Au Pair Experience: Balaguer to London

Hey guys,

Everything's a bit of a mess right now. I wrote this when I was in England before I came to The Netherlands. Let's pretend I'm still there and my cat's not getting confused by my whirlwind appearances and frequent absences (poor baby). 

So, no one's as confused with my travel plans as I am, but I do manage to know where I am at any given time. Right now I'm in England and on Monday I'm going to Amsterdam with a super cool friend I have from uni. As much I'm looking forward to it I do admit it might've been better a bit later, once I'd settled in and unpacked my suitcase. That being said, I've done quite well considering the abundance of *things* I have and just need to sort out my hand luggage. 

Anyway, my last few days in Balaguer feel like a bit of a blur. They're not my last days ever so maybe I wasn't soaking up every moment, but some nice things did happen.

For example, me and my 3 girlfriends went out for drinks and drinks turned into cakes, or in NAP's case, a giant cookie with a teeny glass of hot milk (LOL). 

I felt a bit emotional by the end, I knew I was going to miss them a lot. But the time I'm spending at home is going really quickly.

I'm already missing my mini-me like crazy:

And my little wind-up merchant who I adore: 

Ah ;( I've sent them a postcard, and my German pen pal who I nearly forgot about ~~ but I hope we can speak on Skype soon. 

The girls sent me this:

and went on a mini break to Barcelona together (jel) and it's making me disappointed that I'll only go back to Balaguer for a month. I wasn't really ready for making close connections and bonding but it's been a really fun and important experience so I'm really glad it's happened. 

Where did we go this weekend? (Au Pair Experience)

So I was writing this post last week but life happened and I didn't finish it until now... Oops

Here are some pictures from our trip to Tarragona, Salou and Cambrils! Salou is actually really lovely without all the drunk tourists, quiet and serene. The pictures are a bit mixed up but it's all pretty so enjoy!

Cambrils

Tarragona

Au Pair Experience: Double Trouble!

Hi hi hi hi hi guys!

Ladies receive roses and gentlemen receive 

books on San Jordi. Picture from J. Á. M., El País Catalunya,

¿Dónde firma mi autor favorito el Día de Sant Jordi?, 21/04/2012, http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2012/04/
19/catalunya/1334866129_718542.html,accessed 6/03/2016

So this is your proper fun update because everything I´m going to talk about is good, except the fact that I´m leaving in a few days! However, I´m set to return before San Jordi. It´s a very big tradition in Cataluyna and as much as it pains me to say that I´d rather spend Saint George´s day in Cataluyna than England, it´s true. In England you just see English flags waving about and yobs shouting at PoC to go back to where they came from, because apparently it offends us to see the English flag. It´s a mess. Rather get some roses and a book! 

Life has included a lot of food (and beer) lately which has been delicious but I just about fit into any of the less loose clothes I have, so I may start having to skip the flan (so sad, so sad). So, last Friday night we had pintxos, like I´d had with my family in Barcelona, and they were seriously good. The restaurant was cute too with a really friendly waiter (who knew the family well) and a cool mosaic of Balaguer going across the whole wall. I stared at it for so long because it´s so detailed.

The next time I went I wasn´t so transfixed by what I saw, so I took a selfie with the two out of three friends I have here and tried not be disappointed that the fried fish tasted like...fried death.

Last week when I suggested to these two that we go to the
exact same restaurant I´d been to the night before, because the 
food was luuuush and then it turned out not to be quite as good

In addition to great food, there´s also an awesome new au pair in town! (We´ll call her NAP until she agrees that this post isn´t too embarrassing and is ready to declare her name to the world). She´s all the way from Australia and didn´t grow up in the Bush as far as I´m aware, but a farm, so she fits right in here! 

Anyway, she´s great, really bubbly and amazing with the kids, with a lot of good ideas about how to keep them occupied. Also braver than me because 

she´s only studied Spanish for one year. So all week 

we´ve been hanging out and I introduced her to the people I know here, including Irish Girl who is suuuuper funny.  I´ve shown her around town and we did a bit of the tourist thing, hence the picture on the left. On our afternoon off, we went to Lleida, the nearest city, and had a laugh there getting lost and treating ourselves to cute clothes that we weren´t sure that we needed. She´s living out of backpack and went for really specific things, ended up with about half of them, whereas I went for basically nothing and got some new boots and other things I´m just not going to talk about. The frozen yoghurt we shared was toootally worth it though, Oreo pieces, dulce de leche and strawberry omg, I´m gonna have to go again before I leave.

On Wednesday we had basketball together which was as knackering as it was fun and maybe a little embarrassing, judging by the fact that Carme saw my face while I was throwing the ball and is gonna tell the coach not to push me so hard, and the fact I didn´t get up until 12:15 on Thursday afternoon. Many baskets were missed and Carme translated everything for us English speakers (myself, Irish Girl and now NAP), which we really needed! If she´s not there one day then we´re gonna be screwed. I understand bits, sure, but I still end up the one confused about how much running we actually have to do and who to pass the ball to.

On Thursday I had a Spanish test at my school and I may or may not share the result, depending on how awful it is.

Skip to Friday night where we had a whole ton of fun and way too much pizza. Like I´ve said before, our host families are pratcially clones of each other so when the ten of us went out for dinner, we all paired up and chatted with our doppleganger, but there was a distinctly relaxed and excited family atmosphere and we all shared laughs and conversation. Everything about it was really lovely.

The restaurant itself was super cute with shelves of random things and a lot more space than I expected. From the outside it looks like a small shopfront but inside it´s Narnia.



Eventually it got pretty late and I politely asked Carme if we could leave because we´d planned to have a drink with our friends. It was no problem at all and as much as we wanted to go, we would´ve been fine spending the rest of the evenings with our host families, communicating in 3 languages (with an Italian menu), although I tried to stop the kids from teaching her things in Catalan instead of Spanish. It was so funny, the kids got a bit interested with my hair so with a few plaits as a moustache, I transformed into Antonio who works on a farm and has 13 girlfriends, including both the girls and the host mums. God, it was such a mess but it was so fun, a great end to a good week.

I´m sure while were having a drink NAP said something about how she loves me and how happy she was to have met me because I´m amazing which was so lovely of her! Haha, it was more like we both have amazing families and everything has just been incredible so far, and as negative as I can be sometimes, it´s true.

Picture by Carme, prize for best pose goes to Roger!

Until next time,
Antonia xx

Weekends in the Wilderness (Au Pair Experience Días 15, 16 and 17, Part Four)

SUNDAY!!! We finally made it!!! This is where the whole wilderness thing is finally going to make sense if it hasn't already. 

Sunday was a special trip to Mont Sonis and Mont Clar with MF and her mum. Susana had kindly called the organisers and booked me a place on this historical walk (seeing as I would've struggled to understand, give them my passport number, pay into their bank account) and I paid her back out of my weekly allowance (it was €10)

The trip included walking through a canal, visiting a castle and then trekking maybe 7km back to civilisation .-. It was special because you can only walk through the canal for 4 weeks per year, otherwise you have to swim through it and that's kind of not at all recommended by anyone ever. Jordi kindly loaned me this headlamp (I've still gotta give that back) but it was broken so it kept falling down and bashing my forehead so I just held it in my hand the whole time. Mont Clar was about a 30 min drive and we were greeted with a beautiful castle that some rich French guy lives in:

We took pictures after eventually parking the car (there were loads in this tiny village) and picking up our tickets from the gift shop. The assistant saw Jordi's name on my confirmation and asked if I was staying with Jordi. I nearly said no but then I remembered that Jordi knows so many people and this guy probably isn't trying to stalk him. It turns out he was one of his students a couple of years ago and he still has a special place in his heart for his ex teacher. Naww 

Anyway, eventually we drove to the start of the canal. There was a group of maybe  40 - 60 of us (I was too sleepy to count) and we had a pep talk in Català (of which I understood nada) then it was off to explore. MF translated some joke about the light at the end of the tunnel but I don't remember enough of it for it to be funny now. 

Inside was daaaark (obviously) and sometimes the water got a bit deep and the edges of the tunnel were a bit slippery. The edges were also tilted inwards so you had to find a suitably shallow place to cross to the other side every once in a while but at least you had somewhere dry to walk. I thought we might have to crawl (worst fear basically, I can't do actual tunnelling, did it once when I was 17 and couldn't bear the tiny space) but we stayed upright the whole time. Overtaking people was a bit hard but I did it anyway because this wasn't the time for a stroll. I'm sure the end of the tunnel kept getting further away!

Eventually we got out and had to wade through some very clean-looking water to get to the middle of nowhere. MF had lent me some wellies which was great for me but her feet got so wet I almost felt bad for not just taking the ones Jordi and Susana offered me, just in case. (Pro-tip: snow boots are not wellies.) 

MF said I was splashing her while I was walking so I skulked off by myself and let my inner child take over. 

After a long time wading we made it to land and changed back into our trainers. Next was a 5km walk to Mont Sonis which I could've skipped actually, the castle was interesting but it wasn't worth the uphill climb on a small ham and avocado sandwich. The tour was also really long and I understood bits of it but for the most part I switched off. It was really beautiful inside though with these cool medieval spy holes in the walls and a pink ladies' room where oppressed women would sit and stare at themselves in gold mirrors, hoping that someone would visit seeing as it was improper for them to leave the castle. If someone did visit then yay, gossip time! We weren't allowed to take pictures upstairs because some people actually live in a 5 floor castle and some parts of it are completely private for that reason too. 

Once the castle tour was over, we were left to fend for ourselves. Seriously, the guides had left (in cars!) and all we had were some stupid bamboo sticks in the road to guide us back to the car! I only had chewing gum and a mandarin on me for the walk so I became a zombie, shuffling along praying that there were no vultures around. OK so I also shoved some biscuits in my mouth outside the castle but what I should've done was bought the 1,65€ beer and done the walk off my tits. 

Just miles and miles of, "where the hell are we!?"  "Where's the car?" "Is this the right way?" "Wish I could just walk through the farms" "civilisation pls?" "Oh no phone signal? That's okay seeing as we know exactly where we are OH WAIT NO" in three languages :)

Obviously we made it home, with aching feet and bones. I slept on the journey home (so was no use for directions) and once we got there I only had the energy to scoff half a protein bar and sleeeeep. Then I woke up hungry enough to get up and make dinner. Within 10 minutes of this, my host family came back from their day in the village - this week it was friend lunch and I think a family visit. I was filling up the pot to make pasta and kind of had to explain that I was starving and had been asleep for the past 5 hours so I'd be making the pasta and a hotdog would not be sufficient for dinner tonight. (Sunday dinners are usually sandwiches or hotdogs because we eat gurd during the day). Susana gave me a great tip for spicy pasta and it was so good! But my mum still wasn't impressed when I sent her a picture of pasta, meat and salad which is basically all I cook for myself at home 😅

So finally my weekend in the blogging and actual wilderness is over! I'll update you all on this week and write some other interesting stuff very soon!

Until next time,

Antonia xx

Weekends in the Wilderness (Au Pair Experience Días 15, 16 and 17, Part Three)

Finally we´re on Saturday! And big thank you and well done to all of you for putting up with me thus far :)

So Saturday was the amazing Barcelona trip and it did not disappoint. I had to wake up slightly early with a slight hangover (or maybe my normal early-morning state - I can´t even tell anymore) and then we all bundled into the car and headed off. Jordi, Susana and Roger pointed out lots of interesting things on the way (like Roger´s favourite turning which was the kind of turning where you can´t sit up straight) while Gina was encouraged to sleep. After about half an hour I encouraged myself to sleep and magically, when I was woken up by a *poke* from Roger, we´d arrived. Here are some photos from the car:

I decided my hat was appropriate but it got annoying
carrying it around when visiting churches, restuarants
and I nearly left it in the shop when I bought stamps :)

This was there

This was there too

Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi´s famous church in Barcelona. This meant parking somewhere and getting out of the car to walk (</3).

On the way there were probably some interesting things but by this point I only remember what I took pictures of:



Once we arrived there was a long queue of tourists hungry for some modernist church vibes so we bought the tickets on the internet whilst in the queue, promptly escaped the queue (suckers) and got a coffee for half an hour before entering.

(They´re not real)

     

(Sorry my pciture formatting skills are kind of awful and they´re only filtered when I upload them directly from my phone for some reason.)

From the outside it´s grand enough, if a little grey for the most part, but there are so many intricate details that my camera couldn´t capture and you can´t see from the ground. IT´s truly beautiful. So naturally the inside, which Susana told me is based on a forest, the place took my breath away (and I nearly cried hahaha). It´s mainly the stained glass windows, they´re gorgeous and really make you feel like you´re in a really special place and that fairies might come and grant your every last wish.

After that was a general walk around the massive city (definitely exceeded my 10,000 steps per day goal) and we vistied La Plaza Catalunya, the port, Las Ramblas (great for souvenirs and postcards, art, didn´t try the food), the famous market and loads of other places, the names of which went completely over my head. Susana and Jordi were really clear explaining everything, I just don´t have a geography brain.

Gaudi´s Art School at La Sagrada Familia

Roger was so impressed by the
interactive geometry room

 

Gaudi´s Casa Mila

Spanish Military Government headquarters, I think

 

Either the Council building or... not

Obviously the port (we had lunch at the huge shopping centre here
and for once I wasn´t sucked into buying more clothes yay)

Barcelona Cathedral. We didn´t go inside because
the entrance fee was bit steep but I´m happy to note
that unlike in Milan where if you´re not covered from
your shoulders to your knees they won´t let you in
(even if you´re a 14 year old girl), ripped jeans and a
scoop neck top were not offensive. Unfortunately
short skirts were,
but so were short shorts so it wasn´t a sexist policy
 (like the one in Milan which was making me 

so anxious about all these church visits), just reserved.

                      

Barcelona at night from the steps of the National Museum of Art.

Lots of people were there and a guy played music on a keyboard.

Such a good atmosphere.

I have a few more pictures that you might see, if you´re lucky enough, but the layout thing is stressing me out right now. By this point, Gina was asleep in the car with Susana (she´d been so tired by the end of the day, her poor little legs). I´d taken off my shoes for the journey home, but then had to shove them back on to see this:

It was so beautiful. London from Alexandra Palace is pretty good, but here there are mountains in the distance, the old bull fighting arena and the general allure of being somewhere that´s not home. I love this city and I´m quite disappointed that I won´t be able to study there because I study castellano not catala, but I´m super excited to visit again with my mum and brother. I did get put off at some point by the policemen with massive machine guns on the edge of one of the plazas, apparently due to the heightened terrorist threat in Europe but wow, I never wanna see that again. 

Once we got home it was sleep for another early wake up the next day for a special trip through an around 150 year old canal in Montsonis (aka The Sticks)...