Camp: Vilafranca

This photo was taken from the motorway, with me sitting on the railings of the slip-road, taking a pause from playing the guitar with Anna and Sam in their reflective jackets as we waited for a pick up van.

Anna had collected us from Barcelona to take us to the mountains, the petrol was running low and we had been on the look out for petrol stations, with no luck. Sam prayed that God would help is out, it it was His will and as we said 'Amen', the car started to slow down.

Did God want us to break down? 

Was it worth even praying?

I believe it was worth praying, and I also believe there is a reason for everything. Whether it was because there was an accident we missed or because we had to talk to the friends we made in a petrol station further on I don't know, but I believe God replied in assuring that we stopped on a part of the motorway with a sliproad and providing us with a beautiful sunset to enjoy while waiting for the insurance company.

Today, setting up for camp. It's hot, but there's a bit of refreshing wind and nice views! We've put signs up, hung up a timetable, set up the dining room, assigned bedrooms among other things. After the siesta we'll get on with the last few things to set up this evening and then all that's left it waiting for the children to arrive tomorrow! 

Countdown

Yesterday I finally got round to booking my flights, and in three weeks I will be home. The flat contract ends at the end of this month, so I've packed almost everything up into bags and am preparing myself for the next few weeks out of the city. On Saturday I leave the flat for the mountains where Sam and I will be monitores (kid's workers) at a summer camp southwest of Barcelona. The following week we'll head to a small village on Catalonia's border with Aragon to relax and to be with all his family.

It's a strange feeling packing up everything after spending a long time in a place. I feel like Barcelona's become my home, and there's so much I'm going to miss: the weekly, or maybe even daily, debates and speculations about the independence of this small country/region* that has hosted me for my year abroad, cycling everywhere, the beaches, the people, my church, uni, teaching english, the languages.. The man in the fruitshop who now lets me cycle into his shop and park my bike among the fruit before choosing what I want that day, and the lady in the swimming pool who gets annoyed with me because I never have change for the lockers.

*delete according to political views

I'm going to miss the Catalans too. This morning I cancelled my bank account with La Caixa (pronounced /la casha/). Talking in Spanish on the bus yesterday with Sam, I mentioned the name of the catalan bank and what I was going to have to do. The man in front of us turned around, grinned and asked Sam where I was from. He congratulated me on my knowledge of Catalan (i.e. that I could correctly pronounce the name of my bank) before turning back round. Without realising, Sam and I switched language and continued our conversation in Catalan. Five minutes later the man turned round again, slightly embarrassed and says to Sam: 'oh.. she actually does speak Catalan'.

Swimming

Today was my last day at my swimming pool. This month has been slightly strange compared to normal because of the World Swimming Championships that are currently taking place here in Barcelona. My swimming pool's one of the official training pools for the event which means the opening times have changed to allow the athletes to practice. So over the last few weeks half of the pool has been taken up with world class synchronised swimmers practising before heading out to the competitions which has made the odd break between lengths a lot more fun than usual. On Monday I swam with the belarus team, then watched a soloist syncrho swimmer, met some of the Italian team in the changing rooms and met a volunteer of the Japanese team smoking outside as I left.

The posters and leaflets all around town made me look up the event online and I found some tickets for the individual synchronised swimming finals. The events are taking place in various points of the city.. we went to Palau Sant Jordi, which is in the Olimpic Park on Montjuic which was built for the olympic games in 1992. I'd been to the olimpic park before on walks and was used to a quiet, empty space with good views towards the airport... This was different though. On the outside escalators that take you up the mountain there was already an atmosphere building up; at the top stalls selling food, lots of people, children playing football, booths with shops and things to do, restaurants, a small bridge over the water display.. and lots of advertising for the event!

The swimmers were amazing!! The Catalan girl, who of course had the most applause during the event, came 3rd and after all 11 swimmers we got to see the medal ceremony. The medals were presented by a lady who I guess was famous. Unfortunately we didn't hear her name because the boo-ing and whistling began before the loudspeakers could tell us... I therefore guess she was something to do with Spanish politics.

Lloret de Mar

(For Granny - an update of what I've been up to in Spain :))

It's summer so naturally the weather here in Spain is unbearably hot (quite like England, I imagine).

In order to gain temporary relief from the heat, yesterday Sam and I headed up north to the Costa Brava, to Lloret de Mar in search of refreshment.

We found the beach quickly after arrival and you could tell it was popular with tourists because in shops the people talked to us in English. There were boats to hire, deck chairs and umbrellas and lots of languages on the beach. We went swimming to cool off after just under 2 hours of public transport to get there, and then went up around the cliffs to have a look at the castle and the coves further around.

The colour of the water was beautiful and there were lots of places you could go swimming. In the next cove around from the main beach there was a massive rock in the water and some teenagers had swum out to it, climbed up and were daring each other to jump, waiting to see who'd be brave and go first. Away from the main beach it was less touristy and you could hear the birds making a racket in the trees, and every now and then see the tourist boats sail past as they do a quick tour of the coast.

Having eaten lunch on a cliff looking over a cove, we spent the afternoon in the town and looking in some of the shops and cooling ourselves down with some ice cream before heading back down the coast to the city..

Montseny: Hiking

Last Saturday Sam's parents took us to Montseny, a nature reserve/small set of mountains about 60 kilometres from Barcelona. Driving around the windy roads as we made our way further and further up, we met cyclists going up and down, and got to enjoy the beautiful views of the surrounding towns and countryside. When we arrived in the little town of Santa Fe de Montseny it was amazing seeing the difference in temperature and climate on the mountain compared to the big cities, and all the greenery which reminded me of home!

After lunch we went for a walk. Every now and then there was a bang of thunder or a flash of lightning in the sky, but as there was no rain we continued our hiking around the woods and around the lake... There were lots of mosquitos and cockroaches which we had fun avoiding, and the shade from the trees seemed almost heavenly after weeks of summer, sun and no air conditioning in Barcelona.

We got back to the car and went for a coffee on the outside terrace of a small restaurant and about half an hour later the skies opened and we were forced to enter the bar to take cover as we watched the hail fill up the car park and bounce of the road. 

Terrace: Music

Lovely relaxing afternoon on Eli's terrace playing guitar, accordion, recorder and ukelele in the sun.

Basquing around Bilbao

8.30 in Barcelona and by mid-afternoon we were whizzing through the northern Spanish countryside towards Bilbao. We were going to stay with Elena, a friend of a friend and to be tourists in the Basque country. Elena was waiting for us as we got off the fast speed train as she took us back to her apartment to leave our stuff there before going exploring!!

The first thing we did was to go to the Guggenheim museum, which was interesting. The puppy with made of flowers outside and the architecture of the building were probably my favourite parts of the museum. Among my least favourite exhibits was the collection of paintings which were famous paintings painted inside a museum gallery with naked women standing looking at them. Strange art.

We had lots of time to explore Bilbao, walking along the river and in the old town. We met up with some of Sam's friends for lunch one day which was really lovely too!

San Sebastian

Today we spent the day in San Sebastian. We got up early and after an hour on the coach from San Mamés bus station in Bilbao we arrived in San Sebastian and found a coffee shop with a terrace looking up to a beautiful church/cathedral whose architecture reminded me of oxford. 

An hour later we were at the beach where got offered free ice cream on the promenade by a small ice cream stand which was doing a promotion. I went for a swim and then, after the beach we headed out to the other side of the bay: to the paine del viento, some iron statues/sculptures which are attached to the rocks and are famous, apparently. 

We had lunch with views over the beaches and the port, and then we went for a walk. There were small boat trips across to an island so we decided to get on a boat and go! After the boat we went and had some traditional basque pintxos (small tapas/plates of food) in a couple of bars and looked around the old part of the city. One man made me my own veggie pintxo for 2€!