Distance makes the heart grow and grow.

Today I woke up in the middle of fuzzy, strange dreams. At one moment, I was dreaming that I was flying around Copake Lake (where I grew up) and fireflies were lit and hovering on the surface of the lake.

Today I woke up feeling better. I'm not sure of who reads this... but some of you have expressed concern over my time here. Transitioning is sometimes smooth and sometimes slow. I left Portland with a sore heart. Unfortunately, not even being in Spain can magically make that disappear. BUT everyday is better and better, and I think that soon I'll be back to my "perpetually-chasing-butterflies" self. Honesty is not always pretty. But at least it's honest.

Last night was a turning point and sort of closure for me. It was the last night of BAM and YACHT (a Portland band) was playing. They began the show introducing themselves, that they're from the U.S.A. (which caused a lot of boo-ing from the audience and people leaving once they heard this), that they support Obama (nobody cheered for this - maybe they didn't understand?), and that they're from Portland, Oregon (they showed this on google maps - hooked up to a projector screen). And at the end of the set, they showed the music video of "See a Penny (Pick it Up)" which features some of my favorite places in Portland, including my former place of employment Powell's Bookstore.



I reflected on the saying "Distance makes the heart grow fonder" as we danced to YACHT, realizing that distance does not usually make my heart grow fonder, but that my heart usually lets go easily in anticipation of the next thing. Oh, but Portland, what a gem of a city you are! My heart has only grown fonder with distance! Yes, last night was a good, sweet final "See you later!" to Portland.

Today I woke up and felt good. The sun was shining. The morning was calm. Today is a holiday in Barcelona and most of the businesses are closed. We all slept in until 2:00 PM. ¡Que fuerte! Coffee, lunch (pasta with zucchini), relaxing. Around 5 pm, I decided to go for a walk to the beach. I made it to Port Vell and walked around the Rambla de Mar. There are pretty buildings near there. The sun started to go down, so I decided to turn around.

On the way home, as I meandered through Raval, I saw the parade of gigantes (giant puppets), which is part of today's holiday - La Mercé Festival. You can read about it here: I love the giant puppets; it reminded me of Macy's Day Parade when I was small, just a lot smaller, and not as commercial, and giant women puppets holding baskets of fish and puppet men with baguettes... which, I guess, is not very much like Macy's Day Parade.



Two more days in Barcelona. Then on to Seville!

<3