Home again.

And what a week it’s been.

The last 40 hours have been a blur and now I find myself in front of the computer again in a flat that resembles a college dorm room. There are empty juice containers lying around, peanut-buttery dishes in odd locations, smelly, smelly linens, half-full tea cups, headphones, open DVD cases, newspapers, flies.

On the bright side, I’ve had a fantastic two days to myself since Oli flew away yesterday morning. I shlumped about the house all day yesterday (thus its current state), reading Sin noticias de Gurb by Eduardo Mendoza, watching Secrets and Lies (DVD came free with Friday’s paper), playing on Facebook and Blogger, and napping. Then went out clothes shopping in our neighborhood after siesta at 5. Met up with some people from Oxford House for happy hour in the Raval (sporting a new outfit, of course). Eddie and others caught up with us later and after a few more non-happy-hour rounds, it was off to the Born. At my urging, we tried to get into Mix Bar (where one can properly dance) at 2:30 (they close at 3), but it was full up, so we ended the night in the Black Horse pub. It was nice to see two friend groups collide and get on really well. Poured myself into bed at 4 something….

…then began waking up at 9:19 so I could meet Noelia in the center at 11. My personal day-after remedy is to postpone showering and start the day with water, tea, and a banana. Did the trick beautifully today and after meeting up with Noelia, we proceeded to walk and talk for 3 hours, stopping only 10 minutes for a coffee.

Then it was on to the guiri (white folks) bar at the bottom of the Ramblas for English Breakfast with Timo, Eddie, Mark and Bernie. The afternoon intake of an English Breakfast is the second part of my remedy.

Thereafter I got to take my first ride on a moto as Timo zipped me around town to gather beach equipment and we all headed to one of the northern city beaches. I have never had any interest in motorcycles and motos, but now stand among those who LOVE them. I just read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which somewhat peaked my interest, but now wholeheartedly appreciate the romantic quality of this form of transport. I look forward to future encounters, and now that our VW camper has arrived in England, the next purchase will surely be a moto :)

I’m up early tomorrow to drag myself off to El Prat to teach Oli’s classes, so now it’s bloggin’, lesson plans, dinner, book, bed.

Happy sigh.