July 9, 2010

This afternoon Leila and I got better acquainted; for those who know her profession, you understand.

I picked up Paul from the bus stop and we went to the pool. He stimmed the whole bus ride and was quite noisy, but was an angel in the pool. Giggled and enjoyed it and listened to everything I said.

On the bus ride home he was hungry so I gave him some gum... he swallowed it in 10 minutes and really REALLY wanted mine.

He's so greedy.

I made him a quick dinner since Leila had left us to fend for ourselves and he was in a really cute funny giggly mood all night.

July 8, 2010

Paul and I had a very interesting afternoon....

I picked him up from the bus and we went to the pool. He was very relaxed and very excited to swim.

He enjoyed the pool for about an hour and when I said it was time to go he didn't put up a fight. He was in a great mood and even wanted to wear my silly bandz.... which is something he NEVER wants to do. Usually he hates having bracelets on or anything that constricts him.

He was also very affectionate and was giving me lots of love and hugs and that was pretty shocking because he never really hugs me...

And on the bus... he INSISTED on holding the small green bag that contains both my cell phones, the keys to the house, and my wallet. Usually I just keep the small bag in the bigger bag and leave them on the floor by our feet, but today he wanted to help out so I let him.

We had a relaxing ride home until I noticed something odd... The man 2 seats in front of us wasn't sitting in his chair.. he was sitting on the edge of it... I looked... and he was trying to pick pocket the old man facing away from him. He saw that I saw him and he got a little nervous... and I got a LOT nervous. I didn't really know what to do but I felt VERY uncomfortable... part of me wanted to say something but who knew what would happen... Paul wouldn't be able to help me out if this guy attacked us or tried to take OUR stuff.... So I decided to get off the bus and wait for the next one. It was weird that Paul wanted to hold onto our stuff today...

We went to a small restaurant and he used the bathroom and I ordered some croquettas for him and a chicken sandwich for me (and for him since he doesn't understand that not all food belongs to him... with Paul you learn to share really quickly). We were supposed to go out to dinner tonight with Ignacio's family and I figured it would be late so it would be best to have something small so we didn't starve. In the end Paul and I didn't go out to dinner, but it was still good we stopped. He was really cute and really good and wanted a napkin tucked in to his shirt.... he actually had put it under his chin and was holding it in place before I tucked it in for him.

We got home and he was ready for bed before 9. He had spent the whole day outside at a park so he was exhausted... and still in the funniest mood. I love cute days like this =)

VIDEO!

Here's a video of Toni and I finishing the race from the 4th!

http://www.corriendovoy.com/video.php?id=256&video=16004

July 7, 2010

Well... this day started off bad and continued to be bad. At 5:30 I was woken up by this tremendous banging on my door and yelling... It was like Storm Paul had arrived and was ready to cause chaos. Ignacio yelled at him to go to bed... but he was up again at 6... and I heard this peculiar sound of someone trying to unlock my door... The little bugger took the keys from Alexia's room and unlocked my door and quickly jumped into my bed. So smart.... I waited until I thought he was asleep and crept into Alexia's bed.... and then I heard him rummaging around my room. So I gave him some food and put him back to sleep in his OWN bed. But when I got up around 8 Leila said he had been up the whole time... not a great start to the morning.

When I picked him up from the bus he was in a horrible mood. I took him home and put him in a cold shower to cool him off and gave him some ice cream. I promised him McDonalds and we headed down to the metro to explore La Rambla and surrounding areas....

These guys are always at La Rambla and they're so funny...

... So I had to get a pic with one of them!!! Paul's face is great

I had my list of places I wanted to go to so we walked around looking touristy with my map and guidebook... But we found some and I can cross them off my list... we also found some other really nice places that I had never heard of or would think to go to.

Unfortunately, Paul wasn't very cooperative and nagged me for food the whooole time. McDonalds... Ice Cream... More water... McDonalds... MORE ice cream.... everything. It was a hot day, but we were in and out of air conditioning and in the shade for most of it... he just was in a foul mood. He had a few frustrated moments and I tried to ignore his consistency with begging for food... but all in all it was a pretty difficult day. But we did get to see a lot of nice places and venture off in directions we hadn't gone yet.

And of course he got McDonalds even though I told him he wouldn't because he was being so bad

Once he was home (and had had enough McDonalds to feed a soccer team) he got a cold shower and was in a great mood. I couldn't enjoy it though because I was off to watch Spain play Germany!!!!! AND WE WON! So exciting... We celebrated by going down to Port Olympic and cooled off in the Ice BARcelona..

It was -10C in there... which for F is 14 degrees... It was pretty cold... but they give you a huge jacket and gloves to wear so it's fun. The drinks were served in ice cups and there was an ice sculpture of La Sagrada Familia... and there were a LOT of Asians when we first walked in... then they all left and it was 4 of us... and the other 2 were from Cali so it was nice to talk in English.

We walked around the rest of the bar areas and each bar has people standing outside begging you to go in... It's hard for me to say no so we went into like 4 of 5 different bars... Lots of fun in Barcelona =D

July 5 & 6

Man has it been hot in Barcelona... Since we've gotten back from the Costa Brava the heat has been almost unbearable... so Paul and I have been going to the pool everyday. The hour ride there is nice and relaxing in the AC... then the pool is refreshing... and the hour back home is a great way to waste time before bed. The ride home can either be calm (when he's tired), whiny (when he's really tired), or really giggly...

So Monday was pretty boring. I spent the evening planning out all the places I wanted to go to before leaving in 2 weeks....

Tuesday I met up with Toni around 12:30 after he got out of his English class where he's one of 2 guys with a gay teacher who prefers men with beards... and he helped me navigate to Carrer Montcada and to the Pre-Columbus Museum I've been wanting to go to. It was right across the street (well... the very small street) from the Picasso Museum which had a huuuge line... while this one we were basically the only people in there. It was small and simple but had nice pieces from all around North and South

America.. and since I love Native American history I really enjoyed this museum. Then Toni ditched me for the gym and I wandered around alone exploring more of the old city. I enjoyed a nice lemon mousse snack, saw parts of the old Roman walls that barricaded the city, and enjoyed some music...

Something really nice about Barcelona that I love is all of the live music around town... People are trying to make their living by being street entertainers but it isn't poor quality music...

And there's a lot of diversity...

I picked up Paul... well it was actually really confusing but I finally found him... and we headed to the pool. I laughed to myself when his shoe fell off on the bus and when he reached down to get it he put his hands right in the elderly lady's crotch who was sitting across from him...

He was pretty relaxed... I almost had to convince him to get in his bathing suit.

But he was actually really good and there were a lot of kids in the water and for once, no swim classes. So I got to read peacefully without having to get up and tell him to move out of the way of the little swimmers or give them their toys back.

When Paul swims... he drinks pool water. He doesn't drink ocean water since it's salty... but he chugs the chlorine down. So of course when he's done swimming he has to pee a million times... We have a schedule that works perfectly.

When he gets out, he gets changed and then pees in the bathroom near the changing area. We walk towards the exit of the CNB and he pees at the bathroom there. When we get outside he has to examine all the motorbikes... Then we walk past the bus stop to a patch of grass... well what used to be grass... hmm now that I think about it - there used to be a lot more grass when he first started peeing there.... Anyway. I make him "Water the flowers" and if I see the bus coming we run for it... but if the bus is taking a long time I make him water the flowers again.

We get on the bus... and he lasts about 15 minutes before he has to go... and we always get off at the same stop where there's a big tree for him to utilize.. and a red light so the bus is always waiting and we get to hop right back on when he's done. By then the bus is so full that we don't have seats anymore but at least I don't have to use the bottle for him to pee in. Then he holds it until we get off at our stop about 35 minutes later and he always hits the first tree he sees. We've been doing this for probably the last 1ox we've gone to the pool... it's PERFECT!

We had a nice dinner and he stayed up pretty late (1030) and I had to hurry to get ready for the night. I asked Toni to take me to Bar Marsella... it opened in 1820 and has had people like Picasso, Gaudi, and Hemingway frequent it in their day. It's popular for serving ABSENTA... Absinthe. I'm not sure it's the REAL absinthe though.. but it was fun to drink... no hallucinating for us though. It tasted JUST like the Absinte I had in America... the less potent LEGAL version... I really wanted ABSINTHE... Hmm.. Maybe i have to go to Amsterdam to hallucinate. =D We did meet 4 Americans from Cali who were quite intoxicated and loved us and want to watch the game with us tomorrow... they were quite old... but nice.

We hung out there for a while... it was very very old... the first thing Toni said was that it SMELLED old... the ceiling paint was cracking and the dust that had accumulated on the bottles around the walls was so thick you could have made a coat out of it all. But it was nice... there was no music (and a sign that said no singing)... it was a REAL bar with mean gay bartenders... they could improve on that probably. O.. and there wasn't a real door. We went around pushing glass windows until we figured out which one was the door. Bizarre.

And since we didn't see the "Green Fairy" we went to the Fairy Forest bar by La Rambla... saw some fairys there.... and called it a night.

July 3 & 4

This morning and afternoon were pretty relaxing; Paul got a nice new pair of crocs and enjoyed spending time at home. Around 4 we walked up to the Bonasport and decided to give that pool a try... the past few times weren't very successful. Today was great, though. He had the whole indoor pool to himself so he was allowed to make all the noise he wanted while I read my book. We had a nice walk home and hopped in the shower together to get ready for the night.

I find it a lot easier to just take a shower along with Paul on nights that I have to go out... he gets a good clean and gets to relax while I get a good clean as well. So fresh and so clean in so little time.

Spain played in the World Cup and I went to Alejandro's house with Toni, Juan, and Roberto.

The boys are hilarious and the game was so stressful... I'm sooo glad we won!!!!

These are people celebrating in Plaça España after the game...

Afterwards I asked Toni to take me to Mont Juïc de Nit... it was a concert from 8pm-3am with 13 stages with different types of music. All the museums and attractions were also open all night so it was really nice. We hung out at the castle and listened to flamenco. I got a nice history lesson from my professional tour guide about castles and their place in Catalan history. The flamenco performers were great... the music was happy and upbeat and it had everyone dancing. It is a music that was created by poor people... so one of the instruments used to be a drawer that was banged on... it's been upgraded and modernized but has the same idea. It was really a great experience... I saw the port at night, which is the 2nd most important in Europe, as well as the Barcelona lights under the haze.

I got home very late... about 230am.. and got woken up at 7am by Paul. I had to be up anyway since I was joining Ignacio in a race, which Toni also signed up for. We left the house at 8am and got ready for the 9am start. There were maybe 4000 people in this race and the procedes go to handicapt people. It was 10K... and I wasn't aware that Toni runs 10K once a week... so I was screwed. Ignacio was way ahead of us and Toni was much better at running than I was. I haven't really done much running since the last race kicked my butt... so I'm not in the best shape. Small kids would pass us, and I would say it's because they're young and full of energy... then the old people would pass us... of course because they have a lot more experience.......

After the 1st lap I cheated and cut through a street and waited for Toni to meet back up with me. I saw Ignacio pass while I waited... itwas very easy to spot him in his lime green amongst all the red (which was given to us to wear for this race). I thought I could run the last 3K without stopping but my body wasn't cooperating. We finished at 1:08...11 minutes after Ignacio. Thanks goes to Toni for keeping me motivated.... and Thanks goes to GOD for not letting me be one of the people passed out in the street.

My ankles were killing me all day... and I was exhausted... so we hung out at home until 4 again while Paul played with his box of old photos. We went back up to the Bonasport for another pool day, and it was pretty successful. He's been in a very bad mood all day and has been mean to all of us at home... but he enjoyed the company of the kids while I read my book.

July 1 & 2

Thursday was the last day to hang out with Alexia =(

We got up around 11 and went for a nice, hot bike ride to La Sagrada Familia

It's huge... and only going to get bigger. It's been under construdtion for 150 years and still has at least 50 to go, although it was expected to be finished by 2025. Alexia was pretty good at her Gaudi history. We walked around and spent some time in the AC of the gift shop, and decided to take our bikes on the metro home to avoid going uphill in the heat. We got in a little trouble with one of the guys working there and he tried to confiscate Paul's transportation pass... but Leila straightened it all out for us.

When I picked up Paul from his taxi ride he tried so hard to stay inside.. he loved taxis. But the temptation of the pool convinced him to come along. We met Toni at the pool club and Paul really enjoyed being tossed around by someone who actually has muscles. Eventually the pool tempted me too and I jumped in with a borrowed pair of swim shorts.

Thursday was actually Toni's birthday... so when Paul and I got home I quickly got him ready for bed and myself ready for dinner! We took some last night pictures before Toni came and picked me up.

Alexia went to England on Friday and won't be back until the 25th and I'll be gone by then. She has been a great friend and a lot like a little sister to me while I've been here. She has helped me with Paul and with finding my way around Barcelona and I'm going to miss her very much while she's gone and after I get back to the states. I'll miss our late night talks, bike rides, and many adventures.

For Toni's birthday I went to dinner with him and his friends... there was so much pasta and pizza I don't know how they ate so much... Afterwards we headed to a bar and had a few drinks until they closed at 3am... which I expected would end our night. O no. Not in Spain. We walked a few blocks down and went to a club called Razzmatazz which had techno DJs and lights and not too many people, but enough. We stayed until 5am... Needless to say I was exhausted, but happy to have been invited out. Took the metro home, got in bed at 630am when Ignacio was waking up. Spanish nights are so long...

I slept all Friday morning and afternoon with the exception of getting Paul off to school at 830 and saying bye to Alexia when she left. When I finally woke up I picked up Paul who reluctantly got out of the taxi and we spent the afternoon at the pool again with our good friend Toni. I like it when Toni joins us at the pool because then Paul has a MAN to play with, which he loves.. and Toni helps catch Paul when he tries to escape to other lanes,which I love. Friday was actually pretty normal and boring... had dinner at home alone since Leila and Ignacio were out at a party, enjoyed the soccer game, and went to bed fairly early.