?! Give me a break. Seriously. Get some english speaking immigration officers, make your websites available in more than just spanish and catalan (since after all they are for FOREIGNERS) and stop charging me out the ass for all your rediculous fees. That's my rant. And apparently the US is even harder, so my god, what does this mean? I'm going to be forced to stay in Canada forever? Or atleast the next 10 years while these economies pick themselves up and sort out the mess? I just don't know.

In OTHER news, this week is supposed to be awfully rainy with lots of grey skies which is great. Actually ( no sarcasm ) the relief from the insane heat is very welcome. But the humidity is really high so once it STARTS raining it will be even better.

Also. I've decided that I can tell you all my big secret now. Why not? Everyone is asking anyway and lying gets hard, and annoying. Sooooooooooo here it is. Ready? CLICK HERE!  We will talk more about this later after a cup of coffee and I calm myself down.

Lots of love. Lots and lots!

Rollercoasters at Night!

Hi all. The weekend is here already! Not really sure where the last week went, but with Nima's sister here and the insane heat I think most of it was spent in search of air conditioning - or water. I did alright hit the pool once, the beach once, and have been taking full advantage of my gym membership!

Tonight the 5 of us (Nima, Elena, Maricela, Me & Nuno) are headed to Portaventura! It's a huge amusement park about 1.5 hours away from Barcelona and usually it's quite expensive to get into - around 45 Euros, but tonight they have a special thing where it is open from 10pm - 4am for only 15Euros! So we're going to hop in the car (much better than paying for the train + hostel) and go spend the night riding rollercoasters and whatever else they have there! I'm excited, although I'm pretty sure I'll be exhuasted, so I bought a couple of energy drinks just incase. Luckily the heat has subsided a bit so I managed so sleep a bit better last night as well.

So for now I'm just studying away, almost finished one book today and going to try and write a couple pages. Then I'll pack a great big picnic because if you can't sleep, you should eat right? Right! I'll try to take some pictures :)

Cala Futadera

The official name of the cove. As promised here is a picture story of our day :)

 Here it is from the diving platform, see smaller than it looks on the map right?

 This is a diving lesson, turns out Nima still can't dive hahah!

 Nice calm, salty water for floating!

 Me and Nuno at the top, sitting on top of a very jagged, uncomforatable rock!

 Maricela and I with all the boats behind us.

 I'm not positive what happened here but I can imagine Nuno splashed water at me or something to deserve this face! haha

 All 5

 Throwing Elena into the water!

Heading home, nice right? Wish I was there again today! This weather is unbearably hot!

The Most Amazing Day!

Yesterday was just fantastic. Truly. We got up Nuno, Nima, Maricela, Elena and me and we drove out in weekend traffic to a secret little beach that is typically only accessed by boat - except there is a little pathway of really really steep stairs that if you park at a certain spot in the road, you can find and get down there. There is just a tiny little beach that isn't that great because the sun goes down behind the bluffs early but there is a jumping point, further towards the edge of the bay and you can dive into the water from there because it's very deep. The water is absolutely crystal clear - it's very local and safe to leave your stuff around and you can spend the day with the boats and the fish! I even put my head under the water which some of you will know is a big deal, and just tells you how clean it is! I have to get the photos off of Maricela's camera still but when I do I'll put them up for you. Until then, there is a satellite image of it - which actually makes it seem much bigger and more open than it is. In reality it's pretty small inside the cove. Anyhow, I'm just so thankful that Elena has a car and his happy to cart us all around so I can see this places. This is heaven people.

I've got a seeeeeeecret!

Yes, yes I do! And I will tell you probably very soon because I know I won't be able to keep it in, or maybe I will just tell you all one by one because I can't contain it when I'm talking to you - who knows!

Anyhow, I just got back from the gym after a nice workout. Today the weather is fantastic, a good 30 degrees but with a nice fresh breeze which I can appreciate. The sun is shining and what am I going to do? Well, I will most likely sit inside and work on my thesis mixed with a bit of tv, or maybe I will try to get out of the house to do a bit of studying but sometimes I find that even more frustrating because there are so many other people and stuff going on around to irritate me. I'm a bit irritated in general because we still have no washing machine and my roomate is totally useless when it comes to anything in the house need repairs - it typically takes about 4x longer than necessary for anything to get done. Oh well. Luckily I have an underwear supply to last me a good month!

The other night Nima and Elena planned a surprise evening for all of us that they wouldn't tell me and so we got in the car around 9 and started driving north of the city - no idea where we were going - and we ended up in Sant Benet where there is a little monastery that hasn't been in use since the mid 1800s when it was sold to a private family who used it as a vacation house, and in the 90's the bank bought it and turned it into a historical site. It's set way out kind of in the booneys but it was really nice. We did a night tour where they told us some of the old legends of the property and then gave us a glass of cava. It was a nice little night escape but the only downside is that the whole tour was in catalan so elena had to translate it all for me and Nima!

Alright - that's a bit of what's been happening. Dirty laundry and night time monastery tours. What a life! Miss you and love you all.

What a day, oh what a day...

Today. Yes, today... how can I describe today? Well let's see. It started off hopeful. Yes, definitely hopeful and included me finally getting back to the gym and putting in a solid 40 mins of cardio and nothing more because the weight room was packed and about 30 degrees celcius inside. I then came home with great intentions. GREAT. And I made a nice healthy lunch, ate it and watched some Greys Anatomy before getting settled in to my desk to work on my thesis. But then I watched another episode, and then I had a cup of coffee, and they I had some skyping, and then I FINALLY got into it. I was doing so well, setting out structure, reading scientific crap about oil and trying to simplify it all for normal human beings to read. And then my roomate came home from work, and my other roomate had company still. And that was the end of that. Let's just say it ended with a 38 year old man hitting the wall (literally) apparently because the washing machine has been left on in the past (which means a little green light shines and the water is not manually disconnected at the pipe). Well. That was that. I'm back in my room. Not studying. Wishing I was somewhere else. Like Paris maybe - doesn't that sound nice? Maybe I could focus in Paris? Doubtful, I know. Anyways. That was my day. Now I'm back to hopeful, hopeful for tomorrow.

Finally, some pictures!

Tibidabo! The big mountain at the back of Barcelona that we visited on a cloudy day, also home to one of the oldest amusement parks in Europe!

I know these are completely out of order, but this is Florence, just outside the Uffizi museum and if you see in the background there are lots of leaning towers, churches and replicas of famous sculptures.

One great big church in Florence, we didn't go inside this one but the outside was quite unique!

This is inside Vatican City, in one of the many many halls fulllll of sculptures by famous artists like Michelangelo, and the likes! There are SO many, they can't even display them properly!

The maps room, one of my favorite in Vatican City, all the walls are painted with accurate maps of Italy and different cities. The detail is amazing and accuracy too considering they were done hundreds of years ago.

The ceiling of one of the popes rooms - also know as one of "The Raphael Rooms"

Inside the worlds largest Church - St. Peters Basilica, where 4 popes are "preserved" and on display. (Creepy if you ask me) but its the tallest building in Rome - nothing is allowed to be taller!

Part of the Roman Forum. See that column at the back left? The height of that was the original ground level but SOMEHOW 3000 years ago, these people were able to dig out that deep for miles and miles and miles to build all of these ancient markets, temples, houses, etc.

The coloseum! The best view of it was from the Palatine Hill which is part of the Forum. 

Mama mia! Standing at the top of The Spanish Steps in Rome on our last evening there.

A beautiful courtyard we came across in Rome.

Venice! Look at the leaning tower in the background!

Back in Barcelona before mom went home, we went to the MNAC museum and this is the view from in front of it at Montjuic :)

Venice, one of the churches on the tiny tiny island of San Giorgio. Lovely.

Venice obviously, look at all the boats out there at the same time! We also saw them hauling a cruiseship in with 2 tugboats.

The venice skyline from the island of Lido - which I quite enjoyed.

Mom in heaven in Murano where all the glass is blown. This is one of the many glass sculptures that they had just hangin around outside in the streets!

The island of Burano - the colour themed island where the gov't chooses the house colours. Makes a very empty island seem much more liveyl doesn't it?

And back in Florence, this is a little space where they have replicas of famous statues that you can get up close to and see and take pictures with - another example of how crowded it can be - even at night!

I

Skipping lines in rome

Well, today we crossed the final major thing off our list and that was the colosseum. We got to bypass a line of like a thousand people because we bought the Roma pass! Best thing we could have done, it also has been giving us unlimited public transportation. So anyhow, it was very big and interesting but not as much as the forum. Also it was much more packed in there, but did you know that they killed 9000 wild animals in 100 days to inaugurate the coliseum? And once it fell into disrepair and they didn't know what to do with it they used it as a burial ground? True, and the bodies are still under there. Also they built it on the site of a former rulers am made lake when they gave the space back to the people.

Sooo tonight we walked around and saw the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain and some oth neat stuf! Tomorrow is our last day then I'll be back in Spain and I'll try to get some pictures up this weekend after mom leaves.

Dear Italy, did you forget how to cook and smile?

Italian cities. I truly have believe that the cities and the villages are not the same, and that once you leave the main tourist hubs the Italian charm, friendliness and food that you would expect would prevail. Unfortunately, this was not an Italian countryside trip. This is a city trip and so that means we have been treated far worse than ANY other country I have ever visited, including china where they couldn't even speak the same language. At least they understood a smile is universal and body language says just as much. It's unfortunate and we are still having a reat time making the best of it, but I had to say it. From checkout men, yes. Grown men. Who throw change back at little old ladies or ticket booth workers who don't even acknowledge youwhenyouvebeen standing there for5 minutes, well, let's just say its disappointing. Some of the good experiences? The great dinner we had at da Sergio in Florence, the first b and b we stayed at just outside Venice where our host was just wonderful and so accommodating and cheerful, and a couple others along the way.but I mean, you'll never get to see stuff this old or this much of it anywhere else in the world so I guess you just have to put up with it.

Well! Today was an exciting day because we went to the roman forum and palatine hilll where most of the ruins and buildings adage back to the 100s-300s! I was saying to mom that the art and sculpture and everything is so sophisticated, and you always think that long ago they must have not been nearly as advanced or smart but it's amazing what they were doing, some of it is just as great as what they were doing in the 1600s. So we walked around in the insane heat all morning and afternoon and didn't even make it to the coliseum because by that time we had to get out if the sun.  The forum is such a large place and very interesting because nobody has ever lived there, it has always been a monumental area. Also very interesting is that they dug out a massive hole to build it in, at least I'd say 7 stories deep. I also didn't know that they used Jewish slaves to build the Trajan makers and area.

Another really c
Ute thing we saw was this archeological site where we got off the bus at the wrong stop, with 4 very old temples which they discovered and started to uncover I the 1930s, because it was buried after a fire and then they raised the ground level, but anyway the cute part is that the cats have taken over it and made it their little safe haven where no one can touch them! And so now it is a legitimate adoption place where they care for all the cats! I took pictures-obviously!

Also one last comment about the popes of past and present, they are bloody theives and murderers! You have no idea til you get here and hear the history, and see the things they have stolen. They demolish ancient ruins to build themselves a new church facade, infact the whole front of st peters basilica is basically the top half of the coliseum. Bet ya didn't know that;)

Alright bed time. Love to everyone, remember to smile, or just go to Spain if you like friendly people!