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October 3, 2007. The Swiss German Helmet left today to travel to Ecuador. He buttonholed me in the hallway to tell me that it’s important to preserve my wealth and it’s something he can do starting in May when is sabattical is over. He didn’t notice I was totally uninterested. The girls took the opportunity to shake his hand and he was so insistant on selling me his bank’s private services, he forgot to cop a feel/hug/kiss/embrace them. They quickly left.
I’ll miss him, mainly since the girls could laugh at him. We’re down to five now: Turgt, the sometimes stunning Turkish girl whose goal is to have children; Emma’ who is Swiss German and in addition to German speaks English and French and probably Italian and is quickly learning Spanish; Ellen, who is Swedish, generally hung over and gets plenty to eat but has a good attitude; and Yolanda who is also Swiss German, has dredlocks and is always playing with her mouth/lip ring (looks painful, problematic, soon to be infected) and hasn’t changed her outfit in at least two weeks. All the girls are between 18 and 20. The teacher, Maria, is probably 33. It looks like I am the oldest. There are few Americans in the school, which is fine, but everyone speaks English when they need a common spoken language.
Rocket is a young and certainly impressionable dog but we thought he would display more independence. He’s so social but obviously thinks taking up smoking is part of the gig.
Today is the first day since we’ve been here that it has rained in any meaningful sustained way. Seven weeks!
October 4, 2007. Lunch with our friends Dan and Amy is our chance to compare notes on the ins and outs of living here. They are a lot of fun and since they don’t read the website I can say anything about them — had they been reading, Dan would have mentioned the secret word to me. We’re thinking about trying to become German citizens, among other ideas.
Went for another long run today – close to two hours. The last 15 minutes was in a serious downpour so I got a shower and actually got dirtier.
October 5, 2007. I had a talk with my Spanish teacher who suggested strongly that I remain in the class I’m in. She’s probably right, but I’ve been in the same material for four weeks and can’t look at it again. I told her the choices were to put me in the next level or I’ll find another way to study Spanish. In retrospect, I should have just gone to another way to learn Spanish, namely private lessons, since they would cost about the same and I would learn more in a shorter amount of time. In any case, I ended up signing up for one more week at the International House of Languages (not Pancakes) and then will find a private teacher probably for less money. Anne is chucking along doing well mainly, I think, because she has so much Spanish background, while I have very little — I don’t think I ever took any Spanish; I took a semester of French in College and almost flunked and may have taken a German course. I took French in high school but not Spanish.
Otherwise, I went to the sports store about half a mile away and bought some cheap weights and a fitball so I can keep the guns in shape; I had to catch a cab since I couldn’t carry the weights back.
October 6, 2007. Today the family decided to go for a ride on the “Mont Juic Teleferic” which translates to Jewish Mountain Teleferic and crosses from the mountain over the port at probably about 1,000 feet. Joshua wanted to do it. So we make our way down to the general area, switched trains, and promptly got separated from Anne and Joshua when Anne said we were in the wrong train — I promptly got out with David but Anne and Joshua stayed on the train. So David and I waited until we figured that we wouldn’t find Anne and Joshua and had a nice (and long) walk together to get to the Teleferic. First we went the way the Anne and I decided to go, and stopped by the market at Las Rambles and bought some dried fruits.
We then tried to go the way planned with Anne, only to get into a part of the city that is not very kosher, filled with Arab men getting haircuts, large groups of very dark men arguing loudly and other things you generally wouldn’t want to live near. I promptly turned around and we walked over to the port end of the Teleferic, instead of the Jewish Mountain end, which took over an hour. Odd how in order to get to the Jewish Mountain, you have to go through the Arab gauntlet. When we did got to the entrance, David made the decision, and I agreed, it wasn’t worth the hour plus wait. We found a bus home, which was super easy and Anne and Joshua arrived home at the same time.
Anne took the dog out and it got a chance to play.
This afternoon Greg Shaffran arrived from Aspen to go on a seven-week bike trip through Spain and Portugal. Should be quit an adventure and he seems well prepared: a bike, a 90 pound trailer, the ability to speak Spanish. It should be a great time. He’s supposed to leave Sunday or Monday but has to buy white gas, which while widely available in the US is not in Barcelona. We went around to the sports store and 
a few others trying to find it without luck.
October 7, 2007. An easy Sunday, watching Greg toil to try to fix a bike that is not broken (but soon will be if he spents too much more time). Then off for a long run up to the hill and I saw there was a soccer game in the stadium. About 100,000 people were there so it was loud enough to hear miles away when there was a goal.
October 8, 2007. Greg, Anne and I went to the downtown area to school (for Anne and me) and for White Gas (for Greg for his camping/biking adventure). After bidding Greg adieu, we went to class only to discover (for me) that I was with the same teacher for a third week in a row. While she is very nice, I didn’t enjoy her teaching enough to endure another week (well four days since there is yet another holiday — remember, there will be no discount since there is no discount). Along with Emma, the smart and mature Swiss girl who also was faced with another short week of Maria, we went to the administration to complain and were placed in the only alternative for intermedio 1, which was Suzanna. After the day with her, I don’t think she is any better and is possibly worse. This is clearly my last week at this school. I think I was spoiled by my first two weeks when I had fantastic teachers. Oh well. Stay tuned.
In any case, Anne came to disturb me in class and let me know that we had to pick up the kids since their school had no water. So Anne and I and Dan and Amy went to BFIS to pick up children. We went home, took a break and then David was off to soccer (with me). We got there and I had a nice talk with one of the Spanish mothers on the field (they are very nice and will speak Spanish so I get free lessons and realize just how poor my spoken Spanish is) and she told me that the dark/black clouds over the mountain mean rain. About 15 minutes later, the sky opened and we had a tormenta. Into the locker rooms I went with about 10 Spanish mothers and I don’t have to tell you about the hanky panky that followed. Well,… we waited out the tempesta and arrived home to another wonderful homecooked meal by Anne! Ah, another day.
October 9, 2007. Today was a day of riding trains. First to school (for myself and Anne — by the way, I’m now at the lowest level I’ve achieved since coming here! — the latest is since I demoted myself), then back to get the dog, then to Sant Cugat, a suburb where Anne organized a language trade with a really nice Spanish woman named Laura (pronouced Lou (rhymes with how) ra (as in ra, ra, another day)), then to the lawyer’s office to deal with the apartment lease (don’t ask what a pain this is), then to retrieve my bike in Sitges (pronounced seat-gis) which took 40 plus minutes each way plus taxi, plus riding, then riding in the dark back to home.
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October 2nd, 2007 · Comments Off on Week 6 — September 25 to October 2
Week Six
Cliffhanger: Will Mark get fed up with his lack of knowledge of Spanish and learn something or will he just give up and continue to wing it?
September 25, 2007. They put me in the lowest Spanish class yet, and I understand why. I am illiterate and speak poorly. Otherwise though, I’ve got the language under control. It’s a drag because before the classes were fun and the people in them could spit out a sentence. Now it’s just a bunch of beginners who can’t put three words together. It makes me want to give up, but I guess I’ll tough it out for the week and decide how to proceed. I want to learn the language but am not sure this is the way to do it. Then lunch with Dan and Amy and off to pick up David from school (Anne picked up Joshua) and shuttle him to soccer practice. This is an hour deal with heavy traffic in very public transportation. Then watch David at practice with a bunch of kids who are older than he is. I ended up sitting with a Spanish mom who spoke zero English which gave me the opportunity to stumble over the few words I’ve got wrong. I’m certain I didn’t say even one thing correctly. Then David had to pick up his uniform, then more public transportation to get home at 8:00 p.m. Tomorrow is David’s birthday — he’ll be nine!!! What a great kid he is (and of course Joshua is) to put up with our moving him to a foreign place — it’s a lot harder here to just deal with the daily routine, certainly as compared with Aspen.
September 26, 2007, David’s ninth birthday. Anne dropped David and Joshua at the bus this morning for the longish ride to school. They are dropped at 7:45 and arrive at school in time for a 8:45 start. It’s probably just over a mile and a half.
Off to class we went. This week’s class is composed of a bunch of slightly overweight young women, an absurdly obnoxious swiss guy and Thomas, a French guy who was kicked out of my very first class close to a month ago. In other words, I’m going backwords. I’ve now covered the same material three times. Thomas and I are joking about it and we make fun of the Swiss guy. The Swiss guy is a “dirty old man” at age 45 and hits on all the overweight girls. One of the girls is from Turkey and has the most striking features you can imagine, and is a fashion designer. If she lost 25 a few pounds, she could model.
There is a large German girl who seems to think smoking should be equated with freedom. Nice. Of course, I think I managed to insult her after she complained about how it’s not as “free” in the US at school, referring to smoking. Great future — all that freedom and an early death! The Swiss/English girl in my class is the only non-smoker, apparently, and she’s nice and easy to deal with. Thomas, the French guy, is chamingly low key and predicably has all the women greeting him, kissing him and who knows what else. The Swiss German 45-year-old must be wondering where he’s going wrong. More as the world turns.
After class lunch with Dan and Amy and quickly to school via our apartment to have David’s in-class birthday. When we got back, the fuse had blown, for about the third time, and I got the guy on the floor above doing a one-man renovation to replace it. The wiring here is a joke. We rushed to David’s school by taxi with muffins for the entire class which is entirely too large (24 I think). Then the teacher and Anne left me with all 24 of them while they went out searching for fire for the candles. The kids all claimed to be David’s best friend which led to some fist fights in the class.
Otherwise, it was easy but there were a few minutes of tension as I starred down 24 third graders. When Anne and the teacher came back what seemed like hours later, no children were crying.
We took David’s school bus home, which was so comfortable and I was so tired I almost feel asleap. Then I went around looking for more fuses, and David and Joshua built David’s birthday Star Wars present. Anne rushed off to Ikea to get our last items; a bed for David, who has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor.
September 27, 2007. Off to another day of class and I’m still trying to catch up with sleep from last week. After class, Anne and I did some shopping and I got a hair cut. The barber was real old style and obviously inherited the trade from his father. Super nice guy who told me the goal in Cataluna is to speak three language, Catalan, Spanish and English. It’s clear that English is being pushed here. Anyway, I got a free Spanish lesson and told him I’d be back monthly so he can monitor my progress (not that articulately though). I then took David to soccer practice where the 9 and 10 year olds are playing at an advanced middle school level in the US. I got to do a short 40 minute run and went through one of the barrios here, Sarria. It was very cute, small streets lined with shops of all sorts. I got into a square and with the light and the people around I could have been on a movie set; I really felt like I was walking through the set for La Dolce Vita — without the Dolce. Kids were playing, people were sitting around, dogs, birds, noise, incredible lighting, quiet on the set, action.
September 28, 2007. Rocket got here this morning. Anne had to take a day off Spanish to get him which worked remarkably smoothly given he’s flying internationally via Germany into Spain. He’s jet-lagged but otherwise all right. Thanks goes to Shelly at Ski.com for taking such good care of him.
Now Anne can join all the uniformed maids every morning walking dogs but it’s a good chance to practice her Tagalog.
Rocket should feel right at home given that we now have construction on two sides. The entire facade of the building contiguous to ours is covered with scaffolding and the unit upstairs is being slowly remodeled. Hey, it’s just like Aspen — we can’t get away from construction.
September 29, 2007. Today was David’s official birthday celebration and a chance to shake down the locals for gifts. We got some good stuff too, but I’ll let David tell you all about it. Anywho, the birthday celebration involved six kids at the local bowling alley. Now I realize why I’ve always loved bowling so much. The sights, the sounds, the shoes, the ambiance, etc…
One kid was so stressed about it, every time he bowled he threw a fit, ran out and had to be consoled. Time to break out the anti depressants or talk therapy.
Back at the piso, we celebrated with food (peaches are now out of season, I learned), and some birthday song singing in both Spanish and English.
Then I went on a longish run over to Parc Gůell via another park that wasn’t as well known but seems to have better views and fewer people called Jardins de Turó dél Putxet. There were tons of steps and hills, some nice views and notwithstanding the stops and starts, it was a good work-out. The hills are really nice and some streets have escalators on them (up only). The run, through the cities streets reminded me of what urban running is all about — the smell of urine permeated the fall air.
We all went to a street fair in the Barrio called Sarrià near our house. It was a sort of make-up for not attending last Saturday’s bigger festivities in Barcelona. It included some of the famous local traditions like the “Gigantes” who are the giants who protect the city and come out and dance “Sardanas” which is a Catalan dance. Also involved are devils, mules, eagles, etc… We walked home to further stress Rocket out since the dogs here aren’t neutered and every dog tries to hump him.
October 1, 2007. Back to Spanish class for week four and one thing is clear–it doesn’t come easily. My class has dwindled down to five people plus myself. It’s basically me with the four 18 to 20-year-old girls and Helmut, the dirty old man who is 45 and looks 60 and acts — I don’t know what. He bought one girl a croissant for breakfast and calls the pretty ones “guapa” to their face. “Emma and Turget are very guapa.” At the break the girls and I enjoyed a cigarette and coffee and the girls tore into the teacher who I thought was fine, not great not terrible. They all think Helmut is a jerk so it’s fun to make fun of him.
Then picked up David from school at 5:00 and brought him to soccer where I sat next to Juan who was there to watch his newphew and spoke no English or didn’t try. It could be because he was retarded (no really) so he let me speak Spanish. That appears to be the level my Spanish is on, on a good day. I know it’s not politally correct, but no one should say who or whon’t I should speak with.
Anne is enjoying the dog since it creates opportunites for conversation, as in “please get your dog off mine.”
October 2, 2007. Another day of trying to understand Spanish. I went for a long run on trails above the kids’ school that are great and long without interruptions – problem is that getting there takes 20 to 30 minutes by foot. There should be a book “The Barcelona Diet” which would consist of walking/almost running a huge amount in hot weather, always being late to where you are going, and eating drawn out meals at ridiculous times. You rarely see anyone very much overweight here and now I see why.
For more, see week seven.
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September 18th, 2007 · Comments Off on Week 5 — September 18 to September 24
Week 5 — Pyrenees
September 18, 2007. Today is my third day on a bike trip called the Trans-Pyrennee Trip put on by Thomson Cycling. It is very well organized and done and has been wonderful. My only complaints are the rides are too long (my fault) and it’s too hot (no one’s fault). I’m with a group of 13 other riders, plus two group riders on the road plus two van drivers. Today’s ride was from Solsona to Tremp, which is where I’m writing this from. Last night was another with little sleep, which seems to be a problem for me. Today’s ride was 124 kilometers (about 78 miles) and 2,500 meters of climbing. The climbing actually is the kind I like, just a steady grind but the descending was the best I’ve ever seen or done. These roads are empty; it’s almost rare to see a car and they are in fantastic condition and built for fast descents on bikes. The scenery is equally incredible and awesome. It’s been a wonderful experience so far. I’ve posted a slide show here: Pyrenees
September 19, 2007. Today we rode from Tremp to Luchon over two hard passes and went to France. The first was Port de la Bonaigua and the second was Col de Portillon which separates France and Spain
The scenery is incredible with huge views, incredible mountains, unbelievably good (and under construction) roads, rivers with river rafters, rocks being climbed, roaring waterfalls – you know — the usual amenities. I would have taken more photos, but I didn’t.
As for the group, one guy unfortunately had an accident and fell at the top of today’s second descent (they are hairy to say the least). I’ve gone off alone to avoid descending with others since I like go at my own speed and not have to trust others. The ride leaders, Peter who owns the company and Eric, who is French, are very strong cyclists and oftentimes pull the entire group for many miles. They pulled for about half an hour this afternoon and this morning as well, moving us along at very high speeds.
It’s a nice group and only one woman, which is a super strong climber (out climbs me, more or less) and a few others of varied abilities but everyone can climb and ride fast. Today’s ride was 150 kilometers so over the last three days we’ve done 420 kilometers – just huge mileage. Breakfast, lunch and dinners are with the group and one thing is for sure—it’s intimate living and stressful. Hat’s off to Peter who takes everything in stride and has a great sense of humor.
The only problem I’ve had is a pocket in my jersey tore, apparently, and I couldn’t figure out why my camera fell out three times (incredibly it did not break). It got a lot cooler today which required wearing armwarmers for lots of the ride; plus jackets and more for the descents.
The difference between France and Spain is stark – this town may be sleepy (it appears to be where they have a major ski resort – super banillier) and a spa, but there was no shop open other than a bakery and no where to buy groceries (chocolate, fruit, etc… which we’ve been living on in addition to meals). I don’t have Internet service either, so the Internet superhighway apparently has not reached this area of France – Non, we don’t need such a highway. As I watlked into the door to the hotel, they were very nice, I got to practice some French but came early in part because Peter had warned us that the rooms required that each person was shown their rooms separately, which took time. The father of the owner of the hotel then decided to talk to me, which is of course nice, and tell me about his trip to the US, while Nick winked at me as in, “I’ll be going to my room now, have a nice chat.” The guy was nice and completely invaded my personal space.
Today’s ride was a mere 2500 meters and tomorrow’s is 3500.
September 20, 2007. Today was our biggest day of climbing. About 3,500 meters – over 10,000 feet. Some of the most famous climbs in the Pyrenees were on today’s itinerary including Col de Peyresourde, Col d’Aspin then Col du Tourmalet – just a huge day of climbing. Tourmalet is the classic Tour climb and it along with all the serious climbs have all sorts of stuff written all over the roads. Usually it’s riders’ names but it can also be things like “no doping” and more. The big climbs also have signs with information that includes how many kilometers from the top, the steepness/grade of the next kilometer, the current altitude and the summit altitude all organized for cycling. The French are really into the sport and people will yell out their car windows and just say to you as you pass them “bonne courage” – it’s so nice.
Nick and I have a great joke going, the premise of which is that it took the other one so long to get up the climb. So we’ll say things like, I stopped to have lunch. Then it got really funny and we stopped to learn the Koran, stopped to learn backgammon (started as a beginner but by the time I was ready to go, I was a grandmaster) learned languages. Nick told me he stopped to milk a cow and then made cheese (aged just right). I think it’s hilarious.
The day took its toll with the Chinese guy and the son of the Canadian lawyer both deciding not to ride tomorrow. The Chinese guy (Eric) has a swollen knee, the 22 year old has had enough. I am running through my supply of Advil and Rolaids – welcome to a bike trip in the Pyrenees.
We got Internet service, but I didn’t do much other than get a call into Anne. She managed to get tickets for the soccer game with Valencia for David’s birthday on Saturday but I can’t go – originally the game was scheduled for Sunday so I planned to fly back and make it. They change the time and day of games without much, if any, advance notice.
September 21, 2007. I got a great night of sleep finally.
Today we rode over three or four “cols” which means passes here in France. At this point, everyone is so fatigued and wasted, we just call it the “C Word”. Peter, the ride leader, thinks it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, in which case I have a good excuse not to ride. We have at least three people who have abandoned for various reasons ranging from accident to sore knees, ankles and just had enough.
The mountains in this part of the Pyrinees are pretty fantastic, that’s for sure. Huge passes looking down on meadows, rocky outcroppings, tiny roads that are barely one lane, and animals all over the place on the roads. We’re passed herds of sheep and cows on the road, pigs, goats, horses, mules, lamas – all free ranging it. They probably don’t call it free range, instead saying there are animals on the road and grazing everywhere.
If I ever do this again, and somehow I doubt I will, I would use different gearing on my bike. Doing this without a triple is adding torture to torture. It’s amazing how people are keeping, generally, a very good attitude about the ride and enjoying it. I doubt I’ll be looking at my bike for a long time – and will take up running and doing weights.
The hotel this evening is another French 2 or 3 star (crappy either way) and I can hear cow bells from the room. The Internet is broken. I hope the cows don’t move around at night so I can sleep.
September 22, 2007. Today it rained and I choose not to start. I’ve ridden enough and don’t feel 100 percent as it is. It was destined to be a miserably cold and wet ride. I choose to ride in the van, along with Mike, the van driver and my English friend Nick. We certainly had some good laughs. Both Nick and Mike have great senses of humor. Everyone who chose to ride was freezing and cold and the ride included lots of climbing and very cold, wet descents. We talked about travel, and the eloquence others brought to describing the trip.
As for the terrain, it was beautiful to the extent it could be seen through the fog. The mountains in this part of France and Spain (we crossed into Spain and back to France) are incredible. We are in ETA country, meaning the Basque language is spoken here – especially in Spain – and you see signs of it here and there mainly through graffiti on signs. There are huge views, lots of hikers, including those doing the cross-Pyrenees pilgrimage tour, which is a religious experience of walked from one side of the Pyrenees to the other.
The mountains here are spectacular and huge views, beautiful very well-kept towns and more. Every house is perfect with a yard that is well kept and the huge fields are perfectly mowed by livestock, all of which have bells around their necks.
We had a good-bye dinner and that’s that. I feel like I had a great time, got some serious bike mileage in (697 Kilometers – almost 500 miles over six days), climbed plenty (over 14,000 meters sometimes at 10 percent grades), saw the Pyrenees up close, and that’s everything I wanted. We did the extreme version of what was advertised – it turned out in reality there was no other version.
Being part of an organized tour is hard but from what little experience I’ve had, this was a good one. The ride leader, Peter, really made it through his sense of humor and patience with everyone. As for tonight’s hotel, it also has not hooked up to the information superhighway and has, without a doubt, the most mildew invested bathroom I have ever experienced.
I look forward to getting back to family tomorrow in Barcelona and getting language courses, and planning our next adventure(s).
September 23, 2007. Went to the airport at San Sebastian, Spain this morning along with the vans and some of the stragglers from the trip. It was fairly cool weather, I was tired, my legs were sore, I was ready to get back to Barcelona. There were tons of groups of guys on bikes dressed warmly that we passed – I think one guy in the van was seriously thinking he might try to join them.
Another word about the difference between France and Spain. Spain is young and happening – there are lots of young French people in my Spanish classes; France (at least what I saw in the Pyrenees) is populated with older people. Nothing wrong with that and in fact I rode up one of the passes with a 74-year-old gentleman who was in amazing shape for his age. He patted me on the back and thanked me as an American for liberating France; he was ten years old at the time. It was a touching moment.
San Sebastian is in the Basque region of Spain and, as with Barcelona, they speak their own language, Basque or the easy-to-pronounce and predictable “euskaldun”. No one seems to know where the Basque language came from. It’s completely unique as a language and the only word I learned was Donostia which means, of course, San Sebastian. It seems like these efforts to claim separate identity by speaking a language that no one speaks is a disservice to the area’s occupants; it turns them into illiterate whose-it speaking hick terrorists.
I took a flight, about an hour long, back to Barcelona. My bike will travel separately and probably collect dust in Peter’s garage for a lengthy period.
Most of the day was spent catching up on email. David had a friend come over and Joshua had a birthday party to go to so they are already integrating into the new environment. Unfortunately it’s with Americans. Oh well.
September 24, 2007. Monday is a holiday here in Barcelona and is famous as the day they build human pyramids and parade in huge face masks. Of course, I only realized the festivities were on too late, so I missed them. Dan and Amy went and basically it sounds like something you may want to miss, at least in part. Apparently kids were firing firewords directly into people’s faces — the smart people were equipped with goggles and face masks! That sounds terrible to me. Anyway, as with Sunday, nothing was open and we basically took it easy. David and Joshua contined to recover from their 1:00 bed time after the Barcelona-Valencia game here on Friday night which they attended. I was still tired from the ride and Anne was just pooped.
Tomorrow begins week six — stay tuned.
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September 11th, 2007 · Comments Off on Week 4 — September 11 to September 17
Week Four
Cliffhangers (a new feature of Uhlfelder.com) — Mark is planning on an organized bike trip next week through the Pyrinees, will he survive the 400 plus miles of riding? Will Anne take the opportunity to learn fluent Spanish? Stay tuned to find out.
Septmber 11, 2007. Tuesday is a holiday here — some Catalan national holiday during which the only celebration is to act like it’s Sunday (everything is closed, even the “Open every day” stores). In any case, it’s a good day for a bike ride and Anne took the kids to the acquarium. Joshua told me they saw a three-d movie with those 1950s glasses (my words, not his) and he felt like he could reach out and touch the fish, even though he was sitting in the back row.
The architecture here is really spectacular and the building are often ornate and interesting.
Here’s one thing we’ve observed, children being pushed around in strollers. Often they look like they might be much older than David or Joshua since they are squeezed into the strollers and their legs are too long to fit. I know for a fact that one kid had to be older since he was smoking a cigarette and generally the kids here don’t smoke until they are at least 10.
I talked to the bike trip organizer today, who lives in Sitges, a town about 20 minutes away. Nick, who is a friend from last year’s June bike trip through the French Alps, is joining me. The trip is well prices (not expensive) but features two star accommodations (that’s basically what’s available in the regions). I asked him if they would be giving us snacks since we’re biking huge distances and he said no Powerbars, but yes to nuts and berries. I wrote to Nick that we may have to forage for truffels. We’ll see.
September 12, 2007. Today the traffic started in earnest and we were late for David and Joshua’s school (only five or so minutes) but it’s something. Starting next week there is a school bus and they will have to go with all the other kids from around here to the school. Unfortunately, it’s 30 minutes or so of traffic, but that’s the way it is.
I have a very good Spanish teacher. He generally just explains how things work — holidays, history, food, Catalan culture, and more. It’s really interesting and a lot of fun and hopefully I’m learning some Spanish. The food thing is a huge focus here in Spain and if you are a vegetarian, you are in big trouble. The meats are incredible; they love ham, the cheeses are sensational and you have literally thousands of choices. The vegetables are fresh, really fresh, there are about 100 types of olives I’ve seen around (there are olive stores and stands), and more. The Catalans are really in a pinch because on the one hand they want to have a separate country but on the other they are somewhat pragmatic and know that being a part of Spain is the way to go. All business in Spain is done in Barcelona and Madrid and there is a suttle between the two at least two times an hour.
The Spanish class is worth talking about. Last week I was the only American; this week I think there may be two others. One guy is very shy and hasn’t said much but he sounds American. There is a woman in her 60s (her name is Tina but it just doesn’t suit her) who lived in Mexico for 10 (ten) years and doesn’t speak Spanish. That has to be a record. I assume she was in a closet or something. When she tried to utter a word, it’s basically without any attempt (or ability) to pronounce something close to Spanish. Then there is a Japanese girl, who like me, was not promoted into intermediate. I find her boring but the German guy next to me, I believe, finds her exotic or something and I predict by the end of the week they will be sleeping together. They both apparently speak some English. Next to me is Mike from Ireland who is very nice and cool and sells chemicals for BASF from Germany where he lives. In fact, his Spanish is spoken with a German accent. In our food discussion, he mentioned that he is the guy who sells the chemicals that make Salmon red (note, it is a natural food additive) and oranges orange.
After class, Anne and I went to the market called La Bourgin where we bought lots of stuff including fruits and vegetables. It is so much less expensive than other stores, it’s shocking. In fact, Barcelona is cheap (for Europe) and not a bad deal for Americans even with the terrible exchange rates. The bike store is so nice they sold me a pair of tires at a discount.
September 13, 2007. I’ve put the finishing touches on my bike trip through the Pyrinees and it looks daunting! Huge mileage and climbing, which I don’t have the mileage to endure with any level of confort. Oh well.
Class, lunch, and a quick trip for Anne to school to get the boys. Lunch included a stop in front of a very picturesque church with Dan and Amy. I’m in the back (forgot to look at the camera — yes the bread here is great and yes I’ve been eating a lot of it).
As for the boys, they will be taking the bus starting tomorrow, which is great and gives us huge free time.
That’s about it. I’m working on two things for the site — the stupid English sayings on T-shirts page and the public displays of affection page. Stay tuned.
September 14, 2007. Imagine New York City, add 50 percent more people, more fluid underground and bus transportation and constant gridlock — welcome to Barcelona or BCN as it’s affectionately known (that’s the airport code). Anne and I find ourselves basically running all the time. It’s just crazy, fast and busy every minute. At least in New York, basically, traffic moves. Not so in BCN. In any case, I’ve started the page for public displays of affection and will start to work on the t-shirt page soon. I’ve seen a lot but forget to photograph them or write them down.
This was the end of week two of Spanish lessons. I’m off for what apparently will be the Batan Death March of bike rides through the Pyrinees — many days of 2,500 meters of climbing and 90 mile rides. Oops. Luckily my friend Nick from London is coming along for the “fun.” I’ll send in reports of the suffering in real time.
As for Spanish, this week my teacher was a great guy, Xavi (pronounced Cha-vi). He had a very easy way about him and explained everything to us without editing his personal opinion at all. It was lots of fun. At the end I got a “certificate” that certified I had completed 40 hours of Spanish. I noted to Xavi that maybe I was certifiable and he told me that yes, at the end of class a couple of very “nice” guys would be meeting me to show me some “nice” tourist sites including the Sagrada Familia, a huge church nearby. It was a fun exchange. In the last two weeks, I don’t think 10 words of English were spoken in class.
There is a really nice bread (Pan) place next to our apartment and Turó Parc, in front of our place, was incredibly crowded with kids and their smoking parents. The family has enjoyed the cheeses, breads and even wines here, which are just fantastic — fresh baked bread and wine and cheese from the region.
We bought some ping pong paddles and balls and they have public tables there which are sometimes useable for ping pong.
I’ll continue Spanish when I return from the ride and will, hopefully have Xavi of someone of equal teaching ability and good humor. Anne and I insist that we either learn Spanish or really take a lot of classes.
September 15, 2007. I just got the word this morning that this website won the second place award for Uhlfelder Websites from Uhlfelder News. Hats off to the entire team that makes this production possible. 
But we won’t just rest on our laurels, second place gives us something to strive for — next time, we’re hoping to be in first.
In other news today, we went down to where our language school is (Placa Catalunya) and explored with the idea of going to t
he Museo Santa Monica. Anne and I had eaten there last week and thought the art looked amusing for the boys. What a terrible museum — the only redeeming feature is it is free. Not worth the time but it makes you think that anything is art. Someone got so pissed about the terrible waste of time, he turned his chair over.
Then we ate an early lunch at a sharma place (Pita bread) and it was fair and crowded on the Rambla which is the main street and very touristic. We’re pretty much done with the tourist areas and walking around in the heat and humidity.
September 16, 2007. I dropped the car off this morning at the airport, about 10 days short of the rental agreement and asked if they would discount for the time not taken and the response was of course. We’ll see but at least I felt good about it. In any case, I found my biking group at the airport and they all seemed nice, Nick, my friend from England came over for the ride. As I’m mentioned, the ride appears to be daunting given the huge mileage required to cross the Pyrinees. Everyone sort of has the same “what have I gotten myself into” attitude.
Today we did a “warm up ride” that lasted two hours of pretty hard riding including total climbing of over 1,000 meters (3,900 feet). Nice warm up. Total distance was 30 miles or so. Tomorrow is the big day of 150 Kilometers — yikes. There are actually two days of 150 Kilometers, which is about 90 miles. Advice was eat as much and often as you can. Here’s a photo of the group and one of me with the ocean in the background. Stay tuned to see who I insult first, etc… Peter, the very cool ride leader, asked Nick if I was always this way in response to one of my super sarcastic understated comments. Nick advised that I get worse when tired and hungry. All true.
Here are a few photos 
from today’s ride, first the group and then me. Everyone rode amazingly well. They are all Americans with the exception of Nick, my friend from England, a guy from New Zealand, and a guy from Hong Kong. Out of 14 total.
September 17, 2007. I survived. It was hot, very difficult riding (lots of up and downs), 150 K, one hill at 16 percent plus. Just terrible but I made it. In fact, with two big climbs tomorrow looks easier, but still 2,500 meters of climbing over a shorter 120 K ride.
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September 4th, 2007 · Comments Off on Week 3 — September 4 to September 10
Tuesday, September 04, 2007 we got down to business. The boys went to school by taxi, we went to school by taxi and subway. This is day two of our lessons and day two of the boys school. It’s a new thing for me. Apparently my ability to foreflush the language got me ratedinto a higher class, but I suspect I’ll soon be demoted. The French guy was demoted today, que lastima por el. Now it’s me with my nine women. They are all young, except for the teacher, and consist of the following: two Japanese one of whom I swear is speaking Japanese but some of the others think it’s Spanish, an Italian who speaks so softly no one can hear her, at least three Germans one of whom obviously is (or should be) a model. She is very blond, tall, thin, classic but sports a nondescript beauty and acts like she could care less about the class or anything else. I assume she is a supermodel. The teacher keeps asking her about her hangovers and the local discos (apparently they still exist). The girls and I go out after class and get plastered together (just kidding).
I also found a road bike shop which avoids my having to take my bike to Boulder or some other place where they care and can actually service a pro bike. They are really nice and seem to like me.
Traffic is getting back to normal (gridlock) and we are wondering how to get rid of all car commitments. It is worthless to have a car here. Riding around on my bike I can easily keep up with traffic and it’s good interval training. Parking is either impossible or so expensive you don’t want to know. Cars more more slowly than walkers. There are millions of motor bikes and regular bikes that people move around on and can park more easily.
I rode up Tibidado which is an amusement park at the top of a 1,200 foot hill that overlooks Barcelona, and took a photo of myself. I just can’t get myself to smile! I’m working on it. I finally found my way there more easily, it took about 25 minutes to climb it then I tried to find some other places for biking and spent an hour riding around. It was perfect cycling weather. I actually saw three or so other road bikes so at least I seem to be finding the right place, kind of.
Wednesday, September 5. Went for a run today and got some distance in on the hills and saw some of the very nice areas of town. I ended up coming out at the kids’ school, so it is in the right area. Another day of class. The supermodel keeps starring at me, and it’s making me nuts. I feel so violated.
Jueves, seis septiembre, 2007. Es el tercero semana que estamos en Barcelona. Es el cuatro dia que estoy en las classes de español. Me apprendido much en cuatro dias. Pero, todovía, no puedo hablar español sin hago muchas faultas y es muy díficil a decir lo que quiero. Despues esta tiempo aqui, comenzco de comprender la vida español y como los españoles ver la dia. Habia un articulo en un de los periodicos locales que dice 60 % de niños en Barcelona no durmen bastante. Puedo ver por que. A las ocho de la manana es la tiempo por dispertirse y comer el desayuno. Duespues, sin un momento par hacer otras cosas, necessito ir al trabajo o a la escuela. Mi trabaho es de ir con los niños a son escuela y directamente déspues va a la escuela de ideomas con Anne. Si vivo en españa, trabaho o va a la escuela hasta 1:30 or 2:00 y es el tiempo por comer almuerzo. El almuerzo es dos horas or dos y media. A las quatro o quatro y media, mas trabaho o esquela a las 8:00 or 9:00 (si yo soy de aquí). Afortunadamente, no trabaho y no voy a la escuela pendiente las tardes. La gente aqui come de 9:00 hasta 11:00, mas o menos, y dormi. Hay tiempo para mi para hacer cosas que son imortantes como paso tiempo con mi familia, hacer exercício, leer, o mirar el television por que no tengo nada durante las tardes. No comprende como la gente aqui puede viver y guardan sus razón.
Estoy seguro que voy cambiar estas opinions en unas semanas.
As for what we did, Anne and I walked around the Gothic area of Barcelona, called the Barri Gotic, got a cheap meal that was pretty good with our friends Dan and Amy and I picked up my bike from my friends at the bike shop. The subways here are just fantastic as is the bus system.
September 7, 2007. Somehow I made it through my Spanish class and the teacher told me I had a problem with “production” which means I can’t get the words out. She’s right. As I see it, this is only cured by trying to talk in Spanish. Anne has a much better grasp of the language but also finds it difficult to produce the words. Anne and I signed up for next week and since there is a holiday on Tuesday and it’s like a Sunday, it’s only four days – no discount though because “all the schools do it this way.” Nice reasoning. We had lunch at a museum where I saw a super-cheap menu, which is generally a good way to go here. For 7.90 Euros, you got four courses (soup, salad, main course, desert, and coffee). That’s about $10. After that Anne and I took the metro and she stayed on to pick up the kids from school, which is required. I took my bike out to continue to try to find places to ride. I went up the hill and then down to Sant Cugat, another town where another of the parents has a place and is really into cycling. Joe and his wife went to follow the Tour de France and he is going up to Andorra to see the Vuelta de Espana tomorrow. It’s a four hour drive and I’m not up for it, nor are the kids. Given the questions and discussion in my Spanish class, it seems life is focused on week-ends. We have no plans, yet. Anywho, I took the bike and went around and found some nice roads. Then on the way back I passed a guy and went up another hill, then down and there he was again since he didn’t do the extra climb. I started speaking with him. First, he didn’t even seem to speak Spanish and we spoke French and his was worse than mine. Finally I asked him if he was Spanish, which he was and didn’t he speak Spanish, he said yes, and we ended up using that language. A nice opportunity to practice everything I learned in the last week. So, after about 10 kilometers, he wanted to show me a park/castle at the side of the road. Then he started walking with his bike, trying to coax me further into the park. I don’t need it in writing — obviously he wanted to get a better look at either my bike or penis, so, since I don’t go in for those back-door shenanigans, and while I was flattered and even a little bit curious, I thanked him for his advice about where to ride and did an above race-pace effort out of there. Nice. The family went out to dinner and then right when we got back, the electricity in
the entire block went out. We lit Shabbat candles and strangely so did many of our neighbors – I was surprised to see how many Jews there are around here.
The electicity goes out, view from our apartment:
Saturday, September 8, 2007. No school! We went to Carrifour this morning, it was open. It was fine and we managed to spend a few Euros with basic stuff we needed. Driving is a pain, no question about it, and the traffic was nill.
David, Joshua and Anne went off to the zoo, where predicably they saw more topless action.
I went around the roads to try to find some new places and stayed out for three hours of sweaty and hot riding with lots of uphills and some truly wonderful technical downhills around tight corners and down challenging roads. I’m going to need a new set of tires soon from the roughness of the roads and the challenging cornering. I went over to two different suburbs of Barcelona and they have some real suburbs, very boring and sterile. One is Sant Cugat and the other, which looks somewhat nicer, is Sant Joan de Deu.
The roads were very empty probably because it was Saturday and during the siesta when everyone is eating and getting drunk. Let’s just hope they sleep it off before hitting the roads.
Sunday, September 9, 2007. We went to the beach, which took a while since we got lost getting out of town — an 45 minute trip turned into over an hour. It could have been worse. Town is kind of sleepy on Sundays so you can move along. Anyway, we made it to the beach at Sitges at around 11:40, parked, found a beach that looks nice, and Anne went for a swim in rough water, then I went for a short 40 minute run in hot conditions, then off to lunch.
I’ve been meaning to mention something about the food here. While the quality is mixed, generally fruits seem fresher and vegetables and some other foods less processed. Cheeses, wine and bread can be really extraordinary. There are some interesting Catalan dishes with sausages that can be really good (and greasy). When eating at a restaurant, the price on the menu is what you pay — there are no taxes and no tips and none are expected. If you got very nice service you might leave a Euro or two on a 30 or 40 Euro bill. It removes all the stress of tipping, that’s for sure.
Anne thought the kids would enjoy the cheap very crappy paddle boats that you can rent on the beach. They have a slide mounted on top.
Here are two photos (note the camera strap that fell into photo) and one of me holding onto the ladder:
Anyway, we made it home and I bought some wine. The wine here is incredibly good and cheap here, so we are trying it here and there (every night) with our meals.
Tomorrow, school, yikes!
September 10, 2007, Monday. So starts the second week of school for David, Joshua, Mark and Anne. At the end of the day, we are worn out. Today, after having a nice, somewhat leisurely lunch at a local place in the Barri Gotic with our friends Amy and Dan (Dan, if you read this, tell me the secret word — the word is “Rosebud”.) Then off to pick up the kids from school and sign David up for club soccer. The club was fine, a very nice uniform for David, which he’ll love, plus practice twice a week with an emphasis on the game aspect of playing and all taught in Castillian, not Catalan.
We did a little tour with the coach, a Bolivian named Freddy. David and Joshua also got to check out the field which is exactly the same artificial turf we have in Aspen.
Here are photos of the guys on the field to be used by David’s new club. Joshua has just made a goal, David is on his way.
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August 28th, 2007 · Comments Off on Week 2 — August 29 to September 3
Wednesday, August 29 — it was exciting and fun. We rented a car until our car we ordered through Europe by Car arrives October 1. Then off to Sitges to the beaches. Sitges is best known as a gay beach and fun it was. It’s pretty and relatively upscale from last week’s beach. Great swimming and the water was warm.
Anyway, we found a nice place to sit, David and Joshua went diving into the sand and it started to rain. Time for lunch, which took about 1.5 hours at the Kansas Bar, then back to the beach where the sun was shining. Our tans are getting really good and we’re going native — that is, we’re using sun lotion, not sun block. Pass the SPF 2! (Just kidding, we’re so white the locals have to block the reflection).
There are these African fellows who have very dark skin selling stuff on the beaches that no one buys. Seems like they could sell things that might have a market. Some of the Spanish seem to entertain themselves by asking about everything, then just saying they aren’t interested.
August 30 was our chance to fill in some of the gaps of things we needed, electronically speaking. Bought a cheap HP printer and an expensive Sony TV. Everything here seems about twice as expensive as in the US, but it always includes all taxes and delivery. I’ve been told there is a rebate of tax when you leave the country, but I don’t see how that would work unless you export what you purchased. The tax is 16 percent, so it would be nice. We ate lunch at the top of the Cortes Ingles store at Placa Cataluya, which has amazing views.
August 31 we took the car to the kids’ school. We got terribly lost, which we should have predicted, plus the usual problems trying to leave the garage and were half an hour late. This apparently did not matter to anyone but us. Then Anne had a lunch “with the girls” which is the incoming class of people who are living here for a year and are being helped by Olympic Advisors. Olympic Advisors is a relocation service run by a husband and wife team; John does the marketing and sales and Christina does the service which includes finding a place to live. There were some nice folkes, like ourselves, with whom we will likely become friendly. Since Christina is doing a “girls” thing, I think John will do a guys thing which probably involves smoking cigars, talking about the time we shot an elephant; that sort of thing. Jordan — I’ll need some help here.
The porter from the garage was in the apartment to install a light and it turns out that he loves cycling and wanted to see my bike and advise me about cycling routes. He said there are tons of cyclists on the week-ends and they go every which way and told me the best routes to use to get out of town. It was a funny conversation since I think he spoke mainly Catalan and my broken Spanish. My impression is that the Catalans find a way to understand and express themselves.
September 1 we decided to take a look at the Costa Brava, which starts about 60 kilometers outside of Barcelona. It’s a toll road and has plenty of traffic, but of course going to the beach on a Saturday was not an especially unique idea so it took a while to find any beach once we got far enough north to consider ourselves on the Costa Brava. The travel books generally say that this coast, which means Rocky Coast, is spoiled by overdevelopment. There are a lot of people, no doubt about it. It took about an hour to reach the first resort that was there, called Blanes and we parked where convenient (expensive) and walked 50 yards (meters) to the beach. The boys didn’t like it as much as the beaches to the south since it had rocky sand and a shore break. I went on a run for about 55 minutes and ended up running down to the trailer park and then up to the top of a hill, probably about 500 feet high, and down a lot of steps. There were lots of restaurants and generally a pretty scenic place.
September 2, Sunday, is a day of rest in Spain. I told Anne that of course the Carrefour is open (it’s the second largest retailer after walmart) so we got the car from the garage (probably would have been just fine renting a car here and there when needed, but that’s another story) and made our way through the very quiet streets to the store, to find it closed. We went next door to IKEA and it was also closed. In fact, we found out, everything is closed on Sunday except for restaurants so you better have your shopping done.
I went on a bike ride and got lost, predicably, and it took me 40 minutes to find a road I was on a few days ago. Once I found it, I did a 20 minute climb up to a tower above the town, the views are amazing, and around trying to find alternative routes. Eventually I will get this organized.
Anne had the idea of attending a Barcelona Football Club game and it just happened they had one tonight so we went. Strangely it went off on time, at 7:00 p.m. and we go there as it started. The stadium holds 100,000 people but there were probably about 80,000. I learned that this equates with about 80,000 packs of cigarettes smoked. As tolerant as I am, this started to get on my nerves and took something from the experience. David has been looking forward to the experience and Joshua seemed to like it too. The stadium is about a mile from the house so luckily we walked and didn’t have to worry about transportation. I’ve never seen so many motorscooters parked in one place. The game was high-scoring and Barcelona won 3 to 1.
There are more motorbikes per person in Barcelona than any other place, according to the tourism bus, and I believe it.
September 3, Monday, is the first day of school for the boys and the end of our second week in Barcelona.
We cabbed it to school.
David was totally happy with his first day of school; Joshua a bit more circumspect. Here is a photo of Joshua and David ready for the day:
Anne and I also had our first day of Spanish class. It was at an emersion school called International House of Languages (not Pancakes). I had to pee for about an hour but since I was surrounded by 20 somethings, I didn’t want to appear like the guy who couldn’t hold it. There was one other French guy and myself and the other six were women (girls). Two Japanese, one Italian, two French and two Germans and me. The entire class was taught in Spanish, which was nice. Anne was put in a lower class, which upset her since she is probably better in terms of vocabulary. I have a certain je ne sais pas about languages and pancakes which confidence seems to work well for me. Anyway it all doesn’t matter except that I have homework and Anne does not.
After class we had lunch with our new friends, Amy Fox and her Husband Dan who are attorneys from Pennsylvania. They, like us, are here for a sabbatical and introducing their kids to a new language and experience. Then off to pick up the kids for a long walk back home.
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