¡MÁS, MÁS!

Things you can never have too many of:

- Photos: as proven by the FB, fancy camera & digital age that we're in

- Socks & Undies

- Bobby pins: Those things disappear faster than Costco samples on a Saturday

- Blankets in your house: Slumber party and spontaneous pic-nic/night adventure ready, all the time!

- Ethnic, Stevie Wonder and Radiohead songs on your iPod or iTunes. Duh

- Nutella: Os lo juro, you don't get that expected chocolate-coma stomach ache. Must be the hazelnut protein!

- Obvious ones: Smiles and hugs. I'd say kisses too, but, no one likes a dry, chapped snout

- Books in your personal library

- Humor

- Amor

- Reasons to love unconditionally

- Clean air and water

- Tortillas! (Kelly would probably say boots, too)

- Deck sessions and top floor terrace chillin'

- And a special shout out to Dave: Baseball

Tomorrow is: Friday! New home debut! April! Emmy T's birthday!
.It's all good.

THE DAILY

For lack of motivation to write a thorough and meaty post, I'd like to share what I've learned this week and other things that are just great, in list form:

· Students of 4º ESO (equivalent to sophomores in HS) taught me this: Born in Honolulu, USA is the 44th and current president of the Karli's country. The most typical food of my country is: Chicken, potatoes and cake.

· An adult student of mine, Antonio, has a watch worth 800 or 900€, he can't remember.

· It would be unwise to mix these words up, unless you like those awkward social moments: macaco/a, macoqui & macoca

· Spanish cava (sparkling wine), almost-kind of-not really the same as French champagne, is better because: if you open the bottle and can't finish it, no stress! Tomorrow it will just be wine, sans bubbles!

· The "Tooth Fairy" in Spain is: Ratón Perez: Perez the Mouse. In other words, the "character" who sneaks into the bedrooms of small children at night to touch their pillows and watch them sleep is:

Señor Perez Hilton the Mouse. Creeeeeeepy·

PRIMAVERA Y POESÍA pt.¡!

The changing of seasons is like our Mother's way of reminding us 1) how awesome she is and 2) that she's still there, co-existing with every life form, all the while making our lives more beautiful.

Ya es primavera.

When I leave for work at 7am, it's not the moon that guides me to the metro anymore. Instead, the sun's perfect morning glow wraps me in a golden burrito and transports me to my kiddies while the sweet aroma of Spanish pastries escape the ovens and dance me up and down each block.

Winter was strange this year. There are still some rains ahead, but I'd like to leave the biting cold, the body chills and the boots behind... at least in a box to wait to be rediscovered in 7 months time. The comforts of winter fires and blankets and Saturday nights watching films must be appreciated, too. For now, it's full speed ahead toward budding bulbs of floral dreams and butterfly freedom.

This is a photo I took about a week ago, probably the last sunrise I'll experience while trekking my way to work in the early morn. When I arrive to Cornellá de Llobregat, a little city right outside Barcelona centro, there is a sliver of a road that offers just the smallest view of Barcelona. It is in that exact direction where the sun rises, and gives great splendor to this gem of city.

Goodbye, winter and hello, spring.

PRIMAVERA Y POESÍA

March 21 - In honor of the first day of spring and poetry day (at least here in Spain), I'd like to share a very beautiful poem:

Tu pupila es azul, y cuando ríes
Su claridad suave me recuerda
El trémulo fulgor de la mañana
Que en el mar se refleja.

Tu pupila es azul y cuando lloras
Las transparentes lágrimas en ella
Se me figuran gotas de rocío
Sobre una violeta.

Tu pupila es azul y si en el fondo
Como un punto de luz radia una idea,
Me parece en el cielo de la tarde
Una perdida estrella.

¿Qué Es Poesía?

¿Qué es poesía?, dices mientras clavas
En mi pupila tu pupila azul.

¡Qué es poesía! ¿Y tú me lo preguntas?
Poesía eres tú.

- Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer

In other news, last Friday (March 18th), was Women's Day here in España. To celebrate, the students of the 3rd and 4th level at the high school organized an activity for the 1st and 2nd years during patio. On the courtyard, they set up a mock "home" and all of the students got to experience what it was like to do house work and chores; ironing, dishes, setting the table, laundry, making the bed, cooking meals, etc.

Here's to gender roles in the good Old World!

HIDDEN TREASURES

In any given country, in any part of the world, a child may ask: "Mom/Dad, where do babies come from?"

People in Spain, like those in the US and numerous other Western/European countries, don't have to think too hard about what to tell a child when the timing is just not right for the truth. Long ago, the market capitalized on the image of a stork, carrying a baby by it's beak.

Storks, duh. Ok, so like the Easter bunny and Santa Claus, we need strange characters or animals to give reason for celebrations. Its a nice reminder at least, to not let go of our imagination and creativity. Children seem to be nice reminders of that (among many, many other beautiful things) and yet, we don't really even question or think twice about things like that. If someone is having a baby, we buy a card with a stork on it and we forget to laugh because its SO SILLY!!! Right??¿¿!!

Yesterday I was speaking with la Señora Marta. Somewhere between death, theology and Spanish pastries, we began discussing storks and babies. She was explaining to me that she has always questioned what is real and what is not. To her, its not real if she can't understand it. Death, for example, is nothing to fear. We are not capable as humans to understand death, therefore, religion cannot solve our problem and mostly, we shouldn't be afraid. We need to focus on what we know, what we feel, what we experience. We have 5 senses plus the way your body reacts to certain situations: adrenaline should probably be counted as a sense. We absolutely feel our heart beating and blood rushing. We are animals, we have instinct too.

ANYWAYS, her next example after "death" was the idea of babies coming from storks. She remembers questioning her mother. To her, there was no logic.

And then she said it.. I was totally captivated by her perspective on religion, faith, death and natural human experience and then she hit me with this one:

Spanish babies "come from storks," too. But the storks that carry Spanish babies ALL come from Paris.

WTF? No wonder 5 year old Marta was fucking confused.

And wait!!! There's more!!!

The babies are ALL carrying....... bread under their arm.

How have I lived in Spain this long, had so many cultural conversations with Spaniards of every age about traditions and customs and NEVER discovered this before?!

How exciting is life?! Hidden treasures around every corner! I hope you all get culturally tickled like I did this week!

¡BESOS GORDOS PARA TODOS!

WHERE'S MY STAR?

Hey Ya'll...

Here's a list of my favorite Catalan words (my vocabulary is still a bit limited, but you know, poc a poc) followed by a translation into Spanish and then English.

·ioga (yoga, yoga)
·soci (socio, member) - pronounced like a hybrid between the Spanish and English words for "sassy" (soso, sassy) and also happens to be the way Jorge says it.
·collonut (cojonudo, brilliant/amazing/awesome)
·qué fort! (¡qué fuerte!, oh my god!/holy shit!/no kidding!/wow!/unbelievable!)
·ou (huevo, egg) - words comprised of vowels only = !!!!
·tranquil! (¡tranquilo!, relax!) - the 'l' is silent

Also, a follow up to this Catalan lesson: let's see if you can understand this article/interview my school wrote about me! Here is the link to the school's website. They will be publishing the actual interview in the school newspaper later in spring. ¡My students are so cute!

Treat yourself to a real Spanish siesta this week!
XOX