From Doug: All the Reyes Magos brought us was bad weather

Happy Reyes Magos everyone. We are spending the last day of our holiday vacation couped up in our apartment as a hail storm rages outside and gives us an excuse to stay in our pjs and not go out. As I am typing the, they have gone from barely visible to dipping dots sitting on our windowsill.



Saturday night we had the pleasure of hosting Anne and her friend Nick. It was great catching up with Anne and finding a common bond with Nick. He was a college water polo player at Long Beach and moved over here after to play professionally. He gave me a glimpse of what life might have been like had we moved to Lleida as planned. He lives and plays for a club in Manresa, which is a small town about an hour away. He said there is not much to do there and no one speaks English. Even though things haven't exactly gone according to our plans, I am glad we ended up here in Barcelona.

We had a good time with Anne and Nick. They didn't arrive until later in the evening and after a few drinks at our apartment (note to self: the bottled martini blanco here is not the same as a martini cocktail) we met up with some friends for dinner. It was supposed to be Erin Mushaway's last night in town so we ate with some of her friends. I had an enlightening conversation with her friend Mireia who explained a lot of Catalan culture including the whole Three Kings vs. Father Christmas debate. The Catalan government ran a campaign urging residents to decorate their houses with the Three Kings because they are more traditional as opposed to the international consumer driven Santa Claus figure. A late night botellón kept us all in bed most of the morning, and when we finally woke up Anne and NIck had to leave and Erin had missed her flight.



Sunday afternoon we went to The Caixa Forum musuem where we saw several great exhibits. My favorite by far was the Alphonse Mucha exhibit. I had studied him in both my Art History and Graphic Design History classes at Auburn. He created the whole Art Noveau movement, or as it was originally called here estilo de Mucha. He was also very innovative in the field of design for advertising. He launched the career of actress Sarah Bernhardt through a series of poster and even created his own soap. My favorite of his works were his rough pencil sketches and loose oil paintings.



To get a taste of the Spanish culture, we went to the parade of the Reyes Magos last night. After jostling for position and waiting for 30 minutes, the floats finally came our way. Initially, I was dissappointed, as I saw three people sitting on top of a tourist bus decorated with streamers. This is what all the hype is all about? We waited a while longer and realized that was just a warm up. Each king (Kasper, Balthasar, and Melchoir) had their own float and entourage of dancers throwing candy to the crowds. The whole production ended up being pretty impressive. We felt like the only people there without young children and it seemed like everyone had at least one kid perched on their shoulder for a better view. Many experienced parents even brought step ladder for their kids to stand on.

Tomorrow its back to everyday life for us. I have to practice twice and hopefully meet with Miguel and the HR department to sort out a contract for my internship, and KK resumes her lessons on Thursday.