A room of one's own

Just completed a long and productive weekend. Saturday Dustin and I went out in the early afternoon to check out a room for rent. It’s in the same neighborhood as D and Esther live, San Andreu; it’s where I wanted to live when I first got here, but then I changed my focus to some areas closer to the main downtown...so of course this room turned out to be pretty much perfect for me. It’s owned by a 29 year old Irishman named Oisin (pronounced "O-sheen") who has lived in Barca for 17 years. He speaks English perfectly but still has an Irish accent. And he knows where to get good beer, too, which is a big deal here (most places only have crap Spanish beer). It’s nice and quiet, and he works during the day so I have the place to myself right now. And it’s close to two metro lines, one of which goes directly to the beach. It’s a good set up.

After renting the room, we went down to the beach to meet some friends and ended up staying out all night. We saw some good student jazz at a local club at the music school, had a nice late dinner (a platter of about six different kinds of pork, some sardine-like fish in vinegar, and the tradional bread of Catalan, baguette rubbed w/ olive oil, garlic, and mashed tomato), then ended the night at a different bar. I was excited, they had Chimay there, a good Belgian-style beer. It was the first good beer I’d had since arriving. I switched to wine for the most part, at least when drinking at home, so I’m not complaining or anything (not too vehemently at least). I stayed w/ D and E on Saturday night (Sunday morning is more like it) because we never got around to moving my stuff, and then yesterday when we got up and around we took everything over here and dropped it off.

We walked back to D’s place and picked up a delicious lunch of roast chicken and potatoes, had lunch w/ Esther and their friend Nicolas, and then played a couple games of Carcassonne (I won the first one and Esther won the second). By then we were all sleepy and happy (and a couple other dwarves: Dustin was sneezy and I was dopey, for example), so I grabbed a few last things that were still at their place and headed home. I did a quick run around the neighborhood looking for a mini-mart (the only places open on Sunday night where you can buy groceries), bought a frozen pizza, some beer, and yogurt (to bide me over this morning before I went shopping for real), and then came back to relax in my new place for the first time.

Last night was the FC Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer match, I was hoping to watch that but it wasn’t on free television. To watch matches in a bar you have to get there at least an hour early (especially one this significant, it’s akin to a Red Sox-Yankees game except they only play a few times a year), and by the time I figured out the game wasn’t on, it was too late. I was tired anyways, and I’ve discovered an online service that streams a bunch of channels (international for here) for free. So I was able to watch some futbol Americano instead. All the early games start around 6pm Sunday night here. I cooked the pizza (very tasty, actually better than US frozen pizzas I think), drank a few beers (surprisingly good, I got the standard Spanish lager only w/ lemon juice added; it makes it a lot better), and then went to bed early.

And now here I am. Monday morning, in my own place for the first time, and ready for the next thing. I have been breaking this entire experience into more manageable chunks: first chunk was finishing work and moving out of my apartment; second was living in Edmonds, seeing everyone, birthday, last minute preparations for the trip; third was the trip itself; forth was staying w/ D and E, getting my legs under me, figuring out where I wanted to live and looking for my own place...and now this is the fifth chunk.

It’s funny, most of the rooms I called about (okay Dustin called) were already full, no matter how quickly we got on it. Either that or nobody answered. The ad for this place had been up for awhile, but O’sheen said nobody had really called about. It’s very odd, but I’m taking it as a good sign that this is indeed my place.

Okay, I’m off to explore the hood and do some shopping. More soon.

Ciao.