I'd been visited throughout the day by various people and I enjoy a good chat so have been making friends throughout the company reasonably well. At the end of the day I got invited out to a cafe/bar (there seems to be little distinction here, I'm going to invent a name for them) in a part of town called Portal Nois (donno about spelling), a small and quiet harbor with a beach lined with said bafe's (there's your made up name). Obviously I felt a little pressure to put on my 'I'm worth knowing' hat, but it was totally cool and relaxed, as far as I can tell we all got on great. I was with two English guys, a Swede, an American (para wife y dos nino's, can't remember the word for wife) and an.... Austrian I think. Sat around for hours chatting and laughing, it was really nice and laid back, I repeatedly had 'moments' of "I can't believe I'm here"... which was really nice, although it was probably just the intoxication talking.
One thing I've noticed is that ex-pats are usually pretty interesting. I guess it's because you have to be reasonably independant to make the decision to move somewhere with a different language, so all the ex-pats I've met have usually had strong opinions... which makes conversations fun and interesting... and I'm yet to meet a single one that has anything bad to say about Mallorca aside from the obvious tat about the administration/official stuff.
Anyway, when it got dark we jumped in a taxi and headed to Palma to a place called Agua Bar. A small-ish place strangely owned by two americans (you don't seem many americans here). Apparentl it was ladies' night... there weren't many women in there from my hazy memory. The music was rock-y and it turns out there aren't that many rock clubs in Palma, if any. I met a few people in typical 'Rob talks bullshit to random strangers' way. After we'd been joined by a girl, can't remember whether she was Spanish or not, we headed to a bar called (i think) Bluesville. they had some sort of reggae band and a lot of people smoking dubious substances while a boating type who I'd met (and got bored of) in the previous bar had gotten too drunk and was stumbling around the place like he was still on his boat... during a storm. No-one here likes the boating people, apparently they're posh rich kids with real arrogant attitudes and throw money around in a rather crass way that isn't very Spanish.
Anyway, the night went really well and I spent much of it professing my love for Mallorca, Palma and the company. The guys I went out with were really nice too. I decided in a rather drunken state that I'd walk from palma back to the flat, a good hour's walk... at 3 in the morning when I had to be up at 8... baring in mind I'm still on probation at work (for the 1st month). After a while of running and walking like a flapping crab I flagged a cab down. Felt pretty awful this morning.
I think you can gauge your hangover by the amount of breathing routines you do in the morning, of the: breath in, hold and "urrrrrrrr" variety. I think I did seven this morning. Got up, let the dogs out... well, that's how it feels, unfortunately I'm talking about the cockroaches, which run TOWARDS you when you open the bathroom door. Bare in mind they're about 6 inches long and running like kids towards their father as he walks in after a hard days work... except it's me doing the post-drinking breathing routine. I'm kind of indifferent to the shiny arsed bastards really.
Got to work and it appeared I was possibly the best turned out given the previous night's activities. It was sunglasses all round. One guy 'disappeared' for a while in the morning.
At lunch a load of us drove, for what felt like forever, to go to a really nice traditional and authentic Spanish restaurant called Burger King. How very odd, why on earth we went so far just to eat (an admittedly fantastic) burger is beyond me.
Finished a load of videos. I had to kind of get them 'approved' by various people and I do worry that they'll be a lot of this in the future. It can sometimes be a pain if you're dealing with someone that doesn't fully understand audio or what you're trying to do, the sort of people that only understand "turning it up to eleven". Luckily the few suggestions made were fair points and did improve things... but that's not really the point. Anyway, everyone seems happy with my work so far, even if I'm only 'meh' about it.
Apparently it's a Friday thing to go to the social room and hang out so I went down and played table football for a while. I lost. I hate losing at table football... it used to be MY game. Like some sort of consolation prize for me sucking at actual football. Looks like I'll need a new replacement prize. Started feeling a bit pukey so walked home again as my flatmate had left again. Sat on the beach for half an hour dozing off as the sun set. It's beautiful and I can feel it calming my soul every time I go down there.
It started getting a bit cold after the sun goes behind the mountains with the sea breeze coming in so off I walked accompanied by the joggers and roller bladers. Everyone here is so super fit, especially the girls. Apparently it's because they spend so much time down the beach and they want their body's looking good, so I'm always getting overtaken by girls in skimpy outfits jogging down the promenade
covered in sweat.
Please note, there aren't any of those girls in the above photo.
I think i may do this walk more often as I just whack my Spanish learning MP3 on and listen to a lesson on repeat for the three or four hours it takes me to walk home. It's a beautiful and varied walk and whilst the weather is so lovely I can't think of a better way to spend my time. And I say this with a hangover so it must be good. I get to walk along beaches, literally against the sea wall, through beautiful tree lined avenues, historic buildings and tiny alley ways, an amazing park which blasts out classical music whilst the kids play in the adventure playarea, etc, etc. Today's Spanish lesson via MP3: directions. I've forgotten it all... so maybe it's not terribly effective as a learning aid, but it feels nice never the less.Had chats with my parents and girlfriend too which was nice as I haven't spoken to many 'outsiders' since I've been here.
Tomorrow I plan on getting a train to Soller (pronounced Soy-er) which goes over the mountains and sounds amazing. Then in the evening I may be going out with the Swedish guy from the other night to Hogan's, an Irish bar where the composer will be playing with his band. I hear it's totally and scarily packed in there, but I want to see the composer play and it's also in the area where I may be living soon too.
Anyway, I'm tired so that'll do for now...
R
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