Chapter 2: Finding a Rhythm

Work was already starting to feel normal. Everything around it still felt completely new.

by Karl

Work, swimming and one euro tacos

Thursday was the first day that started to feel a little more normal.

I worked during the day and met Carli afterwards. We wanted to go back to the same pool one more time before it closed for the season.

Somewhere along the way, I had discovered a shop where almost everything cost three euros, which is obviously a dangerous thing for me to know about. Before going swimming, I stopped there and found myself a pair of sporty shorts that were sexy enough for me and practical enough to finally work as swimwear.

A surprisingly important purchase.

We spent some time swimming and eventually made our way up to the terrace above the pool. Sitting there with a beer and Barcelona stretching out below us felt like a pretty good way to spend an afternoon.


At some point we both ended up on the phone with our mothers, which I still find weirdly funny. Two people sitting on a terrace in Barcelona, drinking beer and separately giving their mums an update on life.
By then, we were getting hungry. Luckily, Carli knew exactly where to go. She took me to a little place where the tacos cost one euro.

One-euro tacos. Really good ones, too.

Exactly what we needed.

Somewhere between the pool, the beer and the tacos, our conversation had also become a lot more serious. We talked about relationships, communication, other people, and eventually quite a lot about me. Especially about how difficult I sometimes find it to actually say what I'm feeling or what I need from someone.

It wasn't some huge revelation where everything suddenly made sense. It was more that Carli helped me put words to things that had already been sitting somewhere in my head.

And I'm really thankful to her for that.

Taqueria Los Güeros

Dancing again

By Friday, work had already started fading into the background of my days here. It was simply the thing I did before everything else could happen.

That evening, Carli and I went to a social, and Yasemin joined us. I had really been looking forward to dancing, especially because there were so many good dancers around. But once I was actually there, I noticed myself slipping straight back into an old habit.

I was trying too hard.

Instead of simply enjoying myself, part of me wanted to prove that I could dance. I was thinking about whether I looked good, whether I was doing enough, whether the other person thought I was good. Way too much thinking for something I actually love doing.

But then I danced with this really sweet guy. He was flirting with me a little and kept complimenting the smallest things I did. Tiny movements, little reactions, things I wouldn't even have thought were worth mentioning. I definitely rolled my eyes at him more than once. 🙄


But annoyingly, it worked.
The more he did it, the easier it became to stop questioning everything. I let myself enjoy his attention, his charm and the dance itself instead of constantly analysing what I was doing.


That feeling stayed with me for the rest of the evening. I danced with so many people, played around more and worried less about whether every little thing looked right.
For the first time in quite a while, I wasn't trying to be impressive. I was just enjoying dancing again.

And that felt really, really good.

I think that was what I had been missing. Not dancing better. Just enjoying dancing again.

"I seem to relearn this lesson every few months. And every single time I do, it feels a little bit like magic. Maybe one day it'll actually stick."

Later, Yasemin and I wandered through Barcelona for a while. We got a little lost and tried to find somewhere to sit down and come back to earth after the night, but nothing really worked out.

So eventually we gave up and went home.

Pretty good Friday.

L'umbracle