Cosas bonitas y triste

You know what I absolutely love about the spanish language? By simply adding -ita or -ito to the end of any word, you suddenly make it a cute, and far more appealing word. Like when I'm trying to convince Tomas it's bath time, a bañito sounds so much easier then a blunt baño. Pajaritos are much cuter then the ugly pajaros that are running around the street. Even food can be made "cute;" un poco de carnita, sounds much more appetizing, and for less engordado (fattening) the a hunk of carne (meat.) The fact that I can turn a plain old object into something fun and adorable with the addition of three little letters never fails to make be happier.

The thing I hate about leaving: I've been memorizing streets, making mental notes of the good stores and restaurants, making connections with photographers and art galleries, and Tomas's little friends finally are brave enough to not just talk, but actually play with me. It feel so counterintuitive to be making bonds, with "my family," school friends and town friends, the other mothers at Tomas's school, the random neighbor and the bakery owner. And now, vaya, I'm gone. I finally now my way around olesa, even the tiny little back streets. I know the shortest route to the train station, the metro now gives me no fear, and my guide book now stays at home when I go on my day adventures in Barcelona. It's sad, not in the sense that I'm not itching to get back, and that I'm more then excited to see my family, but sad in the sense that i'm leaving the home that I've made the last 6 months, and probably wont return, nor see the people that i've came to know in this half of a year.

Bueno, that all sounds so dreary, because in reality, I've had an amazing, indescribable time year. Not all of it was easy, sometimes, it wore on me, but the experience is one that (for lack of better words) is irreplaceable. And estoy tan excited to see my family, my little town, sit in my coffee shop with the people I know, and just be home <3

My goodness, how this quote sums up my predicament...

“When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home” -Thornton Wilder

More Castell Pictures

Another crazy Spanish tradition...

Or I suppose, to be more specific, a Catalonian tradition. The name of the game is called "Gather a mass crowd of people, and create towers and 'castles' of people that are 8 or 9 stories high." Or, as they like to call it here, "Catells." It's a tradition that goes back to the 18th century, and has recently gained momentum after it was added to the "UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity," in November. I've yet to find rhyme or reason into exactly why they started doing such a crazy thing, but now it has become very important in the Catalonian culture.

To start the towers they get huge base of people on the ground. Probably 50-100 people are all packed in, leaning and pushing on each others backs. (The "Pinya.") Then people climb on their shoulders to the middle, where hands come out from all directions to grab there legs, and firmly cement them in place, making the "Folre." From there, the start stacking, and people climb on people, on top of people to create towers, that can get up to 8 or 9 stories tall. The very last people to climb up were these ity-bity kids, some as young as three or four. They were all wearing helmets, and seemed to know exactly what they were doing. I was both intrigued and horrified watching these tots climb up this wobbling towers, but I was assured it's safe (more so then American football, was the comparison.) All the climbers were barefoot-and had (super) tightly wound scarf around their waist, so that climber could get a toe in to help them climb up.

There were several team there "competing" but it was all very unified. The teams who were not building at the time would run over and add the "pinya" of the other teams. They all seemed very proud to be part of this culture, and keeping the tradition going. It was certainly fun to watch and take pictures of. I stood for almost three hours, and was amazed every second of it. It is definitely at the top of my list of things I love about Spain.

Things i'm going to miss...

February is creeping away, and I'm down to my last few weeks in Spain. I feel slightly bi-polar when I try to convey my emotions about leaving, because I've had a wonderful 6 months, full of new people and experiences, and memories I'll never forget. I also feel like I have so much left to see and explore here, and my spanish is getting to such a good place, that I hate to go back to using english.
I'll definitely miss this little boy. I'll fallen in love with Tomas, and although sometimes he drives me crazy, he is such a sweet, smart little boy. I've also loved having the ocean right there, even though it may have been to cold most of the time to enjoy it, i still love just sitting there listening to the waves. And the fresh fruit and pastries.. ohhhh the croissants and breads!
BUT... I am ecstatic to see my family and friends back home, the comfort of being in my own home and space (living with strangers still isn't the most natural thing.) I'll also happy to be figuring things out, making plans for the summer and fall, and eating food that I've been missing the last 6 months (peanut butter, spicy foods, pancakes and Reeces, to name a few.)

January snapshots

The procrastinated holiday post

I've been putting off this post, teling myself it's best just to wait till after Christmas. Then I decided I should include New Years. And when that arrived I decided I should include Three Kings Day, and now I just have a mountain of things to report, so I tried to put it off some more. But, it can be delayed no more, so here is the super-summerized version of the last few weeks. The most eventful and exciting news (for me anyways) was Jack coming to Spain. We had a wonderful two weeks here (I'm speaking for him too, becuase I'm hoping thats his answer.) I took him around Barcelona the first few days, showed him the sights. He really seemed to take to the idea of sitting in a cafe sipping espresso and eating pastries, so we definitely got our fill of that. We speant Christmas here in Barcelona with my spanish family, although truth be told, it was rather uneventful. It definitely is less of a holiday here since the traditional celebration is held on the 6th of January (Three Kings Day.) But we gave the family some gifts, Little Tomas got Thomas the Tank Engine movies (in english to help him practice) and Marta and Dad Tomas a cookie press, so they can make cookies on their own when I'm gone. Then Jack and I went my favoirte holiday spot, the Chineese resturant to have Christmas dinner. On the 28th we left for Mallorca, an Island just outside of Spain. The trip started out a mess (long story short, the stuttle from the airport to the otherside of the island we booked ahead of time online turned out to be a dud, so we stressed and paniced and finally arrived four hours later then planned, with a 100+ Euro taxi fare.) But after that mishap, we had a wonderful week. The down was perfect, small and quaint, and surrouned on almost all sides by the ocean, which, is the most beautiful I've seen. Perfectly clear, and shades of blue that you always see in magazines. For some reason I'm still fasinated by the school of jellyfish we found, some washed ashore that I tried to save, and the others you could see swimming near by in the crystal clear water. It was a wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable week, and when we came back I had a few days left to show him around more of Barcelona.
Now that it's mid January, I've also been trying to sort out my future plans, because as of right now, my visa expires on the 3rd of March, so I've got to make my move. The family really wants me to stay till June, but I'd have to stay illeagaly, which obviously isn't ideal. I'm torn between going back home and starting to get things started back there, or speanding a few more months here. As of now, I'm just going to see how things fall, because i'm completly torn, so hopefully something will happen the will lead me in one direction (and hopefully it's not a police officer deporting me from the country.)