Still looking for a good cause today?

If you have not done your good deed today, this is just your chance (and if you have: twice is always better): help the angels continue angeling.

As some of you may already know, I have been volunteering with Chemo Angels for quite some time now, working as a card angel. Chemo Angels is a program dedicated to supporting people undergoing cancer treatment. In addition to providing helpful information and cancer related resources, we match patients who are going through the difficult time of chemotherapy with "Angels." The function of these Angels is to bring a bit of cheer and encouragement- through little notes, cards each week and occasional care packages. The goal is to simply brighten the life of someone going though a rough time in their lives. There is absolutely no cost to patients.

Being a charity, Chemo Angels is entirely funded by donations made by the general public just so that they can keep paying off their day-to-day running costs. Please consider to donate a small something (or a bigger one), to Chemo Angels to make sure the Angels can continue to make a real difference in someone's life -

it is really easy!!!

You can donate by mailing a check or money order, or you can donate online with a credit card on their secure site, OR you can donate with Paypal.
Here is the link:

http://www.chemoangels.net/Donation%20Pages/donations_main.htm

Please consider contributing. Additionally, if you know a lonely senior or someone undergoing chemotherapy, please consider signing them up! You can do so, and find more information on Chemo Angels on their website: http://www.chemoangels.net/

How many pesetas do you still have?

It is very common to receive little papers when getting out of the metro, advertising different services like painting your apartment, changing your garden fence etc. This seems to be a good way to get new customers. At least it seems to work good enough in order to put somebody (usually the girlfriend/wife of the painter) giving out these papers in the morning. Usually I receive those papers to put them directly into the next bin, where already thousands of the same papers are waiting. Sometimes I even think that the girl that distributes them at the end of the day just takes them out of the bin to distribute them again the next day.

Anyway, here you see a photo of the paper I received yesterday. The person is offering to do different repairs in your house, painting stairs, painting apartments, tiling your floor etc. I was about to throw it away when I saw the prices! He'll paint your apartment for 95,000 pesetas!

Great!

But what if I do not have any pesetas left, because as everybody else I turned them over to the Bank of Spain to exchange them for Euros in 2002. And although you can still turn over pesetas in order to change them for Euros, you cannot do it the other way round. So, in case I want to paint my apartment, where the hell do I get those 95,000 pesetas???? Just in case you wonder how much that is, some banks still offer a tool on their site to do the conversion (http://4w.cajaduero.es/atclient/simula/eurocalc.asp).
95000 pesetas are 570 Euros.

Welcome

This will be the fruit of my first full salary. Have a look at our sofa-in-the-making. From July 25th on you may pay us a visit and have a look (or a night) on our first real sofa.
By the way, to find an L-shaped sofa with the option to turn into a bed and for a decent (well, almost) price is quite a challenge in Barcelona. But we made it:
And voilá: that's what it looks like with the bed. Actually there is enough space for 3 people to sleep.
copyright: shiito.es

I'll be back later

So, this is where I spent 90% of my non-working time awake. The other 10% is for eating ;-) I am SO looking forward to finishing my thesis and spent some quality time with other things...

Things are falling into place

I got a proper job, with a proper salary, proper working hours, and two afternoons off a week until september to finish my Master's.
Ricardo got a proper job, with a proper salary, proper working hours, and proper career plans.

The only thing missing is good weather ;-)

Rain in BCN

Sometimes it DOES rain even in Barcelona. Which is a pity for all those tourists that decided to spend their prolonged weekend (many European countries have a holiday on Monday - pentecost) in Catalonia. But the Catalans are more than happy, because we have been on water restrictions already and summer has not started yet. So every rain drop that helps to fill the local water resources is welcome. Could have been during the week though.
Anyway, THIS is the view from our balcony when it is not sunny... (doesn't happen so often, so I thought it was worth a foto):

Tibidabo

Last weekend we did a little excursion. There is this gorgeous church upon the hill behind our house (well, some 5 km away). During the night it basically glows in the dark, and we've been wondering how it looks like in reality ever since we moved here. So last weekend we finally made the journey. And THIS is how it looks like:
We were almost a little disappointed. It certainly looks better at night. Plus there is a huge fun park in front of the church which kind of spoils both the church atmosphere and the view on Barcelona. But well, if you have children up to the age of 12 aproximately then this could be a good choice to spend some time. And here is the view if you try to take the photo just cutting away the fun park (you can still see the last loop of the rollercoaster).

What we actually enjoyed much more was walking in the park afterwards and the tram. It is called "tramvia blau" in Catalan which means.... yes, you are right "blue tram". I honestly don't know how the word blau ended up in Catalonia, but it's one vocabulary less for me to learn ;-) Oh, and blau for female is blava. Just in case you wondered, hehe . I

The best ice cream in town

It is Italian. Of course. It is horribly expensive, but you won't regret even one cent. And you'll come back.
Vale-BCN proudly presents:
So if you ever come across Gran de Gracia (Metro Station Fontana, get out at Gran de Gracia, turn left and go down the street. The ice place is on your right... after about 500m.
Those of you who are more into milky creamy ice cream: get some joghurt or chocolate, or tiramisu or mascarpone. Or all at once. Because the special thing here is, that you buy a certain size and than you may put as many flavour into it, as you feel.
Today was my fruit day, so here you find a medium-sized cone for 4 Euros with Mango, Passion Fruit and Strawberry. I specially recommend the mango ice-cream. It feels like eating freshly-picked mango fruit without those naughty fibres sticking between your teeth.

Sant Jordi

In Catalonia, April 23rd is a special day: Sant Jordi (St. George), who killed the dragon in order to get to his princess. In remembrance of this special event, on this day women receive a rose from their husbands, fathers and friends, while men get a book.
But, knowing that most people realize their rose-and-book-duties on the very day, the rose-selling and book-retailing services are prepared: all over the town you can find loads of book and flower stands.Of course the Catalan colours need to be present at ALL times. As well as the usual more radical groups like "one language - one country", "Catalonia claims independence", etc. Most people smile and keep on picking up roses.
By the way, you don't even have to decide on the colour:

A glimpse at our living room

Yeah, we still need a sofa.
But I love the colour of the walls ;-)
Oh, and the things around the carpet are mainly to keep Pacco away from it until he learned it.
And the small table fits on the balcony.