Bustrip to Barcelona!

In the interest of seeing as much of the surrounding area as possible, Anna and I took a bus from Lloret de Mar down to Barcelona and stayed for two days.

The first thing we saw? The Arc de Triomf. Yes, really. It was even shaped the way the original one in Paris is. And, admittedly, I know nothing about the significance of this particular version. But come on, Spain! Get your own tourist attractions! What was the thought behind this one? "Well, France has one, so we want one too!" Likely.

Luckily for us, the rest of Barcelona's sights were much more impressive and interesting. We hit up all the famous spots:

• La Rambla, where you can buy a parrot and a sketched picture of Justin Bieber while watching the tourists get pick-pocketed without even leaving the main strip; 
• La Mercat de la Boqueria, filled with all the sights, smells and colours of a good (and used-by-locals) market, complete with calling of orders and prices and a little orchestra of three; 
• Sagrada Familia, designed by the late, great Gaudi and absolutely stunning to behold; 
• Park Guell, also designed and intricately decorated by Gaudi.

One of the major draws for us (especially for Anna) was the beach, with its palm trees borrowed from Hawaii, sand imported from Egypt (which was, incidentally, thrilled to pieces that someone wanted to BUY it) and nude sunbathers. Calls of "Hola, masahay? ['massage']" over and over again assaulted our ears, punctuated by the guys offering "Cervesa, Cola, Agua!! ['beer, cola, water']," interrupted our relaxing waterside siesta, but I suppose it's all part of the atmosphere. Another required "on the beach in Spain" side effect: the sunburn I got. Good thing I bought that bottle of sunscreen in Lloret de Mar when it WASN'T sunny enough to be necessary and then FORGOT to bring it to Barcelona with me for the HOT weather...

I have to say, the absolute most priceless beach moment happened when Anna left to get some refreshments. Which is unfortunate, because she missed it, but being alone contributed to it being funny... Anyway, I was lying there minding my own business when a woman walked up to me and said, in English but heavily accented, "Hey, where you from, ladieS?" Um...what? Even though she was standing right in front of me, and even though she was looking right AT me, I still took a swift look around to make sure she was talking to me. I mean, I know I've got a few extra pounds on me these days, but... really? I'm big enough right now to be taking up the space of multiple people? Nah...even MY self-esteem isn't that low...must be a language barrier thing. Anyway, in the space of about 20sec she determined that she was not going to be successful recruiting me to the club she was promoting and moved on... To the group of teenaged boys next to me. Let's just say they were MUCH more receptive to her offer. Especially when her partner came over and described the club as a "strip club...you know...titty bar. We have everything. You like girls? It's okay. You like men? It's okay too. Good club. Good music." (Of course, as every second-language speaker can understand, there were actions to accompany the description, you know, to make sure the boys understood). They were pretty much hooked at that point... Oh, except they were young. "How young?" The promoter asked. "17? 16?" "Yeah, we're all 17 or 16." "No problem, no problem, you all come together with your ID, I get you in. Good deal." "Oh...but a few of us are 15." "15? Okay, okay, no problem. You all come together, you look for me and my partner, we get you in. Get you good deal. Alcohol too. No problem, no problem." Awesome. So these 15-year-old kids have pretty much just gone on the BEST sports-tourney trip of their lives. Alcohol served. "Titty bar." Yep, a night to remember. I was laughing hysterically as it all unfolded before my eyes... It's really too bad Anna missed the whole thing!

The hostel we stayed in was quite nice, with a free card worth 20min of internet usage for every guest and a free breakfast. Oh, that's right... We forgot to bring something else: bedding of any kind. Looks like that thin little bedsheet is going to serve as a blanket! While we were there we met a couple of Canadians travelling through Spain - they were on a break too, from studying business at a school in Nice (just like my sister Jennifer was doing a year ago!). They were quite nice (...looking...), so we willingly gave up our "let's just get a book full of Sudoku puzzles and stay at the hostel" evening to hang out and have a few beers with them. Sadly, one if the guys revealed himself to be a Flames fan, but Iginla IS his neighbour and Fleury DID throw him a game puck once. So...all right, I'll let it pass.

Unfortunately, we were joined by a Hostel employee whose job it is to recruit people like us to the nightly pub crawl. He was a bit of a git. And asked Anna if she was "allergic to smiling", which put us both off. He was a bit cocky, too, and informed us derisively that he was NOT learning to speak the local Catalonian language, but was living in Barcelona to practice Spanish. Too bad Barcelona is the worst place in Spain to learn Spanish, since it's everyone's second language!

Lastly, we happened to be in Barcelona on Palm Sunday, and the palm branches we saw people carrying around were incredibly intricate and beautiful. Some were fashioned into mini-bird cage shapes, others had decorative elements attached, and still others had candy hanging from them, no doubt for the children to enjoy after the services. A far cry from the simple palm-crosses I am used to seeing back in Canada!

A Lolli Holi-Day

After following a friend's tip and getting an unbelievably good deal (really... If I told you how much we paid for it you might not believe me), my friend Anna and I spent a week in Spain. The best part about teaching in London is the week-long school breaks, which happen much more often than they do in Canada. This is also a little irritating, since there are 9 possible working (and thus paid) days in April for supply teachers. But since we had the time off, we decided to take advantage of it and head to Spain.

I really think the awesomeness of Spain started the moment we touched down. And I mean that literally. As soon as we'd made our safe landing, a bugle call sounded over the intercom. Um...what? Yep, a bugle call. Is that supposed to be some kind of "Hooray! We got here alive!" thing? Or a "You're on vacation! It's time to celebrate!" thing? I don't really know. I just know it was awesome.

From the plane we were ushered into waiting buses that we were told would take us to the airport terminal. I've flown a lot, and this isn't unusual when the plane stops far away from the building, so no worries. After waiting about 5min for everyone to squeeze into the buses, we were off.

And then we were there.

Just like that. We honestly traveled for about 45sec on the bus. MUCH less time than it took for us to load and about the same amount of time it would have taken us to walk. Awesome. The best part about it was that NO ONE else seemed phased by this! Anna and I were in hysterics about how ridiculous it was, but everyone else just filed off like this happens every day!

The area we explored is called the Costa Brava and we stayed in a little resort town called Lloret de Mar. We were in a prime location, just a few blocks up from 2 different beaches and near the main strip.

The primary clientele base for our hotel? Well... They were a little PAST their prime. We're talking purple hair and dancing the two-step. The party's breaking up at 9 because half the audience is ready to take their teeth out and hit the sack.

But that's okay... We got a skookum deal, so we're not complaining about the oldies crampin' our style. And speaking of the deal we got, somebody somewhere down the translation line got mixed up, and they were expecting 4 people to be in our room. Nope, just the two of us. Which means our own beds in our own rooms and extra towels galore. Score!

We settled into our room quite nicely, and also into the Spanish tradition of taking siestas. The first couple of days of our trip were filled with lazy sleep-ins, ambling walks through the city and then mid-afternoon naps. It was lovely :)

One thing we had a harder time adjusting to was the number of times we received a firm NO to our requests. Honestly, it got a little ridiculous! We were at a restaurant on our second night and asked our waiter to take our picture. Without even taking a pause he said "no" and walked away! We thought he must have been kidding, but he didn't turn back around! It wasn't until the next time he came to our table that he (sort of) explained he was waiting for us to have food for the photo. Okay, that's fine and thoughtful...but carried out in a really awkward way! Another night Anna asked for mushrooms on her sausage, and the waiter told her she couldn't. He then explained that mine had mushrooms because they were INSIDE the sausage, not on top of it, but he said NO so emphatically and paused long enough that we were a little taken aback. Machines even said No to us! Our hostel in Barcelona had a drink-ordering machine, and next to a few of the choices were stickers with NO written in capital letters. All right, all right, we get the hint... We'll stop asking for things!! Sheesh!

Hands down, though, the best question of the trip was one not asked of us. As we headed back to our hotel one night, a Spanish dude tried to pick us up, using the absolute BEST pick-up line on the planet. Are you ready for this? Because it's epic:

"Hey sexy ladies... Wanna burn some calories?"

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I wonder if that's ever actually WORKED for him!!

And last but not least: the best random moment of the trip:

We came home one night and found this on our deck. The basic reaction from us: What the hell IS this and what is it doing on our deck? Of course, we immediately grabbed a camera and photo-documented all of the possible uses we could come up with. Unfortunately for you, a small minority of them are appropriate for public viewing... Plus, Anna would kill me if I made her photo ideas public :)

After exploring the options for a few minutes, we heard a little voice calling us from the deck. At this point we started wondering WHO the hell was on our deck! Turned out the kid with the adjoining one was out there, and he was looking for his lost...object. Before handing it back to him, we made him tell us what it was. We then had this conversation (and picture this with a child's English accent):

Me: "What is it?"

Kid:"It's a giant Lolli."

Me: "I don't get it..."

Kid: "Well it's a large container. And it looks like a giant lolli and it's filled with stuff."

Me: "Okay, how did it get on our deck?"
Anna: "Are you hiding it from someone?"

Kid: "Well, I hit someone with it and the top just flew off!"

 ... Can I just point out that this description does NOT account for how the BOTTOM of it ended up on our deck?

Anyway, lollis became a bit of a theme during the trip, as you'll see in the subsequent posts... There will be one for our trip down to Barcelona and another for our rad road trip... Check back in a couple of days to read them!

- - - - - 

And, because I think it's awesome that Anna's Mom reads this blog...and because I know she'll read THIS post because her daughter features so prominently, a little SHOUT OUT to Shelley!!

You won! I what? I WON? Really? AAAHHHHH!!!!

You have 1 new email.

You won! Contiki competition at TNT travel show!

Okay, yes, I did enter a contest when I went to the travel show. But that was long enough ago that I barely remember entering. And I've never won ANYTHING that wasn't merit-based EVER. So clearly, this is some kind of consolation prize. A keychain or water bottle. Something I'm likely not even going to want, so why have they bothered to send me an email announcing it?

Oh well, I'll open it up and just have a look.

Angela Chorney, you have won your choice of any 10 day Contiki tour worldwide for 2 people!

Um, excuse me? I won WHAT? Anywhere in the WORLD?

Reaction: AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Okay, breathe. Breathe. Scream a little. Breathe!!

Call someone. Joe.

Me: "Omg, omg, omg! Remember the travel show we went to? (Of course you do). Remember the draw we entered for a free 10-day trip with Contiki? (Of course you do). Well... I WON!!!!"

Joe: "You won?"

Me: "YES!! I WON!!" (There was much screaming and shocking disbelief at this point)

Unbelievable. Un-freakin-believable!! I'm in so much shock at this point that I cannot carry on a conversation. I manage to throw out a few words to Joe to tell him that he is coming on this trip with me, but when he tries to ask me questions about where I want to go, I am so worked up I can barely think, let alone start planning. There is really only one thing I AM capable of right now:

Posting the news on Facebook.

A couple of days later, Joe and I have made our decision. The choice was determined by a few factors:


Contiki's conditions:
- any trip they offer, for up to 10 days
- we just have to pay for our flight to the starting destination, and the optional excursions we choose to add
- everything else (transfers, accommodations, about half of the meals) are covered


Our conditions:
- it MUST be somewhere we wouldn't normally go, somewhere kind of random and beyond the scope of reason
- it must depart during the one remaining half-term break that I have left

And so, after much discussion and research over the past few days, it is decided.

We are going to Vietnam!! (with a little side trip to Bangkok on the way)


To answer your questions:
1. Yes, really.
2. Because... Why NOT?
3. We leave May 27th.

If you're interested in seeing exactly where I'll be and what I'll be doing, you can check out the trip itinerary here: http://contiki.co.uk/tours/217-vietnam-highlights/itinerary

Games That Kids Think Are Fun

I've been teaching a lot of Foundation Stage lately (Nursery and Reception, or the equivalent of Preschool and Kindergarten). There's a LOT of play-based learning at this stage, which means a significant part of my job is to get down-and-dirty and engage with the kids through play.

The following is a selection of sustained (as in, approximately 20-30 minutes) activities that have been ridiculously amusing for my students:

The "I Feel Like I'm on a Date" game: In this "game", one child and I took turns asking each other questions, which we then both had to answer. We learned A LOT about each other, delving into such "what's your favourite....?" topics as colour, toy and place in the room.

The "Put Your Hood on Because It's Cold Out" game: This was actually a repeated request. It was so cold the other day that the kids were all made to zip up their coats and put their hoods up. A few had fallen back as they ran around, so I said "put your hood back on!" while flicking it back onto one kid's hat. Within a few minutes, I had a crowd of about 7 of them surrounding me, each dramatically tossing their hoods off every time I put it back on, just so I'd do it again. I'm sure the squeals of excitement and raucous laughter belied the simplicity of what we were actually doing.

The "Ms.Chorney is Tired So She's Going To Make Up a Game That Forces Her To Stand Still" game: I think this one is my personal favourite. Especially since another teacher later asked me about the game, and wanted me to explain the rules to her because she'd never seen it played before. Well, DUH! I just MADE IT UP! Anyway, I told one kid to go and get me a "magic wand" because we were going to play "Magician" and I got to be the Magician. I waved around shouting "Bibbity, Boppity, [insert animal name here]!" The kids then had to run around acting like that animal, then come back to me so I could "turn them into" something else. The beauty of this one lies in its requirement for child activity AND teacher laziness. Sometimes I really think I am a genius.

The "Jaws Theme Song" game: Here's the premise for this one: I sit down (notice a theme here?) and pull one kid at a time onto my lap. I open and close my hands while doing the 'nah NAH, nah NAH' bit, then tickle them at the climax of the tune. The kid squeals with delight and squirms his or her way off my lap. Immediately, a hoard of other children are pushing their way towards me, shouting "do it to me AGAIN!" Seriously, who BEGS to be tickled over and over again?? Crazy kids...