Open Writing

Hola again. Unfortunately my level of Spanish hasn´t yet elevated much higher than this but I seem to be getting by with a knowledge of French and English and then finding the nearest person who can speak English if I have a problem with anything.. Very lazy I know, and I am really ashamed of myself. In Japan and China I made much more of an effort to study and it really paid off, but the weather is just too good here!

Have had quite a few misadventures with the langua. On the first day I headed in the direction of one of the many Lavanguardia kiosks, assuming it was a toilet, but could find no public convenience tucked away behind the papers and chewing gum on sale.

I then went into a supermarket and asked for the toilet. I even looked the word up in my dictionary and pointed it out to the sales assistant. She lead me over to the air fresheners, however, and I had to hover around, sniffing the fragrances, pretending I was interested in buying one, until she vanished from the aisle.

This morning I went to the supermarket to buy some vinegar, to use for salad dressings. I have managed to live without it for the last month, but am now beginning to miss it. I am fed up of using orange juice as an alternative. Unfortunately the shop assistant didn´t seem to understand my pronunciation of´´vinaigre´and lead me over to the white wine section. I repeated 'Vinaigre!' once more and he made noises indicating he now understood what I wanted, and directed me to the red wine section.

So I then said (in Spanish of course), ´Para la cocina!' (for cooking) and he made more noises of recognition and led me over to yet more wine. Eventually though he got the message and so I am looking forward to a tasty chickpea salad with my jacket potato tonight.

The worst experience was when I went to a Periodica stand to ask for a phone card. The saleswoman informed me they only had International cards for sale so I tried to ask if there was anywhere I might buy a local one nearby. I used the phrase ´por aqui´, assuming it meant near here. Actually though it means ´here´.

She got very annoyed with me, as she´d already told me she didn´t have any for sale. I just thought it was my pronunciation she didn´t understand so repeated the question twice more. She glared at me! I felt so stupid when I returned home and looked the word up in my dictionary. ´Cerca´, the word I´d thought meant ´here´ actually means nearby. Still, as I always tell the students, we learn by our mistakes.

I still haven´t started teaching, but have two training sessions with the British Council this week, one this afternoon and one tomorrow afternoon. Each one is four hours long. I am incredibly nervous and hope I can live up to their expectations.

The course also starts next week. I´ll be going along to that on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-2.30, then teaching with the BC in Tibidabo, in the mountains (very beautiful place.) I climbed the mountain last week with my US flatmate. Gorgeous sunny day, and gorgeous mountain, and a view of Barcelona, including La Sagrada Familia.

All the way up the mountain were golden spires from palace-like buildings. The biggest was at the top, but it turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax as it turned out to be an amusement park, which was shut. Forgot to take my camera so will have to go back sometime.

Have been enjoying the sunshine of Barcelona and some of the tourist attractions, before starting work. I went to see the Picasso museum which was excellent and also Parc Guell which is just up the road from where I live. Having said that, the road up there is incredibly steep, so it took quite a while in the heat. But the view was wonderful and the Gaudi architecture like a fairyland.

Apparently Gaudi was commissioned to build a housing complex up there for richer echelons of society but the project collapsed due to lack of funds and was later turned into a park. I took far too many photos of brightly coloured pillars, mosaics encrusted into the curvy walls, palatial multicoloured buildings. I love the way his work flouts the conventions of standard architectural design. I like the undulating curves and cheeky flounces and colours.

There was a festival here last weekend. It was really hyped up and is supposed to be the biggest annual festival in Barcelona. After reading the newspaper articles I expected to see people eating fire on every corner, and live music on every square, but all I saw the first day were book stalls, anti-war, free the refugee etc stalls (containing literature written only in Catalan with maybe a Spanish translation), and then some games for children in Placa Catalunya. I noticed a few stages dotted around the centre and along the beach but could hear only men testing their mikes.

On the last day I managed to see a huge human pyramid on Placa de St Jaume, some digeridoo players and a taiko band near the cathedral, but I still think it was overhyped. Or maybe I´ve got too used to seeing more extraordinary and elaborate festivals in Japan and China, such as watermelon festivals, pear festivals and log-carrying races.

OK, must go soon, so I can get ready in time for my meeting this afternoon. Would just like to mention my new flatmate before I go though. She´s moved into the other spare room in the apartment, so now there are four of us living there. Allegra, the newcomer, thankfully speaks English and Spanish, so effective communication is now possible between everyone. . She´s from the west of the US, she stresses, as she reckons people in the east are totally different.

She iis a great person to share a flat with as she has the same sense of humour as myself. We spend a lot of time laughing, rather than studying. She´s also really keen on cooking so we can share certain condiments, although I must admit she´s rather greedy with the Provencal herb mix. She even drinks soya milk. I will never overgeneralise the American race again!