Barcelona – Fake Flamenco

bilingual, En español, Living Abroad, Spanish Culture and Language, travel

Well Known by the Freight Office?

Part III of Rebecca’s Spain Stories When I awoke early the next morning, my first thought was of the freight office, not of Gaudí architecture or sightseeing. I bounded downstairs to ask the receptionist to dial the number. No answer. An hour later, at eight, a gruff man answered. I stuttered reading my claim number […]

bilingual, En español, Spanish Culture and Language

Got Your Toothbrush, Señorita?

Second installment of Rebecca’s Spain Stories. The black-beret-wearing cabby drove us to four pensiones before we found one with a vacancy and settled in. Next, I went to the bar next door to buy water. The bartender wasn’t impressed when I asked for agua sin gas. He dried a glass and said a sentence similar […]

bilingual, Catalunya, En español, Humor, Spanish Culture and Language

2 20-Somethings in Barcelona

Walking the grassy cart track to change trains between France and Spain, I saw a woman my age. We neared a whitewashed sentinel hut; border control. Two soldiers stood outside and a wooden barrier arm blocked our way. The passengers made a queue as the uniformed men checked and stamped passports. We stood 50 meters […]

bilingual, En español, Latinas, Life as a Woman, Spanish Culture and Language, Uruguay, writing

6th Woman Writer Wins Coveted Cervantes Prize

Cristina Peri Rossi of Uruguay won the highest honor for a Spanish-speaking writer, the Miguel de Cervantes Prize. Since 1976, the Spanish king and queen have awarded this prize on behalf of the Real Academia Española and the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Peri Rossi is the 47th to earn this medallion and monetary prize. She […]

Architecture, Catalunya, history, Spanish

New Illuminated Tower on Gaudi’s Masterpiece

Gaudí’s incredible architecture has a new illuminated feature visible from land and sea. The 12-pointed star that crowns Mary’s tower of the Sagrada Familia was lit up for the first time on the traditional date of the commemoration of Mary, on December 8th, along with her tower’s 800 windows. The 138 m (453′) tall tower […]

Catalunya, Nature

Longest Scientific Expedition You’ve Never Heard Of…

In a year long expedition to study polar ice from 2019 to 2020, international scientists lived on an ice-breaker ship purposely trapped in the Arctic ice. We saw a documentary on public television about their day to day life as the winter ice shelf pushed them 3400 km (2113 mi). Their foray into polar night […]