Adventures of the Loik ~ Holl Family: January 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

On January 9 we arrived in Spain. We are living in a small apartment in Sant Cugat. It takes us 20 minutes by train to get to Barcelona unlike when we were in Richmond (Australia) where it took us 1.5 hours to get to Sydney which is nice because it doesn't take so long. Where we live in Spain you can walk a kilometer and do all your shopping and activities, which is unlike when we lived in Australia. There is even a grocery store in our apartment complex.

We are in Catalonia which is a part of Spain. People in Catalonia speak their own language which is Catalan. Many Catalonians want their own country and people fly the flag of Catalonia (the state flag). At my school we have classes in three languages: English, Spanish, and Catalan. We also have to take another language: French or German. The other day we had French and I understood absolutely nothing. I can understand a little bit of Catalan, because it is kind of like Spanish. At my school I met a bunch of people and have made a lot of friends. At my school we play soccer every recess (just like in Australia). There is also a school soccer team that I am on. I have to wear a uniform. We also have to take an instrument.

Last weekend we went to the Barcelona History Museum. I learned that when Barcelona was first colonized (approximately 10,000 years ago) about half of present day Barcelona was under water. I also learned that the Romans ruled for a long time and they called it Barcina. In the city of Barcina exhibit I learned how they dyed their clothes, where they cleaned themselves and their clothes, how they made fish sauce, how they kept fish, and how they made wine. They made fish sauce by taking the head and the guts and grinding them up. They kept the fish by catching it and then cutting off the head and the guts for the fish sauce. Then they would put the fish in layers of salt and then they put a final layer of salt so the flies couldn't get to the fish.

We also went and saw an organ concert at the Cathedral of Barcelona. The cathedral and the organ were amazing. They started building the Cathedral in 1298 and it took 150 years. The organ had around 200 pipes (my dad counted) and is over 600 years old. The concert was an hour long.

Yesterday we went to the Museum of Mammoths. It was quite small but we learned about sabre toothed tigers, prehistoric rhinos, and musk oxen. Then we went to the Museum of Chocolate. In the Museum of Chocolate I learned about how chocolate is made. I also learned about how the Aztecs used it as money. The Europeans thought that was crazy because the money was growing on trees. There was also a video of how chocolate became so important. There were also some amazing sculptures (see photo below). Then we went to the Picasso Museum. It was not as interesting as the chocolate museum of course, but it was still interesting.

For those of you who didn’t see me in California I thought you might want to see the pic of me with my dyed hair for the Denver broncos (football team) who are going to win the superbowl :D (Just saying).

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Travis :) :D

A few comments from Karen: We’re feeling really fortunate at how easily we’ve settled in here and how well things have worked out, particularly on the housing front. Arranging housing here from Australia last fall was a challenge. After responding to several online advertisements and either not getting responses or being told that the owners wanted year-long leases, we thought we were going to have to show up here without housing and find something once we arrived. So, we were quite relieved when a man kindly took pity on us and offered us a 5-month lease since his sister had a similar problem finding a short-term lease in San Francisco; we put down a deposit after only a “skype tour” of the apartment. We feel quite fortunate that apartment and the location are working out well for us. The owner left it well furnished so we only had a few household items to find on our “scavenger hunt” of San Cugat last weekend.

San Cugat is a bustling town of 85,000 people (and a lot of dogs) with everything within close walking distance if you know where to find it. As Travis mentioned, it is 20 min. by train into Barcelona. It takes 10 min. in the opposite directly by train to get to the Autonomous University of Barcelona where Michael and I are both being hosted by research colleagues who have been very welcoming. In addition, over the next few months we will be visiting research colleagues elsewhere in Europe.

Before I left, several people asked me if I was preparing for the Castilian accent, since I speak Central American Spanish. I’m pleased to say that I have had no difficulty understanding people or vice versa, although like with American and Australian English, there are a number of words that are different. One thing I have been struck by is the dominance of Catalan (the local language) in the region. It isn’t an issue for talking with people, since everybody speaks both Spanish and Catalan and responds to me in Spanish. But, nearly everything is written in Catalan (e.g. the pamphlets on the train ticket pass options and bank account types, store signs). I can usually make out the gist of text since is closely related to Spanish and French, but we’ve definitely been appreciative of the Google translate function. The Catalonian independentist movement is quite strong, and I was asked twice in my first weekend here to sign a petition to put a referendum for independence on the ballot. Fortunately, the people at Travis’ school have been quite accommodating in giving him more Spanish and less Catalan instruction, and he seems to be doing quite fine navigating the mix of the Spanish, Catalan, and a little English on the playground.

Saludos,

Karen