From KK: ...Prospero Año y Felicidad

Doug and I were talking about what a whirlwind year it has been for us. 

Here is a short synopsis:

I graduated from Auburn last Christmas and left for Verona, Italy to be an au pair in January. 

My sisters and their husbands came to visit me and we were able to travel to Florence, Siena, Pisa, Chianti, through Tuscany, Cinque Terra, Verona, and Venice together. 

A week later, I went to Amsterdam with my friend, John Anderson. 

The night we got back to Italy, Doug surprised me for Valentine's Day and came to Verona and we went to Venice together.  

My mom came to keep me company in Italy in March and we went to Milan and some other local places like Lake Garda with Nonna and Gigi. That's its own story. 

Two weeks later Megan Jensen came over to see Rachel Herring, John and me and we all got to be together in Rome. Jens and I went to Florence that week also.

I came back to the States only to pack up a U-Haul and my dog, Mamie, and move straight to Charlotte. 

After four days in Charlotte, we were in an accident and totaled my car. Soon thereafter, I bought a new car all by my big girl self because Doug was at World Championships in Manchester, England. That week Doug and his teammates, Bryan Lundquist, Nathan Adrian and Ryan Lochte, set a world record in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay. 

Doug went back to Italy for a couple of weeks for another meet near Milan. 

He spent the next two months just swimming and getting ready for Olympic Trials. Tama, Paul, my mom and dad, Becky, Mimi, Aunt Barb and Uncle Dave spent Fourth of July week in Omaha, Nebraska to watch Doug compete in the Trials.

The summer was speckled with trips to Asheville to roof on a mission trip with my home church, to Highlands to hike, Charleston to sunburn, weddings, D.C. for work visas, Auburn to watch us actually win a game, Birmingham to see the fam, more weddings, Panama City to eat oysters and watch Hunter drink virgin piña coladas, and Dothan to get breadsticks from Mama Rosa's.

I got my first real-life corporate job in Charlotte, for which I was clearly not cut out, because six months later we were off to Spain.

We also wasted summer nights away with our favorite hobby, going to see live music. We went to Ingrid Michaelson, Radiohead, Counting Crows, Missy Higgins, James Taylor, Damien Jurado, Avett Brothers, Joshua Ritter and the Indigo Girls, to name a few. 

Since we've been here, we have been busy traveling to Paris and other places around Spain, and are preparing our month-long Europe tour in April.

It was a fun and super busy year. We will be ushering in 2009 with some more weird Spanish traditions. At midnight, they begin shoving 12 grapes in their mouth, one for every stroke of the hour. In Barcelona, they then head to Plaza Catalunya to toss 40 oz. glass beer bottles, hoping someone is on the other side to catch it. This usually winds up with people getting pelted and, depending on which side you are on, getting to take an ambulance or police car ride. We will not be attending this festivity. 

We wish you all a very safe and happy new year!!!

iBon Nadal de Catalunya!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was certainly different than ever before, but fun nonetheless. Doug promised we'd write about some of the crazy Catalán Chrismas traditions, as they are plenty, but we will get to those in a bit.

It's been nice to be so busy over the past week or so, so we have less time to miss being home. Last Thursday Hailey Carmichael, a friend from Dothan, came to visit for a few days before she went back to Alabama. She's teaching in Madrid for a year. One of her friends from Furman, Edward, has been travelling around Spain for six week studying its food. He goes to different regions to learn about their traditional techniques. We gladly had them over to cook dinner for us Friday night. We had rosemary hamburgers, sweet potato fries and grilled colchot onions with Romesco sauce, which was a nice change from canned tuna pasta and lentil soup.

Saturday night we had an impromptu Christmas party. Hailey and Edward were still here, and my friend Erin who lives in our neighborhood came over. Then Carrie, who was an Alpha Gam with me at Auburn and is living in Madrid, had a surprise layover here and showed up at our door. It was fun to have a little party since we knew it was going to be a quiet week. 

I finished my lessons for the month last week and have been being extra lazy. Doug had a swim meet last Sunday after everyone left and swam great. Most of his team was at Spanish Championships in Madrid, which he can't yet legally compete in, so he was there with the younger kids. It was so crowded and I walked in right when he swam his first race, but could only see him leaving the blocks, and not again until he was back in the same spot. He told me his races would be an hour and a half apart, so I went and sat on the floor outside and read for a while. I heard people cheering, as they had done for his race earlier, but thought it couldn't be him. When I went in about an hour later, someone started to speak to me in German, because that's apparently what I look like to them. It was a nice change from Dutch, which is what everyone speaks to us when Doug is with me. They were asking if I was Doug Pai'l (because apparently the name Paul doesn't exist hereand Pablo doesn't go as well) Van Wie's "woman" and that he "swim like from other galaxy," whatever that means. They had all given him a standing ovation at each of his races. I even got ushered to the front and center, the lady excusing herself from pushing through be saying "la mujer de Duck Pai'l. la mujer de Duck Pai'l."

We went skiing in La Molina, up near France, on Christmas eve. Doug kept saying we'd feel more at home if we had a white Christmas, which I'm pretty sure he's from Charlotte and I'm from Dothan and neither of us have ever had a white Christmas, but it was fun anyway.

Doug snowboarded. Correction, Doug tried to snowboard for the first time. He did a lot of tumbling down the slopes, even right off of the ski lift, which is just impressive. I am certainly not a great skier, but would ski past him and then wait and wait and wait at the bottom and then just see this big poof of snow, which was Doug wiping out again. People from the ski lifts were looking down at him like "are you ok!?" But he'd get up without saying a word and try again, only to wipe out harder the next time. I have become increasingly paranoid since knowing Doug who will just chuck himself off anything. I just kept telling him to give up because we don't have Spanish medical insurance and had he ever heard of Sonny Bono?

He came back with only a broken phone and a broken watch, thank the Lord.

We took the afternoon bus back to Barcelona and went straight to the beach, just so we could say we had done both in one day.

Christmas night, amongst calls from my sisters rubbing in the great food they were having a home, we went to Zoe and Jay's house for a "proper English Christmas dinner." We had roast chicken, potatoes and parsnips, English peas, mashed potatoes and gravy, pigs in a blanket, cabbage and carrots.

Santa/Papa Noël even found us here! My mom sent us a package with stockings already stuffed to hang in our house and both our moms sent presents to put under the tree, so our little tree from the Chino wasn't so depressing.  

Doug's favorite game to play is "let's not buy each other presents, we will just save the money for our month-long train trip and to go skiing. Oh look! I got you a present! Surprise!" So of course I didn't have anything to give him, but this is where the laziness of Spain comes in. They have another holiday as big as Christmas on January 6 for the Three Wise Men or Reyes Magos, so he can just get a Reyes Magos present instead. 

My Christmas present from Doug is awesome. I have been making him listen to the Wicked soundtrack since we met and have been jealous that I'm the only person who hasn't seen it, so he surprised me with tickets to Wicked! In London! We fly out the weekend of January 16. I am so excited! He knows I'm giving him a coat, which isn't near as exciting, but oh well. 

We got to have a Catalán Christmas also, with Brenton's family. We had lunch at their house yesterday with the aunts and uncles and the lot. It was Saint Stephen Day, because of course they can't go with another reason for vacation. We had canalones, which are apparently typical here in Catalunya, because we had them in the mountains as well. We also had little goat ribs and lots and lots of pork, as usual. Doug's favorite part was the turrons, which are just 100% sugar blocks in varieties such as chocolate or Crema Catalá, like solid creme brulee. We learned about Brenton's grandfather who was a famous magician in the 1960s.

So, Catalán traditions are nuts. We have already talked about eating turrons and Reyes Magos, but our favorite zany tradition is the Caganer. In their traditional manger scenes, among the wisemen and animals, is a man who is squatting to go number two. I don't know how to put it less crudely, but the statue is crude and the number two is visible.

Another crazed tradition is Cacatío. This is a log with a smiley face and a Santa hat. The kids beat it with a stick and it also number two-s presents from under its cape. Told you they were strange. 

Anyway, here is our Christmas week in a nutshell. We still don't have internet, but are hopeful that we will have it by next week. 

We are off to the mercat! Love you all!

From Doug: Contrasts and Christmastime

Everything I've been enjoying for the past week and a half have been a study in contrasts. From Paris last weekend to our night out this past Saturday, I find it incredible when different cultures, styles, and eras mesh and create something entirely new.

Paris was a wonderful contrast to Barcelona. KK has already given a detailed account of our adventures there, so I will stick to my impressions of the city. Apart from the obvious differences of climate and architecture, the city just feels different. True, there is an air of haughtiness but we didn't encounter any outright rude Parisians. Art has been such an integral part of their culture that it practically radiates from the countless museums and pours out in to the streets and people themselves. There is also a sense of rebellion inherent in the city. Despite the fact that the French have lost countless wars in the last 100 years and they seem desperate to unify and lead the EU, they seem to retain their strongly independent nature. Overall I really loved Paris and the short trip only whet my appetite to go back.

Going to a city as different as Paris and then coming back made me see Barcelona with new eyes. True there might not be as strong a artistic tradition here, but Barcelona has certainly made up for it in the last 100 years. Also, it's nice to be back to a slower pace of life and cheaper food.



Saturday night provided a few more studies of contrast. We have been receiving a weekly email about interesting cultural events going on in the city, but have yet to attend one of the suggestions. However, in a quest to find free things to do we followed their recommendation for a showcase of independent fashion designers in chic, modern hotel. While KK looked through racks of unique clothes, the hotel itself took center stage for me. The building was at least 200 years old, complete with ornate moldings and marble floors. This traditional architecture was contrasted by an interior painted completely white filled with minimalistic furniture. Instead of thumping techno music playing, there was one guy playing the acoustic guitar singing spanish indie songs.



After the fashion show, I took KK to see the Alabama Gospel Choir perform at the Palau de Musica Catalunya. I thought it would be a good taste of home in this time that we are both feeling a bit homesick. The performance was great even though all the performers we met afterwards were from (gasp!) Florida. They even peppered their performance with Christmas songs. The highlights were "O Holy Night" and "Amazing Grace," which gave me goosebumps. There were minutes at a time when I was consumed by the music and completely forgot where I was. It was interesting to see the Spanish peoples' reaction to Southern gospel music. By the end of the show, most of the audience was standing and clapping to the rhythm. The great contrast of the show, other than seeing a choir allegedly from Alabama in Barcelona, was hearing this gospel music in a music hall that is a temple to Art Noveau. Built between 1905 and 1908, it was created during the Renaixenca, or Catalan Renaissance. I could just picture it packed with a symphony performing classical or Baroque pieces, but here was a southern gospel choir filling it with their amazing voices.

On Sunday, we were determined to make it to a church service after the previous weeks' failed attempt. I did some research online and found the website for a Protestant church founded in the Methodist tradition. Turns out only the website was in English, with the service in Catalan. Those sneaky Catalans lured us with a website entirely in English, not just clumsily translated English either but grammatically correct English. Needless to say, the hymns were difficult to sing what with words like "t'involucris," "d'aquests," and "reforçar." We tried to stifle our laughs and made it through the entire hour and a half service.




We just finalized our plans for Christmas Eve and Day. I was a little bummed by the thought of waking up in our apartment on Christmas morning with nothing to do and nowhere to go. So we decided to take advantage of the proximity of the Pyrenees and have a white Christmas for once. We are staying at La Molina, which is the oldest ski resort in Spain. If I can convince KK to brave the cold we will spend Christmas day on the slopes.

Stay tuned for a zany post on Catalan Christmas traditions.

Our First Noel

Paris was amazing. Last time I went was with my 10th grade class from Houston Academy. Not that it wasn't wonderful with y'all too, but it was really different being there with just Doug, not 30 people and in a bus most of the time. We were only there Thursday to Saturday, so we had a ton to pack in to two days. Somehow we did it. All. We had Rick Steves' France 2001 that we found at a second-hand English bookshop in Barcelona, so we were well led.

We stayed in a Hotel in Montmarte, in the North part of the city, overlooking the Sacré-Coeur. It was unbelievable. Here is the view from our hotel room.

We didn't get to Paris until about 4 p.m. because RyanAir, the budget airline, takes you to an airport about an hour from wherever you are trying to go. It makes it worth it when you flights are 20 euros round trip. We dropped our stuff off and headed straight to Notre Dame. The city had been decorated for Christmas and there was a huge Rockefeller Center-ish tree in front of the cathedral. The choir singing, the decorations, the sun setting and just being in front of the Notre Dame created a beatuiful and humbling scene.

We walked through the Latin Quarter and grabbed a chevre and tomato sandwich off the street and watched the sunset before we went on a Seine river cruise, which I had done when I was there with H.A., and it was beautiful. It takes you down the river by the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Orsay, Parliament buildings and the Eiffel Tower.

As soon as we rounded the corner and were able to see the Eiffel Tower, it lit up blue and white, and had the ring of gold stars to represent the European Union. It was perfect timing. Being on the water during the cruise was the coldest we ever got. We expected it to be unenjoyably cold and snowing the entire time. We saw some flurries a couple of times, but no white Christmases for us.

We hopped the metro and headed to the Eiffel Tower. It is so nice traveling in the winter because there are no lines, far less people and everything is cheaper. As much as I hate winter and love blazing summer, we both thought Paris is a place to enjoy in the winter, bundled up in scarves and gloves. We got straight in and went to the top of the tower. The view was amazing and so clear. It was also freezing.

After that we had dinner on the île de Sant Louis at a place called Le Relais de l'Isle. We ate like kings.
We had foie gras of duck with tomatoes and pepper jelly, pepper and honey glazed duck and baked apples with potato soufflet, a croissant stuffed with warm goats milk cheese and a salad, pastry covered in mussels, shrimp and lobster sauce, and of course a bottle of French wine. For dessert we had creme bruleé and warm chocolate cake.

We woke up early and went for café and croissants and planned our big day. We did the Louvre first, lead by our Rick Steves' podcasts, so we would be able to get through it all. Highlights of the Louvre were the temporary Picasso exhibit, Michelangelo's Slaves, Nike of Samothrace, Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, Coronation of Napoleon, Raft of the Medusa and Liberty Leading the People. The building itself, at one time the largest building in the world, is one of the perks of the Louvre. It's enormous and so easy to get lost and wander around for days, but overwhelming.

We headed straight to the Musée d'Orsay which is said to have Europe's greatest collection of Impressionist works. It is in an old train station across from the Louvre. We both agreed we preferred the Orsay over the Louvre, if the two can be compared. Filled with Dégas, Renoir, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Millet, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec's works, it's manageable and you can mosey instead of sprint.

Having bought the museum pass, we decided we would go to as many sites that are included as we could fit in to one day. Among these is Sainte Chapelle, which could easily by skipped over and taken as just another gothic-style church from the outside, but it's certainly worth the visit. It was built to house the supposed Crown of Thorns. From top to bottom, the chapel walls are stained glass. It's much smaller than the other cathedrals, but the windows are the entire chapel, not a small part of a huge wall far away.

Next was the Arc de Triomphe. We got there as the sun was setting and rush hour was buzzing around its crazed round-about. No matter the circumstances, if there is an accident on this round-about, insurance splits the cost 50-50. No questions. There was some sort of military ceremony going on, so we weren't able to go to the top of the Arc, but we'd already seen the best views of the city anyway.

We spent the rest of the evening walking down the Champs-Elyseés, window shopping at the beautiful French designer stores and passing the hundreds of café's, each full of Parisians sitting outside people-watching. About half way down there was a Christmas market that went on for a couple of miles all the way down to the Place de la Concorde. We had big dinner plans in the Latin Quarter, but decided to eat street food. It was like the Peanut Festival on steriods. Doug had a sandwich, a chocolate croissant, a ham and Camembert crêpe, a chocolate-covered marshmellow thing, vin chaud (hot wine) and we split some cheesy ham and potato concoction. I am not sure how he does it. I've never seen anything like it in my life.

The booths were filled with Christmas ornaments and trinkets and basically anything on which they could squeeze the word NOËL. After successfully stuffing Doug, we went to the Pompidou Center, the Musée National d'Art Moderne. We didn't have much time to see the museum before it closed, so we decided it's a reason to go back to Paris. On the top floor there is a café that was filled with beautiful, fashionable Parisian people enjoying 20 euro martinis. We enjoyed that scene for a while, then headed back to our hotel. We were right by the Moulin Rouge, but couldn't afford to go as it is over 100 euros per person.

We saw in the newspaper yesterday that while we were there, 85 million euros worth of diamonds were stolen from Harry Winston, which was the biggest robbery in the history of France. Too bad they didn't drop a few on their way out.

We made it back to Barcelona. It funny how showing up earlier for your flight alleviates all the stress of missing flights, sleeping in train stations, etc. That's all I'm going to say.

I came to Spain prepared with my family's favorite children Christmas cartoon, Small One, that Hunter gave me for Christmas last year and some Christmas CD's my mom made me. I don't know how many times Doug will let me listen to this CD or agreeably watch Small One, but I hope he has another 18 days left in him.

From Doug: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It was as if the Christmas fairy came while I was sleeping yesterday. I was taking a nap between prelims and finals of my first Catalan Circuit meet (more on that later) and when I awoke my eyes beheld the glorious sight of a towering spruce decked with shining ornaments and thousands of warmly glowing lights.

Ok, so it was only a 2 foot tall plastic tree KK bought at the "chino," (a cheap, pakistani store filled with products made from what I can tell exclusively in China), but it did look beautiful. She had bought it and decorated it while I was asleep. She even made an angel to go on top out of corks and bobby pins, complete with a champagne cork for the head and a five cent piece as a halo. It filled me with a Christmas spirit that later that evening carried me through the water with a speed I recently thought lost. Our project for later this evening is to make advent streamers to fill the apartment. Part of me fears I have opened Pandora's box allowing KK to decorate. I prefer to pace myself when it comes to Christmas cheer. If you go all out in the first couple of days of December, you might require a little more eggnog to get you through Christmas day. In our case, I'm worried I might not be able to get the door through all the decorations by the in a week or two. The fun part is since we are on a budget we must revert to grade school art class. It starts with streamers, pretty soon we'll have clothespin reigndeers and salt dough santas.

This weekend marked the beginning of my comeback in swimming. The first two meets didn't go too well, but I finally regained my form and posted somewhat respectable times. I won the 100 and 200 back, got 2nd in the 50 and 5th in the 100 free. My team is starting a short rest before the Spanish short course champioships in two and a half weeks, during which I will swim in a meet here to try and post some fast times.



Overall we are beginning to settle in to a routine here in Barcelona. The first month or so went by so fast as we were running around looking at apartments, swim teams, jobs, and even some tourist sites to boot. Now we have got our bearings here and life is starting to gain a semblance of normalcy. Hours have passed by at a time where I completely forget I am in a foreign country. I even try to walk different ways to the metro every day to avoid too much monotony. The amazing thing is whenever I feel the slightest tinge of complacency or boredom I just realize where I am and all the incredible opportunities that surround me. Little things never cease to capture my attention such as the amazing hospitality from my teamate Brenton Cabello and his family (and people say Catalans are unfriendly), or the way the autumn light cuts a path through the narrow streets, filtering the smoke of an old man's cigarette and airing out the neighborhoods' drying laundry. Man, did I really just write that last sentence. Sorry to make you suffer through that, I must need an outlet for my creative juices. I'll stick to logos from now on.

Thanksgiving was a little tough for both of us. We got to talk to our families through Skype, but had to do so at the local bar as our internet is still out. No disrespect to my loving family, but I think I missed the food the most. While I got to see adorable baby Hayes, the smell of roasting turkey and the taste of squash casserole don't travel as well over the internet. I know Christmas will be much more difficult. The holidays are a time for being with friends and family and we are short on both here. We will be thinking of all of you back home and wishing we could be with you in the coming weeks.