Today was Dilluns de Pasqua -- the Monday after Easter, which is an official holiday in the state of Catalunia meaning no school today! The whole family went out to lunch at a restaurant on top of the shopping mall near Plaza de Espana. Here’s a photo of me overlooking the Plaza. In the background toward the left is Montjuïc, where I like to run (click the photo to enlarge).
Easter in Spain is clearly a big deal because everyone is Catholic. Amparo told me that there are big celebrations on both Sunday and Monday. On the Monday after Easter, Godparents traditionally give the little kids a humongous and intricate chocolate creation, called "la mona." Here are some examples that I saw in a bakery in Ibiza. They're almost too good to eat!
After lunch, Amparo, Alicia, Carla and her parents, Rosa and Ramon, and I walked home through the Park Miro. At home, Amparo presented Carla (the 2-year-old granddaughter) with her very own “mona” for Easter. Here’s a photo of Carla getting ready to eat the big chocolate eggs on top of the chocolate cake. My host mother, Amparo is on the right, and Rosa, is on the left. Carla loves Mickey Mouse, and if you look closely you can see the small plastic Mickey between the chocolate eggs on the cake.
Lastly, Alicia and I have both been coughing for the past couple days and Amparo's motherly instincts have become very clear. She made us soup at dinner, told us to take naps during the day, and tonight she made us breathe steam with our heads under a towel (yeah I'm serious. She explained what this does, but I couldn't understand, as usual). Nonetheless, it's comforting to see how much she cares about me.
Time to do some homework, because tomorrow I'm back in school!
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