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Monday, February 26th, Badalona, Spain
   
 
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.   
   
                        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.    
   
   
 
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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.
 

 

   

 
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