It’s hard to describe 6 weeks spent in such a beautiful place, with such an amazing people. Now I do regret that I didn’t create this blog earlier – it’d be so much easier to write about everything when I was there. Now I have to do that in just a few posts, because there are so many other travel stories to tell about !
Montserrat
Before coming to Solsona, I was looking for some people from there on couchsurfing. I wanted to make some friends, to spend my time not only with the host family, but also with some young people. Despite of that, my family introduced me to other au-pairs in befriended families.
During my first day in Solsona I’ve met one person from couchsurfing. I’ve spent much time with Miquel and his friends as well. Miquel has his own pizzeria, so we’ve spent most of the time there. But don’t think I’ve only eaten pizzas there – maybe I had it just once there. When I was going out, I was always already so full… (yeah, I gained a few kilos during those 6 weeks). But have to say I always had a drink there, and I won’t forget when one day I had really tough day because of children’s behaviour and when I got to that place, I’ve asked for some drink with vodka (now I have to explain something – in Spain people barely drink vodka. Mostly they drink wine, beer or sometimes even cocktails – but rarely those made of vodka). Then people who didn’t know me yet, asked me if I was from Russia. But they weren’t really surprised with my choice when I said I’m from Poland… ;)
La Patum - Berga
In the first weekend there we went to small town in Catalonia named Berga. We went there to a local event ,,La Patum”. It’s pretty famous there – all the people from Catalonia go there each year to celebrate that. As in each fiesta in Catalonia,you could feel there real independence movement.
As most of you know, Catalonia wants to seperate from Spain. Before coming there as an au-pair, I hadn’t been thinking about it too much and to be honest, I hadn’t thought Catalans are much different than Spanish people. But I’ve changed my mind. Maybe it isn’t such a different region as the Basque country, but still it has its own culture and history. Catalan language is so much different than spanish – it’s like a mix of Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese. Catalan history is also a bit different than Spanish history. Franco’s dictatorship - I hope you’ve heard about that. Did you know that Catalan was forbidden to use in that time? The grandfather from my host family told me, that despite he speaks Catalan very well and much better than Spanish, he can’t write anything in that language , and it’s one of the consequences of that dictatorship. Little children know independence songs and in the cities, all you can see are flags hanging from the balconies.
Everybody may have different opinion. But after that when I saw how distinct from Spanish people they feel, I wouldn’t disagree if they separated.
From Monday to Friday my days were really alike to each other, but it doesn’t mean they were boring. In the morning I had to go with children to the swimming pool, which was like 50 metres away from the house. They had some sports activities there and I had my free time until 1 pm , when they finished these activities. After that we came home, the mother Rosa came at 3 pm to have lunch with us, then she got back to work at 5 pm, and I had to take care of children for 1 or 2 hours more, until the father of the host family was back home. So in the afternoons we went again to the swimming pool, played in the garden or did some English exercises.
On 23rd of June it was Saint John’s Eve and we went to the fiesta to our neighbours. I think that was that night when I fell in love with Spanish people’s mentality. The fiesta wasn’t in the house but…on the street. Yes, on the street. We got the tables out of the house, and decorated the street so everybody knew they couldn’t ride this way. And we were eating and drinking wine on the street. Children, no matter how old, played with fireworks and nobody was worried about this. It was so peaceful, like time had stopped or something like that,no problems existed at that time, the only important thing was that you could spend this lovely summer night with your friends and family. Never experienced feeling like that outside Spain. Also that night I’ve met another au-pair – Anna, british girl born in Russia.
So next weekend we went together to Barcelona. We booked some cheap hostel, spent nice day on the beach and doing some shopping. In the evening we’ve met a group of French guys on the beach and we went together to the party. I didn’t like clubbing at that time – but that club was amazing. A few floors, different music, and the smoking area was on the terrace and you could see all the beach, palms and the sea from there. Breath-taking view.
me and Anna in Barcelona at 7 am
We came to the hostel after 7 am and we were probably too drunk and tired to think about what hours do we have to check out. So Anna woke me up like 20 minutes before that when we had to leave the hostel…I think that was one of my records – I took a shower and packed my stuff even in less than these 20 minutes. Impressing, like for me!
Days in Solsona were calm, hot and so relaxing. In the evenings either I’ve met Miquel and his friends or Anna. With Anna we made some friends in one of the cafe’s in Solsona, so we spent much time there drinking and talking with waiters and other staff members ;)
I also did some sightseeing with my host family. We went to Barcelona, to Montserrat and often we went to Manresa – a city in a half way between Solsona and Barcelona. Maternal grandparents live there so we visited them at least once a week. Once we also went to the cinema in Manresa. We were late like 5 minutes, and when we finally arrived, the film has already started. That means commercials in cinemas in Spain last less than 5 minutes. Imagine how surprised I was when I figured that out and compared that to commercials in Polish cinemas.
narrow streets in Solsona
Next post will be about another weekend in Barcelona, another local fiesta and how I spent my night by the lake under the sky.