Advertisement
Published: December 14th 2010
Wow what a busy week this has been! This week Katie and I started off with a trip to Barcelona. We hopped on a bus in the middle of the night Sunday and took the 8 hour ride to Barcelona, putting us there bright and early Monday morning. We found our hostel, checked in and got ready to explore the city. Monday we spent the day wondering around flea markets, walking through the city towards the most popular sights and stopping numerous places on the way. We ran into a park along our walk that had the most amazing fountain I have yet to find in Spain. It was stunning, we spent a good hour there taking pictures, watching magicians perform and listening to musicians. It was great. Then we headed to one of the most popular streets in Barcelona, Las Ramblas. It was amazing, crowded with people, tons of shops and restaurants. We walked from the top to the bottom ending at the Columbus monument and the port. It was great to see water again 😊.
Tuesday we got up bright and early to once again hit the streets. We began the day will the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. This
church was amazing, it is yet to be finished and expected to take at least another half century to complete. The architect died long ago and now numerous people have been constructing the church and it is interesting to view the different styles covering the church. It was fantastic. After the church we headed down to the Barcelona Cathedral. The difference between the two was very apparent. While the Sagrada was more modern the Cathedral was classic. It was massive and had tons of amazing religious artifacts and surprisingly we were able to take pictures of them. After the Cathedral we walked down the port until we finally hit the beach!! Oh how I have missed the sound of waves on the shore. It was so beautiful. After our time at the beach we headed to the Gaudi’s Park to see some more amazing designs. The park was unbelievable. So much thought and creativity was put into each part of the park combing natural elements with ceramic mosaics. We spent the rest of the day walking around and trying to absorb it all. We planned on heading to Barcelona´s magic fountains, but of course in the winter they only run
on the weekends, so we were unable to see that. I was really bummed but it worked out because we got to see a Lady Gaga concert instead. 😊 We were walking around another park when we saw tons of people in line for a concert. We followed the line and stood outside the building during the performance. From where we were standing we could see the giant projector screen and even the stage, and of course hear the music. So although we were not in the amphitheater we were still able to see and hear everything 😊.
On Wednesday we packed up our stuff from the hostel and headed to a flea market to kill a few hours before our bus arrived to take us back to Madrid. The flea market was really nice and we spent about an hour there but then we weren´t sure what to do. We decided to walk to the bus depot a little bit early. On the way we ran into a soccer field and there was a game going on. We sat and watched the rest of the match and then finished our walk to the bus depot. We expected a
nice normal ride from Barcelona to Madrid, it was definitely more exciting then we planned. We had just left a rest stop on our trip back to Madrid when all of a Sunday a guy in the back of the bus started making this really strange noise. Instantly Katie and I realized that the guy was choking. We jumped out of our seats, well at least I did. Katie was sort of buried under her stuff and couldn’t make it into the aisle. I ran down the aisle, pushed the guy’s girlfriend out of the way (who could only seem to yell his name), I tried to ask him if he was choking and of course in the moment the only language that came to my head was English (so he had no clue what I was saying). I spun him around to give him 5 back blows and 5 abdominal thrusts. After a few seconds he stepped out of my arms and sat back down. Everyone on the bus just stared at me and him. No one did anything; the bus driver didn’t even stop. It was so crazy. I am just glad I had my CPR certification. By
the time we made it back to Madrid I was so exhausted more than ready to be back to my apartment.
My Thursday classes went really good. I spent the morning in 2nd grader where I was able to lead the class. The teacher wasn’t feeling well so it just meant more teaching for me so I was definitely happy about that. My third hour I spent with the 5th graders trying to help prepare some of the students for their final test next week. I finished off the work day with the 1st graders learning about breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately after school my first tutoring session had been canceled so I had to sit around and wait until 430 before my first lesson began. But the rest of my lessons went well. Miguel and I studied for his English test and afterwards Virginia, Beatriz and I played a round of Pictionary. After catching the bus back to Madrid Katie, Sandy and I hung out at my place playing card games for the rest of the night.
Friday Katie and I got up early to head out around the city. We started off by going to Retiro
Park. Although Katie wasn’t nearly as impressed as she had been with the Park we came across in Barcelona we ended up walking around the park for about an hour. Afterwards we grabbed a bit to eat and then I sent Katie off to spend the afternoon with Sandy so I could catch the bus for Miguel’s piano concert. It was so amazing! His family asked me to join them for the concert and they were super welcoming. There were tons of students and over an hour and a half of songs I remember playing when I was learning to play. Miguel just started playing this year and every now and then he and I will play the key board in his room. I definitely felt like a PTO mom whose child just made the honor roll list. 😊 After the concert I caught the bus back to Madrid and headed to Sandy’s house for another night of card games.
Saturday Katie and I headed out to see a few museums. We went to the Caixa Forum which had some amazing exhibitions for the winter. There was a whole floor dedicated to Federico Fellini an amazing director from the
50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Katie was super excited about this, where as I was more impressed with a photography collection that contributed to UNICEF. The artist took photographs of children who were had suffered in so many ways and told each of their stories. It was so heartbreaking and powerfully enlightening. We spent over 2 hours just in these exhibits. After the museum we walked around and stopped in tourist’s shops here and there before heading back to Sandy’s house to make dinner. We stayed at her place for a few hours and then went to a bar and a night club with a big group of her friends. We had a really fun night, however it was a really long night and come Sunday Katie and I were pretty beat. Sunday we pretty much stayed in and tried to rest up. We played some card games, watched movies and had some pizza. It was a very relaxing way to spend the day.
Monday was Katie’s last day but unfortunately I had to work again so we didn’t get to spend much of it together. I got up bright and early and headed to work. The work day went
by as normal, with the morning in 2nd grade, then 3rd, 1st and back to 2nd to finish off the day. I spent the next few hours after work messing around on the computer and then headed out for tutoring. Monday was my 3 year old little boy’s birthday. He was so excited he was 4 years old. We spent the hour playing with his new toys and him showing me all of the Christmas decorations around the house. The hour flew by quick and then I headed to my last session in which I played a couple rounds of bingo with my student and built a Lego truck. My Monday tutoring sessions are really simple and fun; it’s a great way to start the week. After tutoring I caught the bus back to Madrid picked up Katie to go out for her last dinner in Madrid. After dinner Sandy and her boyfriend Sam met us at a bar for a drink and then we headed home to pack Katie up and get her ready to fly out in the morning. We have had a really good time traveling around and it was really nice to have someone from home
around. I am definitely starting to fill a little blue about being away for the holidays and she helped keep me distracted. Now I just have one week to go and then I am off to Switzerland to be with Dani for Christmas 😊, already counting down the days.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.132s; Tpl: 0.029s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0604s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Mom
non-member comment
Hey Sis, I would love to see photos of you and your students together. At least the ones you tutor. If it's okay with their parents? Miss ya bunches!