Hola! pt 1

Wow - Barcelona has to be one of the best places I have ever visited! European liveliness, without snobbery and a real 24/7 city. Iconic architecture and a deep pride in their history. I loved this city. Undoubtedly the company helped! More about that and the picture on the left in pt 2.

The trip to Spain started out in Sitges, a half hour bus ride down the coast from Barcelona. Somehow managed to get upgraded to economyplus on the flight over (and back for that matter), which was lovely as the United flight I was on was less than glamorous......really really old plane! Arrived at the B&B to be greeted by a crowed of kiwis and two Australians. It was lovely to see everyone, apart from Michelle and Ruth I hadn't seen any of the others since I left (which is a year and a half ago now).
B&B was everything promised and then some. Lovely big rooms and a lovely welcoming atmosphere. We had booked the place out so only us! They even had an honesty bar....can't remember the last time I went anywhere that had an honesty bar. For Ruth's birthday we had a dinner at the B&B; traditional paella served in a HUGE serving dish and prepared by a local woman who came in specially. Afterwards we headed out dancing and found this cute queer bar that played classics like Oliva Newton John and Cher. Sitges is a cute seaside tourist town and we wandered around alot. If you look at the picture on the left you can see the seawalls. This allows them to claim they have 17 beaches - hmmm, not so much I don't think!

One minor glitch when one of the crowd had their bag stolen while we sat eating lunch (I sat next to a woman on the tourist bus in Barcelona who also discovered she had been pick pocketed at some point during the morning - unpleasant but not uncommon in Spain). Ultimately it was all soughted out and a new temporary passport arrived from Madrid. Given we had two cars we all headed to the Torres Winery - it's a massive producer and exports globally. Funniest part was trying to get back to the B&B - the two cars travelled separately and both had the same challenge......how not to go to Barcelona but rather head south to Sitges. The car I was in did well following a tour bus, until we stopped doing so well and had to back track and start over (well not quite but close!). Turns out the other car (minus the benefit of a tour bus) had to do the same thing - I guess all Kiwis think a like. It was also Jo's birthday so on our last night we went out to a very very lovely restaurant near the beach. Enjoyed a lovely meal outside and our final night before I left with Rose and Jo to head for Bacelona.

Doing stuff

It's been a busy few weeks. First I bought my self a stunt kite. It's very cool (Prism E2) and very "dramatic" to fly. Michelle and I took it out for its first flight last weekend. It was pretty windy down at the beach and I got to figure out really quickly that this kite wasn't going to be for the faint hearted. It came with a DVD and book of tricks. It's heaps of fun and makes a great noise while it's flying. I did get dragged along the beach a little though (accompanied by Michelle's excited screams).
Michelle also announced that she didn't think that I got enough culture and so got us tickets to the Romeros, which, as it turns out, are a very famous guitar quartet. They play classical guitar so not something everyone would have thought to invite me to! They were fantastic! Orignially from Spain it seemed timely to be listening to them in advance of leaving for Barcelona on the 17th.
Saturday I caught up with my pal from work and her husband. Spent a lovely few hours on the deck of their beach house - drinking a very lovely Pinot Noir from the the Santa Cruz mountains - then headed out to dinner in Capitola with them and a couple of their friends. Capitola (I've mentioned it before) is this very cute seaside village not far from Santa Cruz. Not sure how to describe it - upmarket seaside village with the feel of a holiday town and a real buzz in the air - accompanied by very good food and fabulous views. We then went back to one of the friends houses for dessert. Heaps of fun and, very generously, they all paid for my meal.
On the work front it looks like I am going to move to a new contract. Still at Cisco, not the one I origninally wanted......better I think. May know for sure before I head to Spain. I'll fill in more when I know.
If it's not already obvious I'm not heading up to Walnut Creek anymore. No hearts broken and no bad behaviour by anyone (can't under estimate the value of that!). Had a grand time but it wasn't going anywhere. Life keeps moving forward.

Olympic torches

No I am not in San Francisco protesting China hosting the Olympics. Perhaps I should be? I've never been much for "isolationalist politics" (I think I just made that up!). I mean I've always worked within the system. Fortunately I have some friends who don't.....I am happy to feed them as and when they need it - I do my best as and when I can!

Bocce Ball and the life of a new immigrant

I know I haven’t really posted many photos but here is one that has some of my work colleagues and at least one or two who are becoming friends. We had an afternoon of Bocce Ball. What is Bocce Ball? Yeah right, a cultural moment, I had no idea. At first I thought it must be some form of indoor soccer……long story short it is much like Petanque. BB is Italian, Petanque is French. Go figure. NZ took up Petanque not BB; cultural moment. Although a far better cultural moment, and much funnier, was being at the lunch prior and ordering a “Cheddar Burger”……..that the waitress heard, repeatedly (as did my work colleagues), as “Cheetah Burger”. Post actually being able to make my order someone asked if we ate Cheetah in NZ. I assured them we did but that it was expensive, as we had to import it. This, readers, is the life of an immigrant and I speak English, thank you very much!