Love at first sight

After a really exhausting work week, because I had to work longer every day, I was really looking forward to the weekend. My two fellow volunteers were not at work all week, so I helped out in the kindergarten. I have to say that it was also nice but I enjoy working in school more. I found it amazing how clingy kindergarten children are even though they hardly know you, especially one girl was very clingy. She wanted to hold my hand and play with me all the time. However, I also experienced the hard sides when a three-year-old boy, whom I already knew from infamous stories from my colleagues, completely wet his shoes and I was supposed to change them. I picked him up because he didn't want to go with me. This led to him screaming at ear-shattering volume. After almost suffering a hearing loss, I tried to find out where his spare shoes were. My search was accompanied by his screaming, which was not very helpful. He just kept saying, "let me go to my friends now!". I tried to calm him down, lifted him up again, tried everything but in the end, I was just annoyed. So I carried him back to the schoolyard without changing his shoes. There he cried for a long time, probably he was just tired because he really didn't feel like it anymore. That's why I was even happier when the work week was finally over.

A very good friend invited me to her place. She is another volunteer and we have been meeting since November 2022. So I spent the whole weekend with her and it was really special. She lives in a small village about 1.5 hours away from me. We have met a few times alone, but most of the time we went out partying together. So the intensity and duration of quality time for the two of us were really something new. Her host mom and she picked me up from the train station and then we drove to her place for about 20 minutes. Her host family is very nice and welcoming, but I was a bit shy at first, we talked more during dinner. What wasn't quite clear to me was that there are also three dogs living in the house. Honestly, I'm afraid of big dogs and there were two big greyhounds and a small female dog. But all three were totally harmless and to my surprise, I found the little one really cute, because normally (we all agree on that) cats are definitely better than dogs. To calm down a bit, we went to Lotti's room and talked about all sorts of things as usual. Lotti told me about the projects she is currently working on at school and I found her will to get involved and make a change really admirable. Shortly after that, we went out again with her host family to go shopping for dinner. I saw a bit of the village and it can be said that it is very Catalan influenced. Catalan flags are hanging everywhere and you can tell that the residents are proud of their Catalan identity, much more so than in Premia de Mar or Barcelona. Around 9:00 p.m. which is really a Spanish time, we had hamburgers with homemade potato chips. It was very delicious and everyone was very accommodating. After that, Lotti and I watched a movie together, but it was really one of the worst romantic movies I've ever seen. It was really boring and I even half-slept through the end, even though I never fall asleep during movies.

The next morning, I was woken up early by the scratching of the dogs' paws. The whole house is mega loud and you can hear everything. It was almost 8 o'clock or so, really early especially for the weekend. I stared aimlessly at my phone for a while, but luckily Lotti also woke up. We got ready and Lotti made breakfast for both of us. Unfortunately, I'm really unlucky when it comes to colds. I'm not often sick here, but more intense. As I'm writing this, my nose is still running, which annoys me a lot, and I was a real runny nose with my friend as well. Unfortunately, I had to buy new expensive nasal spray at the pharmacy because the pharmacist looked at me like an alien because I didn't speak Catalan but Castellano (aka Spanish). So much for Catalan pride. Our plan was to go on a picnic, so we went to two supermarkets and bought a lot of fruits and also a lot of unhealthy stuff to balance it out. We stocked up well and then, after a delicious carbonara made by Lotti's host dad, we set off at 3:00 p.m. The way was a bit exhausting but completely doable, I really enjoyed getting to know Spain from a different perspective, hilly and wooded. When we arrived, Lotti showed me her favorite spot, where we made ourselves comfortable. The most important thing first: eating and relaxed chatting. Lotti came up with a really cool game. Since we always talk about the same topics, we both wrote 20 questions on a piece of paper and each of us took turns saying a number from one to twenty and we asked each other the respective question and both answered. One of my questions was: Is there such a thing as love at first sight? And even though we are uncertain about it in a romantic sense, it is clear for both of us. Lotti and I got along really well at our first meeting. The chemistry just fit, and what also brought us together was that there were sometimes certain differences with former fellow volunteers. At that time, I could talk openly with her about it and it was a great relief not to be alone in such situations. I felt very lonely back then (especially in November 2022). Lotti is one of the few people with whom I can speak so openly, we share our thoughts with each other unfiltered. It just feels good and right. We also read our self-written texts to each other. Besides my blog, I also write other things more or less regularly, but always for myself and not to share them with anyone. Lotti is now one of the three people who knows my most personal essay. She read me her poems, and my favorite line, which I will always remember, is "you can't mow down heart racing." The mood was just harmonious all the time, and at no moment was I afraid to share thoughts or texts of mine, and I know that we will definitely remain friends after our volunteering year. To end the day nicely, we went to a restaurant for pizza and then chatted for a long time.

The next day, to my great frustration, I woke up early again. For breakfast, Lotti made freshly squeezed orange juice against the cold. Until lunchtime, we both journaled, chatted, and petted the cute dog. In the late afternoon, I started my longer journey back home, and thus a really nice weekend (despite being sick) flew by. This weekend will stay in my memory for a long time, especially the afternoon in the forest, because there I had the feeling again that it is totally okay to be oneself and you don't have to be ashamed of your feelings or thoughts. Okay, I admit that this all sounds pretty cheesy but that's how it has to be with friendship love at first sight. On Monday I luckily still had a day off, and in the evening, I went to a skater bar with my roommate. Unfortunately, there were no hot skater boys, but there were cheap cocktails. On the way back, the same thing happened to her that happened to me a few months ago, her ticket got swallowed by the machine and had to be fished out. Today was an easy day at work and I received really positive feedback from the staff member responsible for us, which instantly improved my mood, and the best news: the three of us are allowed to leave early from tomorrow, already at 3:45 :).