Holidays Have Arrived

Barcelona is shining with holiday lights!

These are only a few photos, and they do not do justice to the live visual and feeling.  

Most of the photos we took aren't even that good, but these are the best of them.  Maybe I can find a better setting on my camera that will capture the true light and color and brilliance... 

A few buildings and the plaza right near our place...

We all went to a club for a hip hop "jam", with performances and lots of freestyle dancing.  Very fun!

One night when the boys were at dance, Ray and I went to my new favorite restaurant...Flax & Kale!!  We became friends with the manager, who told us all about the restaurant, philosophy, etc.  They get ingredients from around the world and are committed to super fresh and healthy ingredients...and of course, awesome flavor combinations.  We also learned that kale is not a common food in this area, so they have their own kale farmer who supplies their kale.  Wow, this is place is awesome!  

Grilled watermelon salad...should have taken the photo before we dug in...

Carrot and avocado salad...looks simple, but unbelievably yummy!

Three days later was Thanksgiving.  Our day was normal...Spanish language classes, then homeschool, then dance classes.  Ray saw a sign on a restaurant door the day before saying they would serve Thanksgiving dinner "with all the fixings".  We went there on Thanksgiving evening and were told that we couldn't have Thanksgiving dinner unless we had preordered it.  So we left and went to Flax & Kale...and had yet another awesome meal.  This night we met one of the family owners (the son of the woman who opened the original restaurant in 1979).  Ray made fast friends with him.  (Surprise!)  He is a dynamic, positive, genuine, energetic, and happy guy who is also very ambitious and would love to open a restaurant in the U.S.  He and Ray exchanged information...they have things to talk about! 

Nicholas' Thanksgiving beet and oat "burger" with kale chips

 Jacob's stuffed squash blossoms and super fresh menagerie of color.

Close up of Jacob's dish...

My rice flour spaghetti...so delicious!  

I was not expecting the incredible flavors and texture from this dish!

Thai black rice...oooooohhhhhh, this was tasty!!

Ray's Thanksgiving salmon...also great, he said. 

Not long ago, these cool sculptures were placed in a spot we walk by somewhat frequently (especially when we get our favorite frozen yogurt).

This is a close-up of those "branches" off the figure's head; 

there are words on most of them (not in English).

The head below is filled with apples...

My mom has come to visit for a couple weeks...photos of her visit coming soon!

Halloween & Graffiti Fun

For Halloween, the boys and their teacher, Christian, put together a Halloween rap in Spanish.  

The boys created/wrote their own raps and spoke it quickly in Spanish.  It was impressive!

Sadly, our teacher, Fani, took another job, and this was her last day with us.  

It was hard to see her go!!  But since we have become good friends, we will stay in touch.

Nicholas with his girlfriend, Fanta.

Around Halloween time, there are booths like this one on the street that sell roasted sweet potatoes and roasted chestnuts.  It smells good!

Since there is no trick-or-treating here, we took the boys to a candy store called Happy Pills, to fill up a container full of candy.  It was so packed with candies that the boys wondered if it would last a year if they ate one each day (many were very tiny).  Well, the candy was gone in about 3 days.

This is a meringue "cupcake" that they serve with a spoon because it is so soft and gooey inside with your chosen flavor.  This one was chocolate. 

Apple advertises BIG here, too!

Our new Spanish teacher, Carmen, told us about an event where kids created a huge graffiti mural together.  We signed up just before it filled up...it apparently was pretty popular.  The boys participated and enjoyed the artistic outlet.  Here they are "warming up" with markers and paper.

Their graffiti mural was on this plastic sheet wound around a tree at each end.  The graffiti artist is the one in black, and he painted this design for the kids to fill in.  Here are a series of photos to show the progression of the mural.

Jacob was interviewed by a couple "official looking" people with a video camera and microphone.

Once the mural was done, all the kids used the extra paint to create their own design(s) on the back.  Jacob and Nicholas were there until after all the other kids left...

This is the other graffiti mural that was done by the small kids. 

(They used paint brushes, not spray cans, and had parental help.)

Here are a few photos of the final graffiti mural of the boys' project.  It says "KIDS BCN".  

(BCN is an abbreviation for Barcelona.)

The location where the graffiti art was done was called Poble Espanyol (this is in the Catalan language/spelling).  It is a "village" of buildings designed to represent the different architecture found around the country of Spain.  They have museums, art stores, food stores and restaurants, craft stores, as well as contemporary art buildings...all to represent what you can find in Spain.  

Here is a contemporary art building that we walked through to get to our graffiti event.  

These are photos of the village of Spanish architecture there (and the boys posing in some!).

On our walk back to the Metro station after doing graffiti, 

Nicholas saw this clock in the middle of the building and took a couple photos.

That clock is right near this round building, which used to be the bull fighting arena.  The region of Catalonia (which Barcelona is part of) banned bull fighting in 2010.  So they turned the arena into an expansive mall.  From the 360-outdoor terrace at the top, the city can be viewed from all sides.

We went out with friends to a famous chocolate and churros restaurant, where everything is from scratch and yummy!  The hot chocolate here in Spain is THICK, and you dip your churros into it.  Interestingly, nothing was really sweetened that we could tell...the chocolate was not sweet (but not bitter, so they must have added some sugar), the churros were not coated in sugar (like in the U.S.), and the whipped cream on the hot chocolate was also unsweetened.  So, along with your order, they give you a packet of sugar to sweeten everything to your taste.  I wish I had taken a picture of this place that was completely packed with lines out the door.  Very popular!  

Afterwards, our friends came over to our place, and our newest and littlest friend, Safira, played with clay.  Here she is telling us all about the snail family she made (in Spanish).  

Here again are these cool letters that spell "Barcino", 

which we found out is the ancient name for Barcelona.

About a block from our place, we enjoy this cool little archway with the structure on top that looks like it was literally built above ground between two existing buildings.

More soon!