Homogenization, La Sagrada Familia, Pink Floyd

In my packet of information I was given to read before my trip here, I was warned that Spaniards are used to fairly homogenized surroundings, race-wise, and not to be surprised if we heard host family members or friends say things about non-Europeans that we Americans might consider, at best, politically incorrect. Imagine my surprise, then, when upon arriving I discovered that the population of Barcelona is anything but homogeneous. This past Friday my friend Logan and I stumbled into a Chinese New Year festival,  complete with an altar, dragon dancers, and children dressed as bunnies hopping in a parade. And I already told you about the indeterminately Middle-Eastern durums. I even walked past an Argentine-Japanese fusion restaurant (and yes, I love both those cuisines, but I can't say I ever wanted to see them combined). So what's the deal, Spain?
I heard it explained it like this: in the states we have a Mexican-immigration "problem". In Spain, they have that same problem with Pakistani, Moroccan, Indian, North-African, Chinese, and most other non-white immigrants. I can understand why Catalans might feel protective of their culture, considering how hard they have had to defend it for most of its existence, and I certainly don't know enough about the issue to unpack it here...but you'd think people would at least be used to folks from everywhere, considering how close together most places are around here.
Now let's just work on the milk-homogenizing thing and we're good. Homogenize milk, not culture! Seriously. "Natural" (their word) milk goes bad in 5 days around here. I'm starting to get why no one buys it.
The parade that Logan and I saw was in Barceloneta, the harbor area of the city. There is a gondola stretching out over the bay there that I am totally going to ride before I leave here. I am meeting many of Logan's Spanish and non-Spanish friends: Catalan and French roommates, an English-teacher from Boston and her friends from Manchester. You can walk into a bar here and suddenly be in England or Ireland whenever you like, all the way down to the bartender's brogue. I've even been to a pub quiz.

On Saturday I made it to el Templo de la Sagrada familia and a Pink Floyd cover band show. The former cost me 13 euros and was worth every penny, especially the cost of the elevator ride into the higher regions of the basilica. It was late afternoon and sunny and you could see the shadow of the church cast over the park across the street from the Nativity entrance. This entrance is the one most people will recognized from photos: from far away it looks like a very sophisticated drip-castle, but when you get nearer hundreds of plant, animal and human forms come into focus. It was the first façade to be built, though it is not the front door. The Passion entrance is currently acting like a front door, because the real portal (the Glory façade) isn't even close to completion. That entrance is starker, angular, and skeletal, executed not by Gaudi but by a sculptor named Josep Maria Subirachs following his design. Even the giant tower that I got to climb is small compared to those that are under construction. I spent almost two hours at La Sagrada Familia, even though it was freezing inside because all that stone acts like a giant refrigerator. I highly recommend a visit, and, if you really want to take your time, go alone.
Pink Floyd cover band was free. Luckily for me (because tickets were 20 euros), a man with a strong resemblance to the illustrations of Jesus I used to look at in Christian picture books had been given two tickets but only needed one. No catch. Ramon (for that was his name) proceeded to rock out with (but not creep out) us for the rest of the show. We then went to one of those bars that transports you to ye olde Englande and smells like a locker room, called La Ovella Negra. And, because Logan has a friends-making super power, we found a table and met some very strange Finnish men who then lost one of their very drunk buddies and had to go find him. That was the most fun Saturday I've had yet.

Things are about to get serious though. I have one class this week, the one required by my program, on Tuesday and Thursday. The rest of my classes start next week. Today I am going to stroll over to campus and scope it out so I don't get lost on my first day of real Spanish school.

I miss you all.