sabadell, mala piel!

OK, I'm in Sabadell. Celia's dad drove me here, it was wild, imagine seeing street signs, "Barcelona - 130 km" like it isn't a big deal. Well, driving around the city, lookin for the community house, all the street signs and buildings and statues were really familiar to me, it was a great feeling. I was here 2 years ago, and then also the year before that, working as before. Anyhow, finally made it to the house and Juan and Anna welcomed me, remembering that I was a vegan (sorta, try my best) had a bean soup for me with vegan sausages .. yes! They gave me keys to the crib and left me to eat my dinner and unpack my belongings. The house is half of a monastery, and it's goal is solidarity and social inclusion, that is, giving housing, support, and solidarity to those who may seem unfit to consumer society, immigrants, homeless, alcoholics, etc. As it is a monastery in essence, the rooms are about 7' by 8', with a twin bed, desk, and nightstand. All rooms have a small closet and a window, which can be shut in a major hardcore way to block out all light and sound. It felt great to put my stuff in a closet and to organize a space for myself, beats livin out of a suitcase. Today I woke up and laid in bed reading for a few hours, read a book by Abbé Pierre and then started reading Diario de una camarera by Octave Mirbeau. Creepy French stuff. Anyhow, got up and had some croissants for breakfast and went to walk around the city. Made it up to Parc de Catalunya, which is the city's main park, has a pool for duckies, lotsa statues, a bit of forest to walk in, lotsa grass, a few cafés, a skatepark. I watched the ducks and the pigeons and the geese swim around for a while. Diversity is fascinating, all of these different animals, doing different things, looking different, wow. Anyhow, went up to the park area and drew the treeline, very nice drawing, I sat down by two people selling bootleg DVDs and counterfeit purses. A lot of the people in the park walked by thinking that I was selling the goods, but really, I was just drawing some trees. Pretty harmless, either way. Anyhow, went back to the house and had lunch, then a cup of coffee and chatted with Miguel. He is 46 years old, great beard, and has been a self proclaimed vagabond his whole life, hitchhiking and jumping trains all around the Mediterranean and Middle East. Told me some wild stories about hitchhiking in Israel, hm. So I went back out and walked around more, went to the Caixa Social Obra, which is basically a free art museum sponsored by a Spanish bank. It was called Ets únic? which means in Catalan, "Are you unique?" It was all about self identity, but also biometrics, technology to identify people by hair, ears, fingerprints, etc. Did you know that no two ears are alike, and that they are almost as reliable as fingerprints in identification? I was really creeped out by a lot of this stuff. I left and went to a bar called Café Belles Arts, and completely fell in love. Sort of hole in the wall, faded wood panelling, tile floor, colored glass windows. When I walked in there was a Chinese couple smoking in the corner, the man had a moustache. I had a Volt Damm Jazz, which is an 8% beer, and sat back to enjoy the vibe. They were playing some real dreary, dreamy pop, sounded like John Denver or Carole King on a downer. The whole experience in the bar felt like a dream, I'm sure that it will be my haunt during my stay here in Sabadell. I was so enamored that I stayed there for two hours after I finished my drink. It shares a space with Academia Belles Arts, where I may sign up for figure drawing classes. When I left, the contrast was immediately striking, like waking up and the dream slowly fading away. However, I forgot that the main street here (La rambla) is shut down every Sunday night with Do Not Cross signs for the cars, and chairs and tables from cafés fill into the streets, full of people walking, dogs, babies, skateboards, musicians, tricksters, contrabanders with bootleg purses. I am so tempted to buy Larry David's "Whatever Works" for €2 off a street vendor. Why not? Anyhow, felt very magical. I watched some guy play La Vie en Rose by Edith Piaf and he kept glaring at me like he wanted me to give him money. So I left and came back to the house, had a nice salad and drank water. Tomorrow I start work with my old friend Vicenc, driving around in a big truck and picking up donated furniture to refurbish and sell in our shop to support the house, which is my job on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday, we will pick up donated clothes to sell. Good stuff. There's a film club here that has Agnes Varda movies every Wednesday night, which is what I will probably be doing this Wednesday. Sabadell's rival city is called Terrassa, the soccer teams are rivals, there's a harmless hostility between the two. Anyhow, they say "Sabadell, mala piel" which means Sabadell, bad skin! And in Sabadell, they say "Terrassa, mala raza!" which means Terrassa, bad race! Keep in touch.