Autumn

It’s a chilly autumn day in Igualada. I sit on my terrace warmly dressed to enjoy the fresh air. A dozen or so birds are perched in the trees growing from the courtyard of the old hospital across the street, sitting still, saving their energy for warmth. The soft blue sky is full of white clouds, slowly drifting over the valley. The sun breaks through them in some places, gracing the hills with bright sunshine. As a cloud overhead moves to the east, the sun peeks through onto the hospital grounds. The birds stir, feeling the warmth upon them. One preens the feathers on its back while another spreads its wings in a lazy stretch. Two take flight from the taller of the two trees, soaring over the neighborhood and out of sight.

People walk down the street below, off to see family, or to attend afternoon mass. All the commercial areas of town are closed for the holy day. A man and a little girl ride down the promenade on bicycles, warmly bundled in coats and scarves to keep off the chill of approaching winter. The sleepy Sunday is broken here and there by a car going out of town toward Barcelona. The promenade is littered with orange and yellow leaves, turned in the cold and darkened weather of November. Tonight, the city’s street sweepers will clear the debris, but tomorrow, the signs of fall will return again and over again each day until finally the trees are bare for winter.

Off in the distance, a church bell tolls, reminding the citizens of the city that mass is to begin shortly, but only a few take notice while others go about social and personal business on their day of rest. A group of teenagers walk carousing loudly down the street toward downtown. Across the promenade, a woman is sweeping her terrace, a boy coming home from the market with a long loaf of fresh bread for the dinner table.

A swift breeze passes over my 7th floor terrace and reminds me of the warmth inside and I return to my bedroom to prepare for my weekly Sunday night dinner with my friend from the school.

Duncan bought a plant!

Duncan bought a plant this weekend and I think it really livens up our house. I was thinking to buy one for a while, but I decided not to spend any more money until I get paid. I think the first purchases after getting my paycheck will be as follows:

1) plant for the living room: Our living room is so bare. I really need to put some stuff on the walls, but most of all, we've got a whole bookcase with nothing but 4 halloween pumpkins and a radio! I want to get something to take care of that will bring life to the house. :)

2) a watch: although the other teachers do it, I always feel a little self-conscious looking at my mobile to see the time during class. I brought a watch with me, but the battery is dead :(

3) another jacket. I love my black coat, but it doesn't go with everything and I found a brown one at Stradavarius that's only 40E! :D

<3 <3

I live here?

This was one of the best weekends I've had since I arrived. Àngels, a 4th grade teacher from the school invited me to come out to her town for the weekend. I was like half daughter/half tourist for two days! She took me to her house in Cervera to have lunch with her daughter and husband. We did a tour of some important things in the city. It's where Fernando and Isabella the catholic rulers were married! There was a very old house with all of the original furniture from the 19th century that we got to tour and a very old building which is now the town hall. They used to make ice in the cellar there and sell it to the rest of Catalonia. There was also an old prison and the platform where they did hangings. Her husband also showed me a hanging round basket on the side of the building. He said they used to put the decapitated heads from the guillotine executions there to scare the townspeople from committing crime!
After lunch Àngels took me and her daughter to Lleida. Mostly we just did some shopping (and I bought a pair of brown leather boots for 29€ which was a steal!), but we also got to see the church lit up at night. It's called El Seu Vella.
That night we stayed at her old house in Almacellas which was very nice and we slept in nice and late. When we were well rested, we got up and drove to the countryside. How lucky was I to see town, city and country all in 2 days! At her parents' farm, I got to do something I hadn't done in a long time - go horseback riding! She took me on a leisurely walk up a hill where we could look out over the valley. Everything was different colors: shades of gree, yellow, golden, brown, reddish colors - depending on the vegetation and cultivation. It was so beautiful, I wanted to kick myself when I realized I had left my camera in the car. She has invited me out again sometime, so hopefully I can take photos then. She said it was apparent that I had ridden before. Thank Michelle! Even though it's probably been 8 or 10 years, the lessons you gave me still stick with me a bit. :)
I think that Àngels and her family are going to be long lasting friends and I can envision myself visiting them in the future if I come back to Catalonia on vacations. I think that I will be able to do some other things with them this year also. They said I could come if they go skiing in December or January. They invited Jon to come too! I'm so happy. :)

I also got to spend more time with Anna and her partner this weekend. His name is Fransesc. They invited me to come out for dinner on Friday night and I met some of their friends. I met so many people that I don't think that I will remember their names, but I was happy that I was able to communicate in Spanish pretty well all weekend.

I'm finally beginning to feel at home here. When I returned from my weekend away I felt comfortable in my flat and went for a walk knowing where I was without a map! It's a great feeling once that happens. I have command of this new city. I know where I am and where I'm going. I live here. The truth has finally started to settle in.

After a weekend with locals, I have even more goals to learn Catalan. And quickly! I just hope I can find someone I'm comfortable practicing with. This week I am going to start doing conversation hour with another teacher named Noemi. I am going to ask her if we can split our time between Catalan and English. Her first language is Spanish because she's from Aragon, not Catalonia, so I think she would be more sympathetic when I make mistakes. LOL

Until later!
Christina

Mallorca? Andorra?

Yesterday I received a most exciting proposal...

WHO WANTS TO GO TO MALLORCAAAAA?

While I was thrilled by the proposal, I realized that going to an island in the mediterranean would be great, it's nearly winter! I hope that I will visit the Balerics while I am here, but the alternative proposed is going to be amazing.

On December 6-8th I am free from work, so I've got a 5-day weekend! For at least two days and one night, a whole group of us are going to take the bus to a small country in the Pyrenees called Andorra. I have heard that the only things to do in Andorra are shop and do snow sports, but no matter. I can have fun in the snow without skiing or snowboarding. I hope we can find a cheap hostel and spend two days walking in the city through the snow, making snow men, sledding, throwing snowballs and lots of other fun things. :)

In the mean-time, I've got on trip this weekend. One of the 4th grade teachers Àngels has invited me to her town and to see Lleida and then stay in her house near the city for the night. She will pick me up on Saturday and we will eat in her house and then drive to Lleida to walk the city and see the shops and then retire in the other town house she has for dinner. Then we will go see the horses. :)

Other than that trip, I think I am Guad-bound. I want to do something for my birthday, but nothing too extravagant. I'd like to go to a good restaurant for dinner and have that be it. :D 22 years in 2 weeks!

Wow! It seems I've just about forgotten about this thing. It's been almost two weeks since my last post. I've been so busy with adding hours to my work schedule and visiting people and having guests here, that it slipped my mind.

Emily has coined a name for our group here. We have been dubbed the Guad Squad (Guad short for Igualada). Paul Duffy, a friend living in Barcelona tried to extend it to the Quad Guad Squad because there are four of us, but it just felt so long. Isn't the point of saying Guad to shorten the name? haha.

So, the Guad Squad was in Barcelona last weekend for a girl Fiona's birthday party which was very fun, and then this weekend we held our own Halloween party. The costumes were fun. I was a black cat, Duncan was a vampire, Sam was an American football player (Vikings), Amey was a possessed doll, Emily was a snake, Chrissy was an Owl, our local friends Agnes and Oriol were a cowgirl and indian, Corey was the guy from Clockwork Orange and his friend Job was a Chinese man. I think that's just about everyone. Oh, and Hernan dressed as a green demon. It was very scary and made Amey scream out loud more than once. haha. Helena came too, but she didn't bring a costume. One of Hernan's friends painted her face and she looked kind of like a member of KISS. LOL

It's been great having guests here this weekend. Amey, Helena, and Sam have been staying with us since Friday night. Everything goes back to normal and to work tomorrow, but I have to say it's been a hell of a great weekend. I'm going to miss those three when they go back to Barca, but I love my little town. :) I'm pretty tired out from traveling and going out the last couple of weeks, so I want to lay low next weekend. I want to get the itch to go out and do something again before I travel so that I don't feel runned ragged.

I had planned to go to Salamanca either next weekend or the last weekend of this month, but I still haven't heard back from my friend Miguel who lives out there. I think I may just choose not to travel anywhere until after I'm home from winter break.

About winter break... I found out that I actually have more days off than I'd thought. My plane brings me home on the 5th, but I don't have to go back to work until the 11th. Should I pay the rebooking fee and change my flight so I have more days at home?!