Vallromanes

with Alicia in Cabrera de Mar

A couple of weeks ago I had spent a weekend with my friend Alicia, it was one of those weekends when her 11 year old twins stay with their father. What I didn’t know is that Carmen Villuendas, another old friend, was going to join us, as she also lives in the area called Maresme, just north of Barcelona, I guess you could call it the “Marin” of this place. And Carmen has a 5 month old rescue named Nala.

Alicia and Carme

I had such a good time, we laughed so hard, it was very therapeutic.

The next day I found out that two more single women, old friends also live in this area.

So I started thinking that I should come live close to this area too. And I did find a great place, however it didn’t pan out, so in the end I agreed to move in with Laura in a neighbourhood called Horta, while still in Barcelona city, it is close to a large park on the hills.

Nala  

I had to leave Albert and Mar, they put up with me for an entire month. 

Since I thought I was moving to El Masnou, I had already made plans to stay with my friend Alicia for a week. So last Friday Victor came with his van, we loaded all my stuff, and arrived in Vallromanes, which is only half an hour from the big city, and as nice as it is, public transport from here is not ideal, since one must take a bus to Granollers and from there the train downtown Barcelona. El Masnou would have been great, as it’s the same distance, only on the beach, so the train runs right by the place I wanted to rent, but there was a misunderstanding and the girl who I thought was leaving March 1st, is actually leaving April 1st. “Mi gozo en un pozo” as they say here, which translates to “my pleasure in the well”. 

So I was going to spend a few days off and relax from the pressure, the first two days Alicia was off with some friends, a weekend that was planned a while back, while her kids, Berta and Eloi stayed with their dad Jorge. So I had the place to myself. 

That evening I had dinner with Jorge and the kids, and we played Monopoly.

Gascon's home

On Sunday Jorge was preparring a “calsotada”, which I explained is barbecuing spring onions and dipping them in romescu sauce. originally he planned this only for his older daughter Aida and her boyfriend David (I think) who are vegan, but as these things go, in the end were 20 some people, so Jorge had a huge box with 200 calsots. And while Aida and her group of vegan friends arrived first, they had already barbecued all the vegan food, which was fortunate, because later the carnivors arrived, and initially had a bit of a problem that was eventually solved and were able to cook the meats too.

Josep Maria stuffing his face

And in case you ever do have an oportunity to enjoy these typical onions, be careful, the sauce is very heavy, lots of nuts, and the calsots give you a lot of gas, so the digestion is problematic.

the yard between Gascon's and Coch's

Now remember that Jorge house shares the garden with my ex’s house, so naturally he was there too, as a matter of fact he came to fetch me; and as those of you who have skyped me already know, business as usual, so it was fun, and cordial, but that’s all, nothing juicy to tell, just a good time with old and new friends. And that’s all I can say about that...at least for now.

The bad news is that while I’m still working on the “becoming spanish” thingy, I found out the process can take about a year or so. This means that I can’t legally work, all I can hope for is finding things that will pay cash; which makes things a little harder. But I’ll keep trying.

And the good news is that despite all the fatty foods, croissants and chocolate cookies, I've have been loosing weight, my belly has shrunk significantly. I can only assume it's all the running up and down the Metro stairs.