A Very Devon-ly Christmas...

Coming home for Christmas was certainly a little different this year...rather than landing in one of the hellish London airports, I had the pleasure of landing in the stress-free Bristol Airport. Landed, out of the plane, baggage collected and picked up by Alice in around 20 minutes. Incredible. After a few hours with friends, I then missed my train home (of course I did), and finally got a train to Exeter to meet my parents, ready for a very Devon-ly Christmas...

CHRISTMAS DAY

Present-opening, of course, then the traditional family Christmas Day walk- but this time, by the sea!! Introducing my family to the 'selfie' concept was a particular highlight; we may need a few more practices to get it perfect, but I still love the final result. Then, our typical Christmas lunch, where my dad outdid himself this year- turkey (cooked the day before), parsnips, roasted carrots, stuffing, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, and delicious gravy. You don't know how much you miss roast dinners until that smell of roast potatoes and turkey hits your nose. A bit of 'Who-am-I' and 'Trivia'- where we learned that IQ questions are a little too tricky for us after a few wines, or indeed ever- ensured the meal and afternoon flew by.

A typical Smith Christmas dinner...

Sunset view from my parent's living room.

BOXING DAY

Starting off with Teignmouth's traditional Walk-in-the-Sea (raising money for the Lifeboats Association) which speaks for itself really- featuring special guests Spiderman, the local cricket team, and an older couple on their way to a posh banquet (see if you can spot them!). Just to put it into perspective- it was around 3 degrees Celsius, around 37 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, bloody freezing. Then, a visit to the local pub, followed by one of my favourite meals of the year- bubble-and-squeak, beetroot, cranberry sauce, roasted ham, and a few leftover Yorkshire puddings for good measure. Oh, and a few more Christmas crackers. Doesn't get much better than that, my friends.

Here is my promise- I will be one of these crazies next year.

Spot Spiderman if you can!

Our Boxing Day lunch.

A Quick Word About Caga Tio...

...because I cannot let Christmas pass by without speaking about this, frankly, bizarre Catalan Christmas tradition for kids. Don't get me wrong, I love it- I just can't quite get my head around it!

Here is a little video introduction, sung by the lovely Norah Jones:

So, here is what happens with this strange little piece of wood with a painted face on it. On the 8th December, parents put out a Caga Tio with a tiny blanket over it. The kids then feed the log (orange peel seems to be a popular choice). The Caga Tio then gets increasingly bigger (an expense for the parents, I should imagine). Then on Christmas Eve or Day, the children sing the song while hitting their beloved Caga Tio with sticks. Why? To help the log poop out chuches (sweets), of course.

I had the privilege of owning two Caga Tios- one in my flat (though this one never grew- we are clearly not as dedicated as Catalan parents), and one at school.

Our resident caga tio!

Isn't he adorable (even if you know what he gets up to under that blanket...)

 Our class took it in turn in groups of four to hit the Caga with sticks, to make sure all of those chuches came out. There were also dozens of Caga Tios on sale at the markets in front of the Cathedral, as well as caganers (a pooping figure).If it floats your boat, there are also famous versions of the caganer- just in case you ever wondered what Obama or the Queen of England looked like pooping.

Ahh, kooky Catalunya, how I love thee and your crazy ways. Merry Christmas everyone!

Un Petit Belgian Getaway...

It's been a long time coming, but a few weekends ago, we finally got a chance to escape Barcelona in search of a little Christmas market action. You know me, I'm never one to resist a good ol' gluhwein and bratwurst during the festive season...

Of course, we started our holiday with the standard overpriced taxi, the driver taking the 'scenic' route to our destination and hoping that we would not notice. At least we got to our AirBnB apartment pretty quickly...even if our host did not answer the phone so quickly. Being the one who booked it, I was pretty nervous, especially as it was a quiet residential street...but all was well within 10 minutes, and we were soon being shown around his apartment. For anyone looking for an AirBnB flat, I would definitely recommend Liam Torne's flat. Clean, comfortable, a little balcony, a good size for 4 girls- we were able to split into 3 rooms- and, best of all, an extensive record collection! More on that later...

When you go on holiday with someone for the first time, you never know whether your travelling styles are going to be compatible. Luckily, Erin, Nina, Julie and I all had the same vision for the weekend- wanderers wondering where the next street may lead. As long as we could have a croissant in the morning, a few local beers in the afternoon, and a sampling of the local cuisine, we were tres hereaux. Speaking of Frenglish, between us we kept accidentally reverting to Spanish. Although I only learned Spanish a little longer than French, the latter seems to have slipped away from me a bit. Just goes to show- it´s all very well learning a language, but you need to practice, practice, practice if you have any hope of remembering it!

After thinking it was going to snow all weekend, the lovely weather on Saturday was a pleasant surprise- that perfect Winter combination of a crisp, chilly day and gorgeous sunshine. We started our day with a croissant at the local ´boulangerie´, where there were dozens of what looked like little chocolate Popes. These figurines were actually representations of Sinterklauss, who, as I had learned from one of my half-Dutch students the previous Friday, comes to visit on 5th December.

Then, it was time to get the fast, hour-long train to Bruges- or so we thought. ´Great´, we thought when we saw that a train was just about to leave- but the train conductor soon brought us down to Earth. ´This train is the local train that takes 2 and a half hours´ he said in an unnecessarily booming voice, just to make sure that the whole train realised what stupid tourists we were. I heard a few people muttering around us as well, so I don't think we were the only ones!

But Bruges was certainly worth the journey. From the train station, we seemed to be a part of a Spanish and Italian tourist procession, through cobbled streets, and little houses that looked too quaint to be real. Finally we found the centre- where there were more chocolate shops, cafes and British tourists than you could shake a croissant at. We found a lovely little corner cafe, where we tried the local beers, sampled a little moules et frites (the start of our love affair with frites this weekend), and soaked up the cosy, Christmassy vibe.

That wasn´t even the best part- we wandered further into the city, and discovered a plaza straight out of the Renaissance. Majestic, 18th-century buildings surrounding the main square, with a huge ice-skating rink in the middle- but before we could sidle up to the side and laugh at everyone slipping and sliding, we got ourselves a cheeky little Belgian waffle and, naturally, some gluhweins in polystyrene cups. Magical. We were perhaps unwise to keep them on the side of the ice-rink, as people kept skating wildly into us- but hey, we like to live life on the edge.

After the cute beauty of Bruges, it was difficult for Brussels to compare. The Christmas markets were OK, but it just seemed overcrowded, and even more British. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to be tourists- I just get a little wound up by British tourists sometimes! For me, Brussels had two other major highlights. One was our Sunday morning- a perfect mix of a few Delirium beers and some classic records while chillaxing on the sofa. Stones, Beatles, the Grease soundtrack, and putting the world to rights- perfection. The other was visiting the Delirium cafe itself, or should I say 'complex'. It is actually a collection of bars that each have their own character, for example an American church abbey. We decided to visit the main bar, which pulled off the grungy chic look. Brewery tank lids hovering over booths, lit-up beer adverts from the past...it felt like something familiar yet very new and distinctly 'Belgian' all at once.

A brief summary then...in hindsight, we would have spent a few nights in Bruges, rather than travel there from Brussels. That doesn't mean I didn't like Brussels...it just felt a little more like a city, and I think I'm forever looking for that big-town Christmas market that I found with my good friend Gemma in Würzburg back in 2007. I certainly came close to it in Bruges. 

On Belgium itself, it was strange to be somewhere to felt so much like home, with its homey bar-environments, then to hear French and Flemish spoken all the time. Basically, I felt a strange comfort being there, yet at the same time, a homesickness for Barcelona. Strange how much this city has had an impact on me in just 6 months!

I've uploaded pictures from the four of us below, in no particular order...enjoy!

Recap of the Last 2 Months...

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. 

Training for the Half Marathon Begins...

Hola todo...it's been a month since I last wrote, and I seem to have taken on a new challenge each month!! Am definitely managing to fit some fun in along the way as well- Barcelona's take on Oktoberfest (complete with litre tankards and a continual conga line from 8pm onwards) and Poble Espanyol (an exhibition that allows you to travel around Spain in a day, with life-sized streets from each of Spain's main cities).

In September, I started my job as a teaching assistant for a class of 4 year-olds in the American School of Barcelona. I've felt a little overwhelmed at times, as I have never worked with 4 year-olds before, but as time goes on, I'm feeling more comfortable both with the kids and in my own abilities. It's so interesting seeing the little (or should I say, in some cases, very BIG) personalities that are already developing at this young age...and I am in continual wonder every day of how these children can come to our classroom with next-to-no English, and pick so much up so quickly.

Now, onto a very different sort of challenge. I've decided this is a year when I am going to be a YES girl (within reason, obviously!). I want to not be afraid to take on new challenges. I want to embrace everything this city has to offer, and leave no stone unturned. One of the crazy things that I have said yes to is actually running a race...starting with a 10km run in November, then a half marathon (21km) in February. Those reading this blog probably know me quite well- running has neither been enjoyable or easy for me. However- I'm not just saying this- but always have had this niggling feeling everytime I've watched the London Marathon on TV..."you should try this one day." This was the same feeling I had before the skydive in Australia, and the bungy jump. Basically, a lot of doubt that I could actually go through with it, but still with that little voice of curiosity urging me on. Well, I loved the other two, so I guess it's time to try the running thing!!

This blog is therefore going to turn into a bit of a running diary until that date, to see how I'm getting towards this goal (and to shame myself into actually going every week!). This week, I've reached a running PB twice, which I'm thrilled about! I really love my running route- through the Gothic Quarter, then onto the beachfront- which will hopefully help with my motivation, even as the winter months approach.

Monday 6th October- 6.1km in 44 minutes.
Wednesday 8th October- 6.5km in 46 minutes.

You can see that I am still quite slow- at the moment, my goal is to just make the distances. Once I am able to reach 10km comfortably, which will hopefully be in around a month's time, I can start working on my speed. At the moment, at the current rate I'm running, my goal is to finish the half marathon in 2 hours 30 minutes. It'll be interesting to see how this changes as I start to run more and more!

OK, that's enough from me for now.  I'll be updating every few weeks with the distances and times that I have run, just to keep myself in check more than anything! Hasta luego xx