Some time in Spain

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 nav...

Since uploading the last post from my phone while waiting in the Passeig de Gracia train station, I realized I was waiting on the wrong platform and quickly made my way to the other side to grab the R2S branch of the Renfe heading south to Castelldefels. It wasn't long before I spotted a few people wearing ultimate gear with discs clipped to their backbacks heading to the tournament (Copa Tanga). These three happened to play for Bravas which is the Barcelona based mixed-gender team that practices 2x per week -- once on grass and once on beach. We caught the Renfe together and arrived in Castelldefels with enough time for me to change clothes, refill water and find my team (Black Bonzai) which was made up a mix of international players including two from the UK, four from Russia, one from Sweden, two from France, two from Switzerland  and one from Austria. Most of the team were meeting each other for the first time but all had a connection in common with our team captain Nasser M...

I considered getting started on this last night, my first in Spain, as a way of keeping myself awake / giving myself the best chance to sync with a new time zone but was able to stave off fatigue until a reasonable hour by treating myself to a glass from a €2 bottle of local wine, listening to house music and responding to a few work emails.  Between Thursday at 1pm EST and now (8:30 am, GMT) I have traveled approximately 4,500 miles, using 4 separate trains, a bus and an airplane. As I write this I am riding the Renfe R1 from Canet de Mar (where my lodging is) to Badalona where I will transfer to the Metro (purple line) which will take me to Passeig de Gracia where I will transfer back to the Renfe (R2) line which will take me to Castelldefels where I will be for the next few days playing in an international beach ultimate tournament with Black Bonzai, a team of French, Swedish, Danish, Russian and American (me) players. Major shout out to my friend and teammate Nico for getting m...