Ah, Home at Last!

After a month of vagabonding (it's already been a month?!), we finally moved into our permanent piso.  I won't bore you with interior photos but I have a newfound respect for IKEA. Hooray for bright colors and small furniture.

Most exciting is living around the corner from the Museum of Contemporary Art:

If you've seen the movie, Vicky, Christina Barcelona, you might recognize this scene from down the street:

I love our Raval neighborhood. It's both old-world Barcelona with narrow, cobblestone streets and electric, hip Barcelona with trendy bars and upstart art spaces.

We were also reminded of our Oakland home this weekend. Two friends, Steve Lucky and Miss Carmen Getit, stopped in Barcelona during their musical tour of Spain.

Thursday night, they rocked the Apolo Sala with 1930's American Swing. The crowd went wild for Carmen's guitar solos:

And, we got to see some pretty awesome Burlesque too:

Saturday eve, Steve and Carmen headlined an outdoor festival with a big ole back up band. We're wondering if these amazing outdoor festivals are going to continue every weekend throughout the year....

It seems like every time we go outside, there's a festival or party or special event happening.  For instance today: as if playing beach volleyball near the Mediterranean wasn't enough... 

...there was an entertaining flight show going on above the water:

To wrap up the weekend, we gave Barceloneta a third chance to please us with delicious paella.  Casa Salamanca, the largest restaurant at the beach, did not disapoint. It received 4 out of 5 stars - the flavors weren't as complex as Can Chusco but fresh seafood was abundant:

Poor Kam who doesn't like ham was stuck sitting under all these hambones:

And next to this lovely friend:

Poco a poco, we're settling in and are happy to call this place home.

Salimos De La Casa

A new friend, trying to calm us down about having no luck with the pisos, explained an aspect of the culture which made many things clear.

"Salimos de la casa," translates to, "We leave the house." 

Well, hello - your houses are so microscopic, who wouldn't leave the house?!  

When Castallanos retreat, they go out.  They sit in a cafe to sip an espresso or go for a long walk in the streets, which is real different than what I did in Oakland: put on my cozy slippers, jump on the couch in a spacious living room to watch a bit of T.V. or read the New Yorker, all by my lonesome. 

People here don't even cook en casa.  Maybe one night of the week, they'll make a small salad (with vegetables from a can) and go to bed early.  But for us, living in the Bay for five years, it has been the reverse - eating out once per week and cooking with vegetables from our garden the other six nights.

  

But now, we are Barceloneans, and we will adapt.

Because.....

We found a piso!

And I ran down our new street - Calle Lleo - yelling this after signing the contract:

Not only did we land un piso but we celebrated in a bar in which hangs a trapeze. It was a happy day.

Image Worth More Than A Thousand Words

This is what we did today.  How about you? 

 

The above was punctuated by some of the below:

And then, it was back to more of this:

If you say the word "piso" more than 499 times in one day to Issabella, she will give you this face:

Hopefully soon, we will have something more inspiring to write about other than apartment-hunting.  By the way, the above photo was taken in front of Plaza Espana.

Mobil Monday

Bright and early for Spain, 10AM, we got our "prepagos" (pre-paid phones).  Ah-yeah.

It was a very "mobil" day as we saw 5 apartments in 5 different neighborhoods.

Around 1PM, things went like so...

Ted:  Ok, so the apartment we're looking for is number 9 on this street.
Issabella:  Wow!  Look at all these cute skirts.  It must be the new summer trend in Spain.
Ted:  Um, this could be dangerous.
Issabella:  Oh, you know I'm cheap. I won't spend a lot on skirts....
Ted:  Uh-oh.  I think someone played a joke on us.
Issabella:  I know, we look like slobs. Someone definitely should have told us to dress up when coming to Raval.
Ted: Dude.  Let's get out of here.
Issabella: When did you start caring so much about your appearance? I think number 9 is right here.
Ted:  Issabella.  These are prostitutes.  All of them.
Issabella:  Nooooo. Really?

At 3PM....

Issabella:  Where do you think the sink is in this place?
Ted:  It's right here, behind this curtain.
Issabella:  Dude. That's the shower.
Ted: Oh.
Issabella:  Would you fit in there?
Ted: Nope.

And, at the very end of day....

Ted: (very exasperated) Where are we going to live?
Issabella:  In our suitcases.
Ted:  That's about the same size as the last piso we saw.
Issabella:  True.  But at least we could stop looking for pisos.
Ted:  That would be nice.

Mad Dash: Para Alquilar Un Piso

We're here!  Life is great.  It's just that (I can't speak Spanish and) we have only a few days to find a permanent place so we're a bit busy scouring the city. Our current piso is cute (if tiny) and we may end up staying here, but Barceloneta, the neighborhood, is a beach zone and we're thinking it might be lonely come wintertime.

Also, it's nice to tour the various neighborhoods and get a sense of the city, as well as, practice our Castellano with the landlords.  Tomorrow, we're off to Gracia, the village within the city with narrow streets, hip attitudes and home to Sagrada Familia.