A couple staying with us at the hostel just got engaged last night! Lee almost ruined it yesterday morning thinking they'd gotten engaged two nights ago and by asking "Sooo, do you guys have some good news for me?" She recovered (kind of) smoothly by quickly catching the guy's throat slitting motions and saying, "Cause it's been a rough morning, and I need some good news around. You guys don't know any jokes, anything?"

So I guess it went off without a hitch and still as a surprise last night at Agua, a restaurant on the beach that Lee and I picked out for them. Congratulations!

Last night was great. I've never been up to the rooftop of La Pedrera, so it was nice to finally see it. And at night, it was spectacular. Lee and I were a little bummed about the 1 drink limit, but the music was nice and the views were incredible.

Tonight's Plans

We went to a movie al aire lliure at Sala Montjuic last night. They open the grounds around the castle on Montjuic, set up a large screen for movies, and pass out chairs and mats. Being the picnic experts, we packed quite a spread. The movie was in multiple languages and subtitled in Spanish, so it was a bit hard to follow after the wine got flowing. There are still four more movies to go before the season ends.

Lauren just reported that the water is back on. I think the damage looks more like this:

The fun continues.... broken water main on Consell de Cent means, surprise, no water at the hostel this morning! Fortunately, almost everyone got showered before the faucets started gurgling.



Just kidding. We don't have signs that say "one way" in Spain (or pickup truck for that matter). This is only what I hope it looks like.

This day just keeps getting better. I'm now sitting here with a cut off garbage bag filled with ice on my forehead after smacking my head incredible hard on the corner of a shower stall.

Does anyone want to buy a hostel?

Oh and I just accidentally deleted my whole outlook inbox, so if I don't return an email that's why.

Plus I got bleach all over a new pair of navy blue pants.

That's it, I'm eating chocolate cake for breakfast.

Oh man! What a morning at Somnio! This is my first morning shift back, and it could not have been more of a nightmare. Normally when I come in at 7am on Saturday, our night guy Mauro has his bags packed and is ready to run home to bed. So I was a little concerned when he wasn't in his normal spot upon my arrival. I heard some swishing noises in the hallway and wandered back to hear him yelling "Come here! You have to see this!" He's normally pretty dramatic, so I figured it was just a clogged toilet, maybe a little vomit.

No, he wasn't being over dramatic. Someone (ahem drunk italians in room 6) left the sink stopper in and the water running at full blast. Mauro thought someone was showering and didn't notice until the water started to come into the lobby. The entire left hallway was covered in about 2 cm of water. I opened the door to Room 10, the male dorm, and it was another 2 cm of standing water. Oh boy did panic set in. Mauro was calmly mopping the water up into a bucket. I picked up everyone's wet stuff strewn on the floor and went running for towels and to call Lee. Thank god 3 of the boys in the dorm were super understanding and very very helpful. I believe the others were too hungover/drunk to care. It took about an hour to get the water all up. Then I had to knock on other doors to see where else the water went. Fortunately Room 9 had a little water, but Room 8 was dry.

In the middle of it all Mauro asked if we're still happy we opened our "dream hostel." Ummm I'll get back to you on that one once my t-shirt dries.

I'm back. Many thanks to Lee for keeping our readers oh-so-informed in my absence (as usual).

I had a great time back in the States seeing family over the 4th and sending my good friend Katie off into married life with a blow-out bachelorette party/bridal shower weekend extravaganza in Rhode Island. It was great to see (almost) all my Georgetown girls in one place. The wedding is going to be out of control, in a good way.


As usual, flying back was a pain. A nice older gentleman sat next to me on the plane and casually draped his hand on my thigh for the entire flight (he was asleep). And of course, British Airways lost my bag. This is the FOURTH time in the last FOUR flights. I'm currently drafting a very stern letter to their CEO, Willie Walsh.

Everything seems under control at the hostel. Good work, Lee. She's been very generous to give me pretty light hours this week as I ease my way back into work mode and the GMT+1 timezone.

So, there's been a lull in the blog posts. It probably goes without saying but Lauren is back in the states right now for a two week break from Somnio. She's missed quite a lot so far. I'm never good [read: entertaining or frequent] with my blog posts but I should re-cap some key events so Lauren doesn't feel lost when she gets back:

- San Fermines is in full swing and everyone is either headed to or coming back from Pamplona. I'm a little tired of the bravado. The way any guy tells the story, you'd think he had slain a pack of bulls single-handedly.

- We had a guest check-in at 3pm stinking drunk with nothing but the shirt on his back. His story was that he got robbed. What doesn't add up is how he managed to afford to get shitoxicated after being robbed. I asked him later about the incident and he said, "I was walking around and I decided to sit down on a bench for a little while. I fell asleep and when I woke up, I had been robbed." I hate it when that happens!

- All the lazy Sundays when Mom had control of the channel changer paid off. Some of the tricks from This Old House came in handy. I've affixed a light fixture in the bathroom, repaired a hole in a plaster wall and re-hung drapery rods, and re-installed door handles on the elevator.

- Channeling Bob Vila wasn't enough. I've had five different "professionals" in to repair 4 A/C units and an electrical problem. For the amount they charge, I think I should buy the TOS DVDs and start taking notes.

- Our neighbors have filed a formal complaint about our "improper elevator usage". I think they think it's improper that we actually use it. I've had to call the technician on various occasions after it has broken down. I'm pretty sure El Presidente is just miffed that the neighbor association is getting stuck with the bill.