Sunday, Monday...

I did not realize I was so far behind on my posts! I was thinking on Sunday and Monday that things were very normal. I just did not do very much and it didn't seem worth writing about but I should do it anyway to keep the tale going.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. I had gone to Mass the night before so I did not have to go out. But I do take a walk every day so I walked toward Las Arenas and found a public library. It is right on the edge of Joan Miro Park which is right behind Las Arenas. Of course it was closed on Sunday, but I am hoping to go back sometime when it is open. I went up top of Las Arenas again. The view really is wonderful, but there were lots of people so I soon moved on and walked to Placa Catalunya and down Las Ramblas for a bit. Along the way I saw people with elaborately woven palms. What I saw in church on Saturday evening was probably laurel branches. It did not take long for me to get tired of the crowds so I headed back to the apartment.

My roommate has been to Barcelona before so she has friends to see. I thought she would be going to the same school as I am, Enforex, but she is going to Don Quixote. I think I mentioned that it is just across the street from the apartment so her commute is very short. Now that I know it is there, I have even seen Enforex vehicles making deliveries. The two schools are part of the same company.
Class has been a little different this week. I mentioned that two students left last week, but we got two new students, one from Russia and one from China. Both are young men so we went from having one man in class to having three. The young man from Russia studied law and is here for an extended period studying Spanish because he likes Spanish. I am unclear about his plans--We communicate only in Spanish and sometimes I don't get everything! (understatement) The student from China hopes to study Economics in Spain but has to learn enough Spanish so he can successfully do it. He is unsure if he will be able to do this. We also have a substitute teacher for the afternoon session. Ana is on vacation this week and Veronica is filling in for her. Veronica has a  bag of "tricks" and tries different activities to get us going. Some of the students don't seem to appreciate her efforts, but I find it engaging and she is very interesting in her own right. For example we were talking about how Spain was under control of the Moors,  and she said we should not call them "moros" because it is considered a negative thing to say. One of the students from Brazil argued that the word is used a lot in Brazil, but Veronica said it is better not to use it here! Anyway, we were used to Ana but it is interesting to have Veronica this week.

I found out that there is no class on Friday because of Holy Friday--I was expecting that and there is no class on Monday either. I was also expecting that. So I have six days of class left. I assume my roommate will leave either Thursday or Friday since she will be done on Thursday. She said everything is going well and she thinks she knows what she will need for the test she has to take. I thought it odd that she would fly to Barcelona to study for four days for a test, but she said tutoring and this worked out to about the same and that she had been here before so it gave her a chance to see friends and get the work done fast.

The weather is warming up slowly. It is still coolish (probably 50) when I get up but warms up nicely in the afternoon. I am getting pretty tired of the few clothes I brought--I have some warmer weather clothes but it is not quite right to wear them yet. I hiked off to the big shopping center and bought two scarves, a long sleeved shirt and a belt. The long sleeves will be very welcome for evening activities and I  hope to go to Tibidabo on Saturday. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I will visit the Gracia area of Barcelona.