Cava, crime, and the correfroc!

(This was actually written last night but I accidentally deleted the second portion and had to retype it this morning - sorry if there are typos but I was running out of patience!)

Hola! So of course I'm finding the time to update this now, with my first Spanish test tomorrow morning. Oh well. I have studied for most of the day so I think this is a well-deserved break.

Anyway, last week I mentioned going on a daytrip outside of Barcelona to Penedes and Sitges -it was probably one of the greater daytrips I've taken in my life - we started the day at a champagne-only vineyeard, spent the middle of the day at the beach in Sitges, and ended the trip at a champagne and wine vineyeard. I don't think it gets much better! The exclusively champagne vineyard was Codorniu vineyards - as you can imagine they were quite serious about their cava.

They took us on a lovely tour of their museum and storage facilities, all which were designed by a semi-famous architect, whom I can't remember the name of, of course. The storage area was basically like a giant batcave for cava ("cava" spanish for champagne, literally means "cave") - you couldn't even possibly wrap your head around how many bottles of champagne this place held. We had to ride a little train to get from one end to the other! The decor was exquisite too - they incorporated wine bottles into everything - they had chandeliers made of wine bottles, tables made of wine bottles, etc. They also had one of the must beautiful sculptures I've ever seen, in a little shrine-like area in the heart of the storage facilities - it was a metalesque tree coming out of a table with little circular balls of different color and light (meant to sympolize grape vines; the various colors, the various stages of the grape). I couldn't get a great picture of it but hopefully I can find one from someone else...

We then went to Sitges for the beach - very beautiful but slightly on the chilly side. After that we headed to another nearby vineyard, which was a combined tour and tasting class. We tried 4 different wines and 2 different cavas, learning how to properly taste (not chug! haha) each one, and learning about the different aromas, flavors, etc. The entire thing was mostly in Spanish and I was very pleased to be able to understand a good deal of it, with much thanks due to the owner's incredibly slow pace of talking and emphatic hand gestures. That was all Friday. Now for the burgularly I mentioned in my last post... :(

On Sunday my friend Anjali and I were walking through Barri Gotic, something we do quite often, as the area is so pretty. About 30 seconds after passing by a narrow alleyway with some people in it, we heard some indecipherable yelling. At first we thought nothing of it - but when it suddenly became oddly quiet, we decided to go back and investiage. Sure enough, there was no longer the group of about four people - only one poor woman standing surrounded by tons of luggage but sans her purse. I was completely shocked/appalled, etc. I mean, it´s one thing to be robbed late at night (I have friends who have had this happen to them in Boston) - but on a SUNDAY - in the middle of the day? Completely unbelievable. It more or less ruined my day, as I had until then felt pretty safe walking around by myself. Of course, she was a relatively target because of all the luggage - but still.

I´m pretty frustrated with the petty crime here, actually. I can´t believe that the police don´t do more to stop it - whether by enacting harsher punishments, going undercover as tourists - whatever. A study abroad group that was here last semester said that 25/40 students had something stolen from them at some time during their four months. The attitude here seems to be that A) all big cities are like this, B) if you take the right precautions you´ll be fine and C) you´ll get used to it after a while. I, however, have never felt as afraid for my personal belongings as I do here, and I am not appreciative of the idea that I am supposed to just get used to it. Theft shouldn´t be an accepted norm, for chrissakes. I know that Spain has less violent crime than the US, etc., etc., but stealing from/mugging someone is a pretty serious, malicious crime. I´m a little disappointed with Barcelona on this one. It´s only been two weeks and I´m already so in the habit of keeping a hawk-like eye on my things and the people around me. I think it´s going to be difficult for me to relax my heightened sense of security when I´m back in Boston... everyone will think I´m crazy when I´m hugging my bag to my chest or putting my chair legs through its straps when I´m at a restaurant.... haha.

Oh well. I guess you have to take the good with the bad. Thankfully Barcelona´s awesomeoness is outweighing its problems (talk to me after I´ve been robbed and I might feel differently, but until then...)

Onto that awesomeness... on Friday we went to the Picasso museum. Picasso trained in Barcelona before living in Paris. The museum had a ton of work from his younger years - being able to see that work really makes you appreciate his abilities. It's tempting, sometimes, to look at his paintings and think, "I could've made that squiggly blob too!" But seeing what he was doing when he was nine (amazing work) really makes you admire what he did later - he was so good at the traditional it's no wonder he became so experimental. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

This weekend/week/next weekend is actually a wonderful time to be in Barcelona - it is La Merce, a 7-day long celebration of the city´s patron saint, Our Lady of Mercy. There is an astounding amount of events and activities each and every day. For example, on Saturday night, we went to the "Correfroc". The Correfroc is a parade of demon and devil-like floats and figures that shoot sparks at the crowds - literally translated, it means ¨"fire run" - and that´s exactly what you have to do. They hold it on a pretty wide street so it´s relatively easy to avoid, but a lot of people go right up and dance in the sparks. Everyone wears long sleeves, jeans, hats, scarves, sunglasses, etc. It was pretty wild.

After that we walked to the harbor to watch some fireworks (with a bottle of wine) - and then roamed around to the more than 5 free concerts taking place in various parts of the city. It was basically an amazing night. And the main day of the festival isn't even until Wednesday! I can't wait.

Oh yeah, and on Thursday I go to Paris for the weekend .... :) tough life, huh?

Now for photo time:

Flamenco dancing (from my last post):

Codorniu cava vineyard:

El correfroc:

Love and miss you all - adios!

Mi Puente

An update! The past week has gone relatively well. Last Tuesday we went to a Flamenco show. It was only a half hour show but it was so cool (and very sexy!). There was only one dancer, and it was actually a guy – I had imagined that it would be a woman. I don’t have any good pictures because I was too busy being in awe of his dance moves, haha...

We only had class from Monday through Wednesday last week, because Thursday was National Catalonian Day. Friday we had no class either because in Spain, whenever a holiday falls on a Thursday, everyone takes “un puente” (I think that's what it is) - a.k.a, the whole weekend off. All day Thursday were concerts, speeches, demonstrations, etc. Most of my friends went to a free concert in the main park here, but my family invited me to go out with them for a tour of the city, and I obviously couldn’t pass that up.

They enlisted a guy Tony works with, who knows a lot of English, a lot of history, and was extremely nice (unfortunately I can’t even remember his name right now, which is pretty embarrassing). I essentially had a personal tour guide for the evening! We mostly walked around Barri Gotic and Las Ramblas, visiting different churches, plazas, etc., stopping for ice cream, for churros (delicious, delicious crispy fried pastries…de-licious), etc. We went to a few places that I had gone to before in CIEE’s tours, but also some new ones. Hopefully I can relocate the new places and play tourguide for some of my friends in the future. It’s so easy to get lost in the Barri Gotic – it’s an absolute labyrinth of streets. Anyway, it was nice to have someone to talk to in English, and someone who could translate fully to Noemi and Tony (luckily, devil-child passed out in her stroller about halfway through the trip...).

We went out afterwards for dinner – Noemi had wanted to go out for traditional Catalan food but a lot of places were closed for the holiday, so we ended up getting pizza… It was a lovely evening in itself, but it was also nice because it made me feel like my family here actually wants me to be here, and that I’m not just a source of extra income. It’s been hard to feel comfortable yet because of the language barrier, but even so, I feel that it is difficult to be suddenly living so closely with complete strangers – getting used to one another’s habits, rules, etc. – regardless of language.

It’s so funny how I can go into a restaurant or café and order something in Spanish, be proud of my pronunciation, and then have them answer me back in English. Is it that obvious? Haha. My goal is, by the end of the semester, to be able to trick someone (store clerk or otherwise) into thinking I might actually be Spanish. I’m not sure if that’s even possible, but I can hope! It’s so difficult to get the pronunciation exactly right, especially here with the mix of Catalan and Castellano. I’ve considered trying to learn a little Catalan, because from what I gather, they tend to appreciate bad Catalan better than good Castellano – but it is SO confusing. Many words are the same, even more are very similar but slightly different, and then most are just completely different. It’s impossible. I was chatting with a guy at a café, actually, and he was saying that it was nice that I could at least speak some Spanish, and then asked if I knew any Catalan – too which I responded meekly, “bon dia?” and received a giant hug and smile for my efforts. I think I will try to learn some standard sayings and some food-related words... (food is one of my top priorities in life, if you weren't aware!).

I can feel myself getting slightly better. But it’s tiring – I feel like my brain is functioning at 150% all day every day because I’m trying so hard to pick up on what people are saying, to translate it, to say something back (and say it correctly)… sometimes I wonder if smoke is coming out my ears when I have to say an especially complicated sentence.

The realization of how immersed I am in the language definitely came the other night when I started to count sheep in Spanish…

Anyway. I would like to write more but I have homework to do! Stay tuned to hear about our daytrip to Penedes and Sitges on Friday, and a burglary I witnessed yesterday :( .... !

<3

Una semana!

I have successfully surived a week abroad! Haven't been deported, haven't had my purse stolen... (I hope I'm not jinxing myself) - go me!

This weekend was fun. On Friday we went to the Barri Gotic, a very old (and beautiful) part of Barcelona - a couple of the pictures from my last post were taken there. The night started at an Irish pub (yes, yes I know, I'm supposed to be experiencing Barcelonian culture, but it was nice to be in a familiar environment!), continued at a favorite haunt of Hemingway by Las Ramblas (the oldest bar in Barcelona, I have heard - with enough dust to prove it), and ended at the Catalan Plaza, where we waited for the metro to start back up again (cerca 5 AM.... apparently that's what they do here, and "when in Rome," no?)

On Saturday, as a result of the late night, we all slept in very late, woke up....... and then slept some more at the beach. So productive. The beaches here are beautiful - and I've heard that Barceloneta, the beach we frequent (as it is only 10 minutes from the university) isn't even that nice of a beach. We had lunch, or more of dessert (crepes and coffee) at a crazy little cafe that had its kitchen in a bus (indoors) and bathrooms that were made out of bus doors. See below.

Saturday night we went to a local bar for some sangria, and then a bar by the beach that played ridiculous 50s music - and then to a "disco"... the disco cost EIGHTEEN euros to get in (and that was with a special ticket), but it did include a drink. I was still mildly horrified. But again, when in Rome... because my mother is reading this, I won't tell you how late we were awake until!

Sunday was another late morning (....afternoon....), cafe (coffee) y bocadillos (sandwiches) at a cafe, and a long walk to the city center and El Parc de la Ciutadella - a gorgeous park full of statues, fountains (sans water, of course, because of the drought), and so many people! We walked through the park back to Barri Gotic (it's currently my favorite place) and people-watched, and also stopped to listen to a street performer singing English songs (Bob Marley, the Fugees, a crazy mix -) to a Spanish crowd (so interesting). The guy was very talented and drew a huge crowd - it was so funny to see a bunch of Spainairds singing "Don't worry, be happy" etc.

Today we had our first day of class (we have two weeks of intensive Spanish classes, and then in October we start regular classes plus a Spanish class), and it was a little on the terrible side. I can hardly understand what the teacher is saying - it was the first day and we were already doing irreglar past tense verbs and past participles and all kinds of other horrific stuff that I never actually learned except by studying on my own time. I talked to the teacher and I'm going to try it again tomorrow but I might switch into a class that a lot of the people in my program are in - it's still intermediate but "3" instead of "5". We'll see how it goes. To make up for the terribleness, after class, 6 or so students in my program went to this amazing little hole-in-the-wall place that was super crowded, dirty, without seats - and had .60 - .90 cent glasses of champagne! I paid about 3.5 Euros for 2 glasses of cava (champagne) and a ham bocadillo. Marvelous.

Also - while it may sound like my major activity here is drinking, I will have you know that it is not getting drunk - in Spain, quite contrary to the customs of most American youth, drinking is in moderation, and for enjoyment only - NOT to wake up not remembering what you did the night before. I really appreciate that. Drinking is a part of your night, not the focus.

Anyway! Things with the family here are good - we struggle through conversations with dictionaries, pictures, hand motions, etc - it's like an extended game of charades. The little girl is a little bit of un diablo, unfortunately. Her favorite game is to take something from my room, hide it, and then come back empty-handed saying "No se!" - her second favorite game is launching herself at me when I walk past the couch - with a close tie for a third game of hitting me in the head when her parents leave the room. I am better off than the rabbit, however - she thoroughly enjoys carrying it around by one of its legs and sticking it in places it can't get itself out of. Ay carumba. I'm just trying to be patient and learn enough Spanish to be able to scold her convincingly.... and also trying to spend some time with her during the day because I think part of the problem is that she just wants attention, and I'm not here very often - when I am, I'm talking with her parents, fixing up my room, etc.

So this was supposed to be a short post and it turned into a massive one - lo siento. Time for bed! Buenas noches, les extrano (Goodnight, I miss you!) <3

the bus-bathroom

el parc (o el parque)

the beach

a cathedral and an alleyway in el Barri Gotic

Emily in Barcelona

Hola!

I finally have some time and energy to write! I'll be doing my best to write twice a week in this blog - because I want to keep everyone updated, but mostly because I have to for school.... haha. It is 7:15 PM (or 19:15 as they would say) on Friday… I’m sitting out at the balcony of my family’s apartment, looking out over the courtyard of the building complex. There are always tons of kids playing there, yelling in Spanish, with dogs barking, etc. There’s a MARVELOUS breeze as well, for a pleasant change. It’s been oppressively hot here. They’re so used to it they rarely use fans or air conditioning, while I, in the meantime, just about melt.

I live with a young couple, Noemi and Tony, their four year old daughter, Noa, and their rabbit – Princessa-something-or-other (Funny story: the first night I was here Noa brought the rabbit to me and in my jet-lagged haze I at first thought it was just a stuffed animal…needless to say, when it began to squirm/move, my shrieking gave them all a good laugh).

Aside from not having the time or energy to write, it’s also been difficult just to formulate my thoughts about all the new things I’m experiencing. Everything is so different! From light switches and bathrooms to attitudes and language it’s impossible to really process it all. Three basic examples of things that are very different:

WATER: water is not free in restaurants, even from the tap. When people do drink water, they drink it from bottles, because they are a) having a drought, and b) (this is just my speculation) it tastes TERRIBLE. There are also very few water fountains. Between the saltiness of the foods and the heat, I end up buying several bottles of water a day, and frequently have to contain myself from just pouring it over my head.

TIMING: as I alluded to before, they use military time, not AM/PM. They also don’t eat lunch until about 2 PM, and it’s the main meal, while dinner is not until 9ish, and is much lighter. They tend to stay up pretty late – the first night I was here, when I went to bed around 12:30 AM because of my exhaustion post-30 hours of no sleep, the little girl was still running around playing.

LANGUAGE: I really couldn’t have imagined how difficult communication could be. In this region of Spain, they primarily speak Catalan, which is completely different than Spanish – all the signs around the city are in Catalan. It is still a Romance language, but it is more French/Italian. While almost all speak this, they also speak Spanish. Spanish I can do pretty well with, surprisingly. I have been so pathetically proud of myself every time I had to accomplish something using Spanish – buying my cell phone, for example, or asking for directions. I’m sure they know immediately that I’m a foreigner but being able to get along using it is nice. With my family here, the wife speaks a little English, and the husband speaks a little more, but not much. I was actually pretty surprised – for some reason I thought they’d speak more. It’s been difficult to communicate with them, but we do our best, and using a crazy combination of Spanish, English, and Catalan words, we can usually figure out what one another is trying to say. I keep my dictionary at the table during meals for easy reference. I have an awful time understanding the little girl, however – she speaks very fast, and with that little-kid-kind-of-voice that is hard to decipher. She gets SO frustrated with me for not understanding. Hopefully my classes will help.

That was a long paragraph, sorry. It’s just so interesting and challenging at the same time. Frustrating too, of course. But my Spanish is getting better every day – and we start our intensive 2 ½ hour a day classes on Monday. I took a placement test that landed me in the highest-level Spanish class of anyone in my group of 12. I’m a little amazed at (/worried about) that, but we’ll see how it goes.

This week we’ve just been spending a lot of time touring the city and trying to get a feel for things. I’m so excited to really get to know Barcelona – to have favorite restaurants, favorite parks etc. Everything is so beautiful, especially the architecture. We’ve been to a few gorgeous cathedrals already, as well as some lovely parks, including La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell (both designed by Gaudi). We also stopped by the beach today – which was gorgeous as well (and about 10 minutes from my university - AND full of topless women … yikes).

We’ve been out to a number of adorable bars and restaurants for coffee and pastries (me gusta el café con leche), for “tapas” and sangria, as well as “el menu del dia” – a 3-course meal that includes wine or water (but not both - decisions, decisions!) for about 12$. The food reminds of a funny little example of the language barrier – I brought my family some maple syrup from Vermont as one of a few gifts – it was in a very pretty little glass bottle….I couldn’t think of the word for it originally, and Tony, trying to help me explain, finally said “Ah! It is cologne!?” … haha.

Well anyway. I feel like I could literally type on forever about everything, but I will spare you and my attention span the trouble. Here are a few parting pictures!

Adios y mucho amor a todos :)