7.10AM OMG I'm really tired, It was'nt a good idea to drink wine and 1 longdrink yesterday :p

I jump to the Bus to Terrasa a city of 60km from home. But the kids were all time talking I almost can't sleep nothing in the bus.

Once we finish the pre-heating I gone to the bar to have a sandwich and a coke, wow I felt like heaven!

The competition wasn't bad... I did it worst, but what the hell! I didn't train so much last weeks coz they train at mornings and at this time I'm working :p

During lunch time I close restaurant and attendants to the Yoly's farewell, we can say that my phone is a rest-agenda!

At noon we have one hour between eat and pre-heating...I decided to take the sun...bad idea! you could see me on the night pics ha ha ha 

The centre cultural is right in the center of the city, located on the Rambla D'Egara. It hosts a number of exhibitions as well as performances. It has two really nice gallery spaces. When I went there was one on the environment and green energy on the bottom floor, and another on African sculpture on the upper floor. The environmental gallery was kid-friendly with buttons and interactive sort of activities. Short films were playing in separate rooms. The African sculpture exhibit was amazing. Each piece had a little map next to it showing where it was made. All the pieces were incredibly interesting. Admission to the galleries is free, but tickets have to be bought to see the performances that take place in the theater.

I had planned to go over to my friend Bet's house for a supper. I arrived and was greeted by some people who had already arrived. We made ravioli (yum!) and attempted to make cupcakes. Which ended up burnt.. hahah. We ate what we could and then prepared the twelve grapes for New Years.
There are similar traditions in other countries, I heard in Italy you eat lentils. The twelve grapes must be eaten during the last twelve seconds of the year. We waited for the coutdown to begin, but we were all so nervous that we didn't hear the instructions, so I still don't know if I did it

the next morning we woke up expecting the four girls to show up to the english lesson. The previous days my cousins had moaned and groaned at the idea of having class on a holiday, so we promised them it would just be games and fun things. This was my father's idea because he has been interested in giving English lessons to immigrants ever since he joined the Ateneu Candela which is both a hang out for young people and an attorney's office for immigrants and also offering language classes.
First Caralt and Nuria arrived, they are the daughters of one of my father's childhood friends. While we waited for my cousins Carla and Laura to show up, we introduced ourselves in English and talked about what we would do when they arrived. When the family finally arrived (45 minutes late of course) my aunt dropped off the two girls and we began our lesson.
We played all sorts of games Simon Says, sang songs, and played dominoes and card games so that they would learn body parts, animals, and numbers.
When Marta (Caralt and Nuria's mother) came to pick them up, she invited us to a lunch so we agreed to go. We had to wait for Carla and Laura to be picked up. When my uncle finally arrived he brought little Jan so we stalled a little bit more at the apartment. When we all left in the end, we were very late to the lunch and we missed seeing the cousins and grandparents (of Caralt and Nuria) who had already left.
The lunch ended up being delicious and we all aplauded Caralt who at six years old had cooked the chicken all by herself!

In the morning I went with my father to the mercat de L'Independencia which is right off of the Rambla in the old part of the city, there we bought all the ingredients necessary for making the traditional paella. My father had scheduled a party with some Senegalese immigrants who he knows from Terrassa. The market is composed of a bunch of stands, some for fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, cheese, olives, prepared foods, etc.. all under a covered roof. Many of the stands are from local farmers or fishermen who bring their foods fresh and ripe for you to buy.
After we had all the ingredients my dad went home and I walked around the Rambla or main street for a while, and went to see my aunt who has a small kitten now.
On returning home my father had already started the paella and I helped him set the table and I put out the cheese and crackers for apetizer, I also made a salad but then we forgot about it so we didn't eat it.
i didn't know any of the guests so it was a little strange when I had to entertain the guests while my father was finishing the paella. Two ladies came with little girls who were very sweet one was about 3 and the other maybe a year younger.
They brought over a Senegalese drink called Pisap, or something like that which is very sweet and tastes somewhat of berries. One of the ladies also gave me some African perfume which smells like incense, it's nice. They make it by pouring other colones onto a burning log of a special wood so that it adheres the smell of the wood as well as the original colone atributes, it's a little sticky.
we ate the paella which everybody loved, it was made really well, except for one man who was afraid of the shrimp so he didn't eat any.

After they had gone I took a siesta and at night me and my father went to see the traditional bonfire that is made every year to celebrate the longest day of the year, or close since I believe that is the 21st. We walked around and saw the wood pile pre-burning and the kids gathered round who would set the pile on fire. before the fire many people were setting off firecrackers and fireworks so we watched that, it was a little scary because there were kids throwing around the firecrackers and some parents not really watching them, so I was always looking around to make sure none of them were thrown in my direction.
There were some items in the fire that were a little strange, there was a bicycle and some plastic chairs which everyone told the kids to take out but they didn't.
When the fire started everybody gathered around and watched as the kids put a couple burning newspapers in the pile and it cought on with the rest of the furniture and chairs. While the fire was small I wa up really close, but as it grew it got really really hot and everyone moved away. It was really amazing, it was so big and dramatic. It was kind of windy, so that helped it grow. But anyway, I was glad the kids didn't remove the plastic chairs because that ws the best part, other than the bad burnt plastic smell it was super cool to see them melt away under the flames. The office chairs also melted and all that was left was the metal interior. A really cool tradition that nowadays is done less and less because there are not too many empty lots available to do this in, the government has to make laws of where you can make these bonfires so that nothing burns down.
After the fire we went to the Ateneu Candela which at night is sort of like a club, and one of the guys who works there showed me around the upstairs. There was a dj, immigrant from Africa who was spinning some beats, and a lot of people were dancing. But I eneded up leaving pretty early.

This day is a really cool time to be in Spain because of the fireworks and parties all over, also because around this time of late June and early July there are a lot of Festa Major, or the town party where everyone has off and many activities are scheduled. Those are also cool to go to.

L'Ateneu Candela is located in a building which used to be a textile factory of Terassa. This one has been redone and made into something useful without tearing down the exterior features so close to the city's past and symbolic of an age of great economic success and growth for the city. The organization exists to promote art and learning, on the second floor there are classrooms for immigrants to learn Spanish and Catalan so that they can work in the area, and live within the community. There is a recording studio and radio station that broadcasts local artists and world music. On the Ground floor is a large space used as a sort of club or bar during the night but which during the day is used as a meeting place for confereces and meetings about the areas which this organization supports, more rights for immigrants, living a simple lifestyle, and an alternate form of government than the one now present all over the world. They have a bar with tapas which in this case is not only Catalan, but from any part of the world, mostly Senegalese since the cook is from Senegal. At night when the tables are removed, there is a stage where either live bands can play or a dj can set up some turntables and the space becomes a nightclub where you can meet interesting people and dance all night. The place is decorated with political murals on the inside which give a good ambiance as well as a motive for being there.

The building is used to host art exibitions and as a "cultural center". The bar is just on the side of where the exhibits are but that closes very early. At the bar they have a selection of cakes and sandwiches as well as a number of drinks and refreshments. While it was only a bar and full of cigarette smoke as they usually are, the ambiance was really exceptional. The ceilings are high since this building used to be a textile factory, and the walls are cluttered with paintings by local artists. The seats are grouped around circular tables and walking in there made me feel like an intellectual. Nice place to chat it up with friends and a bite to eat.

Once at the Barcelona airport, I went to collect my luggage but only got one of the bags, the other one - the one with all my clothes in it - was not there. So I waited in line at the wrong luggage help booth for a long time, then I waited again at the right luggage help booth until I got helped. It was really fun.
Drove through Barcelona to Matadepera where my grandmother lives. I went swimming in the pool and ate a delicious lunch of beans with ham and melted cheese, food is the number 1 one thing that is amazing about Spain.
After wards I came to Terrassa to my father's apartment, got the score for the music I would be playing on the 6th and then relaxed on the porch. it was great. I also went shopping at the Mercadona supermarket and got some Orxata, it's so good. And I still need to get the fresh one from La Jijonenca. the most supreme drink. Tomorrow is San Juan, and my father is celebrating by hosting a Senegalese party before the fireworks. I AM SO EXCITED.