Thoughts from the Renfe 9/23
Alright, nothing crazy since the last post. I have mostly been chilling, working and soaking in a small dose of life in canet de mar.
It took me about two days to recover from the ulti tournament. On top of the physical wear and tear, tournaments generally involve a big mental and emotional output. This was one probably particularly exhausting due to residual jetlag and being in a new place, with new people, new language etc.
I’ve been trying to get good sleep and eat well since then, though waking up at 5 this morning to catch a renfe to the airport, my brain and body are complaining a bit.
A month is a long time to be away and I imagine I feel like I’ll have a decent sense of this place once I come home, but right now I am mostly aware of how unfamiliar everything is, and the little moments of progress that happen every day (like finding a shortcut to the supermarket, or the pharmacy attendant telling me I had decent Spanish) remind me of the level of familiarity and ease of navigation I take for granted in philadelphia. My mental map of canet de mar is coming together though and I’m looking forward to exploring more.
I took a walk around yesterday through a park to a semi-outlook above town, before making my way down the hills to grab the €10 lunch special and espresso (“un cafe de Sol”) at a Japanese restaurant, and heading to the beach. I’m hoping to keep a ritual of taking a swim every day that I can. Interestingly (and maybe because I’m showing up in the middle of the workday) I’m usually one of the only people there and I feel like I’m the only person swimming. We may be off peak swim season here but the water feels good to me. The sand is nice too, bigger grains that don’t stick as much but still feel good underfoot.
I’ve spent the last few nights working from around 4pm-11:30pm to sync up with colleagues in the US. Being here and collaborating in the US is surreal and heightens the feeling that this is potentially the weirdest chapter of my career so far. Maybe more on that for another post.
Right now I’m back on the Renfe, currently between stations for Clot and Sagrada Familia. Once I arrive at Sants, I’ll transfer to the R2 to get to the airport where if all goes well I will be on a flight to Zurich to visit Sara, Yura, Inna, Shelby and Ann & Tony LaVigna for the weekend where we’ll celebrate the end of Sara’s chemotherapy treatments.
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