Palm Sunday

Spain is a Catholic country and today was Palm Sunday. I went for a run this morning and saw tons and tons of people dressed up, girls in white dresses, and everyone carrying intricately folded palms, decorated with ribbons and bows. 

I had an awesome run this morning. First I ran through the park near my house and watched a little bit of a pick up basketball game. Interestingly, nearly all of the players were wearing American basketball jerseys of NBA teams. Then I ran through the Place De Espana which is the big round-about at the end of la Gran Via. From there I ran past a humongous palace, crossed a busy road on a pedestrian overpass that had an escalator and moving sidewalk, and then along a bike path that kept climbing up and up. Once I had been going uphill for almost a mile, it leveled out and there were amazing views of the entire city all the way to the mountains. I wish I had brought my camera. Next time, I'll have to take some pictures. 

There were lots of signs for Olympic stadiums but I think it was farther away because I couldn't see any big stadiums. I'll have to go exploring that way again. I did pass a track (oh hayyy) and a few soccer fields where there were games of high-school age kids. It was really cool to explore that area and I'm sure I will go back.

When I got home, Amparo returned from church and Alicia (the granddaughter) had just woken up. She's staying with us for the weekend, not sure why. But it's great for me because she understands what I say! The three of us went out to lunch at an all-you-can-eat Chinese food restaurant. The coolest part was that they had all kinds of raw fish and meat that you could choose from and then give to the grill guys to cook however you wanted. Here's the restaurant:

This is a blurry photo of Alicia (the 14-granddaughter) and me after lunch. 

After lunch we went back to the apartment and I read a little bit, then took a nap. When I woke up, Alicia and I decided to go for a walk. So we walked along La Gran Via to the University and then along Las Ramblas. That's a busy tourist location all the time, but tonight it was particularly crowded. I've walked along there a couple times now, and there are always tons of people trying to advertise for their restaurant or a performance, lots of ice cream stands, artists doing caricatures and paintings, and little stands selling jewelry or tourist guides. But my favorite are the statue-people who look like stone, sitting completely still for long periods of time. And then they move! Many of them are very good. I found this video on youtube that will give you a sense of the statue-people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8DuuWE9oXM

Sunday is homework day, just like at Dartmouth. For my classes tomorrow, I read a story, completed a number of grammar exercises and learned some vocabulary words for my conversation class. Last week, we had to go to a bookstore near the University and buy these textbooks. 

Things that are strange in Spain (part 2):

• Everything is smaller. Cans of soda are smaller. Bottles of water are tiny. Cups of coffee or tea are minuscule. I took a photo of my bottle of orange juice at lunch today because it was so small. 

• At restaurants, it's normal to leave 1 or 2 euros as a tip. In general people here tip a lot less than in the United States.

• Apparently at some restaurants, you have to pay to sit at an outdoor table. 

• The shower is a hand-held thing, it doesn't attach to the wall, so you have to hold it with one hand while washing your hair with the other. It's the same setup in all of my friends' apartments too. And water is expensive so we have to take very quick showers.

• Some TV stations are in Catalan and some are in Castellano (normal spanish that I speak). Pretty much everyone is bilingual so they don't even bat and eye when the station changes. Sometimes, I'm watching TV for a few minutes and realize that I understand even less than usual, because it's NOT EVEN IN SPANISH. We are going to talk about the difficulty related to being a bilingual country in my culture class, so hopefully I'll have a better understanding soon.

• Everything is closed on Sunday. This is obviously because Spain is Catholic, but still worth noting. Nearly all the stores are closed on Sundays. Alicia and I walked through a big shopping mall and it was very quiet because everything was closed.