Happy 2007 !!

We had a very quiet new year's eve. We had nothing planned, and the girls stayed with their cousins for the night at my mother in law so in the end, we decided to go for a walk. We strolled down the old part of town, where I used to live when I was single. Most restaurants were closed, even Le Bistrot, our favourite spot when we were dating. It's a very nice restaurant, halfway up these stairs:


As you can see, the streets were empty!
In the end, we went to a Japanese restaurant. We had some wine,
salad, Okonomiyaki (the round thing), Karai Sake Maki (salmon sushi), another "maki sushi" (can't remember which) and ice cream with chocolate.

Silly toys

I bought this "baby bouncer" or whatever it's called, when Alicia was only a baby. It never worked with her, never liked it. Cristina seemed to like it a bit more, but wasn't so thrilled either. You have all sorts of toys and artifacts for kids, and so many of them are just useless and silly. I recorded this with my camera when she was only 4 months. The sound didn't work, but since she didn't talk yet, it's ok :-)

My life in the United States

One of the greatest experiences of my life was studying in the United States as an exchange student. Not only because I had the chance to learn English, but because I experienced living as a foreign person, and that’s a humbling and enriching experience in many ways. My host family was/is really nice and we still keep in touch. Actually, they’ve visited my family in Spain twice alredy, and hope they’ll be coming in years to come. I was only 17 then, in my senior year in high school, in San Francisco. I was very very shy then and mostly, I kept to myself. Most of the Americans I met were nice, friendly and open. I have to say, though, that my classmate’s knowledge of the world in general was quite poor. Being from Spain, I belonged to a big Hispanic sort of Disneyland where we all eat burritos all day. And I’m not kidding. Everyone seemed to assume I had been to Acapulco, knew someone in Buenos Aires, and my last name should be Gonzalez. Even my host family prepared a spicy meal the first day I was in SF, since they thought I was used to eating burritos and tacos. I wasn’t, in fact I had never had Mexican food before, and I had a hard time pretending I liked it. Among the nice things I “discovered” while living there were:

In the food category:
1-Pancakes and Maple syrup (those huge breakfasts! My whole family would eat with a single American breakfast!)
2-Chocolate fudge cake
3-Ketchup (it has become more popular in Spain over the years)
4-Kimchi (my host family had 3 adopted korean children)
5-Burritos

In the social/cultural category:
1-People in general are more open. I think Catalan society and probably much of Spanish society is not so used to foreign people.
2-They really do research/investigation. The best doctors in Spain seem to end up there.
3-Hollywood. And I don’t mean teenage movies. If cinema was a Lumiere invention, it was actually developed in the United States as a form of entertainment and ART. Some of the best first directors were European but ended working there (Ernst Lubitsch, Joseph Manckievich...) So THANK YOU!
4-Rock and roll.
5-My husband insists that I should add Dream Theater.
6-Since he added his group, I'll add his most hated movie director: Woody Allen. (He thinks he's overrated)

In the political field:
1-Marshall Plan. Europe was rebuilt after WWII and actually, the war was won thanks to the US. (Sorry about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, though)
2-The first constitution (1776?? Sorry James, I forgot the year)
3-Individual freedom. Michael Moore can actually make a movie like Bowling for Columbine and everything's fine. He even won an Oscar!

The not so nice things:
1-George Bush.
2-George Bush senior
3-Did I mention George Bush?
4-Excessive foreign intervention.
5-Many people seem to think the US is the only free country on earth and the best by all means. To these type of people (I've known some) the world outside the US can be dark and sinister, jammed with dangers, potential terrorists and people chanting death to America. My advice would be, don't be so afraid, TRAVEL. You probably run a higher risk in the US with so many uncontrolled guns than in any other country.
6-If you are jobless, you don't have access to proper health/medical care. Health and education should not be linked to money!
7-McDonalds.
8-All the dictators planted in Latin America.
9-American football. (Sorry)

Anyway, I love the US! (just change your president, please)

Waiting for the wise men

Yes, on January 6th the Three Wise Men will visit our home, and leave all sorts of presents for the girls (one for me would be nice, too). They visit every year, since it's a major festivity all over Spain and in some Latin American countries. The kids behave their very best, because they know the Wise Men see everything!... In Spain this visit is carefully planned. The "kings" as they are known to children, parade on the streets with their servants and all kinds of stuff on the 5th, before dinner. It looks real and they are so impressed!! Sometimes one of their servants (pages would be the right word in English?) visits before the 6th of january to pick the letters the kids have written with their "list" of gifts. The little ones are usually quite scared. I don't blame them. Some are really sophisticated looking but others look quite ...odd. Like this one:



I don't know about you, but I wouldn't sit on his lap. My almost 2 year old didn't like him either! He actually visited her nursery school!. He is what we call the "white king". The second is the "not so white king". Kind of Arab looking. And the third one is the "black king". When I was little there was no immigration from Africa, and since black people were an oddity where I live, the black king actually had his face "painted" and looked really black. They didn't bother with brown paint! Here's the "not so white" king (we call it ros, in Catalan) parading on the streets of Barcelona, with journalists and stuff. You see how real this gets!



PD: I did some research. Jesus wasn't born on December 25th, or January 6th. We don't know, do we? And the Bible only talks about some "magu" (wise men) visiting Jesus, but we don't know if they were three or five, or twelve. So the Church actually mixed pagan winter festivities with religion to make it a big festivity!

PD 2: Feel free to correct my English! I post fast and don't have that much time!

Merry Christmas!! Bon Nadal!!! Feliz Navidad!!!...............

Lessons from a 4 year old...

We were late for school. One of the two elevators in the building wasn’t working. I cursed: Collons!!!
Later, A said from the backseat: “Mom, why did you say Collons”
Nuri: “I was angry. I know I shouldn’t…”
A: “Next time, just say: this elevator is not working, let’s try the other one…”

She

It looks idyllic, don’t you think?. It’s a nice place. A nice house, with a big garden, an orchard and a tiny tiny farm. It’s where my in-laws live, and we visit every Saturday. Physically, it’s such a nice place. But…it’s not really relaxing. My in-laws, and especially Marshal woman, believe in hard work, cleaning, and nothing else. And their home is the NO house. There’s so many things on the NOT to do list that it makes it hard to have a nice time, and sometimes it looks more like a museum. Kids and adults are to follow the same rules there. NO hands on walls (they’re white and your dirty fingers would spoil them); NO hands on doors (fingerprints); NO eating outside the dining room (bread crumbs are terrifying); NO leaving the table until everyone has finished everything on the plate. NO touching the heating system. Their thermostat reads 14 degrees celsius (57.2 fahrenheit). If it’s colder than that, it will turn on. If not… well, you freeze. Of course, everyone knows that and we all dress accordingly on Saturday. My sister in law told me once that when she was still in school and was studying at home, if she complained that she was too cold to turn the pages of her book her mom would say: “put your gloves on”. Great. Today I just discovered another NO. We were in the living room and it was quite sunny so I drew the curtains.
Enter Marshal woman: “Who drew the curtains?”
Nuri: “I did…”
Marshal woman: “Ok, if it’s just for today…”
I guess I looked puzzled so she added her logical explanation: “the sun might discolour them”. Great.
Another side to her personality. She’s so stingy sometimes it makes me angry. And it’s not that they don’t have money. With Christmas approaching, she asked me what the girls might like. She made it clear she doesn’t plan to waste more than half an hour shopping, you see, buying toys it’s not in her “pleasant things to do” list.
Nuri: “Well, if you want, I alredy bought a game of playdoh for A, it’s wrapped and you wouldn’t have to go anywhere”.
Marshal woman: “Perfect. Tell me the price and I’ll give you the money”.
Nuri: “It was a bit expensive, about 40 euros” (I know her, I was preparing her for the shock)
Marshal woman: “errr…. And what about puzzles, does A like puzzles?”

Another bit of conversation, this time with my husband:
She: “L, is there anything you need for Christmas?”
Him: “Well, a pair of trousers would be good”
She: “No, not that”.
Him: “Ok then, I also need a pair of shoes”
She: “No, not that.”

Later I asked him, “so what did you agree on?” And he said: “Nothing. I guess I’ll get another pajama.”

She’s a teacher, and her profession has permeated her personality so much I think she feels all of us are in her school. The kids are either afraid or hypnotised. Today my 2 year old had lunch with us (she usually eats sooner and has her nap) so Marshal woman had a chance to teach her too. “C, not with your fingers, use your fork to eat those macaroni!” C looked at her, she had one macaroni on her left hand and the fork on her right, and she actually left it on the plate and used her fork, with her eyes fixed on grandma. She doesn’t dare disobey her…. Yet. Nor do we.

Àvia i néta... Nadal 2005
(my mother and my little daughter, last Christmas)

Husband, sleeping with an unknown dinosaur...

Traditions: the Tió

Here’s a picture of me (on the right), my brother and sister when we were kids, celebrating a tradicional festivity, the Tió. I have no idea how this translates.
The Tió is celebrated on Christmas Eve and it dates back centuries ago (I know that’s not very accurate, but I’m no historian). After dinner, kids gather close to the fire, where we place the Tió, which is a humanized Log. Like this pic:


He’s usually covered with a blanked so that he doesn’t get a cold, but the real use of the blanket is to hide the presents. Kids are sent to another room to recite Christmas verses, because that’s what the Tió likes. Then they go back and hit (yes hit) the Tió with sticks chanting “caga tió, caga turró, si no en tens més, caga diners”. Now, the translation will not be very nice because the Tió is supposed to “shit” the presents. Quite scatological, yes. I hope I don’t offend some sensibilities here. Then they remove the blanket and Oh SURPRISE, there’s presents. This ceremony is repeated again and again until the presents run out. We call it “Caga Tió” (making the Tió shit). Mmm. Definately not classy, but the kids love it.