Departure

So, I am leaving on a jetplane. I don't know when I will be back again...

Having spent the last seven months in this city, I can say that I have had a true taste of all it offers - the good and the bad. I have both loved and hated it here at times. It was an experience which will go down in my book of life's memories.

I will miss :

Late nights - often talking with my US flatmate
The excitement and buzz which living in this city offers
The opportunity to meet so many people
A cheap and highly efficient public transport system
An abundance of activities and events - many of which are free
Inpromptu music by buskers playing music in metro stations
My cool and calming runs in the evening
The magnificent mount (MontJuic) in my back yard
The cheap products and goods at Lidl, Decathlon and Primark
My mom and her dinners
My Mexican friends - Zaida, Guille, Edson and Tea
The teachers and students at EICA
Meet Up events
Safety and freedom to do so many things
Open and accepting people who extend the arm of friendship with ease
High speed internet and uncapped internet usage
Friendly people in buildings or streets who often greet complete strangers with "Hola"


I will not miss :

Inferior living conditions (small, dark, old living spaces)
Hearing Spanish being spoken all the time and not understanding!
Poor customer service levels
Body odour of people on the bus or metro
Pavements padded with spit and dog poo
Washed clothing not drying for days - in the cool weather
Having to contend with crowds of people on public transport or the street
Tourist masses who amble along aimlessly, unknowingly delaying others


I am sure there will be many other things I will miss and will not miss but I will only realise once I am removed from this location / situation.

May I say a big "Thank You" for taking the time and interest in reading this blog over the past few months. I hope I have given you a taste of "life in Barcelona" through my postings. I might continue blogging from other travels I may take in the future but for the meantime nothing is planned. Until the next adventure, I say "Hasta Luego"!

Final day in Barcelona

Today was my final day in Barcelona. There was much to do and it was an emotional end to my 7 month stay in this city which I have loved and hated. I made a final trip to Gran Via 2 Shopping mall to buy some things which I wanted to take home as they are cheaper here or not available there. My American flatmate has a visitor from Russia at the moment so there are 4 of us in the flat. Daniel is at work - as usual. Leon, Inga and I walked to the mall then we came back and Inga made a delicious lunch. I enjoy Inga. She is mature and very balanced. Leon certainly seems to have choice lady friends/visitors. They are all older than him! Rosa was going to come over to say farewell and have lunch but in the end she did not make it. I will have to post a message on facebook to say farewell.



Then I began my mad rush to deliver things I promised to people and to say my final goodbyes. First was Connie - who taught me Spanish in the very beginning. Then to Zaida - to deliver the director's chair. Then to see Leila - to hand over Spanish learning materials and other odds and ends. Then to my mom for dinner. It has been a hectic afternoon and an emotional day saying goodbye to so many people who I have shared the past few months with. I really have enjoyed the openness and the ease at which my friendships were formed here in Barcelona. The friends I made were great people who were very easy to get along with and who valued me and what I am as a person - not what things I have. That is one great things about Spain. People do not like you for your possessions. In many other places friendships are formed if you fit the mould of the type of person that is acceptable in the eyes of other people. Here in Spain people are far less judgmental and are more accepting.


And then home to continue my packing and get final arrangements done. I have packed and repacked the bags several times in order to get more into them. I have finally fit most things in... There are a few things I will have to leave behind. I took a final run at midnight. I ran up to the castle on the top of MontJuic and looked down onto the harbour below and the Mediterranean Sea. It is a great place and with inspiring views. That was my last run in this city. I enjoyed ending the day with a nostalgic run!

A homecoming for all...

My American flatmate asked me to spare Wednesday night so that we could do a farewell activity. I arranged to meet Leon at the studio where he hosts his Wednesday night Salsa class. I left EICA, walking towards Plaza Urquinaona with Chloe. Chloe is a Chinese girl who grew up and studied in the USA but married an Irishman and is now pregnant. She and her husband have been in Spain for the last 6 months. She told me all her woes about living here and mentioned that they are going back to Ireland on 30 November. She has found it very hard to assimilate and is looking forward to going back to Ireland. I told Chloe that even my Spanish speaking friends (Mexicans) said that it is very difficult to break in with the locals here. Added to that, the fact that the Catalans do not speak English that well, so they are not readily going to befriend English speakers.

I arrived at the studio to find Leon sitting on a chair waiting for students. Nobody arrived though. So I sat and chatted to Leon and his partner Rosa (Spanish). Leon told me he is now at the point where he feels excited to go back to the USA. He is despondent about how things have worked out here and with the city life. Rosa is from the South of Spain but has moved to Barcelona after a 14 year period of living in San Francisco, USA. Rosa added that she would love to return to the USA as she thinks her country is so inefficient and that people have no ambition. She admitted that she likes the hard working nature and competitiveness of countries such as Germany or America. She is trying to get back to the USA at all costs...

We left the studio intending to go for a drink at a bar in the Gotico area. We found a great place which was about to close so only a quick coffee and then we moved onward to have falafel. Leon and I walked the streets of Gotico looking for a good falafel place. We stumbled upon Diana - one of my teachers at EICA. It was great chatting to her and her friend. I realised that when I am no longer in Spain I am going to miss all the social kissing which one does here. When you meet somebody you know or when you introduce yourself to people you do not know, it is customary to kiss on the cheek. At first I felt it a little awkward and was uncomfortable with it but now I do it without a qualm.

After bidding farewell to Diana and her friend, we made our way to Raval where we spent a few minutes at a house party in an abandoned building, before making our way back to a Falafeleria in the Gotico! It turns out that the falafel in the Gotico was not as good as we thought it would be anyway so perhaps we should just have stayed in Raval. A walking tour of the city just to buy falafel...

Helping Immigrants

I love the school where I study Spanish. It is not just a school. Instead, it is an NGO which helps immigrants to immerse themselves into Spanish society. I was referred to EICA by a guy named Jose - whom I met at a Meet Up event. Jose used to teach at EICA a few years ago. He said he had a great time teaching there and he recommended studying Spanish there - for free. The courses are 3 months long and classes are four times per week, one and a half hours per class. That means 6 hours per week. The teachers are volunteers- who are not paid for their work. Each day of the week, we have a different teacher. This adds variety and interest to learning.

Cooking |: Front, from left : Rodrique, Seidou, Mariya, Husain, Leila, Chloe
Back, from left Teacher, Me, Kang Kang, Hua Hai, Muhammad

On Mondays we have Bep - who is an experienced teacher with excellent teaching skills. On Tuesdays we have Esther - who is a new teacher but has such a charming personality. On Wednesdays we have Jaume - who is an elderly gentleman but very kind and interesting. On Thursdays we have Diana who is a young and funky teacher with an pleasant personality.

The lessons are varied and introduce to us, grammatical matters as well as practical spoken language. We play games and do group activities too. We even go beyond learning out of books. We did some cooking lessons, visited a local market and had to buy fresh produce and went to a library and opened up library membership. We also had a presentation by a local government official on how to get the most out of government services in the city - free health, free studies, free counselling, free translation and many other free services. I am sure this was very well received by the student audience who are 99% illegal immigrants! In my class alone there are students from: China 3, Ghana 3, Bissau 1, Cameroun 1, Russia 2, Algeria 1, Morocco 1, South Africa 1.

Making Panallets : Rodrique, Leila, Mariya, Kang Kang

There is only a handful of legal immigrants who are students at EICA. I do like the diversity and the energy at EICA. There are some wonderful characters and such great people. Thanks EICA for an excellent service to people who are trying to speak Spanish or trying to become Spanish!

The Panallets are ready to bake!

Castanada

Castanada is celebrated in the America as Haloween. On Friday 29 October we celebrated Castanada at EICA. Castanada is the day to commemorate the dead. It is common for Spanish people to go to graveyards and lay flowers on graves of their loved ones who have died. It is customary to eat confectionery called Panalletes during Castanada. In the lesson before Friday, each class had to make Panalletes.

On Friday we had to meet for the "Fiesta" of course. The fiesta kicked off with music from the different cultural groups represented at EICA. Many of the students are African so there was a large contingent of Africans dancing and playing unique African musical instruments. The staff at EICA were enraptured and joined in the dancing without hesitation.

Then came the Panalletes which we had made the day before in our classes. Unknown to us, they would have to be judged. Unknown to me, was that I had been selected as a judge. I took to my duties and agreed to assess the Panalletes. I never knew there were so many classes. Each class had their own tray of Panalletes. The judging took quite some time. Initially I thought it was only to assess the presentation and the creativity of each tray. But to my disappointment, we had to taste / sample each tray as well...

To be very honest, the Panalletes are a bit bland but not too bad. But after countless numbers of them, I did not want to see another Panallete. In the end I was just giving away points for taste - based on appearance  but I did not tell anybody this . Perhaps that is why my class never won the prize for the best Panalletes. Well to be honest, our teacher never told us that we had to work on creativity and originality too. We did not even know there would be judges. It was a fun evening and I enjoyed the chocolate con churros - more than the Panalletes.

Farewell to the African

On Saturday night I attended my farewell party. I am soon heading back to South Africa. The dark and mysterious continent! So my Mexican friends arranged a celebration. I am honored to have known them and spent the past few months having good times with them. Something I have learnt about Mexicans is that they live life. They have such positive energy and know how to find the joy of life.

On Saturday I met at the "designated point" - to begin my evening of surprises. We finally arrived at a community hall which was where the "fun" would begin. An African Dance and Cultural Show!! Something I had not seen in 7 months!! Gg thought it would be a wonderful way to end my visit to Spain. We lined up to receive the dinner - which was an African stew on a bed of cous cous. We then found a table to sit, and watch the show.

The Mexicans were mildly interested in the show as it was very boring and they did not see the point to the clapping activities (using the audience participation). The food was also somewhat of a disappointment.  The only person who finished their plate was Zaida. She was obviously very hungry! The next day she said she cannot forget the delicious food!!

The dancing began. It was mainly African men who had oiled themselves up for topless African dancing - to African drumming. Gg showed keen interest. Zaida showed very little interest. Edson was busy on his phone all the time. Tea could not stop laughing. I pointed out that to enjoy African culture, one needs to have no expectations of being amused... African displays are educational or participational - not comical.

After about an hour of drumming, clapping and oiled bodies Edson said he had never seen such a strange Chippendales show in his life! We joked with Gg, teasing her that she would book her ticket to Africa the next day!! We certainly made our own comical event of the African Spectacular.

After a wildly exciting African Spectacular we headed for an Irish bar with live music. The music was brilliant. The atmosphere in the bar was little subdued - until we arrived. As soon as we got there, that changed. We began dancing and having a good time and the atmosphere was transformed. German tourists came up to join us. One German guy said he loved Spain so much that he will come back as he thinks the people are so vibrant and full of energy. Little did he know. These were Mexicans - not Spanish people!!

A brilliant night, with me arriving home at 4.30am and then sitting up until after 5am, talking to my American flatmate.  These long Spanish nights are soon going to be a thing of the past...

Catalunya versus Spain

Under an ancient Spanish unification process, all the various kingdoms or regions of modern day Spain came together to form one country - which is known today as Spain. Each of these regions has their own languages and cultures, traditions etc. So, is Spain one happy blend of people ? I don't think so.

There is a constant duel here in Barcelona. Barcelona is situated in a province called Catalunya. I have often noticed gatherings, street protests, people signing petitions etc - always expressing discontent with what is happening here in Catalunya. The local people think that Catalunya is suffering under Spanish administration and believe that if Catalunya was managed by a Catalan administration, things would be a lot better. Possibly yes, because the Catalans would have more power and resources to manage themselves.

Hundreds of years ago, Catalunya was one of the kingdoms in what is Spain today. There is a huge sense of nationalism here in Catalunya. The people do not want to be called Spanish. They prefer to be called Catalan. They speak their own language - Catalan. The sense of nationalism is ever present in the red and yellow Catalan flag which flies on most government buildings and many other places such as tourist attractions, and even the balconies of people's apartments. On local holidays the city buses sport Catalan flags. The flags fleet in the wind, displaying the sense of nationalism in Catalunya. There are so many holidays in this province that one cannot be caught unawares. You always see or hear the festivities. The holidays usually come with a display of local customs and culture - as well as fireworks and music!!

The Catalans apparently favour self governance and independence from Spain. They dislike the idea that Madrid is the seat of government. Madrid they think, is not the province which is the most economically productive. The Catalans believe that Catalunya contributes the most to the economy and therefore that they should have more influence in the way the country is governed and how money is spent - since Catalunya is contributing such a large portion of the money.

What do I think ? I think it is not going to be a fait accompli. I battle to see Catalunya becoming a stand alone country in the United States of Europe. I think it is too late for Catalunya to back out now...