Lemonade!

After a week of Festa Major, finally albert has enough beer! His next choice? Fanta lemon!

Kate's Blog

Hello!

Have met (cyberly) a lovely woman doing almost exactly the same as me. Her name is Kate and this is her blog - check it out! :)

Kate's Blog - The Catalan Way 

Chess on a Sunday Morning

Jett is in his first chess championship. They are using timers. Whites against blues in the festa major.

Football in the Park

The tables were set up today for soccer. Young and old were cheering on the sidelines.

Big Games in Granollers!

It's Festa Major here in Granollers. Now, we're playing big games.

Cops on Cool Toys

They are super funny little scooter things, but they do nothing to increase the intimidation and protector role. I don't know if they are even fast enough to catch the bad guys.

Mexican Hats Are Following Me!

I'm on the train, on my way to pick up my son from the airport. From Barna Sants, some tourists come on board, with huge brimmed hats rolled up with their luggage. I wonder what they will do with them, once they have them at home? I'm afraid my house wife instinct thinks of this kind of purchase as a 'dust collector'.

Finally, Mexican Hats for Real!

Its typical to see tourists with Mexican Hats here. You always hear locals commenting about how stupid they find it. Here, we're in a Mexican restaurant! So, Mexican Hats, its your time to shine!


Just in case you are not sure, Mexico is the country underneath USA, and they have Mexican hats, otherwise called sombreros. The Mexicans do speak Spanish, but Spain is not Mexico, and as far as I know, Spain doesn't use the sombrero here. For more about the Mexican Hat - take a peek at Wiki

Heaven on Earth?

I'm raving about this cove, but, its spectacular, both day and night, and now, in this in between state. The water glows. There are still octopus swimming nearby (an American girl was screaming about it earlier). The sun lights the pines, firing their trunks russet. The sail boats on the horizon are lit pink. The waves are gentle and soothing. It does feel like a piece of heaven.

Another Sunny Day in Paradise

Well, it started overcast, but now, the sun is trying to show its face. Hardly any people today, compared to yesterday when I had trouble finding a place for my towel. I can hear many people speaking French today. Water is clean. The Big House that dominates the cove is preparing for a huge party tonight. Party music blaring from the forest. In all, a gorgeous day.

Toe Nail Update

Sorry, if you're sensitive to ugly! But, the regrowth of my toe nails has been a remarkable experience. I was always under the impression that the toe nail grew upwards, out of the base of the tip, but the nail grows up and out of the skin itself. Once I lost my toe nail, the skin became harder, and then I noticed it started to hurt a little bit. After a few days, the hard skin had transformed itself into nail. Yes, its bumpy and not completely like it was before, but the body is healing itself remarkably quickly. I've always liked my ducky feet.

Dream Cruise

I'm sitting on the balcony with my book. I look up and in the distance I see a cruise ship passing by. Perhaps I catch 2 or 3 a day, going past. And part of me yearns to be on board. Albert calls these ships a big 'tarty party'. I guess, in reality, they are a bit like that. Still, it doesn't stop the feeling of wanting to be on board and overlooking the rail at the land lubbers.

Is a coffee a coffee by any other name?

I live in Catalonia. My partner identifies himself as Catalan, as does his parents and most of his friends. My child goes to a school where all the teaching, apart from language classes are in Catalan. And yet, I can't order a café amb llet without the waiter/waitress 'correcting' my poorly accented Catalan into Spanish. Today, the woman asked me three times what I wanted, then I thought she was going to make me repeat café con leche with her, just as a special favour.

Weird humans on the beach

Ok. This baby has floaties on. He's also inside a floating device. The only thing he could move while in the water was his legs. He soon became incredibly frustrated. Why do we make the most natural thing in the world, so complicated? Why do we wrap our kids in plastic when ever we can? God, or common sense, please save us.

My Last Week Alone At The Beach.

I'm sure I told you albert's parents have an apartment in canyelles cove? They only use it for a week or so a year, so otherwise its empty. I love it. Its between Lloret and Tossa. This year I've been able to come here by my self for a couple of weeks. Its beautiful to have some alone time. Jett is in Norway, and Albert must work. All of my students are on holidays and people here abhore the idea of classes during their free time. So that leaves me- free. My skin is reaching for the sun.

Ipod Love

I must admit that I love my mp3 player, that happens to be an ipod. Its true the ipod has some functionality problems if you don't want to embrace the whole 'i' world, but it plays music and my audiobooks happily and I take it with me everywhere. Even to bed.

Grilled Vegetables

One of my favourite dishes! With romesco sauce. Bon profit!

Pigs Feet in the Supermarket

Sometimes I get a bit of a surprise in the Supermarkets here in Catalonia. The area is well know to have tasty ham, and they sell full pigs legs. Sometimes, like today, I saw all of these little pig legs up in the air, and in my imagination, they were running fast. They also have specialty shops of different types of pigs legs.

Early morning church

Its 9. I'm sitting across from the saint steven church in Granollers. There are only women coming in and out of the side doors. At first i thought it was only old women, but a few in their thirties have shown their faces too. I don't know a lot about how catholics here pray or worship. And as a side note, the girls in this bakery are very very lazy!

Plaza de Catalunya

I'm sitting in the main square. There are pigeons everywhere. Lots of people taking photos of themselves and the birds. Some people eating lunch, others just sitting and watching. Its cloudy. The man beside me is falling asleep. Some children are chasing the birds. I can hear spanish, russian, english, french. There are some boys with barςa t-shirts on.

Echoes of the Camino

So, i finally lost three toe nails as a result of walking 25 days on the Camino. This one, though it looks quite disgusting, didnt hurt. I'd been swimming at the beach, and while drying my feet, the toe nail just slide out! Rather remarkable experience.

Castell del les pinyeres

Beautiful full bouquet. Perfect wine for simple catalan cousine.