It's a Kind of Magic

I haven't updated in a while because it's been a busy first week of work and classes and my schedule's been turned inside out throughout the last few days.  More than anything though, I got five mosquito bites to swell up my feet earlier this week and it put a major damper on my mood.  My shoe choices had much to be desired because everything I own would agitate the bites which were strategically located right between the spaces my sandals didn't cover.  Those sneaky bastards...


Thanks be to God, I will not be returning to the studio where I got those mosquito bites but will be doing that work independently and updating my boss via e-mail.  Kind of a bummer only because I love my boss.  But more on her later when I have photos and more substantial things to say about my work.



My time this past week has been punctuated by meals and coffee breaks like these:

Café con leche post-lunch

dinner of home-made stir-fry and udon post-work

That last photo was my dinner tonight.  I got back around 7:30 PM and whipped up a meal from some groceries I picked up at the Asian grocery on Carrer de Talleres, just off of Plaça Universitat.  Last week when I first locked my eyes onto the words "Supermercado Asiatico," I used what little spacial reasoning ability my brain has to remember exactly where this place was and returned today.  I got myself three different types of Korean Nongshim brand ramyun, a jar of Lee Kum Kee chili garlic sauce, package of udon noodles, soy sauce, and an onion.  When I returned home tonight, my roommate helped me toss some chicken in salt/pepper seasoned corn starch and we stir fried it up with frozen veggies and onions.  Sauce: mix of Lee Kum Kee chili garlic and soy plus sugar and honey.  And the udon?  Just add included soup powder and misc. dehydrated matter.  I Sandra Lee'd that shit.  Dinner is served.


My ultimate conclusion after polishing off that very satisfying dinner with a tiny bon bon chocolate-covered ice cream bar was that I could be an outstanding combo-mom: work all day and still get an awesome dinner on the table.  Did I mention I did my laundry last night and also folded it today?  That's right.  Combo-mom.


Of course I know it's not that easy since I had the advantage of a free afternoon to shop plus my job isn't that time-consuming.  But it's been an exciting week and I'm looking forward to really putting the A in effort next week.  That's when my English classes really get rolling and I'm going to really need to prepare.


I bought a plane ticket to go to Sevilla with some kids (some 12 of them on the same program as me) tonight and I'm going to Costa Brava and Collioures in the south of France this weekend on a pre-planned expedition via IES (the program I'm studying/working with here).  These 8 weeks are going to go a lot faster than I had expected.  Plus I plan to hop over the Mediterranean to see Rome if I get the chance.  I have a friend (who shall remain unnamed) that claims that he is "living the dream", one sexcapade after another.  But THE dream doesn't exist.  There has to be billions upon billions of dreams scattered in the atmosphere like pixie dust, each scintillating granule belonging to a person and each person doesn't have just one but a whole handful.  Like my mother always says, dreams are free so you can have as many as you want.  And out here, I feel like I'm living my dream...at least one of them.


At 10:45 PM, I was strolling down the boulevard (aka Gran Via) down to see the Magic Fountain light up.  Its a 12 minute show of music and lights that repeats every half hour from 9:00 PM till 11:30 PM, Thursday to Sunday, just a 10 minute brisk walk away from my apartment.  This is what the walk is like:

Central monument in the Plaça de Espanya at the end of Gran Via.

The walkway to Montjuic and the Magic Fountain off of the plaza 

lit up and bubbling with little fountains

Up the escalators and the fountain appears.

Montjuic sits regally high up behind it.

The show begins

A deep orange hue that reminds me of Hades' underworld;

not evil but not friendly either..just awesome

Thinking of sugarplum fairies

Operatic fanfare

And our walk up to Montjuic begins.

The palace where my prince resides

My silhouette

"Lover's Lane" as we called it

A path off to the side of the stairs on the way up to the palace

I took some video of the fountain which is a performance in itself, the way the water bubbles up or explodes, accompanied by famous classical operas and symphonies...But the video upload isn't working, as if the world is telling me that you all just have to come and experience it for yourself.  It was really so magical it was like moving through a dream.  

It's 2 in the morning and I have to be on a bus by 7:30 which gives me not too much time to sleep.  I just wanted to share my night with you all.  If I can get the video up when I get back this weekend, I'll edit the post then.  Till next time...