HOLA!!!!

Just A Really Quick Note!!!

Yes, I am alive. Yes, I am having too much fun. Yes I will actually write something tomorrow (my first none busy day in TWO WEEKS!!!)

HUGS, anna :)

Girona!

I really cannot say enough about the history that every corner of this country has! Its incredible.... This past weekend we went to Girona, medieval village about an hour and a half outside of the Barcelona. Central to the city is the Catedral, gorgeous, typically middle ages, and with an incredible collection of art. Girona Cathedral, apparently has the widest Gothic nave in the world and houses the Tapís de la Creació (Tapestry of the Creation), a very rare 11t- century tapestry depicting the creation of the world, the months of the year and Biblical characters. My friend Simone and I had some fun times with the tapestry... Some of the characters are just sooooo funny looking. The Cathdral is really old and it has a little area for about 20 different saints. The outside is beautiful and everything was quite peaceful--- Barbara and I lit a candle so I feel good about that. We left it at the cross with Jesus. That sounds kinda weird. Anyways, the day was nice, we walked around and saw the sights, ate at a really nice touristy cafe and meandered along the riverside. It was pretty gorgeuos but then it started to rain so we decided to catch the train home. Okay. Pictures.

The bridge and the river all lined by colorful apartments and stores. We walked to the city center and the first thing that Monika did was go into a purse store and by two bags! Its so her!

The second is the back entrance to the cathedral. Its a gorgeous example of medieval building.

This is just some statue dude inside the museo. I thought he looked pretty mellow so I took a "dude" picture with him. Simone was all embarrassed...

The entrance to the cathedral. Its pretty detailed and I was impressed at the way the building has held up so well.

All things Dali and Castellars

I don't know if this color will show up all that well, but let's try it out shall we? Okay, so finalmente we shall see the weekend Figueres daytrip and the Dali Museum. Yay! So I made the girls wake up and meet around 8 because we were going to try to get to Cadaques, this little fisherman's pueblo about 45 minutes away from Figueres.... Therefore we needed the full day to make time for the trips... well, we ended up not having the correct timetable and we missed the bus. Booooooo..... (Hey Nate, How Disappointing!) So the girls were pissed but really, how could I have known???? Lol :) We still managed to have a good time and explore...

The back entrance was cooler then the front so we. Creepy statues are always the best way to be greeted. We took pictures before the time got to the girls and they got grouchy... tee hee.

The Dali is actually entombed at the museo! Ummmm, okay.......... At first I thought it was a random plaque or adornment or something but then I realized what it actually was and I was intrigued. Do you think that he's laughing at all of the tourists?

The feet are part of the coolist ceiling mural that I have ever seen. My favorite thing about Dali is his ability to use these incredibly vibrant colors and awkward perspectives.

The staircase was nifty.... but I think that the girls were not in the mood for pictures. The heart thing is actually art that Dali made out if jewels. Its gold and rubies and mechanized so the little ruby encrusted heart in the center actually beats. Pretty and strange....

Soooooo, that's the other entrance to the building of the museum. Its got eggs on it. I like eggs. Also, we wandered around the little town following the cool signs that they put up for tourists and we spied one that said Dali's Childhood home and pointed in some direction. We followed it and were struck with hilarity when we came upon a little plaque slapped onto the front of a building that said, "This is where Dali was born." Well, there was other information put you get the gist. We laughed till we cried. It was so funny.

This past weekend was Festa Major and we went to see Castellars, which are human towers. You've seen them fall on Maximum Exposure and other such ridiculous 'Max' shows that the FOX network seems to love so much. I was amazed! And terrified....

Tah - Dah!!!!!

Okay, okay, so apparently I lied.... No three days in a row for me. Instead its a week later and I still have a ton of stuff to show and tell. Sometimes I just do not know where the time goes... So let's see, ummmm I'll show you my place, co-workers and offices.

Since I only have like a minute left I'll finish up quick. The first picture is of the office that I go to when I am with the social worker and I'm working on the study about the whole organization. I'm actually almost finished!!!! Yay, alot of boring hard work went into what is actually quite a small study! But I'm happy to say that my work will be presented in conjunction with grant proposals to the Generalitat... pretty cool. The second two are the association headquarters. Its bright and cheery and wheelchair accessible. You can see Carme the admin assistant and Maria the boss. Last week the ladies gave me a gift to remember my time in Barcelona! It was a book on Gaudi's influence on the city with lots of pictures. That's everyone there, Carme, Maria, Me, Anna and Eli..... Eli is the journalist who does the bimonthly review mag. They are all super sweet and they don't make fun of my horrible grammer and vocabulary so what more could I have asked for in coworkers? Ciao!

Random Tiempo...

I have a few minutes so I'll just tell you about the Tuesday that Monica and I decided to explore the area around the Sagrada Familia and nearly walked ourselves to death! She and I decided to do a little sight seeing (for my sake really, but she was happy to do it with someone who would be ridiculous and take the pictures she never did...) So, we go to the Sagrada...its weird. I think that it really isn't that spectacular; really more of a spectacular mess if you ask me. There are some incredibly interesting carvings and statues but I wasn't awed. Whatever, it was nice. Next we walked a little further down and saw that Hospital San Pau. Gorgeous! I can't believe that a building (well many buildings to be exact) that ornate is still a working hospital. All the different parts are interconnected underground. It would be a nice place to work... fer shure (lol). Then, because we are geniuses, we decided to walk to the Parc Guell, the park with all of Gaudi's art and stuff.... It didn't look that far on the map. NOTE TO ALL: Whenever you find yourself saying that it doesn't look too far on the map then really it is. Really, really, really far. We found that out the hard way and walked about an hour (straight uphill the entire time), through some random neighborhood and up an overgrown alleyway path that probably hasn't been used since the early 1800's until we at last stumbled upon the Parc Guell. It was exhausting! But worth it. The park itself is beautiful and the day was a little overcast so I got some really cool pictures. So there is my little story and here are a few pictures, cause hey, that's what I do. :)

La Familia Sagrada....

Hospital San Pau....

Parc Guell....and me in the caves looking crazy from exhaustion and thirst....

There's a bunch of stuff at the Parc Guell... a mosaic bench that you can see a panoramic view of the city from, which is held up by these really crazy pillars underneath... There are random pieces of art, including the lizard everywhere.... We'll see if I can send the picture in for a Geico ad.... lol... no, really. Not really. Maybe.

So, there it is.... Just a day in the life. I will attempt to go online for the third day in a row (a new record) and tell you all about the Dali museum and Figueres... Maybe even show you all where I work, I know, I've been saying that forever!!!!!

¿Que Tal?

What is happening and all that jazz with everyone? I know, it was a long week for me and the new one is just beginning! Are you ready for a new entry??? (Loud cheering and general stupid remarks...) I realize that I'm really not that good of a typist after reviewing some of my previous entries so I promise to use the stupid spellcheck if I have some time leftover after posting pics today.... I really think that the pictures help say more for me then just writing about it... Besides, when I see all of youse guys again, its all I'm gonna talk about, so be prepared.

What has happenend??? Well, I think that I can barely remember but I'll try to all the same!

The end of the month came and we had to say goodbye to Nina... She was my outdoorsy roomie and we had some good times trying to find our way into the humongous cemetary near (or in) the park. Though we never made it, the walks and random discoveries were always fun. We had a little dinner and meant to go out dancing or something afterwards but ended up staying in and hanging out (more because other members of the party had partied too hard a few days before and were still feeling the effects... oh, so funny).... That's me being stupid and trying to pull off the Buddy Jesus thing... Frederico recognized it, so it wasn't all bad :)

The day after on Saturday we had to stay in and clean and prepare the rooms for the new people and we said our good-byes to the beautiful Nina. That night we went to Barbara's piso for internet use after a delicious meal at the coolest Japanese restauraunt I have ever been to. The food was soooooo good that I could barely walk afterwards. I never knew that there was so much more to the Japanese cuisine then sushi and sashimi and whatever other raw stuff that's out there! We created MSN accounts for myself and Barbara so we could talk during the down time at our internships; too bad I don't have the internet!

Sunday was a nice slow day... Monica, Barbara y yo visited the Monister Pedralbes in the north part of Barcelona. It was so beautiful and quiet, just the sort of tranquility I needed that morning. The bus ride was pretty long but worth it. Plus, it was the first Sunday of the month, so the entrance was gratis! Can't beat free :) I was being goofy and pretending to pull the bell at the front of the monestary.... The girls took the picture then walked away really quickly!!! Even I have to admit though, I look like a real idiot. Lol.

After a nice long time at the monastary, we hiked through the city (with no shade to be found ANYWHERE!!!!) and found our way over to another park where there is a ceramics and decor museo where the queen once lived. The same queen who commissioned the monastary actually! Ah, those folk who like to buy their way into heaven. :) We passed a park that was like an homage to Gaudi with a really cool dragon/lizard gate at the entrance. I was trying to get high up enough to put my head in the monster's mouth, but shorty that I am couldn't even come close! The park and the building were really gorgeous but as Monika said the ceramics and museum were "Bonito pero aburrido!" We headed back to the center of the city where we checked out the sales and then ended the day with STARBUCKS!!!!! Yay! My first (and probably only) frappucino in Barcelona. Yes I took a picture, it was delicious.

Now I have to find time to put up pictures of my workplace and the weekend in Figueres, the city that lives and breathes all things Dali! I hope that everyone is doing fine and is happy and healthy and I miss you all!!!! BTW, Happy Belated 4th of the July... My american roomie and I shared a watermelon. It seemed pretty celebratory. :)