Okay, so this was the scene I experienced two weekends ago. So worth it – every bit of that headache – the evening that led to that next morning was a great one that made me realize I may never get too old for nights that resemble a typical night back at Loyola. But in all seriousness, this city brings out your inner-party girl that you thought went buh-bye once you left your college town. The festivals, the cheap booze, the ability to walk from bar to apartment at ease and then you have the people – it’s just a great equation for a good time. I’m also working as many hours as I took in classes so perhaps that could be a bit of the reason for my digress in actions but whatevs – you only live once. And I’m going to have a good time while doing it.
So new updates! I have more students! One of my new students is a sixty-two year old man who is just a doll. He is learning English as he wants to be able to better communicate with his grandkids. So cute! I love going to teach him and have discussions on the young versus the old and how great of a cook his wife is. I teach a few young ‘ens – my rambunctious, little girls (side story: one didn’t like that she couldn’t be the “last monkey jumping on the bed” for the activity we were doing and seriously went over to the window shades and pulled them down from the wall. Um, yeah.) to my little 11 year old boy to my sixteen-year-old girls (totally bonded over Twilight with them. I’m officially cool in their eyes now. Phew). And then the other ½ of my classes are for adults – ranging from those that are just learning how to say: “Hi! How are you?” to my advanced classes. The adults are so much fun – one of my classes consists of five women that are all in their 30s and 40s and so we go off on shopping and men. Good times. I really enjoy this constant human interaction. I have found a true love in teaching – of course it’s a bit different than teaching back home in the states with a full class of 20 students but it’s definitely giving me the taste for it and I truly enjoy it!
As for fun… Well, there has been much of it – I need to get better at updating this blog as I can’t remember all of the details from each event but here is my attempt. Three weekends ago was a big festival (what’s new?) called La Merce. It celebrates the coming of Fall and The Lady of Mercy/Mary. Pretty much the town shuts down to have tons of free concerts and parades and fireworks galore! Anna and I went to see a very famous tradition in one of the m
ain squares (actually, the square where we used to live!) during the festival. In English terms – it is known as The Human Tower. Think cheerleading-esque pyramids but quite more dangerous and taller with men, women and children dressed in traditional Catalan costumes making up the pyramids. We got some great pictures and videos which I will post on my shutterfly account soon. It was amazing to see them build these statues with no safety nets or harnesses… I was pretty amazed. The towers are actually a little controversial with people here as – although it’s a great tradition and very impressive to witness – the danger that occurs when one tower goes down is unbearable as the top of the pyramid is a five-year-old boy or girl. Of course, we did not see this happen and I have been asking around as this is usually more of a freak accident if a tower were to fall… It’s rather hard to put into words so hopefully my pictures will paint a better picture…As for other festival fun – we enjoyed a lot of the free concerts. There was jazz in the main park which was really great. A perfect opportunity for people watching as there were tons of hippies near where we were sitting doing some weird interpretive dances – Anna and I ended up capturing some of it on video – if you haven’t seen our infamous Rolling Hippies video on facebook, you must take a look now. I know some of ya’ll have reported back and said it wasn’t that hilarious but I think you were just jealous that some dirty hippies didn’t roll into you. Anyways, this is typical of Anna and me – to think something is so damn hilarious and well, we are the only ones laughing. On Friday night we went and saw The Go! Team perform in one of the plazas – good fun and then Saturday night was The Hives concert which was literally three blocks from our apartment. Such an amazing live show – one of those concerts where you leave and go, wow – I really like that band.
So last weekend, as I don’t work Fridays, Anna and I decided we would take the opportunity to do a day trip outside of Barcelona to Montserrat. Montserrat is an hour outside of Barcelona and holds the Santa Maria de Montserrat monastery upon some rather strange but beautiful jagged mountains. To actually get to the city you have to take a cable car or a special train known as a funicular to get to the top. The monastery holds a rather famous statue of the Virgin Mary holding Baby Jesus – the statue is carved out of a black wood so most refer to this statue as the Black Madonna or La Morenta. Legend has it that the Benedictine monks could not move the statue to construct their monastery, choosing to instead build around it. The statue's sanctuary is located at the rear of the Cathedral, where an altar of gold surrounds it making it a very popular site of pilgrimage.
The cathedral is one of the most gorgeous, gothic ones I have seen. The parameter is surrounded by hanging candles giving it a very luminous feel and the walls are decorated in these beautiful blue and gold colors. Outside, carved into the mountain side, is one of the largest candle offerings I have ever seen. Hundreds upon hundreds of candles were lit – and to think that this was just from the past two days – made me realize the need for prayer and the peace it gives to those who come here looking for that. It was a very special moment for me.
While living in Spain, I haven’t been as good about going to mass. Mainly because the times I have attempted, I have been super lost as the services have been in Catalan or the only mass time was at 10AM and I was not in the right state of mind to go (see first paragraph). This being said, I feel as if I had more spiritual moments while here than I did when I was going to mass every Sunday back in Dallas. I owe a lot of this to exploring and traveling and visiting these amazing, beautiful sanctuaries. Also, I owe a lot of that to living with Anna and our constant conversations regarding religion and spirituality. Some of you know that Anna is Korean and has had a Christianity and Buddhist background when it comes to faith. She is one of the most open-minded people I know when it comes to discussions on religion – never trying to push a belief down your throat – but just asking the right questions that makes me stop and really reflect. So while visiting these Cathedrals and churches, I try to take those moments to pray. After I finished praying at the Cathedral in Montserrat, Anna and I left for our hiking adventure up the mountains. As we were hiking she said: “I was really in awe when you went to go pray. I just watched you kneel down in the middle of this huge church and pray and I thought to myself – how cool is it that Lindsay can go to any cathedral in the world and feel comfortable to pray there." - Of course, her telling me this made me really reflect on how blessed I am that I have always had the opportunity to freely express my religious views and actions. Maybe I didn’t realize how special it is that I CAN go into these historic churches/cathedrals and, while majority of the patrons come to marvel at the beauty of the architecture and the rich history that built this monument, I see it in a completely other form as well – a chance to allow myself a moment of peace and reflection.
Okay, sorry to digress and I hope that nobody takes this as me pushing my faith on them or me boasting about faith or whatnot – I just wanted to share what made this day so special to me and I hope that we can all find people in our lives to help us reflect and ask those hard questions that makes us grow.
As for the hiking, that was another great part of my day! I always say this but when you are on top of a mountain, I don’t know how you can doubt there is a God. Wow. What breathtaking views of the Spanish countryside. We ended up taking some trail where we were the only people around for a while so we had a fun photo shoot of us jumping around on top of the mountain – I hope you enjoy the silliness of these pictures. All in all – my trip to Montserrat was gre
at and I wish I could take you there! I would love to go back as we missed the boys’ choir performance and we didn’t make it to the top of another peak where an old chapel remains.As for other happenings – we went to a Catalan BBQ this past Saturday. It was tons of fun and a great chance for me to practice my Spanish as only two people there spoke English! It’s kind of interesting to see how friendships can grow even though you really don’t have a language in common. We all have so many things in common – love for music, traveling, food – I mean, they even busted out some Texas Hold ‘Em (which I did a disappointing job at proving my poker skills. Sorry America.) – but in short, if you only have a small vocabulary to work with – it’s hard to go into more in-depth conversations. Still, new friends are friends and when mixed with good food and beer – it works.
Oh! And good news – we found an aaaamazing sports bar that shows NFL on Sundays. They also do karaoke right afterwards so I decided I really like this combination of football and karaoke. We plan to go next week to watch the Saints kick the Giant’s ass – and then I plan to karaoke some “Saints Go Marching In” after that win. If a loss – maybe “My Humps”? I don’t know…I still have time to make this important decision.
What else…Oh yes, we finished all 5 seasons of Weeds. What a frickin great show. Found a site that shows The Office and yes, I cried for Pam and Jim’s wedding. Do they make guys like Jim out there? Seriously.
No more deaf men. British bartender is a no-go for various reasons – let’s go with one wanky eye as the main reason. I still like to dance on elevated surfaces and with chairs. Still a lover of live music and jealous of all the great shows going into Dallas now that I left (Wilco!!! Phoenix!!!) I am obsessed with Shakira’s SheWolf song as I can howl just like her. Yes, I think that sums up my life! I am still working on all of you fabulous people to come visit me – I really can’t put into words how much fun Barcelona is – how amazing this city is: the food and sangria – the Gaudi – the beautiful people… No complaints over here.
Oh wait! No – there is ONE complaint. The birds. Okay, I can’t believe I am writing about this but it’s so redic and hilar that I just must. Alright so we were walking back from the beach – this was about 3 weeks ago – and Anna and I are just chit-chatting away and she all of a sudden yells: OhmiGawd! – So I’m staring at her and that’s when I notice…bird poop. All down her hair. So we both start screaming and take her beach towel and wipe it away. So remembering Under the Tuscan Sun – I tell her this is a sign of good luck – a good omen – when a bird well, shits on you. So let’s fast forward to Montserrat and me standing in the middle of the courtyard snapping pictures. And then feeling something land on my shoulder. Anna looks at me – I look at her. And then the freak out beings. Yes, I was shatted on by a bird as well.
So what are the odds that BOTH of us – not even a week apart – get shitted on by birds?! I have been doing so much research on it to find out if it really is good luck (according to most Italians – it is) or bad (Korean culture – it is) or just something people say to make you feel better because, wow, you got shitted on by a bird. We decided to take the good-luck approach with a mix of a good sense of humor.
Till next time…
Searching for a God-loving Matador,
Lin-Say (just as my students pronounce my name…and as past coworkers did minus the “what”)
Music Suggestions:
“Keepsake” – State Radio
“Your Rocky Spine” – Great Lake Swimmers
“Lay There and Hate Me” – Ben Harper and Relentless7
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. - Douglas Adams
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. - Douglas Adams
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