Hello, Dali

I went to the Dali' Museum in Figueres, Spain yesterday and it totally blew my mind. I can't even put it into words so I thought I'd post a few of my favorite pictures.

...oh, I guess should have mentioned that I can't put things into pictures very well either, but I tried.

My Mom Says I'm Cool

I had my first day of TEFL class today. It was a weird feeling, a first day of school, and something I haven't experienced in four years.

It's so funny how that nervous feeling never really goes away, no matter how much you mature and change and develop confidence in yourself as a person and a student.

It always takes me a while to warm up in these situations. I never want to be the person who is overly enthusiastic and friendly to the point of looking desperate. I worry though, that in trying to look like I'm not trying too hard, I end up coming across as aloof or standoffish. Usually once I get a chance to speak to people one on one I'll start acting more like myself but I worry that the first impression I make is that I'm snobby.

This isn't all in my head, either. I mentioned in this post that my best friend from high school thought I was a snob the first day of school. It's not because I'm a snob though, it's because I get nervous and don't think straight and let things come out of my mouth that don't sound right.

That first day of ninth grade, when the teacher was taking roll, she said to let her know if we had a nickname of choice. My turn came and rather than saying the obvious "you can call me Ali," I said in a loud voice with clearly enunciated words, "I prefer Ali." Doesn't sound weird now but in a room full of fourteen year olds, it didn't say "I'm cool, you want to be my friend" either.

So what did I say today to establish myself as the nerd of the class? Well we had to go around and use alliteration to associate an adjective with our name to help the class remember it. What's the first thing that pops into my head and out of my mouth? Adventurous? Awesome? Oh no, friends. How about acrimonious?

I don't think anyone remembered my name because they were too worried about how to pronounce my adjective. Hopefully they all forgot it before they got the chance to look it up and find out that not only am I the class nerd, but also the self-proclaimed class bitch.

Sightseeing Update

From our balcony we can see into the window of one of our neighbors across the street. We learned this just in time to watch him cleaning his kitchen in a Speedo.

Sightseeing

Yesterday was my first full day in Barcelona. I spent the earlier part of the day exploring my neighborhood and the later part checking out more of the city with Laura and finding my school (which happens to be across the street from the beach).

Some of the highlights I saw were:

- The Mediterranean Sea

- A man with his head completely shaved save for one glossy brown ringlet on the side of his
head which was tied with a pink bow

- Two trannies on the subway

Euro Post #1

I'm here, I made it! I am writing this from the office in my Barcelona apartment! As I'm typing I'm listening to car horns, children playing and old ladies shouting down from their balconies.

The trip went pretty smoothly and having my friend (and now roommate) Laura pick me up at the airport was a huge help.

I've only been here a matter of hours but I've already unpacked and seen more handsome men than I can count.

I still need to get some things and move some things around but here are a couple of pictures of my room and the view from my apartment balcony.

I haven't gotten picture frames yet but I wanted to put up some photos of friends and family so I just taped them to my closet for now. How much do you want to bet they will stay there until I leave the place?

The window doesn't actually look at at anything but a wall, but it's still nice to have one- and that way I don't have to worry about closing the blinds.

There was an extra bed frame and I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I stood it up against the wall and hung my scarves and purses on it- I for one think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between that and a fall accessories display at Urban Outfitters, don't you?

We'll have to see see how long I can handle the twin bed before heading to Ikea for a bigger one.

Our apartment is on an alley way; this is the view of the main street from the balcony, along with a red truck that honked its horn for 8 and a half minutes.

And this is the rest of our street. You can't really see her too well but there is an old lady hanging a white sheet out to dry. I hope to befriend her before too long so as to recieve baked goods and sweets and maybe the occasional pat on the head.

I'm going to get out and explore the neighborhood tomorrow; tonight I'm so tired from flying overnight that I'm worried I'll get lost and flustered in front of my new neighbors and lose all potential street cred here.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I gained 12 pounds. This is why:

This is our 3am after-bar buffet. Don't be fooled, eventually it will catch up with you.

Niner

It's countdown time; only a matter of days now until I leave.

I was talking with my family last night about my flight out and we realized that I am leaving at 9pm on 9/9/09 and I'll be gone exactly 99 days before I fly home for Christmas on December 17th.

Weird, right?

I hope that's a good sign...

Goodbye, Cupcake II- For Real This Time

A while back I wrote this post about the disappointing so-called "grand reopening" of one of my favorite Montclair establishments, Gimme Jimmy's cookies.

What could be worse than going there and finding the sweet treats you love altered in size, presentation and flavor? Going back three months later hoping they've read your blog and come to their senses and instead finding the entire business gone.

That's what happened tonight. I went to dinner with my former roommate, who I guess I can now just call my friend, and we decided to give GJ's another shot. Perhaps they'd gotten feedback from loyal locals who wanted the fun designs and loads of icing back. We walked down Church street and realized early on that something was amiss.

There were no tables and chairs outside; the name wasn't on the awning; there was no gentle light in the windows or sweet, yeasty scent wafting from the open door.

There was, instead, an empty, darkened room with a "For Rent" sign in the window.

Gone.

My own personal baked good heaven, gone.

It is indeed a dark day for frosting lovers of Northeast... or at least Essex County New Jersey...or at least residents of downtown Montclair...really I'm just pretty sad.