:: @ Choepie’s ::

After 4h30 in the train, I arrived in Barcelona yesterdayevening. Guess how much time I spend on my seat and how much I spend in the bar of the train talking to Sheilla, who served me the best Mahou that was available To be honest, it’s a long ride but very enjoyable, and it was no surprise I got of the train pretty happy. Having booked a workspace in our Barcelona office, it allows me to work from here as from everywhere I actually want. I’ll give proof of that later in May when I will work from the offices in Brussels, Munich and Prague while doing my ‘European tour’ without taking a single day off. That’s why I love this job. Anyway a ‘Spanish’ friday ends at 15h and then I hit the city, I hate shopping, but it’s a must in Barcelona, there are zillions of small shops of young designers and I’m afraid I will spend a reasonable ammount of my salary this month over here.

I hope I can do some beachtime as well, but seen the clouds I have my doubts.

I just returned form the UK. Recovering time. I was there for a training week and the beers afterwards were the ones that made it even harder. But I managed to meet up twice with Niki and Nicky, both ex-madrid colleagues. Reasonable curry and good old traditional English bars. I had a great time.

Coming home was a bit of a downer. Previous weekend I dropped of Ana in Barcelona where she started working (at last she found a job !). The excitement of a new job and a new city was tempered by the fact that we would live separated for a while, something I happen to manage better than Ana. It’s not something I like, I do feel sad about it, but I see the need of it and there is no other possibility at the moment. She might have a job in Madrid soon, so it’s a matter of time whether I move to Barcelona or she comes back.

By the time we hit daily 30degrees in Spain, things will already look different.  I have some hard weeks to come as well, a week to Belgium, a week in Munich and one in Prague, it can all be a lot worse of course.

I was reading Jonathan Schwartz’s Blog ( Chief Executive Officer and President Sun Microsystems, Inc.) and followed one of the links on other blogs of interest : for all those over here that like to game once in a while… take a look at this man’s setups (mark the ending s)

Some usefull facts about Valencia :

• *Valencia lost in almost the last minute against Chelsea in the Champions league and is therefor out.
• * It sometimes rains in Valencia.
• * It is sometimes colder in Valencia then it is in a randomly chosen country. let’s pick for an example Belgium.
• * Semana Santa is the most unstable period for weather in Spain. Any other period it will be exactly what you expect or better, never worse.

I can complain for a few more lines about the weather but it won’t change anyway. My sister was over with her husband and the kids for a couple of days. We had a great time, at least the kids did, our mood was a bit tempered by the cloudy skies and the wind on the beach. At the end you don’t come to Spain to find Belgian weather. It doesn’t match with the picture everybody has in mind of this country. The good weather was reserved for Belgium these days. It’s always a shame when you are on holiday and you call your homecountry to find out that it’s better there then on your holidayspot. She’ll forgive me one day. I’m still alive.

Back to business after a short break. Ana is leaving for Barcelona in 3 days time. Due to a couple of open options it’s unsure when we will be together again. That’s a very strange feeling. I don’t want to spoil the few hours we are together with wining about that, but on the other hand, we need some time to talk about it. I was still very tired of the trip to Valencia but I couldn’t sleep well last night, realizing that Ana won’t be lying next to me for an undefined period.

I promised myself to not touch my computer while Ana is still here. There are little things you don’t realise untill you take a step back and take the time to see it. Like yesterday, while I was reading a book, Ana was watching some gameshow on TV. It moved me seeing how she told the right answer to the television screen and I was wondering if more people talked to their television. It was a nice moment.

It’s actually a matter of time, Ana is coming back to Madrid or I’m going to Barcelona. Both options are open, maybe possible, not unlikely. But it will take some time, I estimate it around 2 months. It took here more than a year to find a job so impatience is in place, but 2 months is something that can be survived.

I wonder how many speedtickets I’m risking on the +/- 550km distance between Madrid and Barcelona the upcoming weeks. I did it in just under 6 hours once with my motorbike, but that is a long track for a motorbike after a full day’s work, also seen the fact that you have to stretch your legs once in a while, take some fuel, and doing this after a day’s work on a friday might not be the safest bet.

Ku Kluxclan wise half of Spain is walking around with a Maria statue on a heavy platform, with between 10 to 30 men supporting it. It looks scary at first sight but once you are used to the masks, it is pretty funny. I’m not sure if they do it on purpose, but the thing must be constructed very strong, seen that they wiggle it from left to right like Maria/Jesus (sometimes including the donkey) is breakdancing.  Strange tradition if you ask me.

I’m off to Valencia, with my niece and nephew (and their supporting parents) are over. First time in a plane, first time in Spain. I’m looking forward to it. It will be a week of vacation like I’ve never had before. I hope it doesn’t rain too much.