Happy Halloween!


These masks were inspired by a Mariscal art exhibit, which we attended last weekend. A neat feature of the exhibit was that one literally "entered into" the art. For example, the final piece was a walk in the woods which was created by light, sound, fabric and cardboard. Something so cool we may have to try it downstairs at home in MN!

The Mariscal exhibit was located in La Padrera, a building designed by the famous local architect, Antoni Gaudi. Barcelona contains many of his works. His masterpiece is still being completed and is a Catholic cathedral called La Sagrada Familia. It'll be completed in 2026, which is 100 years after the artist's death.

Here is the entrance to Escola Augusta. It is in the reception area that I drop off and pick up Charles and Daniel from school each day. A few weeks ago Daniel would enter this building with hesitation, staying close by my side and suggesting I come all the way to the steps to drop him off. As he slowly ascended the steps inside (not shown) he'd watch me waving at him and wishing him a good day. Charles had an altogether different reaction to going to school. He would run on ahead, spurred on by nerves and adrenaline. It hasn't been easy for them, but they're doing it, and are adjusting well.


Early on they told us the most difficult times of the day were during "pati" which is recess. As they get to know other children better, there is more to look forward to at school and "pati" doesn't seem so daunting or boring.

While we're not too concerned that they retain information from school, we do expect this whole experience to shape and benefit them in some broad way. Of course, Duane and I only hear snippets of what actually happens. Here are some comments that Daniel has made:




"There's this guy who always speaks English." (Daniel told us this very early on. The "guy" who we had thought was another student turned out to be the English teacher!)
"I said something in Castellano today." (What was said remains a mystery.)
"I heard the teacher say 'No me molestes' to Filip. (Don't bother me.)
"Bhryyc (Daniel's classmate) always takes my pencils."
"I'm telling you, Mom, that's NOT how they make a cursive z!"




Charles often gives us grand stories of what has happened at school. He tells us what happened in soccer games during recess. We've heard how he tries to get his work done as quickly as possible because the student next to him helps him more than he wants her to. We've also heard about the special jobs assigned to him in class and during lunch.

Their favorite classes are music, art and phys ed.

Though the kids are in school, we maintain the homeschooling mindset. We tell the kids when they leave Escola Augusta, they come home to school. And that even though the school day is long (9-5), their school day is actually 24 hours a day.

Daniel is eager to learn to read. He practices in both English and Spanish. Not surprisingly, he prefers Spanish, as it's completely phonetic. Since we don't have many English books here, Charles has been kind enough to write stories for Daniel to practice reading in English.

Charles is a budding business man and has had many creative ideas on ways to make money, including ideas such as: leading a soccer camp for preschoolers, opening an adventure park, building a center where people can pretend to fight bad guys, and selling items he's created like games, stories and musical performances.

We are also learning a lot together. Sometimes completing Charles' homework takes the whole family discussing what each individually knows and understands. The kids have the advantage of having seen the lesson and hearing from the teacher. Duane and I use our knowledge of Spanish and help from Google's Catalan translator to make our input. How funny it can be for us all to work together to figure out the homework!

One day Charles brought his calendar home with a note indicating "Control de matematiques. Unitats 1 i 2." Since his math book was also in his backpack with units 1 and 2 already completed, we figured he was supposed to show his parents the work. Not correct. It meant he was going to have a QUIZ in math and brought the math book home to study. So, now we know, and it's a good thing, because this week he's got three "controls"!

Spaniards certainly like to celebrate!

This weekend was La Mercé, a holiday to honor the patron saint of Barcelona. For three days there are special events all over the city. Even as I write this I can hear the final firework celebration booming from across the city. We took part in the festival by watching fireworks, attending parades, and visiting museums and city parks. A few highlights were the parade of giants, the "Correfoc," or fire run, and the "park of lights."

The fire run is supposed to represent the gates of hell opening. It's a parade where people dress up as devils and shoot sparks into the crowd. Spectators come dressed to jump INTO the shooting sparks. Sound crazy? It was! And we only attended the kiddy version!

While we were by the water to watch fireworks, we also went to the top up of the Christopher Columbus monument. Apparently it was in Barcelona where Columbus returned to report to the queen of his famous voyage west.




Also, apparently 30 years ago the port area was completely industrial and few visitors came to Barcelona. The port area was cleaned up for the 1992 Summer Olympics and now the city boasts over 7 million visitors a year. Here's what it looks like today. These views are from the top of Christopher's monument.

Hurray! Duane's back home.

Last night was the informational meeting for Charles 3rd grade class. It was good to meet the parents of his classmates and to see the school environment. The "information" was completely lost on me as the meeting was in Catalan. Oh well.

What made the meeting especially worthwhile was receiving a kind note from Charles, which he had written earlier in the day. I left a surprise note for him too.

In recent days I have been taking great joy in connecting with the kids through their minds. It's a new stage for the family. They aren't up for motherly affection anymore. Even a hint of affection in my voice prompts Daniel to say something like, "Mom, you're not going to start talking about love again, are you?"

It's been a quiet weekend at home. The kids have completed their first week at school. It's a totally different learning environment than they are accustomed to and they are relieved to be able to spend a couple days at home. The 9 to 5pm schedule is quite long for them, particularly Daniel. After one week they have already learned to dread Mondays!

On the bright side of things, Charles has said he feels like his Spanish has doubled in the week he's been at school. I was impressed one day when I heard the gym teacher tell him (in Spanish) he could either leave his backpack close by, or better yet, take it up to the classroom and come back down for gym class. The moment the teacher stopped speaking, Charles turned around and headed to his classroom--and my heart leaped for joy, knowing he had understood.

During the days while the kids are at school, besides daily household tasks, I've been studying on my own. It's great to have enough time to oneself to concentrate! I found a magazine for 7-year olds at the library that is just the right level of Spanish. Fortunately the library has many issues, so I have a lot of reading material!

I've also been watching TV to aid listening comprehension. In some scientific report on reading, I read that the "average TV show" uses a smaller vocabulary than the "average preschool book." I never expected that to MOTIVATE me to watch television, but dumbed-down Spanish is exactly what I'm looking for! Amusing, isn't it?

Duane left early this AM for a conference in Oxford, England. He'll return late Wednesday night.

There's a new rule in our household. ANY TIME we're home the doors in the apartment must be unlocked, or have the key in them, ready to be unlocked. From the first night in this apartment, Duane, in the interest of safety and since our windows all have bars on them, has kept the key in the front door at night as it is locked from the inside. He told me if there was ever a fire, every moment would count and that having the key in the door was necessary.

Well, apparently, and not surprisingly to me, Duane is absolutely correct. A couple nights ago there was a fire on the 5th floor. The renters were out and returned home to a blazing fire, which was somehow started from the TV plug. Here on the 2nd floor, we had no idea. That night someone did ring our doorbell, but by the time we got to the door, no one was there and we figure'd it was a joke.

The next day the cleaning ladies told me about the incident and told me that firemen had come and that the apartment had been destroyed. There were no alarms. In fact, our apartment doesn't even have a fire alarm and I'm led to believe, now, that the building doesn't either. There is only a fireman who pulls "pranks" on people. Yikes!

Happy Labor Day, dear friends!

As a last hurrah before school starts, and at the impetus to visit Duane's colleague, we rented a car for the weekend.

First we drove along the Costa Brava, the eastern coast of Spain. The winding mountain road allowed beautiful views of rugged cliffs above the Mediterranean Sea. Hoping to find a beach cove, we parked the car on the side of the highway and looked for a path down to the sea. However, this particular road down was cordoned off to all but "peotones." Thinking, by the look of things, this word must mean something like "patrons," we hopped back in the car and planned to look for another way down. Since there's no better way to learn vocabulary than through life experiences, just before we drove off we looked up the new word. How happy we were to learn the road was closed off to everyone but PEDESTRIANS! We quickly packed up the beach bags and set off on a walk.

What we found exceeded our expectations and created memories that will last a lifetime. Daniel said it like this, "This is my favorite beach I've been to in my WHOLE life." The beach was small and protected by large rock outcroppings. One could see schools of fish and rocks far below the surface of the crystal clear, green water. There were also rocks sticking up out of the water that one could climb on and jump off. What incredible fun and beauty!

On Monday we left the coast and headed to a small town called Berga to meet Duane's Spanish colleague from the University of Minnesota. She took us to an even smaller town in the Pyrenees, just south of France, for lunch (at which we ate wild pig meat, lamb's head, pig's feet, and blood sausages) and a hike to see the headwaters of the Llobregat River.



Traveling home we were caught in a mountain hailstorm. However, by 9:30pm we were safe and sound in Barcelona again, getting the kids ready for bed and for their first day of school.