May 11, 2010
We woke up in the early afternoon—still trying to get used to that without feeling guilty—and went on our real job hunt. We figured we would walk down the beach and find the most American looking bars possible to find work. The language barrier really cut our opportunities in half, also not having papers is an issue. Many of the bars won’t hire illegal immigrants because the police can shut their place of business down if they find out. So, our options were bartending or handing out flyers. So we make it to Barceloneta, and roam the streets where all the bars and cafes are to find an Irish pub. We walk into the first one we see. We sit at the bar and talk to the bartender who is a toe-head blonde girl, who clearly was not from Barcelona. I order a coke (in a real old school bottle!) and John gets a beer. Casually, we begin to ask her about finding work and where we should possibly go to look for one. She says flyering is the best option because you don’t need papers to do it. She was a very kind Swedish girl, and gave us the name of a man at a bar in the Juame Plaza to talk to. We head back to the Barri Gotic area and search for the bar, called Ryans. We eventually find the bar and try to find the man to talk to. He wasn’t in that day, but the bartender said he was definitely hiring. We would go back tomorrow and pray to get a job! So, we decided to go to a local market that is right off of La Rambla to get food for lunch. We wanted to take advantage of Pepe’s kitchen as much as possible, since we weren’t sure exactly when we were going to have a kitchen again. We made it to the market, and it was absolutely slammed with people, particularly tourists. They had everything from candy to meats, bakeries, and fruit vendors. It was amazing. I’ve never seen so many colors and unusual food in my life! I purchased some parmesan cheese and John got some sweet potatoes. On our way out we saw peanut butter and almost had a heart attack. Peanut butter is extremely rare in Spain, and we knew that it would be a cheap and filling snack to have handy. Especially for John who eats practically 7 meals a day. So we got our weird collection of food together and headed home. We made our first dish at Pepe’s. Asparagus, Turkey sandwhich, and sweet potatoes….how American are we?! As much as I would love to eat out for every meal, it’s just way too expensive, plus my body is not used to the food yet. Our meal was so awesome. I felt so satisfied after eating it and couldn’t wait to cook for Pepe. After we digested, we both exercised a little bit, then came home and hung out until Pepe got home. We wanted to cook dinner that night, but it got too late and we didn’t make it back to the store by the time it closed. We walked around La Gracia with Pepe looking for a late night dinner around 11:30. During the week, restaurants don’t stay open that late, so we walked around forever and couldn’t find an open spot. At that time we were starving so Pepe said he would just throw some pizzas in the oven and we would eat at his place. The pizzas were great and afterword we watched Eurotrip with Pepe. He laughed a lot, and seemed to enjoy it, so it was a good time. Our bed was calling us after our long day, so we hit the sheets.
May 12, 2010
Another late morning, but we were eager to get back to the Plaza in Jaume and find Richie at Ryan’s Pub so we could get a job. After a peanut butter breakfast we headed to the Plaza and found Richie! The pub is so unique the way it’s built. There are 4 floors and each level is small with short ceilings and a lot of dark wood. I seriously felt like I was in a scene from Lord of the Rings when I was there. Richie said he would hook us up and let us have a trial run on Thursday to see if we liked it. 4 hour shifts of standing and handing out flyers……sweet life…..but John is eager to get a job, so I figured I would just roll with it. We were stoked that we got an opportunity to make some money, so we headed to the beach to get some sun. By the time we got there though, the sun was already setting and we were getting hungry! It’s amazing how the day flies by when you wake up at 2 in the afternoon!! It was ok though, we just sat and had a cup of café con leche and shared a delicious tapa of toasted bread with tomato bruschetta on top. We wanted to cook our big American dinner for Pepe that night, so we headed to the grocery store and got all of the ingredients to prepare it. We decided to make breaded chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, veggies, and bread. John was in charge of the meat and veggies, and I was in charge of the mashed potatoes and roasted tomatoes. All included loads of butter and salt…just how us Americans like it. After we prepared everything, we set everything up family style on the table and dug in. Pepe went to town on the mashed potatoes, so he must of liked them. Everything was so flavorful and delicious. It’s nice to know that it’s okay to eat that kind of food, because you are walking about 10 miles a day. I feel like I’m starting to lose a little weight, but I still have to be careful with all of the pastries and carbs that surround me every day and haunt me at every street corner. We inhaled our food and enjoyed 2 bottles of wine over conversation. It was a great nightcap and I think Pepe enjoyed the company. We crashed that night kind of early because John had a model agency interview in the morning.
May 13, 2010
I woke up when John did because I was in the mood to workout while he was gone. It’s kind of hard because we have one set of keys between the two of us, so I can’t come and go whenever I like. It was good though because I just did abs and squats in Pepe’s apartment. It’s very open, so I had a lot of room. We had an appointment to look at an apartment at 4, so after John got back and I showered we left to go see it. Even though we gave ourselves like 40 minutes to get there we ALWAYS get lost and of course were 30 minutes late and missed the appointment. When we called Pepe and told him that we were late (oh yah, we got cell phones for 19 euros—pretty cool!) he did not seem too happy with us. We were in the business part of Barcelona, so we decided since we had nothing else better to do that we would just walk around and shop a little bit. All of the big name stores were on the road we were walking down. Burberry, Dior, etc. etc. Obviously I didn’t go into those stores, but we went into a few and it was pretty cool. I need to go shopping without John though, because I know he would probably get bored to tears doing the girl thing. So after an unsuccessful shopping trip we walked back to La Gracia. This whole week it’s been raining on and off, which has sucked big time. The rain just makes it an even more difficult task to walk everywhere. Also, I only brought sandles and running shoes, so I look like a total retard in sandles when it’s raining and cold. Every single person…literally…when they pass me look down at my feet and instantly can tell I’m a foreigner. I hate it…I need closed-toe shoes!! After we sprint-walked through the rain, we got back to the apartment and made dinner. Salad with strawberries, walnuts, cheese, and beef. I wanted to make my typical salad, but avocados are like 4 euros here and they don’t carry white corn anywhere. It’s been hard to grocery shop because they eat so differently than us. Anyhoo, we made dinner, split 2 bottles of wine and relaxed. It was great. Pepe went to dinner with some friends, so John and I played cards until he got home. When Pepe got home he joined in and it was really fun. We were all feeling pretty good at that point, and our game (Egyptian Ratscrew) involved a lot of hand slapping and quick reactions, so with our brains impaired, it was pretty hilarious. We went to sleep that night and were looking forward to our first day of work tomorrow.
May 14, 2010
We woke up, John exercised, but I didn’t because I was WAY too sore from the day before. Then we showered, got ready and headed to work that started at 5pm. We got to Ryan’s, but Richie isn’t there and after waiting for almost an hour, the bartender gets ahold of him on the phone and says our shift was going to start at 9pm……again….we aren’t paying attention. At least we were early this time! So, we leave and go the grocery store, get food, and head home to make an early dinner before we have to head back to Ryans at 9pm. We made chicken with pineapple slices, leftover veggies, and mashed potatoes. It was really good, but I was so tired that all I wanted to do was take a nap afterward. Of course, we didn’t have enough time, so we just got ready and headed back. It had been pouring down rain ALL DAY, so I was NOT looking forward to working. It also dropped about 10 degrees in temperature, so I was freezing! We get to Ryans, are given our stack of flyers and a pen so we could initial the flyers. For every flyer that is turned in with our initials we get a commission. We took our station, which was right outside of the pub in a plaza where city hall is. A lot of tourists are in this location, so I tried to target the English speaking people, men, and young people. I definitely got shut down a lot, but I totally understand…I would do the exact same thing! John was basically humping people trying to give them a flyer, but it seemed to be working! An hour hadn’t even passed and I was already bored. The rain really deterred people away from the area, so it was kind of a sucky day to start our first job. I thought we did fairly well though considering we were a couple of rookies. It also helped that John brought a flask and two beers for us to ease the boredom. I needed to have a little liquid encouragement to do that job. About 2 hours passed and one of the employees of the bar came up to us and talked to us about getting involved with another position. It’s called “guiding” and basically you go to 4 or 5 different pubs and bars, recruit people to go to Ryans and escort them there. For every person you bring to the pub and sign up for a “pub crawl” you get 5 euros. If we don’t make decent money doing the flyering, then we might end up doing it because it seems like you can make some good money and drink for free! After we finished flyering we went into Ryans and had a couple of drinks until the rain died down. We talked to one of the bartenders, Justine, who moved here from Poland to live and work. She said she kept visiting and loved it so much that she decided to just live here. I’ve met so many people that have done that, and the longer I’m here, the more I think of it as a great idea! Who knows…maybe I’ll move here and never go back to the U.S.!! My parents would absolutely have a heart attack, but I have nothing waiting for me there, so I might as well consider it. After our couple of beers, we walked back to the apartment, not by choice, the metros close at 1am. It was raining, cold, and I just wanted to be partying. John and I were walking down the streets of Barcelona and chugging from the flask…..awful….I wanted to vomit after every swig. My parents would be so proud….We stop into a bar about a block away from Pepe’s..get a beer, then head home. It was a weird night, but definitely something I will remember. I know I will just keep adding to my list of firsts while I’m here. Lord knows what’s up next, but I’ll keep you posted.
May 15, 2010
Wake up, raining again…miserable. I’m so sick of the freaking rain!!! I can’t do anything with my hair, I still haven’t purchased closed-toe shoes so I stick out like a sore thumb and look like a freak of nature. But, I pull it together because we have another appointment to see an apartment. It’s literally down the block from Pepe’s which is extremely convenient. We get to the apartment, ring once, ring twice, nobody is there. I’m oober pissed because I woke up early to go—guess I know how people feel when we miss appointments or are late. So, since I was already dressed and didn’t want to go back to the apartment, I decide to go shopping for shoes and walk around. So I walk around forever looking for a shoe shop that had the perfect pair of shoes I was looking for. Not too casual, not too dressy, just right. Well, they don’t exist. All of the great brands of shoes that I’m familiar with like Puma, Nike, and Converse are like 60-90 euros which is ridiculous. I must have been gone for about 2 or 3 hours and couldn’t find anything! I got home and was pissed that I turned up again empty handed, and sat for a while before John and I headed to the store to get food to make dinner. It would be Spaghetti tonight, so we went to the closest grocery and got all of the items. They don’t have real spaghetti sauce..it looks more like tomato juice, so we got a couple of cans of diced tomatoes to spruce it up. John, of course, needed to add meat, so he got spicy Italian sausage to add in. Again, it was a perfect meal, with garlic toast, and broccoli. After a pretty dreary day, John and I get geared up for the night. We told the guys who ran the pub crawl for the bar we flyered for that we would join up Friday night and experience what the pub crawl was all about. We got a late start, but we met up with them at a bar just off the beach. It was their first stop. The bar was so crowded and hot that we didn’t even want to go inside. After about 20 minutes of doing nothing, we tag along with the herd of tourists to the next bar called “tequila.” I guess these pub-crawlers pay 15 euros to go to all of these spots and each get a free drink once they walk in. John and I did it for free and after taking our first shot at this place, we thought to ourselves “what a ripoff.” The drinks probably had like 3 drops of alcohol in them…so it was definitely not worth it. We sat at the bar, where there were a ton of headphones hooked up right above each stool. It was kind of a “silent disco” theme, and you could hear the music playing if you put them on. It was kind of a lame bar, and the beers were 4 Euros each, so we headed to the last stop—a discoteca on La Rambla called “Blvd.” It was a typical tourist dance club where we were bound to get stupid drunk and dance the night away. Andddd….that’s exactly what happened. The club had 3 floors of different types of dancing/music, and we experienced each one. After about 30 minutes of being there, I lost John and started freaking out. I couldn’t find him anywhere. Then I was freaking out because I didn’t know anyone in the club. All of the sudden one of the pub crawl leaders, “Dean” a lad from Liverpool, said hey to me and I felt an instant sense of relief. I danced with him, then realize I MUST find John. I call John and he finally picks up. We find each other and we return to the dance floor (on the 4th level where he was the whole time…that I didn’t know existed) and danced for hours. It was great. I danced with random men who kept trying to kiss me, and John was sandwiched between an Italian and Spanish girl. Pepe came and met up with us which was a lot of fun. The night comes to an end. Another 6am departure back to the apartment and late night snack fest before we all pass out.
May 16, 2010
Saturday morning….awful. I got about 5 hours of sleep. I wasn’t still drunk, but I was pretty damn close. The smoke, alcohol, lack of water, and lack of sleep makes me look like an old maid in the morning. I’m carrying suitcases under my eyes and look like I’ve been beaten up. Anyhoo…we have breakfast, wake/sober up and get our stuff together to go to the beach. We figure we can sleep our hangover off in the sun. We finally get to the beach, where the sun is shining and it’s not too crowded. We lay our towels out and set up camp in a great location—surrounded by about 15 woman tanning topless. It’s the European/Spanish thing to do, and I just can’t even imagine doing that. I guess European men are used to seeing it, but knowing that all of the tourists would be gawking at me gives me a gross feeling. Looks like I’ll be sportin’ the tan lines for our trip. I kid you not, we had been laying out for less than 30 minutes, and the darkest clouds we’ve seen yet roll in…we hear a crash of thunder and the beach bums instantly scatter like cockroaches. I was so pissed! The damn rain again?! Ugh. We throw everything back in my ginormous purse/suitcase that I carry around (which I’m pretty sure I will have a permanent indention on my shoulder from) and figure out what we should do next. Since we didn’t really have anything on the schedule, we decide to finally get me a pair of close-toed shoes. It’s like a continuous sign from God that I need to get some shoes that I can wear in the rain. So we go back to La Rambla, and hit the popular stores. The little hole in the wall stores just aint cuttin’ it for me. I go into a wal-mart-sized store for shoes and thought to myself, “what the hell…why didn’t I come here in the first place?!” We head to the casual/sporty shoe section and I finally decide to purchase this tan/brown ked-looking shoe that is native to Barcelona. They’re called Victoria’s and even though it felt like I was walking on concrete, they were cheap/and looked ish-girly. I was at my breaking point and would settle for anything at this point. I go to check out, and struggle so much to get my damn wallet out of my purse. I’m looking, I’m looking, and I can’t find it. I start to panic. I pull out everything…nothing. I run to find John. My wallet had been stolen. I couldn’t believe it!! I was trying to retrace my steps, think about where I was when it could have possibly been snagged. Then a light bulb went off. The metro station, I took out my wallet to grab my ticket, and someone must have seen me. In the panic and rush at the entrance of the metro to scan your ticket and get through quickly, I must have forgotten to zip my purse back up and as I walked through someone grabbed it. If it was credit cards and some cash that would be one thing, but this little 3x3 purse contained my entire life in it. My credit cards, driver’s license, passport, health insurance card, student i.d. EVERYTHING. The only thing I was thinking was, “I do not want to hear it from my mom.” Lord knows she’s gonna raise hell when she hears what happened. Ahh..so I hurry home with John to check my accounts, transfer all remaining funds, call my parents and tell them to cancel the cards, then figure out how the hell I’m going to get a new passport. I get a hold of my parents, while John calls Pepe and tells him what happened. Pepe hurries home (which p.s. he is so incredibly awesome for doing so) and tells me I should return to the scene of the crime to see if the asshole had thrown it down somewhere. Usually these pick-pocketers are only interested in the cash, so we sped back to the metro, searched everywhere, and Pepe talked to a female employee about what happened. She looked at me, asked what my name was, and right after I replied “Catherine Mundy” she says, “Ah…Texas.” My eyes widened and my heart started racing. I couldn’t believe my ears. How unbelievably amazing it was that someone found it, turned it in, and they had it in their possession. An instant sense of relief came over my body. I went from penniless, and identification-less, to having my life back. It’s truly amazing how much we depend on that kind of stuff. I would be able to pick it up Monday and everything was going to be fine. The ordeal cost me 60 Euros, and a big ole mark on my ego, but I was going to be okay. After my brush with fate, John lent me 30 Euros so I could go to a nearby shoe store and get the shoes I intended to purchase. I went and bought them and was proud of myself because I had to speak Spanish with the store owner. Sometimes…scratch that…everytime I’m with John, he’s the one speaking the Spanish. It’s great because he’s eager to learn, but I am too and won’t better my skills without jumping in there and getting over my fear of sounding stupid. I purchased the shoes and headed back to the apartment where John and Pepe were fast asleep. I think I was too hyped up on my wallet fiasco that I couldn’t relax and fall asleep. After they wake up, we warm up leftover spaghetti and get ready for the night. We were invited by Alberto to attend Barcelona’s free museum night which meant that we could go to any museum from 6-1am and get in free! It was perfect because it’s expensive to go to the museums and John and I are cheap as shit. So we go to the MACBA, the museum of contemporary art. It was great to see all of the different exhibits. I’m not much of a contemporary art fan, but it was cool because a majority of the artists were from Barcelona. We’re almost through with the tour and then all of the sudden we hear a loud whistle blow. At first I thought that someone must have touched a painting or something, but then we look closer and about 100 people are frozen still in a pose. They were doing a “Flash Mob,” which basically means someone posted a blurb on the internet to the public that at a certain location at a certain time there will be a whistle blown that prompts everyone to freeze instantly in whatever way they were standing. There were people standing motionless mid-sneeze, tying their shoe, picking their nose…it was hilarious and awesome at the same time. What a unique experience! We took a picture, but it just looks like a normal still frame pic of people haha. Alberto can’t believe it and says, “I’ve come to this thing at least 30 times and I’ve never seen this before. But, you guys come here for a week and see the craziest stuff ever!” John and I could not have picked a better time to come to Barcelona. It has been unbelievable what we’ve seen and done so far. After the museum, we meet up with Uri and Karen at this bar called Sinatra. It’s a very cool atmosphere and has a great vibe. This Jamaican/Druggy looking D.J. is elevated in this tower-like thing and is playing some great tunes. We have a few drinks and just talk and hangout. I get a mojito, which is delicious, and that’s about it. I was still exhausted from the night before, so I couldn’t drink a ton. After we have a couple of drinks we relocate and meet up with Alberto (who had gone to see a small concert) and head to a small, secretive bar that’s in the same plaza that we went to the first night. It’s an old apartment that is now a bar, and it was so unusual! It was dark, crowded, and was definitely a place that John and I would have never seen had we not been with locals. After about 2 hours of being there, I started feeling extremely faintish because I was breathing in about 95% cigarette CO2. I’m pretty sure my brain started to shut down from the lack of oxygen. I told them I needed to leave, and everyone was ready to go anyhow. We cabbed it home, because the metro closes from 1-5am, and I crashed. It was a fun and exciting night. I’m so glad that we’ve found a group of cool, responsible, and mature friends to hang out with all of the time!
This is a really awesome candy display in the famous Boquerila Market located off La Rambla.
My name is famous in Barcelona...you see it everywhere! Catalunya--Cat--used for everything!
Some delicious pastries and coffee! Nothing like a healthy midday snack to hold us over.
Sagrada Familia!!
We were here!
Our first night flyering. We definitely look like creepers in a dark alley. 
John more so than me looks like a creeper though.....
The "silent disco" at one of the bars we went to for the pub crawl.
The lovely ladies that sandwiched John on the dance floor.
Me and Dean, one leader of the pub crawl.
Totally sober here.
Pepe met us out and we were dancing the night away! 
La Rambla. Guarding my purse. Little did I know though that there was nothing to guard!!! 
A huge shrine to Barcelona Futbol on La Rambla
Some random man dressed in a bee costume came up to me and wanted to take a picture.....oh Barcelona...
Pepe and me at the MACBA museum!
Alberto, John, Alberto's friends, and....a random beer-seller man who wanted to jump in the pic.
John thought the name was hilarious. We've obviously not grown more mature in Barcelona.
The "flash mob" scene at the museum! Check out all of the people looking down at it!
Me, John, and Laura. Another couch surfer host in Barcelona!
Drinks with the gang at Sinatra's. Delicious mojito's!
Uri and John. Workout buddies for life.
Dreadlock hippy D.J. up in his booth! How does he get up there?
In the unusual apartment/underground/secret society/bar.
Alberto being Alberto! Love him!
Having SO much fun!
