La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Spain - November 2015

La Sagrada Familia 

Barcelona is a city I have dreamed of visiting for the better part of my adult life.  The first time I laid eyes upon its bustling streets and felt the warm breeze off the Mediterranean I felt such content.  I made it to a place I had imagined being for so long.  It has been 15 months since my first visit and I have now been fortunate enough to make my way there 3 additional times.  I never could have expected my life to bring me here and I am so grateful for it each day.

Placa Reial (Royal Plaza)

This last trip was brought about because a friend of ours from Vancouver, Ash, was in the neighbourhood (of Europe) and decided to pop down to Spain for a quick visit before heading back to Canada.  I was so excited to not only be going back to a city I adore but to be spending a couple days with someone I adore from home!  There are not many who have made the journey here to visit us these past 19 months so we appreciate those who have immensely.  It is great having visitors from home it makes us feel less disconnected.  We also got to ring up Heather (our friend who moved from Valladolid to Barcelona) so this trip was a real reunion!  Tons of drinks, laughs and great stories. I feel so lucky to have made such great friends in my life.  

Ash and I enjoying drinks 

Occasionally a great deal in airfare emerges and we were lucky enough to find flights from Valladolid for 17 euros each.  This made the trip even more exciting!  The airport in Valladolid is the smallest I have ever seen.  I am sure there are smaller in the world but for me this one is like a ghost town.  We arrived 2 hours before the flight thanks to a bus system that does not match up well with the flights and there was literally nobody there other than us and a couple staff members.  It is crazy to me that a city can have an airport so underutilized.  However it got us where we wanted to go this time so thanks Ryanair for stopping in our small town!

I could of course go on and on about Barcelona and how amazing and beautiful the city is, the architecture, the cool cafes/bars, the ambiance in the streets and the killer food selection but I have talked about that all before.....  

 Barcelona Cathedral 

Seriously though so much good food to eat!  In the two days we were there we had Indian, Mexican, Chinese, and Subway as well as Starbucks and Costa Coffee (who have the best chai latte of life – sorry Starbucks but they have you beat in that department) Every time I leave Valladolid I am just so happy to have all the food I want to eat at my fingertips!

Mercat de la Boqueria

 Barri Gotic (The Gothic quarter)

Interesting cafe in the Gothic quarter

The thing I was most excited about on this trip, besides seeing Ash, was going to La Sagrada Familia (Gaudi’s Church).  This church has become a symbol of Barcelona and is estimated to draw over 2.5 million visitors a year.  Each time we have been in the city it has been something we have wanted to do but we just never made it.  So this time I planned ahead and bought our tickets online.

Never an outdoor shot without cranes and scaffolding

The late Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) is the Catalan architect who designed the Church.  The Basilica, which had already been under construction since 1882, was taken over by Gaudi in 1883 and he basically completely redesigned the entire structure. His vision was to create a building that connected Heaven and Earth. When Gaudi died in 1926 it was only a quarter of the way completed.  Whenever he was asked about the length of time it would take to complete the church he always remarked that “His client was not in a hurry”.  After Gaudi passed his close friend and collaborator began overseeing the construction.  He claimed to adhere to Gaudis original designs but unfortunately during the Spanish Civil War the Basilica was all but burned down and all the original drawings were lost.  There is a constant dialogue questioning whether or not the church does indeed resemble the original designs.

This Basilica is like nothing I have ever seen before.  It was like a dream world where anything was possible.  I honestly do not even understand how the architecture was possible.  The dripping ceilings and stained glass casting rainbows throughout the building made me feel like I was on drugs (In a totally responsible and respectable way)  It didn’t feel like real life is what I am getting at.  It was like being inside a Dali painting.  Gaudi was a creative genius.  I would love to be able to crawl inside of his brain and understand where his ideas came from.  We did wonder, as do many,  what he would think if he saw the building today.  Would he be saying “No no no this is not what I envisioned?! And where did these elevators come from?”

In October of 2015 it was reported that the church was 70 percent completed and was expected to be finished by 2030, give or take.  It is a truly magnificent structure that I highly recommend you take a visit to if you ever find yourself in Barcelona.

Oh and a fun fact about the Basilica is that it is not a Cathedral as many people call it.  A cathedral is only that when it is intended for a bishops seat. A Basilica is a church given special privileges by the Pope.  This special privilege is attained because of antiquity, historical importance or because they are a significantly central place of worship.

The Sagrada Familia Magic Square - In squares of order 4 where the numbers run sequentially from 1-16 the magic constant (the sum of a single line, row or diagonal) is 34, but Subirachs' square does not contain the numbers 12 or 16 (see image, above). Instead, 10 and 14 are included twice, making a magic constant of 33, the age of Jesus Christ at the crucifixion 

Now my only complaint with the church really isn’t about the church at all but with the website.  Because it is such a huge tourist attraction when you book the tickets you must also book the time you would like to visit and if you would like to go up the towers you must book those times as well.  I bought our tickets and decided to pay the extra 5 euros each to go up a tower.  I later learned that the tickets are specific to each tower so purchasing one means you cannot go up the other.  This would not normally be a big deal however what they failed to mention on the website was that for the date we planned to attend the tower I booked and paid for was closed for some nativity scene they were setting up.  This would have been helpful to mention online so that I would not book that particular tower but the other one.  Our money was refunded but that isn’t really the point.  Seriously Spain when will you learn to utilize the internet effectively.

Anyhow we attempted to go up the other tower but the security thwarted our advances to the elevator.  We sadly walked out without going up which I am sure would have been just incredible.  However we did get to enjoy this unbelievable church so no regrets!  There is also a museum under the church where you can learn the complete history of its construction.  As well when you explore the city there are elements of Gaudi everywhere.  From buildings he designed to Guell Park and all the touristy shops selling a little piece of Barcelonas pride.

I do not know if we will ever return to Barcelona, with only 5 months left in Spain it is not looking like it, but I am so glad we were able to make this trip.  I do know however that a little piece of Barcelona is coming here tomorrow when Heather comes for a visit! 

Autumn Reflections from Valladolid Spain - November 2015

Autumn has long been my favourite season, and yes I know every girl says that right, but for me this love of autumn began long before pumpkin spice lattes and the idea of autumn fashion.  I have been in love with the crispness of the air and the crunch of the leaves beneath my feet since I was a child. Nothing thrilled me more than raking all the leaves into a huge pile then jumping into it (at the time I never considered dog poop or spiders – you will not catch me submerged in leaves now).  I loved and still love the notion that the world is going to sleep for a few months and that soon it will be still, quiet, peaceful.

I love the rain.  Living in Vancouver while all I ever heard were complaints about the cold and the wet I felt alive.  The sound of the rain falling in the empty streets while it gently hits my windows as I lay in bed helps me to clear my mind of the negative thoughts that plague me.  I can let go of tension and take a moment to just breathe.  I relish those moments.  The cleansing feeling of hiking through the forest with only the sound of rain falling and boots crunching is euphoric.  I will never understand the disdain for the rain.

Vancouver

The colours of the autumn are incomparable to those in other seasons.  When flowers die in the summer they fade and wither away, which of course holds its own beauty, but in autumn as the leaves die they, as Albert Camus said, become flowers.  Bright red, orange and yellow, such beauty in the decay.  There is nothing quite like the scent of rotting leaves and a hint of frost in the forest.  I mean have you ever driven around Northern Ontario in October?  There is nowhere in Canada so beautiful.

 Algonquin Park, Ontario Canada

Northern Ontario

Of course speaking of October anyone who knows me well enough knows this is my favourite month.  Not only is it chilly and autumnal but it is approaching Halloween and there is nothing better than Halloween.  Walks through the leaves, pumpkin patches, Hay Rides, hot chocolate, haunted houses, scary movies and dressing up spooky while ghouls haunt the night! 

Living here in Valladolid I have missed this.  I can of course only speak for the area I live in Spain but autumn is a bit disappointing here.  It of course is not without its own beauty and charm but it is certainly not the autumn I know and love back home.  The leaves turn only yellow and brown but they do fall and cover the ground so I am still able to take my wanders and clear my mind.  Unfortunately Halloween just isn’t a thing here.  We did find some small pumpkins, carved them, and had our own spooky celebrations. And of course it does rain quite a bit here so that is refreshing.

Halloween 2015

I do still very much enjoy the moments I spend here in the park surrounded by the leaves.  It offers me quite time to reflect on my life.  I think about my choices and whether or not they were what I wanted in the end.  It is true Valladolid has not been what I expected but I certainly do not regret my decision to come here.  Things are not the same as home, but that’s the point right?

 Valladolid 

Valladolid

This journey has been nothing short of amazing and I have learned and grown so much.  I will be forever grateful for being given this opportunity to explore and experience life in a world that my whole life felt so far away.   I have been given a chance to understand another culture and country while also renewing my love for my own. 

I believe that travellers are privileged, not only because they are able to afford the time to travel, but because they have the opportunity to see the world through different lenses.  We learn how similar and how different life is around the world.  We see places that to many, myself included for most of my life, are just words and pictures in books, online or on television.  We learn that as large as the world is, it really is very accessible if we want it to be.  We meet people from all over who are also out to explore the world and it is refreshing to have that familiarity with someone who understands your desire to wander.

We come to understand that just because something is normal for us it can be completely alien to others.  Being a foreigner has been an experience that is both terrifying and humbling for me.  It has taught me that I should be kinder and more patient.  That when someone speaks broken English I should admire them for being so brave to attempt to learn a second or third language. It is not easy and the fact that so many people do it astounds me. Until being in a foreign country I did not understand just how rude and small minded it was to hear someone say “If they are going to live in my country they should learn to speak my language”

I may not agree with everything I see here in Spain and/or the other countries I have visited but I have learned, and I have grown and that is something I can always appreciate and take home with me.  I am glad that we have spent the past 18 months living here and did not just pass through on vacation because everyday life in a country is not a vacation.  I have experienced real life in Spain not just a week on the beach on Barcelona.

Maybe it is not the same for everyone, I can of course only speak to my own experience but being a traveller I have developed such nostalgia for home.  I have always been in love with Canada, especially Vancouver.  There was not a day that went by that I didn’t at some moment tell myself how lucky I was to live in such a beautiful place.  I know there are people who live in Canada and do not realize how good they have it, how spoiled we are, how free and privileged we are.  Canada is, in my opinion, the best country on Earth and I am proud to be from it.

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

My desire to travel may never be fulfilled.  I hope this is only a beginning for me as there are so many places I still long to see.  I look forward to the next 6 months here and what they have in store.  However I am looking most forward to sitting on the back porch with a Timmies and the sound of my familys laughter or ripping around in the bush shooting the shit with my friends.  I look forward to seeing squirrels and raccoon in the yard.  Walking through the woods with the terrifying possibility of a bear encounter.

 Most Canadian Picture of Ross :)

Hiking in British Columbia 

For now though I am going to enjoy Campo Grande surrounded by peacocks and brown leaves.  I am going to attempt to pick out a word or two from the conversations around me and feel proud of myself for learning what I have.  I may not be fluent in Spanish but I know more then I imagined I would 2 years ago.  I may not have always made the best decisions in my life but moving to Spain was one of the good ones.

 Valladolid

Campo Grande, Valladolid

More Trouble with Customs in Spain - October 2015

This might come as no surprise to people who live outside of Canada and regularly have trouble with parcels being delayed in customs, but for me it has been a nightmare that is causing a ridiculous amount of stress.  Forgive the rantiness of this blog but I am quite upset right now.

My lovely mother decided that she was going to do something really nice for me since it is almost Halloween – does it need to be said that this is the best part of my year?-  and unfortunately in Spain Halloween is not celebrated like it is back home.  Oh there is the odd decoration in a store window and a tiny display of shitty Halloween marshmallow candies at a couple grocery shops but overall it just isn’t a thing here.  So my mom knowing how much I miss being in Canada for this holiday sent me two parcels full of Halloween goodies!

I know it seems like such a sweet gesture, and it is, but unfortunately Spanish customs does not give a shit about my happiness or the delay of my parcel, which was insanely expensive as it was sent express.  So let me tell you the tale of why I hate customs.

My mom goes into the Canadian post office and mails me the two parcels of Halloween candies, cookies, a magazine, a card and some fun bat decorations.  This was worth less than 30 dollars.  Just some fun things to brighten up my dreary days here. She decided to send it express so that I would have it within a week.  This cost an unreasonable amount of money that I will not say but it’s likely a lot more than you are imagining.

On Thursday, eight days after she put it in the mail, I get a letter in my mailbox from the Customs agency saying they have my parcel in Madrid and I need to go online to fill out their forms before they will decide what to do with it.  Now keep in mind everything must be done in Spanish, which no I still do not speak fluently, and as great as online translators are they just do not always get it right.

I go on the website and they need a copy of a signed form with the following information:

My name, My address, who the package is from, and what is inside it – All information they already have since parcels coming from Canada are required to post it on the box.

They also need a proof of purchase form stating how much I paid for the items and what they are, my receipts for whatever I purchased and of course copies of my ID.  So I filled out all the information stating what was in the packages (at the time not realizing they only had one of them not both).  I explained in a letter that these were gifts from my mother and I did not have a proof of purchase or receipts and I waited.

Tuesday I got a new letter from them in the mail saying they had a parcel for me in customs. I then realized they only had the first one to begin with so I had to go back online and fill out all the forms again, along with a letter explaining why I said there was so much in one of the parcels when it was actually split into two parcels.

On Wednesday I received an email asking me to fill out a new form for each parcel again describing what was in the boxes and how much it was all worth.  Along with all my personal information as well as my mothers.  (Haven’t I already done this - twice?)

On Friday I finally received two emails telling me how much I would have to pay for each box to be released from customs.  Now like I said these parcels contain basically just candy worth less than 30 dollars total.  Customs has decided I will have to pay 94.26 euros to get my packages!  That is 139.03 Canadian dollars for my package of candy which is worth less than 30 dollars!  That has already been paid for in Canada. Seething rage right now.

I go to the post office on Saturday, which the form says I can do, to make my payment.  The lady there says no you do not need to pay it they will just bring you your parcels to your house and you can pay then.  I said I didn’t think that was what the form said and she just shrugged it off.  I knew that she clearly had no idea what she was talking about.  I had a friend read the emails and she said that it would not be released until I paid the money, but I should do it at the bank since the post office didn’t seem to know what to do.  Isn’t this their job?!

I am not surprised she treated me in this manor because it seems whenever I have encountered someone in Spain who does not understand something I am asking for they just send me away and say no with no explanation or attempt to figure out the problem – Just No.  Honestly I feel it is because I am a foreigner and they do not want to deal with me because I do not speak Spanish.  This happens all too often here.  I have never felt so much like an outsider as I have in Spain.   

     

( Just to be clear I am not saying every person in Spain treats me like I do not matter but it happens more often than not )

I had to wait until Monday to go to the bank because they are not open on Saturdays here.  So Monday I go into the bank and explain I need to pay this bill.  They tell me they cannot accept the money and I have to pay it through the bank machine (Seriously?!).  I am really frustrated at this point and feel defeated - as I usually do when I need to accomplish anything in this country.  I make the payments get the receipts and think I am well on my way to having my stuff released from customs.

When I got home I emailed the receipts to the address I was provided with to do so and I wait.  About an hour later I get a response saying I cannot send the receipts through email (GRRRRRR but the letter said….) and that I must upload them to the website in the space provided.  Well guess what - no space is provided to do so!  I have spent hours on this site searching for anything I might have missed and it does not exist.

I have now emailed the address I was given three times with no response, there is no place on the actual site to contact them, I even emailed the technical issues to ask what to do, since technically the place they are telling me to upload the receipts is not available, and now I sit here almost two weeks later no closer to actually having the parcels, nobody responding to my messages, and the website saying we need you to pay the money so we can release the parcels.

There is no reason this should have happened.  There is nothing suspicious about the parcels and they are worth monetarily nothing.  The fact that they stopped both parcels, not even on the same day, tells me it is nothing more than a way for them to steal my money. They know I will pay for the mail so they are making me. 

I have never had to deal with anything like this in Canada.  Yes we have customs, obviously, but they do not stop parcels without a good reason to do so, here it is just a cash grab.  I have had tons of parcels sent to me in Canada, done a bunch of online shopping etc. and have never encountered an issue. Also to put the icing on the cake I mailed my mom something two days after she mailed my stuff to me and she received her parcel before I even received my first letter telling me my stuff was in customs. And her parcel didnt even say what was in it on the box because they dont make you do that here because they do not actually care what is in the box!  Spain has already made all the money they are going to off me when I mail it so they just leave it alone and Canada does not just stop random parcels without good reason because they do not need to steal my money.

I am actually going to sit and eat every single candy and cookie in these parcels as soon as they arrive because they are the most expensive candies of life!  That is if I ever do receive them....

So anyway to conclude this rant just do not ever mail anything to Spain, It isn’t worth the hassle.