Picking up where I last left off, the pancake dinner at Marta’s was a big hit. We even had some blueberry jam to top them off! Pancakes are not even close to being a breakfast staple here, but rather more of an American novelty dessert item. Hence, we had them as the much-anticipated dessert post risotto. My and Cass’ 5-month anniversary of moving to Spain came and went and we celebrated with the Sant Cugat crew at the beach clubs.
A noteworthy piece of news since I last updated the ole blog is that just over three weeks ago I got hired as a personal assistant to a French/Italian woman and her family. More or less, I assist her with a variety of administrative and organizational tasks, serve as a part-time nanny with their seven-year-old daughter (Romina), run errands, etc. I am really liking the job so far- it is a very dynamic position and seeing as how they speak fluent French and Spanish (the parents speak English)- I am definitely learning a lot as I go.
Maggie and Will visited Barcelona at the end of November; to ring in their first night in BCN, Cass and I went out with them at the Hotel Vela (W). Later in the night they met Damian and Rodrigo out; it was a very fun night! The next day, we went to our very first FCB game at Camp Nou! They won against Granada 4-0 and we not only lucked out with some great game day weather, but also with seats that were much better than we had expected.
As we got closer and closer to the holiday season, Cass and I were so excited for all of the city streets covered in Christmas lights to turn on finally! This city is even more beautiful all lit up in the holiday spirit. On Thanksgiving Eve, I went ice-skating with Romina at the large rink now set up in Plaza Catalunya. Despite being a bit on the pricey side, we both enjoyed ourselves and I was forced into buying an obligatory pair of gloves for one euro extra. On Thanksgiving Day I worked (no Thanksgiving is indeed not celebrated nor recognized here); later in the day, I took the metro to Petra’s apartment where we (Petra, Montse, Cass, and myself) had a lovely holiday meal of roasted chicken with vegetables and then cava and a cake from Montse for dessert. Petra came through big time and made the day very festive for us! We even went around the table and all said what we were especially thankful for this holiday season (Think Liz Gilbert in EPL when she celebrates T-Day in Rome). Later on Thanksgiving night after skyping with family, Cass and I strolled down the entirety of Paseo de Gracia for the annual BCN Shopping Night. It was a cool event and to top off the day I ended up buying my long-awaited leather jacket from Zara.
On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I went to Poble Nou with Damian to help celebrate April’s 4th birthday. Her party with her friends and classmates was in the loft area of a local bakery and then afterwards we went back to their apartment for dinner and more cake with their family and close friends. I felt bad because I was empty handed in terms of her birthday present, which happened to be in the care package that my mom sent almost a month ago now (still waiting for it to get cleared from customs in Madrid unfortunately). She looked absolutely precious for all of the birthday festivities and sported a bright purple tutu.
The following week, Cass and I belatedly celebrated Thanksgiving with Mar, Ignasi, Xavi, Sean, and Billy with a grand lunch. Mar never ceases to out-due herself with her delicious home cooking. Speaking on behalf of both Cass and I, we will definitely be sad to see Sean and Billy head back to the states soon. More random updates: I have started babysitting on the weekends for a family with three young Catalan children. Last week we finally went over to Austin’s ISA apartment for a little Mexican dinner action before Otto Zutz. Damian and his family moved into their new apartment, which turned out so nicely after all the remodeling; I helped move things over and unpack some with Mar on Thursday. This last Friday was a national holiday and I helped out with the photo shoot with the Carrieres in Cervantes Park. Over the weekend, I tried to bring some Christmas cheer to our apartment by making a Merry Christmas sign. We are very excited for the upcoming holidays around here!
SAMHOPEHANSEN 