Lost In Translation

I have 15 minutes at an internet cafe in my hostel so here is a quick update. The title of this blog entry sums it up. Never in my life has this phrase meant so much to me. Everywhere I go, everything I do, every person I try to talk to my point is lost entirely. I feel like a second grader communicating with the older kids but unable to form the sentences that will earn their respect or articulate the complex emotions I am experiencing. I have been living in hostels for the last week, looking for flats online and realizing that 1) People in Barcelona are in no hurry to accomplish anything fast, and 2) Communicating via email is a lost cause. So I finally bought a local cell phone today that I can prepay minutes on and call...wherever. I´m hoping this will make my search easier. Actually just prior to my sitting down to write this I received an email from a woman finishing her PhD thesis in Psychology who has a flat 5 minutes from the beach, right next to the subway (or metro as it is called) with a room to rent. I´m hoping this will be the ONE!

Otherwise things have been good. I´ve been getting lost a lot and wondering the city in rain and shine with baggage strapped to every part of my person and looking like a complete American jackass. I´m hoping in a month I will be able to laugh at this. I´ve been meeting people in the hostels and via a friend of mine (Peter) who lived here for six years teaching private English lessons and exporting Olive Oil to the states (I think). Thank jebus for me Peter has good taste in friends and all has gone well so far.

The city itself is incredible. Bleeding culture. Oozing attitude. It´s Miami´s older more sophisticated, but still knows how to party aunt. Appartently there is a culture I am not privy to that a bit more seedy and sordid than the main strip of attractions I´ve been experiecing. I´m hoping once I leave the hostel tourista scene I will be able to feel more like a local and see for myself what Barcelona is all about. If nothing else I want to be able to practice speaking Spanish instead of being catered to in English and be an observer rather than a paying guest. It is truly amazing how much of the culture here is American culture and to hear what they think of us. I want to scream, ¨It´s not all f-ing McDonalds and Coca-Cola!¨ but maybe they´re right. Maybe it is and I´m just not mainstream enough in my own culture to know what I´m saying. Either way it doesn´t make me very proud to be an American.

For now I must go. More to come. Love to all.