Settling In-ish
I am now the proud bearer of a Tarragona library card. I have to say, I love public libraries. This one is lovely, spacious and friendly with a decent selection of books in English, loads of DVD’s (including the entire series of Friends from which I abstained), cd’s, and even wireless. Armed with a Saura movie and a few novels, I stopped on the way home for an ant trap for the kitchen. Andrew was just peering over it sadly waving good-bye to the little anties who are invading our trash can. I feel less sad about it.
I’ve also been looking into some sort of exercise routine to complement the natural stairmaster which is Tarragona. Gyms are exorbitant here, but I did see an ad for a pilates class in the cute bookstore café in the plaza near here, and there’s a yoga studio around the corner. Yesterday I went for a long walk along the beach, it’s full of joggers and bikers taking advantage of the only flat area around town.
Wednesday and Saturday mornings are the green market in the plaza just down the street. There were 3-4 stands full of glistening peppers and eggplants, parsley, ripe tomatoes, fresh grapes, etc. Mushroom season is just kicking in and is supposed to be excellent in this part of Spain. Along with alcohol, it’s the cheapest thing we’ve found as well.
Yesterday I spent the entire morning working out some kind of system to get my email to work at my office at the university. Today I spent an hour trying to figure out how to get a phone line and to get my computer to speak Spanish. David and Enric have generously let me use their spare desk, and helped me negotiate ways around the university server. I think we have it figured out, so get your skype on, eh?
