|
|
Monday, February 26th, Badalona, Spain
.jpg)
Big happenings aboard Zia this week. Three of the five
kittens have opened their eyes. We are holding off
on deciding which one we will claim as our own until we
can get to know them all a little better.
Juliana has a three
day, two night field trip to a school camp where they
study music and dance. Here is a link to the
website
(in Catalan). It is operated by the State and
every school gets an opportunity to use the facilities
at some point during the year. At first, Juliana
said she didn't want to go. No big deal; we
weren't going to pressure her. But then she was
telling me, as we shared our nightly cuddle before
falling asleep, that she hasn't ever been away from us
for such a long time.
"Well, actually, you went out to Gran and Gramps' for
two whole weeks without us."
"Right. ummmmm......But I haven't been away for
that long without Cassie..... Oh...... Okay.
I'll go."
We
had had a discussion like this before about a birthday
party. We had accepted the invitation and then she
told me she didn't want to go. I didn't cut her
any slack since we had already accepted the invitation
and it was only for a couple of hours. She had a
ball and didn't want to leave when I came to pick her
up. I think she remembered that lesson and is now
totally on board with the idea of the field trip.
I am not in the least worried about it. She will
certainly have a fabulous time.
I
graduated from the intermediate to the advanced Spanish
class. It is actually a bit of a joke because I
still make regular, egregious errors in conjugating my
verbs when I speak, but the concentration in the
advanced class is
conversation so hopefully by the end of these five
weeks, I'll be speaking much better. We practice a
lot of writing as well, and when I can take the time to
think about it, I can usually come up with the correct
verb tense. I've also been writing emails (in
Spanish) to my
Spanish speaking friends. Every little bit helps,
right? I'm trying to think of
all the ways I can keep the Spanish up when we leave
Spain. Reading....I picked up a thriller that I have
started in Spanish, which is proving very useful for my
vocabulary. We'll see how it goes, but at least I
have a foundation to build on now.
.jpg)
Me and my fellow Spanish students, sharing lunch after a
class one day. Joe was the photographer.
We
have booked a trip to Paris to visit our old friends,
the Sheeheys, for a long weekend in
mid-March. I met Chris at Georgetown, thanks to
Jenny Pell, a friend from five years before that in
Moscow. It is truly amazing to realize how small
the world really is if you get a chance to discover that
fact. I am convinced that we all miss countless
opportunities to relate to each other.
Our story of meeting
Aris and Guy in the middle of the Atlantic on the
way to Bermuda is a perfect example. Without the
luxury of time and the desire to connect with others, we
would have totally missed that connection.
I
also remember another small world story that blew my
socks off. We were at the 40th birthday party of
the wife of a friend, Kip, I had met while studying in
Florence for my junior year (of college) abroad.
We hadn't seen each other in a few years so Joe and I
didn't know many people at the party. Nonetheless,
we found ourselves seated next to a couple, she pregnant
with their first child, who had, five years before,
rented the townhouse Joe and his brother had bought
together twenty years ago. How we managed to make
that connection in a room full of a hundred strangers is
totally beyond me. To wind up sitting next to them
to begin with, and then to somehow discover the
connection, was a miracle. It just makes me wonder
how many such connections we miss each and every day.
Keep that in mind next time you attend a boring cocktail
party that you really would rather not attend!
Joe rented us a scooter. It makes his days a lot
more interesting as he can explore for boat parts much
more easily. I'm not sure that it makes the trip
into the center of town any easier, as the train is very
efficient. I will say that I seem to be able to
fit about as much groceries on the scooter as I can fit
into my cart at the supermarket. Thankfully, that
is just about as much as I can manage to haul down the
dock in one carry.
It
was so funny to see a "protest
calçotada"
that was held in the square between McDonalds and Burger
King in our very own "berg" of Badalona. The sign
on the wall says "In protest of the spread of the
hamburger." Too funny. They served
calçots grilled on the
beach, butifarra (sausage) and wine. (Sorry you
can't see either Burger King - on the right - or
McDonalds, on the left - in this picture.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Next Entry
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
|
|
|
|
