Phase 0
We are now almost two weeks into "Phase 0" of Spanish deconfinement. After almost two months spent entirely in our apartment, it's been nice to get outside and walk the city during our allowed hours. The first photo below shows some pretty purple trees from one of our walks. I thought that we had missed all of the flowering trees this spring while we were stuck inside, so I was excited to notice these. I don't think I've ever seen such a strong, deep purple on a tree before. I have no idea what they are, but they're gorgeous. I can see one of these trees from my bedroom window. I look forward to watching it come into full bloom!
The evening walks have also allowed us to explore different regions of the city and exercise a lot harder than we've been able to inside. I was getting pretty tired of walking back and forth the length of the apartment hundreds of times per day to work up a sweat. Now we have three evening hours to get in our exercise and we have been taking advantage! Last night we headed uphill and just kept walking until we got to this beautiful vista (second picture). We would have gone farther but we ran out of road and it got dark. There are some trails nearby so we will explore the area more when we are allowed out during the day.
Besides getting outside for exercise, the other nice thing about Phase 0 is that more restaurants have opened for takeout. Before we could only order restaurant food through delivery services, which we did about once a week. But the options were limited and we were pretty disappointed by our meal several times. But now we have many more options and we can pick up our takeout ourselves. Tonight we got dinner from our favorite local Catalan tapas restaurant, which just reopened this week. Their food is unbelievable and we are happy to see them back in business. Most of the restaurants in our neighborhood are quite small and I worry a lot for their continued prosperity. Having to close for two months must have been devastating. I'm hoping this week marks an upturn for them.
By Monday the rest of Spain will be in Phase 1 or 2, but the government is keeping the two biggest metropolitan areas--Barcelona and Madrid--in Phase 0 for another week at least. I guess the population density and risk of increased infection are just too high in these areas. In Phase 1, restaurants are able to open outdoor seating at 50% capacity and gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed. I don't especially care about these things; we don't know 10 people in Barcelona and I have no desire to sit on a restaurant terrace being served by a person standing 6 feet from the table wearing protective gear. I just don't see myself enjoying a meal out under those conditions. But I am disappointed that we aren't moving more quickly through the phases because what I'd really like to do is explore other areas in Spain and we're many weeks away from being permitted to leave our province. At this point I really wonder if we'll have the chance before we leave the country. It's too bad because the unit we're doing in Spanish class now is all about other places in Spain and they look incredible. We'll see what tourism looks like the first two weeks in July and maybe try to get away for a bit then. Stay tuned.
As for Laurel Academy, we are almost done for the year. We had hoped to wrap things up by today, May 15, but we didn't quite make it. Both boys have a couple of assignments still to work on, but they should have no trouble finishing up next week. Spanish class will continue until our contract runs out (I'm not sure when that will be), but that will be it. It turns out that homeschooling is really tough. Who knew? (Just kidding--I definitely knew.) We are all looking forward to the end of our formal school year, even though I have enjoyed many elements of working with the kids. Ryan will tell you that he hated reading Romeo & Juliet, but believe me, he laughed through a fair portion. Yes, it's a tragedy but it has some decent zingers that jive with his sense of humor. And Will blows me away with his mathematical ability. He could certainly slow down some and write more steps out to avoid careless errors, but his logic and intuition are inspiring to see in action. It's interesting that he's always preferred the humanities. (To be clear--that's not a slight on the humanities, which I also love. It's just interesting that he's so good at math but could take it or leave it.)
The evening walks have also allowed us to explore different regions of the city and exercise a lot harder than we've been able to inside. I was getting pretty tired of walking back and forth the length of the apartment hundreds of times per day to work up a sweat. Now we have three evening hours to get in our exercise and we have been taking advantage! Last night we headed uphill and just kept walking until we got to this beautiful vista (second picture). We would have gone farther but we ran out of road and it got dark. There are some trails nearby so we will explore the area more when we are allowed out during the day.
Besides getting outside for exercise, the other nice thing about Phase 0 is that more restaurants have opened for takeout. Before we could only order restaurant food through delivery services, which we did about once a week. But the options were limited and we were pretty disappointed by our meal several times. But now we have many more options and we can pick up our takeout ourselves. Tonight we got dinner from our favorite local Catalan tapas restaurant, which just reopened this week. Their food is unbelievable and we are happy to see them back in business. Most of the restaurants in our neighborhood are quite small and I worry a lot for their continued prosperity. Having to close for two months must have been devastating. I'm hoping this week marks an upturn for them.
By Monday the rest of Spain will be in Phase 1 or 2, but the government is keeping the two biggest metropolitan areas--Barcelona and Madrid--in Phase 0 for another week at least. I guess the population density and risk of increased infection are just too high in these areas. In Phase 1, restaurants are able to open outdoor seating at 50% capacity and gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed. I don't especially care about these things; we don't know 10 people in Barcelona and I have no desire to sit on a restaurant terrace being served by a person standing 6 feet from the table wearing protective gear. I just don't see myself enjoying a meal out under those conditions. But I am disappointed that we aren't moving more quickly through the phases because what I'd really like to do is explore other areas in Spain and we're many weeks away from being permitted to leave our province. At this point I really wonder if we'll have the chance before we leave the country. It's too bad because the unit we're doing in Spanish class now is all about other places in Spain and they look incredible. We'll see what tourism looks like the first two weeks in July and maybe try to get away for a bit then. Stay tuned.
As for Laurel Academy, we are almost done for the year. We had hoped to wrap things up by today, May 15, but we didn't quite make it. Both boys have a couple of assignments still to work on, but they should have no trouble finishing up next week. Spanish class will continue until our contract runs out (I'm not sure when that will be), but that will be it. It turns out that homeschooling is really tough. Who knew? (Just kidding--I definitely knew.) We are all looking forward to the end of our formal school year, even though I have enjoyed many elements of working with the kids. Ryan will tell you that he hated reading Romeo & Juliet, but believe me, he laughed through a fair portion. Yes, it's a tragedy but it has some decent zingers that jive with his sense of humor. And Will blows me away with his mathematical ability. He could certainly slow down some and write more steps out to avoid careless errors, but his logic and intuition are inspiring to see in action. It's interesting that he's always preferred the humanities. (To be clear--that's not a slight on the humanities, which I also love. It's just interesting that he's so good at math but could take it or leave it.)
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| Purple flowering trees in Gràcia |
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| Nighttime view of Barcelona |
i think the trees are jacaranda-inquiring minds....the nonstop rains this year made our flowering trees gorgeous too
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