El Mundo de Karin

A manse in the Pyrenees and loads of cows

2005-10-07T23:12:00.000+02:00

I am slowly but steadily catching up with the overdue updates! (It is helping that I am at home, with a medium cold.) So I have yet to tell you about the last weekend which I spent with some nice people in the former manse (= a priest's house) of a village called Setcases. Further down I wrote that I would be heading to Andorra - wrong! The people who had planned the trip changed their mind, so we headed to this village in the Pyrenees, to cook together, take some walks through the village and on the mountain and tell each other urban legends by the fireside. Some impressions from the weekend:

Something I have wanted to do in ages...

2005-10-07T22:44:00.000+02:00

Yes, I got myself a piercing! Not-so-exciting news for the rest of the world, I know. It was something I have been having on my mind for a long time actually and then one beautiful Friday evening after work I was strolling through a series of record shops in the search for some concert tickets together with Katja, a friend of mine, when we passed this tattoo & piercing place that has been recommended to me by a work collegue (who should now, he has > 5 piercings). Once there (with massive persuasion by Katja!) I decided to go for it or I would never do it. The fear was immense, and I passed a bad moment when the guy who was on before me nearly fainted when he came out. The guy who did the piercing looked quite scary as well, and then I had to go in there all alone, they wouldn't allow for a friend to accompany you! I already was preparing for the worst, but then - it did not even hurt! :-) (and I am about the most snivelling person you can imagine)

And then I did some official passport pictures with a foto machine that spoke to me in Catalan, so I could only guess what it tried to tell me to do. Oh well, the result did not turn out so bad:

Needed the pics in order to get my official foreigners identity card which is quite a bureaucratic hassle I tell you!

:::: "Human avalanches" ::::

2005-10-06T21:52:00.000+02:00

... this is what Spanish media use to refer to the hundreds of desperate Africans that currently try to cross the border fences in Melilla and Ceuta nearly on a daily basis, in search of a better life.

Melilla and Ceuta are two Spanish enclaves in North Africa, bordering Morocco, and seen by the African refugees as a door to the European Union. Morocco has long claimed these areas for themselves but with no success. Spain meanwhile has constructed a razor wire fence worth €33 million in an attempt to reduce illegal immigration and smuggling. The pictures I saw on TV are heartwrecking ... hundreds of people with nothing apart from what they wear on their bodies, climbing up the fence with selfmade ladders and jumping down on the other side from a height of about 3 metres, many of them hurting themselves in the attempt, or brutally being beaten by the border police. Quite a few people have died revently. Those who manage to get to the next police station may stay in Spain (did not understand though if permanently or only temporarily...).

Read more in a recent CNN article.

A weekend at the Costa Brava

2005-10-06T21:24:00.000+02:00

Right after returning from a fabulous week home in Austria I hopped on a bus to spend a beautiful weekend at the Costa Brava - about 1.5 hours north of Barcelona, in Platja d'Aro:

A friend had kindly invited us to stay at his house, and we enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere of playing some tennis, swimming in the sea (it was bloody cold but there were hardly any people at the beach!), walking around the beach without a goal and having extended meals on the terrace.

Flat news

2005-10-06T21:05:00.000+02:00

After a turbulent time thinking we have to leave our cosy flat it seems like we could stay a while longer - they will raise our rent but by an acceptable amount. Karina and me had already started to look for a flat, but then the good news about mine and her stay back home in Germany came in between and now it seems we have gone back to the start.

Look at the sky, this was about a week ago...

We are all optimistic it will work out. My flatmate is painting her room ...

...and I will head to IKEA to invest a little in making my room a little cosier!

Silence is easy...

2005-09-30T23:03:00.000+02:00

I know this blog has been rather quiet recently but don´t you fear - autumn is approaching and with it the motivation to work on the computer now and then in the evenings. Apart from this, I bought a wonderful new laptop which works with unbelievable speed!

There are quite a few stories to tell and pictures pending to post, so I hope you will tune in again now and then to keep updated on what's going on in my little life here in Barcelona. =) Tomorrow I am off to a trip to Andorra. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Living traditions

2005-09-08T20:40:00.000+02:00

Catalunya has its traditions and the people like to celebrate them - there are many occasions for having a fiesta! Here are 3 good examples:

FESTA MAJOR de Gracia
Every district (barrio) of Barcelona has its own Major Celebrations every year which last a couple of days. One of the most beautiful events like this is the Festa Major de Gracia - the streets are decorated by the residents, they sell food and anything imaginable on the streets, and there are loads of free concerts.

And there is room for expressing political beliefs:

ELS CASTELLERS
Also seen at the Festa Major de Gracia - human towers with up to 10 levels. There are different associations competing against each other, it is a recognized sport here.
See how such a castell is built:
Preparation...

Building the base...

High...

Higher...

Highest - mission accomplished:

Read more about Castells at Wikipedia!

CORREFOC
Yet another feature of the Festa Major - a wild procession involving figures and people making a lot of drum noise and fireworks. Nothing for jumpy characters!

Montserrat

2005-09-04T21:40:00.000+02:00

Enjoy some impressions from a trip we made to a monastery in the mountains, about 1 hour away from Barcelona - Montserrat:

The Catalan parliament

2005-08-28T20:15:00.000+02:00

The other day, Severine and me went to see the Catalan parliament from inside. The Catalan administration keeps putting a lot of efforts and money into making sure to inform as many people as possible about the Catalan culture, history and language and make related exhibitions free of charge for visitors.

Click here for taking a virtual tour through the building!

A random picture which I'd like to share, on the way to the parlament through the Parque de la Ciutadella, simply because I like it (it bears no relevance for the topic of the parliament whatsoever):

Some of Gaudí's work

2005-08-27T20:52:00.000+02:00

A late update:

On the occasion of Girid and Andrew being here for the U2 gig weekend, it was time for appreciating the most outstanding architectural masterpieces Antoni Gaudí (1852 - 1926) left across the city of Barcelona - the Sagrada Familia (planned and partly constructed by and with guidance of Gaudí and not yet finished - the works are still under way, and the scheduled date being for finalization is 2030!) ...

... views from walking up one of the towers:

Another lovely place Gaudí is responsible for is Parque Güell, originally conceived as a residential living zone, but since the people of Barcelona did not appreciate the modern style of the buildings then, the area was transformed to a public parc which it has been ever since, plus one of the city's main tourist attractions:

El abanico

2005-08-20T22:11:00.000+02:00

Yes, I bought a fan. Already 2 months ago, and I hardly go anywhere without it. And no, this is nothing weird or particularly touristy to do - many women here do. Try and bear the extreme temperature differences between the metro corridors (hot!) and the actual inside of the trains (cold!), and you will understand.

Oh, and I am neither angry nor tired in above pic, just took it looking straight into the sun. Clever.

A Place Called Vertigo

2005-08-10T21:21:00.000+02:00

Went to the U2 / Keane gig last sunday in Barcelona - read Girid's and my Alternative Tour Diary XI - A Place Called Vertigo on keane.at!

What a night!

Hello, stable work. Goodbye, flat.

2005-08-02T08:15:00.000+02:00

Last week I signed the contract at my company. Which changes will come with it? None actually, apart from the fact that I will be paid adaequately for the first time in my life. =) Got a whole long list of wishes I will fulfill myself with my first salary.

On a less brighter note - it is now official that we have to leave the flat. What I am most sad about is that I'll lose this great balcony with a spectacular view over the city. No more breakfasts & reading hours in front of this panorama:

Currently, Karina and me are looking for a flat together because she wants to escape the doom of living in an interior room (=small, dark, hot because the window faces a small court) for much longer. Wish us look, we were being informed that looking for a flat here is *not* fun. Demand for appartments is high, and so are the prices.

::: Burning forests :::

2005-07-21T23:45:00.000+02:00

Guadalajara, Castilla-La Mancha:

A couple of days ago, 11 people (firefighters and volunteers) die in the attempt of extinguishing a part of the enormous woodfire that has spread across a wide forestal area.

There are currently several large active woodfires in Spain - one of them in the province of Barcelona. Caused by the extreme aridity, but often provoked by human stupidity. A camper accused of being responsible for one of the fires was arrested and can expect years of prison in the worst case. Hundreds of people in close-by villages had to be evacuated. The environmental adviser for the Castilla-La Mancha regional government resigned.

Even though most of the fires are under control now - it will take some days until they will be extinguished entirely. And many hectars of wood will remain destroyed.

To make sure my life won't get too boring...

2005-07-18T23:49:00.000+02:00

... it seems like the agency who let us our shared flat has communicated to us that they either want us to move out by 1st of September, or they will raise our rent significantly. Not sure about the legal situation (can they throw us out within such short notice?), but my flatmates are currently composing a response letter to that lovely agency.

Ah! The joy of terminable contracts. Welcome to Spain!

Interesting facts about Spain I

2005-07-17T18:16:00.000+02:00

Topics: COMMERCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE and POPULATION

* Spain has twice as many bank branches as the EU average, although...
* the Spanish guard a comparatively high amount of cash at home (EUR 1.531,- on average).
* There are more cars than mobile phones around.
* The population has grown by 7.4% since 1999, with the Balearean population growing by 16.2% in the same period of time.
* The economic standard is highest in the Basque country and Navarra, with a disposable income of about EUR 14.000,- per family, comparing to the province with the lowest economic level of EUR 1.075,- of an average family in Extremadura.

[Quoting from the "Economic Annual" published by La Caixa, one of the biggest bank groups around]

Interesting facts about Barcelona I

2005-07-16T20:12:00.000+02:00

Topic: THE WORK PLACE

* We prefer the European working schedule (09:00-18:00) over the traditional Spanish schedule (with a long lunch break, siesta, between 14:00-17:00).
* The average Barcelona worker is slightly more productive than the average Madrid worker, and we are above the Spanish average.
* We tend to work concentratedly through the day and leave the cafés and cañas (beers) for after the work.
[Quoting from the "Productivity Index of the Metropolitan Area" published by the Barcelona Administration]

::: London 2012 :::

2005-07-06T21:54:00.000+02:00

So the British capital will host the Olympic Summer Games 2012.

Madrid was among the last candidate cities which were still in the race today, and this was quite a topic in the offices, cafés and media. When Madrid's defeat was announced, some of my collegues jumped from joy - another sign of the strong resentments Catalunya feels towards the Spanish capital. That hosting the Olympic Games in Madrid might bring positive impulses for the nation as a whole does not seem to matter for those who celebrate Madrid's failure as if it was their own triumph.

A night at the beach

2005-07-04T21:36:00.000+02:00

Steffi, fellow trainee, leaves us for a couple of weeks :-( for taking care of some issues in Germany. I am glad she will be back though since she is one of my closest friends here. :-) On that occasion, a beach party ...

00:00 - collegues at work (drinking)

02:00 - Steffi and me

03:00 - my new trainee collegue from France, Severine

05:30 - sunrise

Is there anything more beautiful than this?

Where is "home"?

2005-06-30T18:41:00.000+02:00

Now, after having been 4 months in Barcelona, the (I suppose) usual question of anyone living abroad has arisen: Where is home?

Barcelona? [the day before my trip home]

Vienna? [and my friends, end of June]

My parents' place in Lower Austria?

After having spent some really good times with my friends in Vienna and Lower Austria and having enjoyed the peacefulness at my parents' house it was strange to come back to Barcelona. Everything there felt so right and familiar. Here I keep wondering why people do this and why they say that, but still I know that I'll have to give myself some more time in this new environment. Even if I have met some really great people here - without my best friends around, the "down" phases everyone experiences now and then are a little harder to bear. Thank god there is Skype. =)

Karin is out of office

2005-06-22T08:33:00.000+02:00

I'll be in Austria from 22nd to 28th June, very much looking foward to catching up with friends and spending time with my family. See you soon!

Paella!

2005-06-21T00:12:00.000+02:00

Where can one eat the best Paella of all Spain? The answer clearly is Valencia, home of this traditional dish made of rice and either seafood, rabbit&chicken or a mix of all of this.
What else do we know about Valencia?

* 3 hours on the train from Barcelona, located at the sea
* part of Catalunya but with a strong regional focus - some people consider Valenciano a proper language, others say it is a dialect of Cátalan
* 800.000 inhabitants
* beautiful old city and avantgardistic buildings

A view from above:

Met again Werner and his ERASMUS friends:

What else... innovative architecture meets traditional buildings:

And loads of flowers, palms and other colourful plants:

When we arrive at the train station at 7.00 p.m. to go back to Barcelona, after a relaxing weekend consisting in walking around the beautiful city, swimming in the sea, eating incredible icecream and shopping, the temperature is still at 32 degrees:

Things to do on a weekend

2005-06-12T18:50:00.000+02:00

IDEA 1: Go to the beach and relax.

A weekend ago, I went to Sitges, a beautiful small town with a medieval city centre outside of Barcelona, to enjoy an uneventful yet definitely needed day on the beach.

Sitges City:

The beach - enjoying the warmth of the sun (it is not too hot yet!), swimming for about an hour in the sea (my debut here!), having time to read the newspapers, sleeping, and listening to the sound of the waves:

IDEA 2: Visit a cave.
Alternatively, you may want to grab some friends and work collegues, prepare loads of food for yet another barbecue, get on the car and visit a huge system of caves close to Montserrat, about an hour outside of Barcelona. Done yesterday and it was great fun!
On the way to the caves, the weather first not looking promising at all...

The caves from inside - very impressing stalagmites and stalactites which often look like things or animals with a little imagination, it's like looking at the clouds...

There was a sign written in Catalan, and I think it said that Gaudí was inspired by this when constructing the Sagrada Familia:

There's this sculpture that looks like a Fried Egg, and you can make a wish while touching it - will let you know if mine came true :-) ...

After the extensive walk through the cave it was time for the barbecue:

How to successfully prepare pan con tomate, a regional specialty:
1. Grill slices of white bread.
2. Spread olive oil over the slice.
3. Rub loads of garlic onto it.
4. Rub loads of very ripe tomatoes onto that.
Have a look:

This sort of bread is a popular side dish to about anything and should not be missed at any proper barbecue, says the grillmaster:

We round off the great day by watching the fountain of Montjuïc Castle...

... changing colours accompanied to the sounds of Viennese waltz.

It should not be unmentioned that, this night, a work collegue of ours bought this zombie cat from one of the mobile vendors of this current gimmick for guíris (=slightly depreciatory term for tourists):

It was named "Dog".

Maxïmum greetings

2005-06-09T18:24:00.000+02:00

A postcard from Portugal, inconspicuous front...

... best backside ever! Thanks Albert. This made me smile!
(lyrics taken from the Maxïmo Park song 'Graffiti')

Step into my office, baby...

2005-06-08T16:51:00.000+02:00

... not literally, since I still have not brought my camera to the office - but meet the people I work with, at the 3rd annual company barbecue at a public grill place outside of town. A funny lot they are indeed! =)

The lords of the grill:

Sergi:

Nicolas:

Gabriela:

Sebastian:

Jorju:

Natxo:

Miquel Angel, Gabriela, my boss Adrian and our CEO:

After having eaten, some opt for doing some "sports" - playing the traditional game of "Petanca", popular pastime in Spanish parks. Equipment required: A set of metal balls like these...

... a ground consisting of sand/soil, and motivated players like these:

Others look for total relaxation under a tree...

... or, alternatively, sleep the siesta on the next available table:

There's also room for social criticism - "I was not invited to the royal wedding either. Although I paid it out of my pocket":

Primavera Sound - The bands

2005-06-05T22:57:00.000+02:00

My best shots of some of the concerts - only of the smaller ones where we managed to get to the front....
Arcade Fire - have been highlighted recently by a good many people whose musical recommendations I value, and they did not disappoint, even though the drunk pogo dancing of the local youth was not a suitable background to their excellent music:

Maximo Park - another band I had awaited eagerly. Although the sound was terrible and despite some criticism of too much posing, I did enjoy their gig very much:

Ron Sexsmith - lovely to listen to on a sunny early evening:

Nouvelle Vague - 2 powerful ladies covering songs from different musical genres in their own style:

Echo and the Bunnymen - Albert's big moment when Ian McCulloch, the singer hands him a drink and gives him a Liverpool flag as a gift during the gig (read this if you want to know why):

Dogs Die In Hot Cars - for me the best concert of the festival, very energetic and seemingly natural guys:

Other bands we went to see were and are worth mentioning are New Order, Mercury Rev, Sonic Youth, They Might Be Giants (the ones with the 'Malcolm' title song!), Go! Team and the singing DJ Erlend Oye.

Primavera Sound - The site

2005-06-01T21:36:00.000+02:00

Long awaited, finally reality: Going to the fabulous Primavera Sound Festival, together with Karina, already a well-known character in here, and Marianne who has come from Austria on that occasion:

Another Austrian friend around for this weekend (Barcelona and Primaverasound Festival veteran, also doing some work, see the link to his article in the last entry) - Albert, posing at the bus stop:

Before showing you the proudest moments of my gig photography in the next post (please bear in mind the technical limitations of my digicam, leading to inevitable blurriness), have a look a the festival site, the area that was built for hosting the 2004 Fòrum Universal de les Cultures - a huge zone with a lot of concrete and stones, not beautiful per se but very well suited for hosting a music festival, and - directly next to the sea:

Primavera Sound Festival and more company celebrations

2005-05-31T23:40:00.000+02:00

Since my laptop is about to crash again due to overheating (which sadly enough happens after 2-3 hours), just a short note about Primavera Sound Festival 2005 which took place here from 26th to 28th of May (last weekend) - get ready for an epic review with loads of photos which I'll get done in the next couple of days. For now, you may want to check out these 2 articles by the Radio FM4 website which feature some of the pictures I took:
Primavera Sound Festival 2005
Flattery-Charged
More to come soon! Plus - shocking pictures from the yearly company celebrations at a barbecue site outside of the city... And not to forget, my friend Marianne has visited me for the last couple of days, you may expect some coverage on that as well! :-)

At the pueblo and on a terrace

2005-05-23T23:04:00.000+02:00

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY! After another exhausting week at work, we sure are up for some relaxing social events.

Friday: Going to the Fiesta de Sant Boi
I meet up at Plaza Espanya with Steffi and Karina just in time to watch the fountain spectacle (you know, light and water and classical music):

Then hop on the regional train - which currently seems to celebrate some kind of anniversary and everyone's happy about that:

Then we arrive at Sant Boi, the pueblo (=any kind of agglomeration of people at the periphery of the largest cities, ranging from the size of a village to considerably big towns) a friend of mine lives in - he'll have another gig there with his band Gare tonight.
The view back on Barcelona:

Watching the concert:

Saturday: Barbecue with work collegues
The first set of a series of rather informal get-togethers (don't you just have to love that term?) with some people from the job, this time we were kindly invited by a man called Michael Schumacher (No - don't. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore. ;-) ) to have a barbecue party on his rooftop terrace. Met not only work collegues but as well representatives of one of our clients, which was great since we've got to collaborate quite a lot with some of them on a frequent basis:

Visit from Austria. Kind of.

2005-05-18T22:39:00.000+02:00

It was my pleasure to host Werner, a friend from Austria, and his lovely (Norwegian! ERASMUS love...) lady Ingvill for a weekend, right after El Barca had secured their victory in the league. On their arrival, we had some cheap vino tinto on my balcony ...

... and watched the Barca stars pass by in a bus that had taken them through the whole of Barcelona ...

... before finally arriving at the Estadi Camp Nou.

Ingvill and Werner are currently based in Valencia to do an exchange semester, and since they'll leave soon I might as well take the opportunity to go there for a quick visit one of the next weekends!
Had a lovely time with the 2 and some other Austrian people that weekend, although I was slightly nostalgic about the good ol' times when I was still a student, when I had to go home earlier than the rest of the bunch since "I need to work tomorrow". :-S
Eating tapas:

Another proof that anything German is en vogue here - spot the German words on this menu (hint: at least four!):

CAMPEONES!

2005-05-15T15:17:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, the FC Barcelona won the Spanish football league, and I was there.

The plan was the following:
1. Meet with some work collegues at Kitty O'Shea's Pub to watch the first match (Madrid-Sevilla). If Madrid loses, the FC Barca wins the league. The match ends in a tie, so the suspense continues and we proceed to
2. Watch Valencia(Levante)-Barcelona in the famed Bikini. Barca may not lose, or Madrid would be the campeones.
My work collegues:

Lars, el alter ego de office manager Pablo:

The match ends 1:1, estamos campeones!!! So the next step is
3. To go where the real party takes place, the Rambla.
In the underground, on the way to the centre of celebrations:

We arrive at Canaletes, part of the Rambla, where thousands of Catalans have gathered to celebrate:

This is not just about soccer. Catalan people associate a far deeper meaning to their football club. During dozens of years of suppression by Franco's dictatorship, Catalan people were not allowed to fully live their own culture, speak their language, display their flag. So for some time, the blue-red FC Barcelona flag was the only way to express their nationalist sentiments in a legal way. That's why yesterday's victory is of enormous importance to many people here. Not easy to understand for someone like me who does not feel a very strong connection to her own country (although I do like living in Austria), but the different historical backgrounds apparently do have a great impact on the mindset of people.

A friend's gig

2005-05-14T21:16:00.000+02:00

This week I went to see a gig in the - cómo no? - Sidecar. Main act where Les Philippes, a local band I had never heard of but seemingly rather if not immensely popular. I had come for the support band Gare, since the singer and guitar player of this band is Ismael, my intercambio. In theory, we should meet up regularly for languange exchange Spanish-English, but with both of us being busy it has only happened once so far. We should improve on that ;-). This is Isma with a rather nice Beatles shirt I'd like to call my own:

Went to the gig together with the usual suspect Karina from the office and Emily, a British girl studying and working here.

This is the complete band (Gare):

They were amazing! They completely exceeded my expectations: Straight rock, at times beautifully melodic, and a stunning voice. People from a record label had come to see them, I hope they were as convinced as I was (not that my vote does count here, with me being just a random attandee).
Then came on Les Philippes, which were rather nice and positively energetic, but did not appeal to me as much as did the teloneros (= a funny spanish word for 'support group'):

On our way home we faced the usual picture:

BCNeta (= the public cleaning service company) staff washing the Rambla during the nightly hours. With me finding this habit funny under normal circumstances, I nearly cracked up when I saw them even doing this that night - WHILE IT RAINED!

::: Princess Letizia pregnant :::

2005-05-11T07:57:00.000+02:00

It has been all over the Spanish media for the past couple of days, and I'm sure you already heard about it, as regular readers of the "Neue Post", "Petra" and all that jazz... ;-)

Princess Letizia has finally become pregnant. Poor lady, seemingly she had felt a lot of pressure on her to give birth to a heir to the throne. Now everyone's happy and the (wo-)men in the street have already begun to suggest, or guess, the appropriate name, be it a girl or a boy. Interesting fact – in case it will be a girl, a change in constitutional regulations is required. The royal family and everyone else involved (i.e., the whole country) do agree though that this will be done for sure, since NOT changing the law would discriminate against the yet unborn due to the fact she is female.

German = in.

2005-05-11T00:37:00.000+02:00

Believe it or not, Spanish people currently seem to see something cool attached with anything that comes across as German.

T-Shirts, jackets and other textile items bearing the names of German cities or simply the German flag on it, like this shirt (which is a rather unobtrusive example!)...

Also, going to places like this does not make people feel shameful:

So, upon invitation by a German work collegue of mine and his sister who has started to work at that place, we decided we should give it a try. As we arrive at about 1.00 in the night, everyone's .. let's politely say .. a little tipsy already, so the fun is guaranteed. Next picture shows to the very right my direct boss, head of Customer Services, eating a German sausage, in the middle another German work collegue and to the left his brother...

... who is the star of the next pic:

...while the trainees behave in the most civilised way imaginable ;-) ...

Along these lines, check out this link:
http://www.rentagerman.de/

They might really make some money with that concept here.

Barcelona in the WWW

2005-05-03T00:09:00.000+02:00

Some nice links/reads, in case you are interested:

Articles on Barcelona:
-> Das Geheimnis von Barcelona (Spiegel.de)
-> Metropole glatt und verkehrt (derstandard.at)

Barcelona cultural events:
-> LeCool.com

The weather in my region:
-> LaVanguardia.es

General Barcelona info:
-> www.xbarcelona.com (website by a work collegue of mine)
-> Official Barcelona (website del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona)

Another Barcelona blog:
-> Karina's Blog (trainee at my company as well and really funny chica :-))

The beach by day - tourist invasion

2005-05-01T21:19:00.000+02:00

After waking up today at 13:00, I noticed in shock that I've been here for more than 2 months now and have not gone to the beach by daylight so far! So I decided to take a stroll along the beach and get some sun.
At...

... the temperature was at...

... though due to the high humidity it feels much hotter.
Walking past La Rambla:

The Columbus monument:

The port area:

The mass feed-the-tourists stations:

The biggest paella pan I've ever seen, being cleaned after use by three full-grown men:

Finally reaching la playa:

I was surprised about the hordes of tourists conquering the beach areas already a the beginning of May! I'll definitely try to find some nicer, quieter beach a little outside of the city in an attempt to avoid the tourist masses.

The first goodbye

2005-05-01T11:02:00.000+02:00

Last night, Alexandra ...

...invited us all to come to the beach for a couple of BYI drinks & snacks, on the occasion of her leaving within a few days. It's only been 2 months that I've been here, and this will be the first of the set of goodbye parties I'll experience. With this being my 3rd stay abroad for a longer time, it is getting some kind of sad routine having to say goodbye to all those great people you only met a short while ago but who you feel you have become really good friends with. Alexandra is a (now former) trainee at my company, and she is now going back to Germany to finish her studies. We'll all miss her dearly!
As for the night at the beach - it was dead cold, but we had a fun time together, drinking Sangria and beer and eating magdalenas (a type of sweets) and chocolate in the candle light right next to the sea:

The night ended in Sidecar (the club I had gone to most often since I've been here), and not for the first time we stayed until 5 in the morning.

Will I stay here....?

2005-04-29T00:36:00.000+02:00

I had already hinted it to some of you when we were phoning or e-mailing - my company has offered me a proper job, starting at the beginning of August! It's not 100% fix yet though, but if everything works out as planned, I will sign the contract in May or June. :-)

It took me some days to make the decision after I was offered this opportunity. After all, I haven't been here for a very long time. But something tells me it's not the worst of options. These were the pros and cons I was juggling with:
+ Much more time to explore the city and gain ground here. The other trainees soon will leave one by one (the last of the current ones in August).
+ No need to go back to Austria and start fighting for one of the spare jobs for graduates.
+ I do feel very comfortable in the company so far, and have also met some great people outside of the job, so I don't fear that I'll die of social isolation after my currently best friends here, the other trainees, will have left.
+ My Spanish should be ace after 1-2 years here :-) (and I did get the feedback in a phone call with my friend Marta that my German has substantially improved already! ;-) )
- I do miss my family and friends, my cats, and the city of Vienna, dearly. (However, once I have a salary, it should be possible to go home for a couple of weekends a year)
- The cost of living is enormous here, so probably there's no way to have a flat on my own. Besides, I don't want to leave this shared flat, for the balcony and the view are excellent.

I'll let you know once it's definite... exciting times...

::: Some good news :::

2005-04-27T01:17:00.000+02:00

Good News I: Spanish gays and lesbians will be able to adopt children muy pronto (supposedly before summer) [source: metro directo, 22/04/2005]! I'd have never thought that this would be legislated in Spain before in Austria...

Good News II: Estar gordito, lo más sano (It's most healthy to be a little overweight) [source: Que! Barcelona, 22/04/2005]. Yay! Somebody tell it to all these obviously anorexic or bulimic girls who really fit into these spanish mini sizes. It is rather shocking what you get to see in the fitness center: The proportion of extremely (= anormally) thin people is very high. So is the circulation of women/beauty magazines here. Connection?

23/04: El Día de San Jordi

2005-04-23T23:04:00.000+02:00

San Jordi is one of the patrons of Catalunya, and every 23rd of April there are big festivities going on. Part of the tradition is giving presents to friends and family: Men receive books, women get a rose. The streets are full with stalls where you can get your wife or girlfriend a rose, many youth organizations sell roses as well for charities (and are astonishlingly convincing), book retailers have special discounts in celebration of the day, and everything is held in yellow and red, the Catalan national colours:

I also got a rose - from my local supermarket SuperSol :-P

Dailydoings....

2005-04-23T00:40:00.000+02:00

... looking out of the window:

... sitting every lunch break en el parque to catch some sun and fresh air:

... playing tennis on sunday and trying to get some tan (finally!), together with collegues from work:

This...

... is Jorju who was kind enough to organize this entertaining tennis session. He is a REAL sportsmen, having taken part in several marathons, Ironman competitions and similar. And all of this next to his dayjob in our company. Respect!
In order not to lose any weight, we went to take some great food afterwards...

The Cultural Moment & Newsflash

2005-04-23T00:01:00.000+02:00

I thought it might be a nice idea to introduce the following categories of special messages in this blog, which will be marked with the respective symbols:

--> Any general cultural observations on Spain, national fiestas, etc. ...

--> Any remarks specifically on Catalan culture and traditions.

--> Newsflash: Anything that is being discussed in the local and national media that I rate as particularly interesting or surprising.
---------------------------------------------------
As I write this, I have no idea if I will actually stick to this concept or will have the time at all to do so, but I'll give it a try anyway!

It's Monday, and I'm up and running...

2005-04-19T01:32:00.000+02:00

There's a weird pattern in my physical well-being, ever since I've been here in BCN: I break down and fall sick during the weekends, just to be on my feet by Monday to go to work. Hallellujah, is that the way it's supposed to be? :-S

However, this time I felt it's a GOOD thing to have recovered right on time for Monday from my last enfermedad - since it meant I could go to the amazing Mando Diao gig that night.

The venue, the Bikini is located within walking distance from my flat (oh, I see a bright future!):

And what a gig it was! Very energetic, crazy Catalan people rocking out as if there was no tomorrow. Funnily enough, it seemed like half of the audience was composed of Germans though ... where-ever you turned, you'd catch some German words! But now, let the pictures speak for themselves....

Learning Spanish, a birthday celebration and falling sick again

2005-04-17T19:57:00.000+02:00

I started a language course this week - there are only 3 people in my course, so it is still unsure whether it will be continued at all. Which of course I hope, since the professor is fantastic and the 2 hours (twice a week, after work) pass by quickly and don't feel like something you HAVE to do.

Apart form that I met another intercambio, a guy who had been to Germany for quite a while.

On friday, we all were invited around to Gabriela's (a collegue from work) place, since it was her birthday. She insists it is her 24th birthday ;-)

After that we went to the Sala Cibeles ...

... to go to the very famed Mondclub which turned out as a big disappointment - not only was the music very much only house (and similar), but also did they close it already at 5:00, which was about 2 hours after we had entered. Having paid EUR 12,- entrance fee and a hefty EUR 7,- for one drink, we quite felt that our investment hasn't really amortised.

I woke up on Saturday feeling sick. As you can guess (due to the high prices of the drinks at Mondclub) it was definitely not because of having drunk excessively - rather than that, I have caught sort of a stomach flu which as not totally disappeared so I hope I can go to work, and to the Mando Diao gig tomorrow!

The city from above, and a soccer match

2005-04-10T23:47:00.000+02:00

On sunday I went up the Tibidabo, alongside the Montjuic one of THE points to have a great view on Barcelona, together with Karina and her flatmates who fortunately possess a car which spared us having to walk up the steep way to the top, or alternatively, squeezing ourselves in one of the - certainly charming - wagons of the Tramvia Blau, a rail line transporting hundreds of tourists every day. This was the view I had while sipping my café con leche:

There's much more to explore up here, but since we wanted to be back in time to watch the long-expected football game Real Madrid - FC Barcelona (taking place in Madrid and NOT in my direct neighborhood, the Estadi Camp Nou), we drove back very soon and squeezed ourselves in one of the bars, most of which are already full with people in anticipation. We found one of the last spots from where it was still actually possible to watch one of the screens ...

... and the fun could start:

The match didn't begin promisingly - 0:2 after only 20 minutes! Hence the long faces - spot the ONE Madrid fan that was there ;-) :

The tide turned for a short while, when Barca scored a goal:

Sadly enough, the lucky streak didn't last for long and the match ended 1:4 which caused the bar to empty itself within minutes after the final whistle.
We rounded off this nice day we had with indulging ourselves in one of the best running sushi I've ever had:

The city from inside

2005-04-08T19:31:00.000+02:00

So what happened here the last week?
------------------------------------
JOB
At my workplace, it keeps getting better and better. The more involved I am and the more people trust me and hand over more responsibility to me, the more intersting it gets! It's a very small yet dynamic company, structures may change within the scope of a couple of months, which is great for me to see, since I have always worked in big companies so far. My Castellano is improving - I have very little problem writing e-mails and chatting now, and my spoken Spanish is getting more fluent as well. Being surrounded by lots of German(-speaking) folk, same goes for my German ;-)
------------------------------------
WEATHER
It's been a cloudy week with the occasional hour of sun. Some impressions:

During lunch breaks, it is most of the time warm enough for us to sit in a nearby park and enjoy the sun. In the mornings and nights, it still gets rather chilly, and my room is rather cold, so I still use 3 blankets in my bed - doesn't sound like the meditarranean climate par excellance, does it?
------------------------------------
FIRST GIG
Went to my first gig here on Tuesday. Walking there via the Rambla, a broad street featuring a big pedestrian zone in the middle...

... to the Plaza Reial, where the club is located:

The name of the place is Sidecar ...

... which, one has to add, here is pronounced not as the English word it apparently is, but exactly the way it is written. This keeps amusing us and leads to spontaneous repetition of the word sidecar, which of course sounds rather stupid. The place itself has its charme - a small club the size of the Viennese B72, so I felt I might come here more often. The band that was on are Swedes named Logh - rather nice music (slow, loads of instrumentation), but didn't blow me away. Still, we collectively bought band posters (EUR 1,- - what a bargain) after the show since all our rooms lack even the most basic decoration, having just moved in and not wanting to spend a fortune on stuff like that. Aaaanyway, here some pics of that night:

A call from Austria

2005-04-04T23:24:00.000+02:00

Big thanks to Jassi and Marianne for calling me from the Kettcar gig in Vienna, while the band performed BALU, my current favourite Kettcar song, and letting me be part of it:

manche sagen es wär einfach, ich sage es ist schwer
du bist audrey hepburn und ich balu der bär
immer pläneschmiedend dastehen
so schön und stumm
und ich fang an zu tanzen
und werf' erstmal alles um

gesucht und gefunden
in der einsicht verbunden:
du gibst was du brauchst, ich glaub was ich seh'
endlich mal etwas das ich fast versteh'

frieden ist wenn alle gleich sind
jetzt sag an was wir hier haben
das leben das wir leben - geschützt im schützengraben
gesucht und gefunden
und du vergisst was du weißt
in dem gefühl wir wären eins

und du vergisst wie du heißt
(in dem gefühl wir wären eins)

manche sagen es wär einfach, ich sage es ist heikel
du bist new york city, und ich bin wanne-eickel
wie die dinge sich wohl anfühlen
wenn sie denn noch ganz wären
ein lebenslauf gebastelt, mit den händen eines tanzbären

gesucht und gefunden
in der einsicht verbunden:
du gibst was du brauchst, ich glaub was ich seh'
endlich mal etwas das ich fast versteh'

frieden ist wenn alle gleich sind
jetzt sag an was wir hier haben
das leben das wir leben - geschützt im schützengraben
gesucht und gefunden
und du vergisst was du weißt
in dem gefühl wir wären eins

und du vergisst wie du heißt
(in dem gefühl wir wären eins)
und du vergisst was du weißt
(in dem gefühl wir wären eins)

vergiss romeo und julia
wann gibt's abendbrot?
willst du wirklich tauschen
am ende waren sie tot
ich werd' immer für dich da sein,
bist du dabei?
in dem gefühl wir wären zwei

Going out in Barcelona...

2005-04-03T14:11:00.000+02:00

... is a bit tricky if your bio-rhythm still follows the Middle European time schedule for "normal times".

On Friday, I first met up with a really nice guy, Ismael, who I'll be doing some intercambio (=language exchange Spanish-English, though he speaks way better English than I do) with. Had a lot of fun! Meeting point was the university, in case you are interested how it looks like, aquí está:

After that, at around 22:30, I actually planned to go home and have a nice, quiet, relaxed evening and go to bed early for a change. Once I arrived at my flat, I met my flatmate Maika, her boyfriend Herman y Maika's cousin from Mallorca who were just preparing to go to a Japanese restaurant, which of course I could not resist! We ate dinner at about 12:00, then had a little coffee and got home no earlier than around 3:00.
Maika and Herman:

On Saturday evening, we (= all trainees at the company) had planned to go to the Razzmatazz (click for more info on the club). Some Vortrinken at my place (oi, my head still hurts today from all the cheap yet tasty wine and tetrapack sangria!)...

... we made our way to the Razzmatazz (metro runs until 2:00 here on weekends!)...

... only to find out we had arrived at peaktime. There was a queue that went all around the building. Fortunately, guys selling beer to the waiting people are very common in the nightly Barcelona... Got inside, paid EUR 12,- (wait, that's WHAT PROPORTION of my meagre trainee salary?!), then had to queue again and pay another EUR 3,- for wardrobe. Then, sometime by 3:00 (!), the fun could start.
The Razzmatazz is a HUGE place...

... with about 5-6 different floors trying to meet different musical styles. The main floor offers a funny mix of electronizised versions of songs by indie bands, original versions of the same category and dance music. At first I was highly sceptical, because such huge places normally scare me off. But by 4:00 I was shaking along with the rest of the extremely well-humoured crowd. Karina (who had only arrived a couple of days before and is trainee at my company as well which BTW has caused tremendous confusion among the Catalan work collegues, because they are irritated due to the similar name, so that Karina decided to point out in her first mail to the team that her name was Karina, "just like Karin, but with an 'a' ;-)") and me...

... got to talk to quite a lot of people, the night turned out to be really entertaining! We did encounter the odd signs of xenophobia, see the following conversation (original version in Spanish):

Random guy: What's your name?
Karin: Karin
Random guy: Where do you 2 come from?
Karin: I am from Austria, and she comes from Germany.
Random guy: Germany and Austria? Pffff.Turns around with a snide facial expression and walks off.

But, to be fair, the majority of the people was really nice!
Until about 7:00 in the morning, the dancefloor was packed and the mood was very energetic, never mind the late hour. Then they turned on the lights...

... and kicked us out. Outside of the place, the party continued: Everyone got another beer, and we stayed around until about 8:00 when we decided that it was time now to get home. Summing up - what a nice first "real" night out that was! But will I ever get used to these hours??

Good morning, Barcelona!

2005-04-01T08:13:00.000+02:00

Energy

2005-03-30T23:50:00.000+02:00

Today I woke up and knew it would be a good day. It's just one of these days where everything feels right. The view out of my window made me feel even better:

Now that clocks are set to summer time, I can watch the sunrise in the morning and can as well enjoy some more sun after I get out of work. Had a good time at my workplace and then rushed to the metro to be on time for an exam at a language school I want to sign up with. My level is now "intermedio avanzado", just in case you love details. ;-)

After that I took a walk along the Passeig de Gracia, one of the city's main and most luxurious shopping streets featuring loads of stunningly beautiful buildings:

... then did some budget shopping myself, since today was payday:

I went home via Pl. Catalunya which now definitely looks more charming than in the first set of pictures I posted:

Also, the temperature has risen remarkably. And mind you, the photo was taken at 20:00!

A mainly boring weekend

2005-03-29T22:39:00.000+02:00

I had big plans for my 4 days off - see posting below. And then I fell sick on Saturday morning. A nasty little flu of the sort that doesn't exactly kill you but makes you feel miserable enough for you not to want to leave the house really. So I watched some Spanish TV... among others, Mulan and some appallingly bad music video channels:

----------------------------------------
Still, I just HAD to go to the flat party of a friend of mine on Saturday evening, or I would have died from isolation (since my own flatmates all had gone home, to Hungary and Mallorca, for the weekend!), which was a good decision, since the party turned out to be really nice and cosy. Some of the guests were musicians (they really earn their money doing music, what a nice thought...), so the later hours of that night consisted in wallowing in the sounds of some precious voices accompanied by guitar and percussion:

These are my fellow trainees by the way, all of whom are lovely:

And this is a dog:

----------------------------------------
Except for that, the long weekend passed without anything happening, and right in time for work, on Tuesday, I was up on my feet again. Bah. At least I had my first Skype convos which was nice!

SKYPE me!

2005-03-25T20:47:00.000+01:00

I successfully installed Skype and am looking forward to talking to you lovely people, whereever you are right now. Those of you with MSN and a headset, show yourself now. It's also affordable for me to call the people with a Festnetzanschluss, so please e-mail the number to me!

Will be a nice change, not having to write e-mails in the evening but having proper conversations.

Keane in Wien and weekend plans

2005-03-24T23:11:00.000+01:00

After a couple of nerve-wrecking hours (oh how I love formatting digital pictures and websites *rolls eyes*) it is online - The Alternative Tour Diary IX (by Girid and Karin), another episode in the life of two "obsessive Austrian fans" (quote The Guardian, 29/05/2004). This is the promised coverage on the Keane part of My Perfect Weekend!

I survived the 3 last working days but will fall into bed like a stone, right after I'll have clicked the "Publish Post" button down there...

Plans for the long weekend (4 days!):
* Sleep a lot.
* Avoid sitting in front of a computer as much as possible.
* But then - Steffi, a trainee at my company, landed us both a rather well-paid weekend job we couldn't reject (translating a software manual from English to German, which might involve having to use a computer.
* Once that is done, clean up the room. For there has been no progress on unpacking my suitcase yet, and it's been ... quite a while since I last swung the brush.
* Oh and actually start to have a life here - meaning to go out and do something nice. :-)

Wish you all a great weekend!

A perfect weekend

2005-03-24T00:04:00.000+01:00

I didn't have such a great weekend in ages! :-D Thanks for everyone who made an effort to meet me on my 2 days I spent in Vienna. And special thanks to Livia for hosting me!

On Friday in the B72:

On Keaneday (called "Saturday" by common people ;-)) - the Alternative Keane Tour Diary IX (written by Girid and me and appearing as a regular series on www.keane.at) covering the events of Saturday will be online soon, with loads of pics. Will alert you! So much for now: I had so much fun with everyone, be it the people I met again or those who I met for the first time - like Mandy (in the pic below), that lovely girl I had talked to so much online and on the phone during the last couple of months. Seeing each other for the first time had a bit of a blind date, but in a non-sexual way and with photos exchanged beforehand. :-D

Oh yeah, the gig was brilliant! But as I said, more coverage on that soon.

Sunday was brunchtime - met a bunch of my friends in the Café Europa and, sorry for repeating myself, again had a very good time. It was good to catch up with everyone, knowing what's been going on in their lifes while I was out.

After that I took the train home to St. Pölten and spent another day at my parents' place which was very relaxing. On monday, spring arrived in Lower Austria and my beloved cats started to explore nature. I am missing them here in Spain!

My flight back (via Madrid) on Monday was delayed, so I arrived at Barcelona Airport in the middle of the night. And since all flights were delayed, I had to queue another half hour for a Taxi! Had a nice chat with my fellow queuers though, so I wasn't pissed off too much.

After a short night I went to work again on tuesday, bringing along a Sachertorte (courtesy of Mama) to distribute among my collegues who just loved it. I even had a guy at the verge of changing his mind about going to Japan and moving to Austria instead. My bags are still unpacked, and the furniture I found at the street before my Vienna trip is still not cleaned and thus standing useless in the corner or my room. There's gonna be plenty of time for taking care of that on the next weekend though, which is going to be a VERY long one due to Easter holidays (4 days, starting on friday!). I am planning to get around in BCN a little and will hopefully be able to show you some more photographic impressions from the city then...

Brunchy miscommunication

2005-03-17T12:59:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the confusion about brunching this weekend in Vienna. I shall be brunching on SATURDAY, 11:00 with my Keane friends and on SUNDAY, 11:00 with my regular Viennese friends. :-) You can attend both dates in case you match both categories ;-)

What happened in week 3...

2005-03-17T00:51:00.000+01:00

Since I'm off to Vienna on Friday, I thought I'd do a little resume of the week already tonight, since my working week ends already tomorrow!

On Saturday I could witness the stadion of FC Barcelona in its full splendour, with a match against Bilbao being scheduled - and hordes of fans rushing by and chanting loudly:

Later that night I met up with Jörg who I know from my time in AIESEC (a students organisation I worked for), who has been studying, working and living here for more than 1,5 years. We went to a party where Christian, a friend of Jörg, kindly dragged us along. We enjoyed a lot of red wine, and - even though it was a rather small party with about 20 guests - there was a lot of dancing, since there were many Columbians present. They sure know how to party! No photos unfortunately, I completely forgot. :-( But I'm still proud of having managed to hop onto the right Nitbus, a (to me still) highly complex system of night buses I'll have to further investigate to make sure not to get lost in the future!

On sunday I went to the excellent Keane gig in the Sala Razzmatazz:

Keane's singer Tom having the ladies ecstatic:

Olga, another fan I met for the gig, and me being all cool though ;-) :

Read my short account of the evening, plus see some pictures I took by clicking here.

What else is worth telling you about? Oh yeah - I joined a fitnesscenter de luxe. It's part of a chain named DiR and they are very generous to me: For only about EUR 35,- I can enter nearly anytime, the training equipment is state of the art, the instructors I've seen so far are ace, there is a swimming pool, and they gave me a trendy bag and an anti-cellulite body lotion as a gift. It took me 2 visits of about 30 minutes each though to get through the registration process which was rather tedious. I had to sign about 5 different papers, plus provide them with a Spanish bank account number (which I don't have, so had to "borrow" one) even though I'd pay the whole amount in advance. Spain is different. ;-)

Work is really going well! I joined a small coffee community with a few guys from "the other room" who possess a conventional coffee machine as opposed to that horrible coffee from the espresso machine which costs EUR 0,20 per "shot". Lovely collegues, interesting work environment and the job's not boring yet. Can you ask for anymore? Oh yes, proper payment, but hey...

Tomorrow I shall attend a hairdresser here, so please keep your fingers crossed for them to understand my instructions in broken Castellano.

Looking very much forward to seeing quite a few of my friends the upcoming weekend when I shall attend a Keane gig on Saturday, go for a nice brunch on Sunday and meet my family as well as pick up some more stuff from my house to bring it with me on my return.

Yin and Yang

2005-03-12T18:56:00.000+01:00

Last night I was invited over to Arina's and Hannes' place who kindly volunteered to cook for me:

Hannes had met up with me in Austria to tell me all those little secrets you have to know as a newbie to Barcelona, and he is in the middle of his 1 year stay as an ERASMUS student (ah, the memories to Madrid!) here. At the time we met in Linz, he had his mind full with other things - since he and Arina were about to marry! Interesting fact about the couple: They met in China and fell in love. He is Austrian, she is Russian. They married in Austria and now they live together in Barcelona. Globalized love! :-)

As a result of their stay in China, they know how to perfectly cook Chinese style. Good for me, since I did not have very varied meals since I arrived here - mainly bocadillos! Thank god the fruit you get in Spain is really good, not to talk about these red peppers with a size that makes sure you only need to buy one per week.

Thanks for a lovely evening and the good talks about Hermes Phettberg and life in general, you two. Looking forward to common running sessions at the beach (once the bloody post brings the parcel with my running shoes - not to mention my high volume hair-dryer that I dearly miss)...

The sky

2005-03-11T08:21:00.000+01:00

I'd like to dedicate an entire posting to the sky over Barcelona. Why? See for yourself...

Also, take a look at the house I live in (and the - as always - bright blue sky):

I live in one of the flats in the upper part of the building!

What have we learnt today? Here the sun is out during 9 out of 10 days. Some people from work and me like to spend our lunch break in a nearby park and catch some sun daily which is rather relaxing and mood-lifting. Bearing in mind that during the last days I was sitting in front of the computer nearly 24/7 due to a) of course my work and b) the official Keane site being relaunched with some medium changes soon, so my last 2 evenings consisted in eating dinner in front of the laptop and working into the night. The hot phase is over now though so roll on, weekend! :-)

Meeting an old friend

2005-03-10T20:29:00.000+01:00

This...

is Ari. We met again a couple of days ago, after we hadn't seen each other for about 3 years! We were in Bonn, Germany at the same time for doing a traineeship (I reckon that was in 2002...). He got in touch with me when he heard I was here saying that he'd be doing his Masters in this beautiful city. So we got together to talk about the old times and what had happened in each others lifes.

Doing so, Ari who has already spent half a year here, showed me around a little.

Plaza Real:

Talking a walk in the area of the harbour:

A little quiz - what do you see in this picture?

Well sure you knew - it's just a rather interesting view on fish and some sort of birds seen from above. Liked it because of the weird colour!

We ended up at a birthday party of a friend of Ari's in a bar in the old city:

How to use this weblog.

2005-03-07T19:10:00.000+01:00

1. Come here daily. :-P

No, seriously:

2. This is meant as a possibility to share with my friends (that must be you then) what I experience here, so I'll not write any e-mail updates additionally. OF COURSE I'll still be replying to mails individually! Sorry I haven't done too far, but I hope this week I'll manage to get back to you. Forgive me.
3. Don't hesitate to make comments, in the language of your choice. I receive an e-mail notification everytime somebody makes a comment, so please do, as it brightens up my day in the grey world of work ;-) (Kerstin: There is no guestbook, just comments.)
4. Older posts don't disappear but are archived on the right-hand side, in the sections "Previous Posts" and as well month by month (Marianne: Regarding the pics of the party, I had played around with the settings a little so they were not displayed on the first page for a while. Now they are in place again. Hope you like them :-))
5. I appreciate you reporting any bugs you might encounter to me. Cheers!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Torradas and the beach at night

2005-03-06T22:55:00.000+01:00

After invading IKEA it was time to get some food. So yesterday night, together with my flatmate Monika, her boyfriend Arturo, her cousin Zoltan (here to visit her) and a friend of the latter, I went to this restaurant where they serve massive meals of traditional Catalan food . Our table is reserved for 11:00 p.m. by the way, peak time in Spanish restaurants.

After half a torrada napolitana, a huge slice of scolloped bread with tomatoes, anchovys, ham and mozzarella enough for 2 people for only 8,- EUR and some nice wine, Zoltan and me decide to head for the beach since he will leave tomorrow and I have not been close to the sea yet since I arrived here, while the rest of the group goes home (nearly everybody's having a little cold these days here since the temperature changes a lot during one day).

Not having been at the sea anytime recently I'm struck by its vastness and the noise the waves produce when they break... I better let the pictures speak for themselves:

Now let's hope that anytime soon it'll be possible to walk around here without your winter jacket...

The inevitable IKEA experience

2005-03-05T19:17:00.000+01:00

Isn't it already a standard thing to go straight to IKEA to complement your mostly poorly equipped with some fancy items? Steffi, another trainee at my company, and I did so yesterday.

On our way there I just had to pose with this wonderful palm...

On the right way:

After 4 hours of hardcore shopping (with selection criteria for purchased items being based more on price rather than on good taste) and about an hour of looking for the bus stop back towards the centre, it is accomplished - with my new MYSA DIMMA blanket and GOSA MINI pillow I shall sleep heavenly tonight.

My morning walk and the city in the dawn

2005-03-05T17:20:00.000+01:00

Some pictures from what I see when I walk to work every morning:

The stadion, nice buildings and wide avenidas, with the mountains in the background ...

... as well as excellent graffitis:

A very enjoyable walk indeed, with such a nice surrounding!

When I return home from work, the city presents itself exceptionally beautiful in the evening twilight, seen from our balcony:

El trabajo

2005-03-04T00:45:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday I was introduced to my new workplace (the green building):

There are already several trainees around, although the company has only about 20 employees in total. The office is located within walking distance from the shared flat I live in – it takes me about 20 minutes to get there. The employees all fit in 2 large office rooms: One, where I am based, is German-dominated; most of the people in here are Germans or speak German perfectly. The other one, where the IT people sit, is the "Catalan room".

On our arrival, we – the new trainees – get an introduction into the company’s operations and then get to meet all the collegues – which is a nice thing for me, having always worked in large companies so far. After that I am assigned to my functional responsible who supposedly will teach me the art of order tracking which will be my main task. The more I get to hear and see about my job, the more I realize that I’ll actually be doing hardcore logistics. Oh well, not exactly what I dreamed of but it’s getting more interesting with the time.

Everyone seems really busy in the office, there is not much private talking going on (another interesting experience). Strangely enough, Instant Messaging is a standard communication tool at that company – even guys sitting next to each other endeavour a wee chat every now and then instead of just talking. A reason for the few (audible) conversations? The lack of talking in the office is more than compensated when we go to lunch (never before 14:00) – sometimes the staff goes to a restaurant in the same building to enjoy a full Menú del Día, which is comprised of a first plate, a second plate, wine (!) and a dessert or coffee. The one and only so far such lunch break I took part in lasted for more than 1,5 hours. This of course has the downside of us having to stay in the office longer – we usually don’t leave before 19:00 which I haven’t quite adapted to so far. So far so good, this was just to give you an impression about where I’ll spend 40 hours a week from now on. Will let you know, shall anything thrilling happen on the job. ;-)

Take a look...

2005-03-02T23:27:00.000+01:00

... out of my window! This is what you see at night when you look out of my room’s window. Isn’t it just beautiful? Especially when you know that I might as well have ended up in one of those “interior” rooms which might have a window or not, and even if they do, this does not guarantee you even the tiniest ray of sunlight.

Talking of the sun - this is view one while the sun comes out in the morning *sigh*:

The room itself is nice and big, the furniture is o.k. - See for yourself (sorry for the mess, I only moved in yesterday):

And this ...

... is what you see from our living room. Do you recognize it? It’s the residence of the famed FC Barcelona. There’s hell going on at the day of a game but it’s fun to watch the masses from the 10th floor where our Piso is located.

I share the flat with 2 girls who are both working and the younger brother of one of them. More info to come when we have all actually had some time to get to know each other! At the moment I'm just running across the city each night after work to get myself sorted. Internet connection is now established in my room, so the happy mailing can start! :-) Next project: Getting a mobile.

Day 2 and 3: First impressions

2005-02-28T16:31:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately I have kept feeling a little ill ever since I arrived here. Nothing spectacular really, just slightly high temperature and feeling a little shaky. So I didn't do the big sightseeing tour through the city yet, haven't even gone to have a walk besides the sea! I better shouldn't, for tomorrow I'm supposed to start the internship. On top of it all, I DID walk past loads of beautiful places here completely by chance yesterday (including the famous Sagrada Familia) but didn't have my camera along ... the weather was amazing yesterday, I even caught my first sunburn (which is, one should add, easily achievable with my complexion ;-)).

Today I looked out of the window and could hardly trust my eyes - SNOW. Perfect. That has not exactly been part of the deal when moving here! Here's photographic proof (note the mountains in the back!):

More impressions of a rainy Barcelona:

Plaza Catalunya, THE central square:

At least the plants are exotic, if the weather is not: ;-)

Apart from starting to get a bit of a feel for the city, I looked at some more rooms just to decide I'll stick with the very first one I saw. I'll move there in the next couple of days, news on how it evolves will follow.

Besides that, I learned again yesterday that "el mundo es un pañuelo" (it's a small world) - since only minutes after I launched this weblog, I get an e-mail from Ari, who is Turkish and was a trainee in Bonn, Germany at the same time I was there and who was a very good friend at that time, saying that he currently is - where? - right here, in this very city, to do his masters. Weird! So great to meet an old friend totally unexpected.

General remark: Thanks for all the nice comments here and e-mails in reply to the launch of this weblog - it's so good to hear from all of you. :-)

Pics of the parties added

2005-02-28T16:23:00.000+01:00

Just to let you know that I edited the posting about the goodbye parties. Loads of pics online now!

Day 1 - The journey begins.

2005-02-26T23:56:00.000+01:00

So I arrived in Barcelona tonight, via Bratislava where my lovely Mummy and Daddy waved me goodbye. :-)

I took a taxi to my temporary accomodation - I'll be staying with a family for the first couple of days. Nirvana, her husband, the 2 kids and the hyper-nervous and extremely friendly dog Timo gave me a warm welcome. Right after I left my luggage there, I had an appointment to see the first of the set of rooms in shared flats I'll be looking at in the next couple of days. The room is just perfect - it has an incredible view over Barcelona, hence it DOES have a window, which is not at all understood in Spain, and everything else you can ask of a room. Plus, I get along perfect with the girl who's letting it. Still I am not taking a decision before I have seen the other rooms tomorrow and on Monday.

Haven't seen much of the city yet since I arrived late and then was busy doing ... stuff. I also haven't slept a lot in the days before I left Austria so all I plan for my first saturday night in the metropolis of Barcelona is fall into my bed. What, did I hear you say "boring"? ;-)

Hope to be able to tell you more about my impressions from tomorrow on, when I'll start invading the different zones in my search for a room.

Saying goodbye...

2005-02-25T18:20:00.000+01:00

Thanks to all the lovely people who wished me well before my departure. And thank you to those who attended my small goodbye feast yesterday in the Weberknecht and the B72 - I had a great time and hope so did you. "Rocken, Baby!" ;-) Also, I'd like to say a big thank you for all the funny, heart-warming and at the same time very useful presents (oba es warad jo ned notwendig gwesen... :-)). Pictures of the Abschiedsgelage will be posted soon ...

EDIT: Here come the promised pictures:

Saying goodbye to my friends in St. Poelten:

At the Weberknecht:

I am now the proud owner of an iPod Shuffle! Still stunned. Thanks so much to all of you!

At the B72:

And now some really freaky ones, of people dissolving ... ;-)

On my way home the next morning, after 3 short hours of sleep...

¡Welcome!

2005-02-23T18:09:00.000+01:00

Thanks for visiting my blog, El Mundo de Karin! The reason for its existence is to keep friends and family updated with my dailydoings and experiences in the city I moved to - Barcelona. For those who don't know, I'll work here at the e-commerce company Aspherio (www.aspherio.com) for the next 6 months, in the area of Customer Relationship Management.

I will update the blog as often as possible, adding pictures whenever available - so keep checking back! You are welcome to post comments to any of my entries (in the language of your choice, of course it doesn't have to be English).

Lots of love
Karin