Switching Gears (or better, switching metro lines)

It's only been four days since my last post, but my time's been so full of escapades that it seems like weeks have gone by. I'll pick up from Saturday evening at Yellow Nest Hostel. Though I'd planned on going out with my city-exploring amigos, we disbanded and lost communication. I decided to go on the hostel's pub crawl instead, which was a visit to two posh and over-priced clubs on the beach.

It was very entertaining, of course. For just 10 euro, we had mojitos at the hostel and entrance to both of the clubs. All ~20 of us headed out together on the metro at about 12:30 a.m. This was one of those times when I got to use one of my favorite expressions: this is like herding cats. Confused first-time travelers and semi-inebriated foreigners=a big clustercuss when trying to enter the metro (aka underground rail system).

The clubs, Catwalk and Shôko, were really crowded and very expensive. It took paying 10 euros for a pineapple and vodka and getting squished on the dance floor for me to realize that the open beach was a much better place for me. I lounged in the sand with friends from the hostel (Rowen, Kieran, and Julia) and bought 1 euro cans of beer from the stealthy beach vendors. We took the metro back at 5:00 a.m. (it runs 24 hrs on Saturdays) and I caught up on rest at the hostel the next day.

crowded Shoko (I didn't take this photo!)

On Sunday afternoon, my new Brit friend Rowen and I went to see Barcelona's Gothic cathedral. It's near Las Ramblas, the most tourist-infested area of the city. Just outside the cathedral was a really neat flea market (read: overpriced tourist trap), so we explored that for a bit and Rowen got a good deal on a vintage leather watch.

One of the beautiful yet costly treasures at the cathedral market. This figure was priced at 125 euros!

We wandered to las Ramblas, the wide and tree-lined avenue that hosts many of the street performers, vendors, and shops that visitors like to see in Barcelona. Since it was so crowded, Rowen and I quickly found our way onto side-streets and searched for a cafe that she and Kieran had visited earlier in the week. After visiting a couple cute shops along our fruitless search for the cafe, we settled on a different one and stopped for cafe con leche.

I'm SO GRATEFUL that I ran into this place...fresh-made juice and smoothies right next to the cathedral.

That night at the hostel, Rowen and I watched a movie in Yellow Nest's little theater down by the common room. There's a hard disk with hundreds of movies in several languages, bean bags, and a big screen. We watched "Vicki Christina Barcelona." It was a PERFECT choice. Chick-flick about two best friends who stay in Barcelona for the summer and the messes they get into. We were sitting there saying, "We were there today!" "Oh, I haven't been there yet!" and "OH MY GOSH I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE IN BARCELONA!"

I also spent some time Sunday evening on the hostel's rooftop. Rowen did some journaling while I did yoga.

I checked out of the hostel the next morning and made my way to my host mom's apartment. It took me longer than I had expected by metro, and once I got to the neighborhood it was a very confusing hour-long walk. Let's just say that I really need to get some supportive hiking shoes while toting my giant backpack instead of wearing Birkenstocks.

Trying to imagine I'm in the forest as I navigate through this maze of skyscapers.

My host mom, Enriqueta, is a widow in her sixties and lives alone in a 3 bedroom apartment (aka "piso") in a very nice neighborhood. The building is right next to a giant open-air shopping mall with great stores that I'm looking forward to exploring. Enriqueta is so warm, friendly, and motherly! She has been washing my laundry every day, has tried to buy healthy foods like fruit and yogurt at the grocery store for me, and always calls me "guapa" or "guapísima" when I see her. She's not in very good health, unfortunately. She used to be a nurse, but about a year ago she had a bad fall and has been getting more and more sick. I'm trying to be as good a guest as possible and keep her home peaceful for her. I brought her a bar of Askinosie chocolate (made in Springfield) and a magnet from the airport that's a map of Missouri. She told me today that she ate the whole bar at once!

There's another student from my program living here at the piso also. His name is Jordan and he's a sophomore at a university out in California. We've gotten along really great so far and have decided that we're "hermanos" while we're here (brother and sister).

I bought a one-month unlimited pass for the metro. It also works on all buses and trams in the city.

Just a while after I finally found the piso, Jordan and I made our way to the orientation for our program, which is called Barcelona SAE (Study Abroad Experience). We met the other interns (about 25 Americans all doing different internships) and the program coordinators. Rich is the director of the program--a Chicago native who's lived in Barcelona for about 10 years. After going through the internship guidelines and getting to know each other a bit, we all went to the roof for refreshments. After a while they took us on a walking tour of the city and showed us places to buy phones, necessities, etc. By the time we finished the tour, I bought my cell phone, and I got home, it was already after 10:00 p.m. Enriqueta had made us meatballs and rice for dinner :) A new combination for me, but it was good (maybe because I was ravenous from a long day).

Now, to Tuesday! The first day of my internship. In the morning I met with Elena, one of the SAE coordinators, and the other few girls with my organization outside the Plaza de Sants metro stop. We walked together to the office where EduRed has its headquarters. EduRed is a small organization that aims to provide free education to people who don't normally have access to it. Since this is a non-profit organization, their office is held in the director's sculpture studio. Surrounded by sculpting tools and art supplies, we had a meeting about how the program works.

A new friend, Jamie, at our program's welcome lunch on Tuesday after the morning meeting. Jamie and I shared a goat cheese salad and a cucumber and apple gazpacho.

While some of the other girls will have different assignments, I'll be working with one other girl as an English teacher in a suburb of Barcelona called Terrassa. The girl I'm working with is Chelsea, a lacrosse player from Vanderbilt who's a few years younger than me. She's very sweet and also speaks Spanish! EduRed has teamed up with Programas de Apoyo al Peru-PAYPE (Programs of Support for Peru) to create a short course in English for Latin Americans that live in Terrassa. The course only exists because Chelsea and I are here, and they're hoping that SAE will provide them with more interns in the fall so they can continue providing English classes.

Danielle, Chelsea, and Irma at the EduRed office/sculptor's studio getting materials ready for class later that afternoon.

We'll be teaching Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons and evenings and meeting up on Thursdays to talk about the next week's lessons. Irma is a linguist that works with EduRed, and she writes all our lesson plans for us. It's so nice to have that! I can add whatever I want to them and modify them as I see fit. For the first day of classes, we gave a test to determine the students' proficiency level and they learned basic introductions. I'll write more about my students and teaching experiences later on since this post is already very long!

This is where I'll be teaching all month. Here is Eduardo (son of the PAYPE director), a woman from EduRed, Chelsea, and me.

When I got home last night (around 9:00 p.m., which is a normal end to the work day here in Spain), I had a delicious salad made by Enriqueta and then got ready to meet up with some new friends. Elena, the coordinator that helped me with my internship earlier in the day, invited me to meet her and some of her friends for drinks. It was great! I got to meet several Spaniards and practice my "castellano" (Castillian Spanish) all evening.

When Elena left, I ended up finding some of the American girls from my program. We went to another place with one of Elena's friends, Ruben, and had a few drinks. Since the metro closes at 12:00 a.m. during the week and I didn’t want to pay for a taxi, I had to go search for the night bus that takes me home. I found the bus with Danielle, another one of the interns, after almost an hour of searching and finally made it home so I could collapse into my little bed.

I’ve been very busy, but this is the way I love it! I’m off to teach day two of classes. Peace and wellness to you all!