Motorbike Sundays

After a wonderful lunch at Joan's parents, Joan and I took out the motorbike to cruise along the beach. There is really nothing better than feeling the cool wind on your face, the warm sun beating down and the sounds of tourists and locals enjoying the day.

We parked and sat on the beach, letting the waves reach the very tip of our toes before sliding back into the ocean. As I sat, gazing out at Lloret and the children playing. I spotted my first topless woman here in Spain. I always wondered when that would be, and it was this afternoon. She was probably in her 60s or early 70s. I was speechless. With all the children around? Of course Joan said, "It's Spain." his excuse for everything I see or hear and don't understand. Perhaps one day I might let my guard down and try topless sunbathing....or perhaps no. It is a way of life here, part of the culture. Are Americans really more modest than their European counterparts? I guess so. Oh well, I'll chalk it up on the list as one more thing to get used to.

Quote of the day from Sergi to his sister Arianna:

Ari:(showing Sergi her coffee) It's black, I wanted it with milk.
Sergi: You're racist.

I need a Spanish stomach to hold all this food

After Spanish class (which went very well) I made my way to the city center as I do almost everyday. However life had a few surprises in store for me today. For example, one woman and one man stopped me and asked me (in Catalan) if I knew where something was. I love when people think I am a local and Spanish. It makes my day.

After that incident, I was filled with a new found appreciation for this town and myself so I went to a bakery to order a coffee and some breakfast. The shopkeeper, a lovely Spanish woman, commented on the weather, my zapatos and she gave me an extra euro in change which I gave back of course. But the wonderful thing is I understood everything she said which was quite refreshing.

I was prepared to walk by home at 1 with Pepi but Maribel had "a plan" and when she has a plan, I know it is going to be fun. Instead of us going our separate ways for lunch, Maribel wanted us to go have paella. I've been enjoying a lot of paella recently, and I love it.
We had a wonderful time with vino, calamari and of course café con leche after. After, even as full as we were, Pepi wanted chocolate. We went to this great place to have Chocolaté caliente with some delicious pastries. The baker was a young man from Argentina and hand made everything himself. Heavenly. Needless to say, I'm skipping dinner tonight and quite possibly breakfast tomorrow.

The following photos are a collection from the last few days.

C.M.

Mas Photos

Working Out in France and so much more

I haven't updated in so long, I am itching to write and tell you about everything that's been happening.

Sunday, Joan and I took a roadtrip to France with his parents and brother. It was my first time there and I'm not ashamed to say that I hoped my first time in France would be in Paris. However, it was in a small village called VilleFrench. It was there that I climbed my first mountain. 25 minutes to reach the top and 1000 steps later we were at Fort Liberia Castle. Three bottles of water later I ended up finding a tunnel in the castle and did my business while Joan and his family went on ahead. Trust me when I say I wouldn't have made it to the bathroom. To go into the "city" of Villefrench we had to take 832 stairs down in a tunnel under the mountain. The lights weren't working in the tunnel so we went down medieval style with our mobiles guiding the way.

Completley starved we found a restaraunt, the only one open in the village. Our waiter was the absolute cliche´of a French waiter. Young, left ear pierced with a 2 euro hoop and an attitude recognizable in any language. While taking our order, a little girl, about three was shouting etc and our waiter went up to her and scolded her and basically said "shut up" the parents didn't do a thing about it. Guess that's the French way. Our food was good and actually, French coca-cola is delicious. I don't know how it is different but there is a sweeter taste to it. Since we were in the south, they are very Catalan proud as that part of France used to be Spain back in the 1700s or so. I spoke a mixture of French and Catalan during the trip, cracking up Joan and allowing Sergi to crack jokes at my expense.

Now I'm back in Lloret and loving it so much more now that the weather is warming up. Yesterday I went to visit Joan's mom at her meatshop and when it was time for the daily siesta, we had a light lunch and went walking around instead. She took me up to the castle by the sea and there is a awesome bar there, sand on the ground, wicker chairs everywhere. It is by a calla or what we know as a cove. The water splashing against the rocks, tropical jazz music if that makes sense, was playing overhead. The cool breeze drifting over us as the warm sun shone on the sea. A perfect place. We had a coffee and i really learned a lot about Joans mom, her life in BCN before moving to Lloret, stories of when Joan and Arianna were young, it was really nice. After we walked along the beach and some brits asked us if "we would be up for a game of volleyball tomorrow" Maribel then said, "When I'm alone I am invisible but when I walk around with you, everyone talks to us" Guess thats part of why young men go on vacation, to find a girl to "spend time with" but the locals are sometimes worse and hit on you regardless.

The men that sell tourist crap along the street always try and talk to me. "Hola" "Bonjour" "Hello" guessing what language I speak because I always ignore them. :P Slightly creepy but life goes on.

I had spanish class this morning with Clara. Only two classes left, not sure if I will take many more. I feel like I have learned a lot, I just need to practice. I find Catalan much easier for me, I know a bit of both so I need to choose one to master first. :P

Also found out that my friends, Eryn and Nikki are coming to visit me in August. They bought their tickets last night so it is official. They will be here from the 12th to the 23rd so I will have to plan a great party since they will be here for my birthday! It's a bit depressing I still haven't made any friends yet. Joans friends are my friends of course but they are all guys and I do miss the girl time. Alison will be here soon and things will be much better. Maybe when the tourists start to come I'll meet some people. Now it's all older people, maybe I'm not looking in the right places...? Yo no se.

I decided not to go to Girona tonight and meet Joan for tapas with people from work. Maybe tonight we'll order pizza, watch a movie and take a walk around town. Sounds good to me.

Hope all is well in your corners of the world. I have a lot of free time today so if I am inspired there may be another blog. :P

Ciao
C.M.

The one where I get lost in Lloret

I don't think I could ever live alone. Maybe, if I was used to the idea, but after living with Joan I would miss him to much. He is in Italy now, doing interviews and kicking ass at his job, I wish my work visa was finalized so I could be there as well....all in time.

After he left I lounged around and didn't do much. At 5:30 I was supposed to meet his mom at the meat shop and then have my massage. I left the flat at 5 till 5 to give myself some time. Upon leaving I forgot my coat and the map Joan left me. I knew which way I had to go but a cop directing traffic was saying something to me in Catalan, I was nervous already so I went the way he was pointing and took the next street. I then proceeded to get very lost and wound up in a neighborhood. A deserted neighborhood. There are no street signs, no one around and everything was closed. I went from street to street. I remembered what Joan always told me and went to the sea. I was pretty far from where I needed to be and couldn't remember which way to go. I took a chance and it was wrong again. The time was 5:15 and I was going to be late. In a weak moment I called Joan at work. I didn't want to do this for three reasons:

1. He is at work and I didn't want to bother him
2. I don't want him to know I forgot the map he made me
3. I don't want him to know how stupid I am when it comes to going into town

However, I had to do it so I called. He helped me out and at 5:25 I was saying hello to his mom and telling her I had been lost. Ay dios...

We went across to the café and I met Carmen, the girl who was going to give me a massage. She is very pretty, what you would think a spanish girl would look like. Long dark hair, big brown eyes, perfect complexion, good figure and to top it off she was as nice as can be. She said to me, "My english is nada" I laughed and said, "My espanol is nada" we did our best.

At first, I wasn't sure what to think but once she started and it was heaven. It was an hour massage and while I thought I was only getting my back done, she did my legs, my feet, my arms, my neck, my stomach and my head. It was wonderful.

She knows Joan's family because his parents receive regular massages from her. Her boyfriend is actually friends with Joan as well, they went to school together when they were children. We went for a coffee and while we both spoke very little of each other's language, I understood most of what she was saying and I managed to speak enough Spanish for us to talk to one another. Something I need to do today is brush up so I can speak with her more today. She told Joan's mom that tomorrow she wanted to meet with me again because my neck and back still needed to be worked on, I have a lot of charged muscles.

Anyway, Joan ended up arrving close to 7:00 while Carmen and I were at Cafeteria Borell. Cavok only made him work for three hours, he was so mad that he lost spending more time with me and he hardly did any work at all. His plane to Italy didn't leave until 9 so he decided to come back to Lloret. It was so good to see him because I had missed him so much already and was preparing to come back to the flat alone. He had to leave again at 8:20 but his little visit was more than I expected.

Being here alone last night I talked to a lot of my friends, KC,Tamara,Jennifer,Jessica,Heather,Eryn,Steve and my grandmother. It's good to hear the voices of the people you used to spend everyday with. I ended up talking with everyone until it was 3 a.m. here. I liked to use the line, "You are still my yesterday and I'm in your tomorrow."

This has been long enough, It is 12:00 and I have four hours and thirty minutes until I go and meet Joan's mom. I need to get ready and get this flat cleaned.

I wish you all a wonderful day.

C.M.