Finding English

There is something very comforting in hearing words that you understand. You can not get a real appreciation for this until you have truly faced the world where everyone around you speaks in a language that you have to think long and hard about what they are trying to tell you and hope they used some kind of gestures to help get you going in the right direction. With comfort in mind, I have now found a church that the sermons are in English, I found a play group for Adrianna and Antonio that all the children know some amount of English, the FOX channel is in English in the evening, there is a TV channel that is trying to teach English to Spanish speakers (more on this in a later post lol), and the theater across the street shows movies in English. The grandest discovery of all...on the back of the boxes in the grocery store, they will list the ingredients in English. Not always, but a lot of the time. Now maybe I can figure out what I am buying without depending solely on the picture. I feel like of five-year-old...just look at the pictures and hope for the best.

We took one of the tour buses around parts of Barcelona this week.  We had lots of fun, but we realized, we will never be able to see all there is to see in one year. There is so much here, I don't even know where to begin. One of the things I noticed, was all the public art. There are statues and art structures everywhere. They go from classical figurines to crazy modern/abstract somethings that I am not sure what it is supposed to represent. I have not been able to find the explanatory plaque as you would see in the US. Oh well, I guess I will have to use my imagination. This brings me to the above photo. This is, so far, my favorite statue I have found. This is located very near the house. We walk by it every time we go to use the subway. Now use your imagination and tell me what you think it is. Keep in mind, there is nothing there to tell me the artist or his/her intent. I will not tell you my opinion, that would just ruin the surprise. Please leave me a message and tell me what you think. I am curious how many see something different or the same as I do.

We are still on the search for the tutor for Adrianna and Antonio. The home school project is going fairly well. Antonio had to miss the park today because he did not finish his work and it was quite traumatic for him. I am hoping this will encourage him to stay a little more focused tomorrow. He would be done in no time, if he would just spend less time trying to get out of doing the work in the first place. I keep explaining this to him, but so far reasoning has not made a difference. I hated to leave him home today and just take Adrianna to the park, but I had to try a new tactic. Ron says that Antonio cried the whole time we were gone. We explained to him that he can choose to either finish his work and go to the park or not do his work and miss the park. His response, in a crying so hard that we could barely make it out, was "I don't want to have choices". Then as soon as we came back, he started crying again when Adrianna talked about all the fun things she did while at the park.

Well is is bedtime for me. More later.