First, I arrived well in Spain, and I am already working. Of course this wasn't without some bumps, and I still don't have everything settled.
The place I'm living is only temporary (Thank God!), and I still haven't heard from the people who live on one of the flats I've gone to see. Fingers crossed for a positive reply. Where I am right now there is no internet, which explains my absence from the online world. And it's amazing to think that 15 years ago, I had no problem living without internet, and 10 years ago with having only limited access to it. And now, I spend 3 days without it and I'm going nuts!
Of course, after the initial shock of not having internet, and then of only having a very slow internet connection in my mobile (praise to smartphones!), I went to all the phone carriers and phonehouse shops I could find until I got a mobile connection. It's not fast, or cheap, but it will do fine for the next week.
Work was another bumpy road. There I was, Monday (last week), all pretty and smart, looking very nice and formal, ready to work. But the place I work only opens at 9:30. I was supposed to be in the offices at 9:30. I tried to explain it (in my rudimentary Spanish) to the security guard. He wouldn't let me in until 9:30.
He turned out to be actually very nice, he just couldn't leave the doors so close to opening hours. After he had done all that, he took me to where I needed to be, and explained me how to get in when the Mall is still closed.
And of course 9:30 doesn't really mean 9:30 because the bosses (I have more than one - thinking about it, and the work I've done, pretty much everyone is my boss there) hadn't arrived, and they still had to prepare my desk. Meaning moving the guy that was sitting there to a desk where he remains hidden from everyone, and setting up my computer.
And here is another funny story. They start taking the components from the boxes. Keyboard. Check. Mouse. Check. Computer tower. Check. Computer Screen. ermmm... Did they send a screen? Where is the screen? Not in the box. So I had everything set up, except for the screen, which makes everything else pretty much useless.
So my work the last week was mostly dealing with shops (delivering magazines from last December and June, and asking them to sign for December, June, August and October, and explain why so even though I didn't understand it myself), archiving transport records from last year because they don't do that (even though they must), checking and archiving all kinds of records (at least they are environment related), and on the afternoons working on small things on Excel files, on the computer of a girl that only works mornings. Interesting, hum?
But between work and looking for a definite place to live I managed to do some sightseeing, mostly during my lunch hours (they give me 2 hours for lunch!). I've been to Sagrada Familia (only to take a picture), to Passeig de Gracia and Casa Batlló (not pictures there, I was looking for a shop in which to buy a mobile phone card), to Port Vell, to the Ramblas and Plaza Catalunya and most of the center walking around.And I've been to a few bookshops. So many bookshops, so many books! I managed to buy only one (meaning I had to stop myself from bring the entire shop home), but I'm sure my collection will increase a lot in these next 6 months.
Continuing with the news on this after-all-not-so-brief-update, I've set up a new blog, Spoilers, Nueces y otras cosas, where I've proposed myself to review books in Spanish and post updates of my stay in Barcelona. Of course it is suffering from the same problem as this one. Lack of internet (and time).
I still need to post the reviews for last year's challenge, but I've seemed to lost my mojo on writing them :( I'll try to write two proper reviews (for Seer of Sevenwaters and A Sabedoria dos Mortos), and 3 small ones for the books that are missing.
This year I've read very little so far. One book and one graphic novel. I'm reading 2 at the moment, although I haven't picked one of them in ages. I hope that one I get settled and into rhythm with this city I might pick up my reading pace.
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