Every Brand New Day

Goodbye, the better part of my soul.

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:48:53 -0500

this is the end
of a long journey.

a journey of love
an adventure of life
a memory of closeness

One day your wings will be bigger.
One day my heart will be wider.

and one day
that empty hole in our souls will be filled with happiness again.

I haven’t been ‘home’ for 6 weeks. When K...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:56:29 -0500

Meal planned

Christmas Menu

Uni with wasabi ponzu

Sautéed clams

Fried artichoke with lemoned butter

Ginger dashi poached monkfish

Gingerbread cake with lemon curd

I haven’t been ‘home’ for 6 weeks.

When K asked me if I would like to head out for Christmas dinner, I said that I’d rather cook.

It was a glamourous meal from all perspective. I wanted to cook something that I don’t usually cook. A challenge perhaps. So here it is, the Christmas meal for 2011. Our last (?) christmas together.

I ended up even making the lemon curd from scratch. Simply because I couldn’t find it in the stores in Barcelona.

(I do want to start writing down my recipes, but cooking is such a not-by-measure thing for me…. perhaps in 2012 I will make more of an effort.)

I can’t remember the last time when I did anything by...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:03:00 -0500

I can’t remember the last time when I did anything by myself, for myself.

It’s refreshing to live by myself, in Madrid.

Exploring the city, going to museums, eating out, making friends.

All by myself.
Can’t remember the last time I felt this strong and brave.

The streets of Madrid filled with fallen leaves. It makes the...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:02:00 -0500

The streets of Madrid filled with fallen leaves. It makes the walk to work not so lonely.

Google Translate doesn’t like my name

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:54:38 -0400

Google Translate doesn’t like my name

Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera (pronounced [ɫə pəˈðɾeɾə],...

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:28:46 -0400

Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera (pronounced [ɫə pəˈðɾeɾə], meaning the ‘The Quarry’), is a building designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built during the years 1905–1910, being considered officially completed in 1912.

you know, as much as I would like to dislike this place....

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:46:49 -0400

you know, as much as I would like to dislike this place. Barcelona is making it pretty hard for me to not love it.

so easy to fall in love with this town.

August is visitor month. Hot and humid. Full of tourists. and...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:46:41 -0400

August is visitor month.

Hot and humid. Full of tourists. and people seem to want to visit during this time.

Beach is bathwater warm. Life is easy.

I don’t know how it’s possible, but it seems that...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:46:37 -0400

I don’t know how it’s possible, but it seems that all the photos of Sagrada Familia is taken of the outside.

The inside of Sagrada Familia, if not just as cool, probably cooler. Lots of angles and biomimicry structures. Unfortunately this time we didn’t get to go up one of the towers (elevator costs €1 or 2). It’s a separate ticket to be purchased after entering the compound.

When you purchase the ticket they will tell you what time to show up at which elevator lineup. Usually it’s an hour wait between ticket purchasing and entering the elevator.

psss. if you buy tickets online first, you can avoid the giant line for ticket. If you use La Caixa to purchase ticket (and retrieve ticket from La Caixa ATMs), you even get your own entrance.

Festa Major de Gracia This is one of the biggest festival in...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:46:33 -0400

Festa Major de Gracia

This is one of the biggest festival in Barcelona every year in August, happening around the neighborhood of Gracia.

The streets are decorated with different themes for competition. Plenty of activities and lots of good vibes. Great chance to get to know the neighborhood.

We were so happy to join in on the fun and checked out some of the uber cool decorations.

mañana is soon enough for me.

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:46:28 -0400

mañana is soon enough for me.

We are never sure, if things will ever be done. On August 1st,...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:46:24 -0400

We are never sure, if things will ever be done.

On August 1st, we finally got to move into our new apartment.
But it was not cleaned, and definitely not ready to be lived in.

Today, 2 days later. Things are finally looking up.

All these were happening in my apartment at the same time: Internet installation (step 1 of 2). Lamps/lightbulbs being installed, proper cleaning (scrapping paint and paquet dust), AC installation, and more furniture assembling.

The place is finally looking more like a home.

... 90 days

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:45:55 -0400

Spain moment for Jul 16, 2011:

Adamo (a Spanish broadband provider that our friend referred us to, due to its high speed) terms of service: Adamo agrees to hook up your home internet within 90 DAYS of starting a service agreement.

really?!?

Barcelona Petty Crime, first hand experience

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:45:50 -0400

Today, we got robbed. I specifically say “robbed” because it was not a simple pickpocket. We were robbed right on the street at broad daylight.

Apparently this is not a new trick, as it happens quite often. Our local friend said this happens to her probably once a year. Unfortunately we had never heard of it, so we didn’t know to look out for it..

While I was sitting in the car by myself waiting for Kevin, someone knocked on the car window and told me something was under the car. Without much thought to it, I stepped out to check. The moment I looked away, another person opened the other door, took the purse, and ran.

The ipad and the wallet were gone.

We tried to locate the iPad with the apple find my phone service, but the signal disappeared after 30 mins.

the most ridiculous thing is..

after this whole ordeal, while sitting in the car for the next 2 hours waiting for the cops etc, 2 more people knocked on my window and tried to get me out of the car! I screamed at them and told them to leave me alone.   Barcelona has been tough so far…. and this experience definitely doesn’t help.

Can never be too careful in this town.

so sad, and so shaken up.

One of the things about Barcelona is...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:45:45 -0400

One of the things about Barcelona is the Modernista architecture and tiles.

Many apartments have beautiful original tiles from the turn of the century.

We are completely in love with this kind of Modernista buildings and tiles.

and then I found this.. Antique Modernista Tile Tables

*Swoon*

It seems that there’s always some kind of protest going...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:45:39 -0400

It seems that there’s always some kind of protest going on regarding Catalunya independance

apartment hunting

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:45:35 -0400

just when we thought we had found our future home..

after sitting down with the landlord and discussed all the terms to agree on. we were waiting to hear back from him to sign the papers.

and he was hard to reach.

a week goes by we finally got to talk to him. and he said “the apartment is rented.”

What?!

apparently he got another offer that doesn’t require him to furnish the place.
well that sucks. thanks for telling us so we can counter-offer or even just tell us earlier..

douchface.

W hotel Barcelona. poolside bar. I wonder if people actually...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:45:27 -0400

W hotel Barcelona.

poolside bar. I wonder if people actually swim in it.

Plaça de Catalunya. this is the first time I had seen this...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:45:23 -0400

Plaça de Catalunya.

this is the first time I had seen this square after being in Barcelona for almost 2 weeks. there was a protest happening and the plaça was covered with tents and protestors.

Goodbye vodafone

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:45:19 -0400

after returning from hours at 3 different vodafone store

kevin: Vodafone thinks we are terrorists or scammers.
cathy: what? why?
kevin: we are now banned from using any vodafone services.
cathy: What?!

it turns out that either kevin's NIE wasn't fully hooked up yet when we signed up for vodafone, or it just seemed weird 3 sims were bought in 2 days...

either way, according to vodafone, now that the computer has decided on blocking Kevin's NIE, there's nothing they can do..
bye vodafone. thanks for nothing