Journal Entry July 4th 2:03 pm

2:03 pm July 4th

It's strange, I didn't even realize it was the 4th of July until just now. Obviously, they don't celebrate it here, so there was no indication that at home families are getting together for picnics and barbaques. Here, it's the first Sunday of the month (which is kind of a holiday of its own) it's free museum admission day. I went to the Picasso Museum and then to Monjuic to the Museu Nacional D'Art Catalana. It was a lot of walking but it was nice out, so other than a little sunburn it was great.

7:57 pm

I made myself lunch a little after I got home, it was pasta (with no evil meaty surprises) it was so good and it felt wonderful to be full. I do understand why Spain has the siesta now. If you do anything in the morning, you come home and eat lunch then you are comfortably full, which combines with the fact that being out in the sun all morning has zapped your energy level and ta-da you just want to take a nap. So I do now, I have started taking a nap during the day which surprisingly doesn't make me any less tired when bedtime rolls around.

Back at home people are just getting into the swing of celebrating the 4th of July (it's only 2 pm there) with hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, pop, and lots of other unhealthy food. Swimming during the day, then popsicles as they dry off and get ready for the evening. Parents help their kids light their sparklers and then sit and smile as the kids run around drawing shapes in the air with them. Everyone decides where they will go for fireworks tonight, maybe the high school football field, or a church parking lot, maybe even out on the lake.

They will all gather with blankets and jackets and bug spray handy. And then the fun will begin, kids will jump at the first noise, a few car alarms may go off, a couple dogs will bark, then everything will grow quiet as everyone stares up in amazement at the exploding lights overhead. You can watch the colors reflect in the wide-eyes of the children. Even the parents sit silently, maybe because of the beauty of the fireworks, or maybe because it is the first moment of the day they haven't been chasing kids around. It's strange that large gunpowder-induced explosions can cause such peace.

All this will be happening as I crawl into bed and look toward another week of isolation. Try as I might to enjoy the experience or stay so busy I forget I'm lonely, the feeling always creeps up on me when I least expect it. It builds slowly when I pause for a second, or think of a movie reference that Lindsey would get a kick out of, or think about how much Abbi would love the bright colors of La Rambla, by the end of the day I just have to stop thinking altogether or it overwhelms me.

All the little things from during the day seem to catch up with me at night. Maybe that's why the people of Barcelona don't go to bed until 3 or 4 in the morning. If you stay moving around and preoccupied you can ignore the problems you have, and hope that you will be exhausted enough that you will collapse into bed when you get home before the problems find their way back through the alcohol and loud music reverberating in your head and catch you off-guard.