France~ Languedoc or Catalunya Nord

The bay at Portbou. There was a beautiful little walk along the rocky seaside here. It made for a nice mid-day stop on the way to Colliure and then Perpignan.





Colliuore was trés picturesque. The old part of town was alleys and walkways of a hilly and colorful seaside town. I took more than twenty photos of just colored houses. The church boasted a lighthouse tower and the chateau or castle, slightly in ruins, had been built-up over centuries of French-Spanish disputes. Adri eagerly read me all of the history of the disputes and complementary new additions to the castle on the tour.




One of the small mountain towns, not yet arriving to Prádes.

A few photos from a mid-October weekend excursion to southern France. We saw Portbou unprecedently, the Spanish border town, because the trains in France were shut down due to a general strike protesting the change of retirement age. We had planned to see several different towns the next day as well and only made it to two. But the Pyrenees are lovely, good wine, French people, brioche (my favorite French sweet pastry aside from "Pan au chocolate"), and small towns with medieval architecture in a mountain backdrop. I went with my flatmate, Adrià, who makes an entertaining traveling partner.

October~

My first week in the school was darling. I regularly see pupils around town and they shout, "Cari, hello!", "Hello!". When I ask, "How are you?", they usually turn towards each other and say, "Que me ha dit?" or "What did she say?" In class I have them repeat me and ask them to use full sentences in English when answering me, but they usually don't have the habit to use full sentences in their native languages much less in English. Communicating to them to use a full sentence, or "complete phrase" which sound more similar to "phrase completo", is a hassle depending on their level of English. I am required to speak only English with the students and most think I only speak English, with a minimal level of French. I make sure they write down vocabulary, repeat what I am saying and answer me with complete sentences, but sometimes they just don't understand and start repeating my full question. It can turn out quite comical.
I went to Barcelona to apply for my residence card, the process of which I had started in the Basque Country this last spring. I went to one place and was sent to another in a completely different neighborhood from the first and there I was told I would need to make an appointment. The security guard at the front was no gentleman, and It turned out frustrating. Currently, I believe I am waiting for a response from the government delegation regarding where I need to go and where exactly my foreigner number "trámite" lies in the ether. The earliest I could make an appointment was for November 5th and I am hoping it will not be too late, or that I get a response via email before too long and can return somewhere without an appointment. I tried to ask the security guard about whether or not I was in the right place and he just sent me away telling me I needed an appointment and he couldn't help me. I spent some more of the day seeing Barcelona, but with my slowly-healing ankle wasn't much cut out for playing tourist. I purchased an exercise practice notebook for my Catalan class and the funniest bookstore attendant asked me for a face tissue. It didn't appear that he was in special need of any but said he had given his to a co-worker. I left him with my half empty mint-scented package. He was very appreciative.

A picture from Plaça de Catalunya

I spent a lovely day out in the countryside with Ciona and "els nens" or the children. We went looking for mushrooms in the forest. This year is a great mushroom year because it has been so wet. He found lots of mushrooms, but Balbino, the father picked through them and only half of our goods were worthwhile to eat. I ate fabulously while there, homemade wine from their own grapes, their lamb cooked over an open fire of hot coals, ali-oli made from scratch, fresh cow's milk from the neighbors and I came back to Malgrat with a handfull of fresh-picked herbs for cooking and teas. They had a bay-leaf tree and an asundry of other things in their garden, including a fig-tree! Random factoid: corn in Spain is left to dry on the stalks and then picked. Els nens, Cristina and Joan, are really darling and asked me to stay for the whole long weekend. Spain is fabulous regarding vacations and has a long "bridge" weekend. Tuesday is the celebration of a virgin and so Monday for the schools was given off too.

Escole & hopsitalet

My Catalan family here is hilarious. Kristina is hyperactive at home, but one wouldn't recognize her at school. She was so well-behaved and timid in class, even though I had said hello. Joan is calm for a 9 year-old boy and similar in disposition to his older cousin Andreu, but the oldest cousin, Adriá, is supposedly more like Kristina. Kristina said yesterday that I'm like part of the family and we have a mutual trust. It was quite sweet and made my day. Being part of the family does mean that she is comfortable to be her crazy self around me.
So I rolled my ankle two blocks or so from the house on my first attempt of a run here in Malgrat. I didn't even make it to the beach and came limping back to the house. Adriá, my flatmate, is a physical therapist so had looked at it a few times for me, but after it did not improve despite icing, rest and ibuprofen, he said to go to the hospital for an X-ray. So I called my insurance company about places to go and they said they would call me with a place where I could go. A few hours later someone called me and said a taxi would be on it's way to take me to the Creu Groc, or Yellow Cross instead of Red. I was somewhat stunned and asked if I would be paying and they said I wouldn't have to pay for anything. So Paquita, the mother of the house, went with me and told me that it was quite quick. They poked my ankle, took an X-ray, and then concluded it was just a ligament and wrapped me up tight. After 5 days I will have to return to the hospital to have my "bandage" or temporary cast taken off. I can't get it wet, so will have to shower with a bag on my foot. I'm about to go experiment with that before heading to work for the day, but last night was just bizarre. It was such a change in attention from the temporary travel insurance I had in Euskadi to front door taxi service. Then we were laughing about it and some other funny word things in the kitchen and I accidentally closed us in, because the kitchen door locks from the outside. Una pasada!
I am just observing at the school and am a little anxious to start with the little ones next week, as the reigns are quite loose and there isn't really any certain material I have to use. The classes are all over 20 students and full of excited rambunctious children as well as quiet timid ones, but who all love to say "Hello" to me when they see me, with a big wave.

Malgrat de Mar

Here are a few more pictures from Malgrat and the darling students of mine. They are quite well behaved with me but their older cousin said they are with me. Also they will speak Spanish or "Castillian" with me only when there is no one else around. It is their second language.
I will be living in the bottom floor apartment of the family house that I arrived to the first night. The family has been very welcoming and there's a good mix of independence and community. It's great when prayers are answered.

Benvingut a Catalunya, Passeu passeu, casa meva és casa vostra

Welcome to Catalunya! Come in, come in, My home is your home!
My tutor and the school director picked me up from the airport, after a few hour delay, first from the French air strike, pffh, and next from my luggage taking forever to come out. I waited a half an hour for my bag and then another full HOUR for my guitar because it had to come out of the "special baggage" terminal. I even had already gone to the lost luggage services and they just hadn't brought it up. Ay... Thankfully that was the only hiccup in the journey and I arrived and was chauffeured to a place I believe I will come to adore throughout the year, Malgrat de Mar. It may turn out rainy and humid, but it is a small "grandecillo" seaside town that booms on tourism during the summers. I will be an auxiliar in one of several primary schools that are here, and it only has just over 100 students, ages 6 to 12 and one class for each grade.
My first day, Paquita, a darling mother who lives above where I am staying and where may be "home" for the year, took me on a tour of Malgrat, really a 20 minute walk in a five block radius through downtown. I went to the townhall, the phone store and the bank. A tactile elderly gentleman changed my watch battery for about 5 USD and even put it on my wrist for me. I didn't fully understand his question because he was speaking in Catalan and grumbled Spanish. I don't encounter such friendly elderly folks in the USA.
Everything is in Catalan; the children who live upstairs, who are students at my school, shy away from English, but speak Catalan and not even Spanish in my presence; they are quite darling and I look forward to seeing the rest of the school on Monday. I will learn Catalan this year! The posters and everything on the street is in Catalan. At the supermarket, all of the price tags are in Catalan but because I went to a chain that is in all of Spain, the products are the same I know of from previous years and with the same mix of labels in Spanish and sometimes Portuguese or another latin language. It is good to read the labels and the price tags for a vocabulary lesson.
"Tinc calor" means I am hot and I am not too hot here but very comfortable just basking in the sun so far.

Yesterday afternoon I met the daughter of the director of the school, both named Blanca and went with Blanca, the daughter, to Barcelona to meet some of her friends. It was a festival of Barcelona and there were loads of booths of NGOs and volunteer organizations so I spoke to the RedCross as a backup for volunteering at the Consulate in Barcelona.
In Barcelona there are always street performers along the Ramblas, or I guess you could say place that people ramble or stroll. The first two photos are from Barcelona and the last three are Malgrat, the church, a street view (can you see the sea in the background?) and the sea. :)

Summer and home 2010

I had a lovely summer in Coeur d' Alene and the surroundings areas of my hometown in Idaho. It is a lovely place to call home. Here are a few pics from home, my nephew being the first of them. My darling friend Laura did pose for me outside of the Moscow Co-Op, one of my favorite places from my college town because it's so comfy and healthy. My employer Atsuko and the darling book-keeper Warren, from Candy O'Briens. The panorama is my home north of Coeur d' Alene. Many exciting things, including my sister expecting and my nephew learning to walk! The few months passed so quickly as I spent the summer working and playing and prepping for the next big adventure, which became Catalunya...
Although home and everyone there I do miss you already!

lovely May weather.

Jaunt by the flysch...


Zumaia beach


The saint of Zumaia, appearing very saintly.


Walking through the old part of town.


The flysch and Extitxu enlightening me about something regarding the geological importance, the rock samples taken out of the holes and other fun facts.

We had a full last weekend with gorgeous weather, I started Friday at the beach in Deba, a short train ride away from Eibar, a Saturday morning hike through Arantxazu hovering over Oñati, a bit of fiestas in Bergara and a relaxing Sunday in Zumaia, a beach town, with a jaunt near the "flysch". This is a site that mainly geologists are interested in, according to Ibon, Estitxu's man. Estitxu told me that they do not normally have such lovely weather in May and this was the first time she could remember swimming in the ocean in May. The pics here are thanks to Estitxu and Ibon as well because they lent me their camera! I finally do have a camera with a memory card that works! Thanks to my Dad and to the other American Paul. Thanks a bunch to all of my colleagues for hosting all the exciting excursions and for such a great year!