Only in Spain....

There are some things that make me think wow Spain is very different from the rest of the world.

Such as when you get food poisoning 4 times in a year! Or when you get disconnected from a Skype call 6 times in half an hour because the Internet is as slow as a snail! Also when you’re at the grocery store and you are waiting for your turn and there is a long line and people don't pack there own groceries and they stand and wait!

When these things happen I like to say "Only in Spain!” Do not get me wrong I am having the time of my life in Spain! I really love it here!

Las Fallas in Valencia, Spain

a weekend in Milan

 It's settled!  The next time I have a good $10k-$20k to blow on awesome clothing, stellar shoes or amazingly designed simple objects- I am going back to MILAN! Like the reputation, Milan is definitely a shopping and fashion destination like no other. 

Yes, there are amazing stores and boutiques each with gorgeous window displays.  Blocks, malls, centers and outlets of delicious wearable goods.  Unfortunately, I did not photograph all of the window displays I should of because for one I was completely mesmerized and also I had to play it cool!  The people on the streets had their fashion game together.  So many people here have a uniquely smooth look that appeared effortless. Clothes that fit perfectly, detailed,  clean shoes and an overall great style. 

We loved walking through the Rectangle of Gold.

 

Italian babyfood: Prosciutto and Mozzarella

 

 In front of one of the F.I.T. school buildings

 darling, right?

The best espresso is in Italy. 

Spain on the Road Again vs. From Spain with Love

Before coming to Barcelona we continued our research and helped build excitement by watching a couple of tv series about Spain.  We decided on two travel foodie type shows: 1. Spain on the Road Again and 2. From Spain with Love. Both shows were thoroughly entertaining though for completely different reasons.  I would love to say that both series were great and worth every dime, but unfortunately one of them bombed big time for us.

Spain on the Road Again stars Mario Batali and features Gwyneth Paltrow and a couple other folks.  Although Mario Batali was passionate and fun to watch, the show sunk by Gwyneth.  Wow,  I had no idea she could be so unprofessional.  It made our family wonder if she was doing the show as a favor to someone.  It wasn't the fact that she is a vegan faking like she was enjoying meat and cheese. It was that she was so clearly being rude to Mario and cracking sarcastic or borderline statements throughout the show.   It really appeared as if she wasn't enjoying herself at all which was disappointing ..

From Spain with Love with Annie Sibonney was a show we did love!  Our family giggled at how flirty Annie was at times, but ultimately she was full love love just like the title states.  Annie was pleasant, knowledgeable and the show offered a great variety of food and travel.  Overall they did a great job putting it together, it did not seem rushed at all.  Some of the episodes we would like to watch again since we live here now.

From Spain with Love clips:

Lungalfungalosis house Flu season

Over the past 8 weeks our everyone in our family has caught one sickness after another, it started with just before Christmas I got what we like to call lungalfungalosis (it is not a scientific name, I am not sure that is how you would spell it if it was) it is an awful cough were there is so much mucus stuck in you body that when you cough all you spit up is snot. Your throat hurts and it is just terrible.

But this is just the beginning, the next week Mia got a fever and had new teeth coming here. Bonnie was not here she was on a work trip and Mia was going crazy without here mommy.

While Bonnie was on here trip she got also terrible cough and fever. Also in that time my dad got mild food poisoning. When bonnie was gone I was recovering. One day I went to school I was sick all over again. By the time Bonnie got back from her trip we were all sick nobody could do anything.

Slowly bonnie got better first then me my dad and finally poor Mia who just always just catches whatever we have. Again and again we have had repeated colds, coughs, food poisoning, ect. I think we have had all of the types of common basic sicknesses. This week I got mild food poisoning I don't we're from but it hurt, I am glad it is just mild.

I have also come to realize that Spanish medicine is not what we call medicine in America. Spain is not the best place for medicine.

American medicine is syrup has every drug and chemical and is flavored with all kinds of artificial flavors and crazy stuff and might actually taste ok or you have the tablets that one swallow and your finish. You’re cured for about 2-8 hours. No, no, no not in Spain the medicine is very gross it tastes worse then what you would expect. The ibuprofen for kids is called Dasly this very gross orange syrup with a horrible taste. When mia was sick she had to take it and would just spit out I was always like oh come on it can't be that bad until I had to have it myself then I realized how bad it is. Also most of the medicines pharmacies give you with no prescription are homeopathic so they don't always work.
Of course just as everyone really got super sick we ran out of that great American stuff.
by the way we used a lot of hand sanitizer!
I can't wait not to be sick again. Summer please come!

Escalator pile up drama - potential disaster averted

I always wondered why no strollers were allowed on escalators.  How about the emergency shut off button?  I always wondered why you would ever need that...  DID wonder anyway. Yesterday we avoided a mini disaster... I hate to admit it but the scariness of it was really exciting.  It went something like this:

After school rush of kids and adults all getting on the Metro -- tons of people on the escalator heading down to the underground rail line.  In front of me was a grandma and her two kids, Sim and Mia in her stroller.  Behind me a line full of people all waiting to get off the escalator.

Suddenly.. one of the lil ones in front of us spills a slew of items onto the escalator and just looks at it.. grandma thinks about it and decides to pick them up but she made her mistake by turning her back on the escalator so she can no longer see how fast the stairs flatten to the ground.

I think to myself  oh dear god hurry... and how the f*ck do you say turn around in Catalan? You can see disaster coming quickly and sure enough the stairs hit the ground and she tumbles.. then her kids tumble and Simi reaches out to help the grandma by protecting her head and she is still struggling.  The problem now is here I come with the stroller in front of me which I am about to steam roll 3 people with and possibly Simi too.. things are still on the ground.. people have piled up at the bottom. I can't walk backwards up the moving stairs because theres nothing but people and doing nothing means trucking over some children... I decide maybe I can get a few more seconds if I lift Mia up in the stroller and I can squeeze through the now 4 people blocking the escalator.. So I lift my now 25+ pounds of Mia, 12 lb stroller and 10lb+ of school books up in the air.. but DAMN not high enough because I had no idea I was dealing with 50 lbs at this point so the woman behind quickly helps..    Mia is up for a second saving a stroller to the face but STILL people were in the way and you just KNOW at this point it's my child or yours thats going to get hurt ..however if I DON'T take a step forward soon I will fall on them with Mia in the stroller smashing to the ground... a second later I took what I thought was the safest step and bumped into one of the girls and quickly everyone scurries out of the way at the last possible second with only minor banging into each other.  Finally traffic cleared...a mass of us took a deep sigh of relief.. but I do think grandma hurt herself a bit.

Yea... I'll be sticking to the elevator when I have the stroller from now on.

Welcoming the New Year! 2012!!! Best Moments!

Lunch at Federal!

I am happy to welcome the New Year! The first five moths here have flown by! We have had a great time so far. While being here so far we have learn't a lot about ourselves and the rest of Spain such as the culture, society, people, and general things as well! We have had the best of times such as, eating lunch at Federal Cafe (a cute urban cafe), meeting new people from our local cafe, going to our neighborhood festival, trying to order delivery pizza for the first time in Spanish, and seeing some pretty cool sites!
I am glad to be here the experience is amazing and I am going to be sad to leave!
I hope there will be more great adventures in 2012!

The Local festival!

Sagrada Familia