hola amigos

The language barrier began as soon as we stepped off the airplane. I wasn't immediately fond of Spain as I was with England. The train ride was through grungy areas characterized by rags and graffiti. The poverty is evident through the glassy windows, passing by shacks for houses among run down streets and sad plots of land. The smell of urination surrounding the metro was putrid, and we got lost several times on the train and metro systems which is frustrating when it is difficult to even ask for help. I concluded that my two semesters of Spanish in college were worth squat, to say the least. Exhausted from transporting our heavy bags on and off trains and up and down stairs, we were relieved to step out of the underground and into the streets of Barcelona. The city quickly started to dissipate my dislike of Spain as we walked past markets, crowded streets mixed with entertainers, locals and tourists, and the little European alleyways. Tables chairs, and umbrellas spot the wide walkway in the middle of the street giving the area a largely street-cafe look. A big smile spread across my face! I'm learning that places have personalities, and Barcelona has a very loud personality! I like it's bohemian, artistic flair, and how it's teeming with diversity. Walking through the streets is like a swirl of languages and accents, and it is similar in other regards, with French boutiques beside Indian tourist shops or English pubs. It is difficult to even pinpoint what is Spanish. It is like the city of the world, or so it seems. Our hostel is right off of the main strip Las Ramblas, which is a straight shot to the ocean, several blocks down, the port city where our cruise ship sets off later today!

Our first night in Barcelona we met many interesting characters. Do you know those facebook ads that pop up on the right side of the screen? Well the British millionare who runs the small company in charge of the advertisements was hosting a fun holiday weekend in Barcelona for his employees, and we befriended him and almost the entire company. So we had a wonderful night of conversing with more British. They asked us about ourselves and America and vice versa; we learned a lot from each other I think. From the British perspective, we discovered that the majority of the Europe finds the American accent to be annoying, like we just took their language and tried to make it our own. It was humorous hearing them attempt to mimic us by accentuating long "e" sounds and giving us extremely whiney tones. Also, they mentioned how the tv series Friends revolutionized their speech by sprinkling in the word, "like" into every sentence. It was an amusing conversation. I received several Maggie Gyllenhaal comments, and one guy said they he literally thought I was her, which isn't the first time I've heard that. The curse even follows me to Europe!

At night it becomes quite the party city, where morals seems to go out the window, and the three of us have wondered about what it would be like to live in a place like this as a Christian. "Make friends for Jesus;" that's our commission. But what does that look like? Probably pretty simply, like love, and grace too. There were several signs in the city about not defecating or urinating in public, and it said " In Barcelona everyone is welcome but not everything is welcome." Sounds a lot like "love the sinner, hate the sin." So often I think I do away with both to make it easier, but in that way, I too would for sure be a goner.

Yesterday, I thoroughly enjoyed walking through the market boqueria, known as one of the best markets in Europe. The seafood stands had live lobsters and crabs still shifting around in the ice. The meat markets displayed entire heads of lambs and pigs, at points making us weak in the stomach. The colorful display of fruits and vegetables accentuated the lively bustle of the market place. Our hands were swatted if we tried to touch anything. Later by the ocean we weaved through Spanish antique markets where I was scolded for taking a picture without permission. Barcelona is full of bartering and pushiness. We spent the rest of the day sitting, browsing, walking and enjoying the people, the sea and the swirling metal designs accenting the sides of buildings.

When we had first arrived into the city it was the same time as Spain's FIFA game in the world cup, so you can imagine the hype and energy among the people. There is no comparison to the enthusiasm of Europeans when it comes to soccer. We made it a point to watch the USA game last night against Gana, which we watched at a restaurant among a few other cheering Americans. We ordered Paella, an odd tasting Spanish rice mixture with mussels, prawns, chicken, vegetables. We disliked the results of the game and the Paella; we just hoped that US would win to encourage Americans to care more about the World Cup. The energy of the game in Europe is contagious; every time their country's team plays its like the Super Bowl where whole cities pause, taking extra long lunch breaks and packing out bars or anyplace with a tv screen. Flags adorn cities, scores are posted everywhere. And they mock our American football.

Today we are renting bicycles to visit some of the sights out of walking distance, and then later we will be boarding our ship and heading out to sea.