Ramblas and Racing

It's almost October. I've been here more than a month. It's getting colder but more comfortable, too. I am used to eating dinner at 9:30 by now. I can ride the metro anywhere and still know how to get home. I know where to buy a yummy cream-filled croissant for an after school snack. I have my own running route. I make my bed (usually). I am improving on my Spanish verbs, even though they're way more difficult than they need to be. I have a spot in the park where I like to go to read or just chill. I know where all my classes in the school are. I have friends.

                                                       And yes, as you can see, one of them is Batman.

This weekend we stayed in the city. I had a lovely rainy day out with my friends Alex and Santi. We were planning to catch Alex's rugby match but it was cancelled because they didn't want to ruin the field with all the rain and cleats. From there we took the metro to Las Ramblas. You've probably heard of it, it's super famous, and rightly so. It's a series of streets with shops and street performers and bars and statues and markets and clubs and gelato and pet and postcard stands, and fat people skinny people tourists locals Sasquatch suits fruit jugglers drug dealers mimes, anything and everything, really. It's magical, maybe like Disneyland but for older kids and adults, and minus the spinning teacups. I could literally spend every day there. And also all my money, in about an hour.I don't have a picture for you because I didn't want to risk a soaked camera (it rained the whole night) but I will for sure be going back. At the end, past the towering Christopher Columbus statue surrounded by bronze lions, there is a bridge that you cross to get to the mall that's on a platform in the middle of the marina. There's even a movie theater, and it even plays movies in English. The whole little island smells like popcorn and waffles.






We spend the afternoon and night on Las Ramblas under the cover of our umbrellas. We went into shops to try silly things on, and ate a variety of snacks from the markets and stands. These pictures are of Mercat La Boqueria, which is "the most famous market in Barcelona". It's amazing. Anything you could ever want. The whole place kind of smells like fish so that's a little disconcerting but you get used to it. We bought calzones, pineapple-mango juice, Sandia (thats watermelon) gelato, and this meat filled pastry thing (forgot the name) from here. Later we went to a bar to sit on the couch and watch some of the Seville vs FCB futbol match, then hopped back on the metro home.

Now I'm going to rewind a bit, to last weekend in Pals.On Sunday I did a 6.2k running/swimming race. Man I thought I was going to die during the swim. It began with the swim, with about 100 of us (I don't know the number) plunging into the salt water kicking and reaching and flailing and struggling. Well ok, those last two were mainly just me. I am not a swimmer. And it was a wavy morning. I must have swallowed a gallon of salt water. But I made it out, trudged up to the beach to where my clothes pile was, yanked on my socks and shoes over my wet sandy feet, and took off along with two other girls, Judith and Sofia. We ran together the whole way, past the rice fields and little crab-filled trenches and through the waist-high river onto the beach again. The last kilometer finished on the beach, and I know that sounds glamorous; running swiftly on the sand, barefoot and swimsuited, against a backdrop of the sea (it sounds like a tampon commerical). But running on sand is HARD. It seriously feels like you're going nowhere. I could see the finish line and hear the air horn blowing but I was doubting if we'd ever reach there to actually touch the bin of bananas for finishers.

But we did! And the whole thing was wrapped up with yoga on the beach. It was one of those days that really made you feel healthy and good about yourself. And I just felt lucky to be doing it in such a place.

Martes

Today I woke up, successfully climbed out of the top bunk without waking Bea and Blanca (I think), ate a bowl of cornflakes, put on my slick new European sneakers, and headed up the street to the academy. Past the bakery where we buy fresh bread and croissants, a right at the clinic, through the park where Blanca plays, keep going past Cardenal street, and then the next right, at the Tobacs shop. (yes, looking both ways every time I cross the street). The Academy. It sounds grand, like it has marble floors and kids in starchy uniforms, and overstuffed chairs that aren't actually comfortable. But really it's a patient guy named Dino in a stuffy room trying to teach me Castellana (this is what the Spanish language is called). Because I need to buck up and learn the language, and fast, we've decided the best thing for me to do is take Spanish lessons for two hours a day, and go to school for the rest. It's a good plan.

Chrissy, this is for you! This is a gate to a big Gaudi house, right outside of a park. The house is a beaut (now it's a restaurant) I wish you could see it. V4 I love all of your comments so much. I love hearing the adventures you go on at the cabin. I'm missing our queseDILLA parties right about now.

So, I've began (begun? Where's Ms Church when ya need her) to run. And you know what, I will always have a huge admiration for runners, because that sh-t is Not fun. But yeah, it sure makes you feel good when you're done. And when you pass the other runners in the path, you look at each other like yeah, you GO, person. At least I do, Maybe they think I'm weird. On Sunday I ran to the Cervantes Park and back with Javi (I'm thankful that the picture doesn't show how sweaty I was). Today I walked home with some kids then said "See you later, I've gotta go for my run," which felt a little weird coming from my mouth but hey, new city new person. Kinda. After changing, I ran to the Cervantes park, did a loop, then to the Kings Palace park, did a loop, then ran back to my street and walked around the block and bought a plum with the 50 cent piece I had stashed inside my shoe, and scarfed that purple lump. So overall, things are good. I'm feeling ok about improving my Spanish. The number of contacts in my phone are growing. And we're going back to the beach this weekend. Here I come, beautiful blue sea.

Colegio Sagrado Corazon

The Spanish school system is interesting. I think it's kind of cool. When you're around my age, you pick a track, a group of subjects you're interested in pursuing as a career. There's Sciences, Technology, and Socials. I think. At the end of Segundo Bachillerato (that's like their Senior year) everyone has to take a huge test called Selectividad, which controls whether you get into Universidad or not. Everyone is already stressing over the test. It's crazy! But get this: college here just costs around 1,000 euros. That's close to what some people pay for their college BOOKS in the states.

For some reason I am in the Sciences track. And add that to the fact that the majority of my classes are taught in Catalan, a different language, resulted in a confusing first week of school for this girl! I kind of bounced around looking for classes I could semi-understand, and friendly kids who would help me out. Historia de Arte was a bit easier because there were visuals; I learned all the parts of a column. Religion I understood a little. I felt good about Matematicas (because after all, numbers are numbers), but then a little guy in a white lab coat starting writing on the white board, x's and lins and infinities and m's all under one little square-root roof, and I realized maybe this Matematicas was a little beyond me. Sue Ahrendt, come help me out! At the end of the day I ended up in a classroom full of 8-year olds learning English, and I read with them and we acted out plays. It was fun to see and listen to all those ninos trying out the language. They all sounded like the guys from Nacho Libre as they struggled with the words. It's hard, I realized. English. Why does the 'U' make an 'ooo" sound in 'you' and an 'uh' sound in 'fun'? Why do we say funny things like "I'll give you a lift" when we're not intending to lift anything? We had fun. They like the peace sign (picture). I said "Hasta Luego" and they said "See you later!"

I've been here for three weeks almost. Grandma and Grandpa, I got your letters yesterday, thank you so much!! Mail is so fun. Love you. I am making friends. Yesterday I got invited to go to the club. People party all night here, starting at midnight. The Barcelona nightlife seems a just a tid bit different than the Grand Marais nightlife. I'm excited. I miss fall back home though. I hope all is well back home!

PS. Fun fact: in Barcelona, a ham and cheese and egg sandwich is called a "bikini".

Snails and School

This is what I ate this weekend. What did you guys back home have, chicken nuggets?

This weekend we went to the beach every day, and I learned how to stand-up paddle board. It's not just a foreign thing, you can do it back home too, on the big lake. On Friday and Saturday it was wavy and I fell a lot, but by Monday I could make it to the farthest buoy and back without clumsily face-planting into the water with the whole beach as my audience. It's a huge balance thing, but I learned if you don't think about it too much, it's pretty easy and you stay on the board. I also met my first Medusa. They're ugly guys, big blobs that sting you. Like a jellyfish, but weirder. 

So, today was my first day of school. I was pretty excited. It was my first time being "the new kid", and it wasn't only that, but also "The American Girl". I stood in front as everyone stared at me and a bouncy lady with orange hair introduced me as "Thethelia" (that's how they say their C's here, it's like everyone has a lisp). I sat down and the teacher then proceeded to lecture for two hours in Catalan (this is a language separate from Spanish and I had no idea what she was talking about, or even what class I was in); so naturally, I was happy when suddenly it was 11:00 and time for a half hour break. After that I went to Fisica, which is Physics, and I didn't really know what I was doing I just kind of followed this boy named Santi because he was friendly and told me where to go. I liked Fisica, which is ironic because I do not think I am capable of learning Physics in Spanish, but the teacher was fun and it was a smaller class and at the end the kids gathered around me and asked me things like, "so does your name mean yes-yes?" My last class turned out to be an English class, which felt like a miracle at the time. I felt like the smartest person in the world when I was the only one in the room who knew the synonym for "concerned". We got done around 2 today, and some other kids from my class walked home with me. It was nice. Tomorrow I go to school from 8-1:30, 3-5. The schedules are different here, the days aren't all the same. I still don't know what classes to go to- I think they all thought "that American girl is silly" when Alberto and Santi flipped a coin for me to decide whether I would go to Biologia or Electrotecnia- but that's ok. I'm a go with the flow kind of person.

Week 2

So, it's been more than a week since I landed here on a plane that catapulted me ahead seven hours and brought me to a place about 345,218,432 miles away from my home (just guessing here). I think maybe I had taken the whole trip a little too lightly. "Want to go camping next week?" "Oh, I can't, I'm going to Spain." I like to think of myself as a pretty adaptable person, but this called for bigger adjustments and changes than I'd ever seen. It was really hard for me at first. It was hard not to think about how comfortable and broken-in I was to everyone and everything back home. But, these things take time. And you know, once you pick yourself up and realize it, it's kind of wonderful to be surrounded by things that are all new to you. It seems to restore all the wonder you had as a little kid.

Having such a great and friendly family hosting me in their home has really helped me adjust. Being in such a beautiful area helps a lot too. I'm feeling more comfortable here than I was last week and though I still have big hurdles to jump over (In a big way: understanding the language) I'm feeling excited for the upcoming months I will spend here.

Today I took Blanca to the park (I'm not good with cities and directions but we managed to make it) just a few blocks from our flat. Later, I have a meeting with the school director, then after I am going to meet Alberto, who is Bruno's handball coach and will be in Bachillerato 2 as well (that means senior year). Wish me luck, I haven't had to "make new friends" for a while.

All the below pictures are from Pals. That's a vacation area we go to each weekend. It's about an hour and a half away from Barcelona and kind of amazing!

Photos!

This is an overlook of Pals... the far mountain in the distance is France!

Parasailing- this guy was basically flying!

The windy weekend brought all the wind surfers and para sailers flocking to the beach. 

Had to throw in a black & white.

The Spanish love their wine!

Bea & I at the Pals flat.

Day at the beach! My first swim in the Mediterranean.

(loosely translated)
Objects are made to be used.
People are made to be loved.
What's wrong with the world is that
we use people and love objects.