An Impromptu Night at the Opera

I never thought I'd say that I spent last evening at the opera.  It's not that I have anything against it, but it's never been my cup of tea.  I'd say the closest I've gotten is the Looney Tunes version where Bugs and Elmer are singing "Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit!". 

So last night was very much a surprise to me (as well as to my friends) when our girls night ended up finishing the evening at the opera!  We had a fabulous dinner of fondue at a great little place in the Born district here.  Great conversation and lots of laughs.  When Cristy's husband, Shawn arrived with their friend Alfonso it just meant the more the merrier.... til they suggested we take a trip down the block til the opera.

The opera???  Without advanced tickets or reservations?  And we're not exactly dressed for an evening of formal activity either.  But they assured us that this was something like we'd never seen before...and they were right!

We walked down the block to c/ Montcada where across from the Picasso museum there was a very large door with no signage on it and a little old man standing outside, kind of standing guard.  We commented on how many thousands of people have probably walked by this gem of a place without having any knowledge of what is behind door #1.  I, myself, have walked by a number of times and had no idea what was there! 

He spoke to us in Spanish and we got the impression that we needed to follow behind him and when we entered the door we were surprised to find ourselves in a huge, beautiful courtyard!  We paid him 20 euros which went towards both entertainment and a drink (what a deal!) and were escorted inside since the show was about to start. 

Night view - found this pic on their facebook page

 

Daytime view of the courtyard (pic from http://www.poblesdecatalunya.cat/)

The building that the show was in was more of what would appear to be a medieval villa. I know no other way to describe it. It's smack dab in the middle of the city, squished between various nondescript buildings - and if it weren't for that wall and door outside, you'd never know what was here. The walls were made of what looked to be the original stone, the furnishings antique or at least antique like. And it was an intimate setting - maybe 30 people. Definitely not what you expect when you go to the opera.

When you go to the Wang, you are seated like sardines with little to no leg or armroom. You get dressed up to go to the show. Here, we sat on a couch and chairs, had drinks in our hands and toasted to a great find! It was a completely relaxing environment where we just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the performances. I can't say that I recognized any of the songs but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. The voices were amazing - no microphones needed as the acoustics were fantastic - and their voices took over the room in an instant with everyone falling silent as they sang. Even taking pictures I felt a bit sacreligious (and did get yelled at when my first photo accidentally had a flash - oops!).

The performers at the front of the room

Right in front of us.  The woman on the right was absolutely amazing!

One of the lights in the courtyard - gorgeous!

Not sure what this leads to but it was in the courtyard and looked pretty cool

After the performance was over we took some pics inside which included the main performance area

When I got home I realized I didn't even know the name of this place to tell others - I only knew it was across from the Picasso Museum and had no signage of its own.  I tried to find a website or some kind of information that would lead me to what this building was back in its heyday and how it became an opera house.  I finally found a facebook page that gave me at least a little information.  The name of the place is Pequeña Compañia Lírica de Barcelona and the name of the place where they hold the opera is at the "Palau Dalmases".  After doing some more research on the internet I found that the Palau Dalmases was actually built as a palace in the 15th century (which is practically brand new here!). 

After lots of searching I finally found that the building actually has it's ownwebsite - http://www.palaudalmases.com/.  Apparently they need to work on their google word search because it took me two pages before I found it!  And while on this site I found a picture of where we actually sat last night - along the back wall on the couch with the side chairs - how cool is that to watch an opera from the comfort of your own couch?

All I can say is that it's been a while since we last had a girls night and there was no better way to kicking off spring in Barcelona with a girls night coupled with the opera!  We will definitely return!

Julie

Aidan's 1st Grade Class "Travels" to Ancient Egypt

One of the highlights of the 1st grade school year is learning about Ancient Egypt. Aidan's teachers told us at the open house back in September that when the students were asked what they were excited to learn about this year, most responded with "going to Ancient Egypt!". That means that these kids heard about this project when they were in kindergarten and were intrigued by it even then!

This 7 week project included learning about pharoahs, pyramids, the Nile and so much more! They learned how the pyramids were built, what people ate, how the slaves were treated and what civilization was like thousands of years ago. It's a part of the curriculum that Aidan really enjoyed and the kids did a variety of projects thru the 7 weeks which incuded making their own pyramid (Aidan made a Sphyinx below) and Nile and using paper mache to make pharaoh masks.

The culmination of all of this work came with a play that was put on this week.  The kids worked really hard and you can tell!  Aidan makes his appearance a little before 7 minutes into the video.  Of course, with my luck, the video card ran out with about a minute left in the play so the last little bit is missing but you'll get the picture.  To watch the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6XuOY039Z0.

Next up, the Mexican Aztecs! 

Julie

Frustrated

We all get frustrated – no matter where we live. Things don’t go right, you jump thru hoops, you feel that no one gets what your needs are and communication is nil. It happens to us all. But have it happen to you in a foreign country.


I’ve been lucky so far. Yes, lucky. The first few months here were really rough and very frustrating. My inability to communicate left me feeling helpless a lot of the time. For the most part time has healed all wounds and overall this feeling has passed. I still have helpless moments but they aren’t for the small things anymore… or so I thought.

For the last few weeks our cable and internet have been failing us on a regular basis. To the point where when it goes back on we do an excited dance (ok, maybe we don’t dance but we make a big deal of it nonetheless). Over the last year it might go out for an hour, maybe 2 but no more. We just took this as part of living in Spain – just like the power goes out when we use our dryer with any other major (or minor) appliance. There was this nagging feeling that I had that eventually our outages would increase and in fact they did. To times where it would be out for a half of a day and even once, an entire day.

But this week takes the cake. Josh is away in the States and I'm here on my own.  It is now Thursday mid day and I have been without a phone, internet or cable since when I woke up at 6:30 Tuesday morning. Who knew we were so reliant on these things til we don’t have them right? And at home I’d make the frustrating (there’s that word again – hear that utilities – frustrating!) call to Comcast and while I’d be on hold FOREVER, I’d finally get someone and most likely would have someone out there the next day or have someone walk me thru the steps to get everything back online.

So what do you do when you can’t speak the language (well)? My fear has become a reality – it was time to call the utility company. Now if you think the utilities are bad in the US, I’ve heard horror stories about them here. And that only made me even more ambivalent and anxious. So I waited… and waited. I let all of Tuesday pass hoping that the internet would go back on. No luck. Keep in mind that like most cell phones in the US, my Spanish cell phone cannot call outside Europe (and honestly I haven’t had it that long that I haven’t used it outside of Spain yet either), something I need to fix! So ALL of my communication abilities are cut off except email via phone.

I was sick Tuesday night so I took it as a sign that perhaps I shouldn’t be working and I should be sleeping. Though I did try to call them several times with no luck – if my interpretation was right (and it probably isn’t) the message said there is no one here to help you please call back in 10 minutes and it hung up (I tried for an hour and kept getting this message). By Wednesday morning I was feeling slightly better but still a little ragged – not really well enough to tackle the telecommunications company but alas someone needed to. I tried the number again and my frustration grew and once again the same message.

I dug thru some old files hidden away and found an old Telefonica bill. Whew it had a number… oh but that number you need to call from a Telefonica phone and mine doesn’t work (apparently they don’t take that into account). But they had a store front listed about a mile from me and it was on my way to the school where I needed to be at 1 (that’s a whole other story). Fingers crossed I set out to the store only to find it was a MoviStar which is their mobile phone unit. But I went in anyways hoping they could guide me in the right direction…

And they did. The guy who worked with me spoke some English though I was able to communicate my problem effectively in Spanish (It’s not that I can’t speak Spanish, I can’t do it on the phone – for some reason I really need to do it in person) and so between the two of us we figured out the problem and he called their technical service. But again frustration sets in… he gave them my mobile number and told me that they would call me that night or on Thursday.

Great… so they are going to CALL me. Remember what I just said, I’m good in person but on the phone I’m crap. Wednesday night passed and I finally relented and updated the money on my internet USB so I could at least have some access, after all I hadn’t done any work other than responding to emails using my email on my phone and I had other things I needed to get done as well.  

This morning I sent an email to Elise who works with Josh.  He suggested it since she works in HR and handles issues for the expats as well - yes, I'm an expat but after more than a year I really didn't want to have to rely on outside help so to speak.  I really wanted to do this on my own if I could for my own sake of pride.  But this morning when the internet still didn't work I sucked up my pride and sent Elise an email essentially begging her to call Telefonica for me.

Much to my surprise this morning, they did call. And spoke to me in rapid fire Spanish despite my protests to slow down. I was pretty sure they were coming to my house within a ½ hr – at 10:30. 10:30 comes and goes and my frustration gets all the worse. I have a vet appointment for Jake at 11:30 and as 11 grows closer I finally call up and reschedule it for tomorrow because I can’t take a chance that I won’t be here and they show up.  I emailed Elise and told her I was all set - does it count that I emailed her for help when I actually ended up doing it myself??

Finally around 11 I get a call again in Spanish and again asking me if my phone works and I have to explain that nothing works. He finally seems to sense my inability to mime over the phone and switches to some broken English (which is by far better than my broken Spanish) and asks if he can come by this morning between 11 and 12 (it’s already 11 so not sure how he was going to do that). Honestly I almost wept with joy. Seriously I had tears in my eyes. Have you ever gotten so frustrated that just hearing the words “I am going to help you” are the sweetest words you have ever heard?

But the guy that showed up was not my English speaking friend. He spoke only Spanish. But that to me is manageable. I have become the queen of pantomime – I used to be terrible at games like charades but now I’d kick your ass. And I’ve got my trusty iPhone with translation apps that I can use to assist me if necessary but for the most part the tech just does what he needs to do in order to get my stuff working again! And you know what, within 15 minutes he had everything working!!!! My life is back to “normal” and I never thought I’d be so happy to have my lines of communication open again!

Take that Barcelona - I'm taking back my internet (and phone and cable)! 

Julie

Clase de español (Spanish class)

I'm starting this entry the night before I start my first Spanish class.  I know I've now been here for over a year but it's only been recently that I've felt good about the idea of committing to a Spanish class.  Until know I've been relying on my high school level language skills that hadn't been tapped in at least 15 years in addition to Rosetta Stone.  Don't get me wrong, I learned a ton from the Rosetta Stone - way more than I expected.  But I've lost my motivation to use it.  I literally fall asleep using it (perhaps a sign I shouldn't study while sitting on the couch).  In fact, I think what it comes down to is that I need a new challenge.

Barcelona is no longer scary to me.  I haven't cried in close to a year about our move.  I've built relationships, tackled challenges that at home would seem like cake walk.  I've seen more of the world than I'd seen in my 35 years of life.  And now it's time to move on - I need a new challenge and what better thing to start with than my language skills.  I'm at a plateau with my Spanish.  It's not great but not as horrible as others (ahem, Josh...).  It's come a long way in the last year.  But I've got a long way to go.

So when a new friend approached me about going to a class together I jumped at the opportunity.  This is what I need.  Not only a challenge but in a way, a competition.  I'll admit it, I'm competitive.  I'm sure that doesn't come as a surprise to most but I am.  And I've always been a classic over achiever.  So to be in a class where I have an opportunity to shine, yeah I'll take it.  I know I know... that sounds really egotistical, I'm aware.  But if that's what it takes for me to improve my Spanish skills then that's what I need to do.  I don't want to be the student that doesn't know the answer.  This is going to be my motivator - I want to be the most improved when the class is over. 

Now given that I don't know the skill level of my "competitors" this could really be a pointless thing - one extreme or the other.  And even I don't know what my skill level is - I'd like to think I'm at the higher end of beginner but not quite into intermediate???  But perhaps I'm doing better (or worse) than I thought.  I'm really curious about what the teacher will say when I step into class and she catches us up to speed (classes started mid last month) to see where I stand.  My vocabulary is pretty decent but my verbs are crap as are my tenses.  Don't ever ask me to translate something into past or future tense - everything happens in the present, that's it!  If I can learn the past and future tenses this class will be worth the time just for that!  Fingers crossed for tomorrow!!! 

*     *     *     *     *

Fast forward to Monday.  I've now had my first class.  I realized shortly before I went into my class that I have not actually taken a course of any kind since my college days.  That's a really really (ok, don't want to age myself too much) long time ago.  Seminars just don't count.  Today was part of a catch up class because the actual course started in January.  So it was just myself and my friend who has more of a French background than a Spanish one (and by background I meant that we took these classes in high school). 

The teacher was good - she spoke only in Spanish and was very clear with her words, that is when she wasn't chewing on her nails.  Yes, she was chewing on her nails during the class.  Gross!  But despite that, I liked her.  I did feel that the class was a bit scattered - never did she ask us how much Spanish we spoke, give us any kind of test to determine our level, etc.  She just started speaking in Spanish and expected us to keep up and really just jumped around.  My poor friend who had little Spanish - I felt bad as I'm sure she was a bit overwhelmed and I would have been if I had been in the same boat.  However, I will admit that it did build up my confidence a bit that I knew the majority (not all by far) of the answers to the questions she asked and I appreciated the opportunity to ask questions myself of things I had been unsure of and learned from it.  I can honestly admit I learned at least 4 things today and it was just a catch up class.  If that isn't success I don't know what is!  If I can learn 4 things each time I go, we'll call this class a winner.  Oh, but I can't make the next class due to a scheduling conflict with Aidan's teachers... hmmmm...ok I guess I'll have to learn 8 things in the following class, right?  That might be asking a bit much...

So far so good though and I made it thru the 2 hours with no problem - the time actually flew by much faster than I anticipated which is good.  I'm actually looking forward to my next class!  The big test is going to be when they throw us into the class that's already been running for a few weeks and see if we sink or swim!

Julie

Relationships of an Ex-Pat

Relationships change - it's a given.  Over time they evolve.  People come into your life and at the same time others are leaving.  We all grow and sometimes our friends grow in the same direction and sometimes they don't - for those that don't, sometimes the relationship still works, sometimes it doesn't. 

Various events have changed those relationships over time.  In high school we all moved on to various colleges.  Some of us stayed in touch, some haven't.  In some ways, leaving for college was a good way to reinvent one's self and define what characteristics make a good friend.  With the advent of Facebook I've certainly reconnected with many old friends (and some who weren't friends) from high school but I can count on one hand how many really good friends I have from my childhood - Josh would say quite the opposite as he has many friends still from high school.

In college we forged friendships based on our common interests or who lived in our dorm or shared classes with.  Josh and I both went Greek so in addition to our college friends we had another subgroup that consisted of our fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, many of which are still close friends.  When we graduated from college, many of us stayed close to the Boston area, living in the MetroWest.  But even those relationships have changed - many of us got married, some had kids, some haven't... we've all moved to the burbs or even to different states (and for us, different countries).  We went from seeing each other weekly to if we are lucky, yearly, some even longer.  But we've stayed in touch better than I can say I did with my high school friends.

And from there our relationships became those we forged in the town we live in, more specifically our neighborhood.  These are people that came from all walks of life, worked in various occupations and had all different interests.  Some of these friendships started off because a bunch of us had dogs and we'd do dog playdates (oh how far we've come), then we started having kids all at the same time.  And after 10 years in the same house, some of our kids play together and some do not, some go to the same schools, etc etc - our friendships for the most part have remained solid.  And then we moved...

I was really worried about leaving my neighborhood friends when we moved to Spain and how that would affect our friendships.  After 10 years of living so close to one another, we were a bit like the Stepford Wives at times I'm sure... and as one of my friends here calls it, "Julie-ville" where everyone knows your name:)  As our high school and college relationships had evolved, it was time for our neighborhood ones to as well.  They were all so supportive (and still are) of our move and this chance in life that we needed to take. However, one of the things I've learned about my relationships is that it doesn't matter how often you see someone to be close to them.  Some of my best friends I haven't actually laid eyes on in two or more years based on our locations (and this is before we moved abroad).

So that takes me to my ex-pat friends.  How are these relationships any different from those I've forged my entire life.  Well for one, we all know that someday we are leaving.  It's funny because there was no guarantee I'd stay in my house in Attleboro forever, but at the same time, it was never a consideration in my mind about how much time and effort I put into a friendship because someday they might leave me.  But here, I actually think about that. 

When we moved here I realized that I had to create friendships from scratch.  I didn't have my regular circle of friends here in the flesh to support me and so it was like starting all over again.  How much time did I want to invest for what was then a 2 year journey?  Would these people stay my friends forever or were they just temporary?  And knowing that some of them were already partway thru their own journeys would they want to invest their remaining time with me or see it as a waste since they are leaving in 6 months, a year, etc? 

It was the first time in my life that I felt I based my relationships off needs rather than wants, at least initially.  What did I need from a friend here?  Could I survive without my support system of friends here?  Sure they were supporting me from abroad but would they be able to help me here?  And how would I meet these people?  In the end, I've met a lovely group of women - some spouses of Josh's co-workers, some that I've met thru school, some that I've met just thru common interests. And in my 13 months here, those relationships didn't happen instantaneously.  They started off as friendly acquaintences and have slowly evolved over the last year where I think I can truly call some of them my friends which makes me feel good since to be honest in the beginning, I was unsure of broadening my horizons beyond my friends at home.  These are people that I believe I will actually stay in touch with when the time comes to move on from Barcelona (and no, Josh, not to Australia). 
But eventually I knew I would have to be faced with my first friend leaving.  And it's happened within the last few weeks.  It hit me harder than I expected because not only have I invested myself into this relationship but I am truly going to miss having her around and being able to go for lunch, dinner or just a coffee.  But I've come to the realization that with a true friend, no matter how long you have been friends, you can keep in touch and stay friends forever... or so I hope! 

And this is where the relationships of an ex-pat gets put to the test.  We come in and out of people's lives like a revolving door and what it comes down to is these friendships are different than my other friendships.  It doesn't make them better / worse, just different.  We have a common interest unlike anything else I have ever experienced.  Moving to a new country can be traumatic and no matter what your friends at home say or do, they just can't understand what you are going thru like someone who has actually gone thru the same things.  And so I'm thankful to have my friends here AND my friends from home - without all of you, I wouldn't be where I am today - content, happy and warm (it's 65 here today - sorry to rub that in Boston friends!) and missing each and everyone one of my peeps at home but enjoying the time I have here before it's time for us to move along too.

Next up... Spanish class starts on Monday. Stay tuned!

Julie