Pictures from Barcelona

Apparently it takes awhile to fix a hot water heater.

We have no hot water, or heat. We haven’t for about 1 week now. The worst part was it happened right when I was getting sick and all I wanted was to curl up in a warm bed after a hot shower. I had the shivers, was achy, and had a sore throat. Of course when I arrived home from school I was informed of the broken water heater. The apartment was frigid, well it probably wasn’t that bad but remember I was sick. After all, it is Spain. So I now sleep in pants and 3 blankets and have been showering at a friend’s house. This entails me loading up my shower things in a back pack, along with a towel, and either walking 35 minutes or taking the metro to their house to enjoy a quick but warm shower. Luckily I was able to sleep most of Friday and recovered from my minor sickness rather quickly. But I am told it will actually be fixed this Friday, we’ll see. Again, it is Spain and they tend to work at their own pace.

Other than the heat, I have had a great past couple of days. My TEFL course has begun and I am enjoying the people and the teachers. Class begins at 9:30 every morning until 12:30. Then we break for lunch and if we are teaching that day we lesson plan at 1:30 and teach at either 4:00 or 6:00. We teach a total of 6 days during our 4 weeks. Those days are long, but the others we are free to do as we please after 12:30. Half of our class time is spent learning English grammar: present simple, present continuous, present perfect, present perfect continuous and repeat in past and future tenses. Combined with learning gerunds, participles, and conditionals, I feel well informed on the English language. The other half of class is spent on teaching methods, pedagogy. Fortunately, they are teaching the same styles as UCD during my licensing. While it makes it extremely repetitive, I am trying to stay positive and think of it as helpful reminders as I prepare to apply for jobs at home. The only other downside to these lessons is the other people in my class. God bless them they are wonderful and intelligent people, but those who have gone through education courses once can agree with me that going through education courses twice, with fellow classmates who have no education background, well, it makes it slightly annoying. But the teachers are very knowledgeable, professional, and skilled which makes learning from them a blessing.

Many of my afternoons have been spent wandering the city, enjoying the architecture and marveling at the city. The main park in Barcelona, housing the Arc de Triomf, the zoo, and the Catalan Parliament is breathtaking. There are parrots roaming the trees, at times acting more like pigeons than parrots. The flowers are in full bloom, something I would be missing at home right now. I enjoy wandering the park, reading, admiring, watching. The laid back atmosphere has been a blessing, while I moved here expecting to be filled with the busy city life, I have found the opposite. Spaniards love to take their time. They may go out with friends all night long, but rarely do they have set plans and have usually spent a lazy afternoon before ever meeting up with friends. I spend more time reading, writing, and reflecting here than I have in a long time. This is combined with the increase in social life at night. It seems like an oxymoron but somehow the Spaniards have found a balance between personal relaxation and socialization. I hope to find this balance when I return home in 6 weeks.

Pictures from Sitges

Sitges and Carnaval!

Sitges and Carnaval, what an amazing experience. My roommates Nicole, Ben and I took the train to Sitges, a small town south of Barcelona on Tuesday to celebrate Carnaval, Spanish style. I am not exactly sure what Carnaval celebrates, but I believe it corresponds with Mardi Gras. As we walked down the heavily Mediterranean influenced buildings and streets, we were overwhelmed with the sights and sounds. Everywhere we looked there were people preparing for the parade. Apparently we had arrived just in time for the start of the parade. And when Spaniards have a parade, they have a parade. Every costume was perfect in each detail, color, and attitude. We had arrived for the children’s parade, the adult version of the parade would commence at about 9:00 that evening, quite late compared to parades in the U.S. (But everything in Spain is late. Dinner is late, people are late, church is late, parades are late, parties are late. For example, tonight we are going out with our professors from school to a Karaoke bar, and we are meeting at midnight to go out.) But I digress. My favorite float was Grease. There were atleast 50 little T-Birds, Pink Ladies, Danny’s and Sandra D’s all dressed perfectly in costumes and wigs. With music playing the kids danced while onlookers through confetti. By the end of the parade, I was finding confetti in places where confetti doesn’t belong. Little did I know I would still be finding confetti 4 days later. It reminded me of snow covering the ground and people’s shoulders.

After the parade, we wandered to the beach where Nicole and I took off our shoes and socks and played in the Mediterranean. It was a perfect day, blue sky and about 22 degrees Celsius. Who could ask for more when visiting the beach. From there we meandered through the streets, admiring the costumes of the Spaniards both in the parade and observing it. (For everyone dresses up for Carnaval, not just for the parade) Walking everywhere in Spain works up quite the appetite so we found a quaint gelateria that sells waffles or crepes with chocolate and icecream, amazing desserts after a difficult work out J Of course this was followed up with a pint at a little bar right off the beach before heading to the train station for the trek home. What a relaxing day, nothing greater than a train ride giving time to see the countryside and catch up on reading.