la playa y paella

last friday we all headed to the beach. let it be said that it was a huge ordeal. we left home around 11:30 or 12. if we had gone by car (which we couldn't have) it would have taken less than an hour. we went by bus and train, so it took about 3 hours. then, once we were there, we had to eat some more. so we stopped somewhere and got some paella. i am glad i tried it, but honestly, it's too seafoody for my tastes. i prefer the non-seafoody seafood, such as squid, scallops and non-fishy fish. anyway, i did get a kick out of the restaurants' menu: it translated boquerones fritos as "fried kinds of anchovy", and sardinas plancha as "sardines it he irons"(it should have been like, fried sardines or something). obviously, they couldn't decide who was ironing the sardines, so they put both "it" and "he". 

funny menu-english

paella 

after we ate, we went down to the shore. it was a really pretty day, but just not quite hot enough to want to swim. it was nice and breezy. the water was...cold. i felt like a floridian saying that it was cold, but i guess when florida is the place you know when it comes to beaches, you can't help it. it felt good to wade in the water though, and feel it's saltiness on my legs. it reminded me of when we'd swim in the mediterranean back in the mid 90s. i mostly sat and chatted with rubén's cousin, laura. i really don't remember what we talked about it, but we talked about it for close to an hour. then we packed up, ximena did some shopping, and we headed home. we got back around 1 am, grabbed random food for supper and went our separate ways.

train ride from beach to barcelona

i think i'm running out of things to say. good thing i'm going home tomorrow. yes, i leave at seven in the morning to catch a metro and bus to the airport. i just weighed my almost-packed bag and it's only 44 lbs. this means that i can go buy something that weighs up to 5 lbs. YES! 

what, what?

this morning, i arrived at the breakfast table dressed for church, feeling good.......

then i looked at my plate.

there were about five or six shaped pieces of what looked like meat on my plate. they were almost shaped like three-dimensional triangles. i tried to primly pick up my knife and fork and proceeded to cut one of the specimen in half. it looked like funny meat to me. 


then i ate it.

then i knew that it was definitely not beef. obviously not chicken. possibly pork? the test came back negative. after a few more moments, a crazy thought struck me. what if it was...liver? GULP. 


then i realised that it was.

i had never seen liver before. i'd never eaten liver before. but it had a distinct taste about it...as if it were saying, "hey lady, i'm not meat. i taste funny. you don't like me, do you? and i have a funny shape. do i remind you of an organ?"

then eating that breakfast on the beautiful sunday morning got harder. much harder.

i managed to get through it though, mostly due to the fact that i had a big mug of a cold chocolate milk type drink by my side, waging war with me most wonderfully.

then i googled a picture of liver, just to be sure.

and yes. i ate liver. a bunch of liver, for breakfast, here in spain.


my world has changed forever. and no, i don't like liver.

la sagrada família

la sagrada famíla

the sagrada familia is the most famous thing to see in barcelona. and that's because it is infamous for taking so long in being built. it was started in the 1880s and still is unfinished. there's no telling how much longer this project is gong to take, because it is being paid for by the public, so if there aren't funds, there isn't progress. the part on the right, which is also darker, was designed by antoni gaudí, a native catalan (like mercedes from the count of monte cristo). he left fingerprints all over barcelona. there are many houses, gardens, and random things that he designed. he took most of his inspiration from the natural surroundings.

yes, the water is an ugly green. 

so anyways, after church on sunday the family and i went to see la sagrada família. i didn't know we were going to go, so i didn't have my camera ('weep with those who weep' queue). the family had theirs though, so i have a few pictures to share. i really liked the building. it was so big and different. i was in england last year with my sister and saw some amazing cathedrals and buildings. they were all very proper and i loved them. la sagrada familia is crazy. it has fruit on it, that's painted. it has hunks of rock that seem to just stick out in all directions. it has at least a few distinct architectural designs and influences. it may not be proper, but it is pretty. from the hills on the outskirts of the city, one can see it's steeples jutting up out of the sea of neighborhoods and streets (pictures of that, by the way, are coming soon). i didn't get to go inside of the building, but it's not done yet, so hopefully i'll be back in the future...when it's finally done! i have a feeling that it will be quite a big deal when it's completed, after who knows how many scores of years.  


we walked around most of the sides of the building while we were looking for somewhere to eat. we went down a street and after 10 minutes or so arrived at a...*drumroll*...colombian restaurant. i looked at the menu, and as good as it all looked, i just wanted a cuban sandwich. it was lunchtime and by george, i was gonna eat a sandwich. it was a good choice--one of the best sandwiches i've ever had. the bread was perfect. then there was chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a garlic sauce. i may try to replicate that once i get home! to drink i had fresh passion fruit juice. the waitress, who was british, could tell from the few words i'd said in spanish that i was american and so she put a couple of ice cubes in my juice (none of the others had ice). i thought that was funny.

after we ate, we walked back to la sagrada and let the boys play in the park for a while. then we "saddled up" and went to the oldest hospital in barcelona. it was closed though, and there was a lot of scaffolding up on the building. so after walking all that way we didn't see much of it. we took a few pictures and headed towards the metro to go home. by this time i guess people's stomachs were growling for the in between meal. so we stopped at a...*drumroll*...colombian cafe for drinks and some bread. i just got a "fanta naranja" (orange fanta) and tried some of the bakery goods. they were fine, but i wasn't near hungry yet (we'd eaten 2 hours earlier) so i had to keep insisting that i just wasn't hungry. that has been a constant undertone here...they say that i hardly eat anything. they may feel that i don't like their cooking. but really, i tell them, it's just that i'm not used to eating 5-6 meals a day. during the school year i usually only eat 2 meals a day. to each stomach it's own.

pablo, me, and daniel outside the hospital.

ximena and i 

after that we went home, ate, got ready for bed. i think i skyped a few friends and family and then i was out.

ikea! squid! blue!

on saturday, i went out "early" and did some shopping in terrassa. i made some great finds, but my favorite find was in this book store, "reading & co.". books are always one of my favorite things, so when i walked in and saw all the spanish books it made me happy. i bought a book for a friend of mine, then i found "alicia en el país de las maravillas" (alice in wonderland) for myself. i wish the store had had the next one, "through the looking glass", because it is a whole lot more fun and there's the adorable knight who can't ride his horse and who does things out of "his own invention". 

oh, i also bought an ice cream treat while i was out. i've been walking by store fronts packed with pictures of ice cream treats all month, so i just had to get one. 

after i got home, we had a yummy lunch (beans/potato mix, rice and avocado), and made for barcelona. while we were walking to an ikea store, we passed a few cool buildings. the big red leaning-tower-of-pisa-esque building is a hotel. a fancy hotel for international conferences. after walking for quite some time, we arrived at ikea. i'd never been to one before...and let me tell you, it was insane. i loved it. stores that sell nice things for homes always fascinate me, but when the items are all laid out and set up by rooms, it makes it infinitely better. i will always remember this one bedding set. it. was. gorgeous. 

it made me feel so calm, restful, trusting, honest, comfy, rustic yet clean. what on earth?!? who knew that a few pieces of cloth could have such an effect? well, apparently ikea's cloth does. i'm going to have to get a bed like that someday. 

hotel

after shopping at ikea and a mall, we started the trek home, only to stop before boarding the first bus to get a bite to eat. it must have been around 9:30 when we found a little colombian café. the food was great! ruben had ordered an appetizer, so it arrived, was sprinkled with lime, and people started digging in. i had no idea what it was: they looked kind of like onion rings to me. i bravely stabbed one with my fork and took a bite. it was really good! but i still didn't know what it was. after consuming a couple of them i figured that it had to be squid, or squid's cousin or aunt or brother. i asked what it was and yes, those babes sure were squid. the only two/three times i've had squid have been out of country...do we not eat it in the states, or what? i think we should. 

the main meal was great too. seated outside in the lovely night breeze, we were served things in slight shifts. first, we were brought a dish full of steak, pork sausage and some other meat. then we were brought a dish of patata bravas, a popular potato tapa in spanish bars. the potatoes were in slices and fried, then you usually dip them in a sauce. the sauce we had was some kind of mayonnaise or buttery thing with garlic in it. then, we were served a dish full of grilled chicken (YUM), and then a plate of curried rice. i think that's all. and yeah, it was all really tasty. 

calamares a la romana (not my picture though) 

after eating, we made the longish trip home. it would have been about 15 minutes by car, but we had to take a bus and then a train, so we ended up getting home just before 1 am. it was a lot of fun, but i was ready for some rest. today and sunday were like that too...more posts to come, hopefully rapid-fire style. or not. i may just decide to veg-out with a movie tonight. 

something old and english sounds about right. 

this is big, because i love it. hope you guys do too :)

an afternoon in barcelona

lovely street in barcelona

candy from a stand in an open market

xurros amb xocolata: delicious! 

saturday afternoon i went "into town" to see a friend and make a few more. we meet at four and explored different streets for an hour or so. pretty little streets are my favorite, and there were plenty of those! we also zipped through a great open market. then we went to a café to get a snack. i got xurros amb xocolata and (another) café con leche. xurros are pieces of dough that have been deep-fried, then twisted, then sprinkled with sugar. the "amb xocolata" obviously means chocolate. these are three of the four words i know in catalan. very important ones, too. the other one is sortida, 'exit'. one of the girls' family was in town and the dad was awesome and paid for all of us. then we all hightailed it to a suburb of barcelona to see the castellers of lleida.

and that. was. amazing.

being a casteller in cataluña is kinda like their equivalent of being a ballerina or a gymnast. today i saw participants who ranged from being younger than ten and older than fifty. without anyone being an obvious leader or director, towers would develop every ten minutes or so. the black fabric you see around their waists is similar to a thick scarf that's almost twenty feet long. they wind it around their waists and then tie bandanas around themselves so that the people climbing to higher levels have somewhere to put their feet. it's grand. it's nerve-racking. the people on the second and third levels often look as if they are about to collapse, they warble and shake so.

we took a recess from watching and checked out the stands that were set up nearby. they sold chunks of cheese as large as a watermelon, meat, stuffed animals, etc. but the best one was the one that sold tea.

"to strengthen and prevent the loss of hair; cleans dandruff and prevents it's reproduction; eliminates seborrhoea and hair grease."

that. was. amazing.

there was a large stand that just sold loose leaf teas and herbs. there was rose tea, cherry tea, tea for diabetes, tea for hypertension, tea for sleep of the alhambra, tea for hair, tea to "close the appetite"(can you imagine...? i'm not sure i can). i think that it's common for people here to buy herbs for their specific need, boil them in water, then drink it. wow. i like tea--no, i love tea. but drinking tea to prevent oily hair? i'll shower, thanks anyway :)

somewhere near la plaza cataluña

protestor's tents in la plaza cataluña

la plaza cataluña

after the castellers, we headed back to la plaza cataluña, where i wandered around alone for a bit. i got pictures of the protesters in la plaza this time! then i caught the 8:20 metro back to terrassa. rubén (the husband) made a yummy tortilla española for dinner and i chatted with ximena for a while.

so that was my saturday. i hope yours was swell, too.

nísperos

within two seconds of biting into it, life in israel swirled around my mind. i love and always will love food that reminds me of my childhood there. after eating two of these, i asked ximena what they were. then i made haste to google it, and photograph it, for you. if you've never had them, you should. they are loquats (nísperos in spanish; nespoles in italian).

¡vale! ¡vale!

vale: OK! fine! all right!

the first day i was here, i heard this word nonstop. I had no idea it was so popular. it's kinda like the usa "like". i mean like, totally. during conversations, i would respond with "ok" (in a spanish accent, of course). i thought that was acceptable. it is in some other countries. but that first night the dad told me to say "vale" en vez de "ok". so now i'm saying "vale" all the time. vale.

the weather has been mostly cloudy since i got here-they say it's unusual. but i think that in a few days it will clear up. i hope so, because i mostly brought summery clothes. but when i find myself wishing it were sunny and warmer, i remember that it's an oven in tennessee. i guess it's not so bad here, afterall.

let's see, what would you guys like to know. well, the food. the food tastes very different. ok, moving on...:P but seriously, a lot of olive oil and salt are used. and lots of fish. i think that my stomach is rebelling to the food because it hasn't had anything similar to what it's used to. i had some green tea today, thinking "how could anyone go wrong with green tea?" but lo and behold, it was hardly green tea. it had a bean-ish flavour. i think that i'll make a run to the store soon and buy some danon yogurt (i saw some today!) and maybe nutella. just some comfort foods for my soul :)

i have yet to take pictures of the town. last night was the perfect opportunity, but i didn't take my camera with me. and i do hate to feel like a tourist. speaking of which, while i was at the train station, an older man was talking to me and thought i was from argentina. didn't he even hear my american accent and butchered use of spanish? 


the family i'm staying with is "real" nice. the parents, rubén and ximena, are both from colombia. they have been in spain for about 10 or 11 years though. they have two boys, daniel (4) and pablo (3), and a little girl, sofia (8 weeks?). they don't know any english, which is good. i guess. last night i had to watch part of casablanca because i just wanted to hear english! aah, rick's new york accent and sam's jolly voice sounded like music. 


vale, i hate rambling. ciao!