Eurojournal -16 October 2006

We have had some nice lazy days here mostly going to the beach. I completed my Spanish course. It prepared me to have the confidence to use some of the Spanish I know to get around. I have been doing well with it. Today I want to the train station to inquire about tickets for James, Csaba, Eva and their daughter. It was easy. I am understanding more and more basic Spanish. Now I have to work on not jumping in and saying something so Byron is forced to practice. He is a bit shy to speak which is unfortunate.

We explored the city a few times and came a cross a Gaudi building, the music conservatory. We will do the Gaudi tour this week or when James arrives. On the rainy days we went to see movies at the Omnimax. One was the Ant Bully in 3D which was dreadfully violent but it gave us a chance to get out. The other movie we saw was about the coral reefs. It inspired Byron to learn how to scuba dive. We explores a little of Las Ramblas when we first arrived. Yesterday we explored the Gothic Quarter full of incredible architecture. There are many quaint alleys full of shops, bomboneries (chocolatiers) and tapas bars. We ate lunch at Maoz falafel which is a chain of vegetarian falafel bars in Europe. We could get a falafel in pita and have access to a salad bar with veggies, sauces, beans, etc. We loved it and it was reasonably priced.

I am finally connecting with Barcelona. I love it here but haven’t really connected to the city the way I have with other places. Part of it is our location. We are in Barceloneta which is almost it’s own city within the city. It is easy to get our veggies, groceries and go to the beach…all within2-4 blocks of our place and never really go anywhere else. Today was the first day though I felt a nice connection here. It is friendly and warm.

The children have seen jellyfish. So far they don’t sting. One day while I was in class they caught one and kept it in their sand bucket to observe. What a fabulous experience it was for the little ones. They still talk about it.

We have a really great next door neighbor who is exactly like Esthi-Neni in the village. Her name is Antonia and when her door is open, Liam pops in and says “Hola!” She adores him and always gives the kids a treat like chips, nuts or pretzels. She asks what they are doing for the day and I help them to reply in Spanish. The owners told me that she thinks the kids have good Spanish.