By Aaron
Lost in Translation
We’ve experienced many instances of things getting lost in translation since arriving in July, and almost all have them have provided instantaneous shared laughter and obligatory shrugs between Joni and I. Most people are very nice and, probably, are used to dealing with people who lack a commanding grasp of Spanish language and/or culture. This past Sunday, however, we had our first unpleasant run-in involving language on our return trip from Barcelona. The bus had stopped in Zaragoza, and we took the opportunity to use the restroom and get some food in the station. It had occurred to me that some new people would be boarding the bus, but it didn’t seem like this would have any effect on our bags (which we had left on on our seats). Upon returning to the bus, I found a man sitting in my seat. Using mostly gestures, seasoned with rapid-fire Spanish, the man made it clear that it was his seat. I gathered that we had mistakenly sat in the wrong seats for the first leg of the trip, but it was confusing because the seat numbers were on the back of the seats. I proceeded to apologize and reached for my bag (which was quite full, containing all my clothes for the three day trip). At this point, the man’s tone went from being a bit peeved to full-on annoyed, telling me that I should put my bag below the bus. In the best Spanish I could muster, I told him that I could put the bag under my seat, to which he responded that the bag is very dangerous and then, in English “No, you HAVE to!” gesturing towards the bottom of the bus. I apologized again and moved to the correct seat. Then the man got off the bus and talked very rapidly to the driver - I can only assume it was to make a case for getting me to move my bag. The man returned, sat down, and the remainder of the trip passed without incident. No harm was done and the whole matter was blown out of proportion, but it may have been the most accosted I’ve been the entire time we’ve been in Spain.
Exploring the City
October 12th is a national military holiday in Spain, and so we both had all our classes cancelled for the day. At the time neither of us had any classes on Thursday (I’ve since added 3), so we took advantage of the long weekend and made our first overnight trip - to Barcelona! While I’m sure three days is not long enough to do justice to the city, as will likely be the case with anywhere we go on these trips, we packed a lot into our visit. Here is a rundown of the places and things we saw:
Las Ramblas - A bustling corridor that marries the broad northern avenues with the cozy alleys and small streets of the south.
Mercat de la Boqueria - One of the many markets in Barcelona, Boqueria is supposedly the most popular. We loved the fresh fruit juice we purchased here!
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| Look closely...those aren't really McDonald's fries! |
La Sagrada Familia: Anton Gaudi’s stunning cathedral, still under construction. Like it or hate it, the structure is undeniably singular among its peers. I loved it, while Joni appreciated it but was not blown away.
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| Gaudi was a fan of incorporating the natural world into his work. Do you see columns or trees stretching toward the heavens? |
Montjuïc - We took a cable car to the top of this hill overlooking the city. There’s a castle at the top, as well as scenic views of the ocean.
Olympic Park - It seems like Barcelona has made relatively good use of the facilities used for the 1992 games, at least if all the signage around the main stadium is to be believed. The main stadium (pictured below) is used for occasional sporting events as well as concerts, most recently hosting Beyoncé this August.
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| Seems like a regular, run-of-the-mill gorgeous European plaza, right? Keep an eye out for that fountain a bit later... |
Centre Comercial Arenes de Barcelona - A former bullfighting arena that now serves as a modern shopping mall, complete with a large movie theatre and a food court.
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| View from the top of the mall! |
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| We opted to skip gelato and hit the Mercadona in the basement of the mall. |
Font Mágica - A somewhat cheesy but certainly fun and impressive fountain in the site of the gorgeous plaza that hosted an International World Fair. At night the fountain lights up and runs in sync with a soundtrack of crowd pleasing (mostly American) songs.
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The fountain in action! To get a taste of the show (and to hear the opening song), click here.
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Park Guell - Another masterful feat of architecture from Gaudi, this park was originally built as a gated community for some of his wealthy patrons. The concept didn't stick, and so the city turned it into a park. It's located on a hill that feeds into a network of hiking trails boasting pretty decent views of the city.
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| Can you find Joni? |
Arc de Triomf - This arc sits at the edge of a large park near the waterfront, in front of a promenade that transitions from the street into greenery surrounding a zoo.
Gothic Quarter and Barcelona Cathedral - Barcelona is full of fun and funky modernisme art/architecture, but there is a section of town called the Gothic Quarter that is home to an older style of buildings. The Barcelona Cathedral is exemplary of this, and I wish I had a better grasp of this kind of thing to be able to describe it more eloquently!
Vegan Ice Cream - The only Mexican Heladeria in Spain (supposedly) was right on our way from the Gothic Quarter to the beach. Who are we to pass up a chance for ice cream, with or without dairy involved?
The beach - It’s pretty cool that a city with so much art and culture is also on a beach. We missed the sunset (despite a quite impressive near-sprint through the Gothic quarter), but we strolled in the sand as the moon descended beneath the horizon and the tide nipped at our feet. It was one of the most profound "are we actually here?" moments I've experienced in Spain so far. The universe answered with a resounding "YES" several times, and the water ultimately got the best of our trousers.
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| Luckily, there were several restaurants along the beach with outdoor seating! |
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| Panellets for our ride home! This is a Catalonian treat only available in October. They are made of marzipan and typically covered in pine nuts. Good, but not quite sweet enough for our American pallets. |
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| The bus station. The BUS station! |
One note about Barcelona - it is location in Catalonia, a region of Spain where Catalan is the primary language. Spanish is spoken in many places and most signs are in both Spanish and Catalan, but it was kind of trippy walking around reading what seemed like bizzarro Spanish. Oh, and props to Rick Steves! We leaned heavily on the Barcelona section of his 2016 Spain book. Thanks for leaving it with us, Dad.
En la clase
We took a break from Spanish classes the week of October 10-14, but it seems like the classes we teach never leave our side thanks to the endless chore of lesson planning. The amount of time it takes to plan a good lesson is still frustrating, but I think we're both feeling hopeful that it will improve even as we take on more classes.
Memorable Meal
There was a lot of good food to be had in Barcelona, but the best thing we had was a chicken pesto lasagna at a place called Aroma in the bullring-turned-mall. I can't recall ever having lasagna with a pesto base, and I don't know why it isn't more popular. In terms of atmosphere, the most memorable meal happened at Bacoa, the burger joint where we ate on the beach. I've never had so much fun sitting in wet clothing riddled with sand!
Final Note
Apart from Barcelona, our life has been settling into a routine. Our schedules with classes aren't quite full, but the days tend to feel long with awkward gaps of a couple hours between things. Oh, and I guess now would be a good time to mention...
WE HAVE INTERNET AT HOME!
This is an itch we've needed to scratch for a long time. 37 days, to be exact. But it's here now and (I hope) it's here to stay! Rosa came through, a maintenance man came to complete the proper wiring while we were in Barcelona, and Vodafone sent a very nice técnico to install the cable. The signal is a little iffy outside the living room, but we are not in any mood to complain. Being without this resource has not been impossible - we clearly have survived without wifi in our home and I'm sure it is something we can live without. However, lesson planning is SO much easier with ready access to the hive mind of the internet (and the countless ESL teachers who have embarked on this journey before us), and we have missed the convenience of being able to talk with friends and family without leaving the house. And there is just something really comforting about having access to do things at any hour. Like, for example, publishing a blog at 1 AM.
