Sitges Carnival 2010 (pictures 2)

And still more (and better) pictures at:

Fotos Elena

Fotos Toni

Sitges Carnival 2010 (pictures 1)

Lindy Hop at the Parc Güell

Lindy Hop at the Parc Güell (videos)

(thanks to Danielle to take this video)

Magia Potagia, with Juan Tamariz

Another busy weekend

I can can see Christmas is coming because my usually already rather busy social agenda is about to burst. Last two weekends were already intense (one in Belgium, visiting good old friends, and last one with some several get-togethers, a dancing jam, a birthday party, even helping in the recording of a short film!!).

This Thursday I already had to choose between Pub Quiz and the Christmas dinner of the Lindy Hop people from the Orfeo de Gracia.

Friday evening was devoted to a Goblin Birthday celebration, with a horror dinner show at the Posada Maldita and a drawing contest.

Saturday things got hectic: laundry in the morning, quick lunch and then, in quick succession the presentation of a new (and free) Scientific Divulgation newspaper, Satelite, meeting an old friend to go to the cinema ("Cell 211") and to discuss the life of exilee Engineers, and finally another show dinner, cabaret this time, at KYVIC.

Today, Sunday, after sleeping (finally) 7h, the day has started with Lindy Hop dancing at the Placa de la Sedeta, and after having a late lunch, resting a bit and writing this entry, cinema again ("New York, I love you").

As I like to say, to be able to work hard you need to play (or party) hard as well!!

1st Ancient Egypt Banquet (5th promo)

The first Ancient Egypt Banquet organised by people from the 5th promotion of Egyptology Studies in BCN was held today in Sabadell with outstanding success.



(papyrus-billboard thanks to Rosalin)

The menu (in Catalan) included:

Starters:

TAHINA
HUMMUS
AMANIDA DE LLENTIES
TORRADETES AMB POUTARGUE
EMPANADES DE FORMATGE
CARBASSES A LA MODA D'ALEXANDRIA
OUS DAURATS

Main Courses:

PEIX FARCIT DE PANSES I PINYONS
PEIX AL FORN AMB PANSES I AMETLLES
EMPANADES DE CARN
POLLASTRE FARCIT

Desserts:

GALETES SHAYT
FRUITA DEL TEMPS

Drinks:

VI, CAVA, HENEKET, AIGUA

CAFÉ DE CATEGORIA SUPERIOR

The banquet was followed by a two team competition of an Egyptian board game (Senet).

Pictures will follow soon.

Swinging under the BCN sun!!

MacCurdy Dinner at Corpus Christi College

3rd Vietnamese Dinner

Still planning to go to Vietnam some time (the sooner the better), Vietnamese (or just Asian) dinners are still on.

Maria pars chez les bretons!!

While some people settle back in Barcelona, others leave Barcelona to go and live among the French in the city of lights, royal palaces and gardens and, of course, music!! (Paris reputedly having more Jazz Caves than NYC)

Have lots of fun!! (and lots of patience with 'greves', 'fonctionaires', and the interaction of the two)

Bon courage, et amuse-toi bien, Maria!!

Tuesday evening: Barley diet!

Once in a while, it's good to have a meal based mostly on very healthy stuff, like barley juice of various sorts. And it's so much better in good friends' company! The fact that this time it was Tuesday evening, ment a slightly reduced efficiency next day, but... It was truly worth it!!

... Looking forward next time!!

Dublin fair city...

Why not? One weekend in Dublin. It was about time to go, after 15 years since I visited this fair city (where the girls are so pretty, as the song goes). But mainly the chance to meet old friends and make new ones, attend two brilliant Spanish house parties, have lots of Guinness, meet Molly Malone again, and of course, stock myself of real tea (in authentic pyramidal bags) before catching the plain back!!

Jazz fusion at the Harlem Jazz Club

Carles Benavent and Jordi Bonell at the Harlem Jazz Club in Barcelona. One of those concerts to remember. Thanks Jordi for suggesting it!!

Jazz at the Jamboree

Back in Barcelona, and back in old traditions... starting with a Jazzy concert at the Jamboree, in the Plac,a Reial.

Bye Goblin King Tour

Have you seen this guy? You better hurry up then, he is getting married on Friday (23rd of May). To try to cheer him up, and to brighten his last days as a single man (or as a single Goblin), we took him for a trip, and a party, and the journey and the party went on till he begged us to take him home again...

He was woken up at dawn, and toured in Barcelona. Then he was taken to Girona and and then to the UK!!



He was getting used to the Islands, and then we took him again on a train...



... onto another plane... and to Berlin!!

And here he was starting to feel a bit tired...



...and confused...



... but after some light snack, we were in the mood for travelling and partying again!!



So we travelled some more...



And had some more snacks...




... and some refreshments to go...



... and took a tram to explore the city!!



From the tram we could see everything in the city very quickly...



...and from the speed everything was getting blurry...



... but in any case, we all hope The Gobling King had a good time!!

Back in Cambridge!!

I had been back in Cambridge several times since I finished my PhD here, but it had always been just to visit some friends (and attend some of those friends weddings!!), or do a bit of tourism, and even shopping. This time, I won't only be doing a bit of that, but I'm coming to stay for a few months, and best of all, during that time I'll be working in my old lab!!

It was a fantastic feeling to land in Dover on an incredibly sunny day of April, and drive back to this beautiful city again, listening to BBC on he car radio, etc. Today the weather is a bit more 'versatile', and we've had sunny but windy weather in the morning, sunny weather later on, and a few minutes ago there has been a thunderstorm.

In any case, Cambridge has, and has not changed at all. Obviously, Colleges are all there, as far as I can tell, as well as all of the sights, but I've found that a whole new shopping mall has just appeared in the very city center, and I am told that a new bridge has been built across the Cam.

Definitely, I need to keep exploring and rediscovering the city...

droit de greve???

after almost a month abroad, his morning i was suposedto fly home, to barcelona, from paris.

but here i am... still... and i'll still be here for a while.... as expected there was no RER today, there was Orlyval to get to Orly, although it was not easy to get there... and once you get to-the airport you find that several flight have been cancelled, including the one to barcelona.

"fortunatelly", i've managed to get a seat for the same flight tomorrow, but who knows if that one will fly or not.

and all that, because of a strike to protect the excessive rihts and privileges of a few union members which are paid for  by the rest of people working and living in france. a strike that is NOT supported by the majority of french people, according to the journal Metro.

great... and this is suposed to be a first world country? what a joke....

Concerts, cinema, promenades, departs...

Salut a tous!!

 

Que'est-ce que on va faire avec cette temps d'été? Peut être organiser une grève pour demander du bon temps? Bon, on en parlera...

 

;-)

 

Cependant, on s'approche au weekend (on y est déjà!!), et on peut pas rester au devant la télé! Alors, je ne sais pas si il a des autres propositions, mais je vais en transmettre quelques unes pour commencer le debat... (SVP, confirmer votre intérêt a chaque activité, pour que tout le monde puisse savoir si il aura du monde intéressé ou pas)

 

Vendredi: Est-ce que quelqu'un veux aller aux concerts de Paris Plage? Ou alternativement on peut aller a diner et au Diablitho pour danser la Salsa :-)

 

http://www.blog-festivalfnac.com/index.php?programmation

 

Samedi: Mmmhh.... no, je vais proposer quelque chose diffèrent cette semaine... vraiment... Ok, vous avais raison: C'est le dernier weekend, et on doit en profiter: Festival de Jazz au Parc Floral!! Dernier weekend. A ne pas manquer. Après le festival, qu'est ce que vous en pensez d'aller a dîner et au Cinema en plein air au Parc de la Vilette? (prenez des habilles chauds!!). Un film de Roman Polanski nous y attends ("Tess").

 

http://www.parisjazzfestival2007.com/

 

http://www.villette.com/manif/manif.aspx?id=1052

 

Dimanche:

 

Oui, on peut continuer avec le jazz, mais pas sans avoir le plaisir d'une belle promenade pour y aller. RDV a les escaliers de la Opera Bastille a 12h00  :-)

 

Finalement:

 

Comme plusieurs d'entre vous savez, ça c'est un des derniers 'spams' culturel-festives que je vais envoyer depuis la France, car je vais partir dans deux ou trois semaines. En fait je n'aime pas de faire des soirées de départ ou des choses comme ça, et alors je n'en vais pas organiser aucune (entre d'autres raisons, parce il ne sera pas vraiment un départ, car je vais revenir plusieurs fois, même pour visiter, comme touriste, pour des concerts, et on va essayer de rester en contacte et organiser des rencontres a un coin du monde ou a un autre). ;-) De toute façon, il sera sympa de vous voire tous (tous qui soyez encore ici), en partageant une activité ou une autre, pendant ces dernières semaines que je serai encore 'officiellement' habitant d'île de France. :-)