Feliz Navidad

Here in Barcelona, the temperatures have finally dropped! A whopping 40-degree low, 50-degree high... I know, not that cold... compared to the single-digits they're experiencing back on the East Coast in the States. And yet it feels absolutely freezing. It's funny to watch people on the streets here, bundled up and hunched over like they're walking through a major snow storm. I laugh at them, and yet I do the same. The news is also all abuzz about the couple inches of snow some cities around Barcelona are experiencing: Madrid, Alicante... various places got hit, but we just got a little rain. When it does snow in Spain (which is rare), the people go into a panic because they have no idea how to handle it (this according to my hostmom, not me). I'm crossing my fingers that Barcelona gets their once-every-3-or-4-years-snow-fall this year... I've never missed snow so much before. Nor have I ever happily welcomed the cold. But with the cold, I get more into the Christmas spirit.

Barcelona didn't need cold weather to get into the Christmas spirit... Christmas decorations have long since sprung up all over the city (and here in the Palazzi household as well), Christmas songs are playing in the stores, people are scurrying to buy Christmas presents (my host mother among them), and Simon has already written his letter to Papá Noel (Simon is still young enough to believe in Santa, but Marta believes that won’t last much longer…). Included in this letter were the following items: binoculars, 3 different Wii games, carbón dulce (sweet coal... kind of like rock candy, i assume... kind of defeats the purpose of "if you're bad, you'll get coal in your stocking."), and, nunchucks.

About 2 weeks ago, Simon, Lucia and I excitedly broke out the Christmas decorations, which consist mainly of a small (fake) tree, lights and a few ornaments for the tree, and an elaborate (but also small) Nativity scene… all of which (excluding the tree) were packed into just one cardboard box. Needless to say, it didn’t take us too long to decorate, but it was great fun all the same. I added some Hoffman family tradition to the night by playing some of my classical Christmas music (I can‘t decorate for Christmas without Christmas music!), and after we finished decorating, Simon, Lucia and I curled up on the couch and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas on my laptop (thanks to YouTube), and it was a lovely little bonding experience for the 3 of us. In fact, over the last few weeks, I've noticed that Lucia and Simon have been acting a little different with me, in a good way. Lucia has asked me to brush her hair, paint her nails (black. she‘s quite punk.), and (finally!) let me help her study her English. Simon listens much better now to my requests, talks more to me, and also sits on my lap occasionally, threading his tiny fingers through mine (so adorable!). With Mateo, things are much the same, as I don’t really have as many opportunities to bond with him… but I don’t expect much more from a 13-year-old, who, just like any teenager, would rather hang with his friends than with family, and ignores the au pair whenever she comes near him and his friends outside of the school. With Marcos (the father), I have felt that I’ve crossed some bridges. Normally we rarely talk to each other (not in a bad way, just in a we're both introverts kind of way), but about a week or 2 ago, we had our first real conversation. I was sitting outside the school waiting for Simon and Lucia to be done with basketball and volleyball practices, when Marcos appeared (to pick up Mateo) and sat next to me on the bench. Not wanting to sit in uncomfortable silence, I decided to risk sounding like an idiot with my screwy Spanish, and just go ahead and start up a conversation… about the weather, and Christmas. But it was a major accomplishment. And since then I have learned some interesting things about Marcos. I already knew of the fact that he is partially-to-mostly deaf, but what I didn’t know was that he can actually understand me when I talk (Me! The infamous quiet-talker! Even my mother sometimes has trouble understanding me, but a nearly-deaf man doesn't!), he says that I annunciate well, a compliment I will happily take. I also learned that Marcos has been in two near-death motor-bike accidents. First when he was 17 (accident was his fault), and again when he was 18 (accident was not his fault). Both of which left him bedridden with an entire body in casts (like in the movies!), sipping his food threw a straw, including (no joke) pizza, pasta and other meals that are meant to be chewed, not blended into a pulp and drunk. And a plastic surgeon (friend of the family apparently) completely reconstructed his face. Crazy. This piece of information I learned from Marta, however, as we have far more interesting conversations than talk of Christmas and the weather. We also are having far more conversations in Spanish! At this point, we talk about half in English, half in Spanish... and to be honest, sometimes when she talks, I don't even register what language she's talking in, because I usually just take note of what she is saying, not what language she's speaking. It's a great feeling.

Well, back to Christmas… Apart from decorating the house with Christmas decorations, in order to get into the spirit of the holidays, I’ve also explored the city at night to see the many different Christmas lights, seen the movie The Christmas Carol (new Jim Carrey version… not nearly as entertaining as the Muppet version…and only saw it because New Moon was sold out), been to the Christmas Market in front of the Cathedral with my Spanish class, watched Love Actually and A Muppet Christmas Carol on YouTube, made a Christmas list for the members of the Palazzi household (Marta insisted that I not buy any presents… but how can I not?), and bought a bunch of (Hoffman) Christmas cookie ingredients (which I plan to start baking as soon as the ingredients I can’t get here in Barcelona arrive in the mail from my generous and helpful mother). Christmas cookies are very much an American thing, I’ve learned. Here in Catalonia, the traditional Christmas treat is Turrón… kind of like nougat, which I have yet to try. It is also traditional in Catalonia to add an interesting little character to the Nativity Scene. He is called the caganer, which basically means, the pooper. The traditional caganer is pictured at left, but in the Christmas Market they also sell caganers in the form of famous soccer players, the Pope, and even Barack Obama (with the inscription, “Yes We Can” as he’s bending over to take a crap)… this gives you an idea of what the Catalan humor is like… In addition to the caganer, they also have a figure called the Caga Tió (again with the potty humor… caga means poo), and this is the strange little log guy (ranging from very small to very large) pictured below. With the caga tió, it is traditional for the children to cover him with a blanket on Christmas Eve, and then run around him whilst beating him with a stick and singing (in Catalan), “caga tió, caga torro, avellanes i mato, si no cagues be, et dare un cop de basto. caga tio!" which roughly translates to, "pooing log, poo turrón, hazelnuts, and cottage cheese. If you don't poo well, I'll beat you with my stick, pooing log!" And then the parents hide presents under the blanket for the children to find. The Palazzis have already informed me, however, that this is a Catalan tradition they do not follow, turrón and the caganer in the Nativity scene, yes, but the caga tió, no.

Moving away from talk of Christmas, I had a wonderful day trip with 2 fellow American au pairs on a Sunday not too long ago. We got up early in the morning to take the hour-long train ride to Montserrat, a mountainside monastery. From the train station at the foot of the mountain, we took a 5-minute lift up and when we got to the top, we looked out to see an amazing view below. Because it was still morning, there was a magnificent haze blanketing the valleys and creating a scene unlike any I had ever seen. The mountain too was unlike any I’d ever seen, with crazy (huge) rock formations… and, like clouds, each of us saw something different in the rocks. Kalin saw faces, Meghan saw elephants, and I saw… well, lets just say I think the Spanish potty humor is getting to me. After admiring the view for some time, we hit up the cafeteria for some much-needed (having all rushed to the train station that morning) café con leche, and then sought out the chapel so that we could make it to mass on time to hear the famous Montserrat Boys Choir sing. We got to the chapel about 5 minutes before mass, but the enormous church was already packed. We ended up sitting on some steps on the left side of the pews, with our view frustratingly obstructing by the many standing tourists. The service itself was in Catalan, but it functioned in much the same way as any Catholic service, and thus was fairly easy to follow. I had hoped there’d be more music, and less talking, though... because when the Boys Choir did sing, they were absolutely phenomenal. After mass, we decided to start hiking it up the mountain to take in more of the vistas. We didn’t have the strength to hike it all the way up to the top, though, so about halfway up, we sat on some rocks at the edge of the trail, drank some water, munched on some snacks, and simply enjoyed the spectacular view and complete (wonderful) silence. It was amazing. I could have sat there all day. Unfortunately, about 5 minutes later an entire (loud and chattering) family came hiking up the trail and decided to take their pit stop in the exact same place as ours, completely killing the silence. So we decided to move on, hiking back down to the monastery. From there we took a cable car (which reminded me a lot of the Station Square incline in Pittsburgh, only this one went almost straight up, and didn’t offer much of a view... until we exited) to the highest point of the mountain. The sun was already starting it’s descent at this point, and it was still a little hazy, but the sky was clear enough to see all the way to Barcelona and to the ocean beyond the city. Pictures don't quite do the view justice, but trust me, it was incredible. Such a memorable day.

I’ve been having a lot more incredible and memorable moments these days, now that I’m feeling more a part of the Palazzi family and getting accustomed to the daily routines, now that have a core group of (wonderful and fun) au pairs from my Spanish class (2 from the US, 1 from the Netherlands, 1 from Germany, and 1 from Brazil), now that I’m starting to improve more in my Spanish language abilities, now that I’m starting to get a better sense of this city (a 4-hour 0pen-air bus tour helped in that aspect!), and now that the homesickness/culture-shock is finally starting to dissipate, making room for acceptance of the Spanish way-of-life (here's hoping...).

Well, in case I don’t get to say it later on: to everyone back home... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!!!