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Been on extended holidays now for about a month. The corona virus was just picking up when we left for Guangdong before Chinese New Year. We stayed a week then left for Madrid, Rome and now Barcelona. Still doesn’t look like a good time to go back so we extended our stay. Staying with some friends in a town north of Barcelona called Vic. This Sunday we’ll head to Tangier Morocco for a few days, then back into Southern Spain and make our way up to Portugal. Just looking week by week, trying to cut through to the ‘facts’’ on what we see on Twitter. It’s always hard to know what is true there, but if you just watch the videos by themselves without the comments you can make your own mind up.

Anyway on thing is for sure, I won’t have any work for at least another month, possibly much longer. Leeyan is working online for the meantime. She’s very keen to go back and we argue a lot about what we should do during this uncertainty. Other problem is that she uses Weibo which is censored by the Chinese government, so she doesn’t get both sides.

So even though it’s been really amazing traveling through Europe seeing how they live and all the history and art, I haven’t been having the best holiday.

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We started in Madrid as my sisters family are currently living there. I got the impression that it’s kind of a slow paced city, beautiful old streets and buildings, relatively cheap and not too touristy.

We saw an art gallery (Prada), and just walked around drinking coffee and eating lots of different foods. I like the breakfast the best. Tomato on fresh toast and an expresso.

Seems like not so many people speak English there. Spanish isn’t too different, so you can pretty much guess what is on the menu. Or use a translation app if you are really struggling. My sister speaks intermediate Spanish so she was showing us around a bit. Bought some locally produced leather shoes which I like to think of are colored ‘bitcoin gold’ (not the forked currency)!

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Rome has a completely different feel to Madrid. It felt a bit rough around the edges, and the historical monuments were everywhere and truly amazing. We were staying around the colosseum, and it felt as if any direction we walked, we would find something spectacular.

Some of the main attractions look well looked after, but then there are some other ones where no one is around. Like an old wall in a back alley somewhere, or a run down church. Really interesting! Now I need to read a bit about the history, how they were built etc.

We were also lucky enough to catch up with my good friend Emaneulle. We were meant to hang out one more time in Shanghai, but their band ended up going back to Italy early cause of the corona virus. Actually it was lucky they left as Hangzhou was locked down about a week later. At the moment only one designated person can leave the house to get food twice a week.

Anyway, he was a little paranoid and stayed in self quarantine for 14 days (breaking it to see us), but his friends seemed to be a bit panicked about the whole situation. Spain seemed more relaxed. I mean... I’m taking the situation seriously, but not panicking. I just don’t think it’s a good time to go back as we need to wear a mask every time we go out. And it could potentially get a lot worse with water and food supplies etc. It’s just safer to stay in Europe and wait and see how it progresses.

We also caught some jazz in Rome which was nice. The level looked pretty high, and I keep imagining us moving to Europe and having great experiences playing music here. It was a jam session, but we didn’t stick around o play as we’d walked around the whole day.

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Our hotel cancelled our room a few days before landing in Barcelona. They seemed concerned with the whole corona virus thing and my wife having a Chinese name may have caused it. It wasn’t cool to do that so late, but it ended up being for the best. Ourfriends who live in a nearby town called Vic invited us to stay with them for a while. It’s quite a beautiful little town in a valley surrounded by mountains. And their apartment is big enough for a number of guests.

It’s always better when you have locals showing you around. You see and experience what it’s like to live there.

We climbed a mountain, ate a huge feast with Alberts family, saw some local musicians at a cool little club, went to a local birthday party, strolled through the old town, shopped at the weekly farmer’s market and saw a movie at the local theater too.

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Even though we’ve had such amazing hosts, I’m getting a little edgy about my lack of practice in music. They have a few guitars, and even borrowed a bass for me to play. I just don’t have the space or the frame of mind to get into it, or had the the time as I can’t just stay in their apartment playing when they want to show us around.

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I planned to do many things while I’m away. Lucky we took the laptop (even though I’ve hardly used it). Maybe that’s something I need to get over. The personal space I mean. Just put headphones on and get into writing a few songs.

I guess the ‘no gigs’ ‘not working’ is bothering me a bit. I don’t want to rely on someone to support me, but at this time it’s just the way it needs to be. Imagine all those people in Hubei unable to work and being stuck at home, family or neighbors dying from a deadly virus while I’m forcing myself into traveling around Europe. Somethings not right in my mind... but I honestly just haven’t found genuine appreciation for the things I have.

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With the confusion, I’ve somehow got the idea that I can try my hand at coding. It looks like something that a creative person could do well in. I’ve always got these ideas about someone should make this or that. With an understanding of coding, I might be able to just create those things myself.

But... it might be a bit too computer oriented for me to understand well. I don’t believe I’m too old to learn, it’s just that I don’t want to dedicate too much time into it. Let’s see... I have a bunch of apps and have been watching a few vids. Maybe try to do an hour or so a day for a month and see if it’s something worth pursuing.

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