Time is marching on without me

Without a big weekend trip to punctuate my weeks, the last two have just fused together without my noticing.  The lack of sleep certainly did not help.  I got back from the airport after my Rome trip at about 1 AM, did my presentation and slept by 3 AM, was in class and presenting by about 9:30 AM, and then had another 5 compositions/essays and a final exam to take care of.  Nevertheless, Monday was Independence Day and what is usually an extremely uneventful day for me became a day for me to sing "Americaaaaa, Fuck Yeah!"from Team America in my head for most of the day.  I felt proud to be an American for the first time in a long time and as momentary as it was, it was kind of nice.  To quote a friend on facebook (yeah, I'm going there), "hating America is so passé."  Is it wrong that I agree?  Am I getting old and jaded?  Can I no longer apply for membership to the great American counterculture?  Oh well, I never really wanted it anyway.

The 4th of July was a full day.  I was a student for the first half of the day and a teacher for the second.  Unfortunately, the person responsible for unlocking our classroom (converted apartment really) apparently forgot and so we had class in the bar downstairs and in the park down the street.  We managed in spite of the fact that some man decided to bring his very noisy dogs and a cage full of parakeets to "graze" outside.

Taking the parakeets out to graze, naturally

My intermediate class learning outside

 I was dying for cheeseburgers all day.  Nothing says Independence Day like a good old-fashioned cook-out and I was pretty sure I wasn't getting one.  Wrong.  I walked onto our floor to the smell of cooking oil and the sounds of flat-mates clanking around in the kitchen.  There was a giant pile of uncooked french fries piled onto a plate in the other kitchen and a bowl-full of burger meat waiting for a free pan.  We had beers and cheese, soft sesame-seed buns, the whole works.  We didn't really have any condiments though so I made my own special sauce.

Burgers in a frying pan
We make do with what we have

Special sauce: garlic chili sauce, mayo, minced onion, parsley

To top off our evening, off to George Payne's, an all-American Irish Pub decorated for the occasion and bursting at the seams with the most obnoxious of Americans in all of Barcelona chanting "USA! USA!" all night long.

Taken from the second floor of George Payne's

The amount of sweat escaping my pores in the aforementioned establishment was alarming.  There's only so much patriotism I can take.


The rest of my week went by quickly and fairly uneventfully.  I went on my usual walk down Carrer Tallers to buy my weekly Asian groceries and said my goodbyes to the 6-week program students, we got a print copy of the magazine we put together (which I'll be sure to share with you when I get the chance) and also bid a not at all bitter but very sweet farewell to summer classes.

Accidentally took a photo of a couple trying to enjoy their walk
Sorry

When Friday evening finally rolled around, I didn't think I had the energy to do anything and yet there I was, hopping into a cab at 10 o'clock in high heels for the first time this summer.  We headed to the Eclipse Bar and Lounge on the 26th floor of the W hotel, a sail-shaped almost-skyscraper that's as defining a feature of the Barcelona shoreline as the Hotel Arts' fish sculpture.


For a girl who runs on a grocery budget of less than 10 euro a week, a 14 euro cocktail was way expensive but an essential part of the experience so I splurged and split one with Courtney (7 euro a piece I can live with).  The bar is run by a number of very attractive men, so attractive it should be illegal.  They have giant silver platters filled with fresh fruit for the bartenders to work with.  The drink I ordered was called a Black & Blue, a heavenly mixture of Belvedere vodka, limes, and blackberries and blueberries hand-crushed with a pestle.  It was served in a chilled glass with crushed ice and some mint, all the more enjoyable because it was served with a couple bar tricks and a dashing smile.  Yes, I was totally taken by the gentleman wielding my drink.

After-work drinks before going home to screaming children and
an unhappy wife.  Except Brep (right) is actually our dad.

We left to get into Shoko (one of the popular Port Olímpic beach-side discotecas) which was free till 2 AM.  We got on line only to have Val use the birthday ticket to get us in ahead of everyone else and I didn't mind being hated by the people behind me.  Well, my experience in the club was short-lived because I was left with three hungry boys (literally, not sexual-predatorily) and separated from the girls I live with.  Naturally, we went to Mickey D's.


Chicken nuggets and barbecue sauce...I'm not proud of it but sometimes, it needs to be done.  And then, as if notified by the network of psychic brainwaves we all share, the rest of our group appeared to meet us at McDonald's.

It was a relatively short night (home by 3:30 AM) but a good one at that.  It just meant I wouldn't be up till afternoon the next day.  That's how Saturday morning and afternoon had come and gone without so much as a nod of recognition.  I only had one plan for the day anyway, out to Sitges a short trip outside of Barcelona to see their Gay Pride Parade.  Unfortunately, with the incompetence that accompanies group travel, half of us gave up after we couldn't find a bus to take us there and the rest of us arrived well after the parade was already over.  That meant a Mercadona (our favorite grocery store) break to buy wine, booze and ice cream (my specific request) before heading to the beach.

Sitges at dusk

The party on the boardwalk

We had spotted three very attractive men dancing on the balustrade and Matt and I went on a mission to find them.  Once we wound our way through the crowd, I found myself in a crowd of the most attractive group of males I will probably ever find myself in.  It was a look only policy but I could live with that.  It was the largest ABBA singalong I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of.  I haven't seen such an excited group of people in a long time.

Dancing and singing in a glitter-covered crowd

Party on the beach

We hopped the last train back to Barcelona at just past 11 after we had thought we had already missed it.  Upon our return, we saw that our friends were already borrachos from homemade mystery sangria.  Well, they all got too drunk to do anything so we stayed in the rest of the night, part of which was spent watching Mateo vogue in the dark while I nodded off to sleep on a couch.  Bizarre but yes, it did happen.


The next afternoon (because that's when I woke up) we got together for an expedition to Parc del laberinto (the labyrinth park) on the other side of town.  When we first entered into the labyrinth, we hit a ton of dead-ends and had to exit where we came in and try a different entrance and hit another ton of dead-ends before we finally reached the center.

We won!  The central fountain

We were actually beat by two others that took another route

The gang takes a break

Above the maze

Planking

I'm not really sure when "planking" became a thing but it's apparently something you can do.  I'm not sure why you would want to but there it is: planking.


The park is not only awesome for its labyrinth but it also has a lot of scenic areas like a little creek running through it inhabited by goldfish and little turtles with a bridge crossing over it.  It's also full of flowers in bloom and tall trees for ample shade.  I just have to say that the stagnant pools of puke green water were a total turnoff.

Gotta stop and smell the flowers

Pagoda on the water
Purpose unknown

Back down the steps to the labyrinth

We got back home and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  We tried to make a 10:45 PM showing of Midnight in Paris but got there too late so spent the remainder of our night out in the open air, taking in the ocean breeze.

What relaxation looks like

Free chupitos (shots)!
It's really 2 parts fanta and 1 part alcohol so don't worry Mom!

Monday without a 9 AM class is a glorious kind of Monday, just the way I like the worst day of the week.  A bunch of us, I guess you can say teacher's pets, decided to invite our Spanish Professor Josep-María out to lunch at a Korean place he had recommended to us.  Not only could I spend the afternoon with some really cool people, I could also eat kimchi!  I'm salivating thinking about it even now.

Mandoo

Tempura

Ojinguh bokkeum

Strawberry ice cream

It was also nice to speak a little of my mother's mother tongue again.  I felt fancy.  It was good.  A little expensive but worth it to cure my tummy's homesickness.


The restaurant was thankfully just around the corner from where I teach and it was our end of the course party that day so I had to be there, like it or not.  But good thing I do like my students and I was more than happy to be there (in spite of a creeping cold that is now in full swing and putting a damper on everything).

My work supervisor Irma cutting up some pastries

Mingling!

Me and some of my intermediate students
Teaching certificate in hand

They were all great.  We still plan to keep in touch and they tell me they wish I could stay, one of them showered me with so many compliments that another student wanted to know how to say "suck-up" in English so he could call him that.  As difficult and frustrating it could be, I loved my internship.  It's not quite over yet though, we made plans to watch Harry Potter together next week which will be my second time after I watch it tomorrow for the first time (gotta watch it opening day even if they don't have midnight showing here!).

Anyway, after taking a cooking hiatus due to illness earlier in the week, I made an arroz con pollo the other night during my uphill fight to recovery.  I won't lie, it was good.

Yes, that is melted mozzarella cheese

And that's it for now.  I have a full weekend ahead (as long as everything goes as planned) so hasta luego.