Thursday was blue day at school for the competition they are having. Blue was my class's color so it was a crazy day! The girls were so excited all day and did not want to do schoolwork. We ended up coloring a lot of pictures and doing a lot of cheering!! "Go Blue! Go Blue!" My class would make a great group of cheerleaders. So after school, I went back home and met Ane (my host mom) to spend the afternoon with her. We went to pick up Jordi from soccer practice and brought one of his friends home with us. We hung out at the apartment for a little bit and then she took me to El Corte Ingles. Oh my gosh. I want to live in that store. It is amazing. It has literally everything you could ever need. There are 7 or 8 stories. There is a supermarket, a women's section, a men's section and a whole floor with just makeup. It was heaven. It was fun to hang out with Ane. We are very much alike. She had a lot of funny stories and was telling me about the city, she is very easy to talk to. Even if she says her English is bad! It is very good. She is so sweet. Once again, I am so thankful I got such a wonderful host family. So after we got done at El Corte Ingles, we walked around the shops right next to it. There were a lot of stores and I enjoyed just browsing and talking with her. Then we went home for dinner. We had pizza with ham and a few other meats and jalepenos! It was so good. After dinner, we sat and talked for a while. We talked about Thanksgiving and I explained what the holiday meant in the United States. I think we are going to go out for a Thanksgiving dinner! Jordi and Ane told me about a strike going on in Madrid and we just talked about random things. It was nice. I am really enjoying their company. I am already sad to leave! :(
Friday was another crazy day at school! It was Santa Isabel Day, so we celebrated all day long. In the morning they were divided into teams to play different sports such as soccer, volleyball or basketball. My teacher plays basketball so I went to watch that while she did the scoring. It was so fun to see the kids so happy and excited. They were having a great time. After the sports, my class made cookies! We went to the classroom and all the girls had brought supplies. They did so well! I was impressed. I am not sure my American students would do that well! Then at lunch the girls took the cookies home and baked them and brought them back! I thought it was awesome that they were able to do that. The cookies were very good and the girls were happy because they did it themselves. The kids here are so independent. So then in the afternoon, we went to make jewelry in the art room. We made rings out of wire with beads. The girls had a great time.
After school, Sarah, Mary Bruce, Brittany, Erica and I went to Provenca to walk down Las Ramblas, a very famous street here with lots of performers and markets. Well once we got off the metro, we couldn't figure out where to go! So we found a donut shop and had these huge amazing donuts! It was wonderful. Then once we had looked at our map we figured it out. By this time, it was getting dark and we heard that Las Ramblas isn't safe at night so we decided to walk down the street next to it where all the luxury shops are. We saw so many and even went in a few but didn't touch anything! Haha! We saw a few Gaudi houses too and we plan to go in those later on. After a while, we found our favorite store, Zara! We went a little crazy for a second then went on down the street. My phone started to die so luckily we found the Apple store. It was HUGE! It's three stories and there were so many people in there. It was crazy. While we were waiting for my phone to charge, we asked an employee where a good place to eat would be. He explained how to get to a traditional Catalan restaurant but it was getting late so we decided to just go to a place that was close. The restaurant we chose was called La Poma. It had pasta, pizza and all kinds of delicious things. I had a Margherita pizza and a DIET COKE! haha they do not serve Diet Coke everywhere so I am very excited when I can have one. Dinner was great. After dinner we tried to head back home. We got on the metro and were going the right way. When we got to our stop we got up and went to the door. We were waiting for it to open and it didn't! The train started moving again. We started freaking out and then we realized that you had to press a button to open the door! Luckily we were at the end of the line so it just went to one stop and then came back to ours. Crisis averted!
Today we had planned to go on a walking tour of Barcelona. Well, when we woke up it was pouring down rain! So we had to reschedule our tour. It was nice because I got to spend some time with Naroa before I went out. Jordi had a friend stay the night so they were playing in the living room. After I figured out my plans, I went into the kitchen and Naroa made me breakfast! She climbed up on the counter and put some bread in the toaster for me. She was so precious, she asked me how many? One or two? And then she kept looking in the toaster to see if it was done. She was so proud that she made that toast! Then, while I was getting ready she wanted to watch so I let her play with some of my makeup. When I started to put some on she kept saying, "Muy bonita!!" which means very beautiful in Spanish. She is so cute and I just love hanging out with her.
So we met at the metro station at noon. I live very close to the metro but with the rain, it felt like a long walk! It was very cold and windy. When I finally got there, we decided to head down to Placa Catalunya to explore. This is in the center of the city and there are many shops and sights in this area. We walked down La Rambla for a while and then we found La Boqueria! It is an indoor market with all kinds of fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. There are also lots of little restaurants that serve different kinds of food. Sarah, Mary Bruce and I shared a nutella and banana crepe. It was amazing! After La Boqueria we kept walking and just taking pictures and having fun. We ate at El Bosc de las Fades. The inside looked like the woods with fairies and many other interesting things! It was really neat. It's hard to explain but it was beautiful. I had a Spanish omelette which was delicious. It is just eggs with potatoes and onions. It was yummy. After lunch, we walked down to the sea to see the Columbus statue. After taking some pictures we decided to head over to Las Arenas, which is a mall that used to be an arena for bull fighting. It was neat to see how they had transformed it. You can also go to the top of the mall for a beautiful view of the city. I really enjoyed it. After that Sarah, Mary Bruce and I went back to El Corte Ingles to get a few things and then Sarah and I ate a little snack. We had some nachos at a Mexican restaurant and they were very good. Then, we headed back home for the night. So even though today was rainy, I still think it was a success!
I am loving Barcelona so much. It is such a beautiful city with so much diversity and culture. I am excited to learn more about the city and spend some time with my family tomorrow! That's all for now! Adios!
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