So this is 2005, eh?
(27th) I moved into the new place, and unpacked enough to pack for Madrid and Barcelona.
(28th) Next morning, got on the bus for Madrid. Got there, went to the hostel, went to the Prado, was more or less unimpressed, but did see Goya´s black paintings. Went out to dinner at a vegetarian place with a friend´s family, was unimpressed with the food, but conversation was good.
(29th) Went to the airport in the too-early-for-Spain morning to pick up my dad. His flight was fine and his luggage came through despite the airlines´ computers apparently having problems with that recently. He took some money out of the ATM and we proceeded through the Metro to the hostel. Upon arriving at the hostel, he realized that he didn´t have his wallet. He probably stuck it in his back pocket = someone on the metro has his credit cards, drivers licence, and 240 euros. So, on to the police station. Joy. Callos Madrileños (tripe) for lunch, which was heavy on the oil but surprisingly not-gross. Sleep. Vegetarian dinner, with great great great food.
(30th) Walked around, went to the little "sculpture park" which isn´t really a park at all. Got on the bus for Barcelona at 6 or so in the evening.
(31st) Wandered around during the day, got attempted-mugged at night. Happy new years.
(1-3rd) Did very little in the way of what I wanted to do and had planned. I got very annoyed at having to be the linguistic and cultural translator, especially in a town I don´t know and a language that´s only half Spanish. Catalán is NOT Spanish. Close, but not the damn same thing. Did go to the Fundació Joan Miró and see a little of the Gaudí architecture and a lot of the Modernist façades. Took some photos. Yay. Slept a lot.
(4th) Hopped an early plane to Sevilla. Got in, had breakfast, went grocery shopping. Got dad a hostel because I can´t stand sharing a room with him. I didn´t realize how horribly smoking reeks. Holy fuck. And to anyone who says there are no stupid questions, apparently you haven´t met my father. Need... own... space...
(5th) Reyes Eve (they celebrate the gift-giving part of Chrismas on "Reyes", when the three kings, or Reyes Magos, came to baby Jesus... it all makes sense, really,) so stuff closed early, but I got in some more grocery type shopping, and we went through the gypsy street market, too. Then at night there was a huge parade thing that went right down my street. Children on floats pulled by tractors throwing hard candies at the public, and armies of guys dressed as Reyes, complete with black-face, dancing through the streets. I couldn´t help thinking of all the reasons that this would not be allowed to happen in the states, but it was really cool. I went out and got showered with candy and caugh a bunch in a plastic bag. Then the street cleaning army came out and it was all gone. I think they´re probably the most efficient people in the whole country of Spain.
(6th) Reyes, so everything was closed. I rearranged my room, making some art-space. Just hung around the house and was kind of pissy.
(today) Worked out (yay) and felt great (yay again). Bought an expandable-collapsable-easel-tripod, some large sheets of paper, and a huge sheet (1x2 meters) of this thick grey paper. It will go on my wall and be an idea map, and I have a feeling it will become one of my favorite art materials. Bought more groceries. Had lunch, went to internet cafe = now.
Like you care. But, now you know I haven´t died, although it seems like I might have tried a couple of times. I´m currently in the process of pulling everything off my laptop so I can wipe and reinstall windows. Fuck you, Microsoft. With chainsaws. I wish I wasn´t too retarded to use Linux. But at least when it´s done it will be dealt with and new and clean and all that. And I really want to watch THX 1138, but the one I downloaded ended up being fake (really just an add), as was the part 2 of Napoleon Dynamite, so I want to watch the second half of that, too.
Oh, and I did laundry. My t-shirts are crispy, and that´s not cool. Next time we´ll be using fabric softener. I miss clothes-dryers. My mom sent 3 shirts of mine with my dad, and they were soooooo wonderful and soft. And now they´re not. But at least now I have clean socks and underwear, right?