Prague & Knee Surgery

Chris and I went to Prague during his Fall break (the British are so much more sensible about providing breaks during the school year!).  He wrote a great blog article on his blog site, which is http://travelguychris.blogspot.com.es/2015/11/a-few-more-highlights-of-prague-and-new.html .

Here are just a few additional observations about our trip there.  Prague is an amazing and beautiful city.  The oldest part of the city is paved with cobblestones, ancient churches, building and squares, unique stores and many restaurants with delicious food.  AND it is filled with tourists like Chris and me.  We were there in the Fall, so I could tell that the city could accommodate many more tourists than were there at the time we visited.  Many restaurants had few people sitting at their tables and we could get into most sites easily with no line.  Even so, sometimes in certain places the number of tourists was overwhelming.  I likened the Gothic-style Charles Bridge, started in 1357, as the Rambla of Barcelona, because all the tourists seem to live on that bridge, with many tour groups stopping beside the many statues on the bridge, causing huge massive jams trying to walk from one side to the other.  I can't imagine what the city would be like in the middle of the summer with even more hordes of tourists.

But besides the tourists, Prague was magical for us.  It's probably one of the most romantic cities in Europe and the changing of the Fall leaves made it even more beautiful.  It was the perfect backdrop for us to continue to grow, learn, live, and deepen our relationship.  Feeling so close to Chris, it's hard to believe that I could feel any closer, and yet that happened on this trip.

One Last Small Hike Before Surgery

I went on an hike (more like a long walk) the weekend before my scheduled knee surgery.  It was an enjoyable walk with some friends besides the Besòs River, which more or less defines the northern border of the city of Barcelona.  We then had a pleasant meal nearby at the home of one them.



Knee Surgery

Last Thursday I had arthroscopic surgery on my left knee to repair the torn meniscus that was found from an MRI.  Last August, on my trip to Amsterdam, I began to experience swelling and pain there, which did not dissipate after returning home.  I decided to see a specialist, who thought it might be interior torn meniscus and ordered the MRI, which confirmed his initial diagnosis.  I scheduled surgery on Nov 5.  It turns out that there was a lot of torn meniscus, which he removed.

I am now confined at home and can get around using crutches and my office chair, which has wheels on it.  For Post-Op, this doctor uses Growth Factor treatment to help repair and regenerate the meniscus and worn cartilage, which I received my first treatment last Monday.  I am expected to get two more treatments and then some physical therapy.  The doctor initially said that my recovery time will be about 1 1/2 months.  Unfortunately, this treatment is not recognized in the U.S. but I thought it was worthwhile doing and will be paying for this on my own.

This is the first major medical procedure overseas.  So far, my Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance is working well.  I had to tell them in advance about the procedure.  But it still takes constant vigilance and communication with the provider and insurance company.  The surgeon's office has been patient with the mysteries of working with a foreign insurance company and will be submitting the invoice and my medical record to them.  BCBS says it takes around 30 days to process and pay.  Later I will be billed for the difference (my copay).  Fingers crossed!

Great Support!

A visit from some of my friends

Chris, of course, has been a tremendous support before, during and after the operation.  I have also had the immense outpouring of support from friends both here and in the U.S.  I have had many offers from my friends here to help me with my food shopping and some will even cook for me!  I have had some very nice visits from friends, which has been very enjoyable and lessens the sense of loneliness and claustrophobia.  I feel very fortunate indeed!!

Learning Catalan - An Uphill Climb

It's been now 5 weeks since starting the first level of Catalan and it's been an interesting experience so far.  The good news is that I am understanding some of the basic structure of the language and some of the most commonly used words and phrases.  Already my eyes are comprehending much better store signs that I read in Barcelona and sentences that I encounter (almost all store signs and local commercial publications are written in Catalan in Barcelona, not in Spanish).  I see the potential of accessing much more information and appreciating much more deeply all that Barcelona and Catalunya has to offer.

And, as I had surmised, I have a much better appreciation of the difficulty of learning a new language from scratch, especially as an adult who is in his early 60's.  Chris, of course, is much younger, but he also comments about the ease in which his own 4th grade students can pick up a language, as he too is struggling with continuing to learn Spanish with his Spanish teacher in Kiev.  Also, the urgency in learning Catalan is less than when I learned Spanish in Spain in 1978 in a small city in the Castilla region where hardly anyone knew English.  Here in Barcelona everyone knows Spanish so the necessity to learn Catalan to communicate is much less.

I am lagging behind in my listening comprehension of and expressing myself in Catalan.  But I need to continue to remind myself that this is a beginning course and that this will take time to become basically fluent.  It helps that I know Spanish pretty well, as there are some similarities to the Catalan language.  Also, since the large majority of the class are Spanish speakers, the teacher will default to Spanish to explain some words and concepts when she knows that we will not understand her explanations in Catalan.  But contrary to some people's perceptions, Catalan is not a dialect of Spanish.  It is a completely different language but has similar Latin roots.  Also, here in Barcelona, there could be some "castellanismo" of Catalan, similar to Spanish in Puerto Rico blending English words into its vocabulary.

But what motivates me is knowing that I will eventually be able to take local classes, go to the theater, watch other TV channels, understand friends when they switch to Catalan, and much more.

Upcoming Knee Surgery

On my trip to Amsterdam, I started to experience chronic knee pain.  It did not spoil the trip, but I thought it would be wise to get this checked out.  I went to a doctor who specializes in knee surgery and who was highly recommended.  He ordered an MRI which revealed torn meniscus.  I will have surgery done on Nov 5.  It has been interesting coordinating the logistics with my U.S. Blue Cross/Blue Shield international coverage.  I think it will all work out coverage-wise, but we'll see how it all unfolds.

Prague

Speaking of trips, on Monday I will be flying to Prague where Chris will meet me and we will spend a week together.  I can't wait to be with Chris again (it's been two months since we were last together) and to explore Prague together.  Everything I have read and heard about Prague makes me very excited about spending 7 days there with Chris.

Being a Tourist vs. a Resident in Barcelona

The month of September was filled with memorable times with visitors.  My sister and her partner John spent a week in Barcelona.  I had my good friend Carol who this year stayed in Barcelona for a month, renting an apartment nearby and had her husband and friends visit with her here.  I also had a long-time friend who visited me here and who I hadn't seen for 24 years.  These visits plus my own trip this month to Berlin caused me to reflect on the differences between being in another country as a tourist versus living as a resident.  But before I begin to philosophize (I really need a glass of Catalan red wine to accompany me for that!), let me give you some highlights of the month, which includes a funny story about my sister's stay here.

Bernadette, John and I waiting for our paella

With my sister Bernadette and John, the plan was for them to stay with me and together visit the tourist sights of the city.  We went to Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, went up to Montjuic, felt the spray of the magic fountain, saw a concert at La Palau de la Musica Catalana, spent the day at Montserrat, ascended to Tibidabo to see the breadth of the city, had a tour of the Gothic Quarter, walked down La Rambla and visited La Boqueria market.  We also ate very well and I hosted a gathering with my friends at a local wine bar/bodega to meet my sister.  It was very special for me to have my first family member visit me here in Barcelona.

As I said, the plan was for them to stay with me the entire week.  But after three days, John's allergies with my cat Sunset caused us to consider having them move to a hotel for the last three days.  Of course we wanted the hotel to be close but my first choice, a hotel just a block away, was already filled.  The next closest hotel was three blocks away.  It is a brand new upscale hotel, Axel II, which caters to mostly the gay community but is hetero-friendly.  My sister and John were nonplussed about that and had three enjoyable nights in a cat-free environment.

Carol with Jordi and his brother
Roberto

Carol was close by in a very nice and spacious apartment.  She had various visitors, and at its height, had four other people staying with her.  We met up a few times, but they were pretty busy with sight-seeing, cooking classes, the beach and day-trips.  She got to spend four days at my place with Sunset while I was in Amsterdam at the beginning of her stay here.  It seems that she got plenty of opportunities to speak Spanish and yet spent a lot of time in English with her husband and friends.  My friends are very fond of Carol and were also very welcoming of Carol's entourage when we had a few dinners together.

Projection on
Casa Batllo

An old friend Joe, who I knew when I was in the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington DC, was visiting.  He had moved to Denver 24 years ago and we hadn't seen each other since.  He was going to be here with his partner and his sister.  We got to meet one evening for tapas and to visit one of the many spectacles of the city, the projections on the Gaudi house Casa Batllo, during the festivities of La Mercé.  I combined that with local friends, so they got to meet some of them as well.

Also, this month, I went to Berlin for the first time.  Shambhala had a leadership conference for two days there and so I stretched that to 4 nights and got just a glimpse of the city.  Not knowing German, I was in full tourist mode, trying to

At the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin

make my way around this expansive and energetic city in the few days I had there.  I only had one full day to see Berlin, so I ran around using the public transportation system, which I felt comfortable with by the end of my stay.  Chris and I hope to visit the city soon together, since it's a good halfway point for the both of us.

It's been a long time since I was a tourist in Barcelona.  It's not for the faint of heart!!  Barcelona is the fourth European city with the most tourists, surpassing 7.5 million visitors in 2013.  They are not everywhere in the city, but they concentrate in the tourist areas (duh!) and as such can be a battle making your way in these areas.  As much as I enjoyed my time with my sister, it was exhausting being a tourist again!  In my time in Berlin I found much more energy touring that city, since it was my first time there.

I find that the goals and aspirations of being a tourist are very different than being a foreign resident.  The typical tourist is in a city to visit the tourist sights and may be less interested in touching base with the language and culture of the city.  Of course, language can be a major barrier to connecting with the people who actually live there, as well as time.  It was interesting to introduce my friends to visitors and the varying degrees of interest that they had in getting to know them.

As a foreign resident, it has always been my goal to integrate myself as much as possible with the culture of the city that I live in.  Being a part of the hiking group, cultivating a group of local friends,  being involved in the local Shambhala group, improving my Spanish and now beginning to learn the basics of Catalan are all ways for me to be more connected.  I find that this connection revitalizes my spirit and renews my energy.

End of Summer - More Travel in Store

The rest of my time in Kiev with Chris was great.  I got to relax with no real agenda except to be together and explore more of Kiev.  Since then, with Chris starting work, getting to know his fellow-teachers and meeting other new people in his new city, he has discovered many other urban gems that I am looking forward to getting to know the next time I'm back.

We did have one rude awakening after I returned to Barcelona.  The very next weekend was a 3 day weekend for Chris and we planned to meet up in Amsterdam.  Unfortunately, it was not clearly explained to Chris that he cannot leave the country under any circumstances until his work visa

With Arie & Kevin in Amsterdam

papers are fully processed, which takes about 45 days.  I was bummed out, but luckily Chris got a refund on his airline tickets.  I did go to Amsterdam and met up with some long-time friends that I knew in Washington DC, all who were associated with the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington when I was in that group.  It was great to spend time with Arie and Kevin, & Andy and his husband Sjef.  It was also a magnificent weekend in Amsterdam weather-wise.  I pretty much stayed outdoors most of the time as a result and didn't get to any museums, except for the Heineken "Experience", which was a tour and high-tech interactive museum in what was before the original brewery.

Learning Catalan

It's interesting that my general plans for the first two years in Spain are coming to fruition, at least up to now.  I figured that the first half year would be devoted to finding and buying my flat, furnishing it and settling in.  After that I wanted to improve my Spanish and devote myself to refining my language skills, which I did by attending the city-sponsored language school and completing the last two levels that they offer, levels 4 & 5.  But I also thought that after that it would be good for me to begin to learn Catalan.  As many of you know, most Barcelonians are bi-lingual and speak both Spanish and Catalan.  Depending on the person and his/her background, some of them express themselves better in Catalan than in Spanish or it may be just their preference.  I find at times in a middle of a conversation within a group, some individuals will switch to Catalan.  Also, my Friday night Shambhala meditation group, in group meetings, prefers to converse in Catalan.


For these and other reasons, I will start taking Catalan classes this September.  It's a first level course that the city offers for free, which consists of two classes per week, 3 hours per class, for 9 weeks.  I just got my book and have started to review the first few pages and take notes.  This experience will also help me to better understand and appreciate Chris' early language learning process in Spanish, which I went through myself, but over 35 years ago.

Upcoming Trips

Shambhala Europe is having a leadership conference in mid-September in Berlin.  I've never been and I felt that I should be there.  I'm getting there a couple of days early so I can get to see some highlights and a sense of the city before the conference begins.   Of course at a later time I would like to spend more time in this very fascinating city with Chris.

In mid-October Chris and I will finally be back together again, meeting up in Prague.  We are renting a very nice apartment in the center of the city.  We will be there for 7 days, so we are sure to not only get to know this city, but to also explore other cities nearby in the Czech Republic.

Oh, BTW, my other general plan was that starting in Year 2 of living in Europe, I would begin to travel and take advantage of my proximity to many amazing and beautiful cities.  This also is starting to unfold this year.

Kiev, Ukraine - the Good, the Okay and the Ugly

I've been here in Kiev for about five days so far.  I'm so glad that I came just a couple of days after Chris arrived to help him settle in to his new home and to explore Kiev together.  It's a huge city and I felt culture shock the first couple of days after I arrived.  There are aspects of this city that are very nice, others that are so-so, and some things are hard to bear.  I'll take these one at a time.  Please keep in mind that these are only first impressions.  I'm sure that Chris will have a lot more to say about Kiev with a lot more substance over time.

The Good

Chris lives here!!  That's so good!!!  He's only four hours away from Barcelona and we'll be seeing each other more often, traveling to other European cities for weekend-plus getaways.  Already we have a trip planned at the end of this month in Amsterdam and a week-long trip in October to Prague.

We have visited some beautiful parts of Kiev.  The orthodox churches here are stunning, with their unique onion domes, common in this part of the world, and the ornate and iconic sanctuaries.  It seems that religion is a big part of Ukrainian life, similar to Poland, although it's too early to verify that.  On Sunday afternoon in St. Michael's Golden Dome Church, many long, thin devotional candles were lit and at least 5 women, with their heads covered with kerchiefs, were cleaning parts of the sanctuary with buckets and rags.  All the other women in the church had their heads covered and as they entered a certain part of the church they would cross themselves three times.  Much of this felt like a throwback to my early years as a child in my Catholic parish, but without the opulent orthodox church decor.

Kiev has some super-sized shopping malls, very modern by western standards, and with air-

conditioning, which is necessary with highs of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) these last few days, but at least it is a dry heat. They also have super-sized modern supermarkets where you can find just about everything and the food prices for most products are much cheaper than in either Barcelona or Washington DC.  The city center is a very pleasant area to walk around as well.

Chris' home is only a 7 minute walk to his British International school, which is located behind a gated community with many high-rise residential buildings and the most luxurious gym that I have ever seen, which I believe Chris will be joining in the next week or so.  The school itself is a pleasant and well-equipped facility and it seems like it will be good working environment for Chris.

We had the added pleasure of meeting some locals.  The day after I arrived, we joined a small group of members from the local Shambhala meditation group for their weekly meditation session at one of the member's home.  It was also her birthday, so we were invited to stay and enjoy food, wine and conversation with them.  They were all very kind and their English was good enough for us to have some good discussion.  They also contacted a member who was not there but is a museum docent for the Mikail Bulgakov Museum.  We visited the museum on Sunday and she gave us a personal tour of this author's home and hear the fascinating story and display about his life in the early 20th century.

The Okay

The Metro has three lines, each in a different color and each station with a unique number.  Before the 2012 Euro World Cup in Kiev, the lines were not color-coded.  People knew where to go by just knowing the names of the station, which of course is hard for tourists to read in Cyrillic.  

Speaking of tourists, Kiev is so different from Barcelona in that regard.  There doesn't seem to be any tourists!!  I'm sure there are, but they are in hiding, I think.

Back to the metro, it wears on you very quickly.  It feels very old, although the first line was built in 1960.  It is almost always filled with people and toward the city center you are crammed into the metro car like sardines.  It is very unusual that you would ever find a seat.  It jerks you around as if you're on a roller coaster ride.  And it is super loud.  You have to shout to your neighbor to be heard.  And yet, when it comes to talking on the metro, it is very unusual to hear or see that. People don't speak to each other.  There are few smiles and laughing is hardly ever heard.  

In Barcelona, when I would talk with Chris in English in the metro system, people would turn and glance, even though English is spoken with much more frequency there than in Kiev.  Here however, there is no sign of curiosity, no head-turning, no glancing.  Everyone is in their own world.  I wonder whether this is the result of years of Soviet repression and fear-induced self-containment.  It does feel cold and barren in these public areas.  However, at stores and restaurants, the service is very good and the customer gets very good attention, probably more so than in Barcelona.

The Ugly

There are beautiful sections of the city and the Dnipro River is very pretty.  But the city as a whole is very run down.  There are large swaths where you feel you are in a 3rd world country - many abandoned buildings, torn-up sidewalks, dilapidated apartment buildings, etc.  The closest hospital to Chris from the outside seems like it was in a war zone.  I doubt that would be the hospital that Chris would go to, but it is an example of how the city infrastructure seems to have been neglected for many years.   I would think that if Ukraine goes forward in eventually joining the European Union, it will get the investments that it needs to make these critical changes to this very historical and richly cultured city.

It's Only Getting Better - Chris in Barcelona

This morning Chris left to go back to the U.S. after five wonderful weeks of having him here in Barcelona and a taking a trip together to Bilbao.  Things didn't turn out exactly as we had planned but they were exactly as they were meant to be.

Changed Plans

One of the things that was planned was for Chris to attend an intensive Spanish class for four weeks.  What was unknown was how fast the pace would be and how the teachers seemed to gear their lessons toward those who already had some basics of the Spanish language under their belt, even though it was a level 1 class.  I was at a retreat during the first week that Chris was in class, but when I got back I quickly understood his situation and how Chris was feeling that with each passing day, he was getting further and further behind.  Although we worked on some of his homework together and in spite of Chris spending 2-3 hours after class studying (that after 4 hours of class each day, every day), Chris decided to drop the class after 2 1/2 weeks.  He also had to take care of his visa for Ukraine and other essential matters during this time.  I supported Chris' decision in this and his plan to spend some of his newly found free time to review the materials that he had received from the class in the weeks remaining in Barcelona.  Chris will also be taking a Spanish class once he gets settled in Kiev.

Another plan we had was to spend a half day on a Saturday in the country about an hour outside of

Barcelona with the Shambhala meditation group  for group meditation.  Well, we never quite made it.  I haven't figured out yet how to ensure that I actually board the correct train when riding the regional trains (these are called Rodalies in Catalunya or Cercanías in the rest of Spain).   You see, there are many different trains that use the same tracks and come within minutes apart.  Although they may have a name (like R1 or R3 or R4, etc), depending on their final destination, they may take different routes or they may not stop at certain towns.  So you really need to know your geography of Catalunya, know your train schedule, and know that the town that you want to go to is on the route of the train that is displaying its final destination.

To me it's very confusing.  I study it beforehand, but in the moment, I can sometimes board the wrong train. That's what happened that Saturday.   We got on an R4, which was going in the right direction, but not exactly the same route as the train we should have been on.  However, since there is no graphical display of all the stops of these trains (like on the Barcelona metro), we didn't realize this until we had spent over an hour on this train.  We got off at the next train stop, waited 40 minutes and took the next train back to our starting point. We lost four hours and lost the opportunity to do group meditation.  But Chris and I did spend a little meditation time together at home afterwards.

New Plans!

Since Chris had the final few weeks without class obligations, we decided to take a short trip to the north of Spain - to Bilbao in the Basque country.  It's only an hour trip by plane.  I bought the tickets for the both of us.  A few days later, before we were going to Bilbao, Chris went to the Ukranian Consulate in Barcelona with all his paperwork to obtain his work visa.  They told him that that they needed to keep his passport and he would get it back in a week's time.  As we were going back home, I got the sneaky feeling that we might have a problem going to Bilbao, which was before Chris would be able to have his passport returned.  As I investigated this, I found out that no other ID for Chris was sufficient for air travel - not his American driver's license, not even his passport card (this is relatively new - the U.S. gives out a passport card for North American travel at the same time it issues a new passport).  The only way to fly to Bilbao was for Chris to get his passport back or we would lose our money with our airline tickets.

On Monday, Chris returned to the consulate with his airline tickets.  He explained the issue and had to wait most of the morning as the consulate talked with the embassy in Madrid before he was told that they would return his passport at that time and that they would still process his visa the Monday after he got back from his trip.  Whew!  That was a close call!

Bilbao was great!!  It's a very nice city, we had excellent weather, we ate very, very well, and we got to see the Guggenheim Museum with temporary expositions of Jeff Koons and Jean Michel Basquiat as well as the Museum of Fine Arts.  To top it all off, as we were posting some Facebook photos, a friend that I met in Barcelona contacted me.  I didn't realize that he lived close to Bilbao and he and his partner invited us to the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, about an hour bus ride from Bilbao for the next day to have lunch with them and their family and to visit the ancient cathedral there, which is in the midst of a major renovation.  It was fun to spend time with them and their family and visit the cathedral.  In the late afternoon, they drove us back to Bilbao and we spent some time in the old city center having a drink and enjoying each other's company.

Reflection

More than just doing activities together, Chris and I got to be with each other, share more about our lives, deepen the love that already has a solid base, and even practice Spanish together!  It has been an amazing five weeks.

Next Up!

Chris will be in the U.S. soon for a whirlwind trip to attend his nephew's wedding in Kentucky.  He'll be doing his final packing for Kiev and will arrive there on Aug 4, where he will be welcomed by the school, given a tour of the city and given the keys to his furnished apartment.  I'll be arriving on Aug 6 and together we'll get to explore Kiev together until I go back to Barcelona on Aug 15.  Chris starts work on Aug 17 with a week of teacher preparations.  He has a three day weekend before class starts and we'll be meeting each other in Amsterdam from Aug 21-24.  He will meet his students on Aug 25.

First Two Weeks With and Without Chris

Chris arrived on June 29 without a hitch.  He had a wonderful send-off in the U.S. with two going away parties in his home town at his mom's home and in Washington D.C. at the home of a good friend.  With no regrets he came with his three bags of luggage to his home here in Barcelona.  He will be returning to the U.S. for a few days at the end of July for his nephew's wedding and then will be flying to Kiev on Aug 3 with his other 5 bags.  I'll be meeting him in Kiev from Aug 6 - 15 to help him settle into his new apartment.

The first couple of days were a whirlwind because just a day and a half later I was leaving for France

Chris took this pic as we met up with
friends who would be learning
Spanish at Chris' language school.

for a week-long retreat.  I wanted to get Chris settled into our home, set up his gym membership, get his phone working, ensure he was ready to start his Spanish intensive class on July 1, and meet a couple of other North American friends that were going to the same school.  All that on June 29, the day he arrived.  We didn't even have a chance to take a picture of us!  On June 30, Chris asked me to leave that day open for us to celebrate my birthday which was on June 26.  On that day, he gave me a fantastic relaxing gift at a luxurious spa and massage, where I floated in 7 various kinds of arab-like pools with a steam room after getting my massage.  I felt totally pampered.  We then had a very nice lunch and early dinner so I could finish up packing before my trip the next day.

Shambhala Meditation Retreat

On July 1, I left Chris back in Barcelona and rode in a car with three Spaniards for 8 hours to the mid-western part of France at Dechen Choling, one of Shambhala's land centers, for a week long retreat.  It was designed to train those who had the interest and demonstrated skills and knowledge to be meditation instructors.  There were 60 of us from all over Europe.  We were asked to study and prepare for this week, which I had done.  We received talks, extended times of group meditation, excellent food, as well as times working in small groups to practice and demonstrate the skills of working one-on-one with a meditation student.

Given that we were in Europe, where multiple languages are spoken, I requested that I could be assigned to an English-speaking group, so that I could express myself more easily and from the heart.  But it was not meant to be.  They needed a fourth person for the Spanish-speaking group.  However, it actually turned out to be the best thing for me.  I discovered that although I still need to continue to learn more vocabulary, expressions, etc, I am fully capable to converse in Spanish with a meditation student about meditation practice and how that is experienced in one's life.  The experience gave me the confidence to take this next step in my involvement with the Shambhala group in Barcelona and with Shambhala Europe in general.

Back on the Home Front

During my week in France, I had occasional contact with Chris, although internet communications are not readily available from there.  Some issues came up for him, including the changing of the front door of the building and receiving a new key, which Chris did not get immediately and was stuck outside for a little while.

When I got home, I realized that he was having a really difficult week in the intensive Spanish class.  Their pace was very fast and although he was starting at the first level, there were others in the class that had some prior experience and skills.  It was not a level playing field and I could see that Chris was somewhat discouraged.  We spent that evening going over his homework and I encouraged him to get out of the class what he could in the remaining few weeks.  I think he has regained his motivation and is diligently applying himself and at the same time taking time to relax some and enjoy his time here in Barcelona.


Over the last few days we went to a dinner party at a friend's home with a beautiful terrace overlooking the city and yesterday we spent the day at the beach with friends.