Skinny Dipping Spy

So.. if you read my blog from this summer (two months with paul) you might remember that i said I went skinny dipping one early morning when Paul woke up extra early... Here's the day: June 27.

Well I haven't thought about it since then... and Alexia was telling me about swimming at midnight with her friends... and I said O! You could have gone skinny dipping!! And Leila said SPEAKING OF SKINNY DIPPING! YOU GOT CAUGHT!!! I said whaaat...... And I GUESS... well I know... there was a boat anchored right off the beach... ehh well about 100 meters out. And the man SAW ME!

Paul and Mari were walking to the beach 2 weeks ago when a man approached Mari and said he recognized Paul... He said he went down to the beach one morning with his mom and he saw her take all her clothes off and go swimming!!! Mari said Senora Leila?? No.. what did she look like? And he said she had dark hair and BIG BOOBS... O Lord Lord Lord.... he also said he didnt need coffee that day because I woke him right up!!!!

So embarrassing... but very funny.

PARTY!

Last night we went ouuut!!! YAY! Me, Toni, Juan, Tiago, and Sanra. The ride in was a little boring for me because everyone was speaking in Spanish... I was wondering what I had gotten myself into.. coming to this foreign country and not knowing the language. I know Tiago doesn't speak the BEST english so I was wondering if his girlfriend was the same way... turns out she speaks WONDERFUL english! And we had great conversations after we had a few drinks in and became more talkative.

We were a different town that has a yacht club, and they have a small little beach bar with cheap drinks and lots of alcohol... we went there when I was here before and it was fun so I wanted to go again =) We ran into Alex M. who went to the University of Florida for a semester and he gave me hell about my bulldogs... but it was all good fun.

O! I BROUGHT PATRON! None of them have heard of it before... so I brought it from the states in a little bottle... and when we parked the car we had a shot. Juan enjoyed it... I almost puked... and Toni followed suit and almost threw it up himself. He hated it. But we WILL have it another time! With salt and limes I hope.

We got to the club and waiting in line for a while and a blonde lady, who was older, started talking to me because she lived in America for 6 years and had a husband there and has 2 kids... I don't know why she was telling me her life story or why she was out at 4am.. but o well. She was so actually very nice and I would have talked to her more but we got inside.

It was too much fun... good music, a mix of Spanish and American... did lots of dancing and laughing. Sandra is great... I def want to go out with her again... It was nice to have a girl to talk to while the boys were doing their manly things...

We didn't get back into Barcelona until almost 7:30 and after dropping everyone off and taking a shower I didn't get into bed until after 8am... Woke up exhausted and with a completely sore body from the gym yesterday... shoulders, abs... UGH! At least I have a relaxing afternoon... I need to enjoy the silence while I can because sooon MY BOYFRIEND WILL BE HOME!! PAULITOOO!!! I actually can't wait. I need some company here in this apartment!!!! I'm so excited to see Alexia as welll and hear all about.... THEYRE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9-3 & 4

Friday was pretty chill until the evening... went out and had a beer with Toni, Raffa & his girlfriend, and JUAN! Who didn't know I was back in Barcelona yet =) So it was nice to surprise him.

I actually don't drink beer... I drink claras... it's half beer and half lemon stuff... Here... this is EXACTLY what mine looked like last night:

We all hung out and I tried to keep up with the Spanish... but it was no use. Juan & Toni had to explain everything in English... including the "funny" story about an old lady drowning that was a lot less funny once explained in English.

Saturday was much more eventful... Toni took me to the CNB (pool club) around 1ish and we went to the gym for a while and then I laid out in the sun while he swam inside. I'm getting to be too black. And I think my English is getting worse.

I love the CNB. It's where Paul and I spent most of our time... and it's where I met Toni! Luckily my pass still works so I hope to go a lot this month... workout... swim... "take sun".

Then we went to his house for some homemade paella... with mushrooms and peppers.. and some kind of meat. I said no thank you to the meat.. but his dad insisted on piling it on.. and he kept dumping more and more rice onto my plate after I said it was enough... he wants to make me fat. It was really good though... and I asked Toni what the meat was... and he said... "Have you ever ate rabbit?" I said no... and the meat went back into the paella pan.

But it was a good meal... we ate a lot and laughed about our future plans of marrying a rich old person and praying they die before we have to consummate the marriage. We are quite mean... then we will go on a vacation... that will never end.

CAUTION! THIS PART IS FOR ADULTS ONLY!

aka - NO CHLOE HUNTER OR IMAN!

So I was saying something about how I wanted to tan topless on the beach in front of the old men... and Toni said "Do you not realize this is a gay beach?" and yes.. I had forgotten... and he goes on... "I like gays, but I hate lesbians"... I said WHAT? That's so backwards... in the states guys usually love lesbians and hate gays... and he explains... "Gays leave more women in the world... and lesbians take the women... and they think they're more man than me" hahahaha.. it's sad that he makes sense.

Also - there's 2 types of gays in Barcelona (or maybe all of Spain?)... there' gays and there's homosexuals... and there IS a difference. One is referring to rich, posh gay people and one is referring to everyone else. I think the homosexuals are the posh ones... I need to ask.

But homosexuality is very accepted in Spain and marriage has been legalized for a long time. It's a lot more liberal out here.

Aaannddd UGA played today!!! They killed LSU-L 55-7... I wore my UGA beater to the gym for good luck. I asked my mom if my cousin, Aron, scored... she said no.... "He got a... Scott what did he get?? O yea, a penalty. He was offsides... he went too quick." Ehh o well. Justin got a sweeet pic of him though.

Wish I coulda been there.

9-2

Well well well... let me spare everyone (and myself) the details of yesterday since they were beyond boring.

Organized, watched tv... and waited for Mr. Ros to finish his project so we could get pizza... and around 22:00 he finally got on facebook and i expressed how incredibly hungry I was... and he told me to eat something. He had obviously forgotten about our pizza date (typical right?)... and since he felt so bad he picked me up and took me to a dirty hippie part of town with great food hahaha

It felt sooo nice to be on the motorbike againnn! I cried tears of joy! Well actually... when you go too fast the wind creates tears that stream down your face and you can't wipe them off since you're holding on for dear life.... but I'll pretend they were tears of joy.

We parked the motorbike and walked down a small street looking for a church... and since Toni decided to not wear his glasses he asked for directions... but we were going in the right direction and he was too proud of himself.

We went to La Piadina.. a small place with a nice atmosphere that sold all types of... hmm... I don't want to call them.. pitas...? it was like... flat bread.. with a sandwich type thing inside and warm.

OO LIKE THIS:

Toni recommended the Ibiza sandwich... Mozzarella, Ham (which in spanish is jamón so toni is constantly calling it JAM which confuses the hell outta me - NO I DONT WANT JAM WITH CHEESE!), and tomatoes... simple enough, so i got it. And a nutella one for dessert. SOO GOOD!

We also got a little 1 Euro glass of some alcoholic beverage that was described to me as "like champagne... but with red wine"... it was soo good... but a little watery... it needed more sparkle. Ahhh I found the name... LAMBRUSCO. I got a nice sparkling wine lesson from Toni... who always knows everything about everything.

O yes, the place was Italian... but it put a Spanish twist on things... like with the JAM. I also learned that there are 2 kinds of ham... Jamón York & Jamón... something with a P. But the YORK is like how we think of ham... pink and for a sandwich. The other type is the dried kind that is illegal in the US (so Toni tells me) because it isn't cooked... just cured... and the US people think it has poisons in it. So Spaniards sneak it into the country since it's so popular over here hahahah.

This is a ham place we found in Sitges... it smelled horrible in there...

So that's my food experience for 1 day. Learned a lot... I said I wouln't mind finding a flat in that area of town... small streets... interesting food places... relaxed people. Toni said it's too dirty.. even for him. O well.

8-31 & 9-1

I made it!

What's today?.... 9-02-10 hahaha like beverly hillsss. But it's Thursday. So where to start?

Tuesday I left... after some tears with my mom I boarded Jet Airways which I had never heard of but found to be ah-mazing. 1st class looked ridiculous... but my row 32 was just fine. I had a private TOUCH SCREEN tv with pop-out remote... and about 40 movies to watch including many new releases and Bollywood movies (it was an Indian flight)... spacious chair & great recline.

And of course I popped my 2 sleeping pills before realizing any of this and before knowing who I would be sitting next to.. which was the fabulous Pau Maso who I had met while checking in our bags... my 2 & his 4. He's moving back to Spain after living in the US for 4 years on and off.... he started off as a NANNY and wants to become a PHOTOGRAPHER... we're so alike.

And the woman next to him was moving to Milan to teach ENGLISH... So the 3 of us filled the plane with our loud excited conversation about Europe, NY, English, Africa, and traveling. They were both wonderful....

I tried to watch Sex in the City 2... but fell asleep about halfway through.. only for about 40 minutes though because dinner was being served. I forgot that Indian food was soooo spicy and only noticed my plain yogurt at the end of my meal... it would have cooled down that chicken and rice combo so nicely (something I learned from my Arabs!) But it was pretty damn good for airplane food.

I also tried watching The Karate Kid with Will Smith's son.... SO ADORABLE! It's like watching Will Smith JR.... but I didn't finish that either.

We landed in Brussels around 730am... which would be 130am NY time. While waiting in line at customs Pau and I noticed all these boys walking past us in matching clothes.... Turns out they're on the nation football team... but the Under-21. It's called URBSFA-KBVB (well those are the innitials). Of course I ended up talking to two of them, Joachim Mununga and Radja Nainggolan and they informed me that I was NOT in Germany... but I was in Belgium. I had no idea.

Pau and I had a 5 hour layover... so we checked out the chocolates, the perfumes, the sunglasses.... and then relaxed. I read Eat Pray Love, which everyone knows about by now, while he played with his amazing new camera, a Canon EOS 7D which I have become obsessed with. He wants to make a movie with it... he said that only 1 full length movie has ever been made with this particular camera and it's about to come out in America.

I've been wanting to see this Eat Pray Love movie and of course read the book... but when Jill told me she's loving it and thought that I would love it too.. I knew I had to get it for my trip! And I am loving it so far.

The plane ride from Brussels to Barcelona was only 2 hours but it would have been a lot longer if the baby 2 seats in front of me didn't stop crying. He was wailing before takeoff. The mom couldn't control him... and he had horrible bruises around his neck and obvious marks where the thumbs had been when the life had been practically drained out of him. If anyone had seen this child in the US they would have called Social Services immediately. Watching her inability to stop his crying and seeing his bruises baby neck made my mind race... I wonder if she stole this child from someone... I bet he wasn't hers... Everyone who isn't Asian think that all Asians look alike... so it would be easy to get away with.... ANYWAY.

heres a video of the baby... he wasnt at his full scream in it but you can totally see the bruises on his neck

We arrived in Barcelona at 2:45pm (8:45 am NY time) and I had basically gone 24 hours without sleeping. Toni was RIGHT on time to pick me up and I convinced the security people to let him come back and help me with my bags... I put on the maiden in distress act. It took about an hour for my bags and everything so good thing I didn't make Toni wait...

And of course his family's car is in the shop so he took his motorbike to the airport and I had to take the bus to Plaça Universita and he met me... from there we took the 64 bus to his stop and walked my stuff to his family's apartment where I was greeted by CUCAA!!!! (his dog).

We tried to get something to eat but at 5pm everything is closed... so we lounged around for a while and I took a short nap before we went and had tapas for dinner.

I had never had tapas beforeee!! So it was fun... and he was a wonderful tour guide (like always) and explained everything and picked out the best tapas to have. And I had a niiice beer with lemon. So nice.

Then we got all my bags and I got on the bus and took it to MY stop and he followed by motorbike and helped me bring everything to the apartment where Ignacio was waiting.

It feels so good to be back in Barcelona... I feel like I know the city and that I never left.

So today is Thursday. Leila told me to make sure I got my keys from the doorman before 2 since that's when he leaves... So I set my alarm for 11.... and I don't really remember what happened when it went off... I just know that I woke up at 1:50 and quickly put on a bra and ran downstairs to get my keys... which in my sleep drunkenness I called "las llevas" which means "thewear" instead of "las llaves" which means "the keys". But I got my keys =)

I went and picked up some essentials... zumo (juice), fanta, cacaolat (chocolate milk), vanilla mousse yogurt... andd.... A CREAM CROISSANT! I know the lady recognized me but I don't think she remembers that I don't speak Spanish because she was going on and on and on... but it was the most delicious croissant crema everrrrr =)

Now... time to find a job.