Cathedrals and Romans

Today was a normal day at school. We started with one class, but switched with another teacher. The teacher that I am with teaches the children English. The other teacher teaches in Catalan, which is the most used language in Barcelona. We sang our hello song with our first group and then worked with the second group. The class was divided into three groups. One group worked on Mother’s Day presents, another group worked on building with various shapes, and my group worked in their workbooks. We worked on tracing diamonds and finding matching shapes in a row. I was very surprised by this. This would have never happened in my classroom in America. We are not allowed to use workbooks in preschool. After we worked we had lunch. During lunch I tried a new kind of pasta and meatballs. Then we all walked around the city again. Today, we found a chocolate shop. This shop has some of the most delicious chocolate I have ever tasted. It reminds me of the chocolate I tried in London. It’s going to be very hard to stay away from there. 

After lunch we got our first group back and did the same activities with them. Once the activities were finished it was time to go home. Before the children leave we rub their faces with a feather while they have their heads on their tables. Tatiana (my teacher) calls this a massage to help them relax before going home. After school I was finally able to meet up with Carley and go exploring. We rode the metro to Plaça Catalunya which is the center of the city. This place is absolutely gorgeous. There are four fountains and giant statues right in the middle of the city. Next to the fountains is Corte Ingles which is a giant shopping center like Harrods. I plan on going in there one day, but I have not made it yet. 

Fountains at Placa Catalunya

Corte Ingles

Carley and I used my Barcelona book (thank you ladies of Academic Affairs) to find our way around this part of the city. We found the Cathedral of Barcelona without any problems and spent much of our afternoon there. In the cathedral there is the cloisters. This area has a pond with some fountains and geese. This is probably my favorite thing that I have seen so far. 

Cathedral of Barcelona

Cloisters

Cloisters

Once we left the cathedral we saw the Roman towers and stopped at a couple of souvenir shops before making our way back to the metro. 

The Roman Towers

 We made one last stop at the Church of Santa Anna before we left to return home. We are becoming experts with the metro and finding our way around the city. 

Church of Santa Anna

Once I arrived at the house I helped Santi with his spelling words and Blanca showed me pictures in different photo albums. For dinner we had vegetable cream soup and sausage with tomato sauce. After dinner Cristina sat down with me to help me figure out places to go in the city and how to get there. After just a few days I already feel much more comfortable here than I thought I would.