Life here has its ups and downs. I really like the Catalan people. They're very welcoming and friendly, I find them much warmer and easier to talk to than a lot of people in England. I have an amazing flat with some really friendly flatmates, a Croatian guy moved in a couple of weeks ago and he's really friendly, I'm so happy I have good flatmates! Oh, and thanks to the clever Chinese girls we now have Internet inside (thank GOODNESS, I couldn't stand it outside any more).
I'm pretty sure I've been phoned by the entire population of the city asking me for English lessons. So there's no shortage of work for me. Next week I start earning money teaching English to people's kids. I'm gonna be busyyyyy.
Uni is going good, the classes are really interesting and the teachers and classmates are all really nice, I'm very happy with the uni. I just need to matriculate... the form is not much fun to fill in haha. Hopefully I will be able to get some help from the secretariat.
Some advice for anyone who comes to live in Spain, don't get an Orange phone. They are ridiculously expensive, as soon as I can I am moving to Yoigo.
Today met with my "linguistic volunteer" from the uni, she was really friendly and it was good to be able to go out, meet someone new and have a relaxed chat with them.
I was really sick the other day, but luckily it only lasted for the evening, I was vomiting and everything, but by the morning I was all better :).
I think that's all for now, I'll write again hopefully when I start work and we'll see how it goes. :)
Thursday 30 September 2010
Thursday 9 September 2010
Porque estou triste
E você vai à boate. Você começa a dançar como um louco, e sabe da segurança que tem em ser quem você é lá. Há pessoas que vão achar tudo isso meio ridículo. Inclusive lá. Mas em seu coração, você está seguro. E isso realmente importa. Nada mais importa.
Aí você vê casais se beijando. Você vê paixão em seus lábios, e você cobiça tudo aquilo para si. Você lembra que seu tesouro está distante demais, e que até alcançá-lo, há um caminho missionário a seguir. Infelizmente, todo esse pensamento não é o bastante.
E você quer o amor. Você deseja ter o amor. Você suspira amor, na esperança de que alguém lhe suspire também. Na tonta esperança de que, em meio a uma boate, alguém consiga lhe tirar da escuridão.
“Você perdeu um pouco a razão…”
É, você tem razão.
Mas eu sinto falta… Sinto falta de ter quem beijar, abraçar, e de ter a certeza plena de que meu coração, mais que arredio, pode esperar.
E continuo a buscar.
E não sei como buscar.
E meu tesouro está lá.
Lá, em algum, mais que distante, lugar.
-Escrito por Hernando Neto, originalmente publicado no blog You&Me&She&He
(Written by Hernando Neto, originally published on the blog You&Me&She&He)
Aí você vê casais se beijando. Você vê paixão em seus lábios, e você cobiça tudo aquilo para si. Você lembra que seu tesouro está distante demais, e que até alcançá-lo, há um caminho missionário a seguir. Infelizmente, todo esse pensamento não é o bastante.
E você quer o amor. Você deseja ter o amor. Você suspira amor, na esperança de que alguém lhe suspire também. Na tonta esperança de que, em meio a uma boate, alguém consiga lhe tirar da escuridão.
“Você perdeu um pouco a razão…”
É, você tem razão.
Mas eu sinto falta… Sinto falta de ter quem beijar, abraçar, e de ter a certeza plena de que meu coração, mais que arredio, pode esperar.
E continuo a buscar.
E não sei como buscar.
E meu tesouro está lá.
Lá, em algum, mais que distante, lugar.
-Escrito por Hernando Neto, originalmente publicado no blog You&Me&She&He
(Written by Hernando Neto, originally published on the blog You&Me&She&He)
Saturday 4 September 2010
Beginnings in Spain
first-time flyer
I was up bright and early on the morning of the 25th for my flight to Barcelona. Special thanks go out the fabulous Mme. Clémence Coleman for driving me to the airport, preparing me for the flight and the process and for helping me check in, I would have been lost without her! Anyway, I didn’t have to pay the excess baggage fees, woohoo! I was a little nervous getting on the flight, but not so much, went and found a seat, and the flight went without a hitch, it all felt perfectly normal to me, except sometimes I got a weird feeling like we were dropping, but other than that, it felt like nothing out of the ordinary, I was completely calm. The views were rather impressive though, I must say. It was just over an hour from Basel to Barcelona, so not long at all.
It was absolutely boiling when we landed. BCN airport seemed huge to me, but I managed to find where our baggage would be coming to okay, and had to wait a while for it, but it was fine. What wasn’t so much fun though, was dragging all my stuff all the way to the train station in the airport, which seemed MILES away, and also, I was wearing three pairs of jeans, a few tee-shirts, a cardy and a hoody. I had to take all the tops off (except one haha) on the way, cos it was far too hot, I thought I was gonna die, but I managed to safely tie them all round my waist.
trains
So, I eventually made it to the train station and got in a queue for buying tickets, when some random girl came up to me and gave me a ticket with three journeys in Barcelona on it, which was awfully convenient. Luckily I had heard somebody talking in England about how the train stations work in Spain so I knew how to get through the barrier to the platform. Had a bit of a wait for the next train, and I was just hoping it would be going to Barcelona Sants. So got on the train, which was so crowded, oh, and loading a 24kg suitcase while carrying a massive coat and a 12kg bag on to a crowded train isn’t much fun.
Anyway, it did go to Sants Station, which was probably the most terrifying place I’ve ever been haha. It’s so huge, and the staff aren’t much fun, and even less fun, is dragging/carrying tons of luggage all the way round it. Also annoying was the fact that I was completely in French mode and kept saying “oui” instead of “sí”, how embarrassing. I waited in a queue at some sort of information stand for a while to ask about the AVE (the high-speed trains in Spain) to Lleida to be told that she only gave information about the cercanías trains… great. I eventually found some sort of information office which gave me some sort of general direction to go to buy a ticket for the AVE. I knew there was one at 12.00 so I had to hurry as the hour was fast approaching and the next one wouldn’t be until 14.00. Luckily the queue wasn’t very long, but for some reason it took forever to pay, she just seemed to be sat there with my card staring at her computer, and the time ticked away. But she eventually gave me a ticket and told me where to go, so I went, had my ticket checked, had my luggage checked and made it onto the train and sat down.
The AVE was sooo comfortable (and ©air conditioned©). A short while after departing I realised looking at my ticket that I was allocated a seat and that I wasn’t sitting in it. Luckily it was just in the next carriage so it was fine, I walked past an old man who sounded exactly like Tim from the CDs we used to learn in Catalan class, and there was a guy sat opposite me that was talking on the phone who also sounded just like him, and incidentally, I have heard a number of people in Lleida who sound just like him…
arrival in Lleida
It only takes an hour to get to Lleida on the AVE from BCN, so it’s nice and quick. Lleida was also burning hot, I walked out the train station and got a taxi to the place I’d be staying, which seemed really cheap, less than 6 Euros. Was so weird being driven through the city, cos it’s so different to England. Everyone here lives in apartments, there’s not many houses at al, the vast majority of the city is big apartment blocks with shops on the bottom floor. Everywhere is shops, so weird. Anyway, I rang the apartment of the family I was staying with, they live on the first floor so I had to drag my luggage up a few flights of stairs, which wasn’t easy, I was so shattered. However, a few days later I was going out to go church with Liliana and Pedro, went out the flat, and saw they were in the lift. I was like “I didn’t know there was a lift!” was funny… and embarrassing, haha. Anyway, it was nice staying with Liliana and Pedro, they are really nice, and they have the cutest little baby, he’s only 3 months old *-*.
First few days were okay, it was so hot though. Went to uni to tell them I was there and the guy who deals with the international students, Joan Carles, is sooo nice and dead chilled, made me feel really calm. There were several days of fruitless flat-searching, but eventually I got put in touch with the land lord of the place I’m staying now, and it’s really amazing. I’m living with three Catalans and a Belgian, so I get to speak Catalan, Spanish and French *-*. The flat is also huge, the dining room is amazing, the first night I moved there we had the neighbours round and had tortilla patatas and pa amb tomàquet (bread and tomato), which is actually amazing, I love the food they make here. But yeah, the dining room, HUGE. The flatmates all seem dead nice as well, and the neighbours, two Chinese girls are so cool too. The only problem is we don’t have Internet at the moment. We have to go out onto the balcony to use it atm, which is not good. Hopefully we shall buy some soon, cos it won’t cost very much between all of us, especially if both flats pay for it.
I was looking for a copisteria the other day to make a photocopy of my passport, but there’s millions so I wasn’t sure which one to go to, when I eventually decided on one the girl who worked there immediately could asked me for English lessons, so I (hopefully) already have work $_$ ! I asked her if it was so obvious that I was English, and she was like “a little, haha.” Anyway, it’s quite difficult with the language barrier, but it’s not too hard, I didn’t spend all this time studying so I could get here and understand and say nothing. Some woman in the supermarket started jabbering at me in Catalan and I was fine, but I’ve met some people that don’t speak either of the languages! I haven’t got a clue how they manage, I couldn’t imagine being here without being able the speak the languages. I do have to say “perdó” constantly when people are talking to me, cos it’s hard to understand, it’s quite annoying, but I hope that in the near future I’ll get better, especially once uni starts, which I’m really looking forward to.
Another thing is people here cannot pronounce my name, so I’ve started introducing myself with the Spanish form of my name “Josué.” I don’t mind so much when people call me “Yosh” but I refuse to be called “George”, which some people derive when I tell them my name, so I’ve decided to just go with my Spanish name.
I obviously am missing England and all my family and friends, so can’t wait until I am busy with uni and stuff. One thing I really miss though is my piano, I’m finding it really difficult not having ready access to a piano, I just want to be able to sit and play, especially when I am feeling sad, but I can’t :/. It’s been ages since I had a chance to have a proper sit-down with a piano. I got to play a hymn in church on Sunday which felt soooooo good, but yeah, it’s difficult living without a piano.
Okay, I think I’ll leave it there for now, I’ve pretty much caught you up on my life. I’ll prob write again soon. Miaow for now. :3
I was up bright and early on the morning of the 25th for my flight to Barcelona. Special thanks go out the fabulous Mme. Clémence Coleman for driving me to the airport, preparing me for the flight and the process and for helping me check in, I would have been lost without her! Anyway, I didn’t have to pay the excess baggage fees, woohoo! I was a little nervous getting on the flight, but not so much, went and found a seat, and the flight went without a hitch, it all felt perfectly normal to me, except sometimes I got a weird feeling like we were dropping, but other than that, it felt like nothing out of the ordinary, I was completely calm. The views were rather impressive though, I must say. It was just over an hour from Basel to Barcelona, so not long at all.
It was absolutely boiling when we landed. BCN airport seemed huge to me, but I managed to find where our baggage would be coming to okay, and had to wait a while for it, but it was fine. What wasn’t so much fun though, was dragging all my stuff all the way to the train station in the airport, which seemed MILES away, and also, I was wearing three pairs of jeans, a few tee-shirts, a cardy and a hoody. I had to take all the tops off (except one haha) on the way, cos it was far too hot, I thought I was gonna die, but I managed to safely tie them all round my waist.
trains
So, I eventually made it to the train station and got in a queue for buying tickets, when some random girl came up to me and gave me a ticket with three journeys in Barcelona on it, which was awfully convenient. Luckily I had heard somebody talking in England about how the train stations work in Spain so I knew how to get through the barrier to the platform. Had a bit of a wait for the next train, and I was just hoping it would be going to Barcelona Sants. So got on the train, which was so crowded, oh, and loading a 24kg suitcase while carrying a massive coat and a 12kg bag on to a crowded train isn’t much fun.
Anyway, it did go to Sants Station, which was probably the most terrifying place I’ve ever been haha. It’s so huge, and the staff aren’t much fun, and even less fun, is dragging/carrying tons of luggage all the way round it. Also annoying was the fact that I was completely in French mode and kept saying “oui” instead of “sí”, how embarrassing. I waited in a queue at some sort of information stand for a while to ask about the AVE (the high-speed trains in Spain) to Lleida to be told that she only gave information about the cercanías trains… great. I eventually found some sort of information office which gave me some sort of general direction to go to buy a ticket for the AVE. I knew there was one at 12.00 so I had to hurry as the hour was fast approaching and the next one wouldn’t be until 14.00. Luckily the queue wasn’t very long, but for some reason it took forever to pay, she just seemed to be sat there with my card staring at her computer, and the time ticked away. But she eventually gave me a ticket and told me where to go, so I went, had my ticket checked, had my luggage checked and made it onto the train and sat down.
The AVE was sooo comfortable (and ©air conditioned©). A short while after departing I realised looking at my ticket that I was allocated a seat and that I wasn’t sitting in it. Luckily it was just in the next carriage so it was fine, I walked past an old man who sounded exactly like Tim from the CDs we used to learn in Catalan class, and there was a guy sat opposite me that was talking on the phone who also sounded just like him, and incidentally, I have heard a number of people in Lleida who sound just like him…
arrival in Lleida
It only takes an hour to get to Lleida on the AVE from BCN, so it’s nice and quick. Lleida was also burning hot, I walked out the train station and got a taxi to the place I’d be staying, which seemed really cheap, less than 6 Euros. Was so weird being driven through the city, cos it’s so different to England. Everyone here lives in apartments, there’s not many houses at al, the vast majority of the city is big apartment blocks with shops on the bottom floor. Everywhere is shops, so weird. Anyway, I rang the apartment of the family I was staying with, they live on the first floor so I had to drag my luggage up a few flights of stairs, which wasn’t easy, I was so shattered. However, a few days later I was going out to go church with Liliana and Pedro, went out the flat, and saw they were in the lift. I was like “I didn’t know there was a lift!” was funny… and embarrassing, haha. Anyway, it was nice staying with Liliana and Pedro, they are really nice, and they have the cutest little baby, he’s only 3 months old *-*.
First few days were okay, it was so hot though. Went to uni to tell them I was there and the guy who deals with the international students, Joan Carles, is sooo nice and dead chilled, made me feel really calm. There were several days of fruitless flat-searching, but eventually I got put in touch with the land lord of the place I’m staying now, and it’s really amazing. I’m living with three Catalans and a Belgian, so I get to speak Catalan, Spanish and French *-*. The flat is also huge, the dining room is amazing, the first night I moved there we had the neighbours round and had tortilla patatas and pa amb tomàquet (bread and tomato), which is actually amazing, I love the food they make here. But yeah, the dining room, HUGE. The flatmates all seem dead nice as well, and the neighbours, two Chinese girls are so cool too. The only problem is we don’t have Internet at the moment. We have to go out onto the balcony to use it atm, which is not good. Hopefully we shall buy some soon, cos it won’t cost very much between all of us, especially if both flats pay for it.
I was looking for a copisteria the other day to make a photocopy of my passport, but there’s millions so I wasn’t sure which one to go to, when I eventually decided on one the girl who worked there immediately could asked me for English lessons, so I (hopefully) already have work $_$ ! I asked her if it was so obvious that I was English, and she was like “a little, haha.” Anyway, it’s quite difficult with the language barrier, but it’s not too hard, I didn’t spend all this time studying so I could get here and understand and say nothing. Some woman in the supermarket started jabbering at me in Catalan and I was fine, but I’ve met some people that don’t speak either of the languages! I haven’t got a clue how they manage, I couldn’t imagine being here without being able the speak the languages. I do have to say “perdó” constantly when people are talking to me, cos it’s hard to understand, it’s quite annoying, but I hope that in the near future I’ll get better, especially once uni starts, which I’m really looking forward to.
Another thing is people here cannot pronounce my name, so I’ve started introducing myself with the Spanish form of my name “Josué.” I don’t mind so much when people call me “Yosh” but I refuse to be called “George”, which some people derive when I tell them my name, so I’ve decided to just go with my Spanish name.
I obviously am missing England and all my family and friends, so can’t wait until I am busy with uni and stuff. One thing I really miss though is my piano, I’m finding it really difficult not having ready access to a piano, I just want to be able to sit and play, especially when I am feeling sad, but I can’t :/. It’s been ages since I had a chance to have a proper sit-down with a piano. I got to play a hymn in church on Sunday which felt soooooo good, but yeah, it’s difficult living without a piano.
Okay, I think I’ll leave it there for now, I’ve pretty much caught you up on my life. I’ll prob write again soon. Miaow for now. :3
Holiday to France
(if you don’t know already, we went to France for the wedding of a friend)
journey
It took twenty five hours to drive down to Meslières, I don’t think I have ever been so tired in my life, goodness only knows how Sara managed to stay awake and drive for all that time. It was hard enough for me to stay awake to read the directions and make sure she was okay. During the last few hours it was so hard, my head just kept dropping and I kept dropping what I was holding. It was weird cos I’ve never felt like that before, I’ve never been that exhausted that my body just tries to shut down like that.
Anyway, after a couple of mishaps we eventually made it to Meslières, and, in the state that we were got introduced to about thirty people, the bride’s (Clémence) family and friends (French-style, with bises) who were there for the wedding, but we were told apparently French people don’t really use deodorant that much, so they mustn’t have minded us being such a mess. Then we all went to eat down at the salle where the wedding would be held, it was really nice, I just wish I hadn’t been so tired, I could barely concentrate on what anyone was saying, and it’s hard enough to understand French fully awake! Meslières, the village, is tiny and gorgeous, really rural and lovely.
wedding
That night me and my friend Al camped out in a neighbour’s garden in a tent under the stars. I’m really not usually a fan of camping at all (I hate bugs), but I was actually really comfortable and enjoyed it! I didn’t get up til about 1 the next day I think, it got soooooooo hot in the tent in the morning, the weather was gorgeous, but I was too tired and lazy to care.
Anyway, it was the big day for the happy couple. The ceremony was in the village hall, and then we went to the salle to celebrate. It was an amazing experience, I’d never been to a French wedding before and it’s just amazing. The food was great, lots of MEAT! I even got to try escargots, though I wasn’t too keen on them… but I tried and that’s the main thing. There was a band playing Irish music, cos James, the groom has Irish ancestors, they were really good, I think they were trying really hard to impress us English-speaking people with their English hehe. There were all kinds of crazy games, I did one which involved dancing around in partners, one wearing a sombrero, one wearing these weird shorts, then when you hear the whistle you have to swap what you’re wearing and the last pair to change is out. Was so funny. I even managed to hold conversations in French, though I couldn’t say too much, I did have conversations. It was really good to have such a good opportunity to practice my French in France with French people xD, none of them really spoke English, which was good. Anyway, it was an amazing night, was so tired at the end.
the day after
The day after the wedding we just hung around the village, most of the people who came left (except the legendary Gégé), we ate at the salle, went down to the river/stream/thing and stuff. We hung out at Clémence’s parents’ house in the evening, they were so hospitable and chilled out, it was amazing. Me and Al were then upgraded from the tents to a camping car, cos of everyone leaving.
Freiburg
On the Monday (23 Aug) we went to Freiburg in Germany with Clémence, James and the kids for the day, it was a really nice city, some interesting sites, including a certain statue… I hate sausage so (un)fortunately I didn’t eat any kind of Wurst, I did however get some gorgeous Swiss biscuits, nomnomnom. And Naima managed to find some sort of exotic flavour of Pringles that was also really nice xD. Had a bit of drama with Alfie laying down in the middle of the street cos Clémence wouldn’t buy him some toy he wanted, was so funny, all the people staring at him as they walked round him and some guy went up and poked him with his foot, haha. Anyway, another fun day, and another new country I’d never been to before. Before this trip the only places I’d ever been to outside the UK were France and Andorra, and now I’ve been to Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Spain too!
fin
The next day was when my friends had to leave to drive back to England, cos they were gonna stop off in Brugge to try and break the journey up and make it easier on Sara so she didn’t die. Was sad saying goodbye, there were tears! Anyway, then spent a while trying to sort out all my baggage, but couldn’t get it down to 20kg so thought I would just have to pay excess fees, but I didn’t care too much, cos there was nothing that could be done, cos it’s not exactly easy to pack your life into 20kg of luggage and 12kg of hand luggage. Anyway, I shall continue the rest in the next blog cos this marks to end of my French holiday and the beginning of my journey to my new life in Spain!
journey
It took twenty five hours to drive down to Meslières, I don’t think I have ever been so tired in my life, goodness only knows how Sara managed to stay awake and drive for all that time. It was hard enough for me to stay awake to read the directions and make sure she was okay. During the last few hours it was so hard, my head just kept dropping and I kept dropping what I was holding. It was weird cos I’ve never felt like that before, I’ve never been that exhausted that my body just tries to shut down like that.
Anyway, after a couple of mishaps we eventually made it to Meslières, and, in the state that we were got introduced to about thirty people, the bride’s (Clémence) family and friends (French-style, with bises) who were there for the wedding, but we were told apparently French people don’t really use deodorant that much, so they mustn’t have minded us being such a mess. Then we all went to eat down at the salle where the wedding would be held, it was really nice, I just wish I hadn’t been so tired, I could barely concentrate on what anyone was saying, and it’s hard enough to understand French fully awake! Meslières, the village, is tiny and gorgeous, really rural and lovely.
wedding
That night me and my friend Al camped out in a neighbour’s garden in a tent under the stars. I’m really not usually a fan of camping at all (I hate bugs), but I was actually really comfortable and enjoyed it! I didn’t get up til about 1 the next day I think, it got soooooooo hot in the tent in the morning, the weather was gorgeous, but I was too tired and lazy to care.
Anyway, it was the big day for the happy couple. The ceremony was in the village hall, and then we went to the salle to celebrate. It was an amazing experience, I’d never been to a French wedding before and it’s just amazing. The food was great, lots of MEAT! I even got to try escargots, though I wasn’t too keen on them… but I tried and that’s the main thing. There was a band playing Irish music, cos James, the groom has Irish ancestors, they were really good, I think they were trying really hard to impress us English-speaking people with their English hehe. There were all kinds of crazy games, I did one which involved dancing around in partners, one wearing a sombrero, one wearing these weird shorts, then when you hear the whistle you have to swap what you’re wearing and the last pair to change is out. Was so funny. I even managed to hold conversations in French, though I couldn’t say too much, I did have conversations. It was really good to have such a good opportunity to practice my French in France with French people xD, none of them really spoke English, which was good. Anyway, it was an amazing night, was so tired at the end.
the day after
The day after the wedding we just hung around the village, most of the people who came left (except the legendary Gégé), we ate at the salle, went down to the river/stream/thing and stuff. We hung out at Clémence’s parents’ house in the evening, they were so hospitable and chilled out, it was amazing. Me and Al were then upgraded from the tents to a camping car, cos of everyone leaving.
Freiburg
On the Monday (23 Aug) we went to Freiburg in Germany with Clémence, James and the kids for the day, it was a really nice city, some interesting sites, including a certain statue… I hate sausage so (un)fortunately I didn’t eat any kind of Wurst, I did however get some gorgeous Swiss biscuits, nomnomnom. And Naima managed to find some sort of exotic flavour of Pringles that was also really nice xD. Had a bit of drama with Alfie laying down in the middle of the street cos Clémence wouldn’t buy him some toy he wanted, was so funny, all the people staring at him as they walked round him and some guy went up and poked him with his foot, haha. Anyway, another fun day, and another new country I’d never been to before. Before this trip the only places I’d ever been to outside the UK were France and Andorra, and now I’ve been to Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Spain too!
fin
The next day was when my friends had to leave to drive back to England, cos they were gonna stop off in Brugge to try and break the journey up and make it easier on Sara so she didn’t die. Was sad saying goodbye, there were tears! Anyway, then spent a while trying to sort out all my baggage, but couldn’t get it down to 20kg so thought I would just have to pay excess fees, but I didn’t care too much, cos there was nothing that could be done, cos it’s not exactly easy to pack your life into 20kg of luggage and 12kg of hand luggage. Anyway, I shall continue the rest in the next blog cos this marks to end of my French holiday and the beginning of my journey to my new life in Spain!
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