Minor annoyances that I could do without........

Hello Everyone,

This journal gives me a list of moods to choose from, but "irritated" is not included in that list. Oh Well   :P

First off, it is so hot. I feel so lazy. It is a huge effort on my part to just get out of bed every morning. It is humid and there is no air conditioning here. I take freezing cold showers every morning. After I shower and go outside it takes 5 minutes for my hair to dry and I have long hair. At home it would take at least an hour. I just have no energy to do anything. Aarrrgh !!!

What else??? Oh, I had an appointment with someone to do a language-exchange tonight . He's been e-mailing me all week and telling me that he's looking forward to our meeting. And what does he do at the last minute ? He cancels on me. Thanks, asshole ! If he had just called sooner, I could have made other plans with other people. But it's not too bad. I have things to do. Laundry, work on my resume, look for teaching opportunities, pay bills........... Things that NEED to get done.

Another major hassle is paying my bills back in the US. Not only is there a big time difference, but sometimes they are hard to get a hold of. For example, I can't call the toll-free 1-800 number there. It's not possible from Spain. I am also running out of money really fast, which makes me nervous.............

But I do have to thank God for Nochilla chocolate spread. Not only is it cheap, but it is GOOOD stuff. I love to spread it on my bread every morning. I also love Flaix TV. It is like MTV and I get to see all the latest music videos. Today Lenny Kravitz was singing a song about California. It made me a little homesick. I kinda miss my life I had back in the US, but not really. I know that things won't be the same when I go back to California. I will have to start all over and I know that it will take me a while to get back into the swing of things. I know life will be a struggle for the first few months when I go back. But I know why I took this journey and have very specific reasons for doing so and I don't regret coming here.

 

 

Nothing that a beach can't fix :)

Hello there my lovelies.................

I just got back from the beach with my friend Sara. It is hotter than Satan's asscrack in my corner of the universe. (I stole this brilliant expression) But the beach made it all better. The waves here are normally calm, but were a little rowdier today. I got knocked off my ass a couple of times. It was bliss. The water was perfect and we left as the sun started to set. Sooooo beautiful. Too bad I can't take pics with my digital camera. It would get stolen immediately and besides, it would get damaged from all the sand.

Earlier today I had a nice language-exchange with a guy that just happens to be a waiter. And I used to be a waitress. Needless to say, we bonded fast. Our language exchange involved discussing business vocabulary as well as............. surpise...... restaurant terminology.

As we were discussing the pay and rights Spanish waiters have, I also wanted to know what he did if he had rude customers. Oh my !!!!! I thought that people in the US were wicked........ Looks like people here got us outdone. And why not?? People here in Spain work just as hard as people do in the US, but make half of what we do. Needless to say, he is one of my new heroes.

I have never tampered with peoples' food. I believe in karma. But when people are soooo rude and think that they are God and that the waiter is the scum of the earth and treat them as such, they surely deserve what's coming to them. And my new friend has no problem sticking it to his holier-than-thou customers.

Anywho, I better go eat some chocolate now. Tootles :)

 

Back at square one..................

Hello Everyone,

I just have to say that now that I am practicing my German and Spanish here, I feel that my English is getting worse !!! That's not supposed to be happening, especially because I am trying to help people improve their English skills. This wouldn't bother me if I were becoming fluent in both languages. But I am not !!! I am still struggling.

For example, we went over subjunctives in Spanish class as well as pronouns. I am supposed to know this stuff ! After all, my minor WAS Spanish and I studied it extensively in college. And I just sat there struggling today. I feel like I don't know anything sometimes. Hell, I could barely understand the text I was reading.

And I also had a language exchange today with a guy from Barcelona. This guy spoke waaaay too fast, which didn't exactly boost my confidence either. I just sat there and smiled and nodded my head because I didn't know what else to do. I got tired of asking him to repeat what he just said. But I enjoyed our meeting nevertheless. We had a drink in Barrio Gotico in an open cafe. I had a cold chocolate drink. Good stuff.

Anyways, I am supposed to go to the beach tommorow. Yay !!! Last time I went to the beach, I found seaweed stuck to my body when I got back home. It hurt when I peeled it from my skin.

Okay, bye for now :)

Park Guell

Hello Everyone:)

Today was a nice day. I slept in till almost 1pm and I have to say that it felt so damn good!! The only reason I even got out of bed is because someone called me and I had to answer the phone. Otherwise, who knows ?

I had 2 language exchanges and both guys were nice. They were both Catalan. For the first language exchange we went to Park Guell. And of course I posted pics for  y'all to see. There were sooooooo may people there !! I am just thrilled that I got good pics out of it.

Like I mentioned in one of my previous entries, you simply can NOT go to Barcelona without learning about Gaudi. Gaudi built Park Guell alonng with La Sagrada Familia and other houses. And guess what ??? I didn't have to pay a single red cent to get in. It's free !!!! Yay !!

This park is simply amazing. Gaudi was asked by a rich family ( the Guells) to build this park for them many years ago. Now it is opened to the public. Though I had to hike up a hill in the hot weather, it was worth it. Not only did I get an AMAZING view of Barcelona, but I also got to drool over Gaudi's amazing work. There was also a water fountain at the top with cold water so I could get a quick drink and spash some on my face.

After I saw Park Guell, I met the next guy for my language exchange in front of the Zurich Cafe. We sat by the water fountains and talked for a while. Then we walked through La Rambla and sat at Port Vell. It is so beautiful at night. Sometimes you can see the fish jumping.

This guy, Juan, taught me a lot of colloquial expressions which is useful. He also corrected me when I made mistakes, which was good. There are a lot of differences between the Spanish here in Spain and the Spanish that I learned in school ( geared towards Mexico and Latin America.) He helped me learn the proper words.

And now I am back here. I am going to bed now. Adios ! or shall I say in Catalan Adeu !!

 

Sometimes the best things in life are free.......

Hello there my lovlies...............................

Look at these cute puppies !!! These are the types of dogs I want when I go back to the US.

Today was a pretty good day. I met with a girl for my language exchange. She's from Germany and wants to improve her English and help me with my German. We agreed to meet at the Zurich Cafe. I spent a good few minutes trying to find her in the crowd because it was crowded outside. Turns out she was standing in front of me for a while. I didn't recognize her because she was black !! In fact, I walked around and asked another girl if she was waiting for me.

After we met and had a good laugh over my assumption, we walked down Las Ramblas and went to Subway. I was sooooo hungry and just had to have something cheap and good. We also went to Port Vell and talked for a while. While we were there we were sitting near the water with our shoes off. We saw a lot of jellyfish and many schools of fish. I forgot my camera, but she took pictures with her digital. I hope she sends them to me soon.

We talked bout a lot of things, and I got to practice my German. She is a very nice girl and she looks like Alicia Keys. She even smiles like her !!!! I told her that people would stumble over her if she came to the US.

We walked around a lot and didn't spend any money except for the food. We walked down Barrio Gotico. While we were walking I heard this man sing opera. He had a stunning voice. Then I saw this couple doing the tango. They were soooooo beautiful together. I think that they are married to eachother. I can't even describe how beautiful they were, especially the woman. After they danced this man from the crowd danced with her. The tango is such a romantic dance. I am so used to dancing alone for belly dance. Sometimes I wish I had a dance partner for the salsa or tango.

After I met with the German girl, I walked home. On the way another guy called me for a language exchange and we met up for a few hours. I got a lot of practice with my Spanish. He is a smart guy. He is a chemical engineer and finishing up his masters and going for his Phd. He knows all the big chemical engineering vocabulary. He just needs to improve his social English. I love meeting intelligent people like him.

Before I go, I gotta say that I am broke and I hate it. I am used to receiving a salary and I don't have one right now. Hell, I thought working at Red Lobster was bad. It was, but at least I got money out of it. I am waiting for September to come so I canget a job.Being broke sucks. I hate worrying about how I am gonna make things work out. Can I stay or will I be forced to go back home ??? I won't know for a while.

But at the same time, being broke makes me pay attention more to my surroundings. Because I don't have money to do things that cost money like going to the movies or going shopping, I spend my time walking around around the city. By doing that I am able to observe people better. I pay attention to things I normally wouldn't if I were busy shopping or going to the movies. For example, I do a lot more people watching. I watch people beg for money. I watch people perform on the streets and see how the audience reacts. I get so happy when someone gives a beautiful performance and the audience loves it. I just wish I had money to give to people that perform on the streets. They work hard. I also love to watch pets. When I was in San Sebastian there was this couple with the cutest little puppy that didn't want to walk. It was smiling, but it didn't wanna move. So the guy had to drag it and it was so cute to see it slide on its little butt.

I am also doing language exchanges and speaking to a lot of interesting people. And it's all free. And sometimes I get a friend out of it.