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*Liam's Wild Ride*

A second shot of the Museum. It was immense and I could have gotten lost in there for hours. Well, not really. The types of art I really like are hewn from aluminium and steel, typically :) Particularly, the trick minibike parts from Japan. So clean, like moto-jewelry.

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Paused for a moment while walking to take in the Pavillion designed by Mies Van Der Rohe. I've seen better homes and pools in Hawaii! They wanted 3 and half Euros to go in and have the chance to buy books and postcards so I passed and crossed the street to check out the L'Art Nouveau exibit. Watched an education film (in English!) and tried to soak everything in. Lots of Porcelain and furniture. I thought this metal tree structure was pretty neat, but unless it has two wheels, it doesn't really move me.

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An example of some over-priced, fancy chairs. I think in the future I'll keep my home styling minimalist and very Japanese.

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Later that night I went to a great dinner at L'Acadamia with some old friends and then went to Club Trece. Two rooms with different music deep underground in a converted bunker! The music varied from remixed 70's to one of my all time favorites, Pump up the Volume, by M.A.R.R.S.!!! It's been about twenty years since that song came out, and it still rocked the house!

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The term 'best thread ever' is used way too often on barf but imho, this really IS one of the best threads ever!
I have no idea how I missed this thread but my wife and I read through your adventure yesterday afternoon and wow...you rule Liam! You are doing something I think a part of just about everyone reading this wishes they would be doing. Major kudos for making it happen. Like Sendra said, you gotta dream big!
Enjoy your journey and keep the posts comming :thumbup :teeth
 
Thanks Weak Link! The adventure here is so big that it's difficult for me to incapsulate every last little bit. For some, just being around some of the GP stuff I've seen or done would be enough. Others would simply enjoy the experience of being in another culture, and not as a tourist! I'm experiencing the "local" life, the nightlife, and more. Finding work in the paddock is frustratingly difficult and as more time passes I'm forced to consider alternatives. I really didn't want to be thinking so hard about my future over the holidays, but that's what has been going through my mind the last few weeks, i.e. should I stay planted or head back to the U.S.? Should I move somewhere else in the world? Part of my problem stems from a roomate leaving our apartment next month, which throws everyone's finances off a bit to compensate. With my own plans I'm not sure I should agree to commit to anything long term. Factor in my lack of comprehension with the language (which for some reason isn't progressing as fast as everyone said it would :laughing), and the possibility that I might have to move for job related reasons and I feel very "unsettled" these days. In some ways I'm definitely a creature of habit. Having such an uncertain future is exciting and dangerous, but I sacrificed so much to leave California and chase this dream that I'm not sure I should return anytime soon. With my world all aswirl with potential successes and failures, I have to consciously choose not to get too wrapped up. I never really thought of food as a comfort item, but after living in Spain I can honestly say that I think red meat is the BOMB, and it's my best friend!

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They do such an amazing job here making complex flavors and delicious meals from such simple, natural ingredients! From garlic and tomato mixes over raw Cod, to the endless variety of Flans, it seems like I am constantly trying new dishes. When it comes to meat, I find that one of the best ingredients is the same everywhere. Hawaiian Rock Salt! Well, here it's just Rock/Crystal salt. But it's big and burly and will make your steak pop!

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Ahhhh, Crema Catalana! This is one of my favorite Flans, a little softer than Creme Brulee, but in my opinion, tastier! Carmelized brown sugar topping and the requisite fresh fruit somewhere, and you have a recipe for awesomeness! I think I'll get myself a flan book one of these days, because this is a great way to get yer daily eggs!

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The Christmas Spirit hasn't really hit me yet. It's probably because I'm away from my friends and family. There have been signs, lights, and tree's up since November but it just seems so odd to think that Santa exists outside of the US. Here, he's known as Papa Noel. I was out this weekend starting off at a bar called Glacier in the Placa Reial. The level of smoke was normal but I noticed this display hanging from the ceiling above the bar. Merry Christmas from Wolverine!

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Robo50 said:
They do such an amazing job here making complex flavors and delicious meals from such simple, natural ingredients! From garlic and tomato mixes over raw Cod, to the endless variety of Flans, it seems like I am constantly trying new dishes. When it comes to meat, I find that one of the best ingredients is the same everywhere. Hawaiian Rock Salt! Well, here it's just Rock/Crystal salt. But it's big and burly and will make your steak pop!

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Click to expand...

that looks like Winnie the Pooh's hunny pot.
 
finally...it took me about a week or so during my breaks at work to finish your thread. Excellent thread bro!!

Speaking of soccer/futbol, i've heard there is a lot of racial tension these days in europe? I heard that the Spanish nat. team fans make monkey sounds every time a black person touches the ball?? Any experience or comment??
 
Liam,
If I was not married with 2 kids, dog, cat ,mortgage............. I'd come join you! You're having too much fun! :teeth


Aw fuck it. :mad
I'm jealous. Bastard :twofinger

Ok, well at least I get to race next year while you're still lookin' for a fookin' JOB! :p

Aw, nevermind............. :(

Give me your paypal address so I can send you a christmas present so you can have a dinner and drink on me for the holidays.............


Cheers,
:loco Mark :loco
 
Well, I've been busy the last couple of days trying to run Christmas errands and pick out a few things for my roomates. I got a little run-down, what with the weather, but now I'm rested and trying to plan what to do for the New Year. In the last week I've managed to go to an English Pub, the Philharmonic, to watch another futbol match between Real Madrid and Osasuna. Not the best game, but I gotta hand it to Zidane. That old frenchman's got great footwork, and because of him Real Madrid managed to break even and tie the game in the closing minutes. I haven't noticed any overt racism towards the black players in the any of the places I've watched matches at, but there is definitely a stigma concerning the Afrikan players, maybe because they don't speak the language. They're not necessarily teased openly, it just seems like everyone else gets a little quiet whenever they get the ball or when they're on-camera walking to their hotel or something. It seems most of the racial tension I'm aware of is in France at the moment, and here the tension isn't specifically white/black, but more Spanish/Catalan. . . . .and moreso. . . Everyone/Moroccan.
Dan- Buenas Fiestas! Jerez?
Mark - Thank you for the offer! It might look like I'm having too much fun, but one of the realizations I've come to is that satisfaction and sense of achievement can come from anywhere. You get to have experiences that I haven't even come across yet, like raising your children,which I hope to do one day!
To All Concerned, my paypal address is:
Liam Shubert or my Email address below
Thanks!
 
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Yesterday I got an urgent phone call from my roomate, Patricia, that said she needed me to get over to her office (will have pics and interviews in a couple weeks I hope) to help her carry something back to our apartment. I generally don't have anything pressing going on during the days so I skipped over and had to bring this home! It was a very special present for one of her closest work/professional friends, a wedding and Christmas present. Trivia Time! Who's replica is this?!?

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Here's another angle on the bike. This is in the front of our apartment, which comes complete with one of my suitcases, a piece of corkboard we found on the street one night, and a mop! It may seem clutterred, but it's all about making due with what you have. After lugging this thing home, which I found out was the top of the line Polini (the expensive one), I fired her up right in the hallway. Two-strokes! Patricia was rushing out the door to go get some wrapping paper somewhere because we had multiple appointments that evening. Did you know in Spain that 8 or 9 o'clock at night is referred to as. . . . the afternoon? When do you want to meet? 8 in the afternoon? Ok!

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The end result. Patricia delivered this with Nacho (who had driven up from Madrid earlier in the day to do some promotional work with Dani Pedrosa) and within an hour they were back so that we could get everyone together for our "roomate" holiday dinner.

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For some reason, Patricia gets all the cool presents for Chrismas. Every year she get's a variety of helmets and suits from the pilots she works closely with, and at some point I'm probably going to build our (soon to be) spare room into a moto-museum/home office. She has tons of leathers, from Alex Criville's to Mick Doohan's and so many other goodies, it puts my meager GP collection to shame. This is one of Pedrosa's older suits, which Nacho brought with him, but it was still pretty neat. I can't get over how small it is!

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Partly because of the time constraints, partly because the food was so danged good, we went back to VinoTinto. It's fairly close to the house and the prices are reasonable, so we decided to have our "holiday" dinner here. Because this is in the middle of the work week, the "holiday" party will be later on in the week, and should last for a long, long time (judging from past experience).

From left to right:
Nacho, Santi, myself, Patricia, Daniel, Mario, and Hiro.

Another great meal, another chance to splurge for the holidays. I'm thinking about adding some more social commentary, but that will have to wait until I'm completely confident and comfortable with my observations and judgments.

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