My adventures the 3rd & 4th week in Barcelona

On Monday, October 14th, I witnessed my first protest accidentally when I walked out of a coffee shop. Spain’s government sentenced 9 Catalan separatist leaders that played a role in the 2017 independence referendum were found guilty. They were sentenced to go to jail ranging from 9-13 years. The Catalonians were not happy about this verdict, so the whole week October 14th till 20th they were protesting at city-center of Barcelona. On Friday, October 18th, the government of Catalonia had a “general strike.” This means that there were minimal service for public services during that day, which impacted public transportation, pharmacies, hospitals & clinics, and schools. All of these institutions functioned but had minimum of staff. There were lot of protests, and some were peaceful and some were not. The protest I witnessed was peaceful. Catalonians held signs, and their flag and sang and yelled.

My program had a day trip planned for Friday October 18th to go see Sitges and drink some Cava’s. Since there was a general strike planned last minute, they had to cancel it. The roads would be blocked and it would be hard to get back into the city of Barcelona. That was a huge bummer for all interns planning on going on this trip. They rescheduled it but I will be in Germany that weekend.

Since I was told from my supervisor that Thursday night protests were going to be bad and warned me to be very careful. I decided to not go out Thursday night. My original plan to go young adults at church with some girls was cancelled Thursday night. Thursday night and Friday I relaxed all day, I talked with some friends and family at home and I enjoyed some time with my host family. All day Friday, I heard ambulance noises because of all the protests.

Saturday Abigal and I went to go see Montjuic park and the fountain show that night. We enjoyed walking around and seeing the Olympic stadium and Montjuic’s Castle that overlooks Barcelona. We went out to eat at a great Tapas bar and we drank some wine with lemonade mixed in it. That drink was so good!! The fountain show was beautiful and had some great music.

Sunday was a wonderful day, I had a coffee with Meriake from Holland before we went to church together. I had lunch with Daniella from church and it was a great time getting to know her.

School Pictures

4th week in Barcelona

This week was not my typical week because I took my week long Spanish class. I did not go into the school this week to teach kids. I focused on trying to learn more Spanish. I enjoyed my Spanish class because I meant a some people from Japan, Malaysia, and Switzerland. They will be living here for a long period of time. We all want to practice learning Spanish together. On Thursday, I had lunch with a couple of them. We had a great time getting to know each other. I am looking forward to getting to know them more during my time here.

This is Stanley from Malaysia, and Kiara from Switzerland.

I forgot to post the Sagrada Familia in my 2nd week blog post.

Next, I am heading to Morocco this weekend. I am super excited! I am looking forward to sharing with you want I experience and learn there.