The hand mixer set

My week has started with new experiences. This Monday, Jéssica instructed me to buy her a hand mixer set. It is supposed to be a very useful machine to bake cakes. It is quite expensive but a friend of my wife told her that in Lidl they were putting it on sale for only 25 euros. Of course it doesn’t have the quality of the professional ones, but for the use she is giving it would do.

As I am off this week, she asked me to go and buy it. She said it would be great if I was there early in the morning because they don’t have many and they get sold out quickly. I have a Lidl five minutes from home, but on Saturday I got my first setback: from the 13^th of April until the 19^th it was closed due to maintenance works. So we had to look for another shop and the nearest one we found is more than 15 minutes walking.

I got up early in the morning to run, got showered and be there at 9.15am when Lidl opens. I made it but when I got there another huge surprise: a great queue in the street waiting for the shop to open. I honestly thought I wasn’t going to be lucky and that if I found it will be difficult for me to get to the funeral I had later on. I decided to sit down in a bench and see if everything turned out well.

 As we got to the door I overcome some people because they had to left the trolleys and some more that were not as fast as me. Now the problem was founding the hand mixer set. I was sure that all of my competitors had more experience and knew perfectly where this kind of stuff is in the shop. Hopefully it was easy to find.

I got there and there were plenty of boxes. I even had time to buy some chocolate biscuits I really like and I made it to the funeral with plenty of time. Yesterday the product everybody wanted was the bakery so I was lucky and I didn’t have any problem. I was surprised because some people bought two or three of them. Jéssica told me that her friend’s mother also explained the same to her. 

The hand mixer set –still in its box- and I have got the promise that she will use it to bake me a cake. As I know you are willing to see it, I will post a photo of it. I hope I have it before the year ends.

Free museums

Jéssica has always wanted to visit the Museu Nacioanl d’Art de Catalunua (MNAC) which is in Montjuïc and is one of the most famous museums in Barcelona. I remember I visited once when I was younger and yesterday I realized that I shouldn’t wait so much to go back.

 

After thinking about IT and finding out the prices of the MNAC, we decided to go this past Sunday. First Sundays of each month some museums in Barcelona are ticket free so we thought it would be a good idea. Doing sightseeing in your own city it is not very usual and I think we should do it more often.

After going up all the stairs and having a view of the city from the top (Barcelona looks really nice) we went into the Museum. The first surprise was that there wasn’t any queue to go in. I honestly thought we were going to have to wait a few minutes and I even thought that maybe we wouldn’t be able to go in. I was absolutely wrong.  

About this issue there are two things I want to point out: first of all, in a way, I was happy not to queue up because I wasn’t in a mood to stay long time in the sun. However, it is a bit disappointing that having the opportunity of visiting one of our most famous museums nearly nobody was there. I am the first one to think that culture is too expensive, but yesterday it was free and it is a good opportunity. It is true I don’t usually take advantage of these offers but I will try now.

The visit around the museum was good. I really liked the first part of the Medieval Romanesque art because some of the pieces of art are quite known here in Catalonia and I remember them when I studied history of art. The painting in the churches of Santa Maria de Taüll and Sant Climent of Taüll, for example, are well known and deserve the visit to the museum. 

Rest of paintings, photos… are nice but after being in some of the bests museums in the world I wasn’t that impressed. However, I wouldn’t mind going back in the future because it is always nice to have a look and see some of our best pieces of art. After finishing the visit I felt really happy. First of all because it was an interesting activity to do in a Sunday morning and, secondly, because I think it is important to learn our history, to go through time and see what our predecessors were able to do hundreds of years ago. Keep learning is something absolutely important for us.

My first race

As I wrote a few posts before, this Sunday I ran my first race of the season. I woke up early in the morning –before 7 am- to have my breakfast and start getting ready for the race. My wife Jéssica decided  to come with me and she got up to come with me. Her decision made me very happy because it was the first time in years that she came with me to a race.

 

We went to the car, that made its last service, and we got to San Andrés de la Barca. We parked in the shopping centre and we went walking to the gym, where they gave me my number. As usually, I met somebody: Pablo Solís. He used to train one of RCD Espanyol academy teams and he was one of the best coaches and more responsible persons that I have ever known.

 

One of the best things of this race is that there are not many people and these helps to run more comfortably. The race started at 9.30 and even though I wasn’t in my best condition I started to get my pace. It is very frustrating when you are struggling in the path and you see the leaders of the race flying.

 

As I remembered, it is a hard race. The circuit had a lot of ups and downs. It is true that you have some parts to rest, but there are also are some parts that are very hard and sometimes you are not capable to measure your strength.

 

I finished the first lap over 22.30 minutes and I thought I would be able to be around 45 minutes but in the second lap I didn’t do so well. The sun start to come out and it was really warm outside there. However, I was able to finish in 46min 3 seconds with the feeling that I could have done a bit better in the last kilometres.

 

The best thing was yet to come: the butifarra (a typical Catalan sausage) sandwich. It was great! I wouldn’t have minded to have another one. My race was a great experience. I improved my mark nearly 1min and 30 seconds compared to 2012 and I am sure that if I can run it next year, I will be there again. The Cursa de la Tardor is great!

Membrilla

Since I start dating my wife Jéssica, there is a place I have heard a lot: Membrilla. My parents in law talked a lot of their little village and they have explained me a lot of interesting stories. I have to admit that I am very curious and I like to listen, specially, when they explain me things I don’t know.

Encarna, Jéssica’s grandmother, explained me once that her husband, when there were dating, could only talk to her through a window and that she had less time than her sister. Grego has told me that she had to help her father to work and that she couldn’t study. All interesting stories that have helped to understand my family in law and appreciate them even more. They had to sacrifice a lot of things and work a lot to have enough to eat and live. I know it hasn’t been easy for them.

After a lot of years, this Easter Holidays I went to Membrilla. I had the opportunity to see the village where José and Grego grew, where their parents lived and worked, where Jéssica spent a lot of her summers playing on her own until her sisters and cousins were born. I spent time in Encarna´s and Pedro house... As I said to Jéssica, Membrilla is a part of her life and for me was very interesting to discover all this.

Membrilla is a small village with more than 7.000 people. Near you have Manzanares, that is, probably, the most important town in that part of Ciudad Real. I had the opportunity to visit Las Lagunas de Riudera, el Mirador de la Mancha, Peñarroya’s castle, Ciudad Real… It was only three days, but I enjoyed a lot.

I honestly will like to go again and continue finding out more things about how was life there and also visiting a part of my country that is quite unknown for me.

The knife sharpener

Yesterday I was walking in the street and I listened to a very characteristic melody. I turned around and there he was: the knife sharpener. A man in his early sixties, with his motorbike, his sharpener and playing this typical melody. In a way, I felt sorry for him. How many people will actually stop him to sharpen their knives or any other item they need? I thought that it will be very interesting to follow him a day and write something about him. Actually, I thought that it will be a good piece of news for a newspaper or magazine.

I thought that it was a job to disappear in the medium term. Maybe I am wrong, but I don’t really think these people earn much money and I would like to know how they manage. The knife sharpener will pass as the night watchman did. We can’t fight against progress, but I think that it is normal to feel a bit sentimental when you remember this kind of things.

In a way I felt really sad. I have to admit that I have never stopped a knife sharpener, but that melody is so special that I am sure I will miss it when, in a few years, there won’t be any of them. I also thought that it will be a shame for next generations that will never get to know this kind of jobs. I am sure that if I ever mentioned them, they would look at me as if I was mad.

I think that it is very important to go back in time and listen to our parents or grandparents. The stories they tell you help you to see how was life a few years ago. Now we have computers, laptops, internet, mobile phones, tablets, television, etc., but it hasn’t been always like these. I like to listen to my wife’s family when they explain to me how was life in their little village, how Jéssica’s grandfathers had to meet in Encarna’s window to pass some time together.

As I wrote before, it is stupid to fight against progress. Probably, we all live better now than fifty years ago, but we would have been able to get here without the effort and sacrifice of our grandparents or parents. I miss a lot talking to my grandparent Jaime even though I think I did well and I know a lot of things of his life. I also miss not having spoken more with my grandparent Ed, who died too early. Listening it is very important and indispensable to appreciate more what we have.

2013

I know I am a bit late, but I wouldn’t like to start 2014 without doing a brief summarize of the year we have just left. In 365 days a lot of things can happen certainly and, hopefully enough, most of them have been good. Obviously, you can always things could be better, but we have to be happy with our lives.

Nearly a year ago, Hugo and Marta told is that they were going to become parents. Berta was born in July the 27th and also Nil who is Albert and Vanessa’s son. The two babies are lovely and very cute. It also was a very important year for my friend Marc, who I know since I went to school, and Lorena. The 5th of July they got married and we all celebrate the 13th. And, of course, the other great news has been that Jordi and Miriam are going to be parents of a baby boy.

I think 2013 has been a good year. My family is all right, Jéssica and I are happy and have work and, all in all, I think we did quite well. Jéssica has started a new job and she is really happy about it. I think it will be very good for her. We have been able to travel and visit cities like Rome, Santander, Bilbao or London. We have enjoyed ourselves and I think we can presume of being a happy couple.

We had our bad moments like when my firm didn’t pay me for months and they decided it to begin an ERE, but we always kept fighting to go forward. We also have been forced to postpone some projects, but we hope to become them true this year. Sometimes things do not turn out as you wish; however, you should never give up.

As I wrote, 2013 has been a good year. I honestly hope that 2014 is better and I can list a lot of great news for me, my family and friends. The beginning of the year has been quite good. Let’s hope it keeps like this.