Razzmatazzy

WHOA. This trip has been crazy busy and relaxing at the same time. We have lived in Barcelona for three weeks now, and I think we have a pretty good feel for the city. It is starting to get hot here, last night was the summer solstice, and it was crazy over here. People light fireworks all over the city just on the streets, I had to wear ear plugs because some of the fireworks were so loud and would come from nowhere. We went over to one of Giorgos' friends house for a house party, met many people, ate really good food, and then headed down to the beach where all the parties where. The place was packed, and people were shooting fireworks everywhere, you really had to watch where you were going or where people were lighting or you could walk into them.

Highlights of this trip so far have been:

Seeing Radiohead at the Forum!

The Forum was a really great place to see them, and the show was not sold out, so it wasn´t too crowded. You could go to the back and be in open space and still see the band. We made it close to the front side of the stage for awhile and watched them rock out. They had great stage presence, they were dancing and getting down to their songs, Thom Yorke played a lot of different instruments, and the stage design was really impressive.

Going to visit an Okupa up in the mountains.

There is a slightly new movement spreading through Spain where people move into abandoned houses in protest of involving themselves in the capitalization of society. People will often buy multiple houses, abandon some in order to make it more difficult for others to buy from the market and as a result the prices will inflate. The okupas are a result of people protesting this idea, and some are completely self sustaining. The one we went to, grew their own food, had solar energy, and one woman even had a baby a few weeks ago completely naturally at the okupa. We saw the baby, she was so cute! The owners or government can kick these people out, but the last time they tried with the okupa we went to visity, there were human barriers, and one man chained himself to the house. They make good relations with the town, allow people to visit on Sundays, where they make a really big lunch, and sell some of their produce and bread so that the word can spread throughout the city. The lunch we had was SO good. They made veggie paella in a huge pan where two people had to mix the rice at one point, a salad, a veggie puree, and soy yogurt. It was interesting and inspiring to see people actually living off the earth and that it can be done in a functional and efficient manner.

Eating Croquettes.

This was my new favorite food before I got sick. It tastes like really rich chicken cordon bleu only it has ham in it, and is a fried doughey ball of goodness.

Going north to Cadaques with Jade and Nicole.

We went to a beach town near the French border. It was a really small town that Dali used to live in during the summer time. First we took a train and went to the Dali museum, he was a very eccentric man, and his art was a myriad of good and bad. Then we took a bus into town, found a hotel and layed out on the beach. The beach was stoney, but there was sand where the water was. Why is that? The mediterranean was warm and felt really refreshing. We had a big seafood paella dinner, then watched the last part of the shoot-out between Spain and Italy in the street and went home to sleep. We were all so exhausted from the traveling, the museum, the searching for a hostel in really hot weather, then the sunning on the beach. The next day Jade has to leave early to greet Eric in Barcelona, so Nicole and I stayed for the day. We ate a really big breakfast at our hostel, which ended up being really nice with fresh fruit, breads, juice, cereal and yogurt. We walked around and found some really cute LeSportSac bags, bought them and then went to the beach to transfer all our stuff into the bags. This made us really happy. When I travel I try to see what I can live without, and the past three days I have been wearing the same outfit. It makes everything much more simple. But I was carrying a tote, and I've been wanting a light small day pack so this purchase was perfect. I was trying to see how much I could fit into the bag, and it was never ending!!!! I will take it with me to San Sebastion. Then Nicole and I found a wine store that was selling sangria for 1.90 euros/liter. We bought that and pizza bread, went to the beach, made cups with a small water plastic water bottle and drank and ate our lunch on the beach. It was a nice day then we had to go back to Barcelona for the summer solstice. We continued to talk about how cool our bags were and how we could improve them to be more efficient as far as packing goes.

Now Nicole has left, Jade, Eric and I are going to the East of Spain to a beach town called San Sebastian. I am excited to see the landscape. We will take a 8 hour train ride there. Then I will head back to Barcelona so that I can catch my plane on Friday. Eric and Jade will continue to tour Europe.

It's lunch time now!!!!

Pictures make the world go round!

We live like squatters. It is fun.



Hologram Gaudi gives the thumbs up



HOOKA!!





Best room ever! How can you go wrong with white arcs?




Inside La Pedrera, aka snake vertebrae:



mushroom



Ice Cream!



Jade is silly and that is a 1000 piece simpson´s puzzle we are working on:

being asian

Travelling abroad with another asian girl has been interesting and frustrating at the same time. I understand that people generalize cultures and race since that is the main distinguishing factor between people of the world, but at times it becomes the only thing that people see and it is not even an accurate presentation of me as a person.

This weekend was a fine example of such things. We met a few people who would ask us where we were from and we would say ¨United States¨ Then they would say ¨But you do not look like it, where is your roots¨ Then I would say ¨I am Chinese¨ Then they say ¨from China?¨ and I would say, ¨No United States¨ Then they would say ¨But why are your eyes that way?¨ Then I would say ¨Because my roots are from China¨ Then they would say ¨But you know English, no?¨ Then I would say ¨Because I am American!¨ It would go on and on for awhile and then explaining that Jade was half-japanese and half polish was a whole different story.

Then they would adopt us for the night and we would go out to eat tapas and drink many different digestifs, and go dancing and find that we had much more in common than they would think. They ask funny questions like ¨San Francisco?! Is it like the movies? Up and down on the train?¨ Or they would find out I am originally from Seattle and they would say ¨Seattle?! Grudge! Nirvana! Soundgarden! Alice n Chains!¨ Then we would talk about music and they find it amusing to hear of some bands they don´t know and amusing to know that we know the same bands and then we would whistle together (for Peter Bjorn and John). At some point in the night one of the locals said ¨We are having a beautiful moment together, music brings cultures together! Salut!¨ And drinks go all around.

Highlights so far have been:

Meeting an international crowd for a night that consisted of two Polish girls, one Japanese girl, one italian girl, a saudi arabian, and a catalan.

Going out dancing until 6am both Saturday and Sunday night, both not on purpose and both equally surprising when we left the club and the sun was out.

Seeing a lot of Gaudi´s art.

Going out with locals to restaurants, eating tapas, drinking wine, frangelica, tallat, and other digestifs.

Hanging out with Giorgos and his friend Julian at the apartment and smoking apple flavored tabacco out of the hooka and discovering Devendra Banhart (why haven´t I listened to him before this?!)

WHAT.

Oh my goodness, Barcelona is totally wizard! I have only spent one whole day here, but I really love it already.

Jade and I met up with Nicole at her hostel in Barri Gotic. Nicole suggested we go to the restuarant around the corner that she was curious about. She claimed that it was where all the locals ate which made me really excited. Sitting in that restaurant surrounded by catalan speaking neighbors, where everyone was smoking, where we were drinking wine and ordering tapas, finally made me realize that I was actually in Europe in Barcelona with two great girlfriends. I felt truly happy and lucky to have such an experience.

The next day we set out in the city and had a Gaudi day. We went to his church Sagrada Familia, which is still being built. It was grande and very different from anything I´ve seen before. His art is very Tim Burton-ish (or Tim Burton is Gaudi-ish), a lot of his inspiration comes from nature and it became very apparent when we went to go see La Padrera, a huge building originally designed for rich families back in the day. We went into the museum and the inside of the building was AMAZING. There were brick archways all over, it felt as though we were inside a snake vertebrae. I loved it so much. I took a lot of pictures and I will post soon. The rooftop deck was incredible as well. A lot of crazy mosaic stuctures that also function as water buildings and electrical huts for the whole building. Tall knights that serve as chimneys, it was all so inspiring, i had a field day with pictures. We sat up on the roof and took silly pictures, Nicole drew for a while, Jade and I sat in the sun and people watched.

Later that night we headed out in the neighborhood, Gracia, where Jade and I are staying with our friends Amalia and Giorgos. Both of them are out of town right now but they are incredibly generous people and invited us to stay at their place even though they are not there. I cannot thank them enough for their hospitality. The apartment is really minimalist right now since they just moved in. I am sleeping on a mattress on the floor, and living out of my backpack once again. I really like this kind of lifestyle, it is fun and uncomplicated, easy and continues to prove to me how little I really need to maintain a happy lifestyle. Amalia and Giorgos´ apartment feels very European. Long hallways, tile floors, big windows, sun coming in from all directions of the flat. A nice balcony where we can see a fountain on the corner of the street and pretty apartment buildings all around us.

I am having so much fun right now, Nicole left to go to Morroco, and says that she will be back later in the month. I am excited to hear of her travels, and my mission now is to be able to find some hot spots to take her to when she gets back.

Jade and I are planning on going to Park Guell today, another Gaudi design, but it is cloudy and looks as though it might rain, so plans may change. Maybe we will just hang out and cook some good food and drink some cheap wine.

Fotos coming soon!

multi-city tour

I am in Portugal right now in the Star Alliance lounge killing time between my lay-over into Barcelona.

These past two weeks have been kind of crazy. I started in Seattle, saw a bunch of friends, saw The Chop play at the Comet tavern (they played so well), then headed over into Phili, stayed in Wilmington, visited Washington D.C., Philidelphia, New York and now I am headed into Barcelona. It has been great seeing all of my loved ones, and spending quality time with all of them. I feel productive in a different way, and at times it is exhausting, but really fun at the same time. Now I am meeting Jade who I have not seen in a long time, and there may be a possibility of seeing my friend Nicole tonight, she is in Barcelona as well right now. How exciting!! I have no expectations for this new city...I haven´t really researched it, all I really know is that it will be raining the majority of time this week.

Thanks to everyone who housed us, showed us around, took us out, Rob and I had a great time, and it was because of everyone involved in our multi-city tour of the U.S.A.!