This week in barcelona

Ola!

Esta semana voy a la escuela espanola! For you Americanas this means - "This week I am attending spanish school!"

David and I enrolled in a two week intensive spanish class for beginners at a wonderful, and small, language arts school called "Version Orginale"

This is a very clever name for a school, because here when you are looking to see an American film in the theaters in English, you look for the words "Version Original" which means, the film is not dubbed, but rather the sound plays the "original version" or as we say in spanish "version original" and then there are spanish (or in some cases here - Catalan) subtitles.

Our teacher Christina is wonderful and I can not get over how much we have learned in one week. We are attending classes from 10am-1:30pm. In Spain, people have lunch anytime 1:30pm-3:30pm. Most stores are closed 1:30pm-5:30pm. Most restaurants are closed 3:30pm (or 4pm) till 8 or 9pm when they reopen. So you can imagine, that is the part that has taken the most getting used to. Restaurants in the U.S. are usually open for dinner 5pm-9pm or 10pm (the latest during the week in pgh). Here, they are closed 5-9pm.

This is a picture of our neighborhood. It is called, Eixample. See how big it is?!?

Below is a more detailed image and you can see how each of the "squares" in the photo are a "block." Each block in Eixample is built using the same plan: a square with an empty area in the middle. 

In addition to attending school, David and I are both trying to get work done. David started teaching his classes this past week. He teaches on Monday and Wednesday afternoons/evenings. 

I am having a harder time getting work done in the apartment during the day, as Travis and Julie are using the living room/dining room as their classroom. The good news is starting March first I will have a small office to go to during the days, so that I can EDIT THE MOVIE!  

You will all be happy to know that Travis is doing really well at "school."His tutor Julie is very patient and kind and he seems to be learning a ton! Everyday they have science and math and reading, but they are also focusing each week on a special topic. 

So far, he has had one theme week on Gaudi and this week's focus was Egypt. He will update his blog with info about Egypt this weekend. Next week is the Middle Ages. They have been doing experiments in Science and reading a great deal and playing interactive games on the computer related to his theme each week. 

Travis also attended a movie making "after school" class this week, at the American School of Barcelona. While it is a bit of a trek to get there - a 20 min metro ride + 20 min bus ride, the faculty and administration there have been so welcoming to us and Travis LOVED IT. So we enrolled him. It will be once a week, so a nice chance for him to connect with other kids, learn something of interest to him, and hopefully make some friends too.  The teacher is a nice british guy and Travis was recruited into a group who are making a 5 minute film called, "Larry Potter" - so this feels like a recipe for success. 

Well, that is about all for this week's update. We love you all. And are ever grateful for this opportunity to unplug from our everyday, and experience this different and beautiful place and culture, and de-stress a bit from our regular work and school lives.