Uhlfelder News

January 3, 2008.  My sister left this morning to catch a flight back to New York.

I went to rent a car (in person, I just couldn’t get a good rate over the Internet).  This required some negotiation, and I’m certain I was given among the worst deals possible.  I will be driving up to Andorra next week to do a “fam” trip of the resorts there.  The person at Ski.com who was to lead a trip there because unavailable (husband had a by-pass) so I stepped into the fray.  This should be interesting as I have 15 people to lead around in Andorra, where I have never been.  Also, I am expected to ski with them.  This should be really interesting, as most people tell me skiing with me is “skiing through intimidation.”  Finally, Anne noted that we hope there are no women who acquire an instant dislike to me — this happens every once in a while.  We don’t know why.  It may be a very long week. 

Mary Claire, the original group leader, when I asked her about the group make-up, told me not to worry.  “There are no jet-setters,” she advised, but the good news is they are all nice and five of them are deaf.  Come again, I said.  Yes, they are deaf, but they can read lips very well.

As for home life, our upstairs neighbors moved back in after their place was renovated.  We hated all the construction noise, but having them back, we would prefer the construction noise.  It is at least during the day.  These people arrive back home at 9:00 from their work and child-care, and their kid(s)? proceed to scream and run for a couple of hours while the parents apparently move furniture.  In Anne’s opinion, the children in Spain are underperformers (they are) because they lack proper sleep.  These kids may get seven or eight hours, at best. 

January 4, 2008.  I changed my Hertz reservation for next week, and that was my opportunity to speak some Spanish.  Pretty pathetic.  I have to get more hours, otherwise I’ll look back on this as a wasted opportunity.  Right now, I feel like I know about what I knew a few months ago.

January 5, 2008.  Today was the Three Kings Day.  I’m not very informed about this, but my impression is these were the guys who came to Mary after Jesus was born and brought gifts, which included franincense, mur and cash or cash-equivalent.  Mary tried to kick them out of the room, until she heard about the cash.  In any case, this is the day in Spain when gifts are exchanged.  Christmas Day here is called American Christmas and generally no gifts are exchanged (except, presumably, by Americans).  With television and increasing commercialism, there are more celebrations of Americans Christmas.  As part of the Three Kings’ Day, they have a parade and throw hard candy at the crowd by the bagfulls.  We filled a bag, then just gave away most of it (what would we do with a bunch of hard candy?  Decorate our apartment?  There were drums, pirates, I guess Kings, and more and lots of kids fighting for candy in order to properly rot their teeth.  Many people made sure they were smoking since there were kids around. 

Sales (“Grandes Rebajas”) begin on January 7, by law, so everybody is geared up to buy stuff at discounts.  I don’t need or want anything, which makes me sad.  I’ve failed as a consumer and generally I feel materialistic in my heart.  I just can’t bring myself to buy anything.  Maybe I’m just cheap. 

The King’s birthday is today or yesterday and the television also has a lot of coverage of his life.  Generally he is and has been a good monarch.  One of the newscasters yesterday stopped his telecast and toasted the king’s birthday.  It was very nice.

January 6, 2008.  I’m thinking about how I’m going to lead a group of 15 people who I don’t like in Andorra.  I plan to ski Tuesday and maybe Wednesday and get an idea about getting around the place since I have to lead the group of 15 the week after (yikes!).  It will have to be the new Mark, the patient Mark, you know, the Mark that doesn’t exist.

January 7, 2008.  I picked up the rental car today, drove about half a mile, and called Hertz to tell them it smelled too strongly of cigarette smoke for me to use.  I simply didn’t want to sit in an ashtray for six hours.  They “understood” and changed it and upgraded me.  I now have a huge BMW new sedan — it drives beautifully.  It is a manual, like most cars around here, even larger ones, and has a feature that when you stop, put it in neutral, and let the clutch out, it stops the engine.  Push the clutch back in, the engine starts.  Also, it runs on diesel and appears to be super economical with gas.

January 8, 2008.  After dropping Anne, the boys and Rocket at school, I drove to Andorra which took about 2.5 hours.  I was a dreary day with misty wet roads.  I got to the hotel, and they gave me a room that, predictably, smells like an ash tray.  What is wrong with there people?  I think the smoking is driven by the Spanish, they were told that you are not much of a man unless you smoke.  My reply, you’ll be less of a man with only one lung.  Oh, well. 

As for Andorra.  First, the skiing absolutely sucks.  It’s a bare base of man-made “snow” which is brown, full or rocks, and icy in spots.  I managed to ski most of the huge mountain in about 2 hours since skiing was limited to the runs where they could make snow.  I tried to check out the restaurants to see if there was any decent food, but there didn’t seem to be.  In order to get on the mountain, we have to shuttle about 6 kilometers to another town, then take a six kilometer gondola ride with takes about 20 minutes plus. 

Most of the other skiers were either Spanish or Russian and a few odd balls.  There are tons of Russians here, second tier to be sure (enforcers, not the godfathers).  Many of them have Motorola Radios and they seem to always be calling each other.  The woman have those acrylic nails, which probably were all shipped there after they went out of style in Croatia.  They are likely here on cheap package tours.  The economy of Andorra seems to be powered by Spain, and specifically by Spanish people who come here to buy cheap electronics and other stuff like perfume.  There is a street here, the “shopping street” that is at least a mile long with very brightly lit (overlit) stores hawking all sorts of wares and it’s very crowded, again mainly with Spanish.  I’m not feeling in a very consuming and materialistic mood, so it doesn’t do anything for me.  I guess I would characterize it as Reno meets a smoking convention at Sears.

January 9, 2008.  Andorra is composed of two areas, the quaint old town (didn’t find it) and the shopping area, which I would say is like Las Vegas, but not as elegant.  The snow is getting worse (read, nonexistent).  And I have a group of people coming to “ski”.  Basically, I am a cruise director on the Titanic.  It’s a suicide mission. 

December 26, 2007.  Marbella town was just as cute as we remembered it, with narrow streets, a castle (what town doesn’t have one), the Plaza de los Naranjos, etc…  It was a bit too cold and windy for the boys to hang on the beach so we went back to the hotel and let them watch a video (sometimes we just take the path of least resistance) and then down to the “quiet” pool which was occupied by some loud French people with their kids so we were among the better behaved.  They got some water time in at the heated pool, did some laps, and got some energy spent. 

December 27, 2007.  Off to Jerez we went to see the Andalucian school of Equestrian Art.  Here’s the review I posted on trip advisor:

We visited today and were sorely disappointed. First, even with tickets purchased on the Internet, expect to stand in an unruly line for up to an hour (50 minutes for us). Second, the show itself, while the horses display some very thorough training, is schmaltzy at best and cruel at worst. At one point, to applause of the audience, the horses are whipped so that they stand on the hind legs and rear up. My thinking is that if you whip them hard enough, you can probably get them to do a flip — they are real athletic.

DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!

______________________________

What I didn’t say was that the announced at the beginning that no cameras were allowed.  Most people were either so disgusted with the whole deal (me) or just didn’t listen or care, that they just ignored the warning.  One woman next to me actually had a video camera going.  A woman kept walking down the isle and telling people not to film.  I walked out I hated the torture so much. 

December 28, 2007.  This morning we decided to stay another day in Marbella, given the weather forecast for clear skies and warm weather, and the daunting drive in front of us, no reason to jump into the car.  The hotel agreed and extended our stay another day (at the same discounted travel agent rate). 

We walked to Puerto Banus, which I’d already run to twice, injuring my left ankle in the process.  In any case, we walked there which took a while since first, we forgot the camera and second, David and Joshua stopped every 200 feet to play in the sand, and third, the dog was trying to go every which way.  Anywho, we made it after an hour plus, found water, bathrooms, and lunch and took a look at some of the boats, including one with a helicopter on top.  Joshua said he thinks we should buy a house boat.

Joshua, David and I took a cab back to the hotel and Annette and Anne and Rocket walked back.  I hung out on the beach with David and Joshua, and they finally got their beach time, and then when the girls and Rocket got back, we all went to the pool and ended dinner at the same place we’ve eaten now for three nights in a row (large no-smoking area, nice service and good food).

December 29, 2007.  We drove this morning, after a great breakfast at the Don Pepe (“Boys – eat everything you can, you won’t eat again for a long time.  You’re full, you’re not full until you can’t stuff anything more in.”) back to the Montbolli, which is about half way back to Barcelona.  Once we got here after about six hours and a nice picnic lunch, and realized how nice it is (it is), we decided to stay an additional day.  That’s an additional day we stayed in Marbella and an additional day we’re staying here.  Nothing requires that we get back to Barcelona in any rush, so…  The boys especially enjoyed the Knights.

This evening, after eating in the room, we walked down to the beach, then across a rock in the dark (I had a flash light) to another beach.  Lots of fun and nice.

December 30, 2007.  It’s the penultimate day of the year, and a wonderful one at that.  The weather was beautiful, we went first on a hike in the mountains and met a guy who parked on a trail near the beach and had birds that he had in raised cages.  He was just sitting there, watching the birds, to see which ones would sing best.  Very nice guy; he told us that when inside they really get going.

Then to the beach.  This was interesting since we didn’t know it, but the beach we likes was “naturalista.”  This is a way to say clothing optional, but is code to say gay beach.  I didn’t want to watch one of the two nude guys parade around so I went to do a weight work-out.  On the way back to meet Anne and the kids, he had left and the other guy, who brought a woman along (as cover?), marched nude into the rocks to meet another guy who was hiking his way.  At that point, it was time for Marlin Perkins to say, “The male then does his mating dance so that the female (scratch that – male) can react.  In any case, it was a nice episode of Wild Kingdom, watching two nude guys crawl around on rocks to better see one another.  We were at a good, safe distance which required telephone lenses, but didn’t take photos – it wasn’t anything we wanted to remember in that much detail.

December 31, 2007.  New Year’s Eve.  Time to get wild.  After driving from the Hotel Montiboli to Barcelona, which took us about five hours, we unloaded a bunch of stuff from our small car.  Today we pushed it so hard, it needed a quart of oil.  I think total mileage is close to about 2,000 or so, most at 130 or so kilometers per hour — about 80 miles an hour.  In a car that would be small by US standards with four (then five when my sister joined us in Marbella) and a dog.  The car’s mileage was lousy, unfortunately, meaning probably around 27 miles per gallon.  Glad to be back.

January 1, 2008.  A quiet day, finally.  Annette and Anne went around looking at buildings that are of the modernista school.  I stayed around and caught up on data entry.

January 2, 2008.  We drove this morning to Figueres, the town where Dali was born and built his museum.  The museum is like a large house with a lot of his work and the house itself is a work of art — really crazy stuff.  He was a mad-man, man.  It was a 2 hour drive there, then we toured around the crowded space, then back.  People tried to crowd the line and Anne told them off.  Turned the car in to Hertz, beaten to death and driven like mad. 

December 19, 2007.  Today we drove south from Barcelona to Villajoyosa, a town about 40 kilometers before Alicante.  We turned a five hour drive into a six and a half hour drive, but it was a lot of fun since the boys sang, scretched, got of each other’s nerves (and hours) and we were driving about 85 miles an hour in a small car on narrow roads with lots of trucks and getting lost at every opportunity.  We are here at the Hotel Montiboli for three nights, then another five (?) hour drive to a place in the country, then three nights in Marbella.  I’ve received different reports about Marbella but most are negative.

December 22, 2007.  Hiking and enjoying was what we did today.  I also watched a great sunrise.

December 21, 2007.  After a fantastic breakfast, we went off to the pool (the boys and I).  I read the paper and the boys played for hours.  It’s just a beautiful property, and although it’s not warm, it’s not that cold either.  Rocket took Anne for a hike around the hills and to another beach a bit further south.  Our beach, where we all ended up, is covered with egg-shaped rocks. 

Then off to lunch which was at the same good place with nice service as yesterday, called Portofino.  The owners suggested we check out Altea, which turned out to be a cute town with some uphill to a church that was very pretty.  It was populated by art galleries selling comtemporary stuff with all signage in English. 

We’re finding that Spain is a pretty big country with a lot of stuff. 

Rocket’s comments.  Erf, erf.

December 22, 2007.  Once you get south of Valencia and Murcia, it looks a lot like the American West which is why some westerns were filmed here, especially around Almaria. 

Off we went to our next destination, a cabin in the hills of Andalucia.  We found it fairly easily and even didn’t get lost after our days of getting lost during the last drive.  It was a nice, country place organized and owned by a Spanish guy who insisted on trying to speak with us with his two words of English.  One nice thing is that it’s heated by olive oil pits and remains, which seems just fine and a lot cheaper than gas or oil.  Anyway, we’re all toasty here. 

In any case, we finally went into town (Priego del Córdoba) to see what was going on, and it was a 20 kilometer hard drive.  There was a ton of life in the country square in Priego, and the Christmas spirit was in evidence.  We asked a lady for direction, and she was either deaf or didn’t understand us but we had a nice, and funny chat.  The Spaniards like to say “hombre” a lot even when it’s women speaking to one another.  There was a huge Kresch in the town square on the municipal building (no separation of church and state here).  There was some amplified music and people were out.  We went and did a fast shopping and got back to the cabin at close to 9:00 for a Spanish timed dinner.

We have no Internet, phone or anything else here so it’s a hideaway.  It’s not what we were looking for but as one who never goes with the flow… I did.  I also made a huge fire in the fireplace (like the American cowboys of yore and not like the American Indians – sorry, Native Americans.  Since all the wood is wet here, it takes a long time to get it to burn but once it’s lit, it seems to stay lit.  Olive wood makes great firewood.

December 23, 2007.  It was time to explore and Anne and I had decided (of course, after bringing the boys into our decision-making process) to go on a hike.  So off we went in search of the La Subbética, a National Park.  This was about a hour plus drive since we took some backroads (really backroads that at times turned to dirt).  We eventually arrived at Lugue, another whitewashed town (there are tons of them), and stopped briefly to walk up a small hill to see the castle but it was locked shut with a chain.  There was a church, and we felt obligated to stare inside.

Then off to find our hike, which was near the town of Zuheros, yet another Andalucian whitewashed village, oh so cute.  I found a woman who was supposedly there to provide information for the tourists who drove up the pass, in part of see the caves.  This was a guided tour, about an hour long, and didn’t sound like easy in and out.  So we opted for our original plan and I tried to get her to explain how to find the hike, which she sort of did and we found what we thought was the trail head.  It was and we hiked for about an hour and more and then decided that we had done enough.  It was thoroughly enjoyed by all, including our dog.  Joshua lost his second front tooth, pulling it out in a bloody mess and holding it proudly for all of us.

We went down to the town at the end, and couldn’t find a sandwich place.  There was a restaurant open, but that seemed like too big a deal; we were dirty and just wanted something quick.  So, off we went back to our cabin, without having eaten except for snacks, which luckily tided the boys over. 

December 24, 2007.  We decided to go to Priego, the town that seems the central part of the region and has enough interest, not to mention possible laundry facilities, so that we can enjoy it (and get a change of underwear).  Off we went for the 30-minute drive to Priego, found the laundry, and decided to visit another town about 10 kilometers closer to our casa.  Again, off we went and tried to find anything open (Christmas eve, remember, in Spain, which I think of as a pretty religious place).  Not only was it closed, it was really closed and very poorly marked.  So after driving around on narrow roads and driveways, we decided we were best off in Priego, which in any case was full of life. 

Caught in Christmas Eve traffic, we finally parked and went to the tourist office.  The woman, who was very nice, spoke lots of languages since she was from Tunisia, having learned Arabic, then French, then English and then Spanish.  We saw a few of the sights of Priego, Anne lost her purse (briefly) and we found a place to eat lunch, which was a relief (no smoking!). 

We had enough and after buying some groceries, we went back to our rural casa superior and hung around.  I hunted for fossils with Joshua (found none) and we walked around the olive groves.  Then I went back and restoked the fire, which I’ve only had to light once. 

December 25, 2007.  Off we went to Marbella, where my parents used to live.  I heard it had changed.  Of course, we had to get lost for a brief time and probably took the wrong road, but got there eventually.  In any case, it didn’t look anything like I remembered from 20 years ago or so, having been really built up.  One huge improvement is there is a boardwalk from town to Puerto Banus, about five kilometers. 

In any case, we’re staying at a hotel called the Don Pepe, which we remembered from the old days.  It’s still very nice with great grounds.  Despite the fact that my email said we were traveling with our dog, they said no dogs were allowed but once we checked in, they just said to carry it in the public spaces, so we got over that.  My sister joined us too, which we had planned, so we have three rooms at the end of one hallway, the “Uhlfelder Wing”. 

December 12, 2007.  I can’t believe this is week 17.  It really feels like we’ve only been here four months.  I’m thinking I’d like to get a white German Shepard when we get back since Rocket needs a friend and our house is probably trashed anyway.

December 13, 2007.  Anne’s Birthday.  She’s 34.  How time flies.  Why it seems like only 13 years ago we were married. 

It’s hard to think of what someone who wants nothing and scoffs at material things (unless they are polyester) can be given as a gift.  I thought, we’re in Spain, how about one of those pig legs that last a few months in the kitchen stinking up the place — you know, go native.  Funny, but ultimately a waste of money and too many unwanted side effects.   We’re been buying sweets and chocolate like they are going out of style, so that seemed like it had been done.  Flowers, definitely and check (over a douzen).  So, what did I come up with:  some really nice cheeses from Cataluna and some Iberic gournet ham.  What a romantic!

The boys had their school play tonight which was very nice, with grades k through 5 each singing a few songs with the older kids giving us the history of each song.  It was held in a large auditorium and we said hello to everyone we know (like two people). 

December 14, 2007.  David had another game (soccer) this evening.  Anne went and his team won 6-3, their first win since the first game and against a team that beat them 8-0 a few weeks ago.  Revenge is sweet. 

December 15, 2007.  Started planning our trip to the south of Spain.   Anne and the kids went to the ice rink, which was reported to be incredibly crowded and thick with people.  Not fun, but Barcelona city ice skating.  It’s getting pretty Christmassy around here, even though they don’t celebrate Christmas the way many Americans do (with gifts and Santa) and in fact call our version, which they are beginning to adopt as a result of too much TV, Navidad Americana.  There are Santas hanging from ladders, balconies, and lots of other places.  The Spanish don’t even give gifts until January 5, the Tres Reyes holiday.  Christmas is some sort of religious holiday — more on that as I find out.

December 16 and 17, 2007.  I have a very nice hair cutter, Josep, who loves to travel in France.  He told me about some good places to visit and thinks the French are great in that they love a good conspiracy, especially if it is really old.  Examples are Opus Dey, which most people know from the movie The DeVinchi Code.

We had lunch today with Dan and Amy at the Four Cats.  After we visited the fair in that neighborhood next to the Cathedral of Barcelona outside the Cathedral, in Plaça de la Seu and Plaça Nova which featured all sorts of people selling typical Catalan stuff for Christmas.  Then it got interesting.  Apparently, there is a contest among Spaniards to have the biggest and best creches.  That means, you start with the baby Jesus and go from there and there are NO limits.  After they add the traditional figures, they add a figure called the Caganer.  This is a person taking a dump — I kid you not.  The theoretical reason is this is a way the person fertilizes the soil (I think they soil the place, but…).  This is usually a little porcelain gnome-like figure with his trousers down, defecating somewhere in the nativity scene. Children enjoy looking for the little guy, who is often hidden among the more traditional items.  Nice.  I’ll take some photos. 

If this isn’t enough, Tio de Nadal or Caga Tió is a log, painted with a smiley face and cared for from after El Dia de Inmaculada, which is December 8. Then, either on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve (it varies), the children beat the log (and throw him into the fire, if they have one) and sing songs enticing it to ‘shit some presents’. Spanish speakers among you should note that ‘Caga Tió’ does not mean ‘Shit Uncle’ – ‘tió’ is Catalan for ‘log’.  Again, nice.

December 18, 2007.  I went out on the bike today and was pretty cool but it was good to get out and spin.  The roads were moist so I was extra careful.  We’re off to take some photos for the above stuff…

December 5, 2007.  I must have burned 10,000 calories today.  At 9:00 a.m. I was supposed to meet a couple of guys for a run and I ran over to meet them (about 10 minutes plus a subway ride) and we ended up running about 1:20 with about half an hour of fast running; then I went home, and turned around and rode my bike to my Spanish lesson – about five miles round trip with lots of stops and fast starts.  Then I met Anne for lunch and we walked around to buy sandwiches, then to another park with the dog.  Then I went to buy food for dinner (bought too much) at the market and met Anne and walked and rode the bus to Joshua’s school to have his seventh birthday at school, then back on the bus and walking.  Then I had to pick up the rental car and a mere three hours later and four metro/tram rides, I managed to drive home and park and walk home.  Yikes!

December 6, 2007.  Off to Carcassonne, a windy three-hour drive from Barcelona in our rental Mercedes, where the “Cité” of Carcassonne is a walled city built between the 11^th and 13^th centuries and renovated probably over the last 150 years. 

On arrival we were downtown and ended up eating a good meal at a good price except the restaurant was smoking.  Dogs, and especially Rocket, were welcome.  Strangely, some Spaniards came in and asked for the non-smoking section.  Since we were it, they seated them next to us.  I ended up finding out that as of January 1, 2008 all public spaces in France will be non-smoking!  We got here a month early. 

Our hotel was a short walk to the walled city, and we ended up walking around the perimeter of the entire city, about a mile or so, at night.  We were basically alone except within the city itself where there are restaurants, shops, and lots of Spaniards taking advantage of the holiday.  There were places where we walked that were 15 to 20 feet above the ground with no guard rails, something that would NEVER be allowed in the US or probably even in Spain. 

November 28, 2007.  I studied Spanish this morning before going to my lesson.  It’s a long process.  When I got back, Anne and I went to lunch and then by the local cheese and ham store.  We were looking around and the store is very high end (we ate there last week).  It’s a special place where they only serve the very best of specialty foods and charge accordingly.  I asked about the ham and they said they only carry Iberic ham; that’s one type of Jamon Serrano, the dry, cured stuff.  It’s sliced very thin and vacuum packed and costs a fortune, so we bought some to try to see what the big deal is.  Anyway, Iberic ham is only five percent of all Jamon Serrano in Spain and it’s free-range, feed only acorns (20 pounds a day!).  Then there is a slow process of curing the stuff.  The Iberic hams are raised in the south near Portugal and are black.  The other 95 percent of pigs are white.  Sort of a reverse prejudice.  At Christmas there are all sorts of treats and gift baskets about, and you see a lot of these legs sticking out of them.  Hey, look what Santa brought.  Actually, they don’t have Santa, they have three kings.  More on that later. 

November 29, 2007.  After our Spanish classes Anne and I met for lunch in a downtown eatery we thought we’d try.  It was fancy and very old feeling, but not what we like in terms of local.  The food was all right — it was Thursday, Piella Day.  Anywho, we were on the metro coming back and I farted, silently, but it really stank up the entire place.  Luckily, there was a fat guy sitting across from us, so I just looked at him, along with everyone else.  I mean, of course the fat guy was the farter.  Then Anne, knowing the sweet smell likely eminated from me, started laughing.  It reminded us of a Saturday Night Live skit where Chris Farley is in a hot tub, bubbles rise up and of course everyone looks at him… you have to see it.  It was funny.

November 30, 2007.  David had a soccer game tonight and scored their only goal.  Their team lost 3 to 1.  It takes five to make a team and it appears there are only five of the 8 or 9 players who regularly show up for games.  The other teams have up to 10 players so our team gets no rests.  If you’re a glass half full guy, like me, the players get lots of playing time.  Anywho, we got a ride home (it was a 45 minute bus ride in heavy traffic to get there) from one of the moms, who also gave the coach, Freddy, a ride.  She is American and spoke amazing Spanish, which only took her 15 years, so there is hope.  I found a hotel in France for us, near some ruins, and was told that, oh, by the way, there is construction in the hotel.  Good news since we can’t seem to live without it.

December 1, 2007.  Joshua had his seventh birthday party today.  About ten kids came to our place and Anne organized some art projects that she learned about in Aspen.  It was a challenge to deal with that many six-year-olds (they are all younger than Joshua with one exception because the cut off here follows calendar year, unlike the US, so kids are younger in their grades).  In any case, they seemed to have a good time and Joshua was super excited to have a birthday party.  He made a beach scene out of molding clay, including a non-smoking and smoking sections! 

One of the mothers was very nice, but a very stressed German, whose kid was threatening to either throw himself or someone else down the nine floors from our balcony to the street.  She, predictably, didn’t want the kid on the balcony and I assented.  She was a bit stressed, though, and I felt like I was dealing with another kid i.e. a situation.  She invited us to join her in her Chalet in Gstaad, which is tempting if she would promise not to be there at that time.   Gstaad is a very chic destination and in fact, in the movie trading places, Dan Akroid tries to palm his Pateck Phillip watch, which tells time simultaneously in Paris, New York and “staad.”  I didn’t tell her about the joke.

Our poor dog is such a mess with scabs on his neck and the side of his face, which he has scratched and made bloody.  We bought him a lamp shade and now he’s all depressed.

December 2, 2007.  Anne took the dog on a long walk today to try to cheer him up.  I hung out with the kids who are perfectly happy not leaving the house.  I guess that’s the way it is.  When Anne got back I went on a long 1:45 run and ran a race course where they had a race today — that I considered doing but since I didn’t run all week as a result of my cold and it isn’t quit over, I gave it a miss.  It was a course on dirt and looked pretty good.  Then I planned our trip to France for next week (rented a car, mapped the route, tried to find some stuff to interest the kids…).

I’ve been thinking about the pricing here.  Why are things so ridiculously expensive, sometimes twice what they cost in the US.  One glaring example of commodities gone wild are running shoes.  The same shoes that I get in the US cost twice what they cost stateside, sometimes more.  Books are another thing that is much more expensive than in the US for the same book.  I don’t think this is explained by duties; it’s a problem in the system since if it’s easy to open a business, then someone would have and underpriced the few stores that have the high prices.  I’ll work on finding the answer but according to some quick research, books are free of duty and athletic shoes are subject to an 8 percent duty.  Stay tuned. 

December 3, 2007.  Did you know that it’s polluted around here — really polluted?  I didn’t but this morning’s newspaper made that clear.  Listen, it’s nice here in a lot of ways — there is a way about this place that makes it a friendly city and certainly one that is beautiful and worth spending time in — but quality of life is another question. 

Unless you are willing to really throw serious money at the issue, like who knows how much but let’s call it Russian mafia money, it’s not even close to what we have in Aspen.  We have a lot of the European experience to experience, for both ourselves and the boys, but here’s what we know so far: learn Spanish, small check, get a European experience, check (it’s very much like and reminds me of Europe), bath like a European (small check since we can’t take long showers), frustrated with the ability (inability) to wash clothes (check), far too much traffic, check, critical mass of people check, other physical activities (check — running for long times).

The dog turned out not only to have fleas (nice) but also allergies to food and whatever else.  I feel for the little critter; he’s miserable but has been diagnosed and will be better soon enough. 

Another thing, our blog stats look terrible.  We just seem to be uninteresting, unknown, or both.  Here are the stats from the last months but they are going the wrong way.  92 visits two weeks ago, 52 visits last week, and zero this week.  I’m not hurt, well that much, I mean, even Anne doesn’t read it!

December 4, 2007.  I have a theory about the sexes here — by sexes I mean Men and Women.  The women here are hard and the men are soft, almost like the traditional role of the sexes is reversed.  I think that this may be the prevelant situation throughout Europe.  I’ve developed my theory over the last few months but it seems clear that the women over 20 or 25 are very hard, and generally don’t seem that attrative.  Anne told me they aren’t supposed to be attrative to me, but I’m not sure that she’s correct.  I’m not saying I’m going to fool around, obviously I wouldn’t since I have Anne to fool around with; I’m just saying that you would expect women to want to be attractive; men too.  I guess the men are attractive in a soft, unthreatening, mamma’s boy, cuddly way — I’m not being gay here.  The women, however, seem to take some pride in having hard hairstyles, hard sunglasses, hard “perscription” glasses, hard boots, hard clothes and a hard, unattractive, almost agressive look and attitude.  I guess they just boss their men around and it’s good with everyone. 

We had considered staying for two years over the last few months and even went to the trouble of getting German passports into process.  The idea would have been to go to Aspen over summer and return here for the next school year but we’ve nixed that idea.  We don’t want to be away from home for that much time and don’t think that the additional year is worth it.

November 21, 2007.  My sister Annette arrived this morning from New York (a direct flight).  We right away tried to cover some of the touristic sites (check out our photos of what we discovered).  We took full advantage of public transportation and a warm, humid day.  In the evening I went to David’s practice and talked to a 70-year-old grandfather, Jose, of one of the players.  We talked politics, wine, etc… and I understood about half.

November 22, 2007.  My sister ended up trying to go for coffee this morning, something I have weaned myself from having realized that notwithstanding the fact that coffee is plentiful, being used to a large cup of American coffee somewhat has spoiled me and the espresso just doesn’t do the trick; neither does cafe con leche.  Anywho, she ran out and found some; I went to a Spanish lesson and off went Annette (after coffee!!) to a bunch of museums.  She actually got in for free by being associated with art in New York, which was a nice savings. 

I ended up at a lunch with Anne and 16 women and one other man.  It was the “booster club” lunch for Benjamin Franklin International School, which the boys attend.  I had a nice conversation or two.  Everyone here with kids in the school is here to get the kids acclimated with life in a big foreign city — they will be ready for a lot after this and will learn more than just a language (we hope) from the experience.

November 23, 2007.  My sister, Anne and myself went to the Picasso museum this morning and gave Annette a tour of the Borne area of Barcelona and the Ramblas, which is touristy but a must-see.  It similar to Aspen Highlands, but has critical mass.  It also has a lot of people who pose as human statutes.  I also took some photos of our walking around.  Then when Joshua came home, he brought a note about lice at school, lice-nice. 

Anywho, we’re cooking a Thanksgiving Day meal (a day late).

November 24, 2007.  We all visited L’Ille, a shopping center a short walk from our place, that has a display put on by Switzerland to promote skiing.  Everyone here talks about skiing, that’s for sure, but they seem to drive to the Pyrinees, if they go.   The display was a sort of Mousetrap on a huge scale and the boys, predicably, were mesmerized.  Annette then went off to Parc Guell and I went to get my race number for tomorrow morning by bike. 

On the way out the elevator, some old lady decided to give me a hard time, as in “bikes have to go in the service elevator.”  Both Annette and I looked at her like “up yours” so she thought we didn’t understand.  We assured her we did.  I am finding myself, at times, annoyed with things people do and have to stop and remember that it’s important to be tolerant and kind, not always easy but certainly worth it.

Annette came back with some great photos of Parc Guell and I returned with my race number, chip, etc…

November 25, 2007.  I went to the 10K race this morning and unfortunately missed Kevin, who I was planning to run with.   It was huge, or seemed so, and sort of disorganized.  In any case, off we went at exactly 9:00 a.m. in cool conditions and I tried to hold back (this turned out to be easy since I couldn’t get through the crowds and ended up dodging and weaving just to keep a pace going).  This was a super Catalan event; and there were a ton of very fast runners.  Close to 400 people ran under 40 minutes, which is a fast 10K time.

I hit the half way at 21:07 and had planned to run in 42 minutes so picked it up a bit and made it exactly 42 minutes.  I was pleased with a reverse split (faster second half) which isn’t my usual deal.  There were no kilometer markings that I saw so pacing was a guess, plus the faster downhill was at the beginning when you couldn’t run fast.  I expected the entire race to be uphill.

Annette and I went for coffee then she tried to complete her tour of Barcelona’s best architecture and museums.  She’s taken a huge number of very good photos.  She’s off tomorrow and we’ll miss her around. 

November 26, 2007.  Annette was off early, then I took the boys to their bus, then off to study Spanish.  Then errands, errands, errands (haircut) and trying to fight off a cold that I seem to have (yesterday’s race didn’t help).  Then David to Spanish practice and more feeling cold, with the cold and humidity, it’s a cold feeling — strangely, I’m the only one that wears a hat.  Everyone else doesn’t want to mess up their hair, mine is now short so it doesn’t matter.  I am really tempted to shave it or almost shave it.  Here’s a photo of our local Starbucks — it has lots of boobage on the door “handles” that you have to “push”.  

November 27, 2007.  We lunched today with Amy and Dan and compared plans for the upcoming week-end, which is long (four days).  They are off the Paris; we are thinking we should go to France by car and see some castles and towns that are within a few hours driving. 

November 14, 2007.  Went to Starbucks with Anne, then Anne went to Class.  I went on a huge 1:40 run through the hills and dales.  It was nice except I got home and consumed everything in sight.  I took David to soccer practice and hung out with the Spanish soccer moms.  They are not well traveled, and pretty nice and curious about my situation (are you single, want to fool around) no, no – I mean, why are you here?  To learn Spanish – didn’t you know we speak Catalan?  Anyway, it’s a good Spanish lesson, sort of.  Anne is studying her head off, she’ll probably have it down by next week.  I am taking my time. Here is a photo I caught of an affliction here in BCN.

For me, I’m at the point of the guy in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl8FTdjNri4

November 15, 2007.  Off again to a different Starbucks this morning.  I like to cross the street once in a while; I had to go there after Anne insisted we try a Spanish place which had lousy food, was loud and too crowded.  We tried. 

I’ve got a weight work-out I do with the minimum of stuff.  It will keep me in shape, more or less.  I am thinking of doing some running races since winter is traditionally the time I try to do them (cross-country skiing, uphilling).  Since the only reasonable thing is running races, I did some research, read up on some Catalan websites and found a 10K running race in a couple of weeks. 

The on-line race sign up in general is definitely not as smooth as in the US for the smallest race and this one had 2,800 participants last year.  I also told my running friend Kevin about it.  He tried to sign up but they wanted his NIE number – that’s the number you have if you are a citizen of an EC country like a social security number.  Basically, it’s asked for frequently and you don’t really have to give it out.  I just make up a number and give that one and it always works.  In my mind it’s very Orwellian, and only the Germans might be organized enough to do something with it.  As for the Germans, as long as you don’t mention the war, they don’t care either.

November 16, 2007.  After a Spanish class this morning, I went to sign up for the running race and then took David to his soccer game.  It’s gotten really cold here, about 40s or so.  David scored the first goal and although they still lost, it was an exciting well-played game.

November 17, 2007.  I have spent at least the last 24 hours trying to get this blog to work.  It’s been a huge hassle and certainly would have been much easier to use an off-the-shelf program that is supported.  Why did I do it the hard way?  Good question.  I guess the main reason is I want it to be on uhlfelder.com and second is password protection (which is probably available on the other sites).  This is sure to burn some time just trying to get everything to work correctly.  I’ve tried to post all the material from the time we got here until now on the blog.  You can receive comments from others so it’s similar to a forum.  

• November 18, 2007.  David had a birthday party to go to today and I went to the park, after getting some coffee at Starbucks (why can’t anyone make a decent filtered coffee in Spain?).  Joshua needed to eat (it was lunch time) so I sent him upstairs since I had the dog who probably needed to do his duty.  In any case, after watching him get humped by every Tom, Harry and Dick, I let him off the leash and off he went, never to be seen again.  Some Jessica who had a young, hung dog who was one of the humpers talked to me in Spanish, which is nice and eventually we captured the little varmants in flagrante delicto, almost.

November 19, 2007.  Class after coffee, more Spanish speaking (poorly), not having time to memorize the verb conjugations, etc… David to soccer, speaking Spanish (sort of) with soccer moms, cold, home, very good Indian food that Anne made, day’s end. 

• November 20, 2007.  Anne has organized a language trade with Laura; we speak English for half an hour and she speaks Spanish for half an hour.  She is very Catalan and told us something revealing about Spain — she would be embarrassed to have a Spanish flag on her property; a Catalan flag is fine.  It makes me realize that there is no Spanish nationalism.  This of course goes to the language issue too — they want their children to learn and be taught in Catalan, a language spoken only within 100 miles of Barcelona.  This seems more than impractical, it seems a problem in terms of integrating a country.  Lots of calls with Aspen, including business and personal.  I sent out an email reminding both of you about this blog.  Hope you saw it.  Greg Shaffran completed his bike trip and came through in the middle of the night to pick up his bike case — we didn’t even see him since he had to immediately go to the airport to catch a flight back home.  He biked through Spain and Morocco for almost two months! 

November 11, 2007.  We went to see the departure of the Barcelona World Race today, a new two-man crewed race around the world on very high-tech vessels.  Getting there we walked through some of the narrow alleys (Ah..the sweet smell of day-old urine) near the famous Ramblas area/street (very touristic and very full of pick pockets).   There was a tent with nice displays for the boys of some of the technology and other basic information.  The dog enjoyed himself too.  It was super crowded in town, not any issue with lack of critical mass here as 200,000 people and 700 boats apparently showed up.  Anne and I split up, Anne took the dog, I took the boys and we met back at the apartment after much public transportation. Also, here’s a photo of me with my first design project in Barcelona.  I was told it looked shody.  It’s all the contractor’s fault!  I have the plans and specs to prove it. 

November 12, 2007.  I had a meeting with the lawyers again for our apartment.  It was about our guarantee and the meeting had to be put off for weeks because of scheduling.  The legal deal with apartments here is a complete joke.  Of course, the bank made a mistake on the guarantee and it needs to be corrected.  The apartment itself is definitely not nice enough for the amount we pay; I guess we feel like every renter.  Then Anne and I met at Starbucks.  David had a soccer practice and I brought him, then went for a run at night (not fun, got caught on the wrong road with cars and no light). 

 

November 13, 2007.  What is the deal with Nespresso?  There are shops everywhere; one is a block from our Piso.  George Clunny apparently imbibes the stuff because his photo is ubiquitous, sometimes covering entire buildings, showing his smiling all-knowing visage, holding a cup and apparently sitting on a suitcase containing millions of Euros. 

 

Yesterday, while going to the lawyer’s office, I saw a line of people waiting at 10:00 a.m. for the Nespresso store to open.  Apparently you buy these one-shot deals that you put into a machine that heats it, turns it to liquid, and produces the drug which then goes into your blood.  I’ve heard of other drugs produced and delivered this way. 

 

It seems easy to market to the Spanish since all you do is spend a ton of money on ads with famous American action stars or Penelope Cruz, and start a trend because everyone just loves to be the same – tattoos and piercings, cigarettes, “prescription” glasses, boots, etc.

 

Our little dog was bitten a week ago in the park when we had a dog-sitter and has now scratched the bites bloody.  It’s a mess and we don’t know what to do.  It’s on his neck so we wrapped a bandage on it, but he is trying to scratch it off.  I think we should get a mean German Sheppard to protect him.

October 31, 2007.  Halloween with all its ghosts and goblins was very much in evidence at Calle Josep Bertrand, 17, Atico 1 (our address) as one of the neighbors who has kids at David and Joshua’s school organized a neighborhood trick or treating.  Since this apparently was the only organized trick or treat, and other Americans got wind of it, what was supposed to be 26 kids turned into 60 or so.  I guess we’re now on the Cemetery Lane of Barcelona.  Luckily David and I got home (Joshua didn’t go since he had a 24 hour virus he had just gotten over) just in time to utilize David’s booty and regift it.  It’s a holiday in Spain (and Germany) called All Saints Day but is largely being overtaken by Holloween (blamed largely on TV and consumerism).

November 1, 2007.  Off to London today, after a 1.5 hour run.  On those runs I always find different routes and am starting to know all sorts of short-cuts.  Today is a holiday called Day of the Dead in Germany where they go and hang out in cemeteries.  Sounds like a blast. 

In England, it’s a holiday called Guy Falkes Day the coming Saturday, which commemorates the attempt by Guy Fawkes, to carry out the Gunpowder Plot, to blow up the Houses of Parliament, kill King James I of England, and destroy Protestant rule on November 5, 1605.  It’s basically considered an anti-Catholic holiday here and is celebrated with fireworks on the Saturday closest to November 5.  Fawkes was caught, tortured (presumably waterboarded) and hanged.  With that kind of history, how can it not be a fun holiday and it’s a real hoot here.

We had dinner with my friend Nick from London (bike trip Nick) who works in the insurance industry and afterwards the kids and Anne went home and the men went to the pub.  It’s now a no-smoking deal in England, which is directly responsible for the decrease in cigarette consumption by 7.5 percent!  The cigarette companies must be shitting themselves!  Not only that, but Nick claims the pub business has increased putting an end to the argument about how it will decrease when cigarettes are outlawed.  Lots of people were smoking outside. 

I found my way home and Anne, speaking of shitting, was having a night of diarrea, perhaps caused by or at least catalyzed by the Indian cuisine we had just eaten. 

November 2, 2007.  I met Sam Rosen at the Gloucester Road tube station and brought him to our apartment where we all shot the bull.  Sam is very easy to hang out with and makes a great and fun companion.  We all went to the Royal Air Force museum where some 70 aircraft of all vintages are on display.  It’s quite a complex, free as are all museums in London, but required an hour on the tube.  The boys love to ride public transit so we got that out of the way. 

We made an interim stop at Brent Cross shopping center suggested by Sam who went to pick up his son.  We are, of course, now being tortured by especially poor exchange rates, so we went there but ended up coming back without even touring the place.  It was really out in the country.  One thing is clear, people here are either loaded or poor, because it’s expensive. 

It’s very nice to be here since it’s similar to the US (language, eating habits, chain stores, no indoor smoking, much less outdoor smoking, some nice ethnic restaurants open at normal hours) and it’s just a break from Barcelona. 

November 3, 2007.  I went for a beautiful autumn run this morning in Hyde Park for about an hour.  The perimeter plus some extra plus to and from the park was about an hour run.  Then the family went to the London Eye, a big Ferris wheel that has the best views of London, this morning.  It was not easy to get there since the Underground Circle Line was out of service.  We finally gave up and took a taxi.  I figured out how to stay out of the London Eye lines, which can take hours so we managed to keep the wait to 30 minutes, which is good.

After the London Eye, which only takes about a half an hour, we went to the Star Wars exhibit that was a bit too strategically located right next door.  This was a rip off, but David and Joshua are so into Star Wars…  Then back to the hotel, get our bags, and take the Underground to the airport to save a $100 plus cab fare (we were packed light and it was only one line to the airport).  Then a much more comfortable flight and back home.  London is incredibly expensive especially with the weak dollar.  The weak dollar has hurt us everywhere, but the best policy is to try to ignore it. 

November 4, 2007.  We were all lazy and recovering from the trip and somewhat sick (Joshua and Anne with a cough and David with a slight cold).  I went for a ride to try to find the train station in Sant Cogat, which took awhile; then I fell coming down from Tibidabo, very slow motion (I was taking it easy on a corner and hit an oil patch) and scratched my hip (road rash) and elbow.  I am lucky with all the riding that this is the only fall in a few years; I try to take it easy and stay in control at all times.  In any case, otherwise, a lazy day. 

November 5, 2007.  Not much to report.  Both boys were so tired and not well they stayed home from school.  I carefully read the Spanish newspaper to try to learn some Spanish.  Unfortunately we have a construction over our heads which is a drag to say the least.  Anne was at her Spanish class and I couldn’t wait to get out and walk around and finally brought my shirts that needed cleaning to what the porter suggested was the cheapest cleaner around and probably ended up being the most expensive.  Henceforth, we will get the maid to start ironing which is cheaper!  Ah, the trials and tribulations. 

November 6, 2007.  I’ve added a page to the website  for visitor reviews of our great accommodations.