Another interesting Christmas tradition

Yet another interesting Catalan Christmas tradition has once again to do with pooping. So, the caganer is a figurine that the Catalans put in their nativity scene. Caganer means "the crapper" and that is exactly what the little guy is doing! The traditional caganer is dressed in a white shirt, black pants and a red cap, but there are LOTS of different caganers for sale that cover the gamut from sports figures to movie icons to political folks. There are huts set up at the Christmas markets that sell only caganers. We found them fascinating and enjoyed seeing all of the different types including the Donald Trumps and Darth Vaders. We, of course, bought a caganer but we went with the traditional model and placed it as discreetly as possible in the nativity scene we bought. We are obviously trying to make sure we follow as many as the Catalan traditions covered this Christmas as possible! 

This is one of the Caganer huts at the Christmas market. You can't miss this big crapper on the top!!

We let Bucky pick out our caganer. If you zoom in you can see the different types of crappers!

This is our creche at home. Can you find the caganer?!

One of the interesting Christmas traditions

We are learning about all of the Spanish Christmas traditions and doing our best to embrace them as we are making this our home. One of the more interesting Christmas traditions thus far is the Tio de Nadal. It is a Catalan tradition where a few days before Christmas, the log with a face and a red hat magically appears in your house. The children are supposed to take care of the log and feed it everyday until Christmas Eve. When Christmas arrives, the Tio's blanket is put over him, the children sing a song and hit the Tio with a stick and it poops out presents that the children find under the blanket. Yes, this is true.

There are many different sizes of Tios. Some are tiny like little toy soldiers and others are as big as a shoe box. They are all over the place. We saw one today in a store and there was a bowl of potato chips in front of it. I guess they are feeding it for the Christmas defecation! There was a giant Tio in a square the other day and kids were singing the song and hitting it with a stick. It was fascinating. 

Of course, we bought our own Tio de Nadal, but not sure we will feed it. It sure looks cute though.

This is a video I took of the Giant Tio being hit in the square by the kids!

Here is our Tio!

Lucie is here!

Lucie arrived on Thursday and we spent Friday wondering around the El Born area which is LOVELY. There are lots of beautiful little shops, tiny little streets and cafes galore. The Catherdral of Barcelona is also in that area, so we went for a visit. The interior was spectacular! Then, when we exited the church, we came upon a life sized creche scene that you could walk through. It was enclosed in the church's courtyard and was super cool and unexpected.

The entire El Born neighborhood is in full Christmas mode with a Santa Lucia Christmas market outside of the cathedral steps and various creche scenes throughout the quarter. Lucie and I did our best to photograph the more remarkable sites!

Shopping is fun in that area too! I loved the store, Bon Vent, and bought a few things for our home. We also stumbled upon a designer's workshop, bonobono, where Lucie ended up buying this absolutely amazing coat dress. The designer was there and told us all about her style and how she creates her clothes. It was cool! In fact, she is going to name the next piece she designs after Lucie.

We ended the afternoon on shopping with a nice lunch with an old roommate of Lucie's, Gab Accorsi, who has been studying in Barcelona all semester. She just has about a week left before heading home to New Jersey. It was fun to hear about all of her travels and her impressions on Barcelona. It was also nice to have Lucie and Gab reconnect is such cool way.

Lucie at the Santa Lucia market in front of the Cathedral of Barcelona!

Part of the live creche scene in the Cathedral courtyard.

Lucie in front of one of the biggest Christmas trees ever!

This is a "deconstructed" nativity scene! It was cool!

Lucie and the designer of her new dress coat!

Lucie and Gab at lunch! 

The birds

Look at the pigeons I saw in Placa de Joanic near our apartment! Do they look odd to you? I am referring to the green ones huddled around the water! I was shocked to see them at first and then I looked up into the trees, and saw tons of them! Of course, when I got back home, I looked up "green birds in Barcelona" on Google and found out that they are monk parakeets! Apparently, they are a nuisance to some, but they sure made me smile! I look forward to spotting them next time I am out and about!

A walk

While I was in Charleston getting things organized to move here to join Bucky, I did some poking around on Google maps to find some green spaces near our apartment where I could walk with India. One of the places I identified was Passeig Sant Joan. It is a wide pedestrian walk that starts in Gracia (about five minutes from our door) and ends about two miles away at Park de la Ciutadella.

Yesterday, I put on my walking shoes and India and I went to explore Passeig Sant Joan. Even though it was chilly, there were lots of people out and about. The walkway is strewn with benches and there are small fenced-in playgrounds every block or so. There are also sectioned off areas where old men are playing what appears to be petanque or boules like they do in the South of France.

Along the walkway, there are signs indicating that one should not walk on the grass and that people should not litter. Surprisingly, there were also many signs with a picture of a dog with a big red line through it indicating dogs were not allowed. Since there were dogs aplenty with their masters throughout the walk, I ignored the signs along with the locals.

My goal on this walk was to get to the Arc de Triomf which was about a mile and a half away. Since India is new to long walks and city life, I wasn't sure we would even make it that far, but we did. Along the way, we saw the sites below that I had to come back and look up online to find out what they were!

India and I were glad to get back home after our walk along Passeig Sant Joan yesterday! I look forward to doing it again and to seeing what other places we can explore!

This is the beginning of our walk. India is wondering why I am stopping to take pictures!

A church we saw that I have not been able to identify. India was no help!

This is the Monumento al Doctor Robert in the Jardins del Doctor Robert.

The Arc de Triomf! Once Lucie arrives, we will go and explore beyond!

The adventure begins!

As many of you know, Bucky and I are embarking on a new adventure in Spain. As I did when we pulled our crazy stunt and moved to the South of France, I am going to document our adventures via this blog. Because of the interesting recent political ongoings, I considered calling this Walls in Catalonia, but decided to stick with Walls in Spain for ease. Besides, we are still not sure how things will pan out so this may remain Spain for our planned three year stint here!

We came to Barcelona because of Bucky's job. He was consulting for a marketing, events and training company, Intracon Spain, and when he traveled here on business at the end of the summer, they asked him to take over as Head of Training due to the impending departure of the person who previously held the role. Since we both love adventure, we were immediately enthralled. We had some major obstacles to prevent us from doing it including my job (which I loved very much) and the fact that we wanted to (actually, needed to, since my parents live there!) keep our house in Charleston. Plus, our two daughters are in college so we have that financial commitment to boot.

The job opportunity was a great one for Bucky. The team with whom he would work was eager for him to join their family. The draw of Spain, travel in Europe, new experiences and adventure were strong! We pulled together a list of pros and cons and made the decision to come to Spain! So, Bucky came over at the beginning of September to start his job. I joined him for a week over Labor Day so that we could get settled into our new home.

Before coming to Barcelona in September, we worked with a wonderful relocation company, SuiteLife, to find an apartment. Our preference was to be in the Gracia neighborhood, within walking distance to the train (for Bucky's commute), with two bedrooms and an outdoor space. We knew we wanted to bring Bisoux, Bucky's cat, and India, my dog, so we had them in mind as we house-hunted. With the help of Julio from SuiteLife, we found the perfect place and were able to move in the first week of September.

We were unsure about my working arrangements so we knew Bucky would be in Barcelona on his own for a period of time. Therefore, we went ahead and brought Bisoux with us when we came in September. Bisoux was in charge of keeping Bucky company and he did his job well. I worked with my employer to try and do my job remotely and gave it a trial run for a few weeks in October/November. While I was here, my employer and I determined that working remotely was not possible at this point, so I gave my notice and made my plan to come back to Barcelona for the long haul on December 7th.

Since I was bringing India, and she had to go into the cargo hold to travel, we had to leave from Atlanta. Fortunately, my parents were headed to Atlanta for a festive weekend with friends, so they took India and me to the airport. India was unsure about the kennel and what was going on, but she did a great job! I, however, had a slight meltdown on the flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt. We were flying Lufthansa and I couldn't find space for my carry on which caused me to burst into tears. The flight attendants reassured me that they would find a place for my bag, but I was crying so much, it took me a while to get out that I was just worried about my dog who was traveling in cargo. I am sure they thought I was crazy!!

At any rate, India and I made it to Barcelona and as Bucky says, the adventure now begins! We will keep you posted on what we experience from the mundane daily life to the exciting excursions we plan to take! Stay tuned and enjoy!

India in the kennel about to board the plane!

Bucky with Bisoux and India at home in Barcelona!