Friends and Yummy/Questionable Food!

The last few days have been filled with new classes, more exploring, and now food because before we always had 2 meals a day at the cafeteria and I was too stingy to buy anything in between, but now I am FORCED to purchase my meals, and it has definitely provided some interesting stories. On Sunday I went to Catherine's new apartment to check it out (the one living with a Spanish family), and I don't want to be too sharing of other people's situations, but let's just say unfortunately her living set-up has somewhat turned sour thanks to a live-in cleaning lady/maid from "h-e-double hockey sticks". Anyways we had a short visit there before heading out to the Gothic Quarter again to wander and find a good cafe.  Apparently there was so city-wide craft/antique fair and we found endless lines of booths around every corner, mostly filled with the elderly collectors picking up missing pieces for their unique hobby. Some of the stuff was cool to look at, but I have never really been interested in antique "things", so we continued on.

Then, right in front of this cathedral, past the booths, there were authentic Catalan dancers performing the official dance of Catalunya. Which, although interesting to watch, was very muted and dull. They stand in a circle with their hands in the air and move their feet to subtly and slowly that even the dancers looked like they had danced themselves to sleep. 

Then we continued on among the side street of the neighborhood and found a really cute candy/chocolate/pastry shop, and although I was amazed enough by the window displays, Catherine and Rachel went in to get truffles and a fruit-tart thing that they really liked. Here is what you see walking past the stores in Raval:

Okay I would add more, but my internet here is so slow that it literally takes 10-15 minutes per picture to load, so i'm gonna have to go a little easy on the picture portion of my blog unfortunately. Next we continued on to see even more open fairs.

This is an open area among all of the small and maze-like streets of Raval, filled with cafes, shops, and another antique/art fair.

Now onto the food. So we walked over past Plaza Catalunya for some lunch. I had yet to order the "menu del dia" since I have been here, but every restaurant and cafe serves it between 1-4 or so and it is 3 courses for a fixed price, where you chose each course from a list of maybe 4 or 5. Being that it was the Sunday right after Dia de Catalunya, not much was open, and we chose the first one we could find. I looked at the menu and immediately recognized Andalucian gazpacho and salad, but I couldn't recognize any of the names for the second course, and the waitress said none of them were without meat, so I got two from the first course menu, and then dessert and bread and a soda that comes with the meal. Here is a picture of the gazpacho.

It is pureed and then they serve it with little bowls of chopped peppers and tomatoes and croutons. 

Then I got the salad:

Very basic, and like everything else, drowned in oil and vinegar. Please don't mind the pile of olives resting on my napkin...

Then I got a yummy ice cream sundae dessert!

Everything was 10 euro all together, so it was quite the economical purchase!

Unfortunately my lunch companions were not so fortunate...curiosity killed the appetite.

None of us could understand the second course options since they were all in Catalan, but they decided to be adventurous. Here is what Catherine got:

A big hunk of ocean-dweller. Literally a sawed off salty piece of boney mess. 

Rachel's was waaaaay worse...

We tried to figure out what it was, she said it didn't taste that bad, but the consistency was horrible. We thought it might be some mussel or clam or something like that, but it wasn't until she went home to look it up that she found out she had just eaten gelatinous pigs feet!!

Mom, Dad: pickiness pays off.

:)

Oh, the next few pictures are for you Dad, all of the street scenes I have shown have been really crowded and bustling with people and cars, but here is a major street and train station completely abandoned in the middle of a Sunday afternoon:

No one.

Yesterday after my core classes I went to the Facultat de Historia i Geografia to find out where my classes will be when the department begins on Thursday. We found some crazy art display of humongous mannequin-like things that were really interesting, and really bizarrely placed!

Finally, yesterday we made a trip to a cafe rumored to serve churros con chocolate. Disclaimer: unfortunately I did not participate in their consumption, seeing as it was 10am and I didn't want to be in a coma for the rest of the morning, so this detail is second-hand. 

Here is what they look like:

They come out piping hot, and according to Catherine the chocolate tasted like hot pudding. It is extremely dense and supposed to be really rich, but seeing as we chose a cafe that sells them for 2 euro, I guess we get what we pay for. Maybe this is one of those treats that you just have to splurge on to really get the good stuff. Anyways she thought they were good, but as I would have predicted, sat like a brick in her stomach, and do not serve well as an early-morning snack. I am just happy to have officially seen them, they were the illusive dessert for quite some time now. 

Last night I went to interview at a family's house to possibly tutor their 3 boys English during the school year. I would be working twice a week for 2 hours a session and making 10 euro an hour, which isn't much, but enough to allow some less restricted spending on my part. I will know by the weekend if I get it. I am also looking at switching apartments for the next month, and am meeting with possible new roomates, a girl from Bulgaria and a girl from Peru, tomorrow, so that might be an upcoming change. Tonight Claire, Catherine, Rachel and I are all going over to Rachel's apartment in Gracia to cook dinner and hang out. I am bringing a few baguettes and some wine, and we are planning a fun evening of cooking and catching up on our long first week of "official Spanish lives".

I am going to Monserrat, the giant monastery in the mountains above Barcelona, on Friday with the group and the art museum and old Jewish cemetary of Montjuic on Saturday, so the next post will have lost of great pictures! I miss you all!

 Love, Megs