30 June, 2007

Writting plans for next year

As soon as I finished my reports I've been told that I have to write somehow detailed plans for next year classes. It feels like the job will never ends. One of the good thinks of my job was not having to mark home work and exams, but now I've got to do this and I don't even know where to start!
I'm going to try and Google this. I hope that other teachers did publish their plans so I can take some inspiration or downright and shamelessly copy theirs. Students do this, why not teachers!!

See you when I finish that. Wish me luck.

28 June, 2007

Writing reports

I was very naive because I though that this week was to be more relaxed already, I didn't know that I have to write my students' reports. Teacher's work feel like the proverbial icebergs as there's much more to it than it looks for afar.
I hate to write reports. I don't know what's worst, to write them in English or in Spanish. In the first is stressful and time consuming, in the latter is just plain boring.
The expected reports are not long or complicated, but there's a set of EU rules and standards that they have to match and to read it all took me at least one whole afternoon. At least I don't have to mark exams!!!
One of the agencies also asked me to write a plan for next year's classes, one for each group.
The deadline is Friday but I started on Monday and it looks like this is going to take some time.
Wish me luck.

26 June, 2007

Finishing my classes

Most of my classes are about to finish for this academic year.
(This is one more reason as why the party the other day felt like New Year's eve, most people take January off in Argentina as people here take August).
I'm still going to work and teach few special classes during July, but it's down to 15 hours a week so it'll be more relaxed. Good enough to get some money and quiet enough so I can start to relax and have time to think. I need to take stock of this year, check where I am and what do I need to do from here.
(another reason why it feels like New Year's eve in Argentina, as that is usual the time when one thinks about the past year and what the future will be like. Not to mention New Year's resolutions).
For most of my students I prepared the same kind of lesson, something related as how to learn for themselves, because if you don't practice an acquired language you soon enough start to forget it. The easiest thing to do is read articles using the Internet, but I also mentioned other resources such as listening to podcast, watching movies in English with English subtitles to help them, and so on.
I hope they do it. However, the demand for English teachers is such that I know I'm going to keep on working on this area for a as long as I want to.

24 June, 2007

BANG!

A day latter and my ears are still ringing.
They told us that it was going to be noisy and it was.
What amused me the most was that all the plans made a week in advance were changed at the last minute. This is so Latino!!
Remember that the main food was to be a giant paella? Well, the paellero said that he doesn't bother to cook a paella for less than 150, so the main course was changed to a barbecue. And, of course, Spanish people know that the best barbecue are made by Argentineans, so they called us and another few of my people to organise a barbecue for 80 on the same day.
Of course, we Argentineans are at our best when under pressure, and they managed to produce a fantastic barbecue, on time and without much of a fuss. Barbecues in Argentina are a men thing, so "the husband" and my dad were very involved but I did nothing, just socialised and got to know other parents.
The club is a great place for this sort of parties as it's in the middle of nowhere and the kids had plenty of room to play with their rockets and bombs. The older kids (teenagers) were mainly at the front with their big rockets and very noisy stuff, the younger kids (and the girls) were at the back, closer to where the parents were.
The lack of health & safety issues is liberating on one hand, but a bit disturbing on the other as the kids run amok and there was at least two instances that I saw myself that were really worrying and it was close to a miracle that nobody was hurt. The first one was a flying think that came directly to us (the parents) and a piece of something actually hit a dad on his head, even though he ducked most of it. The second was when the kids were trying to use a glass bottle as a support for a rocket and the thing fell into the bottle by accident after they lighted it. After a second of hesitation somebody shout run and they did... just in time as the bottle exploded and there were pieces of glasses flying everywhere. Again, the fact that nobody was hurt was incredible.
After a delicious barbecue, the adults danced to 80's music while the kids burnt all their things.
The club is in the countryside (well, as countryside as you can have in over-built Catalunya) and you could see a lot of the fireworks in the Vallés.
Despite, or maybe because all that, the kids and the adults alike enjoyed the evening and we return home well after midnight. At the entry of Sabadell, as usual on this occasion, the police were stopping people to check the alcohol levels. My dad and "the husband" drank sangria and cava, but I was driving so we were ok.

For us the night felt and even smelled like New Year's Eve. Let me explain. In Argentina the New Year's Eve is when summer just started, so it's usually a hot day followed by a bit colder nigh. We usually eat dinner outside with friends and family and then, at 12:00 o'clock the sky gets alight with fireworks and you can hear the bombs well into the night. The balmy air carries the smell of barbecues and gun-powder. Just like Sant Joan's night in Catalonia.
This feels like home, maybe for the wrong reasons, but is like returning home in a parallel universe, one where the economy went well and Argentina is still a rich country. Weird.

22 June, 2007

Thank God it'is Friday!

I do need a rest! The work and the heat is killing me, summer is definitely here and although I work in very comfortable offices, my car is usually parked under the sun and it feels like a sauna this time of year
Although it looks like there's a big party this weekend as it's la fiesta de San Juan, one of the biggest in the country. Basically, it's about celebrating the summer solstice although they have a catholic explanation for the fiesta, as usual, and we're expecting big and very noisy fireworks, bonfires and, of course, a special cake. We're even invited to a paella party on Saturday's evening at the rugby's club with all the kids. The club hired a special paellero, one of those guys specialised in preparing those huge paellas like the one in the picture.
A paella is a traditional Spanish dish, basically rice with seafood and sometime chicken and saffron (thus the golden colour). Really delicious.
A full meal here is a serious affair with at least three separate courses. So the club told the parents to bring some food and drinks to be shared as a buffet and they provide the main course, a mighty paella, and all the cutlery, tables, and so forth. They also asked everybody to bring in their fireworks so we'll have a good San Juan.
I still remember the spark inside my sandal from the the local dragon and my ear ringing from the trabucaires a couple of weekends ago, so this time I'll make sure I'm as far away from the kids as I can possibly be.
Of course, there's no way of stopping my son. Two days ago he came from school and told me that as he was walking home he saw a bunch of (slightly older) kids making a hell of a noise in the local square, he just stop to stare and they kindly invited him to give it a go and through some himself! He was very pleased as how friendly Spanish children are and how noisy the bombs were. There and then I started to miss the health and safety regulations from over-cautious England. Well... almost.
So, we're going today to buy some fireworks and bombs in a nearby shop. they just left their catalogues in our mailbox and it looks fantastic. I'm sure that some of this stuff is totally illegal back in England!!

During the whole week we've been hearing bangs and booms all over the place, as people cannot wait until tomorrow to use their stuff. Judging by the very long queues today in one shop near our house that sells all sort of this things... we expect something really big, very loud and maybe even some colour too.
I'll try to take pictures and post it here tomorrow.

20 June, 2007

Thinking of taking a holiday?

This is a bit of an advertising.
Our friends Gavin and Francesca are British expats living in Alghero, a town in the beautiful island of Sadinia in the middle of the Mediterranean sea.
They now bought a small flat next door to where they live and they want to rent it out to holidaymakers.
Now you can flight to Alghero from Bristol using Ryanair. It's not expensive.
My friends have a webpage advertising it in English, so please check it out (just click on the link):

http://algheroflat.ning.com/#scrollTo

Everything important, such as availability, prize (very affordable) and so on, can be checked directly with them by e-mail, which youĺl find on the webpage.

18 June, 2007

Nice weekend!

Friday was crazy. I arranged all my classes to finish before midday so we could leave to the Costa Brava as soon as possible, because we book a mobile home for the weekend in the lovely L'Amphora camping.
But things are never easy, not matter how well you plan things, so the day before I've got a text message in my phone saying that we needed to sign my son in his new school at 13:30 on Friday. It took us a whole hour to fill the form and give the school all the papers they need, things such as copies of parent's ID, all his vaccinations (we've lost P's red health record book so we have to go and ask his local GP for a certificate saying that he seems to be as a healthy as he looks), pictures of the kid, previous schools reports, etc etc.

Whatever!! After that we did manage to be at the campsite by 4pm and after downloading the car we all went straight into the sea. We stayed there until 9pm. Lovely!!
The caravan was small but comfortable, with one double bedroom and another with two small single beds, a nice loo, shower (cold and hot water), small but well equipped kitchen (we only used the fridge) a sort of small living room area and a patio surrounded by hedges and cover by trees where they have a table and chairs. Very nice and cozy.
We didn't do much and it was so nice!
We ate mostly sandwiches at a nice table outside the caravan and we once we went outside the camp to a lovely restaurant just opposite us.
Just a short walk from the caravan (5 minutes?) we had the see, warm and with a nice, long, sandy beach. Also we had a big swimming pool.
We played pool, swam, talked and walked, and I read almost half a book, something unheard off since we're in this flat as I'm always busy.
My dad was deeply impressed as he said he's never seen such an organised and clean camping. I think he expected us to take him to the wilderness, as one does when camping in South America, and was pleasantly surprised by the 'civilization' of it all.

This was like a pre-view because we booked a place for us all to go, this time with our tent, for the first 10 days of August. Now we can plan our trip better and we're all looking forward to that!!
And we all came back really relaxed, half tanned and ready to go the final few days until the holidays.

Sunday night, as we were trying to sleep we were woken up by a terrible racket, fireworks, bombs and people driving around blowing their horns very loudly. All after midnight! Today we learnt that all that was the celebrations of the Real Madrid's fan because they won some cup or other. I couldn't care less but it surprise me that people celebrated it here and so loudly because the Real Madrid is the eternal rival of the local team, the Barcelona, and most people here are Barza fans.
Of course, you may have heard of this and seen the pictures because it was the farewell game of David Beckham, who's going to L.A. after this. And because Victoria, the former Posh Spice girl, is now blonder than David.

15 June, 2007

Desisions, desisions

This week I'm working a lot and my stress levels are quite high.
Because I started working almost at the end of the year, I've got just a couple of groups were I started and I sort of inherited most groups in the middle of their classes. To change teachers in the middle of the year is never easy, not for the students nor the teacher, and I've tried to make the best of a not-so-good situation. I'm taking this as paying my dues. you know, being the new kid on the block. I also took most classes that I've been offered in order to achieve my financial goal of earning €1,000.
Luckily for me, most of the classes finish at the end on June, so there's only two weeks to go and then I can relax, take stock, analyse the situation and establish new goals for the next year. Plus sleep until late, take time to go to the swimming pool and the sea with my dad and my son, read, and wear crappy t-shirts and shorts. Just holidays.
The only downside was the lack of income for 2 months.

As you may know by now, I'm working with 2 agencies. One belongs to local people, the other to a couple of British ex-pats.
I'm happy with the local one. They're very professional but very flexible as well, and they've been very understanding with me during the couple of times where I wasn't able to teach (because my son had a tummy ache or when I needed to take time off to pick my dad up from the airport).
The British were very professional as well but communication was never as easy as with the Spaniards (they're always busy and don't always took time to answer my queries on e-mails) and I feel a bit on my own with them. They also expected me to keep their website going and up-to-date for free and I've just don't have the time to do a lot of extra work ad honorem. Plus I've got more cancellations with them without payment for me than with the Spanish agency. Now I've just been told that one of the owners, Steve, is going to be P's rugby coach starting anytime now. And I'm not completely comfortable with the idea of working for the guy who's P's coach.
As for now, I'm working 6 hours a week for the Brits and 22 for the Spanish. The Brits pay a bit more but not much.

I'm thinking of staying with just one agency for the next year (starting September) but don't know how to tell Steve. Any ideas will be very welcome.

13 June, 2007

My friends are back

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After spending some time in the south of Spain visiting their cousin, my friends are back here until Friday.
It's very nice to have them around, specially their little toddler. Isn't it amazing how much space this little people fill in any home? They're the centre and the heart of any home and little baby Esmeralda was not exception. We've all took turns to play with her, talk to her and teach her little silly performances to amuse us. P's did the best one as he tough her to dance as the dog in a funny little video we found on youtube. So when the music sounds she puts her hand on top of her head, then on front of her and so on, as does the doggy. She's so funny and cute!

As usual, having friends here is great but also a bit sad as it does highlight the fact that I still don't have friends here. What I miss the most is the chance to share my thoughts and everyday life with, to just talk and laugh. Of course, I'm talking all day long as part of my job, and I do write mails and share my life here as well, but, of course, it's not the same as to do so in real time and face to face.

In many senses we've moved to Barcelona to be downshifters. Downshifters are those people who voluntarily made a long-term change in their lifestyle (other than retirement) which result in earning less money, reducing their work hours or quit work to study or stay at home. People who decided to quit the rat race in order to have better quality of life.
In our case, my work was just right and I loved it, but "the husband" wasn't happy, life for him in England was too much work and not enough "life". So, we thought that things would be different here.
In a way they are, or better say: they have the potential to be. We knew that to achieve the way of life that we wanted was not just a matter of moving countries and I knew that in order to achieve what we wanted we needed to work a lot at the beginning. I'm under no illusions and I'm totally conscious that the first few years are going to be tough and that we need to make sacrifices and make things work for us.
So, I miss my friends and right now I'm working far more than I did in Bristol and God knows I need a holiday, but we seems to be on the right track. Only time will tell.

12 June, 2007

Fiesta season's back again!

As the weather is getting better more and more people are going out into the streets and this mean that the street party season is back.
The fist one was Corpus Christi, a religious festivity (I'm not very Catholic myself so I don't have a clue as what's going on) that is somehow related to first communions. You could see children everywhere dressed beautifully, girls dressed in longs white dresses and boys dresses as dwarf admirals or Victorian style kid/sailors as you can see in this picture of one of the Spanish royal kid on his day.
There's been some debate in the media as how much money people spend on the whole thing and how what is supposed to be a spiritual event is now a new way to keep up with the Joneses. According with some surveys, people spend in average €5,000 in total, including the dresses for the kid and his/her parents, the fiesta, etc etc.
During the last weekend we had in Sabadell the fiesta de la tradición a party to celebrate all things traditional, and we saw the local two-headed dragon called Antonitot (picture here with his accompanying diables (devils), The dragon's mouths are fill with fireworks and he's taken into the street scaring people away. Here the guys from Health & Safety still don't rule the country, so the dragon goes around spitting real fire and loads of sparkles and people run away from him. One little spark came to rest inside my sandal, and believe me... it's real fire and it hurts!But is was worthy.

We also saw a most fantastic creature called the burricornio (a mix of the words burro, donkey, and unicornio, unicorn, something like a donkeycorn). Instead of spurting fire, the burricornio splash everybody with water from both ends and, of course, the children love this even more than the scary dragon. I do think that people run away faster from the burricornio and his cold water that from the sparkles of the dragon. Only it was so warm that the children run towards this funny creature with the most silly faced you can imagine, and they got soaked wet, of course. Pity that I was running and laughing so much that I don't have a single good picture of it!!

There were also the trabucaires. This is people dressed in traditional costume with the red berretina, the Catalan hat, carring a big old-fashioned gun (see picture) and actually shooting blank and very noisy shoots. From time to time they take some black powder and make a small pile on the floor and then shoot their guns at it, thus creating a small fire and a big white smoke. They even let some of the children pull the trigger of the guns when they finished, so they can see how the mechanism release the fire to fire the gunpowder (told you, no Health & Safety here to spoil the party). P was very impressed on how hard wast to pull the trigger and to think that people actually used to go to war with this things. In any case, it was VERY noisy,even though I tried to cover my ears, from time to time they caught me unprepared and my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.

After all that we all went to have some tapas and a nice ice cream before returning home. My dad even had a sangria with his tapas! My stomach was still not well, so I had neither the tapas not the ice cream but I enjoyed the day a lot.

I love my new town, we all do. Loads of things to see and do and not a tourist in sight.

10 June, 2007

My health

For the past few days I've been feeling rotten. It's the same old thing that bothers me from time to time, somehow related to my blood pressure (too low) and my digestive system. For years I've been taking a daily medicine that was supposed to raise my blood pressure to more stable levels. On top of that I was taking another drug that, in theory, helps my system to cope with the ups and downs of life, stress and that sort of thing can alter my pressure and when that drop my system get all confused and it takes hours to self regulate, hours when I feel really bad and then I'm left totally drained.

During the past last year my life has been very eventful and, of course, stressful, but I agreed with my doctor in Bristol that as my blood pressure was more stable, I should start to reduce the drugs ever so slowly. Now I'm not taking the blood pressure regulator anymore and the other one I take once every other day and the idea is stop it altogether as soon as possible. Ideally, I'd like to live without taking medicines. The logic behind this was that as people grow older the blood pressure usually increased and that as life gets into a routine there's less reasons for stress.
So far that was working. But when I last talked to the specialist in Bristol (around January last year) he did say that hot weather could also cause the blood pressure to drop and that I should be careful with the hot weather in Spain. To be honest, I totally dismissed that on the basis that as I grew up in a very hot climate anyway, so that shouldn't bother me.

Well... now I've spend almost a week of feeling terrible. I'm eating very little (that's no bad for summer, so I'm not complaining about that) and whatever I eat causes me pain, discomfort and, finally, diarrhea. I don't sleep well and I'm feeling generally bad, bad, bad. I even cancelled a class last week because I couldn't get out of the toilet!! And I always made a point of not letting my feeling sick stop me for doing whatever I need to do.

I've just soldiered on until now, but this is taking longer than I though and now on top on feeling bad I do feel hungry and that's the final straw. I hate to feel hungry.
I'm going to see my Spanish GP next week. I was dreading that this will happen, as it took ages in Bristol until a specialist found out more or less what the problem was and I'd hate to go through all that again. I'm not looking forward to test how the Spanish health system works.

Wish me luck.

09 June, 2007

Movies and books

As I mentioned before, movies here are almost always dubbed into Spanish and sometimes even to Catalan, so I just don't feel like going to the cinema anymore.
The last one we saw was the latest Garfield and the poor cat sounded totally stupid with a strong accent from Madrid. Now I'm dying to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean as I love Johnny Deep as the captain inspired by Keith Richards. Here, his voice sounds totally gay and suave, more akin to the guy who thinks he's a lady in Little Britain!! And, of course, it changes everything!! Hideous!!
However there are at least 3 of those multiplex cinemas in Barcelona where they show movies in their original language, they're just far away and we'll have to plan a night out. Also local theatre near our home always have at least one movie a month, pity that is usually a very arty German, French or Chinese film that I cannot understand anyway. Mainstream movies are always translated so we're downloading loads of movies and tv programs lately. Thanks goddess for the Internet and piracy!

We've recently watched Little Miss Sunshine in video and totally loved it. If you, like me, missed while it was in the movies, go and get it. It's a gem of a movie and the best one that I've seen so far this year. Totally uplifting.
For me this movie challenges the way that American society defines en equate success with external things such as wealth, fame or beauty, and thus who the winners and losers are. I also think that whatever trend they have will be here in Europe a few years latter, and that one is already here challenging the way that success was traditionally equated with more intrinsic goals such as better relationships, self-development and participation in community.
A wonderful movie that deserves all the prizes it got and more.

The book that I'm currently reading is Ayaan Hirsi Ali's memories and reflexion on Islam, culture and living in the west. I'm reading it in English and it's called Infidel. She first came to my attention as the woman who wrote the script and provided the voice for the Dutch film Submission (click on the tittle to see the short video in Google video), which condemned the treatment of women in Islamic society. Its director, Theo Van Gogh, was murdered by an Islamic fundamentalist in the streets of Amsterdam and she was forced to go into hiding. She was a refugee and became an MP and a controversial figure in Holland.
I've heard about her and the book in an interview earlier this year in the BBC's Women's hour (which I hear from hear using my computer) and the book doesn't disappoint at all, on the contrary: is totally griping and I cannot put it down even though sometimes it make me feel sick.
The book, the experiences and opinions of Mrs, Ali is making me review my views about tolerance for other cultures and for religious believes, culture relativism and all that.
For instance, should we respect and accept things such as women circumcision just because some groups have been doing it for centuries and they believe that's ok?
Do we have any right to impose a western culture and believes in other people who came to live in the west?
Should diversity mean total and blind acceptance of other people ways and a separation between different groups of people, with different rules/school etc for each?
This are times of turmoil in the world and people are being forced to take sides, so this book is extra valuable because it's making me me think about what are my own convictions, believes, where do I stand and what I want to teach my son.

08 June, 2007

What a week!

I'm so glad is Friday!
First: Thanks, Anja, for the book's suggestions for my beginner student. I try to buy both books in amazon as I usually do, but one took ages to arrive so I downloaded using e-mule. (I mean the student's book and the teacher's). That saved me a tenner and a week, not bad. The book is a good one I did made a copy for my student and he's slowly, ever so slowly, starting to get a grip on the crazy language. I do feel sorry for him because it's very hard to learn a new language from scratch but the poor guy is struggling so much... I'm sure can teach him but I'm doubting very much if he's going to learn something at all!! After all, learning English was not his choice in the first place. Well... I'll do my best.

My other classes are going fine. After all this months I'm finally getting the hang out of teaching and my classes are running much more smoothly and I don't get all stressed out for little things like being asked how to say something and forgetting the word in English. I used to totally freaked out if i couldn't remember something, specially if it was something silly. Now I don't fret anymore, I do my best to squeeze the word out of my brain and if that fail, then I write the question down and bring the answer the next class. That's far better than try to cheat and then live with the fear of being found out.
I still try and do my own homework with the classes, in particular with the grammar that I'm going to cover. To forget one unusual word is bad enough, but to get the grammar wrong would be too much. So I still take some time before every lesson to check what I'm going to do.

Now I agree to take 2 more students from next week. This time I'll be teaching them Spanish. This are the wives of 2 foreign employees at one (Finish) company where I teach a lot. I think one is British and the other from Finland. As usual with me (by now you know my "never good enough" attitude) , I'm not totally comfortable with this as I'm not a native Spaniard. When people go to England they want to learn their language from a real English native (whatever that means) not an Australian. So, I don't really know if this ladies will be happy with my Argentine's accent. At least I can emphasize with them living in a foreign country and trying to learn the new language to deal with doctors, teachers, etc etc.
... being there, done that, got the t-shirt.
On top of the language I can help them with the foreignness of living abroad and the pitfalls of a different culture. Native teachers take their own culture for granted and sometimes find hard to explain things that are totally puzzling for a foreign. I'm sort of in the middle as I'm not totally local myself and I've lived so many years in Bristol.
I hope.
I'll let you know how does it goes.

All this work will take me closer to my financial goal, which is to earn €1,000 a month. of course, I'll give myself a whole more year to achieve that because this is the last month of teaching before the holidays and I achieve enough and I do deserve a rest.
School finishes here just after the Sant Joan's fiesta, in 2 weeks time and with that all teaching seams to end too, mine included. I do welcome that as it's getting increasingly hot and I need a rest.
In actual fact schools are almost over and the kids only have half day work since the first Monday of June.
P. goes to school at the usual time in the morning but after lunch they don't have any teaching whatsoever, they can choose to stay at school mostly playing or go home. I'm very glad that P. choose to stay because that means that he's having fun with his classmates and I do prefer him running around there than sitting at home watching tv or playing with the PlayStation by himself. He arrives home at around 4pm, tired, hungry as a wolf, all dirty and sometimes with torn clothes but happy as Punch.
Today he just came back with a red bandanna with Chinese characters up on his head. looking as if he's part of a rapper's gang.
Is a pity that next year he'll go to yet another school!!
(I feel guilty about this too)

Now I'm off to try to find an optician to get new glasses. My eyesight changed in the past few months, even before I left England, and now I have to take small print an arm length away from me to be able to see it. I'm definitely and officially old.

06 June, 2007

Driving over lemmons

I took my dad and my friends to the Park Guell yesterday. I just drove them and dropped them at the entry to save them all the long tube rid plus the longish walk, and then went back to work. For my dad the walk in the park was going to be be tiresome enough and I didn't want him to arrive already exhausted and my friends were kindly taking him with them, so it was only fitting.
It was actually my first drive in the city in peak time, as I'm always driving home after we've been there dinning, usually late in the evening, because I don't drink, and by that time the city is almost empty and a pleasure to drive.

A foray with a small car into Barcelona in working hours is totally mad and something to be avoided if at all possible.

The city is mad enough and really busy, as you'd expect a big city to be. However, on top of that: this people are mad!
They drive like maniacs, they don't know or respect the rules and they do park whenever and wherever they feel like it.
Luckily for me, I've got a GPS who tells me where to go and it works beautifully, so I could concentrate in avoiding parked vans and lorries, trying not kill the British tourist when they try and cross the road looking at the other side and other pitfalls like these.
What I couldn't avoid was to literally drive over a bunch of lemons that felt off a truck that was parked on a zebra crossing, while the guys were downloading fruits and veg's for a shop. It was just a few and the guys didn't even noticed they felt, but as I squashed them I was immediately reminded of Chris Stewart and his beautiful book on living in the Alpujarras. The experiences are a world apart but somehow I felt the connection there and then.
If you haven't read the book yet, please do it, as it's lovely.

My friends are going tomorrow for a while and I'm going to miss them!

04 June, 2007

Lovely things

On of my favourite thing here in Barcelona is the availability of beautiful, unique designer stuff that you can find around.
What can you expect in a city where even the park benches are as beautiful as this one in Park Guell.
centres just to check beautiful or way, I just enjoy looking at these things. After all my favourite museum in London is, by far, the Victoria and Sometimes I've got a couple of hours between classes and I drive myself to the shopping'sunusual things. It makes sense to me in a purely aestheticAlbert with its many eclectic pieces.

Look at this bed!!
I always liked four posters beds but I wouldn't have one, never, because I think will collect dust and be a pain to clean. But this one looks more like a sculpture.

And look at this one!! Even tough it may be a pain to keep clean, I'd love one, but the price is just crazy and what else can you put in a room with the bed?
The accompaning booklet says:
A
fter two years of researching common sleep problems, German-based Cycle 13 has introduced Lomme -- a platform bed designed to awaken the senses and relax the mind.
The egg-shaped bed is outfitted with light therapy (in a variety of col
ors), an iPod sound station, muscle relaxing system, and storage compartments.
Lomme claims to have created an a
tmosphere in which the senses are enhanced, making relaxation, meditation, and peaceful sleep attainable"

I'm not planing to have another baby, but I love this pushchair.

And look at this way of showing off the olives for your tapas. Altough this one was quite unexpensive, I did not buy it because it's hard to clean and I don't have enought storage space as it is.

But there's one item that I'm forever looking, the old phone that was in the house where I grew up, it was state-of-the-art when my mom brought it and now is, of course, an antique. Is called the Ericofon and it looked like this.
(if you see one, please let me know, I' love to have one at my desk).

02 June, 2007

So much to do so little time...

We have friends staying at home with us, a whole family of three. So life is busier than ever (and crowded as well!) with loads to to, so much to share and piles of shoping and washing up to do (not that i'm doing any of that!).
They're staying with us while they need to get out of England for a few weeks, you know, visa matters. So, I'm teasing them that they're my own private refugees.
We're terribly crowded but at the same time it's so nice to have them here that I know I'm going to miss them terribly as soon as they're gone. Specially the little dear toddler who calls me "tia" (aunty in Spanish) and goes around the house smiling.
They're close friends, so we treat them as we treat family, thus we ask them to hoover the flat, do the dishes and stuff like that. So far, they're not complaining. I think they like my cooking.

Also I went with my (she) friend to the biggest shopping centre in Barcelona, La Maquinista, and we had a ball. One of those ever so girlie days, shopping, trying everything one, comparing tips, eating ice-cream, and so on. The only girlie thing that we didn't was to go to the toilets together for a bit of gossip!! I finished the day totally exhausted but I had my fix of "girlieness" to last me a few months.
I didn't expend much money as I only bought a white shirt and a bright pink skimpy top.

I did check on swimsuits, bikinis and what-have-you but couldn't find anything that I really like. The one-piece swimsuits shows to much cellulitic legs and the 2-pieces shows too much saggy tummy on top of the legs, and I'm not even mentioning the bottom or the flapping upper arms...
That got me thinking...

Maybe there's something to be said in favour of going around topless as people do here. You see? All fashionistas and what-to-wear consultants agreed on one thing: one should show off one's assets and hide the bad bits.
There's nowhere to hide on the beach.
So if you think about it and follow the logical path... then the best way to hide something is to show off something else that will attract all the attention. Even if my boobs are not that great, at least they'll manage to divert the attention from my tights, tummy and upper-arms.
In the worse case scenario people will avert their eyes from me and that's not bad either!!
It works both ways!
That's why most topless ladies here are not models! I've cracked the secret!!

Now I've got to gather the courage to do it on from of my dad.