Last Two Months - Saying Good-bye

The hardest part about leaving Barcelona is saying good-bye to all the amazing people that we came to know.   It seemed like the month of June was just one big farewell.  Too bad Barcelona is so far from Detroit, we will definitely miss the friends we made in Spain.

ASB Spanish Class group.  Some of us were together for 3 years!

We had so many great Spanish class lunches, this was officially my last class

Farewell lunch with Ann Long, Karen Hausch, Christine Lee and Gorana Ilijev

Farewell picnic with members of the Cornellá Ward

Mis amigas del barrio, our last dinner party

Ciara's friends Noelia and Maria Belen

We will miss all the singing and dancing (well maybe not all of us)

Last picture with the Cornellà high-priest group

Rylan having a farewell with his school friends

Cole's farewell with his school friends

The last youth activity in the pool at La Mallola

The kids with Angel, who always remembered their names, even their middle names

Lunch with my favourite couple, Socorro and Americo

Dinner out with our Barcelona Brazilian Japanese friends

Masumi and Adrianna (well at least we all look Japanese)

Celebrating Maricarmen's birthday the night before we left Spain.  Bishop Gil drove us to the airport the next morning 

Last Two Months - Visit to Montserrat

Two weeks before we left Spain, we got a surprise visit from some old friends, Maria and Patrick D'vaz.  We met for dinner at Arenas near Plaça Espanya and then invited them to come to Montserrat with us the next day.  Bob had actually never been and it is one of the most famous landmarks of Catalunya.  Montserrat is a small mountain range north of Barcelona famous for its interesting shape, rounded peaks caused by errosion.  It also has religious significance because in 880 AD a group of shepherd children saw a bright light descending over the Monserrat mountains and heard angels singing.  Later religious elders went to the cave where the children saw the vision and found an image of the Virgin Mary.  The Virgin Mary of Montserrat is different from traditional depictions of Mary in that she is black.  In the Basilica there is a statue where pilgrims and tourists line up to catch a glimpse of the Black Virgin and ask from her blessings. 

Dinner with the D'Vazs at El Mussol

View of Montserrat from the monastery 

We hiked down to the Holy Grotto where the image of the Virgin Mary was seen.

Last Two Months - Futbol and Football

During our last two years in Spain, Cole enjoyed playing soccer with the school team at the American School of Barcelona and Rylan enjoyed playing flag football.  I wish that all my kids would have embraced soccer, since it is such an important part of Spanish culture.  Cole really became obsessed with the sport.  His love for soccer really defined his time in Spain.  Our last year, he played soccer almost every day and as a result he became quite good at it and it helped him to make friends in the neighbourhood.  Rylan also excelled in flag football, but it is not a very well known sport in Spain, so there were limited opportunities for him to play.

It was nice for Cole to win the MVP trophy at the end of the season for being the top scorer on his team.

Cole receiving the MVP award

Cole's team

Rylan's flag football team

 

Last Two Months - Parc del Centre del Poblenou and Collserola

 June 5th, 2017

I had passed by Parc del Centre del Poblenou on occasion while zipping down Diagonal and always thought it looked interesting, but never had the opportunity to stop and check it out.  It was a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon and so I decided to take the kids to explore this park because with less than a month left in Barcelona, we would likely not get the opportunity again.  We were not disappointed, the park has really unique design features and play structures.

Cool loungers for enjoying the shade

Interesting circular garden at one end of the park

Another chair for sitting back

An art installation in the park

One of the entrances to the park

Some spinning chair

A metal igloo for climbing

A garden refuge

That evening we decided to climb up Collserola hill near our house and talk about our experience in Spain.  This was one of the first places we came to when we moved to Barcelona, and it was nice to come back and look over the city and remember what we did over the past 3 years.

Last Two Months: International Day at ASB

June 4th, 2016

This year, it was difficult finding support for the Japan table at the ASB International Day.  It seemed like all the people that had helped with the Japan table in years past, were helping with other tables or were out of town.  Fortunately I was able to get help from Midori and her husband Jaume.  They went above and beyond expectations by preparing and cooking 20Kg of yakitori in the scorching hot sun.  It was a big hit, much better than the curry rice we served for the past two years.

The Japan table hosts

A foam party

Cole covered in foam 

Ciara performing with the ASB Lynx cheerleaders

Last Two Months: Palau de la Música Catalana

May 31st, 2016

We could not leave Spain without going to a concert at the Palau de la Música which is one of the most famous modernist buildings in the city of Barcelona.  The Palau de la Música was designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner between 1903 and 1905. 

Bob and I saw the Barcelona Guitar Trio and Dance, a tribute to Paco de Lucia.  It was an amazing concert.  Definitely one of the highlights of my 3 years in Spain.  It's the combination of being in such an incredible building, listening to beautiful guitar music and also watching passionate flamenco dancers that made the experience so memorable for me.  It was a reminder of everything that I love and will miss about Spain. 

A promotional video clip from the concert

The exterior of the Palau de la Música 

Inside the grand concert hall

Last two months: La Bisbal d'Empordà

May 27th, 2016

One of my favourite places in Spain, is the little town of La Bisbal d'Empordà which is about 1.5 hours from Barcelona by car on the Costa Brava. This town is famous for pottery, and you can spend an entire day browsing through the dozens of pottery shops.  Don't spend all your money at the first shop, as prices will vary from shop to shop so it's best to look through a few shops before committing.  Friday is also public market day when the downtown core is filled with vendors selling fruits and vegetables, houseware, clothing and just about anything else, local and imported.  Definitely worth the detour if you are headed down Costa Brava as it is only about 20 km from the beaches.  Also I highly recommend the restaurant where we stopped to grab some lunch.  It is called Cafeteria Bisbal Park, the patatas bravas were really good and the prices were very reasonable. 

Lunch break with Christine, Gorana, Karen and Manju

A pottery shop 

Lots of colourful pottery

Too much to choose from

Last Two Months: Girona

Monday May 16th was a holiday in Spain, la segunda pascua, or the second Easter.  Easter is such a big holiday in Spain, I guess they need to celebrate it twice.  Bob was traveling in the US, but the kids had no school so I decided to plan a little excursion to Girona and bring along Charo (my long-time visiting teaching companion) and her husband Angel.  Both Charo and Angel have been so kind to our family ever since we moved to Barcelona.  I was glad that we could take them out for the day.

I packed up the kids in the van and we picked up Charo and Angel and set off for Girona.  It was only an hour and 15min and we found free parking near the centre of the city.  I didn't realize that we were arriving the day after the Temps de Flors, a very famous festival in Girona where different artists and organizations decorate the city with giant floral arrangements.  We were fortunate to be able to see many of the floral arrangements before the city workers started dismantling them.

We started our tour of Girona at Plaça Catalunya where we climbed up to the medieval wall that used to protect city.  It is a great way to see the city from up high.  The kids really enjoyed walking along the wall and climbing up the towers.   We ended up at the Catedral de Girona which is surrounded by beautiful gardens and we walked through the commercial district back to Plaça Catalunya.

It was a beautiful day, and I promised the kids that we would go to the beach so we headed over to Playa D'Aro to grab some lunch and then went to the beach.  Of course this is mid May and the water was way too cold for most Spanish people.  I think that Rylan was the only one that actually went swimming. Charo and Angel enjoyed walking along the coast.  Costa Brava still has to be our favourite place to visit in Spain.

Charo and I inside a flower arrangement at the Jardin de la Infancia

Walking along Girona's fortified wall

view of the city inside the wall

View of the city outside of the wall

Jardins del Alemanys (German Gardens)

Strange floral display inside the German Gardens

Gardens around the Catedral

Floral display near the Catedral

Giant ants in a park in Playa D'Aro

Sant Pol beach

Rylan caught some really transparent jellyfish