Reality is settling in

Tea with Big T (or as I like
to call her "T Grande")

Primer Mes (first month)

Today marks our first month in this country and as to be expected, we are coming down from the high. We had some good friends visit from the U.S. this past week which was both wonderful and difficult. Wonderful to see familiar faces and share the fascinating things that we are learning but difficult to figure out what to do, as we don’t know all that much yet. It was also a rough week for the boys at school so I spent too much time worrying about them when in reality I know they will be just fine in the long run.

Colin & Bill on the Tower
at the Alhambra

Our landlord was also in town briefly to pick up some things he needs both back in Singapore and also for his elder daughter who has relocated to Italy to continue school there so I’m glad Nat got a chance to meet him. Antonio introduced him to the bartender at Bar Kiki, our local tapas place and they really rolled out the red carpet for him (special wines, unique tapas - even shark) as folks were so glad to see him back in town.  

Arial of our house from the Alhambra



The Icelandic family’s elder daughter is sick again which has to be very stressful for them. Their younger daughter, who has been very quiet for the last month, has been spending extra time with us as of late and all of the sudden, English is just flowing out of her and she is working so hard to be understood and share stories. Very inspiring indeed. I expect she will put us all to shame in a few months’ time with her Spanish language skills. Nat and I continue to plod along.

Otoño (Autumn)

The weather just broke here and it is glorious Fall weather now (ie not too hot); beautifully sunny with a bit of cold in the air but much more pleasant for walking around in. The evenings are chilly so a sweater is necessary when going out and yesterday afternoon it rained so the locals moved inside restaurants for their meals while us tourists still enjoyed the outdoor terraces (albeit with a chill). I hope to start yoga in early October with a group of moms from the school and will try and get back to running now that it isn’t so sweltering.

Downtown Granada at sunset

They have started to pull the non-native speakers out for Spanish classes at school so hopefully Clark & Colin will start to feel a bit more comfortable with their language skills. They tease me incessantly about my pronunciation which I expect is valid so we will have to work extra hard to keep up. We've also been to the Parque de la Ciencias again, this time for an Escher exhibit, and had some Spanish neighbors over for Moroccan stew.

Iphones

Pájaro (Birds)

Just when you thought things were going to be easy, they get difficult. It has been challenging to try and figure out how to get our i-phones to work over here but I left the job to my techy husband and after weeks of research, “jailbreaking” our phones and replacing the SIM cards, we finally have success. And a good thing too as I can’t seem to make an online bank transfer without a Spanish mobile number and I need to pay our rent. So different!

¡una fiesta de cumpleaños!

Clark’s 11^th birthday is Monday and the boy who has never wanted a birthday party in his life has asked for a “surprise party” this year. Since he doesn’t really know many people yet and is too shy to ask, we’ve decided to invite his entire class to a local park for the afternoon (ie 6:00pm) and just see who shows up. Apparently this is fairly common and I expect anywhere from 10 – 50 people could come so we’ll have to remain flexible with our food and game plans. I’m thinking popcorn and watermelon as those are his favorites.