Ophiusa Regatta

Spring break is officially upon us (or me, rather) and after a multitude of plans come and gone (driving to the south of Spain, crossing Gibraltar on a fairy and road tripping for a week in Morocco; sailing to Mallorca and Cabrera with some friends on two boats; sailing to a few towns along the Catalán coast) we've finally cemented our plans.

On Wednesday, 7 of us will set sail for Sitges, a town about 6 hours sailing south of Barcelona. The crew is made up by moi, Toni, Susana and Juan (a couple that lives aboard their 60-foot steel sailing boat) and three other Mallorquines. All of us will be going on Susana and Juan's sailboat, the Blue Alachar, because Toni's boat can't legally sail more than 12 miles from the coast yet. On Thursday after the captain's meeting, we'll set sail about noon for Formentera, a small island just past Ibiza. One of the crew members is apparently a "cooking while sailing" aficionado and has volunteered to cook all the meals. It'll take about a day and a half or two days to get there, depending on the wind, so we'll get to lose sight of land, an eerie but wonderful feeling. Here's the route we'll follow.


Our goal is to win the prize of slowest participant, the trophy is the nicest one! I'm feeling like my English is rather clumsy today, so I'm going to sign off for now. Time to go out and enjoy the sunshine!

The Dutch Folk

I've spent the better part of the last week putzing around Barcelona and surroundings with one of Toni's best friends from Mallorca who has been living in Holland for some years now and his Dutch girlfriend. Mateo and Marit. It was a good chance for me to go on some of the exploratory adventures deemed necessary when you're in a new place, but when you settle in and are living there, you forget to go. So they were a good excuse to enjoy some of Barcelona's sights as well as to go to two nearby towns.
We were in Sitges for a day last Saturday, and although it was a little chilly and overcast, we had lunch at a little seaside chiringuito and walked around the city center for a few hours. Sitges is a small town about a half hour south of Barcelona by train. A fair number of wealthy Barceloneses have weekend/summer houses in Sitges. I put up pictures on Flickr, so you can see those here.

On Wednesday, another one of Toni's friends joined us and the five of us went to a small town about two hours northwest of Barcelona, nestled in the mountains, called Rupit. Rupit is another medieval town perched above a small river. Most everything was closed since we were there in the middle of the week, but we found an open restaurant where we stuffed ourselves to the brim. When we couldn't possibly eat anymore, we sat outside on the terrace having a coffee and listening to the river gurgle below us while the sun slowly warmed our pale pale skin. After sufficient digestion, we followed an old goat path in search of some waterfalls but when the going got a little muddy, the troops voted to start heading back to the city. Here are a few pictures that have been borrowed from Toni's friend so you all can see Rupit.

Calçotada

Spring in Catalonia not only means good weather and longer days, but it also means calçots. For those of us who have (or had) no idea what that means, they're like long, tubular onions. They're pulled from the ground and grilled as-is over an open flame until they're charred black. Then they're wrapped in newspaper until ready to serve and they're eaten with a thick red sauce involving garlic, almonds, red peppers, tomatoes and lots of olive oil. One of Toni's friends invited us to his parent's house outside of Barcelona to partake in said Catalán tradition. Here a couple of pictures, there are more on my Flickr if anyone wants to see!

Xavi's Mom preparing the calçots to be fired.

Xavi diligently lining them up on the grill.

Just off the flames.

Did you really think we ate JUST onions?

Freshly-squeeze carrots.

Mondays Schmundays

I'm in Viladecavalls today at CEIP Rosella (the school I was assigned to for the year). I went with the third graders to a presentation about their civil duties, recycling, learning to cross the street properly and traffic signals this morning. They all howled and I can't remember ever having a similar presentation having been made so fun in elementary school. It was just Chief Bacon very seriously explaining to us why not wearing a bike helmet was dangerous and that drugs are bad. All I recall is the moving mustache. Here they got to crack eggs, act like pirates with hooks and imaginary peg legs and walk imaginary dogs with a leash made from a balloon. Way cooler than Chief Bacon. I didn't have to practice singing "There She Goes" with the last group of third graders because of the presentation (some change in the routine is always welcome), but this afternoon I have to go with the sixth graders which is never really enjoyable. Trying to control half a dozen twelve year-olds who are almost as tall as I am and ignore me with the excuse that they don't understand English is draining to say the least, but I suppose for two hours a week I can hardly complain. I'll be going to the house of one of the teachers after school to hang out with her three and five year-old daughters and speak to them in English. The older girl just giggles and never speaks to me and the younger one is like an earthquake but they're both fun and their Mom always makes good company. (If anyone is interested in seeing the kids I spend 12 hours a week with, you can check out the school's English blog. There are videos and photos of some of the activities we've done.)

Now that spring is just around the corner, it's no longer pitch black outside when I take the train back to Barcelona which is really nice. The days are getting noticeably longer and before we know it, we'll be back to the dog days of summer with 9:30 sunsets and gloriously long days spent floating in the glistening Mediterranean. Can't wait.

The Eight Irresistible Principles

It's finally starting to warm up here, the sun is shining and it looks like spring is just around the corner. Despite the improvement in the weather, the last few days for whatever reason I felt like I was taking a big step backwards in my progression towards relaxing and just enjoying today and I've been trying not to let it throw me for a loop. So I'm leaving in just a few minutes to have lunch with two Mexican girls I met here (one is the cousin of my Aunt Tere in Mexico City). Before leaving though, I re-visited a video of sorts that I remember stumbling upon almost a year ago when I arrived in Barcelona that I had really like when I saw it. I think different parts apply to different people, but we're all guilty of falling into certain traps. So I wanted to share this video with everyone, it's not about dwelling on what we don't do or don't have. I found it inspiring and hope you will too (Katherine's probably making gagging sounds, I know, I know, but just watch it...)

http://www.eightprinciples.com/

Photitos

Some photos I've been meaning to put up and forgot about...

Hiking around the refugi de montanya that Toni and
I went to a few weeks ago, pre-food poisoning.

Luisa and Lupita.

Smile Toni!

"Prune" kissing my face.

Snowing in Barcelona! This was when it had just started to stick,
the view from my bedroom window.

Whodathunk?

Who would have thought that with 60 degrees and sunshine just last week, we would have snow in Barcelona? Not just flurries, but real, stick-to-your-eyelashes, snow. I thought this was supposed to be a Mediterranean climate! But of course, being Spain and all, things move slowly. This is why I wasn't informed it was a snow day (this morning it was snowing up in the mountains but not in Barcelona) until I was already almost at the school. Meaning I got up at 6:45, showered, walked to the train, took the hour-long train ride to the city near the town, and was headed out of the station to be picked up by one of the teachers from the school by the time someone got around to calling me and letting me know there was no school today. Back to the train, back to Barcelona. So three hours spent on the train this morning, BUT I'm now toastily back in my apartment with a free day to watch the snow fall on the other side of the windows. Hopefully it will warm up again quickly, spring break is just around the corner and sailing with snow would be no fun.