New Catalan tradition we’re TOTALLY adopting and celebrating for the rest of our lives: La Diada de Sant Jordi!

We’ve been looking forward to this festival ever since we moved to Barcelona. It’s known by foreigners around here as the “Catalan Valentine’s Day”. But sure enough, as has been our experience with just about every new tradition here in Catalonia, it turned out to be even bigger and more delightful than we had imagined. I mean, a sunny spring day full of books and roses and dragons and princesses? What’s not to love?!

Anyway, Barclay brought his camera along and made a quick little 5-minute video of our Sant Jordi “date”. So I thought I’d pop in and share it with you today.

Happy Sant Jordi, everyone!

Of all the questions we’ve been asked since moving to Spain, there’s one we’ve come to really appreciate friends checking in on — “So how’s learning Spanish going?”

Our short answer?

Good!

Also…hard.  And fun. And humbling. And encouraging. And slow-going. And never-ending. And downright maddening, at times. (<– Hello, having to talk on the phone in Spanish!)

In any given day, we probably ride the Foreign Language Feels roller coaster up and down dozens of times. Because as we’ve learned, you don’t really have “good days” and “bad days” with learning a foreign language. You have good sentences and bad sentences. Good heck-yeah-I-think-I-just-nailed-that-pluscamperfecto-tense conjugations and bad omg-what-is-up-with-my-brain-I-can’t-even-remember-how-to-say-“apples” vocab blanks. Good vibes when a local pays you a genuine compliment on your Spanish, and bad vibes when someone shoots you a look of pure annoyance as you fumble for the right word. Good endings to conversations when you feel like you’ve smoothly sailed through that happy hour, and bad endings to conversations when you have to apologize and literally hang up the phone because you couldn’t understand the customs official. Good nights when you feel like you’re actually able to be yourself with friends, and bad nights when you come home in tears because you couldn’t keep up and felt like a complete wallflower the whole time. Good moments when you know you’re making progress, and bad moments when you wonder if it’s really worth it.

The highs and lows are a constant reality for us here. And they just keep on comin’, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month. (We’ve been here four now.)  But through it all, Barclay and I keep reminding ourselves… (more…)

¡Bienvenidos a nuestra casa!

Welcome to our new little apartment here in Barcelona! ♡

Spoiler alert: we love this space so much, you guys.  It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s literally everything that we had hoped to find in a flat here in the city…and so much more. From the location in town (we got to stay in our favorite neighborhood!), to the size of the place (far much more spacious we were expecting), to balconies and windows galore (so charming), to finally having a guest bedroom (lil’ dream come true for me), to the downright glorious amount of light we get in here all day long (the best)…we feel like the luckiest ducks in the world to be able to call this place our home now. And also, to be able to welcome our dear friends and family into this home as well! As this post goes live today, Barclay and I have our second set of visitors here staying with us…which makes my heart happy for a hundred reasons…but especially because it feels so good to feel rooted in a space now where we can welcome friends and family from near and far. A space that really feels like home.

Anyway, we’ve been promising you all a tour for months now. So without further ado, here it is! Many thanks to my handsome husband for putting together this video for us. We hope you enjoy it, and stay tuned for new videos coming soon! Also, here are our answers to some of the questions you all have asked about our new place.

Our New Barcelona Apartment FAQ:

So when did you guys move in?

We moved into this space at the beginning of November 2017.

What happened to your first apartment? (more…)

Hey friends! We’re back with our monthly update today about expat life this past month here in Barcelona. And man, this month was a good one.

From unexpectedly awesome holidays, to eating an insane amount of onions, to a pilgrimage to the birthplace of paella, to hosting our very first American visitor, to a miraculous moment with our sweet pup…January was a month to remember in our books, for sure. And easily the month we’ll look back on as the time when this place legit began to feel like home. Feeling grateful.

As always, thanks for following along with our adventures. And stay tuned for some fun new vids coming your way this month from Barcelona! ?

Happy New Year’s Eve Eve, everyone!

We’re back today with our December update and, per ushe, there’s lots happening around here to report! (Which — this video has taught me — I do with All The Hand Motions. Apparently I’m the ??? emoji in real life.)

As always, thank you so much for following along with our adventure here. And stay tuned, because we have some pretty fun new video ideas in store for 2018! In the meantime, we’re sending you warm wishes for a new year ahead. And we’re off to go buy some grapes!

More December Videos:

• Our First Christmas In Barcelona: Caga Tió
• Our First Christmas In Barcelona: Christmas Markets
• Our First Christmas In Barcelona: Christmas Lights
• Our 2017 Christmas “Card” (<– psst, we sang you a song!)

Friends! In lieu of sending out official holiday cards this year, because — let’s face it, both of us are total procrastinators, plus mailboxes and inboxes of all kinds have never been our forte — we thought we’d sing you all a little Christmas song instead. ♡

From our home to yours, we wish you a holiday ahead filled with much love and hope and light. And we’re sending so many abrazos (hugs!) your way.

Love,
Ali & Barclay

One of the best surprises of moving to Barcelona has actually been getting to know some of the Gimme Some Oven readers that live here in Barcelona. Case in point — my new friend and long-time blog reader, Laura, who graciously agreed to come and help us with today’s new vid.

The first week that we moved here, Laura reached out over Instagram to welcome us to town and offer to help with anything we needed in the city. And through our texts, I quickly realized that she was an absolute gem. And me — being the American I am — asked if she might want to go grab a cup of coffee and hang out. And of course her — being the Catalan she is — suggested instead that we go grab chocolate and churros and hang out. Which was clearly the better idea. ?

So we did. And she was awesome. And in between bites of sugary churros dipped in the richest chocolate I’ve ever tasted (soooo rich, in fact, that you literally have to “thin it out” with a brick of whipped cream on top…which is a story for another day), we found ourselves talking about our plans for the holidays this year. Barc and I had already heard some about el Dia De Los Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day or Epiphany), which is the main holiday celebrated in Spain on January 6. But I asked Laura if there were any traditions that also happened here on Christmas Day on December 25. To which she responded with this mischievous twinkle in her eye, “Well…you do know about Caga Tió, right?!”

We did not.

But oh boy, we are so glad that now we do. ? Because of all quirky gift-giving traditions on Christmas around the world — and let’s be honest, coming from a country celebrating a bearded dude from the North Pole who has reindeer drive him all over the world, keeping tabs on everyone’s behavior all year, breaking into houses and eating cookies and leaving presents under trees (and making me cry in my first Christmas photo) — we’ve gotta give Catalonia props. Because their infamous log that “poops” presents for all of the kids in Catalonia each Christmas is just about the best thing ever.

So for anyone else unfamiliar with this centuries-old Catalonian tradition, here’s the scoop. (He, literally. ?)

Be sure to check out our other videos about our first Christmas in Barcelona too, including:

Christmas Markets
Christmas Lights
(Two more coming soon!)

(more…)

Hey friends! We’re back today with the second video in our series about Christmas in Barcelona, and today’s subject is near and dear to my exterior-illumination-loving heart…

…Christmas lights!

For weeks and weeks, Barclay and I watched during the daytime as thousands of lights were strung across all of the streets here in Barcelona in preparation for the holidays. Then finally, on Thanksgiving night at 6pm, the entire city suddenly flickered on. And it has felt absolutely magical here each night ever since. ✨✨✨

Truly. From the grandest of ramblas, to the tiniest hidden back alleys, literally every street here in the city center is aglow with some sort of twinkly lights strung above. And the best part is that every single street is also different! From Gatsby-style white string lights, to all sorts of creative shapes and phrases, to lights that flicker to music, to art installations with cool people and stories behind them, to nativities and Christmas trees and decorated street lights galore, the sheer scope and creativity of the Christmas lights game here in Barcelona is unbelievable. And I can’t get enough of it all.

So today, we thought we’d bring you along with us for a night of light-hunting around the city center. These brief glimpses hardly do the city justice, but just imagine all of this times — oh, a thousand — and you can get a sense of this magical season here. Hope you enjoy. ?

Also, if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to follow along with this series. And definitely stay tuned next week, because we have a new video coming your way, devoted entirely to the “pooper” of presents for all of the children in Catalonia — the illustrious Christmas log — Caga Tió.

Happy December, friends!

Hope that this holiday season finds each of you well, and snuggled up somewhere this weekend with a nice crackling fire or a warm mug of hot cocoa with some twinkly lights nearby. ✨

Here in Barcelona, the Christmas season is already in full swing, and the city is abuzz with all sorts of fun and quirky Spanish and Catalan traditions everywhere we turn. Like, truly. From the cool way they do Christmas lights here (which would make Clark Griswold proud), to some brand-new-to-us traditional Christmas foods (yum), to the extra holidays they celebrate after the 25th to keep the festivities rollin’ (St. Stephen’s Day and Epiphany), to the infamous Caganers and Caga Tío (oh my goodness, who knew that Christmas could involve so much pooping?!)…this season is so much fun here in Barcelona, and it’s making us fall crazy in love with this city even more.

So! We thought that it would be fun to bring you along with us for our first Christmas here in Barcelona. So today, we’re kicking off a short series of videos to show you a new tradition each week or so. Beginning today with…

…Christmas markets!! ?? ?? ? ?

Turns out that Christmas markets are a Very Big Deal here in Barcelona each year. And this past weekend, they magically popped up all over town and having been buzzing 24/7 with locals and tourists ever since. The largest market in town happens to be just down the street from our flat, so we thought we’d bring you with us as we walk down to check it out (and then come home with a very special treasure in tow).

Hope you enjoy, and stay tuned soon for another very merry video to come!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! ? ? ?

We’re missing all of you in the States lots and lots today, and hope that each of you have a delicious and gratitude-filled day ahead, surrounded by those you love. It’s 70 degrees and sunny today here in Barcelona (nooo complaints here), and our Friendsgiving celebration with friends is not actually until tomorrow, since everyone here is at work today. So we’ve got our windows flung open, our Netflix fireplace on, a little candle burning, some Christmas tunes playing, and a pumpkin roll in the works. But otherwise, it’s a pretty dang normal Thursday here in Spain. So I’m living vicariously through all of your Instagram feeds, while munching on a bocadillo here. You know. ?

That said, we finished up editing a new video for you this morning, so I thought I’d go ahead and pop it here on the blog in case you feel like watching some YouTube once the turkey coma sets in.

As I mentioned on Instagram, this past weekend marked our 1st month-i-versary of living in Spain! And over the past few months, we’ve received so many kind messages and thoughtful questions from all of you, asking about how life is going over here. So we thought we would try making some monthly update videos to document our highs, lows, and “whoas” each month. Plus, answer some of your most-asked questions with a brief Q&A at the end.

So here’s our first shot at this! We’d love to know what you think!! And if you have any questions for next month, feel free to leave those in the comment section below, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for future videos to come. Also, I should mention that we had some technical difficulties and somehow accidentally erased most of our “whoas” section, so ha, more on those next month.

Thanks so much for tuning in, and again, for all of your amazing support this past month. I’m so thankful for each of you, and am sending lots of love your way today from Barca. ?