Bring It On!

Oh, it has already been brought! Need I not explain more with a simple quote: “Barca, you just beat FC Chelsea at their home stadium, what are you going to do next?!” We’re going to the championship game!!

After a season full of watching all the Barca games, I was a proud fan tonight. Unfortunately, the timing of the game didn’t cooperate with my teaching schedule since it began 45 minutes into my 2 hour class, but as soon as my class ended, I began a frantic search for the closest bar showing the game. It didn’t take long before I saw people pouring out of a bar, which was a clear sign the game was on, so I made my way through the crowd and planted myself, standing up. I arrived about 10 minutes into the second half only to see Barca was losing 1-0. The score stayed as such until the last few minutes of the game, where, out of no where, Barca scored! And because Barca scored more goals at the opposing field than did Chelsea at Barca, they win!

I have never seen such excitement and chaos at a bar like I did tonight. After Barca scored, the whole bar went crazy, with random people hugging each other and a lot of screaming. It was a strange sense of unity among a group of strangers and I thought it was pretty cool to be a part of it, even if I was alone. On my way home, there was cheering in the streets, a lot of honking from all the cars and motos and even fireworks going off. Needless to say, I walked home smiling, sort of laughing and feeling like Barca truly brought it on! Gooooo Baaarrrccaaaa!

How to Clean Toilets

Since I moved into my humble abode, so 5 months ago or so, I have been strictly following a weekly cleaning schedule. On the fridge, there is a list of all our names and all the chores we are responsible for each week. In fact, one of my roomies even put the English translations on the fridge as well the Spanish descriptions, just on the off chance there is ANY confusion. In other words, no excuses!!

Week after week, I throw on the rubber gloves, white ones in fact, and tackle my “set” for the week. The first set includes the toilet, the entry and the mini hall outside two of our rooms. I take out the sweeper, then mop and subsequently wonder if I made the area dirtier than it originally was 🙂 The second set is the long hallway and the common area, including the coffee table, the mirror and the dinner table. And the third set is the one I look forward to because it requires the least amount of effort: our little kitchen and that’s it.

What I find to be pretty funny is that for roomies who put such an emphasis on weekly cleaning, we have been using a broken dust pan for more than a month, the same end of the mop for longer and cleaning products that seem to have come from the 80’s. Given this situation, I probably don’t need to wonder if I make the room dirtier than it was, I most likely do!

More importantly, I thought I would share a couple lessons I have learned. 1, you can’t get away without using “products” for cleaning the toilet because they will notice! 2, each dish you clean has to be spotless every time or you will receive a note from the cleaning police informing you of repetitive misdemeanors.

Awww, the things you learn when in Barcelona…

Break Out the Bubbly…

Because this post marks my 151st on The Hoolia Blog! And that’s a milestone, if only in my little blog world, so I wanted to recognize it with a self-given toast!

In August of 2008, Iwrote a Facebook status update something to the effect of, “Hoolia is thinking about starting a blog, but is not sure she will maintain it.” A week or so later, I went in for the kill, carpe diem as one might say, and wah lah, THB got started. To be honest, not that I ever am not, I didn’t put all that much thought into the blog or what the focus would be before starting it. However, given my pending move to Spain at the time, I figured I would share a few ideas and go from there. Well, 150 ideas later, the ideas are still flowing and I still enjoy sharing them!

I have always enjoyed writing, so chronicling my journey via a blog seemed appropriate. I definitely had my doubts about whether I would keep it up or whether I would run out of ideas and inspiration, but I’m glad, and hopefully you all are too, that I maintain it on a regular basis. If anything, I hope I have been entertaining and/or somewhat interesting (maybe even motivating?!) through such a memorable and personal experience in Barcelona.  

So a toast…to the next 150! Chin chin!

Barcelona Hoolia vs. San Francisco Hoolia

In the aftermath of writing about 6 months here, I have given some more thought to how much my life has changed in such a short amount of time, relatively speaking of course.  Below are the top 10 ways my life is different in Spain vs. in America, in no particular order.

1. I do not work even close to the 40 hour work week I used to work and let me tell, I love it. What’s there not to love?! The flexibility and the time I have during the day are two things I have never taken for granted.

2. I rarely go to sleep before midnight. In SF, I rarely went to sleep after 11pm! In other words, I went from a grandma to more of a night owl.

3. Instead of eating dinner between 6pm-7pm, I generally eat between 9pm-10pm here. I didn’t think I could do it, but low and behold, I did.

4. In SF, all my friends were American. Here, I have friends from England, France, Ireland, Spain, Australia and of course, my country tis a dee. It’s interesting all ya learn from such an international influence.

5. Shopping for designer clothes at boutique stores and paying way too much for a pair of jeans is a thing of the past. Finding nice, but more reasonably priced clothes are a thing of the now.

6. As Meemers referenced, my living quarters are quite different. No more big terrace, big apartment and big room. I now have a tiny, single bed in a room with no window, but more so, in a room so small I can practically, with my 5’3″ self, touch from wall to wall. Ok, an exaggeration, but it’s small!

7. I used to regularly watch American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy and other shows on the television. I have weaned myself off TV and went from a few times a week to now zero times. I do watch what I can on the computer though, but really, I don’t even miss it. Ok, maybe a little.

8. When I woke up in the morning in San Francisco, I definitely didn’t say “hola” like I do here and then continue speaking Spanish the rest of the day. Point to Barcelona, for sure!

9. My roomie in San Francisco, Mike, loved soccer, and bought a soccer station on TV. I had no interest in watching anything, but now, being a big Barca fan has changed my outlook on the sport. Is it Barca or Messi? 🙂 Probably the latter.

10. I walk everywhere here, and even at times, 3 hours a day (spread out of course). If not, then I take the metro, but in San Francisco, I had about 3 cab companies in my phone and usually only walked along Chestnut or Union.

I’m not sure I actually look much different than San Francisco Hoolia, but here is a before and after the move. The changes are definitely more in how I have adapted to this culture and wait for it….growing as a person on the inside. Awww…

One of the last times on the deck...

Cheering for Barca at the recent game vs. Sevilla