“EL FINDE”

Tossa de Mar

The weekend in spanish is “ el fin de semana”, so as part of my aprenticeship and transition, I’m learning the widely spread current slang, so if someone asks : como te fue el finde? it translates to: how was your weekend?

Mine was good, thank you very much. Friday morning I took Wilbur for a quickie to the park, because Victor picked me up at 9.30am, as I asked to accompany him to Tossa de Mar, in order to visit the art gallery where Victor is going to have a show starting April 30th through the month of May. This was going to be a short visit, because we needed to be back for lunch, as Mari was preparing a traditional fava been dish for lunch, which usually takes place between 2-3pm. So I left Wilbur home with Laura, this way I would be able to take the metro back home after lunch, because I believe I mentioned, while you are allowed to take dogs on the train, they are not allowed on metro and city bus unless of course it is a service dog.

Tossa de Mar

Tossa de Mar is one of those beautiful beach towns, about an hour away, and despite the proximity it is still quite charming, because while all the other surrounding towns like Blanes and Lloret de Mar have sprawled so much, and have enormous popularity with the summer foreign tourism, Tossa is a bit harder to get to, as the train doesn’t not reach, or the freeway doesn’t have an exit to. 

See http://www.tossademar.com/

We parked the van, called Joan, the owner to let him know we arrived and went searching for the gallery. Joan was dressed in a painter jumpsuit as he was in the midst of painting some walls in his hotel, which he later took us to see. First we talked about the gallery, the artists he represents, his buyers and his private collection. Joan likes to talk...a lot, but I must say I liked him, he just seems very grounded and honest, and he loves what he does, and he’s a good expert and source. He told us stories of the town, corruption and deception around art exhibits. We went around the corner to a coffee shop for a drink, and then the hotel, which is closed while he’s finishing up, contemporary and filled with his private art collection, mostly large art pieces, due to the fact that he’s had many pieces stolen from the walls; he even had a terribly heavy bronze sculpture taken by three tall Irish guys.

sign on church door above

Tossa de Mar

Tossa de Mar

So much talk, it was already 2pm, we had to leave as we were late for the fava beans, but first we went for a brief stroll to the beach, and as soon as I saw the castle on the beach, I had a flash back memory of a romantic weekend with my ex, as he notified me that he in fact was my boyfreind, which filled my heart at the time.

Later in Horta (my neighborhood) that evening around 8.30pm, I met at Plaza Ibiza with Carmen Villuendas, with Wilbur and my weekend bag, we went to Cabrils to meet Alicia at the Bar Concordia, where we met more people, had some hot “bocatas”(sandwiches).

Saturday it rained hard all day and all night, so Wilbur only went out for potty and stayed home, while Alicia and I went to a family event. It was a 5 year old birthday of one of her nieces, a table for 15, lots of drinking and food and laterwe played a card game named “podrida” which I had never played before. The elders (Alicia’s mother, father and 92yr old aunt) were surprised as I came in second the first game and actually won the second game, a little over 1 euro.

Later we met Carmen as we planned on going out, but ended up chatting until very late, and looked up camping bungalows to rent the night of the 26th, and settled for one in Montseny.

Sunday morning my friends were still sleeping, it was 10am, such a beautiful sunny day, I took Wilbur out for potty and bought some breakfast stuff at the corner market; I was not fully awake yet, so I didn’t realize the man standing at the register talking to the cashier was my ex. I heard “what are you doing here?” and then I recognized the voice. Completely startled, I wished I had looked at myself in the mirror before going out; oh well. He showed me where to get some fresh churros and as we parted I asked when he would have time for me, I just want to understand why he’s avoiding me “now”.

After a good breakfast, we went to meet up with Araceli and her dog Bruna, Carmen went to fetch her dog Nala, and the four of us and three dogs went to hike up to Castell de Burriac, and Araceli talked us into going through the woods rather than up the trail. It got very dense and we even climb up and around boulders, but we kept going up till we made it. I was scratched all over. We took the regular path on the way down, it was quick and easy.

Later that night, around midnight, Laura came home from Italy with Miquel, who I met for the first time. He was so excited to meet Wilbur and me, and begged me to play Mario Bros on his WII console. He is so damn cute!

Redwood trees

Font de San Joaquim

If you know what I know, then we were all wrong. You see I thought sequoia semprevirens only existed along the coast of northern California, however yesterday as I was hiking through the woods in Vallromanes with Alicia, and we went searching for natural “fonts” springs. First we came across the one named for San Joaquim, and a little later the one named for Santa Anna; and that’s when Alicia pointed out the two redwoods that she had mentioned to me earlier, so I was expecting at the most a 50 year old, yet these two beauties are well over 200 years old, which come to think of now, it had to have been soemone in Gaspar de Portola’s crew, maybe even Fray Crespi who accompanied Fray Junipero Serra and was the guy with the green thumb amongst the crew those days, in 1776. So if you think about it, this is all part of Bay Area history too. Cool huh?

Now, a moment that we’ve all been waiting for, (no Albert, not that one, not yet anyway), when we got back from our walk, Victor arrived and took me back to the big ol’ city, and this time he took me to my new home, yeay!. I finally got to open my bags and place things in a way I can find them. After a month of moving around, its nice to be able to put your feet up, and besides it gets a bit stressful trying to find the right place; it’s a bit more money than I was planning on spending right now (450 e/m), but I know if I can’t even feel rhe least bit happy where I am, I’ll be sabotaging any possibility of remaining here.

My Room

The Kitchen

The Balcony

Victor dropped me off and also a delicious artichoke omelette that Mari made, and I made accuantances with my new room mate Laura, a 28 yr old single mom, with a beautiful 5 yr old boy named Miquel; although he is currently visiting his grand parents in Italy.

The Living Room

After straightening out everything and having had some of the omelette, I took Wilbur out again to find the nearby park, and I found it, just two blocks away, and just as big as I remembered it, about the size of the San Rafael Ridge, so perfect, I’m in the city, but also feels like nature still.

Since this weekend is Caraval, I thought I’d go see the parade amongst the big crowds, so I took the metro to the Paralel, where they used to have all kinds of theatres in the old days, even a Studio 54 once, and there’s actually still the “El Molino” a Catalan version of Moulin Rouge, that has been here forever. And they had some entertainment, however the parade was a major disapontment as there were no floats, so while they had an extensive parade of people in costumes dancing, nobody could see anything because the crowds covered everything.

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.

home sick? me?

I was talking to Deborah on Skype just yesterday, I was confessing some sadness about not being back in Marin, and how we miss going to Mill Valley Dog Park, as she's been going to Sausalito recently.
I didn't think much about being home sick before, since I've moved around so much. I do remember feeling a sense of calm every time I went home the three and half years I lived in Hermosa Beach. I convinced myself it was the sight and smell of the ocean so close that made me feel warm and fuzzy.


My grandmother Adela would get homesick when she was away from Spain too long. And Deborah mentioned that when she tried to live back in New York, she just couldn't do it anymore. Damn California, you've spoilt us rotten.


However when I first came to live in the USA, I must say, it took me about 3 or more years to not miss Barcelona. Right now, to tell you the truth, I can't stand it; I like going out of the city. Like yesterday morning for example, Albert was going to Vilanova i la Geltru, a large town about 1/2 hour south to film Lost in London, a play by one of his theatre companies, so I tagged along and took Wilbur for a walk on the beach, and it just feels good to be out, away from the tall buildings and traffic. Sorry I forgot to take my camera, but here's a link to Pasifae , she was the wife of Minos, King of Crete, she became madly obsessed with this large white bull; anyway I could see this huge bull sculpture at a distance, right by the water, and I came closer to see that she was actually inside the bull's stomach.

The previous day I was meeting Hugo for lunch, somewhere along the Rambla de Catalunya, which is one of the popular downtown streets. Hugo had been waiting to get his work visa renewed to go back to San Francisco, usually once every three years, this time took longer than in the past (possibly due to furloughs?). We sat outside as the weather was pleasant enough, and order "el menu del dia" which was cream of zucchini and sole with salad. 




After we drove up to Parc Guell for a stroll, this is another of Gaudi's masterpieces, which was supossed to be a whole development of maybe 100 homes and finally only 3 were built. I hadn't been up there in over 20 years, so it was a treat.

where to lay the egg?

...is an old catalan saying, which some would say when speaking of my grandfather who would travel back and forth with the family, hoping for the right place.

Edward and Wilbur on the beach

riera between Calafell and Segur de Calafell

So, as I'm pondering where to (temporarily) land; I'm conflicted between the bucolic life outside of the city, which I have been used to for the past 24 years, and Wilbur would definitely prefer, as a friend of my mother offered me to stay in a duplex home that is near finish remodel for 500 euro/month, in the beach town of Calafell, one hour south of Barcelona, or another friend who offered her apartment in the beach town of Canet de Mar for the same amount, or should I be more practical and stay in the big city where I have more opportunities to find work?


Speaking of work, this morning I was up early for my first interview, I was referred to by Monica, it's to promote the free classes by social security for unemployed people. Sadly I was asked to return once I have my DNI (documento nacional de identidad), which hopefully I will have next week. Actually I had foreseen this, but I thought I should get my feet wet anyway, besides since it's a goverment thing, it can always lead to other better stuff...maybe?

Edward and Wilbur

Monica, Wilbur and me

Last Sunday then Edward and Monica picked me and Wilbur up to go to the town of Calafell to check it out. I had been there a few times 25 years ago, when Jordi was a baby, and the beaches down south, Costa Dorada, are known for taking babies, as the sand is fine and the water shallow, in contrast with the Costa Brava where the sand is rough and very deep waters. But just like everything else, it has changed too, more developed.

calcotada

mmmm!

Anyway, the trip doubled up as a traditional outing to celebrate the beginning of spring onion season, where one town in this area is famous for "La Calcotada". Onions are barbecued or grilled, and dipped in Romescu sauce, and dropped into ones mouth from above. Bibs are very necessary. This dish usually comes with a plenty of others dishes too, usually a platter of a variety of barbecued meats, lamb, rabbit, chicken etc. 

ou esclafat

We decided to try another specialty of the house "ous esclafats" fried egg over house fries and truffle sprinkle, and you smash the egg by cutting it into small pieces in order to mix the flavor. It was delicious, despite my egg allergy. And the "escalibada" which some of you have already tried, are the roasted red bell peppers and eggplant, but in this case they had a round of warm goat cheese in the middle; and I'm telling you, this combo is sooo good.

carrer de la barca 6

After this meal, we went to see the "house" for rent, and for a stroll along the beach strand, where Wilbur enjoyed chasing seagulls and accidentally falling into water that was hiding below a sand dune.


What would you do?