My mom and I rented this amazing little apartment which actually ended up being cheaper than a hotel and it allowed us to cook our own meals. We didn't feel too comfortable going out at night so we spent a lot of time playing Gin Rummy. My mom always won :(. We really enjoyed watching Spanish TV because we had no idea what they were saying, so my mom and I made up complete back stories for the characters.
We got our groceries most of the time at the "Big Store" actually named El Corte de Ingles. It was a department store, hardware store, and grocery store all in one eight story building. Don't even get me started on the fruit man there. I stood there, looking stupid, catching his eye multiple times and trying to order fruit. You can't touch it. It is all in a pyramid around the fruit guy, and you have to order it from him. However, as it turns out, you have to take a number. By the time I realized this, I had tried to order at least three times and he just kept turning away right before I could get the words out of my mouth. I gave up and opted not to have any oranges because by this point I was so embarrassed, my pride wouldn't let me order anything. He was probably thinking look at this girl, she's so stupid, she needs to take a number. When I went back and saw there was a new fruit guy, I took a number and ordered like I was a pro- tres naranjas por favor!
And on that note, after 3.5 years of Spanish, I can't say a thing. First of all, Spain has two strong dialects of Spanish, only 1 of which is the Spanish I've learned. The other almost looks like a Spanish/French hybrid. I didn't even recognize some of the letters. Spain also has a few Portugese speakers and of course Basque is totally different as well. So part of it wasn't my fault as I didn't speak the same Spanish as half the population. Also, it was that Spain Spanish has different pronunciation than South American Spanish. "C"s sound like "th"s. The other part is just that I clearly haven't learned anything in class. I could read subtitles (like in the show my mom and I watched about families being sent to live with indigenous tribes) and figure out what was going on, but as far as listening to people speak, I could only make out the general idea.
The set up of Barcelona is amazing. It is all alley-ways surrounded by tall buildings with stores on the bottom story and housing up above. If you passed a store you were interested in, you better shop then because there was no finding that same store again. It was amazing just to wonder through the maze of alleys finding eateries and shops. My mom and I also did some retail therapy. My favorite purchase- a new leather jacket!
I could really be happy in Barcelona. You can walk everywhere in the main downtown. My feet were hurting by the end of some of the days. The nicest thing about Spain was siesta. Stores open late, 10am, and they close for lunch 2-4pm. Then they open back up from 4-9. In a complete reversal from the rest of Europe, stores open later in the day and they stay open later. My mother and I, even though we weren't working, went home and had lunch and a nap everyday at about 2pm. It was so relaxing. I was exhausted and ended up sleeping for almost the first two days.
I can't include or even remember every little thing so I will highlight a few of my favorites.
My first experience with tapas- My mom and I went to a tapas restaurant. I loved the atmosphere. It was on an island in the middle of the road. We ordered wine (yes! I can drink wine now, although in Europe I could have been drinking it 3+ years ago.) Sipping wine, people watching, and having little, inexpensive dishes brought out every so often was enjoyable. They had the best cheesecake ever and their four cheese risotto was amazing. I also tried croquettes for the first time. It was really fun to share with my mom and get full off of several different things.
The "Naked Man"- must see photo on Picasa. A 60+ year old man was walking around with a Speedo swimming suit tattooed on his bum and a face tattooed on his front. He was walking down the main street in Barcelona. My mom and I walked behind him for at least ten blocks. I don't know what was more amusing, the sight of him, or watching everyone triple blink when he walked past and start laughing. It was hilarious to watch people eating at restaurants or walking the opposite direction to do a double take.
Putting the freshness back into markets- Barcelona also has (sometimes disgustingly) fresh materials, fruits, meats, breads, etc. I loved the fruit market. It was indoors and you could get pureed fresh fruit juice or a huge container of strawberries or 1/4 a pineapple for just 1 euro. In the same market, they had skinned rabbits, a fish bigger than me that they would cut a hung off of, eel, stingrays, and every other kind of exotic meat you could think of.
My mom and I ate at least 10 baguettes while we were there. We felt very European stopping every day on the way home from lunch at the local bakery and getting a baguette for sandwiches. We stayed away from the butcher though and opted for prepackaged meat. The Arc and Park- The location of our apartment was amazing. It was in the Gothic quarter and the architecture is amazing. The Arc of Triumph leading to the big central park was only a five minutes walk away.
At about 5pm, the old men congregate there to play Bocce ball. We watched for over an hour and things got really intense. Some men had a long string with a magnet so they didn't have to lean over and pick up their ball. They had little fancy bags to put their balls in. Some had little rags to wipe their ball off with after each turn. The kicker came when some men were contesting something and one of them whipped out a measuring tape! My mom and I are thinking, "it is not that serious." Apparently it was, they had to call over someone from the adjoining pit to come make the ruling on who'd won. That wasn't the last time the measuring tape made an appearance. Very few young men, mostly older men played. We wondered where the old women were and turned to find they had set up card tables and were gambling. The whole scene was so quaint, yet hilarious. We continued on to more to the athletic park area where running teams were getting their workout as well as individuals. There was a platform set up where dreadlocked people were doing yoga and in every quiet place there was a couple participating in inappropriate PDAs. The whole scene was so relaxing and low-key.Blood and gore galore- We went to the famous bullfighting arena. We were under the impressions that it was banned. Even now, searching the internet, I see many articles from 2003/2004 saying Barcelona planned to ban bullfighting. We spent a lot of time goofing around, as you can see from the pictures, and taking photos in the arena. However, bullfighting is not banned. While at the stadium, we saw the bulls being held there. I was thinking to myself, that's weird, until I saw the blood streak from the arena to this garage looking thing. GROSS! It was interesting to see the tiny museum that they had there which had old outfits that they wore. We also saw the chapel right before you enter the arena, for bullfighters to pray for their lives. What a cruel sport, but it was pretty intriguing to see the timeline of something that was such a huge part of Spanish history.
Ca-ble-car! Ca-ble-car! We took a cable car up Montejuic which is a big hill. At the top was a castle, one of many that was saw in Spain. It was set up entirely for defense. There weren't even rooms in it, it was like a big fort. It made for amazing scenery to take photos of though. The castle overlooked the port to ward off sea attacks and it had a view of the whole city. My mom was really excited to do the cable car. That also had a view of the whole city. Check out the pictures on Picasa.
Gaudi is not overrated- Antoni Gaudi is a famous architect who designed a lot of things that look right out of Babes in Toyland in Barcelona. He designed la Sagrada Familia. I can't even describe it. He really believed in mixing art and architecture. Every little detail means something symbolic. You'll have to look at the website as I don't have enough time to even begin to describe it http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/index.php. The main thing is that it still won't be finished for 30 more years. Building began in 1882. Think about that. It has these huge spikes out the top and you can see it from anywhere in town. At first I wasn't that impressed, I was thinking oh great! Another church. After listening to the symbolism of each facet of design and after seeing the museum of how he did the architecture using small scale models instead of mathematical equations, I couldn't help but be impressed. I also made my mom trek all the way to Gaudi's park. It was so worth it. It was the weirdest thing. I can't even describe it. Check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parc_G%C3%BCell
I was so happy there. Each time you walked up the stairs or up a path, there was another strange structure to check out.
From the lady urinating on the main street at 7am, to meaning to jog but instead waking up at 11 am, to the unspoken memo that I missed about all the beaches being topless, Barcelona has left its mark in my heart.
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