God help me!

So when they gave me the laptop for work in France, I was told it was installed with a DVD player (true), so I went to FNAC to look for a DVD I could watch when I was otherwise unoccupied in Montpellier. I picked up Alias, season 2, remembering how my brother and his wife love the show, so I thought I should see what the buzz was about. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the DVD player didn't work. Why? Must have something to do with our 60-year-old IT guy Carles who never leaves the building (and who's actual knowledge of modern-day computer systems is completely suspect), and won't let anyone else touch his stuff except for poor Carlos 2 (affectionately known - but not by him - as "dos") who is only allowed to touch certain buttons and never ever make decisions for himself. It was Dos who told me I had a DVD player, but it must have been the Captain who sabotaged it! This is odd because he seemed to have acquired a particular affection for me, telling me that I was "no sólo buena, pero también buena" - meaning, I was not only good but HOT. I thought maybe this unreciprocated admiration would encourage him to change cologne and shower, but so far nuthin'. Oh, I am getting mean, so better to continue the story (which you will find out at the end has no point whatsoever). Soooo, to make a long, uninteresting story even more so, I couldn't watch the DVD for 3 months, it was sitting on the shelf staring at me, though I hardly gave it another thought except for "why did I shell out 30 Euro on Alias, when clearly Friends is the only show that matters!" Well, I got back to Spain 3 weeks ago, unpacked and found that fateful 6-disk pack. I pulled out disk 1, and stuck it into the DVD player hooked into the TV set. The last 3 weeks have been a blur of strange wigs, funny accents and ass-kicking suspense! Lisa, my roomie, and I have been hooked and discussing where we would fit into the CIA - I'm pretty good at remembering where I left my keys (most of the time) and Lisa thinks she's good at encouraging others, so maybe they need some key-remembering, uplifting CIA babes, both with 3+ languages under our belt ('course we'd have trouble with the fake Russian accents, but our Spanish is sure better than Ms. Bristow's). One night I think I watched 4 episodes in a row and had to try to think of some un-embarrassing reason why I was so tired at work the next day. All my dreams are of being chased and beat up. Wow, spy-life is tough. On Monday I finally watched the last episode of season 2, and Lisa and I will have to scrounge around FNAC to see if they have any more seasons. My spy days are not over yet!
One question: if Michael Vartan was born and raised in France, why is his French accent so bad? And to answer your question, yes, I do spend my work hours looking up the bios of actors from the series. I'm pretty sure that's why they gave us internet in the office, right? Right?

End of séjour in France

Oops, been over a month since my last posting! Finished classes in Montpellier and had a week of vacation in Switzerland, now I'm back in Barcelona, at the office. Over 200 emails to read, so.... I know this is lame, but I'm copying some emails I wrote:
RE: Tour de France finishing a stage in Montpellier:
The tour was really exciting, and there were supposed to be 70000 spectators along the 18km route that passed through Montpellier. I was on a bridge with a great view and we could see them coming from abt a 1/2 mile away. A large caravan of sponsors passed through about 45 min before the racers and handed out things like caps and key chains, so I got my souvenir! I took a bunch of pics, but they passed by so fast I barely got to see anything. One of my pictures has a pretty clear shot of Armstrong in his yellow jersey. I'll send some pics when I can, but we are leaving for a week's vacation now (to Switzerland and south of Germany) so when I get back to barcelona I'll get on it. Yesterday was my last day of class, so we went to lunch, then I went to see the tour, then ran home to clean the house before everyone came over for a barbecue! I was a long day, especially since Thursday was Bastille Day, so there was a fireworks show, then I went out dancing and didn't get to bed til 3. A great way to end my 3 months here.
And...
I'm now back from our little trip. Switzerland was just wonderful (but expensive!!). we went up the Matterhorn by cable car (not all the way to the summit, though, that requires special equipment!) and people were skiing on the glacier while others were trudging up the other side with crampons on their feet. I can't believe I am now in Barcelona and it is so hot, when days ago I was shivering and standing in an ice cave! We also did an awesome hike in the Jungfrau region, the glaciers above us were settling and shifting and it sounded like thunder. the 6 hr hike also passed through cow pastures (with cows wearing the typical bells around their necks). one came up and tried to lick me!

A night on the town

Lisa and Hamish came this weekend, which I was so grateful for because last week I was really missing my Barcelona life. They came on Saturday afternoon and we walked around a bit downtown. Dinner at my place, I made baked fish which was actually quite edible (I'm always afraid to make fish but it's so easy- see chocolate dipped strawberry disaster for further info on why the simplest recipes are not so simple...). We ate outside on the terrace and I brought out rosé wine and was embarrassed to realize it had a twist top. oops. I guess that's what you get for 2.50 Euros. Anyway, it was drinkable and made my super fish recipe seem MUCH more impressive than my wine selection. Then we were to meet some friends for drinks, so since buses stop running at 8:30, we'd have to walk the 30 min to the city center. This was perhaps the most surreal 30 minutes I've had:
1. We walked by a drink stand where everyone was smoking hash, including a taxi driver (this should have been a forewarning for later in the night).
2. The Pinte Pub, a bar we went past, was lined with parked HarleyDavidsons. This was not so weird as remarkable. You kind of had the feeling that if you stood there long enough, someone would get thrown through the glass window.
3. A car full of boys obviously off their heads (maybe they'd come from the drink stand in n0.1) pulled up alongside Lisa and kept saying things (incomprehensible because of my bad French or their slurred speech??). At first we tried to ignore them but they kept following us, so I delved into my vast vocabulary of retorts and insults in French and came up with "vas-y" with I think just means "Go ahead". They said, "vas-y" and laughed then drove off, so I guess it was effective. Maybe they took it as a challenge like "Bring it on!" and decided they couldn't take us. yeah, that's the ticket.
4. Lisa stepped in dog poo, where she had to stop and do a little dance twisting and dragging her foot on the dirt. which led to number 5
5. Two really drunk slurry guys saw Lisa's dance and decided they needed to come over and talk to her about it. They blocked the way but eventually we were able to cross the street when,
6. A girl sticks her head out the window of her apartment and asks for a light for her cigarette.

We finally made it to the bar unscathed (just a little poo on the shoe) and had a nice time with Ruth, who was leaving the next day to go back to Germany, and others from class. We left around closing and went to get a taxi.
7. Taxi driver was driving way too fast and on the bridge crossing over the railway tracks, he swiped an oncoming car which tore off his side-view mirror. He stopped the car on the bridge and got out to go after the other driver, but they were thankfully long gone. The rest of the trip was in silence (out of fear of the crazy taxi driver while he fumed and cursed). We got to my place and the weirdest thing of all happened:
8. The taxi driver charged me the price on the meter and did not try to rip me off! Sent shivers down my spine.
Better just go home and lock the door!

The rest of the weekend was so dull: nothing weird or threatening happened at all on Sunday or Monday.

Last one, I promise! This is Megalo, stairs were put in much later, but you can see the net used hanging from the primary tower.