1. Walking into Granollers this morning with our beautiful new Grandbaby between us holding our hands must be one of my special joys this year.I felt so proud and just a bit tearful with happiness!
2. The bookshop was a delight as we started N’s little library of simple books in Catalan to help her as she starts learning Catalan. Her mother tongue is Wolof but she has been learning in French at school in Senegal and is beginning to speak English at home. She already understands a lot of what we say. It will be very sad to leave her tomorrow, so soon. If only the Visa had been granted as expected a month ago we would have had this whole week with her. As it is, our one day has been a beautiful day. One of the books is ‘The Three Little Pigs’ or in Catalan, ‘Els Tres Porquets’. Funnily enough, I have been finding that my French has been useful in communicating here.
3. We have placed three tributes to children killed in Gaza as part of the I Remember the Children campaign, here in Granollers. Photos to follow as per all of the last week as WordPress on iPad does not allow me to post photos.
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Tags: Catalan, child deaths in Gaza, Els Tres Porquets, I remember the children, joy, The three little pigs, Wolof
1. We are in Barcelona to help celebrate our daughter-in-law’s birthday and brought with us presents and cards from family in England. We bought some beautiful French tarts from a cake shop yesterday and had those for breakfast after our croissants! We cooked a birthday dinner last night as D and A have to go to Madrid tonight re A’s visa to visit us at Christmas.
2 This week we have eaten Spanish food, D&A’s Moroccan neighbour has brought in beautiful breads and cakes for us each day (see the photos below), last night’s dinner had one English course, (Prawns in a Marie Rose sauce), one French (Confit duck with saute potatoes and peas)and one Italian ( Tiramisu) and this evening we are having a Senegalese dish,Thieb bu djen( chebugen) which I have had a hand in preparing! For D&A’s arrival back tomorrow evening, the lovely neighbour is cooking us a Moroccan couscous dish.
Birthday breakfast.
Beautiful biscuits, all home made
3. Our Senegalese supper was super delicious and reminded us of our trip there for the Wedding last April.
Thieb Bu Djen
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Tags: birthday, Senegalese food, Thieb bu djan, Wolof
1. A took us shopping today to a Chinese bazaar and a Moroccan food store. Much later in the afternoon we also went to a Spanish supermarket. I love shops from other cultures with their beautiful, vibrant displays. The lovely lady in the Chinese shop gave us each a fan as it has been a very, very hot day of about 30*She could see that I was melting in the heat!
2. A short train ride took us to La Carriga, a very pretty little town with some very interesting features: a ‘telescope’ with a picture show inside of photos of the old town, just in front of the building itself, a beautiful Biloba tree in a small green with a delightful sign nearby asking us not to tread on the flowers, small markers in the ground that showed where bombs fell in the Spanish Civil War,a lovely tile bread shop sign and two piggies on the door handles of the all-things-pork shop.
When we arrived back in Granollers, the lovely train guard held the train up for several minutes as he could see a family rushing to catch it!
My photos are not all in the right order as I am learning how to do these posts on my iPad and it’s not as editable as the usual way! I’m sure you’ll find your way around!
3. Today I have learned to cook with A. First we made Potato Beignets which A learned to make from her brother’s Mother in Law, last week when she visited her brother in Italy and tonight we have made a scrumptious Senegalese marinated tuna dish.
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Tags: La Carriga, Postaday, postaday2012
1. A beautiful breakfast of croissants with Spanish ham and Cafe Touba, the smell and taste of which took me straight back to Senegal and our breakfasts in the outdoors dining area. This morning was also full of conversations using English, French and Wolof!
2. D had to work this morning so A took us for a stroll around Granollers, meeting him after his teaching session. We waited outside the school and watched the world go by, families, a man with a tree, a woman hurrying by with a cake, and round the corner, a wedding with explosive confetti and an amazingly long Limousine.
3. A cooked us a beautiful Senegalese chicken dish called Yassa which was utterly delicious and which again took us back to Senegal and our fabulous time there in April for the wedding.
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Tags: Cafe Touba, Cambridge School, Granollers, Postaday, postaday2012, Senegalese supper
1 Breakfast in the salon outside with Daniel, Ami and Lucy, speaking French and learning Wolof! We gave Daniel and Ami the North American Wedding Jug, a small token of their marriage. If you want to know about the jug, look here: http://www.kachinahouse.com/c-61-wedding-vases.aspx
Learning French and Wolof in the salon
2 Shopping for wedding shoes!
The Shoe Shop
Success!
and a bag ........
Street view
3 Met the lovely Pap, Ami’s older brother who lives in Italy and who has come home for the Wedding. Delightful character, full of fun and humour and love for Daniel. They’ve been friends for 15 years!
Pap
4 and a full moon
Full Moon and Flowers
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Tags: Daniel and Ami, French, full moon, Italy, North American Wedding Vessel, Pap, shoe shopping, wedding shoes, Wolof
1 Our apartment in Pikine is very close to Ami’s family home, has rooms all opening onto a central courtyard which is smothered in palm trees, huge cacti and beautiful bougainvillea in pinks and reds.
Sunlight through the leaves
2 Took a yellow taxi to Pikine market – bursting with bustle, noise, colour and smells – to buy fabric for me to have made up into a traditional boubou for the Wedding on Sunday. The most colourful bus took us to the tailor’s where I was measured up and chose a beautiful blue thread to go with the emerald green fabric. It will be ready tomorrow!
3 Met Ami’s lovely family at her home – her parents, her beautiful daughter, Ndeye Marie and some of her aunts and children. We managed to understand each other pretty well with some shared language (French), lots of body language and Daniel on hand to translate from Wolof when necessary. The family has known Daniel for 15 years and spoke of him with pride and warmth and welcomed us into their family. We were able to say how pleased and proud we are to welcome Ami into our family too.
Lucy with some of the children
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Tags: accommodation, Ami, bougainvillea, cacti, Dakar, Daniel, English, family, French, market, Ndeye Marie, palm trees, Pikine, Senegal, Senegalese, tailor, traditional boubou, wedding, Wolof
