And now the music...

It is hard to believe I have only been in Spain for a little over a month...I feel like I have been here much longer. Not in a bad way. Just because I seem to meet new people every week and do something new and exciting each weekend, that I have done so much it doesn't possible that so little time has passed. Either way, I have done a lot since I last wrote. The last two weeks at Absenta have been a blast as always. After meeting on the 21st I went with Meritxell and some of her colleagues to La Palma and we heard Makumba Beat which involved a lot of people with drums and other various traditional and interesting instruments, dancing, and generally a good time. I managed to tear myself away around 11:30 and miss the second group because I just had to get some sleep. The next day I met Marta for coffee and our language exchange. She is very sweet and we always have a nice chat...I feel bad that I can't meet longer with her, but right now my schedule is crazy and I always seem to be running late and then running off to do something else right after I meet her. That night I met up with Meritxell, Sergio, and some of their friends to hear another concert (at this point we were still having the festa major here in Reus). The group was Mesclat, and one of Meritxell's friends new some of the members and said they were really good. After driving to where we thought the concert was to be held due to the rain and then finding out it was going to be outside and if it rained be cancelled, we drove the car back into the city and parked pretty much where we started and walked to Plaça Libertat. And ofcourse after about 10 minutes of the concert it started raining and it was cancelled. We were all fairly upset and annoyed by the lack of organization and planning done by the city and decided to head to Absenta to console ourselves. We had a wonderful time as always and ofcourse when the bar closed at 2 we couldn't call it a night because, well, who knows why? so we went to Saua, which is open till 4 and really very unimpresive. Luckily it is right by my house so I didn't have far to walk at 3 in the morning. Needless to say I was exhausted on Saturday. But I went out in the morning rain and ran errands. I didn't mind because I love going out in the cold or wet just so I can come home and curl up with a blanket, book, and a mug of hot water. I had a nice relaxing day, spent some good time with the kids and was asleep by ten. It felt good to get a real nights sleep...but it didn't last long. Sunday was very relaxing and I didn't do much but make dinner and read. But then I met Xiaoni, Eleni, Alejandro, Rafiel, Andres, and Marta for dinner at 9:30. We had a lot of fun and at midnight Xiaoni and Eleni went to go meet Carmen and Tatyianna at Absenta and invited me to come, but I was determined (at the time at least) to get another good nights sleep (I got up early the next morning to go hiking) and planned to go home shortly after they left, so I politely said no thankyou. They made the rest of the group promise to walk me home since they wouldn't be, which was very sweet. But ofcourse after dinner we had to have a drink. So I ended up going to The Green Dog with everybody else and didn't manage to get home until 2, so much for an early night.
But hiking the next day was wonderful anyway and due to all the adrenalin and excitement being tired thankfully didn't hit me until we were in the car on the way back home. Monday (the 25th)was a holiday here so Meritxell and Sergio came to pick me up at 8:30 we drove out to d'Ulldemolins, about an hour away from Reus. We had to stop in a small village for them to pick up some papers for a hike the following weekend, so we didn't get started until around 11. d'Ulldemolins in an area called Montsant and we were hiking in the parc natural del montsant. I took pictures and will put them up soon. It was actually a fairly flat hike with a very well marked trail...until the second part when we decided to find this cave and we practically entered a jungle along the way. And after making our way through the dense growth (there was a small single track trail which was practically overgrown) we couldn't make it up to the cave because it involved climbing up a rickety ladder and using a rope to climb up the rock wall that was completely flat and almost vertical, not to mention wet. So after some partial attempts we abandoned the cave and made our way back through the jungle to the other trail and the car. The rest of the hike and scenery was very interesting because it seemed like a mix of Colorado and New Mexico to me. There were a lot of pine trees and gravel trails and what not, but it was also dry and there were cactuses and other such plants. It was a wonderful hike and it felt good to get out of the ¨city¨and into nature, because there really isn't any to speak of in Reus. I am very lucky to have met Meritxell and Sergio because it is impossible to go hiking without a car as all worthwhile spots are at least an hour away.
Last week was pretty much a blur of cooking and walking back and forth to the kids school and going to the market highlighted by yoga class, my two language exchanges, and officially registering for Spanish class. Yoga was wonderul as always and completely relaxing. I met Marta for coffee and was terribly late but tried to make up for it by offering some of the cookies I had baked...but she didn't care I was late in the first place...next time I meet her I'll be ontime. She even offered to give me a ride to Tarragona on Friday because she was going as well. Absenta was new and different as always, each week seems to bring new people. We met two more guys from Reus. They found out about the language exchange because they were puting up an add in Tarragona to have one there when they saw Meritxell's add and decided to come check it out. One of them seems to be very into bike riding, which is good for me. So I got some tips about where to go and books to get and all this. I am hoping to ride to a little village near here one weekend...we'll see. Registering for class was surprisingly easy and I managed it without any disasters. I was in Tarragona much earlier than I needed to be and so I was able to find the sewing store my mom found there online and look at all the sewing machines and see what they had to offer. I still can't decide if I should get one... I can't imagine that I would have that much time to sew...but maybe on the weekends I could...I really would love to make more skirts...we'll see. Friday night I met up with Xiaoni, Eleni and a couple others because they weren't at Absenta on Thursday...ofcourse we just ended up going to Absenta as always...but it is a great place, so oh well. Saturday afternoon I walked around with Glòria and the kids.
Then Meritxell and Sergio took me hiking again this weekend! Only this time we went to Margalef, which about is an hour and a half away and stayed the night at a ¨refugi, a kind of rural house with rooms to rent (see this url, it should be in english: http://www.indicerural.com/cacalbet/index_eng.htm this is the house we stayed in, if that doesn't work, let me know and I'll give you mored detailed instructions about how to find it) so we wouldn't have to get up as early on Sunday to go hiking. We left at 5:30 on Saturday and had a nice drive on windy narrow roads. Luckily Meritxell enjoys this kind of driving since it is necessary in order to get anywhere good to hike here. The refugi was really neat and I don't know if there is anything equivalent to it in the US...not anything that I know of. Margalef is a small village...kind of like Matajudaica, maybe a bit bigger though. The refugi is a bit like a bed and breakfast. A large house with rooms to rent out. But the owners cook every meal for you...or at least the ones you want. So we had dinner Saturday night, breakfast sunday, and stayed for one night for 40€ each, a very good deal, especially considering the portions. Meritxell and I were so full we had to go for a walk after dinner. I was absolutely exhausted though because I hadn't slept much the night before. Just before leaving for our walk we had been sitting on the couch having tea and coffee (well I was having hot water of course) and I was falling asleep. We didn't get to bed until 12:30 but we weren't getting up till 8, so it wasn't too bad.
This weekend's hike was more work than last week because it was up the side of a mountain and there were very few switchbacks. Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera and it was completely dead, so I have no pictures. But it was a wonderful hike and there were actually a lot of people. Meritxell and Sergio were actually working for a small company and were guides, so there were 16 of us total hiking. They plan to offer hikes in English and German next year, but this one was in Catalàn. Here is Meritxell and Sergio's webpage about the hikes they want to offer: http://www.excursions.cat/ it is only in Catalàn right now, but they are working in getting it in english and german.
In other exciting news I am going to be cooking for the family every night and I am very excited. So I made a menu for october so Glòria woulnd't have to think about it...because it is just too much right now...and when you have all the rules and different limitations to follow about when you can eat what...it isn't that easy to figure out what to have for dinner. So I finished the menu last night and hopefully now that we know what we are going to eat I can go to the market just once a week instead of everyday.
Luckily I have caught up to the present because there is more than enough for now and it may well be the longest entry I have ever written. Hasta luego!