The Flying Dutchmen: My Adoptive Family in Barcelona

Living abroad, even in a cosmopolitan city like Barcelona, comes with a few setbacks. There are just some things that are completely irreplaceable. I’ve yet to find a bar or bartender who can make a mojito like the one at home. Whenever I make a trip to the US, I come back stocked with all my favorite bath products. But what can you do when what you miss most is the feeling of having your family near you?

I was lucky enough to have found adoptive parents while living in Italy. Karin, an old childhood friend of my dad was married to a French diplomat and had been living in Rome for a few years. They took me in as their adoptive daughter for most of my stay in the Eternal City. Whether it was a home-cooked meal or a Sunday drive out to the countryside, having them close gave me the comfort of having family nearby. I was sad to say goodbye after leaving, but another adoptive family was waiting for me in Barcelona.

Where can one even begin to explain the crazy Dutchmen?

Being a petite girl at only 5’3, I stand a good 12 or 13 inches below my adoptive brothers. It’s their half-Dutch-half-Spanish background that makes them stand out like sore thumbs in Barcelona among the shorter, thinner and dark-haired Catalans. But it’s heart and hospitality, not their size, that makes Max and Jose Casbas bigger than all the Spaniards in my life.

The brothers have always made my stay in Barcelona feel like home since my first time visiting the city in 2002. Whether I visited alone for a weekend, with friends or the entire Pimentel family either Max or Jose welcome us into their homes.

But how in the world did a 23-year-old enter the family of the thirty-something brothers?

Over a decade has passed since since the Casbas brothers entered the Pimentels’ circle. While my dad worked in a multi-national corporation he was in charge of Max’s division overseas in Holland. They hit it off right away. When Mr. Leonardo Pimentel would visit Amsterdam for work, it was Max showing him and my mom around. Max also traveled often to Venezuela for business trips and my dad would show him around over there. Slowly, the Pimentels met the entire Casbas clan: Jose and Ana.

Since 2005 all three brothers moved from Amsterdam to Barcelona and since last year their parents retired just a 15-minute drive outside the city.

Today, Max and Jose have their own business and work together in the Borne neighborhood.

Weekly Lunches with the Brothers

It’s hard to remember the first of my weekly lunches with the brothers. The tradition began somewhere in the first weeks of living in Barcelona. My parents had just left and either
Max and Jose would BBM me asking if I would be able to make it to lunch with them. Most days I was not in their part of town until the afternoon for class. Other days I woke up way past noon and knew it’d be impossible to make it on time.

It has to be mentioned that they eat lunch everyday promptly at 13:00 or 13:30, depending at what restaurant we eat at. If I am not ringing their office’s doorbell by 12:59 I can expect my BlackBerry to start vibrating with messages asking where I am. My tardiness got to the point where I found myself jogging to their office from the nearest metro stop and getting to lunch all sweaty. Running on Latin time is no excuse for these hungry men.

Time passed and weekly lunches turned into home-cooked meals.

Every now and then I get an invitation on a Saturday for a Mexican or Thai feast at Max’s apartment. The meal might consist of Max, Jose, Ana, their significant others, the parents...and me! Making me part of their close-nit family keeps the feeling of my far-away family nearby.

Some days, when passing through the neighborhood on my way to class, I’ll stop by their office just to catch up. We usually end up at Adriatico, the bar right underneath their office, for a quick cortado and people watching until we all must continue with our daily duties.

Some of our favorite places to eat:
-Wushu
-Salero
-Adriatico