Thursday, March 18, 2010

Parc Guell, tofu, and Jane Austen

Apparently there aren't a lot of vegans, or vegetarians, in this city or else they're all shopping at some hidden hotspots I'm unaware of! After my second day of teaching on Tuesday (relatively better as it was an advanced class with 5 people, and we read this LONG WINDED article on Nelson Mandela but overall I'd say I'm getting slightly better, or at least attempting to not bang my head against the wall as much), I headed to the mecca known as Corte Ingles, which has about 76 chains all over this city, and about 4 within walking distance of each other. Reason? Probably not.

So anyways, I managed to find TOFU of all things, which I was completely craving, as well as almond milk. The box I first touched looked suspiciously dusty and cost about 3 euros, and the tofu was translated weirdly and said it was a "chemically engineered product". Um, gross, I hope not. But I was psyched anyways to find some things I usually ate a lot back home, and although the tofu is subpar compared to Trader Joe's, it was still comforting!

I also went to Parc Guell today. I really don't know what to say about this fanciful park other than that it was everything I'd hoped it would be, and yet I only saw a teeny part of it. Gaudi really loved his city of Barcelona and it shows, not only in the Sagrada Familia church but here in this parc that he designed and gave to the city. There are mosaics everywhere, fountains, odd little refuges made out of different kinds of stone, and this gorgeous outlook that was featured in one of my favourite films, "L'Auberge Espagnole" and I really couldn't believe I was there, seeing it for my very own eyes, and that I live in this city!! Sometimes it's all a bit too surreal, but in a really delightful way. I will need to go back to this park many times before it gets swamped in the summer.

On the way to Parc Guell, I found a second hand used English bookstore with my friends, Kate and Sari! We were so pumped, we spent about an hour wandering around. It's interesting, most of the books are classic ones so I'm finally reading "Emma" by Jane Austen. I was getting that panicky feeling I get (weird, I know) this morning because I finished all the books I brought, and had no idea what to do with myself. Problem solved, hurray!

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