Calçotada

Finally a Calçotada!

This is the time of year for the traditional Catalan bbqs.... calçotadas.

I went with Toni's family to a nice restaurant in the mountains for my 1st calçotada experience..

The 1st round is the calçots. They're like long huge onions... andI hate onions. I was really scared to try them...

First you take off the outer charred layer of black, then you dip it into the red sauce thats a mix of red peppers, nuts, garlic and some other stuff... and then you eat. Delicious. Toni probably ate 20 while I ate about 8. And it practically filled me up.

Your hands get really dirty so you have to wash them after haha

The next round was the meat...

Steaks, pork, sausage, ribs... all kinds of mysteries meats that I had to try! But it was all really good. Joan Ignasi (Toni's brother - aka BRU) is like an animal with food... he ate so much, and never touched the fork.

After the huge meal we all walked around so we didnt explode on the ride home. Toni's mom drank like half a bottle of wine... and I don't remember what we were talking about, but he told them that I don't want to be part of their family... and in her tipsy state she got upset and kept asking me why... I had to punch Toni for that one. & later on in the walk Agnes was talking about how full she was their mom said it was because she was pregnant... and that she better be careful because twins run on both sides, and she was a twin herself. I told her that my brother and sister are twins.......... now she wants me to have tonis twins so she can take care of them hahahah

But it was a nice little walk after a really good meal.

St Patricks Day

As we all know in the states, St Patricks Day is March 17th and is one of the biggest drinking nights of the year. What they know in Spain - is nothing. This was all the Spanish people's 1st St Patties... so thank goodness it landed on a Thursday so we could actually enjoy it.

I spent all the morning shopping for green shirts for me and Toni. What I ended up with was a turqoisey-green mix that practically matched... looked good and green in the dark... and blue in all the pictures.

At least his socks were green.

We went to Ryan's Irish Pub in the gothic district to meet up with friends of Toni's brother. We had some 1€ beer and .50€ green shots... and to my happy surprise - they had green beer!!!!!! I really didnt think there would be any in Barcelona... lucky us. And Toni had his 1st Irish Car Bomb and almost threw it back up. But he got a hat for drinking Guiness and he was happy.

Thursday night was a VERY busy night for us... we left Ryan's and went to the Chinese bar/restaurant that everyone from Toni's uni goes to to get drunk. And that we did. I taught the bartenders how to make lemon drop shots, and the brain hemmorage shot, and we had a nice time with those.

After that, Toni, Emma, Andreea & I took the bus down to Port Olympic to meet up with Toni's friends from high school who were having their uni party.... In Spain the universities make parties for different things, and this party was for completing half of the degree.

It was pretty posh and a lot of fun, and everyone loved the cool hats.

Busy busy late night.... and a St Patties Day to remember!

Carnival!

So... before LENT there is Carnival... a week of crazy parties to get all your sinning out before your give things up for 40 days. It's the same thing as what happens in Brazil, and as Mardi Gras.

The biggest celebration around Barcelona is in Sitges... a 40 minute train ride south. And it was insane.

Sunday night (6th) I went with my favorite gay men, Edwin, Kym, and Andres.

They were half naked, and the life of the party haha... we hung out around the beach and watched the parade. We had like 5 liters of sangria for 15€ and it was so strong and so good... We mingled with the people around us and met some really NYPD guys... They handcuffed me and beat Edwin with their stick.. and it created a wonderful friendship haha

Since that Sunday night, we have partied with the cops... wait.. names.. Craig on the left from England, and Cedric on the right from France. We hung around them until we all got lost (and we did get lost...)

The next major night was Tuesday... and this time Toni came. So Carnival is the Halloween of Europe -- except it's meant to be funny, not scary. So we were very funny.

We hung out with the boy crew for a while before finding some Americans at a bar... and we had a nice view of the main street in Sitges

You would never think this was a Tuesday night. It was madness..... we hung out til maybe 430ish and then took the long drive back to Barcelona.

There was, of course, a police checkpoint for the highway... and Toni had to blow to prove his sobriety.... He blew JUST the right amount... and the police said if this was last year, he would have been in trouble...

INTERESTING FACT ABOUT SPAIN!

The longer you have your drivers license, the more alcohol you're allowed to have in your blood while you drive.... every few years the number changes for you, so you can drink more and drive more..... thoughts?

My 1st Carnival experience, and hopefully not my last! Next year - Canaries!

Lady Gaga

After reading Matthew's story and laughing about it all day...

As I was eating lunch this random heterosexual frat bro came up to me and said, "Yo dude, that looks like super healthy! Are you like a health freak? Or are you getting a head start on summer?"

My response? "Actually I saw the new Lady Gaga video and was inspired so I googled her meal plan and tried to duplicate it."

He gave me a look that I interpreted as 'WOW That is the gayest thing I have ever heard in my life.' He then said, "That's cool" and walked away.

...I decided to watch new Born this Way video.

My 1st reaction.... WOW. I hated it... but I watched this little girl Maria Aragon sing it because she has over 17 million hits, and I liked it more...

Then I really wanted to see the lyrics....

So I watched this: Born This Way with Lyrics and I stopped at 2:28 and thought about it...

She already mentioned GOD in the song... and she's talking about "Capital H-I-M"..

this can be taken as HIM or Him... Him = God... but what is HIM? & she says:

"A different lover is not a sin; Believe capital H-I-M."

GOD would not say that a different lover is not a sin....

GOD wants us to have only 1 lover.... so H-I-M isn't God....

And I googled that.... and found this: H-I-M Discussion

H-I-M = His Infernal Majesty = Satan

Of course it does..... Satan WOULD tell you to have different lovers......not God.

I'm not trying to get all religious... I'm just stating the facts......

I DO think the song has a positive message though.... but the whole HIM thing.. weird.

Manresa

Happy Monday! Last day of February... bring on March!

During my free-time (aka when I'm bored) I check out the Barcelona group on CouchSurfing to see what's going on.... people are getting together to go to museums, have movie night, hiking, running... all kinds of things.

I found one post about people going to this thing called Fira de l'Aixada... I looked it up... and decided I wanted to go too! It's a medieval market in a town about 40 minutes outside of Barcelona. I invited Alexia (Paul's sister) because I know she loves medieval things, and she was more than excited to come with me and Toni.

We got up early on Saturday morning and were in the town Manresa around 11am. After a sausage sandwich for breakfast.. I was ready to go.

The whole city center was decorated to look medieval... there were 7 different squares to visit with different shows and activities going on all day.

There were so many booths to look at, and we saw them all. Alexia got her name written in a medieval calligraphy and it came out really nice.... and right afte that, it was time for the King and Queen to arrive!

There were towns people and nobles walking around, drunks and gypsies... there was even a town retard on a leash... and they gave him to Alexia haha... everyone loved Alexia all day. The people who participated in this fair were really great and were always in character.

Of course I loved the human castle... because I had only seen it on TV. It's a typical Catalan... activity? Sport? Hobby? I don't know what it is... but people compete and work harddd and the castles can be really huge. There's always little kids at the top so it is really dangerous... but really cool to watch.

We also went inside an old medieval... place. Toni and Alexia said it used to be the street of the town... and then it got covered up and kind of lost, now it's being restored and turned into something... I dunno... I don't speak Catalan and Toni doesn't pay attention.

The best thing about the festival for me was that Alexia was in heaven! She always said she wishes she could live in medieval times and see what it was like.. and this was pretty close! We both felt like we weren't even in Spain... or at least not in the 21st century... it was so well done... it smelled like medieval times (I guess)... It was really nice to spend the day with her :)

We took a break from the market and went to a chuch right down the road...

In 1512 Ignasi of Loyola visited Manresa after visiting Montserrat. He lived there for almost a year, and while he was there he spent time in a cave and wrote a book about religious practice... he carved some crosses in the cave........ He created the Jesuit demonination and later he became a saint. So... this cave has become a shrine, and you can still see the crosses that he carved 500 years ago.

Toni went to the school called Saint Ignasi... so he knew all about it; his school used to go spend the night in the hotel and have religious retreats and stuff...

It was a nice little break before heading back to the market... Toni was exhausted by this time (4pm) so we hung out a little more and bought some goodies - cheese and cake. Everything we bought during the day started with the letter C... Corn, Candy apple, Cheese, Cake... so good.

By the time we reached Barcelona we were all exhausted... it was a long day and lots of fun.