La Familia: The Second Weekend

Futbol, the harbor, and La Sagrada Familia

Saturday, November 26

For the second of Alvaro's futbol games since I was in Barcelona we had to drive about 15 minutes outside the city limits for an away game. Inma commented how weird it is that within 15 minutes of their house there are a ton of schools, yet they always have to travel for futbol games. We were all a little nervous when we arrived since most of Alvaro's team was missing. When the game started they only had 5 members of the team- 4 less than usual. This meant all 5 boys had to play for the entire game. Despite the lack of additional players the boys worked hard and pulled out a win!

After the soccer game we made a trip to see the harbor since we weren't very far from it. We also passed through a park dedicated to those who won Olympic medals when the  Olympics were hosted in Barcelona in 1992, so of course Inma made us pose for a picture.😅\

The coastline was so pretty, and the sky was much less foggy than it had been on our hike to Tibidabo. This was probably one of the more chilly days while in Barcelona, I actually needed to wear my cardigan instead of just feeling guilted into it! (haha!)

After walking around the harbor for a bit we had planned to just drive by La Sagrada Familia (Church of "The Sacred Family"); however, when we got there Inma changed her mind since there was a Christmas market, she decided she wanted me to see everything. Which was totally fine by me. The market was adorable, but it was pretty busy! More on la Sagrada Familia to come in a later post!

 

The Christmas markets were one of my favorite things I saw in Barcelona. The main thing sold at the markets is nativity figures. Displaying a Belen (nativity) is typical of the culture in Barcelona. The Belens are ornate and typically grow by 1-2 figurines a year. I really wanted to buy one to bring home with me but unfortunately didn't have enough luggage space. 😔

        

My host family's Belen took them a good 2-3 hours to put up. First they had to cover the buffet with cling wrap to protect it from the moisture from the live moss used as the backdrop. Then they had to arrange the nativity figures and added string lights. It was adorable and definitely helped get you into the Christmas spirit!

More posts to come soon:

*A trip to the City Center

*The Gothic Quarter

*Tapas
*The Aquarium
*London
*Park Guell
*Adventures of the Return Trip Home

La familia: The First Weekend

Student Teaching Abroad

Barcelona, Spain

November 17 - December 5th

My host family consisted of a mother, father, and two brothers. I was also lucky enough to meet a good amount of the extended family as well! Inma, Oscar, Ricardo, and Alvaro were so welcoming from the very beginning. Pictured below is a good portion of the family members I met. This inludes (left to right) Inma's mother, me, Inma's father, Ricardo, Inma's brother, Oscar's mother, Oscar's father, Blanca (Inma's niece), Inma, and Ricardo. 

My host family did a great job of including me in their everyday life. Not only did we eat breakfast and dinner together everyday, but they invited me to family events- futbol (soccer) games, piano recitals, hikes, movie outings, and more.

Justice League

Saturday, November 18

The first official excursion I went on was to the mall with Inma and her niece Blanca. Afterwards we went to the movie theater with Oscar, Inma, Ricardo, Alvaro, and two of Inma's nieces. We went to see the Justice League, which is good for me, because it was translated into Spanish, therefore I only understood about 50% of the dialogue. Luckily action films show most of the important stuff through action and not dialogue! 

There were some surprising differences with the experience that I wasn't expecting. First was that there are assigned seats! I've been to some bigger cities in the US, such as Las Vegas that weren't like that, but I'd be interested to know if there are any in the US that do assigned seats. I think it's brilliant for such large theaters to streamline seating and make sure there aren't wasted seats! Another difference was the different varieties of popcorn offered. Not only did they have the typically movie theater style buttered popcorn, but they had two other savory varieties, and three sweet (similar to kettle corn) varieties. One of the sweet varieties was bright and multicolored! 

Other than not being able to completely understand the dialogue, I really liked the movie. It was fun to get to experience something so simple and be able to notice all the differences.

Tibidabo

Sunday, November 19

The first weekend after we arrived we took a trip to Tibidabo, which is a mountain not far from my host family's house. Not only are the views from Tibidabo amazing, but there is a church and amusement park at the top of the mountain! I told my host family that I definitely don't think you'd see a similar combination anywhere in America!

Ricardo, Blanca, Inma, and Alvaro at the top of Tibidabo

At the top of Tibidabo with the Ferris Wheel in the background

At the top of Tibidabo with the Ferris Wheel and Church in the background

I'm not going to lie, my legs were sore after this ~6 mile hike, but the views were definitely worth it! Even on a foggy day you could still see a good portion of the city!

  

Blanca, Alvaro, and me on the hike down from Tibidabo

Wild pig spotted on the hike back down!

WILD PIG spotted!