Spain - Day 2 Tuesday

September 18, 2007
This is my first official day in Tossa de mar, Espana. A little bit about the town. It is a small "kvillage" up the coast line from Barcelona. Many tourist visit and stay here for weeks on time. Everyday a new bus seems to pull in from France, Germany, England or wherever. It is not customery for you to speak to strangers, especially since you do not know if they speak your language or not. There is a beach here , which I have not visited just yet, but as many of you know, I am in no need of a tan. The city is alive dsay and into the evening. Most of the life is centered in bars to see the soccer matches of Barcelona FC. Otherwise, you see many foriegners (not me) stolling along the streets until the closing of shops seem to happen in harmony at promptly 10pm. Sometimes it´s odd to think when shops are closing here it´s 4pm back home.
Many wonder how well my spanish is coming along. I have to say, Carme is quite shocked at how much spanish I use daily. Still it is difficult for me to hear it when people speak it so rapidly. I catch about every other word, if I am lucky. I am seeing many familiar faces from visits in the past. That is comforting to know I have friends here. Still my biggest crutch is Carme and, suprisingly, Alex (read the post for Day 3 and you will see!!). Most times she lets me roam as I see fit and she doesn´t push me too much.
I kinda thought I would be a celebrity here. I am the biggest thing in this town. Literally I hover a foot over most natives. It takes some getting used to the light switches, for instance. Where in America, they are higher than the halfway mark! I spent almost 10 minutes feeling a wall inside of a dark room looking for a light switch. It was easier to build a torch like Conan or some mideveil Hobbit, right? But luckily, the switches are like 2.5" by 2.5". makes it easy for the switch on and off unlike our tiny switches.
There is only one gas station in this town, so if you are driving the coast and you are low and running on fumes...you are forced to pay 6€ per liter! So stop complaining America and filler up! Still I think the cars here have head rests bigger then gas tanks and still get more kilometers per gallon...ha ha (Let Jason explain that one!)
Going back, I got to walk my son to school this morning. The morning was crisp and a bit cool, but the sun was peaking behind a ridge of grassy and rocky areas and warming the town just a bit. I was able to wear shorts and a T-shirt without shivering. I noticed the closer we got the more nervous Alex got. As a paent you want to pick up on these clues. Sure Carme has givien me her account of his first week at school but now it was time for me to see it for myself. I had to resist the urge to want to rescue him and take him to the beach or something (he needs the tan!). Still I watched him look in horror as an Italian youngster clung (is that a word) to his mother, then to the hall stairwell railing, then eventually shreiking in agony at being dragged into school. It was a bit much for Alex. The kicker was seeing the kid take off running from the class, thru the courtyard and seeing the teacher take chase! You would think this was juvenille hall, right? I could see why he was so terrified. But I am sure this would happen in America as Alex was starting Kindergarten this year. Funny thing, they skipped him to the first grade and one of his classes is English (someone has to get an "A" ).
They go to school from 9am to 5pm with a break from 1-3 for lunch. The children can go home to have lunch but we chose not to pick Alex up due to the fighting we would need to get him back at 3pm. Maybe in the winter I will take the time to spend with Alex during his lunch break, when he actually begins to enjoy his friends at school.