Only two full days left in Barcelona. My how the time does fly. I am taking a train to Pamplona on Sunday morning, staying for one night, and then catching a bus to Lakabe the next day. Apparently it is snowing over there in Basque country and I am a little apprehensive about heading out with my sneakers and rain coat, but I guess I´ll just figure it out as I go. Already I am digging through my backpack and tossing out things that I´m not sure why I brought in the first place. Before I left, Travis tried to tell me that I should pack really, really light. I only sort of listened to him and this is my most recently learned lesson: always listen to Travis. (Babe, I hope you´re reading this because I am never going to say it out loud.)
Anyways, so Lakabe is a town that a Spanish friend recommended to me, but all I really know is that it is some sort of commune type deal, one of those "live off the land and eat vegetarian meals together in a big community kitchen" places. A while back I emailed a woman named Mabel (in broken Spanish) about visiting, and she told me to come February 15 through the 25 and bring my sleeping bag, so that´s what I´m doing. At the very least it will be an adventure.
Currently I am sleeping on a couch in a flat belonging to some friends of friends. There´s no hot water and they all speak only a little English, but they are very kind and I am happy to be here. Everynight we eat dinner together and I get a long Spanish lesson. Two of the guys are in a punk band and tomorrow I am going to their show in a near by ocupada, and then on Saturday we are going to Sitges (small town a quick train ride away) for Carnival. Apparently Carnival in Spain is sort of a mix of Mardi Gras and Halloween; basically every one dresses up in costumes and gets very drunk and there´s some sort of parade. Should be a rich cultural experience.
Tomorrow is also my last day of Spanish classes. I have been studying a lot on my own, trying to teach myself past perfect and imperfect. What is hardest for me is listening to others speak. Reading and writing is fairly easy and even speaking I can manage but I can never understand what others are saying to me. And from what I hear, in the south the accents are unbelievably thick so I had better figure it out now while I can.
Okay my fingers are way too cold to type anymore, today was absolutely frigid. I´m going to go boil some water for a bath. Hasta el proximo blog.
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Hey, not that I am being competitive but I was the one who suggested that you bring sunglasses....and you said no...and we know how that turned out. Always listen to your mother? haha!
ReplyDeleteOn another note, it always amazes me how some European young people live. Maybe I am just checked out but I am trying to imagine young people living here in a nice little place that happens to have no hot water. I think Europeans in general are more flexible. Karsten in Copenhagen lived in some places that sound like where you are. On your part, I think it is a good quality to value kind people and not worry too much about hot water.
Re: Spanish, it will be really interesting to hear what you learn when you are an au pair- particularly from the kids. Love, Mom