Tuesday, October 28, 2003: The Temp
Today I'm here at Oasis, not translating, like I thought the internship would involve, but doing temp work. Unpaid temp work. Now, I don't have a problem with temping. Loved NotMyDesk.com while it was up, and did an entire summer of it at Comstock in 2002. But I'm kind of bummed to be doing it in Spain, not only because Oasis isn't funding the bee--I mean, er, rent budget, but also because I hoped for a lot more here. I'm currently checking out a database website and copying the names of companies and their sales email addresses into an Excel sheet, one by one, because the site isn't that well designed. The site is entirely in English, and it's keeping me at the PC instead of chatting with the coworkers. That right now is the social highlight though: taking a cigarette break with the Spaniards. I'm not having the easiest time of it, but I hold my own and get to use someone else's lighter fluid. Ah well. I've done D-F, and I have to get to Z before Thursday, so back to work. Fiona, I want you to know I'm proud of you! 3:42pmThursday, October 23, 2003: And yet another one...
It's been a long time since I updated, but that's simply because I've really not had anything new to discuss. (Right, now watch me write a novel).Had my Corporate Finance midterm on Wednesday, which I hardly studied for (save for entering in all the formulas into my calculator), and I think I did pretty well on. All that fretting for nothing, dammit. I wouldn't have done quite as well if it weren't for María's constant aiding and helping the whole class. God, she is the perfect woman. Yeah, now I find her.
Let's see, no trips in the past two weeks, but got Alicante coming up at the end of the month. Also trying to get to Granada in the same weekend, but it's too difficult to find a way down there cheap, and I don't have time to really do in-depth searches. Nonetheless, Alicante is pretty easy, despite the unseemly bus ride, so it's off to the Bilmanbus counter at Termibus.
Clubbing the past two weeks has been interesting. Not last Saturday but the one before, we went to Basauri (after waiting over an hour for Yony), where Chris set off a couple air bombs (it was actually kind of freaky), and Yony saw her ex, obliging us to separate. We eventually got back together as a group (David, Javi, Yony, her two friends, and us three) in Bilbao, but we kept roaming and basically didn't have a fabulous time. Everyone was a little frustrated, but something like a spark was flying between Rocío, the amiga ecuatoriana of Yony, and Ryan...
So then we go out again this past weekend. Javi came up to Algorta, he had Telepizza, and then we went out to the bars in Bilbao. We were trying to keep separate from Yony given the hell of last weekend, but when Rocío texted Ryan to come to TerraRock, we abandoned those plans and headed over. We danced in the TerraRock inferno (and that was with the air conditioning), then over to the club-in-an-old-church, where we saw Jamie and her guy Kris. Those two started making out, then Javi and Yony, then Rocío and Ryan. Hoo-wah!! Of course, Ryan didn't quite have the balls to follow it through. But it was a great weekend nonetheless.
All right, there's the novel. Enjoy! 4:38pm
Thursday, October 9, 2003: Another Week Draws to a Close
I'm sitting here at work, trying to keep my eyes open, realizing that I really do need to be getting more sleep. I've been sick more than I've been well over here, now with a sore throat instead of a hack-up-your-lung cough, but it's getting tiring always having some sort of pain and always feeling under the weather. Fortunately for me, the weekend starts at 7 tonight, when I leave Owasys. Yay! Sleep in time is so around the corner.In other news, I really need to go clubbing because I really need to meet someone. I know there are plenty of people out there who would go out with me, but I'll be damned if I can find them right now. I'm sure it's just like that song, "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places", but that's a cheesy ´80s (or maybe earlier) country song, and really, he's looking for someone to marry. I'm really not ready to settle down that far. But it'd be so cool to find someone and get to know them pretty well and have a best friends with benefits/noviazgo no profundo thing going on. The lamentations of a 20yr old who's found he really likes sex. Yes, that's not stereotypical at all.
The final bit of news was an email I received yesterday from Mom. Her temp position's run out at Fluke and they're not going to keep her on. I've been trying to get a hold of her, but Euskaltel is being a bitch and cutting off all my calls to the States. Hopefully I'll get through tonight (Thurs am for her) and we can. Since they decided not to take out the loan, they're financing the rest of my trip, so I'm also wondering how this will be affected. I do hope she's doing okay. Yet another workplace wrenchup for her. She's gone through too many lately--I wish she could find a great place and settle down for good--that's what she needs.
And finally, Ahnold won California governor. To Roy: Ha-ha! 4:36pm
Monday, October 6, 2003: Spanish class drama
So, Thursday was quite interesting. I just didn't have time to really talk about it then. Anyway, all the mutual frustration felt by everyone in that class came to a head. There are three-four people who are way behind, two-three people who are way ahead, and everyone else right where they ought to be in Avanzado. And the prof's unable to teach to all those different levels. It's gotten so bad that the midterm scheduled for Sept. 20 hasn't even taken place yet, and we're so not ready for the final Oct. 22. She just doesn't know what to do.So on Thursday everything just kind of collapsed. The prof almost came to tears, the Japanese student who's married to a Spaniard did. And while's it isn't anyone in the room's fault, we still have this huge problem of where to go from here. Do we take our time and just do Avanzado I, skipping the second half of the class, or do we race ahead, lose those who are already behind, and try to catch up and do it all in the time left? We don't really know.
But today's discussion about the topic was a lot better. We had a nice forum, and everyone spoke their minds. I hope and pray that the ultimate decision is to go ahead and finish all the material; everyone agreed it was what they had paid for. I just hope that the Japanese girl and the New Zealander and the American aren't totally dumbfounded by the end of the term. It shall be interesting trying to catch up to where we ought to be, let alone finish all the material so that she can honestly sign off on our grades and what we learned to our homelands. Here's hoping. 12:15pm
Sunday, October 5, 2003: Damn, I was just getting used to British keyboards
Just got back to Algorta. What a whirlwind weekend.So Friday night, Vanessa doesn't arrive at the hotel until around 9:15, which left us just enough time for dinner and a quick trip to see Big Ben and the Millennium Wheel. It was cool to see them in the dark, but it would have been nice to actually get to ride the London Eye, but life goes on. Then we went back to the hotel room and spent two hours chatting and planning the next day. Had a great time and it was so good to see her again. We picked up right where we left off 4.5yrs ago.
Woke up eightish on Saturday and got ready. Had breakfast at a fish'n'chips place, but the service was horrible. We decided to skip going back to the Westminster Abbey and head straight up to London Bridge. Saw David Blaine in his box, then headed back in the other direction towards Buckingham Palace. Didn't get to see the guards or the queen, but the place was beautiful. Walked down the Mall from there toward the northeast, and hit up Jermyn Street (so above my pricerange but ohmigod were they gorgeous suits), Picadilly Circus (where the Criterion Theatre is, more on that in a minute), and then down to Trafalgar Square. Lots of great photo ops, and the chipmunks in St James´ Park were so cute, and had absolutely no fear. One just danced right around me, despite my not having food. Hopped back on the metro to Trottenham Ct Rd and walked along Oxford St, doing some shopping and experiencing the vitality of the city. Walked all the way to Oxford Circus, where we hopped back on the Tube and got off at Baker St. Saw lots of Sherlock Holmes memorabilia on the way to Mme Tussaud's.
Must say, this place is amazing. The figures were incredibly perfect, from Morgan Freeman and Susan Sarandon, to Buffy aka Sarah Michelle Gellar, to Patsy (but not Eddi), to Alan Titschmarsh, and even Graham Norton. That was about half the people in the first room. There was even a random girl holding a camera taking a picture of Sarah Michelle Gellar, and she was so lifelike that everyone was fooled, and you saw people all the time ultimately noticing the camera and going "Oops" and backing away, until you realized that "Wait a minute..." It was amazing. Then into the second room, past Alfred Hitchcock, to see Ahnold (California's next esteemed governor), everyone's favorite Italian Stallion, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery, John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin, Whoopi, Oprah, everyone. Then the real fun started, into the Chamber of Horrors, with graphically displayed torture methods, and even a freak show that we were unfortunately at the tail end of, so it wasn't quite worth three pounds. Nonetheless, had a great time.
Went back to the hotel for fish'n'chips (gotta say, they're not served on every street corner--had the damnedest time finding one, but when we did, it was worth it). Then refreshed at the hotel before heading back up to the Criterion Theatre for the Reduced Shakespeare Company's production of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged). Absolutely hilarious--and even contemporary (remember Ahnold a few lines ago--they brought him up). They interacted fabulously with the audience, and just did amazing things with props, puns, good acting, and slapstick. Cannot put it into words, you just have to go see it. So they did Romeo and Juliet first, quite well, then blew through all his comedies in about two seconds, all the histories in a minute as an American football game, Othello was a good rap song, and then intermission. The coup de grâce was Hamlet however. They started going through the play, the three actors playing Hamlet, Polonius, Hamlet's uncle/stepfather, Ophelia, and a sock played the ghost. About two-thirds through, right before Ophelia was to go mad, the actor playing her got upset, so the other two called on an audience member. That member was Vanessa. Poor thing didn't quite get at first if she was supposed to cry or scream when prompted, so she didn't do anything the first round. "Okay, take two!" covered that beautifully. So then she screamed, but it was kinda weak. So they got another audience member to play her ego, the first two rows her id, and the rest of the audience three parts of her superego, all to help her get into Ophelia´s character more deeply. And, as the actors warned, when they yelled for the audience to stop, all attention was dropped on Vanessa and her scream. Wasn't quite as bad, but... Anyway, they finally let her go down and continued on with the play. Then, as an encore, they did it faster, and then faster, going from 20 min to 2 min to 25sec. And then they did it backwards! It was hilarious.
So we went for a nightcap at a small English pub (that had a bouncer no less), but they stop selling alcohol at 11, so we left pretty early and went to bed. Then I woke up early this morning and took a flight back to Bilbao, where I currently write this. Anyway, it was a breeze of a trip, but had a lot of fun and can't wait to meet up with Vanessa again, only this time not sick so that my snoring won't keep her awake. Oops. 1:13pm
Friday, October 3, 2003: London!
I'm here! The language is English, the accent is funny, and all the cars are on the wrong side of the road! I'm in London. Now if only Vanessa would get here, we'd start rocking this town. But I'm chatting with three guys now, and they're all telling me where to go. It's cool. One's even new, but in Chicago. When will they be from SF? Okay, that's not important. Gonng go see the Millennium Wheel and have dinner tonight, and maybe check out David Blaine's current stunt. 8:12pm