Montserrat and Sushi = Heaven

4/5/09

FYE: It is well known that I am not a big drinker. Out to dinner last night, I instinctively ordered a water. Then I considered that option and the whole-in-the-wall restaurant I was in. When the waiter asked me to repeat, I didn't know what to say. He rambled off about 8 drinks. One was coke (elch!) 6 of them I couldn't translate and the last thing he said was Sangria. I have enjoyed a sangria every now and then I thought it would be fun to try one in Spain! 3 minutes later my waiter returned with a STEIN of sangria. I'm not kidding. A BEER STEIN of Sangria. I watched him set the vat down in front of me, looked at him, looked back at the glass, and said, "are you serious?". My friend I was with said, "If you drink that, you will be drunk." I said, "If I drink this I will die." The waiter said, "It's only half liter" Oh ok. what???! I told him, "In america we get wine in small 8 ounce glasses" and I rarely ever even finish THAT. He said, "No worry. I give in cup to take home, ok?" what???!! half hour later I was pouring 14 ounces of Sangria down a sewer drain. At least it only cost me less than 5 euro...

This morning Australia, Chicago and I trekked out to Montserrat. You would not believe this place. It took us over an hour to get there. We took the subway to the “Cremallera” (a type of train) to the “funicular” (haven’t found the translation for that yet, but it’s a small sort of train that rides up a mountain side). Once there, we did a bit of hiking around the tops. The views were spectacular. It was great to have people to be in pictures with for a change!

We are now resting up from the exhausting day before heading out for dinner. Australia, who I finally learned is actually Fiona, knows of an all-you-can-eat sushi place down the street. Because it’s Sunday, it may not be open. Either way we will get dinner and take it from there. I will certainly miss this city and the friends I’ve made. I sometimes think I could stay HERE for 3 months. But I look forward to my adventures in Cape Town, and even my short stint in Germany. Internet will be harder to come by in SA as I’m sure I will have to pay for it, but I hope to keep regular updates.

sushi belt

LESSON#4: BE YOURSELF...because the people who matter won't mind, and the people who do mind don't matter. There are so many fantastic, good hearted people you would be priveledged to meet. You can't waste time and effort on the people who worry about petty things and can't see the big picture; which is just (at least in Europe) "Do what you want and have fun doing it".

LESSON#5: Pack Light! Though I did go without a lot and have already used most of the stuff I thought I wouldn’t…It’s def worth it to go without. Chicago was traveling for two weeks with only one small bag. He was just buying new cheap clothes and throwing them away as he went along. I could never go that light, but I was jealous.

Aussie Word of the Day:
Bogan = White Trash/Redneck

New Catalan/Spanish Words:
Funicular= funiculair; an inclined railway...what we took to the top of Montserrat..it was "inclined" indeed!
Cremallera= rack (catalan), zip (spanish) ...this was the train we took to Montserrat.
X="ch" sound but is prounounced "sh". See if you can figure out these words: ANXOVES,
XOCOLAT,
WATX
"T" replaces most spanish "D's". Ciudad=Ciutat and Seguridad=Securetat