Rounding out the last week in Barcelona
Day 23:
Today was Worker´s Day (similar to Labor Day) so we didn´t have school. In the morning I went to see the Sagrada Familia with three other WKU students. The Sagrada Familia is constantly under construction since the design created by Gaudi wasn´t finished in his lifetime. It is a very complicated and intricate design with a lot of symbolism related to Christianity as well as the Catholic church.
My favorite part of the Sagrada Familia was definitely the windows. They were breath-taking. A picture could not ever capture the light and the colors coming through these windows. However...I took some anyway!
Afterwards, I met my family to go to a park near the Tibidabo.
We hiked up an insane hill....
...but we were rewarded with a fantastic view of Barcelona.
For lunch we had tapas and a sandwhich.
Tapas are essentially appetizers, and they are very popular in Spain. When you get together you order several tapas and everyone shares. You have a little of this and a little of that. It is a very social way of eating.
Day 24:
After school, I went to Sarai´s house before bible study. We talked, skyped Jesus laughed a lot, and had some really good food.
Day 25: Barcelona's April Fair
Sevillanas is a dance that originated in the city of Sevilla. The women where beautiful dresses and dance. We went to the April Fair which is sort of like a re-creation of Sevilla in Barcelona. I had an opportunity to demonstrate just how poorly I can dance Sevillanas as seen in this video:
Now...let me explain something. There are four parts to the Sevillanas dance and I only learned the first part. The video that you see above...is of the second, third, and fourth parts....so needless to say I have no idea what I´m doing. It was neat to watch and fun to do regardless of my lack of ability.
I felt like a real Spanish person during this festival because of the social activities we did. As you walk around, you see lots of tents.
When I entered one of the tents with my family, I saw dancing and heard music. We ordered some tapas and ate while we watched the dancers. Then we danced some and moved to the next tent where this was repeated.
In another part of the festival, there were rides similar to a fair. I rode a couple with Oscar. WHOO HOOO
Day 26: Exploring Born, the gothic part of the city, the Cathedral, and the beach.
I went for a four hour walk through Barcelona with my host mother. I will tell you something...I have started to love walking especially in a place like Barcelona! It is beautiful and I really get to know the city. I definitely think it is the best way to see Barcelona if you ever come.
Born:
Something interesting I learned was that lots of the streets in the old part of the city were named after particular items that were located or sold on that street. For example there was the cheese street, shoe street, and even bathroom street (of course in Catalan not English).
Gothic Part:
The Beach: I haven´t been to a beach since I was around 10 years old...so this was quite a treat and even though the water was cold I had to at least stick my feet in it.
While I was walking around with my host mother, I asked her where is the most expensive place to live in Barcelona. So later that night she took me driving to where those homes were located. In Barcelona there are mostly apartment buildings; however, in this part there were only houses. Apparently these houses have everything including swimming pools, tennis courts, museums, etc. depending of the interests of the owners.
Then we saw the cathedral where my host parents were married.
Day 27: Worship and Parc de la Ciutadella
For all of my Christian followers, I would like to explain what worship is like in Barcelona. It is very similar to what we do at home (as far as I can tell with my limited Spanish knowledge), but there are some slight differences.
The first difference is order. They start with worship and finish with bible study. So at 11 we begin our worship service. We read scripture, sing, and pray.
Then three different men give short talks before they take the unleavened bread, fruit of the vine, and give. I like this because it seems that all of the men put a lot of thought into the portion of the service they were assigned to conduct. It didn´t seem routine or lackluster but fervent and thoughtful.
The sermon is given by different men each week. Since we have been coming, some of the men have prepared bilingual powerpoints. I felt so grateful that they were willing to go out of the way to help us understand and participate easier in worship. God´s people are truly amazing. It is an example of sacrificing time and energy to serve fellow Christians. God bless them. I have thoroughly enjoyed and feel incredibly blessed to have been able to get to know the Christians in Barcelona. I ask that you all pray for them and thank God for them. I will miss seeing them every Sunday and Thursday.
After worship is ususally bible study; however, this Sunday it was a prayer service since it was the first Sunday of the month. I love the idea of a monthly prayer service. They had a powerpoint outlining what different men will be praying for. It was wonderful to talk to God through prayer.
Then some of the young people went to Parc de la Ciutadella to have a picnic lunch.
Day 28: Last day at RMSI
Today was Worker´s Day (similar to Labor Day) so we didn´t have school. In the morning I went to see the Sagrada Familia with three other WKU students. The Sagrada Familia is constantly under construction since the design created by Gaudi wasn´t finished in his lifetime. It is a very complicated and intricate design with a lot of symbolism related to Christianity as well as the Catholic church.
My favorite part of the Sagrada Familia was definitely the windows. They were breath-taking. A picture could not ever capture the light and the colors coming through these windows. However...I took some anyway!
Afterwards, I met my family to go to a park near the Tibidabo.
We hiked up an insane hill....
...but we were rewarded with a fantastic view of Barcelona.
For lunch we had tapas and a sandwhich.
Tapas are essentially appetizers, and they are very popular in Spain. When you get together you order several tapas and everyone shares. You have a little of this and a little of that. It is a very social way of eating.
It was so relaxing.
Day 24:
After school, I went to Sarai´s house before bible study. We talked, skyped Jesus laughed a lot, and had some really good food.
Yummy desserts
Hello Jesus!
Day 25: Barcelona's April Fair
Sevillanas is a dance that originated in the city of Sevilla. The women where beautiful dresses and dance. We went to the April Fair which is sort of like a re-creation of Sevilla in Barcelona. I had an opportunity to demonstrate just how poorly I can dance Sevillanas as seen in this video:
Now...let me explain something. There are four parts to the Sevillanas dance and I only learned the first part. The video that you see above...is of the second, third, and fourth parts....so needless to say I have no idea what I´m doing. It was neat to watch and fun to do regardless of my lack of ability.
Watching the dancers
I felt like a real Spanish person during this festival because of the social activities we did. As you walk around, you see lots of tents.
When I entered one of the tents with my family, I saw dancing and heard music. We ordered some tapas and ate while we watched the dancers. Then we danced some and moved to the next tent where this was repeated.
In another part of the festival, there were rides similar to a fair. I rode a couple with Oscar. WHOO HOOO
Day 26: Exploring Born, the gothic part of the city, the Cathedral, and the beach.
I went for a four hour walk through Barcelona with my host mother. I will tell you something...I have started to love walking especially in a place like Barcelona! It is beautiful and I really get to know the city. I definitely think it is the best way to see Barcelona if you ever come.
Born:
Something interesting I learned was that lots of the streets in the old part of the city were named after particular items that were located or sold on that street. For example there was the cheese street, shoe street, and even bathroom street (of course in Catalan not English).
Gothic Part:
The Cathedral
The Beach: I haven´t been to a beach since I was around 10 years old...so this was quite a treat and even though the water was cold I had to at least stick my feet in it.
While I was walking around with my host mother, I asked her where is the most expensive place to live in Barcelona. So later that night she took me driving to where those homes were located. In Barcelona there are mostly apartment buildings; however, in this part there were only houses. Apparently these houses have everything including swimming pools, tennis courts, museums, etc. depending of the interests of the owners.
Then we saw the cathedral where my host parents were married.
Day 27: Worship and Parc de la Ciutadella
For all of my Christian followers, I would like to explain what worship is like in Barcelona. It is very similar to what we do at home (as far as I can tell with my limited Spanish knowledge), but there are some slight differences.
The first difference is order. They start with worship and finish with bible study. So at 11 we begin our worship service. We read scripture, sing, and pray.
Then three different men give short talks before they take the unleavened bread, fruit of the vine, and give. I like this because it seems that all of the men put a lot of thought into the portion of the service they were assigned to conduct. It didn´t seem routine or lackluster but fervent and thoughtful.
The sermon is given by different men each week. Since we have been coming, some of the men have prepared bilingual powerpoints. I felt so grateful that they were willing to go out of the way to help us understand and participate easier in worship. God´s people are truly amazing. It is an example of sacrificing time and energy to serve fellow Christians. God bless them. I have thoroughly enjoyed and feel incredibly blessed to have been able to get to know the Christians in Barcelona. I ask that you all pray for them and thank God for them. I will miss seeing them every Sunday and Thursday.
After worship is ususally bible study; however, this Sunday it was a prayer service since it was the first Sunday of the month. I love the idea of a monthly prayer service. They had a powerpoint outlining what different men will be praying for. It was wonderful to talk to God through prayer.
Then some of the young people went to Parc de la Ciutadella to have a picnic lunch.
Eating cheesecake ice cream-delicious!
At the park there was a beautiful fountain.
Then we went to the beach. It was beautiful.
Then we ate at this little hole-in-the-wall shop that had delicious food. Yumm....I can't tell you how delicious this was.
Day 28: Last day at RMSI
The 4th grade boys
3rd grade girls
3rd grade girls
The girls made a book for me where they drew pictures and wrote notes. Miss Laura got me two books abut Barcelona in English which will be a great addition to my classroom library in America.
After school we went to Park Guell with Rachel, her host family, and a couple of the students from one of my classes. Park Guell was designed by Gaudi and is beautiful (like everything in Barcelona).
Finally....a picture of all of the American teachers at RMSI
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