fin de semana (the weekend)

Friday night, Stephan has left for Madrid for the weekend to see friends. Carlos & I are home...deciding we should go out (but, of course!) I take a shower, mix us up some strong cocktails-Absolute Mandarin & Fanta. Not wanting to be unsocial while getting ready, I bring my make-up out to the living room and tell Carlos-'You are witnessing the transformation, but if you tell anyone I'll have to kill you ;)' Proceeding with the warpaint, we chat, he says-'I'm getting a lesson'...yep, yep!
We leave the flat around 11pm and head to McCarthy's-I am supposed to be meeting a French girl I met to also go out. Of course, 11pm is way too early in BCN, but Miss Nicole wants to rally on and tells Valerio to have the girl phone if she shows up.
Carlos says-'I'm going to take you somewhere very dirty' My reply is 'Hell no, I don't think you are using the right words to lure me to your destination', but I do trust him and follow. We arrive at Cafe Royale, totally hip, full of people, very cool. Great music! Jazz, mixed up with some House music. We dance all night, have a great time. Around 2am, I am up at the bar and Carlos walks up-'I am berry drunk, jes, time to go' Ha, ha---Whenever Carlos doesn't understand me he says 'Jes, but I think it's OK por ju'---I want to laugh so hard...he also probably wants to laugh at my Spanish, so it's a two-way street.
Earlier while dancing, I overheard some Yankee voices, so of course, I go chat up the two boys-Jason & Matt, both from New York. Jason's living here (taking Spanish classes), Matt is a friend of his visiting. Jason has a darling girlfriend, Anna there also. I tell Matt-'We should go out tomorrow night, it would be fun to hang with an American and hit the city.' He agrees, I take Jason's number, and Saturday night is set.

Saturday night is also the night of the 'big game' Barcelona vs. Real Madrid in futbol. I was warned that this is quite an event, but I really had no idea. I leave the flat around 7:30 because I want to catch the game at McCarthy's. Go to the pub downstairs, Napoleon, to get paquete de tabaco. Napoleon's, my little local neighborhood quite cafe, is P A C K E D with people surrounding a 15" TV. What the ****, if this place is this full, I can't imagine...I trot off, and in my 10 minute walk to McCarthy's, every bar/pub/cafe I passed it spilling outside with spectators for this game-I swear it was bigger than Superbowl!!
Matt is supposed to meet me at MC's, I taco myself between two lovely English guys watching the game, and gave my Oscar performance of the 'dumb American blonde' so they would let up a chair, and explain the game. Perfect! It's so fun being a girl!

Matt arrives after the game, he's shown up earlier, but couldn't fit himself in. We chat and agree for our nightly plans..I first take him to the Borne for some cocktails, we chat about everything. Matt ends up is 31, I thought he was like 26, a recording artist & photographer-didn't elaborate much on this, but check his website - www.mruby.com----had no idea I was hanging out with such a talent all night!!! Relationships are a big topic of conversation and I hear all about his girlfriend back home, whom Matt if you read this-you better be good to!

Jason, Anna, and some of their friends are at Razzamatazz seeing the band Blocparty and we are to meet them there later. To make a long story, longer...Matt & I take a 40 minute cab ride, with irritated cabbie on the phone with the peeps at our destination, to the Green Tram final...that is all we have-where the Green Tram ends-WTF?????

Finally arriving, after a long haul, we have to walk down a dirt path, through some barb wired fence, to a squatter house. O K, Miss Nicole in her fur wrap, 4" knee high boots, lipgloss, and clutch bag at some crazy squatter house. Can I just tell you, it was so fun!! The setting- an old abandoned building-looks like where monks or nuns lived at the turn of the century (17th, that is), fire made of wood crates, mohawks, piercings, hyena type dogs wandering about. I told Jason-'I feel like I'm in the movie 'Lost Boys'...Jason is really funny, and cracks me up all night...he's like-'if you met me 5 years ago, you wouldn't have like me, I was one of those 'dark kids'-but look it gives me a sense of humor now'...
We all venture into 'the barn', where a live performance is about to start...The Touring Machine...an electronic sound, with a female vocalist-I was mesmerized! She was like Bjork, Tori Amos, Radiohead, all in one...amazing talent!! This place is packed with all walks of life-including an elderly man who I sat next to-he must have been 80, looked American Indian, had walker-like crutches with him, and listened intently...what an experience!
We all head back in a taxi around 4am-yes 4am people! I get to the central to walk home and can't believe that the streets are so packed with people everywhere...just incredible, the life here, that is...