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Published: January 5th 2006
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It's like Wal*Mart
They have everything at the market It's been a while TravelBlog! The internet has been quite sporadic lately and well I've been keeping busy and all. Only 3 more weeks here!
Monday I painted the entry hall boy oh boy does it ever look good.
Last Tuesday I had some time off so I went to the Barcelona Aquarium, the largest aquarium in Europe. It was okay. It was expensive and after the Monterrey Aquarium everything else is just anticlimatic. Nice shark tunnel and it's a lovely walk from La Rambla. I stopped by the big market called La Boqueria and I found some nori for 4.50 Euros. Still too much 😞
Somewhere in the middle of last week I decided I needed to meet some foreigners so Friday I went out with a bunch of people from everywhere except Spain and we went to a really posh discotheque called Danzatoria where we danced to that Shaggy song "It Wasn't Me" amongst other gems. Who would have thought that song would have survived to the year 2005. It was like we were really partying like it was 1999. Barcelona is one of those cities best experienced at night, the club didn't get up and
going until 2:00 and at 4:30 AM the streets are buzzing. I didn't get back to Terrassa until 7 AM. Good times.
Saturday I managed to sleep for a couple of hours and then I went on an excursion with Angels. Angels is one of Mireia's friends and one of my language exchange partners. We drove out to the mountains and watched this dance competition, very Catalan with sticks and bells and everything. I'm pretty sure I was the only non-Catalan. A lot of Catalans are ultra-nationalistic, like seriously they give Toby Keith a run for his money.
We were there all afternoon and we had dinner there which would have been fun but I was sitting with all the other Catalan teenagers and they completely ignored me. I mean really I think my international student karma should get me better treatment. I would try to talk to them in Castellano, like how old are you and what's your name and what do you like to do for fun and they would answer me in one or maybe two words and then go back to talking amongst themselves in Catalan. It doesn't sound too bad but it was
incredibly isolating. I just wanted someone to talk to and having to go through that for an hour and a half on three hours sleep... it is really hard not to take that personally. I missed you all terribly that night. Maybe I have been spoiled by southern hospitality. So I had to get out of there and I left with the first family heading to Terrassa. Ha ha. It was a good experience... just too long and the dinner possibly scarred me for life. Honestly, I'm trying to make Spanish friends but its not working too well 😞
Sunday I met up with Britt, another au pair from Zimbabwe. She was really nice and we had a lot in common. We both are unimpressed that the average Spaniard lived with his parents until 30+ years or until he is married. I mean really that is ridiculous. Of course they cite
economic reasons- but the people I went out with on Friday night, they had like 8 people sharing a nice big flat in a good location for cheap. Seriously, it can be done. Its weird, Britt's never been to North America but sometimes I forget because she seems
Mr. Colom pointing the way
to the New World I suppose so American sometimes. I totally want to go to Zimbabwe. We accidentally found Barceloneta, the big beach in Barcelona. It was packed on a Sunday afternoon but I'll come back.
The kids are done with school on Wednesday. Thursday is Sant Joan day which is sort of like Fourth of July in that they have fireworks... from what I can gather. So we are going to have dinner at Mireia's sister's house. Friday the family is going camping for the weekend but I don't think I will go, maybe I will just hold down the fort here and go out with my fellow expats again. Mireia said I can have the entire week of July 4th- 10th off if I want to go somewhere, I am dying to go to Marrakech and I found an online offer for a week for 400 Euros with hotel and airfare but I need someone to go with and so far everyone I've talked to has not been interested in going.
Any takers?
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