Que voy a hacer

Yay! After a late-night breath of post-rain fresh air, a plateful of shawarma, a glass of Estrella (Damm) and a cup of Mediterranean-style (i.e. strong as f$%&) coffee, I am wired up and ready to cast a blog your way from Marta´s place in Barcelona.

The UK part of the plan fell through, like a hammer dropped through a soggy pancake, otherwise I wouldn´t be here at the moment. Por desgracia I had timed that trip to coincide with Jared (sorry, no more blog, no more pseudonym) and Marta´s 5-day jaunt to Switzerland (I believe Jared went to escape the Werewolf Women of the SS), but fortunately, Marta was kind-hearted enough to let me crash at her place while they were gone ... could one ask for a sweeter deal? One could not. Another plus is the fact that this apartment is right in the middle of a vast grid of plazas and Falafel/Shawarma restaurants, most of which seem to be open till ALWAYS, and a 3-minute walk from the metro station, from which one can access any number of ramblas and beaches. I´m trying to spend as much time as possible at the beach; I won´t be getting any of that when I return to Tokyo, at which point I´ll probably have to change my name to Mr. Deep Red And Peeling for a week or so .. but I´d rather not think about that just now.

Barcelona was pretty much the number one place I wanted to visit this year, for the purpose of checking out where I might want to live if/after the Japan thing eventually "peters out" (sorry Peter). After this weekend I´d definitely say Yes, I could live here if I found some way to make an actual living, though come to think of it I probably say that about every place I go, with the exceptions of Bowling Green, El Paso and Detroit. As expected, it is pretty much the opposite of Japan (though less so than Santa Cruz in Bolivia .. this time there´s no "so how am I going to almost die today" factor), and surprisingly it´s actually easier for me to meet people here than it is in the country where you automatically receive attention for being white or tall, because the people here are open and friendly, as opposed to stiff, robotic and socially awkward like they are in the Land of the Rising Sun That No One Ever Sees Because They Are Working Indoors .. amazing the difference it makes when the smiles people give you are genuine and warm as opposed to surprised or half-terrified.

Anyway, I didn´t bring a camera, so you´ll get no pictures, though it´s not like I´m sightseeing or anything. So far I´ve spent most of my time practicing Capoeira (by myself) in the wet sand of the shoreline at the beach, going to shows (caught the Emergenza semi-finals on Friday night, and then Wolfmother on Saturday, who can actually rock pretty hard, though not quite hard enough for my taste), sitting around in plazas talking to strangers, and drinking the aforementioned Estrella (Barcelonan equivalent to Tecate in Tijuana) in outdoor cafes.

Tomorrow my missions are to do laundry, buy a thing of aloe lotion (me duele la piel!), go back to the beach, and possibly check out a local Capoeira group, since playing by myself is not so much fun (hahahaha).

There´s a beagle howling outside .. maybe I will go join.