The baby was born!

In other parts of the world, Jan, would be a girl's name, but here in Spain, and I am sure in other parts of Europe, it is a boy's name and pronounced the same way as Jon in the States. Either way, Jan was born this morning at 8:38. Apparently it was all Ferran could do to find a doctor and even then I guess Jan was already born. Ferran and Glòria had only been in the hospital for 10 minutes. As you can tell it was a very fast labor. Both baby and mother are doing very well and should come home from the hospital on Monday. Jan is absolutely adorable and I believe he was around 3.6 kg (which I believe is about 8 lbs). As soon as I get pictures I will be sure to send them out. It is all very exciting and so far the kids have been doing very well with the whole event.
In other news I have had a very busy past couple of weeks, but I finally managed to fall into a schedule and routine. Ofcourse, now that Jan has been born that will all change. oh well, you wouldn't want to get used to anything in life, then it might get boring, right?
The first weekend in October I went hiking again with Meritxell and Sergi. This time the hike was guided by a different group and was all in Catalàn, but I was able to understand a little bit. The week after that was kind of a mess as I lost my house key (in the end it was ok because they were getting the locks changed anyway, but it proved difficult for a couple days), got caught in a torrential down pour without an umbrella or anything. I ended up staying over at Eleni and Xiaoni's that night which was pretty fun. The next morning Eleni made me Greek coffee, which she claimed was really very light, but I have a feeling it was pretty strong. One day I also learned how to make Tortilla Española. It is really quite easy, except for one crucial step. You basically sauteé onions and very small pieces of potato. Next you beat some eggs, add some salt and then you add the potatoes and onions. Next you pour the whole thing in a frying pan. When the egg is pretty much cooked you turn the whole thing over to cook on the other side. Since it is filling the whole pan, it is rather difficult and it involves putting a plate over the top flipping the whole thing over and then sliding it back into the pan and letting it cook some more. Personally I think it would be easier just to put it in the oven and bake it like a quiche, but to each his own.
The 12th of October was a holiday here, so the kids didn't have school Thursday or Friday last week. Thursday the kids' cousins came to visit and it was a pretty laid back day. The highlight of Friday was going out with Eleni, Xiaoni and a couple others to a local coffee shop/bar (a lot like Rico's in Colorado Springs if you know what that is) and listening to a jazz trio. I didn't stay out too late though because I had a big weekend planned.
On Saturday I went to Barcelona with Miren (a french au pair I met in my Spanish class) where we met up with Dyvia (actually spelled Divya, but I must mispell it with Tom because we both like it when "y" is a vowel, luckily Dyvia doesn't mind) a friend of Tom's from Rice and her friend Dave. And then Miren knew another au pair in Barcelona, so we met up with her too! It was quite the international gathering as Dyvia, Dave, and I were from the states (Texas and Colorado respectively), Miren was from France, and Ester was from Germany but was actually Hungarian. We all had a great time and didn't actually see that much but shopped around the Rambla, grabbed something to eat, took the metro, and saw Park Güell (a neat outdoor space designed by Gaudí). That was pretty much it. (photos : http://drexel.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036994&l=9f97d&id=10500847)
On Sunday Miren and I met up again and went to Cambrills. A small touristy beach town about 30 minutes from Reus. It was pretty dead on Sunday and it was kind of a cold day. So we only sat on the beach a little bit. But we got a map from the tourist center and walked around town and found an old church and some other old buildings. After taking the bus back to Tarragona we went to the Medieval Festival that was being held in the old part of town near the Cathedral. It was quite wonderful because the setting was just perfect as the streets were all cobble stone and the buildings were all old and stone.
This week has gone very well, even the works on the house may be finished by next week. I had Spanish class three times this week and I am learning a lot. The days I have class are actually very nice and relaxing because I have a fair amount of free time after I get back from class and before I have to get ready to pick up the kids from school. Catalàn class is going wonderfully as well. I always have lot of fun because the teacher is really fun. The entire class is in Catalàn though! I can count, ask what your name is, tell you mine, same with my phone number, and I even know a couple verbs now and how to conjugate them. Drawing class is always a nice time as it is very relaxing and good to do something creative each week. So far I have drawn a flower, an eskimo girl (although in my rendering she looked more like she was from China, oh well), and some trees. The flower and the girl were in pencil and the trees were in charcoal. We just choose drawings the teacher already has and then try to reproduce them. The teacher doesn't really say much but just lets us draw for two hours. This Thursday I started a contemporary dance class and I love it! Reus really is a small town and when I got there, one girl in class looked extremely familiar, but I couldn't place her. It turns out she was thinking the same thing and after we all went around and made introductions she remembered how we knew each other. I met her in the bathroom in La Palma in the beginning of September, we were all really surprised. The class was pretty much in Spanish, but I didn't have any problem understanding and it feels really good to be in a dance class again.
I think I have finally hit a milestone with Biel...he is no longer upset when I pick him up without Glòria or I have him at home alone for lunch or he wakes up after his nap and Glòria is gone. Now he wakes up and is perfectly happy, which is really nice. It wasn't that we didn't get along, he just wasn't ready for them to leave and I was new. But now he is very happy and comfortable with me.
I have also had a lot of time in the past couple weeks to do a lot of baking, which I always enjoy. I made banana muffins, apple cinnamon muffins, carrot muffins and yesterday we all made a chestnut cake!