I got home and had a late lunch, made the most of my free afternoon by napping (what else?!) and then packed a bag as I was going away with the family for the weekend! They have a house halfway between Barcelona and Andorra that they go to a lot at the weekends, so the plan was to drive there on Friday evening, chill and meet up with their family and family friends on Saturday, and then drive the rest of the way to Andorra on Sunday to ESQUIAR!
We packed up the car and on the way the boys were asking me to name English songs so that they could download them and play them in the car. They loved all the Ed Sheeran/Olly Murs stuff, as they'd heard it before, but never caught the name to be able to download it, and Bruno Mars was also on repeat the whole journey! After about an hour of driving we got to their little house, which was really cosy, and they said it was great for skiing as it heats up so quickly in the winter. We had a late dinner (as per... I mean, we are in Spain now), watched some tele and then went to bed.
Saturday turned out to be a day which hugely revolved around food. I had a great lie in before going downstairs and having a late breakfast with the family. One of the boys had just got his little motorbike fixed so was racing that around a field and the others had stuck a twig in a hedge just too far for Benny to reach when jumping, so it was hilarious to watch him continuously spring up trying to catch it in his mouth. I went with Bea and one of the boys to a nearby cafe with wifi in the late morning, as he had a school project to do and there was no internet in the house. We stayed there for about an hour, and then went back to the house to get ready and drove to their grandparents, who also have a weekend house nearby. The house backs onto a golf course, and has a great view of the mountains in the distance. This was my first experience of a real 'aperitif'. We got there just after midday, and sat out in their garden drinking champagne and enjoying the sun and the various nibbly bits they'd put out, including more spanish ham (divine), and olives and other little snacks. We stayed until about 3pm. when the grandparents friends started arriving for lunch, and we made a move as we had our own lunch plans. I realised I was surprisingly full, as we'd been eating and drinking for a good 3 hours, but the time had flown by so quickly as it was all so relaxed sitting outside in the sun. We then made our way to a typical Catalan resturant and met up with another family for the real lunch. As I was so full I could just about manage a salad, and all of the puddings seemed chocolate based and after the doughnut incident in Durham I wasn't risking that again until Lent was well and truly over!! We finished sometime after 5 and the other family then took us to the house in the area that they'd just purchased. It seemed strange that we were over an hour away from Barcelona, yet still surrounded by their friends and families who all had property here. Bea explained that it's very common for families that live in the city centre to have a house in the country as a 'getaway' for weekends, and that this area in particular was very popular with their friends and family.
In the early evening we went back to a cafe with wifi so that one of the boys could finish their school project and then got ready and went to another one of their friends house for dinner. When we got there the house was already buzzing, as about 5 families had been invited over for the evening. There must literally have been an exodus to the country that weekend!! The proper dinner was really just for the 'adults', and for this purpose I was a 'child', so I walked with the other children to a nearby restaurant to pick up some pizzas. I'm definitely not complaining however, as I am one of pizza's biggest fans! After eating we started playing a game of 'Tic, Tac, Boom'. There were 2 sets of cards, one set that had 3 random letters on, and another set that either said 'tic', 'tac', or 'toc'. If I remember correctly, the 'tic' card meant that you had a say a word starting with the letters on the card, 'tac' meant that the letters had to come at the end of the word, and 'toc' was a free for all, so they could come at the beginning, middle or end of the word. There was a bomb that you hold until you've thought of a word, and pass on once you've thought of one. If the bomb explodes while you're holding it, you've lost that round and have to take the letter card. At the end, the person with the least cards in their pile wins. For my benefit we banned Catalan for the game and had to stick just to Castellano (which some of the younger kids found surprisingly difficult!). It was a lot of fun, and by some miracle I ended up winning all 3 rounds that we played! The adults had then finished their dinner, so all of us squeezed around the table (more than 20 of us I reckon). The game was much more fast paced, but I miraculously still ended the game without collecting a card and won! I was chuffed to say the least, as I was playing against a room of native Spanish speakers!! I think it was because most of them would just think of nouns for the words, whereas I would scour my entire (if limited) vocabulary, and so included verbs as well. Either way, people seemed impressed and the dad even said he was telling people at work about it!
It was suddenly almost 1am so we had to make a move as it was an early morning the next day for skiing!! Bea had lent me her sister's ski clothes and skiis, so I didn't need to worry about renting anything for the day. We were up and out by 10am, and on the slopes by about 11:30am. I'd definitely been spoilt for skiing in Austria, and don't think I'll ever ski mountains quite like it again, but I was still so so happy to be back on the slopes, and with such a lovely family as well. Things had REALLY turned around since my first week! The family were much more my skiing level than the Austrians, who I still maintain are born with skis on their feet, so we kept together all day. We enjoyed a late lunch in the sun, and then skiied right until the last lift closed and we had to go home. We chilled at their house a little and packed away slowly, then drove the hour or so back to Barcelona. I watched a little tv with the family before my eyes started feeling very heavy. I thanked them for another amazing weekend, and went to get a good night's sleep, ready for another working week.
That's so neat that everyone migrates to the mountains on the weekends, and very cool that you won the game!
ReplyDeleteJust think about it - if you hadn't experienced that housing crisis, you would've missed out on what seems to have been yet another incredible native adventure! It all works out in the end. :-)
Still lovin' that dog.