I seem to say this every year, hut the last 2 months have honestly been some of the fastest of my life. No excuse for not writing on here...I guess I've been focusing on running too much, and my blog-writing has fallen a little by the wayside. Signing up for this half marathon has scared me into regular training- especially now I am running it for the National Autistic Society. I'm so happy to be finally fundraising for this fantastic charity; they have always been there for my family to answer the dozens of questions about this confusing disorder. After running the 10km a few weeks ago, I am especially excited to run this half-marathon (as crazy as that sounds...). That feeling that you actually bloody did it, that you're not actually completely dead, that you have worked towards and achieved something...I can see how people become addicted to these races.
So, asides with my mild running obsession, what else has been happening over the past 2 months? Here is a random rundown, in no particular order...
- We have been further exploring our neighbourhood, and a little further beyond as well. I've really enjoyed getting to know El Raval, a notoriously "dodgy" area down the road that isn't all that bad, and has some real restaurant gems. We particularly like the Rosa de Raval, a Mexican restaurant with great cerviche and 3.50 euro mojitos (what's not to like about that?).
- We've also discovered a great new Basque bar called Basseri, where the beers and pintxos are cheap (1 euro!), the music is rocky, the air is a little smoky, and bitter Basque liquor shots are occasionally free! It seems pretty authentically Basque- I have taken my Basque friend Lide there, and she says the vibe is good, but the pintxos could be better.
- I'm really loving it when people come to visit- if you're reading this and would like to visit Barcelona, please let me know! Bernie came for a short-and-sweet visit, which mostly consisted of walking a lot, talking a lot, more than a few G and Ts, visiting the local indie bar down the street, and some serious movin' and groovin' at Barceloneta. It was great to see Sarah, Cath's friend again- we met for the first time in Australia when her, Cath, and Cath's cousin Kim were travelling, and I have met her a few times since then. She was staying in Parallel, which happens to be one of my new favourite areas- if we do end up staying here next year, I'm seriously considering moving here. Tapas bars with cheap cava by the dozen; if it wasn't for the torrential rain, we would have got around a few more bars.
- I've gone from never having celebrated Thanksgiving to celebrating twice! The first was with our good friend Taylor and her housemates, the second with work friends Lide, Laura (a Mexican girl), Julie, Nina, Becca (all American), Silvia, Astrid, and Nina's housemate Berta (all Catalan) at Lide's house. A very international affair! Both meals were so delicious, and were the same same but different as our traditional British Sunday roast. Instead of roast potatoes, there was mash, as well as sweet potato pie, and green bean casserole. Not to mention a scrumptious apple pie to finish...
- Speaking of work, I feel like I am settling into my job nicely. I'm really loving working with our class- yes, it is certainly a challenge, but working directly with the kids in an assistant's role is some of the best training I could get. I actually worked as a class teacher for a week while Meg was sick- I was absolutely exhausted by the end of it, but it showed me that I can control a difficult class if I have to, and that they will show me respect if I show consistency in my teaching.
- Quick word on my Spanish- it's coming along, slowly. Speaking is becoming a little easier as I practice with my Spanish-speaking colleagues, but I'm still being held back with my lack of vocabulary. I know that I'm the only one holding myself back though- I just need to study 5 words a day, and my vocabulary will grow. It's as simple as that. This is one of my many New Year's resolutions- now it's written down, it has to happen!
One of the traditions at Thanksgiving is to say what we are thankful for. Such forced sincerity is usually difficuly for a cynical cow like me, but this time it was actually pretty easy. I am very thankful to be living here- I am actually happier right now that I have been for a long time. Barcelona is slowly becoming the perfect city for me to live in- arty, spontaneous, casual, historic, cosmopolitan, full of surprises, beautiful coastline....it sounds cheesy and trite to say so, but I am falling in love with this city more and more by the day. The question is- is Barcelona changing me, is Barcelona becoming what I want it to be, or are we just a perfect fit? I'm just going to wait and see- and in the meantime, just keep on living and loving life here.
No comments:
Post a Comment