{"id":7,"date":"2007-09-11T19:10:25","date_gmt":"2007-09-11T18:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/blog\/?p=7"},"modified":"2007-11-17T19:19:17","modified_gmt":"2007-11-17T18:19:17","slug":"week-4-september-11-to-september-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/?p=7","title":{"rendered":"Week 4 — September 11 to September 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/font>Week Four<\/strong><\/u><\/font><\/p>\n

Cliffhangers (a new feature of Uhlfelder.com) — Mark is planning on an organized bike trip next week through the Pyrinees, will he\u00a0survive the 400 plus miles of riding?\u00a0 Will Anne take the opportunity to learn fluent Spanish?\u00a0 Stay tuned to find out.<\/font><\/p>\n

Septmber 11, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 In any case, it’s a good day for a bike ride and Anne took the kids to the acquarium.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

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The architecture here is really spectacular and the building are often ornate and interesting.<\/font><\/p>\n

Here’s one thing we’ve observed, children being pushed around in strollers.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/font><\/p>\n

I talked to the bike trip organizer today, who lives in Sitges, a town about 20 minutes away.\u00a0 Nick, who is a friend from last year’s June bike trip through the French Alps, is joining me.\u00a0 The trip is well prices (not expensive) but features two star accommodations (that’s basically what’s available in the regions).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I wrote to Nick that we may have to forage for truffels.\u00a0 We’ll see. <\/font><\/p>\n

September 12, 2007.<\/u>\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it’s 30 minutes or so of traffic, but that’s the way it is.<\/font><\/p>\n

I have a very good Spanish teacher.\u00a0 He generally just explains how things work — holidays, history, food, Catalan culture, and more.\u00a0 It’s really interesting and a lot of fun and hopefully I’m learning some Spanish.\u00a0 The food thing is a huge focus here in Spain and if you are a vegetarian, you are in big trouble.\u00a0 The meats are incredible; they love ham, the cheeses are sensational and you have literally thousands of choices.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 All business in Spain is done in Barcelona and Madrid and there is a suttle between the two at least two times an hour.<\/font><\/p>\n

The Spanish class is worth talking about.\u00a0 Last week I was the only American; this week I think there may be two others.\u00a0 One guy is very shy and hasn’t said much but he sounds American.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That has to be a record.\u00a0 I assume she was in a closet or something.\u00a0 When she tried to utter a word, it’s basically without any attempt (or ability) to pronounce something close to Spanish.\u00a0 Then there is a Japanese girl, who like me, was not promoted into intermediate.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 They both apparently speak some English.\u00a0 Next to me is Mike from Ireland who is very nice and cool and sells chemicals for BASF from Germany where he lives.\u00a0 In fact, his Spanish is spoken with a German accent.\u00a0 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.<\/font><\/p>\n

After class, Anne and I went to the market called La Bourgin where we bought lots of stuff including fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 It is so much less expensive than other stores, it’s shocking.\u00a0 In fact, Barcelona is cheap (for Europe) and not a bad deal for Americans even with the terrible exchange rates.\u00a0 The bike store is so nice they sold me a pair of tires at a discount.<\/font><\/p>\n

September 13, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 I’ve put the finishing touches on my bike trip through the Pyrinees and it looks daunting!\u00a0 Huge mileage and climbing, which I don’t have the mileage to endure with any level of confort.\u00a0 Oh well.<\/font><\/p>\n

Class, lunch, and a quick trip for Anne to school to get the boys.\u00a0 Lunch included a stop in front of a very picturesque church with Dan and Amy.\u00a0 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).<\/font><\/p>\n

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As for the boys, they\u00a0will be taking the bus starting tomorrow, which is great and gives us huge free time.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n

That’s about it.\u00a0 I’m working on two things for the site — the stupid English sayings on T-shirts page and the public displays of affection page.\u00a0 Stay tuned.<\/font><\/p>\n

September 14, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Anne and I find ourselves basically running all the time.\u00a0 It’s just crazy, fast and busy every minute.\u00a0 At least in New York, basically, traffic moves.\u00a0 Not so in BCN.\u00a0 In any case, I’ve started the page for public displays of affection<\/a>\u00a0and will start to work on the t-shirt page soon.\u00a0 I’ve seen a lot but forget to photograph them or write them down.<\/font><\/p>\n

This was the end of week two of Spanish lessons.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Oops.\u00a0 Luckily my friend Nick from London is coming along for the “fun.”\u00a0 I’ll send in reports of the suffering in real time.<\/font><\/p>\n

As for Spanish, this week my teacher was a great guy, Xavi (pronounced Cha-vi).\u00a0 He had a very easy way about him and explained everything to us without editing his personal opinion at all.\u00a0 It was lots of fun.\u00a0 At the end I got a “certificate” that\u00a0certified I had completed 40 hours of Spanish.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It was a\u00a0fun exchange.\u00a0 In the last two weeks, I don’t think 10 words of English were spoken in class.<\/font><\/p>\n

There is a really nice bread (Pan) place next to our apartment and Tur\u00f3\u00a0Parc, in front of our place, was incredibly crowded with kids and their smoking parents.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n

We bought some ping pong paddles and balls and they have public tables there which are sometimes useable for ping pong.<\/font><\/p>\n

I’ll continue Spanish when I return from the ride and will, hopefully have Xavi of someone of equal teaching ability and good humor.\u00a0 Anne and I insist that we either learn\u00a0Spanish or really take a lot of\u00a0classes.<\/font><\/p>\n

September 15, 2007.<\/u>\u00a0 I just got the word this morning that this website won the second place award for\u00a0Uhlfelder Websites from Uhlfelder News.\u00a0 Hats off to the entire team that makes this production possible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

But we won’t just rest on our laurels, second place gives us something to strive for — next time, we’re hoping to be\u00a0in first.<\/font><\/p>\n

In other news today, we went down to where our language school is (Placa Catalunya) and explored with the idea of going to the Museo Santa Monica.\u00a0 Anne and I had eaten there last week and thought the art looked amusing for the boys.\u00a0 What a terrible museum — the only redeeming feature is it is free.\u00a0 Not worth the time but it makes you think that anything is art.\u00a0 Someone got so pissed about the terrible waste of time, he turned his chair over.<\/font><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 We’re pretty much done with the tourist areas and walking around in the heat and humidity.<\/font>\u00a0<\/p>\n

September 16, 2007.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We’ll see but at least I felt good about it.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 As I’m mentioned, the ride appears to be daunting given the huge mileage required to cross the Pyrinees.\u00a0 Everyone sort of has the same “what have I gotten myself into” attitude.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n

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).\u00a0 Nice warm up.\u00a0 Total distance was 30 miles or so.\u00a0 Tomorrow is the big day of 150 Kilometers — yikes.\u00a0 There are actually two days of 150 Kilometers, which is about 90 miles.\u00a0 Advice was eat as much and often as you can.\u00a0 Here’s a photo of the group and one of me with the ocean in the background.\u00a0 Stay tuned to see who I insult first, etc…\u00a0 Peter, the very cool ride leader, asked Nick if I was always this way in response to one of my super sarcastic understated comments.\u00a0\u00a0Nick advised that I get worse when tired and hungry.\u00a0 All true.<\/font><\/p>\n

Here are a few photos from today’s ride, first the group and then me.\u00a0 Everyone rode amazingly well.\u00a0 They are all Americans with the exception of Nick, my friend from England, a guy from New Zealand, and a guy from Hong Kong.\u00a0 Out of 14 total.<\/font><\/p>\n

September 17, 2007.\u00a0 I survived.\u00a0 It was hot, very difficult riding (lots of up and downs), 150 K, one hill at 16 percent plus.\u00a0 Just terrible but I made it.\u00a0 In fact, with two big climbs tomorrow looks easier, but still 2,500 meters of climbing over a shorter 120 K ride.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Week Four Cliffhangers (a new feature of Uhlfelder.com) — Mark is planning on an organized bike trip next week through the Pyrinees, will he\u00a0survive the 400 plus miles of riding?\u00a0 Will Anne take the opportunity to learn fluent Spanish?\u00a0 Stay tuned to find out. Septmber 11, 2007.\u00a0 Tuesday is a holiday here — some Catalan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}