barcelona, week 2-2½

saturday, july 4th: after many recommendations i took a day tour to montserrat, thus named because this geologically random spontaneous mountain 1½ hours from barcelona is shaped like a serraded knife:
the locale is of great importance to the region of catalunya. legend has it that a statue of the virgin was discovered there in a cave, and when the local priests attempted to have it carted down from the mountain the animals refused to move. thus a monastery was built which now houses the world’s largest collection of manuscripts in the catalan language. during franco’s reign speaking catalan was forbidden, but because of his religiosity he allowed the monks minding this collection to speak it, so it became a stronghold for part of the local identity. we took a funicular to the top of the mountain for some impressive views and then walked back down to the monastery.
afterwards we went to sitges, the sweet little beach town where the barcelonans go to escape the beach crowds in barcelona. from what i could tell, they weren’t escaping the crowds at all! i had my one and only swim in the mediterranean here, with fellow tour-goers to watch my stuff. and i got a mild sunburn which vanished in a couple of days.

in the evening i went ‘round to the flat where three of the brothers from church stay for their housewarming party. i ended up chatting to a lovely lady named chus for most of the evening. chus and i would end up having lots of bonding times in the ensuing weeks as she studied the bible, gave me lifts and showed me the best spots (and ice cream) in her native barcelona.

sunday, july 5th: we had church in the brothers’ flat. i always like house-churches best. they are so cozy, informal and personal. it was as much a discussion as a service. afterwards we had a bite to eat together – the leftovers from the party – all sitting around a table, like a big family. then antonio, sergio and i went to help michaela move house. she was moving from one beautiful neighbourhood – the barrio gotico, and a block from the fabulous palace of catalan music – to another beautiful neighbourhood – gracia, once a village (to which passeig de gracia lead), now a village within the city, full of cafes and artsy shops.

tuesday, july 7th: i received the joyful news that my friends luce and craig had become parents for the first time! it was also the day of san fermin, the first day of the running of the bulls. so for a few days i looked around for some related gift to give newborn taya when i returned. however, as the days passed and the gorings and bloodshed mounted, i decided that perhaps sweet little taya would not appreciate being linked to this particular festival and abandoned the search.

wednesday, july 8th: on a whim, i decided to take bus 41 to see where it went. it took me to diagonal mar, where the great avenida diagonal hits the sea. pretty ugly, really. it’s a big construction site with very modern buildings and blank spaces on the edge of an industrial area. but i’m glad i saw it. i passed diagonal mar park, which was designed by the same nutter, erm, architect who designed the scottish parliament. i could see parallels instantly, just whizzing past in a bus, and they made me laugh. i visited the diagonal mar shopping center, sent off a postcard to my parents, and bought a shirt from desigual, a very catalan and very original fashion design company, to wear to my birthday party... that evening we went to evangelize in hospitalet, considered the “bad part” of barcelona, i.e. the neighbourhood full of immigrants. glad to have seen the “other side” of barcelona.

thursday, july 9th: so, i come all the way to spain to escape the rain and what do i get? a wet birthday! the one day of the whole 6 weeks when it truly pours has to be today. however, it was a good day. i had been very verbal about my impending birthday and got lots of congratulations. javier, who leads the mission team, kindly recommended and reserved a table at a seafood restaurant he knew called “la mariscada.” the way it works: there is a display of the fresh catch of the day on ice, and you point and say how much you want of each critter, from squid and octopus to oysters to various fish.
they weigh it and put it in a bucket (carried here by my fellow student matt):
and you bring it (carefully!) downstairs to the chef, who cooks it.

and the waiters bring you out a fabulous meal!

and then my dear friends surprised me with a cake.

friday, july 10th: i had the surprising pleasure of seeing my estonian friend heldin in barcelona, where she was visiting with her friend. we all went out for a sangria and tapas in gracia
saturday, july 11th: i was going to go to the pedrera, the gaudi building which was most recommended to me, and on the way passed a fabulous bakery called mauri specializing in chocolate and sponge hedgehogs:

but on arriving at the pedrera the queue was so long that i decided to ditch it and go to the waterfront. it was a perfect day to do so because, being overcast, the beach was fairly vacant. i meandered over the port, had a ben & jerry’s ice cream at port vell and made my way to barceloneta. at a waterfront restaurant i had calamaris in squid ink, then went to make a reservation for the following weekend at a restaurant called “barceloneta,” right on the water. i then followed the beach, admiring the beach art and sat on the pier texting ally and photographing frank gehry’s giant fish...


i then wandered into the barrio gotico (gothic quarter) and, turning a corner, heard a great cheer go up. i had arrived at the beautiful santa maria del mar cathedral just in time to see a bride enter and walk down the aisle. there were plenty of tourists watching her, but i guess that’s the price you pay to get married at the city’s most fashionable venue. i sat and listened briefly to the bible verses being read out in catalan (i think i could recognize 1 corinthians 13 in just about any language by now) and missed my honey very much!
wandering some more i found this lovely courtyard which i was determined to visit again:
tuesday, july 14th: one building i had been desperate to see the inside of was the palau de la musica catalana, the palace of catalan music, designed by lluis domenech i montaner, the great architect and professor of architecture, beloved of barcelona. after discovering i could get a concert ticket for only €3 more than a tour ticket i decided to experience the place as it was designed to be experienced. so i bought a ticket for july 31st, appropriately while on my way to a tour of modernist barcelona. i took many pictures and saw ever so much beauty! for example, the paving stones of passeig de gracia were designed by gaudí and are meant to represent the sea and its creatures, so that you feel you are walking on water as you betraipse it:
wednesday, july 15th: i had a lovely coffee with javier at, you guessed it, starbucks. we shared all about both our lives and exchanged thoughts and advice. thereafter i went home to skype with ally and eagerly await his arrival the next day...of which more hereafter...

barcelona, week 1

as i write, school has started again (sigh) and i have been back for a few weeks, and looking at ben’s constantly updated blog i felt convicted to at last start informing the world of what went on in barcelona. i shall do it in bits so that i actually get something posted...

on june 28^th i parted company with my honey at edinburgh airport and, after an uneventful journey, arrived in barcelona for a 6 week intensive spanish course. my goals:

· to complete the required hours of a language course and family homestay so that the general teaching council of scotland would grant me a double amount of “residency time” (the time they require you to live in a country before they let you teach its language). thus they should accredit me 12 weeks for this sojourn.

· to encourage and support the little mission team of my church in barcelona

· to do some research on gaudí and the modernisme architectural movement for a paper for my spanish diploma

· to soak up enough warmth and sun to last me until next summer

the school had set up a host “family,” which consisted of one very friendly and chatty widow named ana, whose two sons are grown and have moved away but visit frequently. she is not alone, though – her big dog darcoff is her dear very spoilt child, who barks enviously and ear-piercingly whenever ana has a more than 15 second conversation with her guests. there was another girl staying for just 2 weeks, taking spanish at another school: katy, from germany. we only occasionally slipped into german! ana has a lovely terrace just outside my bedroom window where we had all our meals..

i found this lovely park nearby to pray in, parc turo:

monday, june 29^th: to my great encouragement i was placed in the most advanced spanish class at the don quijote language school. my class consisted of mainly chinese girls, so i felt like i was back in california. that evening i went to the university zone to meet up with the local disciples and go out sharing our faith. it was challenging to do so after being rather out of practice, and yet the language tied my tongue more than that. it would take me one or two more evenings to feel fairly comfortable about how to talk about God in spanish. but it was a relief meeting up with my spiritual brothers and sisters and immediately having friends and like-minded people in my midst.

tuesday, june 30^th: after class i joined a tour to freixenet winery. freixenet is the world’s biggest producer of cava, the spanish answer to champagne. though i’m not a huge bubbly fan, i love the process. they had funny bottle-shaped cars out front...

this tour was interesting because after showing us the romantic original way of making cava, and the different grapes and adding the yeast etc, they showed us the modern, very un-romantic machinery:
but i found a nice wee bottle of wine to take home, so i was satisfied:

wednesday, july 1st: after class i visited the mighty corte ingles, the massive department store which dominates spain. i indulged in a couple of bright and colourful gifts by a spanish designer named agatha ruiz de la prada. later i discovered that el corte ingles – meaning “the english cut” – was originally a tailor shop, and the entrepreneurial tailor who at first specialized in this particular cut of men’s suits managed to branch out into, well, everything known to man!

friday, july 5th: this afternoon i took the opportunity to wander the famous passeig de gracia and look at the beautiful modernist architecture. i took lots of pictures and went into the heavily scaffold-covered casa amatller. this delightful house was built by the third generation of successful chocolatiers, importing their cocoa beans from spain’s colonies and producing chocolate right in barcelona. what i love about modernist (modernisme) architecture is the attention to detail. a parallel movement to arts & crafts, jugendstil and art deco, they believed that things should be both practical and beautiful, neither aspect being sacrificed. modernisme is also very colourful, which i love!