Visiting Girona, Spain

Girona is a beautiful little town rich with history. I think.. I really wish I could share more details about Girona but honestly I was working while my family enjoyed it.

Every night though I did enjoy a lovely dinner and nice long walk. Our hotel AC Hotel was beautiful and amazingly cheap due to it being off season.

The Pooping Log aka "Tio de Nadal"

Here in Cataluña and also in Valencia, Spain, they have normal Christmas but they have added a tradition that I find so funny! It is called Tio de Nadal, (in English "christmas log"). It's nickname is Caga Tio! This tradition involves a smiling log that on Christmas day, children order it to poop and they sing a little song.

Then children in Cataluña tap this log and apparently it poops candy but this doesn’t just happen over night. The family cares for the log by putting a blanket over it and feeding it food each nite! All over Cataluña you can buy one or the whole family of pooping logs! This tradition is celebrated by almost everyone in Cataluña and Valencia A This really makes things alot more exciting for everyone! These are the little things about Spain that I love!

Flamenco classes - update

It's my second week at a new school. The first one didn't have mirrors. If you have two left feet and two left hands, the absence of mirrors can only make it worse.

The new school is great. The class is smaller and more casual and the instructor is a better teacher. Although I love it, I still find flamenco quite difficult. Hoping it clicks real soon.

Spain's #1 necessity!

When you go to a restaurant and look at the menu this is normally what you see Pasta con Jamon,Boccadillo de Jamon, Pizza con Jamon basically jamon,jamon,jamon!
What is jamon you ask? It is pig otherwise known as pork. Here in Spain jamon is part of there life style, I understand that people like it but you don't need it in every meal! If you tell people in Spain you do not eat pork they will think you are crazy, and then offer you bacon.

They love pork so much that there are whole stores that are all pork and nothing else.
The thing that is the most disturbing to me is whole ham legs curing themselves by hanging from a ceiling as they mold, smoke themselves and sweat, there is even a little plastic cup to catch the sweat as it drips down from the ham leg I find this quite gross. It also reeks and smells terrible when ever you walk past a pork shop you can smell it even though your not in the shop. I wouldn't mind these ham legs if they weren't in every bar, restaurant, and peoples homes! I just don't find them so appealing or yummy.

Around the Christmas time here when you go to a grocery store there are whole holiday displays of ham legs apparently here in Spain ham legs make great gifts considering pretty much everyone loves ham!

What I really think is interesting is ham can range from sliced ham that costs about 5 euros to whole ham legs that cost 150 euros,I do not know why people spend so much money on ham?

Spanish people think ham is necessity of life!

Mint & Lime Pasta -- oh yes!

Bar Lobo located just off Las Ramblas, is my new favorite cafe. It has a rustic feel and an open kitchen smack front and center of the cafe. There you can see just how fresh the food being prepared is. Perfect for foodies and/or germiphobes.

The pan con tomate is the best I have had to date. For lunch, I love to get the Mint, Lime & Fresh Mozzarella Pasta. It's light yet packed with a fresh and clean flavor. Who would have thought you could marry mojitos and pasta?

Highly recommended!

A Slap on the back of the head!

My new haircut!

Here in Spain there is a very wierd but funny tradition,it is everytime you get your hair cut people are allowed to slap you on the back of the head.

My experience with this came just last week!I got my hair cut and went into school the next day not expecting much more then a few "Oh you look diffrent" comments but no it was "Oh you look diffrent" SLAP, Hi! SLAP Buenas días! SLAP,Bon día! SLAP Que Tal? A slap here a slap there.Everyone was slapping my head.Honestly a thought it was a practical joke.So me getting annoyed I had to ask apparently it is a tradition in Spain,i felt so stupid.I mean even the teachers were doing it. Of course everybody slapped me lightly but it got to a point were I was irritated.
This is a little thing that makes Spain all the more fun!

Cheap vs Pricey in Spain

Curious about what is expensive and what is cheap compared to the States?  Here you go.  I'll add more as I notice them!  Anything you are curious about?  Comment below and I will let you know.


Cheap here compared to San Francisco

• Medications - Prescription medications are just a fraction of what they cost in the states.  Even with insurance you can pay $3-$20 for prescriptions in the States.  No insurance can cost a lot more and sometimes over $100.  Here in Spain we have paid .60 cents to 1.75 euro for basic prescriptions.  I should also mention that simple things such as antibiotic eyedrops or eardrops  are easy you don't even need to see a doctor.  So far, I have not spent more than 2 euro for a prescription.  On the other hand the farmacia sure charges a heck of a lot for other necessities (see below)

• Groceries - Very inexpensive. I should have kept better notes on the cost per item but it's very common to get a bag of groceries here for about 6-12 euro.  This is a huge discount from my usual WholeFoods which cost about $30-$50 per bag. 

• Lunch - "Menu" lunches are quite popular here.  They usually come with a drink or coffee, main dish and dessert all for 6-9 euro at local cafe's. A delicious deal!

• Bar Drinks - 2 euro beers, 1.75 Irish coffee's.  Let me get back to you on mixed drinks.

• Rent - Rent is a bargain here.  You can easily rent a nice 2 bedroom for 800-1000 euro.  Rent in San Francisco is famously high in the city unless you want to live in the TL.

Expensive here compared to San Francisco

• General Farmacia products - Let's start with Hand Sanitizer.  The little mini ones you see at every Walgreens or grocery stores back home are just .99 cents and cost 4 euro here.  4 EURO!  A larger version which is more like a medium bottle is 20 euro.   Binkies cost 5-6 euro for 1 and 8 euro for two.  Quite pricey.

• Oragnic Products and Hoity Toity Meat - Damn, I miss buying free range hormone-free chicken breast for a reasonable cost.  Just one piece of free range hormone-free chicken breast that I saw yesterday was 11.80 euro which is $16.05 in dollars. So I pass on that and buy regular meat which I am sure is just fine.  There are plenty of organic marts here too but they are sparse inside and a bit pricier.

• Utilities - Crimony!  Water is crazy expensive!  Our first water bill was 275 euro for 2-3 months.  That equals $400!!  So then we monitored our water intake and the bill I received today was 175euro--still very expensive!  Electricity and gas is also very expensive.