Talk Box Rock

Me estoy enamorando de España

translation: I’m in love with Spain

My sister and I spent a week in Barcelona, Sitges, and Valencia where the drinks are strong, and the men are pleasant. We went dancing most nights, and ran into festas in both Barcelona and one in Sitges. My lord, the Spanish know how to throw a party. When I heard there would be a festival, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I had no idea there would be booze and dancing and live music until 2 or 3 or even 6, and streets so crowded you have to wiggle for every inch when trying to get through. I also didn’t expect men with fireworks spinning around on sticks chasing people on the streets, nor did I expect every person to give me a lesson on how to speak the language properly. I never would have guessed I would be eating chocolate dipped churros at 1am, then dancing with a handful of 40 year old gay men, and I definitely didn’t expect to shoot water guns at unexpecting men while hiding behind carousel ponies.

In other words, I didn’t realize the festivals would be the exact opposite of an American festival.

My sister and I also went to la tomatina, the huge tomato fight in bunyol, but that certainly wasn’t the highlight of the travels. (no pics from that because we didn’t have waterproof cameras) I think I was more stoked about the sausage, tapas, clubbing, cheap mojitos, caipirinhas, wine, beer, etc. than I was about la tomatina. In the end, neither of us took too many pictures, but we had a blast.

la festa gracia




la sagrada familia, a crazy gaudi cathedral






la festa major in sitges


my sister, fetching for some churros


my most favoritest piece of graffiti so far


some stomach turning flavors of gelato. passed by here on recommendation of a friend who’s friend said, “you can have a whole meal of icecream” in reference to the flavors. I don’t want to imagine what smoked salmon would taste like.




valencia

I cannot wait to come back.

oh right, and about la tomatina. I was amused by how many accounts I heard of girls retaliating when confronted with boys who were being jerks; boys who tried to rip shirts and bikinis and stuff (I was glad to hear I wasn’t alone :P ). It’s amazing what some people think they can get away with if they don’t know the other party.

an extended weekend in the Swiss countryside

On this weekend, I biked around the western part of Switzerland. It was hot and sunny each day, which was quite pleasant, but left me with a quite funny tanline.

On Thursday night, I took the train to Geneva, and rode across the French border to a the house where I was couchsurfing at. There, I met a lovely 20-something German couple who were traveling around Switzerland, and of course the guy I whose house I was couchsurfing at. The couple and I spent the majority of the day wandering around Geneva, scaling church towers, and relaxing near the lake.

on the train to Geneve on the chairs in one of the cathedrals

After we parted ways, I hit the road towards Lausanne. I learned quite quickly that the Swiss bike map makers really enjoy hills, and odd routes. Beautiful, but odd. Also, I learned how easy it is to miss the markers that denote that certain routes are in fact bike routes. (sometimes they’re gravel roads, cornfields, highways, driveways, dirt paths, forested trails, gigantic narrow roaded hills, etc.)

By the time I reached Lausanne, I was very unwilling to find nightlife (it happens when your hostel is at the top of a hill), so I wandered around the waterfront park near sunset, and then I grabbed some dinner. The first restaurant I stopped by was closing, but the waiter pointed me in the direction of another by the name of cafe milan. I ordered the steak tartare. Normally I wouldn’t have ordered half a pound of raw beef, but the previous week, the food came up in conversation at work, and my co-workers assured me it’s safe to eat. Plus, it’s Switzerland. All the beef is sourced from Switzerland, and this country keeps its standards on beef quite high.

at a park/playground in lausanne

The next day, I hoped I would be able to bike along lake neuchatel, but I had grossly underestimated the time it would take, given the non-linear fashion of said swiss bike routes. I feel obliged to mention that this portion of the bike ride took me through what must have been a national forest, complete with pot hole laden gravel roads, and on a dirt road behind a large warehouse for a grocery chain. I also must have gone off trail quite a few times given that the sign for the trail was often pointing opposite to my travel.

In other words, I cheated and took the train partways to my next destination.

But before cheating, I arrived in Yverdon les Bains, a small town at the south end of that lake. I headed towards the lake, and jumped into the warm pale waters, and mucked around in the soft sand. I then took the train towards Biel/Bienne, then biked the rest of the way to my next destination, Lengnau. I couchsurfed with a very nice couple in their house, which was previously a barn, and a very cool habitat. They were having a barbeque, talking, drinking, and having a good time. They were very very cool.

at one of the prettier middle-of-nowheres

The next day, I rode to Solothurn, then off to Basel. (I originally inteded on finishing in Zurich, but the ride to Basel looked more interesting.) I scaled the biggest hill I’ve ever ridden, and coasted down for 10 minutes.

from the top of said ginormous hill








some quite clever graffiti in Basel

Countries are really close together in Europe

Back home, it’s not uncommon to know people who lived most of their lives in other countries, but in any group of people, most probably don’t fit that description. I’m slowly realizing that’s not always the case here. Though most people I’ve met outside of work are of Swiss descent, there always seems to be a sizeable faction of people who are “international”. At most parties, shows, or clubs I go to, there’s usually at least one person I talk to who either didn’t spend most of their life in Switzerland, or has hopped around a fair amount. I think it might have to do with the laws on travel and working being much more lax.

I guess that’s the exasperated way of saying…

Last night I went to this club called Alte Börse, and I was hanging out with Alex, my roommate’s boyfriend who is Swiss. Alex introduced me to two girls who were Irish; one of the girls lived in Kenya for much of her life, and has been in Zurich for 5 years, and the other lived in Great Britain for most of her life. We talked with two boys who were Dutch and Spanish. The Dutch said he spends his vacations in Brazil kite boarding.

All we needed was someone from Australia, and a penguin, and we practically would have had a representitive from each continent.

rob likes the idea

the guy from Denmark said you have to use “cans or something” to avoid drunken injuries with glass. it makes me wonder, did someone try playing with bottles? seems like a baddecision

speaking of baddecisions, I would like nothing more than to play this with friends when I get home.

Melt! Festival

Jeff and I worked our way out to Melt! festival, a music thing in Germany. Unfortunately, July is a very rainy month for much of Europe, and the acts were canceled after 3am (they were supposed to go till 7) meaning, no Moderat for us. The setting was quite cool, an old coal mine or something.

At night, they lit up all the old machinery.

One of the stages was quite literally on a beach. The bands all played quite well, but I must say, Royksopp seemed to be playing for the cameras more than they were for the crowd

animal collective


bloc party


digitalism

And there were hipsters all over the god damn place.

Including a few who fell asleep at the train station on the way back

and my first encounter with poorly translated english. <3

First week in Zürich [the short version]

On my computer, there’s a long explanation of what I’ve been up to the last week, but it’s 4 pages long, and I feel like it’s a bit exasperated, and unnecessarily detailed. Instead here’s a few pictures and words.

It’s kinda like Seattle, but there are far more laws, and people don’t speak English [to you automatically]. I’m living with a girl named Natalie, and a boy named Yirk (sp?) in Enge, a neighborhood in the northern part of Zurich. Yirk isn’t around much, but Natalie is. This week she and her boyfriend Alex took me out to a club in Zurich, as well as a few bars. They’re both really hip and interesting, so there’s always something we can talk about. I also started work this week at Google. They put me through orientation, got me drunk, and gave me a hat.

On Monday, a bunch of newcomers, interns, employees, etc. went to this guy Stéphane’s house for a housewarming party. I was crazy tired from the jet lag, and headed home a bit earlier. I passed through this on the walk home.

On Saturdays, there are these big flea markets. I saw a bunch of neat stereotypical Swiss things, but mostly, the flea markets are where people sell things they don’t want anymore, be it may that they are incredibly legit.

or incredibly creepy

After wandering around two markets for a bit, I headed to H&M to pick up some essentials, then rode down the west side of the lake on a free borrowed bike, until I was near Horgen.

The thing that stood out more than anything else was this place called Rote Fabrik. It’s this cultural center, that’s covered in graffitti, and hosts concerts, films, workshops has spaces for artists, etc.

I think this was my favorite piece on the building.

Rote Fabrik also has a few pretty paths because of a couple adjacent parks. It’s right on the water, and they have swimming in the summer, like many places on the lake.

Other highlights

• Learning Swiss German… hasn’t happened yet.
• Jeff and I are going to Melt! Festival next weekend
• I saw a swan for the first time!
• I went to my first European club, Alte Börse where I realized Europeans have a variety of tastes in electronic music.
• I’m going kayaking tomorrow (hooooray!) alarmclock fail :(

Ciao!