So yesterday I bought this prepaid modem from Orange. "Internet Everywhere" it is called. The barky woman who sold it to me told me I had one day's service included. After that I would have to recharge it. She mentioned a list of possible recharging options but since she sounded like a machine gun out of control, I didn't quite get what they were. What I did understand was I could do it on the internet (actually maybe I understood that because I read it when I got home).
Well, I connected yesterday and immediately started to look at how I could recharge my account. I wanted to add enough time so that I would have uninterrupted service until I leave. I went to http://orange.es like the box said, but it was not at all clear how to recharge.
I thought maybe when my time ran out I would get a message telling me I needed to recharge. I was online after midnight last night, my internet did not stop working and I didn't get a message. Maybe in the morning? Nope.
So when I got up this morning, all set to do my favorite routine of eating breakfast in front of the computer while waking up, I logged on and found I had no connection.
Drats!
So, I threw on some clothes and went to a pay phone and dialed 1414, like the box said. I told the lady I wanted to recharge my internet prepago. She transferred me.
The new woman asked how I wanted to do it. I told her with credit card. She asked for the name of the bank. I told her Chase. She said, "huh?" or whatever the equivalent would be in Spanish. She then told me I could not use a foreign credit card. I told her I was a foreigner.
She suggested I go to an ATM and recharge it there with my credit card. Any ATM? I asked. Any ATM she answered.
I went to an ATM and inserted my credit card. I did not see any option for recharging anything. I got my card and left. Crossed the street to BBVA a fairly large bank chain. Surely they would have this function.
They did. I inserted my "telephone number" - the number I have that looks like a phone number but isn't. I got a message I didn't understand, but I knew it wasn't good. I got my card and went back to the phone. I dialed 1414, spoke to one woman, then another. I explained to the recharging lady why I needed to be connected (to stay in touch with my family and get news about my dad), she was sympathetic and said that even though it probably would not accept it, she would try my credit card.
It was not accepted.
She suggested a list of places I could go - ATM, gas station, Orange Store (with the barky lady) and some other options I didn't get.
I decided to try the ATM again because she assured me it would work.
This time after entering my "telephone number" I understood the message - it was asking me to enter it again. I did.
Suddenly my card was spit out and I got a message that the transaction failed.
Okay, so much for that.
I was walking towards home and came to a gas station. I went in, asked if I could recharge my internet there. The woman said I could. I told her the amount, gave her the number, gave her the money, and was done.
It was easy. Well, sort of.
And so I was connected all day. Until just a few minutes ago when I was sending an e-mail and my connection dropped. I don't know why. I was already in my pajamas. I had to put on pants, go down the three long flights of stairs, walk to Avenida Paral.lel, find a phone and dial 1414.
I explained the problem, entered my number, waited, and was told I was connected. I said I was not. She insisted I was connected and if not the problem was the ordenador. What is the ordenador? I asked. I didn't understand the answer. I thought maybe I needed to shut down and restart my computer.
And so I did, and now I am connected. Only a few more days of this mess.
So after getting connected this morning, eating breakfast and all, I went to Montjuic to the Miro Foundation.
It was a nice trip. I took the subway one stop and then a public bus up the mountain. It was so easy. My 10-trip ticket I bought for the subway also works for the bus! Very cool.
The museum was great. I love Miro. I think he is kind of a prankster. I had a feeling that some of his paintings were trying to convey something, but I wasn't sure what. It was like some secret language waiting to be decoded. I was staring at one painting for a while, it was very mysterious. A big golden sphere with two black dots and a squiggly line with some splatters of paint all making for a very interesting composition, great color contrast, lots going on. I stood and tried to get the painting to speak to me. What was it saying? Finally, I looked at the wall tag. Two planets chasing a hair - was the title. I looked, and there they were - the two black dots planets and that black squiggly line the hair.
I didn't stay long because I was feeling like I was catching a cold. As I left I saw a sign for the funicular. I thought I would take a different route home, thinking the funicular was a cable car type thing.
It turned out it was just a train that goes up and down the mountain. Kind of like what I saw in Lisbon. I went down, got off at the one stop and found I was on my line (line 3).
I knew my line went to Parc Guell, the other Gaudi creation I wanted to check out. So I made the transfer and went to Lesseps station.
The park was nice, very high up on hill with a great view. It was too crowded to enjoy though, and the tourists that were there were acting like animals in a zoo - whooping and hollering and screeching and whistling and running and jumping around. I came in through one entrance at the highest point and made my way down to the lower part of the park. Snapped some photos and left.
It was a nice visit, but unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the crowds.
I returned home and went to my neighborhood Moroccan restaurantfor lunch. This time I got cous cous and was given a great salad as a starter - a nice assortment of lettuce, fresh goat cheese, walnuts, pine nuts and honey. It was enough to be a lunch in itself. I could not finish all of the cous cous. I had a mint tea too.
I will go back tomorrow one more time. I've had enough Spanish food and am tired of playing food roulette, never knowing if I will get a good meal or not. I like eating lunch out and dinner in (since I prefer to eat dinner at a "normal" time and not right before bed).
And that was my day. I walked around my neighborhood a little and explored, and have since been hanging out, listening to music, eating, etc.
I feel like I did and saw enough today and really like the feeling of living in Barcelona, getting to know my neighborhood and just enjoying this nice apartment.
Now, hopefully my Orange Internet Everywhere will work when I start up my computer tomorrow.
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