Mi casa es su casa...via the www.

I have officially been in my new surroundings for just over a month and how time has flown. To celebrate my one month anniversary, taking inspiration from Julie Powell after virtually sobbing watching 'Julie y Julia', I have decided to start up a blog to document my Catalan adventure for the next seven months.This is a way for me to keep you all updated and share a little bit of me with you every once in a while.


So I'm going to begin by saying that  my experience thus far  in Catalonia has been completely different to my experiences of China. Was that a, ' Natasha but Ni Hao is it different?', I hear you say? Well, whilst living in China I lived in Tianjin, a city  which has a population of 10.43 million, here I live in a small town called Balaguer which has a comparatively small  population of 16779 and work in a beautiful tiny village called Montgai where there is a grand total of  24 students in my school. In China, I had no prior knowledge of the language and in Catalonia, even though I should be in the same boat as the prevailing language is Catalan, I am luckily surrounded by wonderful people who are willing to listen and help me improve my now somewhat rusty Spanish. They are so wonderful and patient that they don't even snigger at my Spanglish accent. Being able to communicate through language , either a native or widely spoken language, in some way does make all the difference and I sense this is part of the reason why things have seemed slightly easier to being with.

Balaguer, a small rural town North West of Barcelona in the province of Lleida, is my new home. It is nothing like I had expected when I was informed that I would be working in a small rural area. In fact, it has risen above and beyond any expectations I ever had. The town is beautiful as there is a gothic yet modern mix of buildings, both old and new set against a mountain backdrop. One of the most striking buildings is the Santa Maria Church, from which you can see picturesque views of Balaguer, which dates back to the fifteenth century.Just walking to the library (no Catalonia has not changed me into a crazy party girl-yet) I have the pleasure of seeing the most stunning views. Unlike my previous expectations of Balaguer having one bakery, a hairdresser, possibly a bank and let's not forget my good friends the cows and the goats (I say friends but really I mean foes after I was almost attacked and killed on the edge of a cliff by a goat who wanted my peanut butter- but cows are good and sacred) it has almost everything one could need. There are endless numbers of bars, cafes, restaurants, bakeries, butchers, gyms and strangely most of all hairdressers. They're everywhere.


Additionally, I thought that perhaps I'd be the only Indian in the village but to my surprise there's a large immigrant community in Balaguer. From Chinese people to Moroccans, Africans, Spaniards and of course Catalans there is a vivacious community of people from different origins. There is even a Chinese restaurant called, ' Ni Hao'! The world truly is global, all the Anthropologists are right. 

New Amigas of mine saying, 'Ni Hao' at Ni Hao!

So, all in all Balaguer so far has exeeded my expectations and I think it will make an interesting, action packed, adventurous home as being in a quieter, smaller area surrounded by natural beauty makes you want to exercise more. Top off the athletic bodies (of the many cyclists) with a choice of 1000 haircuts- this is my new home.