My new look

Human Highlighter Suit Tally: 9

The best thing about today was that I got to wear a hard hat.  And a bright orange vest.  I don’t know about you, but I find that fancy headgear enhances almost any experience. 

A few weeks ago, I joined a group called the Barcelona Women’s Network.  BWN is a group of over 250 women from more than 30 countries.  They organize monthly excursions and coffee mornings and, like most women’s groups, engage in good works.  The only common denominator is that everyone there speaks English or wants to.  Now, I am typically more of a lone wolf than a joiner, but I had heard good things about this group and wanted to expand the group of people I know beyond the kids’ school and the university.  So I went to a coffee morning and checked it out.  It took place in a very large room at the top of the Institute for North American Studies and, when I opened the door, I was almost bowled over by the noise of more than a hundred women of all ages, chatting away.  They had brought baked goods, of course.  Despite my initial paralysis, I was hustled into the room and cheerfully welcomed by several nicely dressed mother hen types.  It had a bit of a junior league feel to it, but I decided to stick it out and meet three new people.  One, whose name I cannot remember, was French but moved to Barcelona many years ago after marrying a Spaniard.  I met Francesca, a spunky woman in her 70s, at the pastry table.  We were both about to take the last item on a plate.  I told her to go ahead and eat it, but she refused, demanding that we play Rock, Paper, Scissors instead to determine who would get the last pastry.  I won.  I liked Francesca immediately.  I think we could be buddies.

And then, in the sea of sweater sets and tasteful scarves, I spied a woman with dyed red hair, an embroidered denim skirt and funky jewelry.   She looked like someone I might see in Prospect Heights, in Brooklyn.  I made a beeline and introduced myself.  Isabela, who is British and has lived here for about eight years, is in the middle of a 3 year program in which she is learning to analyze people’s feet to determine what’s wrong with them.  She needs practice, she told me, and asked me if I’d like a foot analysis some time.  Then the ladies in charge asked us all to sit down and listen to a presentation.  “Here comes the boring part,” Isabela said, rolling her eyes, and I felt I might have met a kindred spirit. 

So back to the hard hat.  At the coffee hour, I signed up for a trip to the Hospital Sant Pau.  I’d heard that it was an impressive building and thought it would be a good way for me to meet some new people and also learn more about Barcelona.  Today was the day for the tour.  The buildings, in the upper part of the Eixample, were built just after the turn of the 20^th century.  It is an amazing example of Art Nouveau architecture—a bit chaotic what with the references to nature, the religious symbolism, and the repeated Catalan motifs, but worth seeing.  Originally planned to consist of 48 buildings, 22 were ultimately built. As with most ambitious architectural projects, the money ran out before the plans were completed.  The building was designed by Domenich i Muntaner (so that’s where the name of that street comes from!) who also designed the Palau de la Musica Catalana.  It operated as a hospital until about a year ago and is currently being restored—hence, the hard hats.

I’m glad I went.  It’s been one of my goals to get to know this city really well, and I’ve got to get busy!  Isabel the foot analyst also sent me an email.  She wants to meet me for some stand-up comedy.