Book Market!!!!

Today I went to an open air book market at the old Sant Antoni market.  It was AWESOME.  There were vendors selling tons of used books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, "adult" things, comics, old postcards, etc.  Nerd paradise.  I bought a manga and an old cowboy book to practice my Spanish.  Unfortunately, the manga is confusing because it is written in the opposite order as English books (right to left).  I keep messing up the order of the frames when I try to read it.  The market happens every Sunday which is super exciting!!!  Yay!!!!

Tonight I'm going to a Halloween party at a Texan friend's house. It will be interesting to celebrate a holiday that originated in Europe, became something else in the U.S., and now is being re-coopted again in Europe.  They have All Saints Day here, which is basically cemetery day.  Candy, scantily clad people, and costume parties are largely an American invention.  I don't know who or what I will be going as, but I am going over to a friend's house in a few hours for some inspiration and assistance.

October photos

View from my bedroom window

 This is the castle/church at the top of Tibidabo

Birthday card from RJ $

Graffiti on a bank :)

View of Barcelona from the top of Tibidabo

Educational children's ride at Tibidabo

As always, there are more photos on my Picasa web album.

The rest of October

The Popo:
Haven't been arrested yet.  After the cops came that one day, I never heard from them again.  They still make me nervous of course.

The Birthday:
I had a very chill gathering of folks on an overcast Sunday.  We started out at a Moroccan hookah bar.  As we were waiting for the place to open (I was on time of course...the store was on Spanish time of course) I saw a really large man on a scooter stop, slowly fall over with his scooter on top of him, then stand up with his pants remaining on the ground.  Definitely the highlight of my birthday.  After some delicious hookah and tea, we headed over to an Indian vegetarian restaurant and finished at a cabaret/speakeasy-looking bar.  It was wonderful being surrounded by lovely new friends, but I was totally missing my homies.  Shout-out to Auntie Linda and Dad for the generous contributions to my adventures and to RJ$ for the rad birthday card (it's totally me).

The Hike:
Tom, Duke, and I hiked to the  top of Tibidabo last weekend.  Barcelona proper is super urban so it felt unbelievably nice to be on a mountain above the city.  There is a theme park at the top of the mountain.  It is kinda weird because the theme is the American Wild West...

The March:
Yesterday, I met up with my friend Dharma and participated in a march against the pathologization (what is the real word for this?) of trans identity.  We marched from Plaça Universitat to Jaume.  Even though I didn't really understand what anyone was saying it felt really good to connect with the trans movement in Barcelona and spend the evening with so many lovely trannies, butches, ftms, CDs, mtfs, bois, girls, gender queers...and everyone that loves them.  I regret not  bringing my camera and taking photos, but hopefully I will be able to find some soon.

Photos coming soon...

Life is a little too exciting sometimes

This week was really stressful.  My classes are all over the place and it figuring out how to get everywhere for the first time was a nightmare.  I spend nearly the same amount of time traveling as I do in actual class hours.  I have it all figured out for the most part now so that's quite a relief. 

My new roomates are wonderful.  One of them recently left to go back to Mexico.  He's a former Mexican boy band member and his nickname is Party Party Boy.  We used to sit around and talk Mexican food all day.  I miss him already!  The new roommate is originally from Morrocco and he's going to help me with my French.  I'm pretty excited about that.  The Ecuadorian has just had her heart broken.  She and her sweetie recently split up and she misses Party Party. 

I just about had a heart attack on Wednesday because the cops were banging on my door and screaming at me in Spanish.  They asked for my passport and then if anyone else lived with me.  I told them I only spoke
English (they didn't at all) and that was the only one in the flat.  I also told them I was just visiting Barcelona.  They didn't write down my passport number or anything and then just left.  They also went to our neighbors across the hall and started talking to them as well.  I am not sure what was going on.  I told my roommates about it and they were confused as well because things like that rarely happen in Barcelona.  I thought it was going to be the Spanish version of an ICE raid.  No one else seems concerned about it so I am trying not to be.  

I have only had random access to the internet since I moved to my new place. I thought they there was going to be wifi by the time I moved in, but it hasn't been set up.  Fow now, I am paying an arm and a leg to use a mobile internet device.  It pretty much cancels out the fact that I moved into a cheaper place.