Arts and crafts and creepy guys

So... what's wrong with Catalan men? I had a weird encounter today, it was the second one in a week; I left work at the same time with our Arabian Quality Manager, and chatted  with him in front of the metro station of Catalunya before going in. I took the green line and was supposed to get off at Fontana, after the stations of Passeig de Grácia and Diagonal. 

The metro was packed and I was listening to music, when we got to Passeig de Grácia and many people entered, including this one man, who winked at me. I got flustered and started playing with my phone, and he came to stand behind me. He touched me, and I thought that there was simply no space behind him, but then he moved his hand to my butt. That was one of those absurd situations where I just feel like laughing out loud. We got rather quickly to Fontana, and I don't know if it was his station too, but he exited the metro behind me. I took the escalators and was thinking of something clever to say, but then someone came to stand between us and he wasn't able to follow me. As I got out of the metro station I turned around, and he was still following me, looking straight into my eyes and smiling. I managed to lose him on my way to the place where the local Esperantists meet.

I didn't feel threatened at any point, I'm just sad that I wasn't able to snap at him in Spanish. I had a somewhat similar situation last Thursday; I left work and was on my way to this makeup store, when a well-dressed guy stopped me at Plaça de Catalunya and asked for directions to some restaurant. I told him that I don't know where it is, since I haven't been here that long, and then he just started walking with me and chatting, in Spanish and Catalan. He was about to go to the direction where the makeup store was, so I told him that I was going the other way, to La Rambla, and he said that he will accompany me there because he liked talking to me. 

Well, we walked La Rambla, all the way to the harbor, and he told me things about tourist attractions and different places along the way. He even introduced me to one of his friends that we met on the street. We walked for a few hours and it was really nice, he even showed me this one restaurant that looked like a magical forest. At that point it was already like 10pm, so I said that I should go home. We went to the metro station, and he asked if he could cook for me at his place. I said that I'm going home, alone, and then he started to describe very vividly what he would do to me if I went with him. I understood every single word, and he was telling me those things while we were surrounded by people! Once again, I was just laughing out loud and thinking about my trademark quote, mitä vittua täällä oikein tapahtuu (what the fuck is going on here - something I shouted in Bar 11 in Reykjavík several years ago... good times). I'm not used to that kind of attention from strangers.

And that's that. Yesterday I went to this Danish shop called Tiger and bought glue for decoupage. I didn't have a pencil holder at work, so I decided to make one for myself.

before...

...and after.

Looks like I found myself a choir! And the rehearsals are very close to where I live! I will go there on Monday and sing something, so they will know where to place me as they have several different choirs. I'm so excited! I love this city a bit more every day.

yesterday after lunch break. wow, much rainy, such warmth

An Esperanto-ish trip to Subirats

Yesterday I went to this little village called Subirats with some local Esperantists. Javier came to pick me up in the morning, and after picking up Alfons from Plaça d'Espanya we headed towards the wonderful countryside. It took us around 45 minutes to get to Subirats, and we took a quick look inside the Esperanto museum. Other Esperantists were still on their way, so I went to have coffee with Javier and Alfons. 

me being a tourist in Javier's car at Plaça d'Espanya

road trrrrippppp

the museum street was named after Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto

the small café

cafe con leche

Once everyone had arrived, our special guest from Tokio, Goro, gave a lecture in the museum about Fukushima and how it affected his life, and life in general in Japan. He is a Japanese-German professor, and spoke in fluent Esperanto. The lecture was really interesting, and it inspired long conversations. In the afternoon we went to have lunch in this small restaurant.

the museum

the lecture

the "key" to Esperanto, in Basque

some Finnish translated literature, too

old posters of congresses

some introduction to Esperanto grammar in Catalan

the plaza

my hips are out of control :S
foto de Javier, dankon! :)

The food was good, and I took the cheapest ones because I don't know when I will get paid... then it turned out that everybody had to pay the same amount, regardless of what they ordered. I was really pissed off because I had to pay 20€ instead of 13€. It's not a big amount, but I was still angry because I had planned to use that money for food today.

escalivada: tomatoes, smoked zucchini, and red pepper

wine...

...that you were supposed to drink like this

Goro tried too...

and he was a natural pro!

Goro had brought Japanese sweets with him, they were made of rice and... peas? They were really good. There were some leftovers, so I took 2 home with me. Om nom.

I really enjoyed Subirats, it reminded me of Milis in Sardinia. I prefer little villages like them to big cities, but I guess I will have time to find a village later. :) We had a nice ride back to Barcelona. As much as I enjoy talking to beginners and people with thick accents, it's truly wonderful to speak Esperanto with fluent people like Javier and Alfons (a native speaker).

on our way back. the mountain on the left is Montserrat

almost home!

I can't wait to see more Catalan villages... or Basque ones, for that matter. Ah. <3

Aww yiss IKEA

Yesterday I managed to gather enough courage for a trip to Ikea. There are two Ikeas in Barcelona, and a third one in Sabadell. It took me an hour to get there by metro, and I had to walk a bit, too.

where the crap am IIIIIIIII

ooooh, I see something blue between the trees... could it be...?

ooh, flowers and birds! 

ooh, flowers!

FINALLY!

"ENTER and be seduced by our sensations"

I bought a lot of stuff; a pillow (god knows how many people had drooled on the old pillow before me), a towel, a reading light, some little boxes for crap... basic stuff. I'm gonna go there again as soon as I get my first paycheck, whenever that might be.

I was really tired when I got to the metro. There was some dude who sat casually on the floor, even after the metro filled and got packed with people.

When I got home I was exhausted and didn't feel like cooking,
so I had this salad instead. Soooo good.

Anywhos. I work in the heart of Barcelona, and every evening, when I leave work, this is what I see:

Today I spent 9 hours with local Esperantists, we went to this wonderful little village called Subirats. I will tell you about it tomorrow, as I'm passing out right now. Buenas noches.

Lunchtime madness

Holaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa que pasa. I have been working for a week now, and I love it! Well, I still haven't started working properly, I'm still in the middle of training modules, but tomorrow I'll get my first proper assignment. It will be reviewed by an external Finnish proofreader. And the more I learn, the more interested I get - there's so much going on behind the scenes!

I have never eaten out frequently, mostly because I haven't had money, but here I usually have lunch somewhere. I know I could make something at home and bring it with me to work, but... the kitchen equipment here isn't that good, and I don't have any plastic containers. Also, my days are pretty long, today I left at 9am and got home 12 hours later, and cooking is the last thing on my mind at that point. I got a salad from a nearby supermarket, and I know I will be starving when I wake up, but that's life. The supermarket was about to close when I got there, and I only had time to grab this salad. It's good and cheap though. :)

Grabbed some breakfast from Starbucks, they were playing some music
with Icelandic lyrics. Also, dat name.
I give up on life. -Haggis

We get fresh, organic fruits at work twice a week. Today we got strawberries,
bananas, mandarines, apples, and kiwis.

Yesterday's lunch: rice noodles with chicken and peanuts. All organic. Nom.

Just look at all these colors! <3

Today I finally had some company for lunch; I went to this one restaurant with our Arabian Quality Manager. The lunch menu was interesting; I had soup with pumpkin and carrot, chicken with chocolate sauce and potato purée, and flan.

And of course dropped some chocolate sauce, and of course I was wearing a white dress today. For some special reasons, I can't get close to the table. Or... I can, but then I will also be on the plate. :D Next time I'll get a bib.