Short

Wow, MIA completely....Haven't forgotten about you; it's just that life has been a little busy with holidays, travel,  and what not. And in most cases when I really want to sit down and write, I never have the time. So be patient! :) I hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas and you haven't been consumed by crazy shopping. I did less of it this year and my focus is to concentrate on family and relationships. Why?! Maybe because I haven't spent these holidays at home since 2000.....Maybe it's a ton of other things which make me re-evaluate everything.
Expect a holiday blog which I have been thinking about for a while but time seems to be flying and never enough. Kisses to all!!!

Exams

It's exam week. You'd think it's easier -- just hand out the exam, they do it for 1.5hr and you just chill. Well, not really. The kids are still a disaster; the teens do not stop talking and complaining and then on top of that you have to check tons of papers....And I'm officially the bad guy. Or a very bad person like one of my teens told me. Because I gave them a long and hard exam and I didn't help them and I didn't let them change the writing topic.....

On the other hand, I'm getting better at psychology and people. With one of my teen classes I wanted to do a writing as well. But the exam was kinda long so I told them not to worry about the writing. When I saw that they were doing really well with the time, I told them that whoever did the writing gets extra points. Everyone wrote an essay! :) They felt great about it and I got what I wanted in the end.

You'd think I'm a horrible person. But just come and see the teens....No studying, no motivation, stupid mistakes. I mean -- are we here to study or what?! :) Next week is only movies so that will make them very happy. Me too as I really don't feel like working....Any ideas for good Christmas movies for teens (no violence, sex and so on)?!?!

Days are flying so fast. Next Friday and I'm going home! First holidays in BG since 2000! Now that sounds prehistoric.....Trying not to eat too much because I know what will happen in BG and I still want to be able to get into my clothes. I have been trying to eat much less because since my bro came and started cooking I came to a point where it was getting hard to get into my stuff...Sad....But life is about enjoying, right?!?! :):):):)

BCN stuff

What an interesting night I had last night! After nights like this I feel lucky and happy that I'm in BCN. You meet all kinds of people. Some more eccentric and crazy than others but we are all different and that makes it interesting, right?!

Meetup groups -- very diverse (well sometimes you just meet a bunch of Americans which makes me feel at home :) and sometimes they can surprise you. A conversation last night later in the night:

Catalan woman (lived for many yrs in USA, in her late 40s/early 50s): How do you know you are in love?
Italian guy: I go out with a person for a while, there is no physical contact at all, one night I dream about kissing her and when I wake up I know I'm in love..
Catalan woman: This is great!!! Wonderful!! Let me shake your hand.
Me: Sounds great but I believed in it when I was 15. Grow up.
Catalan woman: Girl, you are still young but be careful not to become a lemon. Believe.

At which point the conversation moves into the direction of how fast people fall in love, relationships, Americans, Catalan and European people to the point where she tells us that every person has an animal (some 2). She knows this from a shaman and her animal is a dolphin. After some time and more wine she agrees to tell me (and ruin it for me because I'm supposed to find out by myself) what animal I am. Panther. Excuse me?!?! Me?!!? Then she says: This is your second animal. Go find your first.

When she leaves, a Catalan guy starts a conversation with me. The conversation feels like an FBI interrogation. Where are you from, how long have you been here, why did you leave the USA, why did you go there, did you stay legally, what are you doing here, do you want to go back to BG, do you have bfriend, have you met a Spanish woman in DC that I know, you should meet this gorgeous BG girl here and I'm sure you will click and so forth. After the first questions I'm a little pissed -- what the hell is this and who the hell are you?! But then I decide to play the game and actually have fun. The hilarious thing is that he is very serious :). Then I interrogate him and he seems taken aback.

The night finishes with the Italian guy telling me that I have a hole or void in me and my life because I can't remember what I wanted to be when I was a child. I have no dreams. Do you remember what you wanted to be when you were like 10?! Anyway, I met some other people too but the conversation with them was in the norms so it is not making the cut here in the blog. :)

Back

On my way to work

Wow, sorry guys and girls but I have been hibernating lately. I thought I'd write more during my 5 days of no work but I actually got into a very lazy and at the end melancholic kinda mood which was not inspiring at all. I guess I got into one of my post US moments which do not make me feel very happy and positive. But they come and then go :).

It's only 2 weeks until I go home and I can't wait! It will be my first Christmas/B-Day/New Year in BG since 2000......Wow! Writing it makes it seem so far away.....Ages! So I'm looking forward to spending time with family (and a few friends), eating, drinking and basically not doing anything. Being spoiled by parents is the best! :) I will miss my friends in the USA and remember all the holidays we've spent together....Hopefully will see some of you in 2011.

We had some holidays in BCN as some of you know and it's been pretty nice. I have to say that now I'm so used to having at least one holiday during the month that my February calendar is not making me very happy....There are no days off in February....I guess we will have to live with it somehow.

One of BCN's landmarks

These are some pics that I took on my way to work and have been wanting to post them but it was never the right time. So here they are now. The last pics are from an office landmark building in BCN which is close to my in-company business ENG lessons. I walk by it every day and finally got some pics. Not sure what it looks like to people but it is kinda like the Monument in DC a bit. Don't know what's up with these huge straight buildings....Anyway, more post coming soon as I have things to tell you and pics to post so stay tuned! No more hibernating!

P.S. Alex, I have been consciously avoiding your remarks but promise that I'm back :).