Birthdays and Beach Runs

This morning I went to church to see what it's like. Spain is a Catholic country, although significantly less so than it once was. Amparo and I talked about how the role of the church is changing. In my conversation class, we have discussed how fewer young people are going to church and what that means for the future of Catholic Spain. Here are a couple articles about the decline of the Catholic church in Spain:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42739-2005Apr10.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/31/neweurope-spain-catholics-church-influence

And here's another article I came across about the Spanish Catholic church trying to recruit priests during the crisis by promoting it as a steady-income, noble career. Very interesting.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9149007/Spains-Catholic-Church-launches-recruitment-drive.html

After church, I read for a while on the terrace because it was beautifully sunny. Then we had chicken and shrimp paella for lunch. Sunday is family day, and today Amparo and I had lunch with Alicia and her mom. After lunch we had a birthday cake to celebrate Alicia's 15th birthday!

In the afternoon, I met up with my friend Eve and we explored some more of Barrio Gotico. Then we went for a nice long run along the beach, from Barceloneta all the way out to Selva del Mar. The beach was super crowded today because of the nice weather, and the fact that tomorrow is a public holiday. It's not Memorial day here, but instead something they call "Second Easter." Unclear.

We finished our run in Villa Olimpica, which is where the athletes lived during the 1992 Olympics! It was cool to walk around a try to imagine what it was like almost exactly 20 years ago when the Olympics were here. Now they have turned the housing into apartments and the city has been built up around it.

After dinner, it was back to work -- studying for exams and writing my final papers. This week is going to be a tough one.