Frustracion

I've been very frustrated lately; but the annoying part of it was when I realized I'm more frustrated with myself than anything. Here I am, with my family in Barcelona for the summer, and all I can think is 'why can't I loosen up and enjoy it?'. At work I'm always trying desperately not to screw something up, injure myself or surrounding persons, or say/do something that would give them the impression that I'm just a stupid American. Well....hello mcfly, the more I try to avoid those things it seems the more frequently they occur (minus the injuring part, thank God). Then I come home and feel guilty if I'm not working on my Spanish while I'm watching the world cup and trying to relax. I'll admit that playing video games with Caleb helps the tension a bit, let out some aggressive energy shooting wookies on Naboo (those guys are tough to kill, not gonna lie). I don't mean to sound like I'm not having the time of my life, because I am; I hope I never forget what I've learned about life just from living here a short time. I just haven't quite mastered the whole 'tranquillo' bit yet. The mere fact that you, I should say I, feel the need to go to either Starbucks or McDonalds about once a week to feel semi-comfortable is slightly disturbing. Not two of the best places I know, but being able to order and know for sure what you are going to get is a wonderful feeling. You know you are struggling when you start noticing the little things more than usual; like the fact that we were riding the tram to the mall yesterday, and a school was going on a field trip....on the tram with us. Does anyone else find it odd for a large group of kids to ride public transportation instead of in big vans or buses? It sounds silly I know, but I sat there thinking, I wonder if they do this in big cities in the states? Which is another issue for me: is it that I'm not use to living in Spain, or just that I'm not used to living in a big city? Probably a combination of both, I don't know. I'm lucky that I get to walk through the city park on my way to work, its nice to be around grass and trees at least for 10 minutes everyday. I guess the real question is why am I frustrated with myself? These are natural feelings for an outsider to have in a new place; especially if they happen to not speak the language. What do I do about it? Just suck it up and learn to laugh at myself for being a stupid American. Its better than being a smart....person from some other country right? Sure it is......

I saw this picture on a Barcelona website and thought it was funny. Luckily (fingers crossed) I've been ok so far concerning stolen/or lost for that matter items. The good thing about not driving for 3 months is I can't lock my keys in the car, maybe it'll break my habit.

Savvy?

The latest thing that I'm trying to get Jonas to say/sing is "yo ho yo ho". The goal is to have it down by August 11th, which is when pirates comes out here. Right now it comes out more as a long 'yoooooooo', but hey you gotta start somewhere right?

Via Laietana

This is the street that my hotel is on, as you can see it stays pretty busy the majority of the time which is both invigorating and exhausting. Now that the 'honeymoon stage' is over with, I've decided to write out some of the experiences and questions I've been faced with on a daily basis:
1. Its a requirement to sing 'Bechamel (Besame) Mucho' whenever making Bechamel.
2. If you want Mexican food that isn't spicy, come to Spain and eat it.
3. Whats with all the birds? ick.
4. Why is it that accomplishing simple everyday tasks require double the usual effort?
5. Why do tourists have to be so....touristy?
6. Everytime we go to the market with Jonas I can see excerpts of Mr. Mom in the back of my mind (Erv...clean up on aisle 4)
7. Why do I have to mentally force myself to write the day before the month on product at work? (21/6 vs 6/21)
8. FYI: if you happen to see DaVinci Code with Spanish subtitles, it helps to understand French.
9. Should I be worried that me and Jonas have the same favorite tv show in the mornings? (but the theme song is so catchy ;)
10. I can appreciate the principle of keeping food rustic and traditional....however....if I eat one more bite of Bacalao (Cod) that is full of bones, I might just go psycho on it.
11. If Spanglish is Eng/Spa, then what would you call English.Spanish.French with a side of Italian?
12. Note to self: coffee comes after dessert, not with it.
13. Is it absolutely necessary to add canned tuna to every salad? I mean really.
14. Public transportation, hmm. Think I'll just walk.
15. Como se dice....you knew I didn't speak Spanish when you hired me.
16. Why do Spaniards have to be so....Spanish?
17. Did you really just make a slushy out of gin and tonic, add a canel of lemon gelado on top, AND you are all drinking it on the line DURING service?
18. Cataluyna is not Spain.
19. Yea...converse are in.
20. If someone hands you an open bag and says "backpack" it means they want you to cryo-vac it shut. (which is fun in a way, not gonna lie)

Civil Servant in Training

It seems that its more fun to play with the trash on the beach, than to actually get in the water.
Its more fun to play

Sunday at the Port

This was from last week. Caleb and Jonas rode the bike, I met up with them on my break from work. Every Sunday they set up booths with antiques and jewelry stuff, was really neat. This mall set on the water which means they can stay open on Sundays when other businesses can't. You can't go to the port and not get ice cream right?

No No is the new Ish

Jonas' favorite saying has been 'ish'. Everything is ish, as a statement, in the form of a question, anyway possible he says it. But now....he's started saying 'no no' and shaking his finger.
You'd think he hears that alot or something. Hmm....

Copa Mundial

These are some pics of the Spanish team from the world cup. My favorites: Puyol, Ramos, Raul, and Torres. Its been fun to listen to everybody at work, between the Argentinian lady, the Italian guy, all the native Spaniards, and the American (that would be me;) it gets pretty intense.

Chef Ramon Freixa

So....work is turning out to be better than I'd ever hoped for. I'm learning alot, everyone is really cool and nice, I get to eat REAL Spanish food and hang out with them. I thought I'd just put a website that has a bio on the Chef if anyone was interested. I don't think its very recently written, but its kind of neat. This is a pic off their website also. I'm pretty stoked, I passed off on 2 dishes that I can make from start to finish without having to get them checked before they go to the dining room. Since I've only been there 4 days, and have communication issues, I was pretty proud of myself. I'm off today and tomorrow so we are going to see a movie tonight. My birthday was good, I worked, but on my break (siesta from 4-8) we hung out with Eva and Amanda at Starbucks. It was nice. Anyway, its going great so far, hopefully it stays that way. But at least the scary first few days are over with. They have a cryo-vac machine, so whenever we aren't busy I get to go play with it. I try to act like its not fun....but I think they see through it. They were surprised that I'd never used one before, but at work in the states we just get all of our meat already cut and packaged pretty much so don't need one. Ok, I'll stop rambling now.

http://www.granhotelguadalpin.com/en/restauracion/freixa.cfm

Tarragona or Tarragon, that is the question

For my 25th birthday and to do something fun before I started working, me and Linds went on a day trip down the coast to a town called Tarragona. It was so nice, we went and just took it easy, trying to relax which we both needed. Ate tapas, sardines a la plancha (grilled) , people watched, drank coffee. Plus, they had some Roman ruins that were pretty amazing. An ampitheater (if you've seen gladiator this needs no explanation) basically on the coast, a roman circus (where they held chariot races, ben hur anyone?), and some more random stuff. They say that at one point Caesar lived there, who knows; and then Napolean destroyed alot of it when he came through.

The Cathedral

Just a few pretty pics of the streets, very windy and....old.

Lazy Sunday

This was a farmer's market we went to, they only have it on Sunday afternoons in front ohe of the Sagrada Familia. There was a suasage guy, couple of cheese ladies, a honey guy, and a bread lady. Pretty sweet. We got a piece of 'tarte de queso', the Spanish version of cheesecake. It tasted more like a custard, but different. Hard to describe, me and lindsey are convinced it reminds us of something from our childhood that is comforting, but can't quite pinpoint what. Oh yeah, there was a guy selling pate that was all natural and vegetarian. One was Roquefort and Apple. Almost tried it but knew Caleb and Lindsey wouldn't eat it with me, so wasn't as fun. Maybe by the end of the summer I'll have them prepped for it. ;)

Two sisters, neither of which really wanted their picture taken, in front of the Sagrada Familia (church that Gaudi was building when he died, they still haven't finished it).

This is a typical Sunday afternoon activity in Spain, go hang out at the park. The old men sit on benches together or play games, couples walk and sit while the kids play futbol. It was very peaceful, just as it should be.

These are just pics of the city park I thought were pretty.

This is a fountain in the city park, Gaudi (a famous Barcelona architect/artist) assisted in the designing of it as one of his first works. This is only a few minutes from our apartment, kinda surreal.