Spain Day 29:

Ahh feels good to get the fingers back on the keyboard. Feel like I haven't typed anything in ages. I guess working will do that to you especially when you're dealing with children. Again my props out to all teachers only increase as the weeks go on and some kids tempt me to test the phrase "can't trust him as far as you can throw him." It's coming up on one solid month here in Catalonia and coincidentally just the other day it hit me that I live in a whole new place now. I was walking up the stairs at school when literally the thought hit me, "Wow (looking at a gorgeous view from the top of the school) I'm thousands of miles from home but I can call this home now." It's still kind of crazy and definitely still working out the kinks of living in a new spot but it's going great so far. I'm enjoying learning every day not only because I'm teaching but because I'm surrounded by three languages every day.

Typing this during the Barcelona - Madrid game. The town literally erupted when Neymar scored

I can honestly say that I enjoy being challenged daily by the grammatical soup that is Catalan and I do feel frustrated more often that not at this point but progress is being made. Even if I only learn a word or two a day in Catalan I'm proud. Plus it'll only help my Spanish progress which seems to be easier to understand the more Catalan I hear. I can tell the difference more easily now after having no idea which was which initially. My goal for next month is the DROP ENGLISH COMPLETELY. Well at least in the spoken form. I'll try to only use English at work and the rest of the time practice my Spanish. It will be amazingly difficult because for one I still think in the grammatical structure of English and that can really throw your sentence formation in Spanish but it's a necessary step I think. I want to force myself to learn it and why not. I'm here! I'll be sure to include that in the weekly recap video. 

Speaking of the recap video I'll include the things I did this week in that but here I want to expand on the title of the post. The thought sprang from my mind after I watched a TedX video about Benny the Irish polyglot. In his video he goes on to speak about learning new languages and the fears/obstacles people make up, but also the legitimate ones, that crop up along the way. I wouldn't say I was fearful this first month in Spain but I definitely wasn't attacking the language like I could've and should've been.

After I watched the video I didn't feel like "man I'm terrible and really wasted a lot of time", I was more like "man I was really about to start wasting time by not speaking as much as I can" and thus the idea (or borrowed idea) to put English on hold for a bit came into play. I hadn't really considered the reality that you're not going to forget your native language. Unless something extraordinary happens like I get into a tangle with Superman and he gives me super amnesia from a super uppercut, I don't think I'll be forgetting English anytime soon. So with that said I feel like why not put it on the back burner for a while and give my brain some new exercise while I'm at it. English is so 1991. The part about no day of the week being someday came to me because it's true. No matter how you spin it, if you keep saying I'll get it done someday, you're gonna run out of days. I don't want to run out of days and languages have always peaked my interest whether I'll admit or not. Now that I'm here I can see first hand the power of language and I think being able to hold multiple languages in your head is really something cool.

I'll liken my language journey to this quote from Zenpencils. If you haven't checked out the site you really should. Gives a cool spin to some great inspirational and thought provoking quotes.

http://zenpencils.com/comic/87-samuel-beckett-ever-tried-ever-failed/

"I don't enjoy failing because of the failure, I enjoy it because of the knowledge gained that something better has filled an eager and waiting space." -Me

I realized that I still haven't posted any pictures of my host family.

Lluis, Marga, Joan, Me

Situation corrected.

Spain Day 13-14: 

Week two concluded with a family trip to a mountain range heading toward the Pyrenees. We drove about an hour and a half north of Malgrat to a small town where Marga's sister has a weekend home. It was a cool experience to get out of the city and see what the northern part of Catalonia has to offer. As you get closer to France there are some awesome mountain ranges and hiking trails that offer amazing views. Hopefully I'll make it to the Pyrenees one day, I'm not ruling anything out.

We arrived on Saturday morning and proceeded to cook lunch after exploring the grounds for a little while. I'm still getting used to eating lunch at three in the afternoon and dinner at 10. My body is wondering why there is a huge gap between breakfast and lunch but I think I'll get used to it sooner or later. After a lunch of chorizo, sausage, toast, ham and tomato I was stuffed. I took a nap soon after as I was still feeling sick and it was much needed. Later that evening Marga's sister and her family arrived bringing our head count to nine. Me, Marga, Joan, Llus, Ruben, Marta, Iago, Jana, and Pao. Because dinner is so late here in Spain, well late for me, we had a lot of time to use up before we ate so in addition to making conversation and practicing Spanish I got to play some games with the kids. We started a game of UNO and I lasted well over two hours, in fact the winner was just the person who had the fewest cards when we were too tired to keep playing.

Dinner was delicious as usual and after staying up a while to talk we were all tired so we turned in for the night and got some rest for the next day of travel and sightseeing.

On Sunday morning after breakfast we drove to Santa Pao and Besalu. The first town was a quaint little mountain getaway with a medieval look to it. We walked around for a bit and took some pictures of the buildings and the views. It was nice to get to explore with no worries about running out of time or needing to rush to be somewhere. Plus it's always a laugh when you have a funny couple like Iago and Marta in addition to four children under age 11.

After walking around for about an hour we drove to the next destination. There is a dormant volcano located near the town so we drove about 10 minutes further up the road and visited the national park area surrounding the crater. There was a short hike further up the mountain through some forest area to get to the actual crater area. Once there though the trail opened up and you could see where a past eruption had carved a path in the earth. It was really cool to see all the volcanic rock and the farms nearby that prosper because the soil is so fertile near sites such as these.

The rascals 

After leaving the crater it was time for lunch. We drove to another town called Besalu and stopped at a little pizza place. I'm always down for pizza, doesn't really matter I can eat that stuff for days.

To tired to walk to lunch

I think he weights about a kilo

On Monday morning after hot chocolate and toast for breakfast we went venturing out up the mountain next to the house.

Thorns weren't messing around

Yup the thorns here don't play

Spain Day: 12 

Feels like I haven't left a post in a long time but it's only been four days. The work really picks up when you get into a routine and when school in Spain doesn't finish until 5PM!! To the person who thought that having teachers work until 5 or that you could keep children focused that late in the day, we would have words.

Anyway the reference to the zebra stripes comes from something I learned today while driving home with Marga. Apparently the good ol crosswalks I grew up with have a different name here in Malgrat. The zebra stripes they are called and I think that the name is pretty darn cool.

Another reason I wasn't as bloggatively active this week is because getting sick finally caught up to me. I knew it eventually would, I didn't think even my high powered American immune system could protect me forever, and now I'm suffering through long days teaching and having feelings of nasal cavity collapse. It's all good and well though because I'm proceeding to overdose daily on meds in an attempt to be ready for the long weekend. Monday is a holiday here. Don't know why but I'm not complaining. Me and the host fam are headed to the mountains this weekend (pics to come) and I would like to be able to breathe come Saturday/Sunday.

I'll leave a more detailed post this weekend along with a recap video but I wanted to get a quick word in before I head off to the land of panoramic views and thinner air.

Let there be drugs

Adeu!

Spain Day 8:

Weekend Jaunt down to Lloret 

October 4-6

I decided that I may as well start exploring the surrounding area since most of the other coastal towns are so close and its only two euro for a train ticket. The first week of work was pretty draining and shaking off the jetlag plus the added frustrations of a language barrier called for an early vacation. I heard from a coworker that Lloret was like a little Las Vegas so I figured I couldn't go wrong there. Though I did find that really you can go wrong anywhere, it's up to you to make the most of it. Come last Friday I packed a bag and set off. After a quick stop in Blanes I was on my way to Lloret. I'm also glad I made the trip because it gave me time to start figuring out how the bus system works and how to look for street signs.

Cool statue near the beach

Another good thing that I learned is that you should always, always...always research the hotel you are going to be staying at. Google maps, apple maps, yahoo maps, plain maps and all the other maps out there. I say this not because my hotel was unpleasant but it was at the top of a fairly large hill. I didn't plan on going for a hike every time I wanted to leave and return to the room. Luckily it wasn't a big deal but next time I'll pay the extra money for a hotel near the beach.

Early in the nigh on Friday there was perhaps the loudest thunder storm I've ever been around and I though the sky would fall before I could go out. Luckily the downpour let up around 10 so four long hours before I was even thinking of leaving. I went to Club Tropics because I had heard such a big fuss about how cool it is but like I said before you can go wrong anywhere, especially in October at the end of the party season. First of all I dunno how or why people in Europe think staying up until six or seven partying is practical in the least. I was only out till 4ish but I think I keep a cap on the number of 6am treks to the hotel. Still adapting to life here. The club was cool enough but the crowd was either really young or strange or creepily old. I saw some things that I wish I could unsee. And one final point about partying, I hope that one day cover charge equality will come to pass in the world. It's a silly point but I spent 30 euro getting into this place and that's not cool. I guess I can't complain because Vegas is worse but alas us guys will pay it. 

The Beachscape in Lloret

The next day, after the big storm, was beautiful. The clouds parted and I woke to a dream like vision of rays of light entering the room. Now I know why people can so easily up and move to places like this. I'll take that wake up call any day. The whole day Saturday I spent relaxing on the beach and walking around exploring the town. There are shops for days and the surrounding area is really cool. The second night I was there I said nay to the prospect of another high cover club letdown so I chilled out and watched the Man U game them went to bed. I got up early and decided to see the crazily late sunrise, 7:50 AM, then catch a bus back home. The sunrise was well worth getting up early and plus it was FREE! In a battle of a 30 euro cover and a gorgeous free sunrise, I'll take the sunrise every time. It was a successful morning and it was cool being awake when the city was sleeping. I got to use my DSLR for the first time extensively as well and I couldn't have asked for a better sight.

After a successful weekend it was back to work but for my first travel weekend of the journey no complaints. Till the next time

Spain Day 9:

Wow so I guess five days did just go by between posts, that wasn't planned. The first week here in Catalonia has been fairly hectic while I adapt to the new schedule and get the lay of the land. The weekend trip I took to Lloret also didn't aid in my blogging so now I must catch up. I'm going to get everything up to speed today with some videos and picture posts from the weekend trip. I think I'll post three days a week with a recap video on Saturdays or Sundays. I think that's more manageable than trying to post errr day. So at least more stuff is on the way, lots to cover indeed. I even made a list.
Until the next time.

Spain Day 4:

Mi pueblo

Decided to go exploring again today, still haven't seen the whole town even though it's pretty small, and I found a great vantage point toward the back of town. Figured I'd snap a few pictures since I haven't used the DSLR much and haven't even touched the GoPro. No worries that will all change very soon.

Not much action on the front lines today just more introductions to the students. I went around from class to class at the secondary school and introduced myself to the students. Then I asked them to present questions if they had any. I think the kids are still in shock and awe mode because this is the first time there has ever been a language assistant at the school. Especially a larger individual with a nice cinnamon complexion lol. The most common questions were as follows:

1. Do you go to the gym?

2. What is your favorite soccer team in Spain? (Barcelona = cheers and applause)

3. Why did you come here? (sounds accusatory but it's just their english level)

4. How tall are you?

5. Do you have a GF?

6. Which is better Spain or America?

So as lively as that was I was hoping to get higher level questions to both make them think and force them to construct sentences that weren't five words long. Later in the day we got to topics like their fight for independence and the economy in Spain. So all in all it was a good introduction to the school and now they know me a little better. Tomorrow I start actually teaching at the primary school. Environmental science!

The highlight of my day was definitely buying a plan for my phone. I went into the Movistar phone store and had at it. I spoke only in English and managed to get a plan for only 20 euro a month. I think anywhere from 15-20 is winning. Me and my blackberry can finally whatsapp without hinderance. 

The not so successful part of the day was me searching for indoor soccer shoes in size 15 or 48 in Euro terms. I came close, found a size 47, but I need to get a pair quick because the requests to play soccer are coming in. I'm playing tomorrow night with one of the teacher's husbands and if I don't get some shoes I might as well go out there in my socks.

I think I'll do a summary video on Friday instead of writing each day the rest of this week. I'm debating blogging every day or every other day but I think this week I'll just post pictures here and then sum up on Friday. My goal is to blog every day though so we'll see what happens. 

First hiking destination: Set

"If adventure has a final and all-embracing motive, it is surely this: we go out because it is our nature to go out, to climb mountains, and to paddle rivers, to fly to the planets and plunge into the depths of the oceans... When man ceases to do these things, he is no longer man."
-- Wilfrid Noyce