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

*Update*

So, I definitely owe you guys an update by now and I do have a really exciting one coming, but first I need a bit of a rant. 

London Girl and Baldy are no longer going to feature on my blog. I know, so sad, but my advice to anyone who comes to a new country is to be nice to everyone, but don't be scared not to be friends with everyone. 

Why? Well sometimes, I really do look at myself and ask if I'm the problem in a lot of situations I've had. I think about my personality, what I could've done differently and if I should adapt myself to the way other people are. I try really hard to chill (kinda defeats the point, I know) and just go with it, but my personality is more of the type that likes to be in control. Sometimes, I do relinquish my control, but I might have to save that for people I actually know, not just blindly eager to make friends trust. 

One thing I try to stay away from is treating people differently when I don't know them very well. I don't really point out that we don't know each other, instead I highlight (usually with an elated screech) when we're clearly getting to know each other, like discovering you like the same music or think about things the same way. 

Anyway, I wish my blog was anonymous so I could go into more detail but alas, it isn't Girl Online (and I'm not 15). Though I was direct when confronting a strange situation, I advise you all to nip something in the bud as soon as it happens. Always be your authentic self and don't be afraid to question some people's behaviour, even if you are open and accepting (as you should be), don't accept being made to feel uncomfortable. Maybe you all knew this already but I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do from my sweet, treat everyone as you would like to be treated, Catholic upbringing. 

So, good luck to them. I'm hoping we don't come across each other again, but this is a small town and Sod's Law exists here too. 

Until I write about the fun part,

Antonia xx

Au Pair Experience: Holidays, Disasters and Settling Back In

Holiday:

The holiday was amazing! I had loads of people from here in Catalonia helping me to pick places to go which was so useful because there are so many great things to see. I'm still not going to go into too much detail because each post is taking me longer and longer to write, but we saw a lot of things and did as much as we could! I was pretty excited by everything and thought it pained me to plan so much, lead so much of the time and hear my mum thanking every shop assistant in English, it was wonderful. Seeing my family after a month was lovely and grounding, sometimes it's hard to remember that this is actually my life now. (This is the first year since I started school that I've not been in formal education, after all, it's a little hard to know what to do with myself.)

Disasters:

The disasters stemmed from actually needed to go home after a holiday. First, because something just had to go wrong, my mum had booked tickets back to England for her and my brother on the 22nd of MARCH. She'd been wondering why she wasn't able to check in but instead of double checking her booking she just thought it was RyainAir being its shit self. And it kind of was, it automatically changes the month of your return and it's an easy mistake to make. But, there are lots of chances to confirm that all your details are correct and it was so stressful changing it the day before that I probably did it the most expensive way. 

I also had my own disaster getting home. There's one coach in the morning to my city from Barcelona at 9am and the next one isn't until 4pm, so I couldn't afford to miss it. But of course I did. It was hell getting home. Honestly, I've never been so stuck in my life. What would've been a 2 and a half hour journey took *6 hours*. I'm not even gonna go into it, just the bus station in Lleida is the worst thing I've ever seen and I need to get back to London Victoria!

My third disaster ended up with homemade pizza so maybe it's not such a disaster but it was so embarrassing. Basically, I went out to meet our baldy beardy friend, then obviously afterwards, I went home. Well, because life is hard or bad things come in 3s or just because, when I went to open the door to the building, the key wouldn't turn. So, that doesn't mean I'm instantly banished to the streets for the night does it? Well, when its 2am, you panic and you don't want to wake up your host family, you kind of banish yourself to the streets. Orrrrr to a friend's house, after sending your host family a massive paragraph on WhatsApp explaining where you'll be and that you'll return at 8am to do your job. Guys, if this ever happens to you, just call your host family at 2am and sleep in your own bed. Even if there might be pizza, you might also look a bit silly

Settling in:

Anyway, I was actually excited to be back with the Trillas. I'd missed them in 5 short days and most of the information I'd been spouting about Barcelona had come from them. Perhaps this excitement dampened a little when I found out the kids hadn't done anything at all in English, let alone the homework I set them. 

However, it was probably a welcome break for us all. I haven't really been tracking our progress, but it's not like at the beginning where learning a new word or phrase is a big accomplishment. It kind of gets added to the list now and there's always so much more to learn. I'm still proud of everyone of course, but it's become routine now and learning languages is tiring!

Still, Roger and I ended the week playing card games which was really fun so I'm going to focus more on playing games and less on teaching. I think because I'm more confident with academic stuff, I fall into this pattern of teaching and instructing when really we should be playing. We can play verbal games at mealtimes and more physical games during free time. Yeah, I'm thinking out loud here.

Other stuff: 

I've been reading so I'm going to do another book review soon and read some more to see what else I can write about. Things are a bit different now because I have a few friends and spend less time by myself thinking about the differences between here and home, but I miss making posts every day! I'm also going home in mid-March so I'm trying to make the best of everything while I'm here. Still, I might not have much of a job when I get home as there are new staff and less hours that need filling so you might hear more from me!

Until next time,
Antonia xx

Family Holiday Highlights (4th and Final Post)

 A continuation of photos from my first ever family holiday, in Barcelona!

Any questions about places or things to do, message me or comment below!

Enjoy! xx

Next to the Port

Giant Lobster

Barceloneta Beach. I'm told there are better, cleaner beaches a five minute metro ride away from the city

Las Golandrinas

A spot of clubbing at Nitsa Club, Apollo

Courtesy of a very talented artist named Rui

Marihuana Museum

Arc de Triomf

Here vs There

So, if you don´t know already, this post is going to be one about the differences about things here and back home in sunny England. I really haven´t decided where I prefer, and seeing as I really haven´t explored that much of England, let alone the UK as a whole (London, Essex, Brighton and Hove, Cardiff, Loughborough, Leicester... Devon as a child, not sure I´ve actually been anywhere else!), and it does actually rain here, it wouldn´t be fair to make that kind of judgement yet.

Let´s start with stuff I prefer here:

1. Pace of life
2. Prices (in Balaguer things are actually cheap, in bigger cities this is mostly due to the exchange rate)
3. Less fear of having your stuff stolen (this definitely only applies to Balaguer and the villages I've been to. In the cities I am so careful of my stuff that drives me slightly insane)

And stuff I prefer in the UK... (might only apply to London)

1. Personal space (and the fact that people will move out of your way in the street instead of doing their best to walk into you or force you to swerve. I'm not even being dramatic!)
2. Ability to buy hair extensions!! (Check the post before this one to see the struggle of buying hair extensions)
3. Walking pace (Sometimes you actually want to go somewhere and need to walk at more than 0.0001 mph)

And here´s some stuff that´s just different:

1. People don´t have passwords on their phones! (I have struggled not to take advantage of this)
2. Please and thank you aren´t that important (if you want to be polite to someone you know, just make sure you speak nicely. Passing someone the salt isn't going to win you a plaque in your honour)
3. There´s dog shit everywhere (it's as if most people actually consider the pavement a toilet for their dogs. Thankfully, this wasn't the case in Barcelona)

Here are somethings I wanted to talk about in a tiny bit more detail. This post is a lot to write easier having been to Barcelona and spent time with my own family, as I've noticed what they've found hard to adjust to and they've picked up on some differences to!

Weather:

Of course I prefer the weather here than in London! It does rain (shock horror) but it's not the incessant, depressing mess of English weather that I'm used to. The sun shines. It's also cold and sometimes windy, so I'm not sitting on the beach tanning like I was in Valencia, but it makes getting out of bed in the morning much easier.

Buying drugs:

Well, that escalated quickly! Okay, so I don't know anything about where you can get your coke fix, but if you want some hardcore paracetamol, don't go to the supermarket. You have to buy drugs in the pharmacy and you can get more in one go than you'd get in England. They're bigger too, so you don't have to take two to feel like your headache might've got better. I prefer Barcelona for this, buying basic medication along with your bread and milk is all well and good, but if you're like me it's worth it to stock up and that's hard to do when you're limited to 16 tablets.

Everyone wants to sell you something:

This got pretty jarring pretty quickly. Cries of "selfie" "cheap price" will interrupt your conversations, meals and strolls along the beach. Some of them will push it, try to convince you to buy it by staying near you which is uncomfortable but I've never felt an urge to pay them just so they'll go away. The guys selling flowers are the most likely to interrupt your meal so if you're on a date, sit inside for a better chance of being left alone. Definitely prefer London in this case. No one's gonna try to get you to buy their stuff unless you're on a market or passing a promotional stall in a shopping centre.

Begging:

Homelessness looks absolutely pitiful in Barcelona, as it is in too many big cities. I found myself giving people a bit of change or food if I had it, but not to the people that actively begged. I don't know if this is bad, that people will come up to you and ask for money or sit on the street and wail "ayudame por favor" but something in me wanted to avoid those people. In London people beg too, but you occasionally get someone discreetly asking you for change rather than wailing on the street. In this case I prefer London because it's convenient that you can walk by and pretend you haven't noticed someone in need. But both cities need to do more to help people with nowhere to live. These are global capitals. There's no excuse. 

Museums:

Make the most of the free museums in London! And join any campaigns to keep admission free because it's really worth it. That being said, the museums in Barcelona were beautiful and I didn't feel too bad paying an entrance fee. Getting into the Picasso Museum was free because I'm at university but I was blown away by it, so paying wouldn't have been so bad. Anyway, the reason I prefer London in this case is because you can see as much or as little of as many or as little museums as you want, without feeling like it wasn't worth it because you couldn't see asmuch as you wanted. Basically, there are a lot of museums in the city and its hard to fit them all in.

Transport:

The underground system is definitely better in Barcelona. You can use your mobile, there's more space and the trains  come at least every 3 minutes (if there's not a strike!). Of course, London's system is the oldest I the world, but you would've thought they'd have modernised by now for the the price of it. However, I don't know if Barcelona's Metro stretches as far and wide as London's and the buses are apparently better there too. 

*If you have any questions or are curious about other things then feel free to comment or message me privately and I'll talk about it in the next post!*

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Antonia xx

Family Holiday Highlights (3rd Post)

Your third instalment of our Holiday Highlights! 

Any questions, feel free to comment or message me!

Enjoy xx

El Gat de Raval. Of course I dragged my family halfway across Barcelona to see a giant fat cat hehe

View of the city from MNAC 

Camp Nou Museum

Inside the grounds

Excitement