The language of love

Loco's English is coming along quite well. He took lessons a few months ago but then for work-related reasons had to stop. We often practice in the car and have been able to hold conversations of up to an hour!

I am extremely anti-dubbing so on every possible occaision we watch films in their original language - normally English, this also helps Loco with his English although he is inclined to prefer gory, violent films whereas I like romantic comedies, however it helps his vocabulary but he tends to learn words like mofo, shut the fuck up, and randomly fuck my arse (!?). But his personal favourite has to be "I love you honey bunny" (pulp fiction) which he says to me sometimes, and in his own special way, it becomes, "I love you honey pig" as he didn't think a rabbit was fitting to describe me and my tummy. Lovely, just lovely.

The guilt rose

Today it is St George's day (known as San Jordi in Catalunya). Here in Barcelona you can find the streets lined with book stalls and rose sellers, for it is tradition that girls should receive a rose and boys a book. I would presonally prefer a book but Loco has just passed by to surprise me by bringing me a red rose :) or a guilt rose in his case.

Loco has good reason to feel guilty, this weekend it was my birthday and Loco decided that he didn't feel like buying me a present. He told me from the outset that he hadn't bought me a present but I thought he was lying so that he could surprise me later in the day, at lunch? (no), in the afternoon? (no), in the evening perhaps? (no), a fancy dinner? (no), bedtime then? (no and no). Loco had in fact told the truth - he hadn't bought me a present - after all I'd said it didn't matter some time ago - I don't remember those words coming from my mouth..

I was very sad that Loco hadn't got me a present, or even a card, and from my wailing and sobbing I think Loco realises that he made a grave error in judgement on this occasion; Hence the guilt rose. It's a step, but he still has a long way to go. Didn't the boy learn on Valentine's day?

The Dentist

Unlike in the UK, in Spain dentistry is not covered by the healthcare system. Not that in UK it makes any difference, I found it virtually impossible to get a dentist and ended up travelling for over an hour everytime I needed anything done.

My teeth are crappy, to put it lightly, at the tender age of 24 I have had two root canals resulting in the loss of one tooth and a gold crown on the other. On both occasions I cried for days, especially after being gypsyfied. Normally people don't notice (I hope). Loco only noticed the offending article 3 days ago. Suegra was also shocked by this news, in Spain they don't use gold crowns anymore :( If only I'd known that when I'd had it done. When asked what I would like for my birthday, I often reply "Tooth implant" but as yet have had no luck..

For a few weeks I have noted the all too familiar sensation that goes along with the need for a filling but have ignored it on the basis that it was probably all in my head due to reading so many tooth stories on other people's blogs, however the sensations persisted and I decided that it was probably time to bite the bullet and head to the dentist.

I took the last day of my holiday to go to the dentist, Suegra took me, I think she has adopted me as her own. Luckily it looks like no root canals, but 6 fillings need redoing to the tune of 300 Euros.

Ouch.

I now have 6 visits to the dentist to look forward to :( I hate the dentist. Just waiting for the examination gave me butterflies in my legs. Let's hope they don't find any nasty surprises as I don't think I could face root canal ever again..

In happier news check this out

Back now

Back from my holidays in central Spain with Loco.

Had a very nice time although it was a tad on the chilly side. Especially when we went to a outdoor concert, at night, in a bullring, where I believe the temperature was a maximum of 0ºc. My concentration levels were not what they should've been due to 'minis' * of beer and calemocho (a mix of red wine and cocacola) and having never been so cold in my life. I know I am prone to overexagerration at times but trust me.. I thought my feet were going to fall off, I am actually surprised that I don't have frostbite. The damp sand permeated coldness up my legs.

The artist was ok, I am not the biggest fan, and I probably would have liked him more if he had sung inside. Ironically enough he sings a song called Loco.. hehe.

I have quite a few tales from my Easter break but first I must catch up with some work...

Hasta pronto
* minis are not mini.. they hold about 2 pints of your chosen beverage. but even the alcohol couldn't warm me up on this occasion.

A ranter

I've been ranting rather a lot lately..

Sorry for being a bore..

I'm off on holiday today so let's hope for a refreshing break and no more ranting (although rain is forecast all week)

Normal services resume next Thursday

Happy Easter Everyone!

Love Shameless with no, not one, Easter Egg

Rat Steinberger

I have 2 cousins that live in the vicinity. Let's call them A and R.

A has always lived in the area and so, to all intents and purposes, is Catalan. She is dating Rat Steinberger, who I may have mentioned before. They recently bought a house together. She is 21.

R is Andalucian. She moved here recently to experience life outside of Andalucia. She has a nice boyfriend called L. I kissed him once but that's another story.

So, even though A has always lived here and I'm just her poor foreign cousin who knows no-one, I rarely see her, she never calls, she never writes and I feel safe to assume that this is because Rat S hates me. As does he hate all of her 'single' friends who may lead her astray and down the path of eternal damnation.

I don't mind that he hates me as I think he is a dickhead. He once threatened to report me to the police for not carrying my passport with me at all times. Yes, he is that childish.

Recently we (my cousin R and I) (not Loco - he was explicitly not invited) were invited to have lunch at A's parents house. Neither of us really wanted to go but as it is so rarely that we see A we accepted the invite.

During lunch I had to listen to a lot of Rat drivel, including racial slurs, how immigrants deserve to be exploited, how important he is, how good he is at his job, etc etc. peppered with questions about how much we earned, how much stuff cost etc. Generally he likes to talk about how he is better than everyone else, and criticise everyone else - me, you, your mum included. A delightful chap I'm sure you'll agree.

He fits nicely into the stereotypical small minded, tight fisted, money obsessed Catalan role just perfectly.

As you can probably deduce Rat Steinberger is a small minded bigot and not very nice to be around.

Later, A invited us to her (and unfortunately rat's) newly reformed apartment for coffee. It was then that I was allowed to contact Loco to invite him to come too, and it was then that Rat S demanded to speak to Loco and demanded that he bring his PS2 and the Wii.. to which Loco unwillingly agreed.

Rat S spent the afternoon playing solo on the Wii and wouldn't let anyone else play, as he is that selfish

Unfortunately (not) we had to leave to view the apartment of destiny. Before we left, R vaguely mentioned to A that she had invited Loco and I to dinner during Easter week and they were welcome to join - she didn't mean it, to which A and Rat nodded and agreed that that would be nice - they didn't mean it

OR SO WE THOUGHT...

Lo and behold Monday morning and an email from A,

Hello R
It was nice to see you at the weekend.
What day shall we come over for dinner? Let me know as I need to arrange my week.

PS What was Locos apartment like?

I like that PS - nice touch - not like they want to come over for dinner just to be competitive about apartments or anything..

Anyway, R and I decided that we would have dinner on Wednesday at 9pm, at R's house in Barcelona. This acted as a deterrent for 2 reasons

1. A does not like coming into Barcelona
2. Especially not on a weeknight

So we were very surprised when she agreed.. remember this is the girl who we never see.. ever.. especially not twice in a fortnight.. in Barcelona .. on a week night..

Well then, R and L (who was visiting from Andalucia) prepared a menu, bought lots of food, wine and chocolate. Slaved over a hot stove and received a text message from A at 8pm.

Hello. Can't come tonight. Sorry. Have gastroenteritis. Will explain soon. Have fun.

What the hell is there to explain? Come 8pm did she get a sudden and unexpected bout of gastroenteritis? and why didn't she phone to make her apologies - clearly would have been better mannered.

Or is the reason she couldn't come down to Rat Steinberger.. the ever present louse in her life?

I know what I think.

Rude People that I hate

The big move is complete! You will now find me chewing on straw down on t'farm. Ooo ahh.

No, not quite. But I'm no longer a city girl. EEK.

The move itself was horrendous. I arrived from lunch to find my housemate, his brother (lease holder), his mother and 2 romanians, cleaning the apartment and throwing things out. MY THINGS.

Things they threw away:

2 Bottles of cointreau
1 bottle of Vodka
2 bottles of handmade liquers
Various bottles of wine
Various foodstuffs
My toothbrush
My toothpaste
shampoos etc
1 bike- yes folks a bike. it was an old bike but still - perfect for barcelona - saves it from getting nicked. Unless you keep it in your own house where it gets thrown away. grr.
plus a few other bits and bobs

What did I reclaim
Zero. Zip. Nada. Nothing.

Being a - bottle up your rage and don't say what you really think - kind of a person, this is just what I did. Threw my keys on the side and ran. Jumped in the car and told Loco to drive. Loco was very angry when he heard what had happened and angry that I didn't have the guts to say anything other

"But they were home made liquors.."

when I was told that the bottles had been thrown out.

Of course while this was going on I was completely ignored. Backs were turned and it was all very hostile. Not nice at all.

It turns out the lease holder did renew the contract after all, I just got kicked out, we never had any arguments and although he did things to annoy me and I'm sure I did things to annoy him, I was a pretty good housemate. So what made him decide to do that?? People are mad. Really crazy. And really fucking rude.

I have formulated several plans of revenge.. but I don't find myself to be a very vengeful person and so I can't quite carry them out..

Hopefully Karma will do my work for me.