Hola

Last Friday we had a tour of the city (again) and of the Picasso Museum. The Picasso Museum was really cool- it was amazing to stand in front of his work, sketches, drawings, paintings, ceramics, etc. I personally love Cubism, so that was by far my favorite part of the tour. I was trying to tell this to my mentor at Audisord, but couldn't find the word for it in Spanish, and my efforts to say "cubismo" or "cuadrado" (square) proved to be fruitless, so I instead decided to tell him about my visit to the CHOCOLATE MUSEUM! The chocolate museum was awesome- really large sculptures made of chocolate. Very intricate and colorful, and the place smelled AMAZING! We were supposed to get a free sample on the way out, but they were out/hadn't prepared them, so we didn't get one. No worries though because I had some later in the day (of course). My mentor, who I think is named Chavy, was making fun of me because I was describing to him my love for chocolate, and food in general. He gave me a small chocolate that was lying around the office, but I didn't take it. He says white chocolate (blanco) is his favorite, and that he hates dark chocolate (negro). I told him I love it all. I've been walking a lot the past week, which is nice. Today I felt under the weather- came home and slept after Audisord and buying souveniers for the family. I actually left Audisord, walked around the Gothic Quarter and bought gifts for the family, then walked home via a new route I had never tried before- I actually had no idea where I was- I just walked in the general direction of home (guided by Montjuic) and ended up there after maybe a half an hour to 45 minutes. It was nice, but I had to pee really badly, so that sucked. I ate lunch at a sandwich shop right next to my apartment on the main street. It is called Conesa, and serves up some great hot sandwiches. It was delicious, and very reasonably priced. I feel that I might frequent it now that I have actually tried it So just to let you all know, the laundry situation here SUCKS. Basically, I have come to the conclusion with a couple of my friends that the laundry machines here just spin your clothes around in dirty water. My clothes SMELL after they have been washed, which is really awesome, right? The whites also have a dirty tint to them. Example: our "white" kitchen towels. There are two kitchen towels- they are white with a couple of blue and yellow stripes. They have gotten dirty, to say the least, since we have been here. Emily and I have washed them in our washer at the apartment a few times. Every time they have come out looking stained- brown. We just figured they really were stained, either from coffee, wine, food, etc... Yesterday Lisa took them to the laundry people who wash her laundry. When she brought them back, they were WHITE. BLEACH WHITE. So basically they were never stained, they were just still filthy. Needless to say, I am guessing that my "clean" clothes are still dirty. Great. I'm sure Mike is excited to come. He'll probably hug me at the airport and be like, Whoa, did you shower? LOL. So that's the story about my dirty clean clothes. I'm getting a hair cut next week. That will be nice, especially considering the fact that I don't even remember the last time I had it trimmed. To say the least, my ends are pretty dry. Friday we have our second Modernism tour. We will see the block of discord filled with the casas. Cannot wait for that one! La Pedrera, La Casa Mila, etc... all really amazing places! This weekend I was by the Sagrada Familia twice. I could seriously just sit in the parks next to it and stare at it for days. It is ridiculous. I discussed the Sagrada with my mentor today, and we decided that it will never be done before we die. I told him that I want to come back to see it before I die just to see how far it has come along since I last saw it. 12 days until Mike gets here- to say that I am excited would be the understatement of the year. By the way, rest in peace Jiddue- you are and will be missed. http://www.legacy.com/EastValleyTribune/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=104729965