23/01

The advantages of having Pere - pronounced Pear-ra - as my Spanish adopted dad seems to have no boundaries. I mean to look at the guy you'd think typical middle-school teacher; wears out of date shirts and jeans which are too long and of course glasses just to complete the stereotypical geography teacher look, but he's one of those lovely, reserved and helping human beings. On the second day in the city we ventured down to the Metro with him teaching me how to catch the train to my school, explaining the ticket options. There I was thinking 'I hope those few precious euros my father gave me will cover the expenses' and then Pere casually drops into conversation that the ticket will be a good 105 euros! At this point I was worrying about whether I even had enough in my bank, and the ticket was only to cover three months, meaning another wallop of my wallet come April, but alas my fear was unfounded, as Pere paid for it, saying it was a condition of the contract, of which I had read and don't remember seeing such a condition, so kudos on that Pere, another bottle of wine cum thank-you gift when I leave is on the cards.

He teaches Social Science at The Salle Comtal, my school - more info to come - which he says covers Geography, History and Sociology as well as a sprinkling of Catalan and Spanish culture. From the latter, he has already dispensed some invaluable information to me. So far I have ventured out to Catalunya Square - where the protests happened a few years ago - and to the Gothic Quarter. The school is right in the centre of both the city and the Gothic Quarter, meaning a few minutes walk from the Cathedral, the Roman Ruins and delightful paved European streets with Spanish buskers offering their Catalan hymns and Flamenco guitar rhythms to any passer by. Walking this way, behind and beyond the Cathedral one comes to a central square where there are some more impressive and traditional buildings. These belong to the Catalan city council and the Catalan Government, and there's a Catalan museum thrown in their somewhere.
If you face the Council building and take a right you come to one of the main shopping districts which peculiarly has the same shops on each side of the street; I noticed two Zaras and two H&M's only a few paces away from each other; and then further up you come to Catalunya square. Here there are some impressive buildings again, two belong to the founder of Zara, Pere informed me. Don't worry, photos are to follow.
The school is also near the Arc de Triomf, which is basically a Spanish rip off of the Parisian version, but still nice. If you follow the Boulevard which begins at the Arc's feet, it runs parallel to the roads either side, you will come to a famous park with a zoo nearby and beyond that is the Parliament. I'm still to venture this way. Again all this knowledge comes from Pere, living with a local makes such a difference to your experience, I think my family is full of both more interesting and more extensive knowledge than the most ardently researched travel guide.
He also told me this afternoon about the history of Spain. He told me the district Ciutat Vella (not 100% accurate as always a few pronunciation problems!), used to have a Citadel - Ciutat means Citadel I believe he said - but itl was knocked down by the Castillians in 1714. Before this the Catalan region, including the Balearic Islands and the region stretching down from Barca to Valencia, was a separate state from Castillia, but the Catalan's unfortunately backed Austria in some war in which their Spanish counterparts had chosen their foe, the French in this case, and alas the French won and the Castillians punished the Catalans by knocking down Barcelona's citadel as a threat and message to the Catalans that they wanted to regain control of the territory. At this time they no doubt wanted control of the whole Catalan region.
Pere then remarked this is why the Catalan people are so jealous of the Scottish, because the British gave them a referendum to be independent  which is what the people of Catalan want so desperately. So there in a nutshell is a quick Spanish lesson for anyone inclined to read.

Right I'm off to cook the family my Signature Bolognaise, but more info and pics are forthcoming!

Adeu!