The Barcelona Zoo

On Wednesday I decided that it was time for Liam and I to have another activity that was not grocery store or food related as most of our daily trips tend to be.  In our month here, I feel like I've only taken him on 2 fun trips - to Parc Guell and to the beach.  We have 5 days a week together just the two of us and I had promised him and myself with this move that I would spend better quality time with him.  And while I have spent better quality time, he may not see it that way when all I do is drag him around. 

So today we went to the Barcelona Zoo http://www.zoobarcelona.cat/ZOO_Barcelona/English/English.asp, also known as Parc Zoologic - founded in 1892!  It was right off the yellow line on the metro, actually only about 2 stops from Josh's work.  If Liam hadn't been near meltdown by the time we were done I was going to call Josh to see if he wanted to meet up with us for lunch.  Next time I suppose.

The zoo was relatively empty - I saw very few people other than the employees (and they employ a lot of people at the zoo).  I find that funny because it was probably about 50-55 degrees out.  At home, not only would we be wearing shorts soon if we weren't already due to the arrival of spring, but we'd also be out at the playgrounds, the zoo, anywhere we can be outside.  Here, not so much.  Not only was the zoo empty of people, it was also kind of empty of animals, similar to home this time of year. Apparently not all of the animals like the 50 degree climate and were inside or at another zoo for the "winter".  I found it especially funny that the alligator wasn't there since at home I know he's not out all winter, but as soon as April rolls around and some decent weather, he'll be out.  But apparently the Spanish alligator does not feel the same. 

The layout of the zoo and also the surroundings reminded me a bit of Roger Williams Zoo in RI more than Southwicks Zoo (my personal fave) in MA.  Like RWZ, it's in the center of the city so a bit more compact.  It was clean but not a lot of flower beds, mulch beds, etc - kind of stoic looking if that's the right word.  Again, reminds me a bit of RWZ (and don't think I don't like Roger Williams, because I do).  One of the bigger differences I noticed compared to our zoos at home and this could be a climate thing or a dangerous animal thing or who knows what kind of thing, but a lot of animals were behind glass instead of fencing.  All of the monkeys (none of which were out), the gorillas (nice bonus, we don't have them at our zoos), etc - all behind glass.

There were a few animals I was pleasantly surprised to see that we don't see at our zoos at home - gorillas, storks, tapir, cheetah, panthers and if they had been out, brown bear and hippos.  But the best animal of all were the dolphins!!  Yes, they had dolphins!  I don't remember the last time I saw dolphins, perhaps at the aquarium as a kid??  They were just the most amazingly beautiful animals and Liam and I were the only ones in their area and they would only swim to our window and kept pushing their noses (are they noses or something else?) up against the glass at us.  I just wanted to squeeze them and bring them home with us!!  Liam loved them too though kept calling them sharks.  Oh well!!

All in all, a fun day for the two of us.  It was nice to get out, nice to walk in a park-like environment and not feel enclosed in a city and nice to see some animals!!

The peacocks were everywhere and had absolutely no fear!

 

Our friend the dolphin / shark

2 humped camel...

A stork.  They were huge!!  And probably could bite your leg off!

Liam's new backpack the guy at the lunch counter gave us.  He was so psyched!

I'm sure this had something to do with the 1992 Olympics - I'll have to look it up...

Julie

Wow - it's been one month already!! Time flies, except in Spain...

It’s been a few days since I last wrote and I have to say, not a whole lot happening. After my trip to Parc Guell, our playdate and dinner out with Josh I just felt horribly run down for a few days and was just out of commission. Not sure if it was a bug or just all this running around finally catching up with me. Regardless I’m feeling on the mend now and today ventured out more than I have since mid last week which was nice. I was starting to get a little stir crazy. Josh also has been out and about with work friends and taking his Spanish class (he really should do some updates on here – hint hint Josh!). He actually went to a very cool festival over the weekend that was in honor of St. Anthony who I guess is the patron saint of animals. There were bonfires and fireworks and from what he told me lots of food that you would put on a skewer and just stick in the bonfire. All in the streets of Gracia, a neighborhood near ours (in case I had mentioned it before, its similar to Boston with Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Financial District, North End, etc – we are in Eixample and Gracia is the next one to ours).

During the day on Saturday we finally got both boys down to the beach.  The lesson we learned is that we should feed them early here and then that way they may someday actually enjoy some Spanish tapas food when we go out in the afternoon.  Most places do not open til 1 or 2 for lunch and my kids just can't handle that, but if we'd fed them at 10:30 or 11 they would have.  Regardless, they enjoyed riding their motorcycle/scooter along the water and watching the people playing volleyball on the beach.  Both Aidan and I noticed that for some reason many of the volleyball players were wearing socks in the sand - not sure of why????  Wouldn't that be uncomfortable and wouldn't you want to feel the sand in between your toes?  Maybe not?  We did find a decent place for lunch and Aidan enjoyed a huge bowl of mussels while Liam and I had chicken and Josh had paella.  Aidan did like the big shrimp-y type of thing that Josh had in his paella too! 

 Liam is eating part of the tree                                        Playing volleyball with socks on!

Liam claims to have been taking a nappy on his "motorcar".

So it’s hard to believe that this week marks one month that we have lived in Barcelona. The time I have to say, has flown by. Part of me feels like I’ve already wasted one of my 24 months here – that I’ve taken so much time to adjust that I haven’t stopped to smell the roses and see what’s out there. The other part of me realizes that I’m on information overload and that I have been picking up many of these details but just know there is still so much to see that I need to cut myself some slack. Not sure which side is winning. All I know is that I need to take more advantage of what’s around me in the next month.

This month was filled with many good days followed by many bad days and some days are a mix of the two. Depends on the moment. We’re all adjusting at different rates. Liam seems to be the one who’s adjusted the quickest – he’s just not fazed by any of it. He’s even pointing out where the metro stations are these days, apparently becoming a city boy already! Aidan is struggling and I’ll go into more of that soon. Josh is like a pro – he belongs here. Other than his lack of sense of direction (remember the part where he told Aidan the sea was actually where the mountains are?), he’s just flourishing here. He has yet to complain about anything and makes me feel like a bit of a slacker at moments. Though he’s been my biggest supporter when I accomplish even the smallest of things (he loved the guacamole I made last night – finally something I can make from scratch!). And myself – like I said, good days and bad days. Today is a good day so hopefully that will show in my update.

Having now been here a month I’d like to share some of the lessons I’ve learned and just interesting facts that I have learned about Barcelona in my short time here. I’m sure there are many many more to be learned but this is a start. Not all of them apply to just Barcelona as a city but about our life here as well.

• I can expect the power to go out in our flat at least once a day. I cannot run more than one appliance at once or we will short a circuit. I’ve learned this lesson several times and yet seem to keep doing it.

• Spain is on it’s own time – nothing is a rush here. I’ve been waiting a month to get our heat fixed and this is not abnormal here. Everything moves at a slower pace.

• Keeping on this theme expect whatever you are doing to take much longer than normal. A quick trip to the grocery store means walking 4 blocks, shopping, walking back 4 blocks. And probably a trip to the local market needs to be done in addition to this. If you needed something non grocery you’ll need to go somewhere else and walk there as well. I’m normally so stressed at home because I need to get back for work that it’s not bothering me so much to have to take my time here – none of my clients are even online til 2PM my time here!

• The Spanish take their siesta very seriously. EVERYTHING closes down from approximately 2 (or in military time 1400) to around 5ish (1700). Only major stores are open during this time and even that is not guaranteed. It is at their discretion daily.

• The Spanish also take their holidays very seriously and there seems to be one every other week or something!

• NOTHING is open on Sunday. Do all of your shopping before 1400 on Sat (like my use of military time?) because you won’t see even the grocery store or corner market open again til Mon at 10AM. Oh and nothing opens here before 10AM – I stood in a line today to go into the grocery store and it didn’t open til 10:05. The streets are completely desolate. Imagine walking around the center of Boston and not seeing a single person – that is what it is like here.

• The people here are truly kind to children. Often when we go to a bakery, the baker will give Liam a breadstick just because. Or when we are going up the metro stairs and I’m carrying the stroller, someone will either pick up Liam (you’d never ever see someone dare to do that at home) and carry him up or try to guide him up the stairs (not realizing he’s perfectly capable, but it’s the kind gesture I appreciate). On the flip side, apparently it is ok to also reprimand someone else’s child who is misbehaving (mine would NEVER misbehave in public!!)… thankfully my kids don’t understand Spanish yet and just nod their heads.

• The people here are very patient. They are not arrogant. They understand if you are new here and at least appreciate an attempt at the language. They take more offense if you just automatically speak English but if you at least attempt Spanish they WILL help you. We should learn a lesson about that in the US.

• On the flip side, while the people are patient, the drivers are NOT. Do not dare cross a street outside of a crosswalk with a green guy. You take your life in your own hands if you cross on a blinking green or on a red. I crossed on a blinking green the other day and literally had to grab Liam by the arm and swing him up onto the sidewalk as the cars started to zoom by immediately!

• It is possible to live and survive without a car (and with the driving here, I don’t dare drive in this city). I feel better physically than I have in years and I’m sure I can attribute that to the fact that I now walk miles every day and don’t sit on my butt in the car. Of course, I also haven’t left the confines of the city which if I had a car, could easily do.

• Living with less stuff feels good. Everyone who knows me, knows that I am a shopper. Aside from the fact that I have been quite intimidated by the shops up til now (I’m feeling a bit more confident this week), I haven’t had a desire to shop anywhere other than for groceries. This could change but honestly you’ve likely seen the pictures of our flat – we have no closest or storage – where would I put what I buy? Not to mention I have to carry whatever I buy back to our flat.

• Speaking of groceries, I’ve been on this unrealistic mission to find an American grocery store. Supposedly there is a store that does sell American brands up near Aidan’s school. But my mission has not been to go there but to “believe” that one of these stores I go into may in fact be a Stop N Shop in disguise. I don’t think it’s going to happen and I probably should just appreciate the few brands I do recognize and learn to adjust.

• That in order to find what you are looking for you most likely have to go to several groceries stores and perhaps even your local market. I don’t think more than a day goes by where I do not buy food somewhere. Also, that anywhere that sells food sells nothing else. Good luck finding a nightlight, construction paper or anything non food related at the grocery store (ok, other than cleaning supplies like dishwasher detergent).

• Technology – We love skype and facebook. We wish all of you would download Skype and call us. It’s free!! And even better if you get a webcam and then we can see all your pretty/handsome faces when we talk to you too. I don’t know how expats did this type of trip in the days before Skype and the internet. We’ve been able to keep everyone up to date and stay in touch easily. It’s made being away from home much easier.

• We've been lucky so far and are starting to make some expat friends who are helping us (and vice versa) thru this transition to Spanish life.

• Barcelona is supposed to be a fashion mecca. It could be perhaps that since becoming a mom my fashion hasn’t extended much beyond jeans and a tee or sweater. But in my opinion, the fashion in Barcelona looks like the 80s threw up. It’s such an odd mix and every day I see someone who’s fashion sense blows my mind. The other day I saw a girl in daisy duke shorts with black torn nylons. A good look??? Uhhhh no… I also have seen an amazing amount of fur, especially on older women. Apparently PETA doesn’t have a presence over here! However, I have yet to see anyone walking the streets in sweats or anything like them. You get dressed to leave the house – there is no running to the store in your sweatpants here!!! It has made me more aware of what I’m wearing and I have yet to wear just a tee shirt here – I actually look at my ensemble of clothing before I leave the house. A fashion icon in the making??? We shall see!

• The public transit system here overall is very easy to use. I only wish they had a map where they would overlay the color lines (similar to boston they have red, green, yellow, etc) to where they go. Instead, my maps all show where the stops are but not which line they are. That would be my only complaint. But the trains are VERY clean and people are very courteous. No pushing, shoving, etc. As a matter of fact I have had a ton of people, including elderly, offer up their seats since I have a small child with me. I have yet to take anyone up on their offer, but they are kind nonetheless.

• With the exception of the occasional call at midnight (6PM at home), working virtually from here has been a piece of cake. The toughest challenge I’ve had is that when I send an email out at 9AM (3AM your time), it frustrates me to not get a quick response. So I tend to send out all my emails early, go out for a bit with Liam and all my responses start filtering in while he naps. So far, that’s our system and it seems to be working.

• That is ok to applaud myself for the things I would find a joke at home – you know like locating a dry cleaner (and communicating with said dry cleaner). Here it’s an accomplishment and I must look at it as one.

• That I must find some friends for the kids in our area or I may go crazy… or they may go crazy. Regardless, must find friends. Oh and a tennis court for Aidan (they all seem to require memberships which is rather annoying). This is my one area I feel like I’m failing – kids and tennis. It’s all they want and I haven’t been able to provide it in a month. Hopefully month 2 goes better in this area.

• There are tons of expats here if you just look. I joined several websites that are for expats and they have meet up groups all the time. Now I just need to find some childfree time to take advantage of that.

• That I am unlikely to find daycare for Liam before he starts school in Sept and that I need to come to terms that he may be with me every day til Sept. I know I should appreciate that but for those of you with 2 year olds you’ll know that he and I may hurt each other if this is the case. I’m doing my best though and that’s all I can do. I will say that I enjoy the time with him immensely and getting some quality time with him alone that I hadn’t had before since up til fall it was both he and Aidan home with me. He’s just exhausting!!!

• Nude people are not just for the beach. Apparently if you have a permit you can be naked anywhere in this city. Should make for some interesting sightseeing this summer!!

• With practice and a lot of patience I may come home to the States with a new found ability to cook (I know, amazing isn’t it?). I’m doing my best to learn at least some basic things.

• Most importantly, it’s ok to take a leap of faith and just do something new.

On Tuesday I was starting to feel better and took a schmooze with Liam. We first hit another grocery store (I know, I’m obsessed) and then walked thru the Born / Gottica area a little bit. I would like to first point out that the Bagel place, the one bagel place, has closed. I had hoped against all hope that the rumor was not true but not only was it closed but they were already tearing out the inside as I walked by. Good bye bagel shop. Your bagels were a bit bland but they were a taste from home and I thank you for that.

After walking past the bagel place we came across a café that advertised xurros amb xocolata calenta (churros with chocolate but in catalan, at least that’s what I was hoping it said since I don’t read catalan as well as I do Spanish). Now I had been told that I NEED to get churros with chocolate and should go into any place that has them. So taking that leap of faith, I walked into a café with Liam and ordered them – I totally butchered the pronunciation (the x in catalan is kind of like a ch like in champagne) but she got the picture and had me sit down to wait with Liam. They were delicious and Liam especially enjoyed the chocolate which he just continued to suck off his churro and redip. Yes folks, he is a double, triple, quadruple and more dipper… he’s probably the reason I’m sick. He caught an elderly gentleman’s attention who was kind and gave him a piece of candy and said something to him I don’t understand. Now while I’ve said before that I’m all for the kindness of strangers here, he still was a stranger so while I let Liam hold the candy, by no means was he allowed to eat that candy. But it was still a very nice gesture.   

 

Done with our churros and chocolate, we headed back for home. Nothing eventful for the afternoon as we were getting ready for our big mission of the day – haircuts for the boys! I know, I know, how hard could it be? But from what I can tell there is no snip-it’s here or Kidz Adventure Cuts. So what shall I do? Do I assume we can walk in? I can’t call to make an appt because they won’t understand me and vice versa. I can look in the windows to see what looks like a decent place and hope for the best. I went with the final option. Aidan got off the bus and off we went in search of a hair salon. A barber shop would have been great and I’ve seen them around but can’t remember any in our area. Now I like my kids hair to be a little longish – not super long, but I don’t like a wiffle/close cut either. They both have bangs and I like that. We’ve had some bad haircuts at home so I honestly can’t complain too much because it’s just a matter of finding the right person and salon. They were both very well behaved and we made it thru without a communication issue. She definitely chopped their bangs a little short and they currently look like a younger version of Dumb and Dumber but it will grow out. The only complaint I have is I don’t think this woman has ever cut layers before and so their hair looks a bit flat with no life. I know, I know..they are boys. But boys need style too!!!

Julie

Jumping over the hurdles...

I have to say that in all of my talk about success and failure if I had to pick one this week, I would have to go with success. I attempted several things I had not done before and while not all came out as my goal intended, the fact that I tried made them a triumph to me. It’s days like these I need to remember to reflect back on during those times when I feel like I’m just floundering. And those times of despair will happen again – I just need to remember that there are more pros than cons to being here.

So my week hasn’t been super eventful but it’s been good. For those that know me, you know that the food here was and has been a little bit of a challenge for me. That doesn’t mean that I’m not eating – most definitely I am. But I’m eating the same things over and over again essentially. However I’ve actually tried a number of new foods and enjoyed them. That’s a big step for me! But when I go to the grocery store, while I’m able to walk thru a lot faster now because I’m becoming familiar with the brands, many are not the brands (ok the majority) that I’m accustomed to. And I’m the kind of girl that when it comes to my food, am very brand conscious. I do think Skippy tastes different than Jif and I dare anyone to tell me otherwise! By the way, they have neither here so at some point I may need to try the Spanish brand. Thank god I shipped 5 large jars of peanut butter here – at least that will last me a while! Anyways, so I decided at the end of last week that I would start attempting to cook. Yes, you read it here… Julie Marcus is going to cook.
Many of you know all about my culinary skills. Though I should point out, the lack of culinary skills. My specialty – lasagna or spaghetti. Purdue chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, baked chicken with Italian seasoning on it… umm….ummm… I think that may be it. Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Poor Josh enjoys cooking and just isn’t here enough to do it and I’m just a mess in the kitchen. For 15 years he’s been telling me we have this thing called a timer in our kitchen and I should consider using it. Eh…what for???

So I put together my list of ingredients and their Spanish equivalent when I went to the store at the end of last week. My goal this week is 2 things – pancakes from scratch (and I don’t mean Bisquick as I’ve already used my Bisquick mix that I shipped!) and my own spaghetti sauce. So right from the first moment, I’m at an impasse. Not all of my ingredients are readily available here. Now, I may not be a cook but I do know that when cooking, unlike baking, there is some wiggle room as far as the type of ingredients and their quantity. I just figure I’ll wing this. I’ll follow the instructions as best I can and let’s just hope for something edible.
First on my list – pancakes. I know, I know… this isn’t brain surgery right? I follow the instructions to a T. Ok, I missed the vanilla but how necessary can ½ teaspoon be right? Apparently important because they came out a little rubbery and tasteless. Josh said they just needed more sugar. I think I need to find a different recipe for pancakes – feel free to send one along if you have it.

Second on my list – tomato sauce. I’m a pasta addict. But I’m very particular about my sauce. I by no means make my sauce at home. I take it from the jar and that’s just fine with me. It’s easy, it tastes good…it works for me. Unfortunately I’m not very impressed with the jar stuff here. So I asked my friend Sue for her

recipe since I’ve had her sauce and liked it. Took one look at it and moved it to the bottom of the pile (sorry Sue) – looks too complex for a first timer. I need to work up to that one.  
So I went on to foodnetwork.com and found myself a nice, simple recipe. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/easy-tomato-sauce-recipe/index.html Looks easy to me. Off I go to the grocery store to collect my ingredients. Oh oh…no tomato paste. Hmmm…not at this store either. Ok, looks like in addition to vanilla, tomato paste will also be something hard to find here. Knowing that it gives the sauce a bit more flavor I figure I probably should have it but I can probably do without. I’ll just sub with a can of pure tomato sauce instead. Yeah…that didn’t work. It definitely affected the consistency. It doesn’t taste bad, it’s actually somewhat better than the jar stuff…but it’s a bit (ok a lot) on the thin side. I also found it strange that my yellow onion was actually a red onion on the inside??? Not sure why that was. So I’ll try it again next week. Oh and I tried to add pepper only the pepper that Josh bought is peppercorns, which is fine in the US because to my knowledge if you buy most peppercorns in the US, they come in their own pepper mill. Yeah not so much here. So I have peppercorns and no mill. Which means no pepper in my sauce either. 

0-2 now in the cooking department. I have a few on my list for next week – I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. And I may attempt the sauce thing again too. I’m thinking pizza dough and perhaps mac n cheese. I also saw this really yummy looking pear appetizer (that I could then translate into a tapas) that required blue cheese (I’ve seen that here) but also requires apple cider (which I have not seen) so we’ll see if I can get all the ingredients for that.

That was Monday. Again, adventurous in the kitchen (for me) but not so adventurous outside. I am learning that if I need to go to the store and I don’t know what it’s called in Spanish it’s good to write the translation next to the item on the list. Josh brought home vanilla sugar one day thinking it was salt. I probably would have made the same mistake. I’ll need to find a use for that vanilla sugar at some point too…
Tuesday I decided to make another attempt at making my blackberry work here. I think it might just be a Spain thing that it doesn’t work all the time. I can get calls… I can get emails (most of the time but at least once a day need to turn the phone on and off to reset the email)…. I can get texts. But for some reason I can very rarely get on the internet and I can’t get any downloaded programs, like my translator (essential) to work. The Bright Store which is an English speaking cell store once again couldn’t really help me…you know, unless I wanted to spend 300€ on a Spanish blackberry (I’m using Josh’s blackberry from the US with a Spanish SIM card – mine was not an international one). Um…not really.

Feeling a little put down from the lack of success at the cell store, though I found it quite easily which was good, I decided to take a walk and see if we could find the Godiva which I knew shouldn’t be too far from where Liam and I were. So we walked til we found it. However, was slightly disappointed that they don’t carry the same selection and seem to have an extraordinary amount of praline flavored chocolate. Praline not being my favorite. In her broken English (much better than my very broken Spanish) she explained that the US has different production that Europe. Makes sense. I bought some chocolate just the same and am a happy camper.

Since I managed to pull off getting chocolate I was feeling pretty confident now and decided to walk down towards Placa de Catalunya to El Cortes Ingles (never ended up making it to the store). This place is supposed to be like Macy’s (only not as nice) but is something like 7 floors. And supposedly they carry American/English items. I’m there. But I had to stop for lunch on my way with Liam. I’ll be honest, I’m getting sick of croissants and didn’t want to stop at a pastry shop to get him one. But most restaurants don’t open for lunch until after 1 or 2 here. I did go into a Haagen Daaz like none other I’d been into in order to get Liam a water. It had comfortable booth seating and they had a sign for this chocolate fondue that looked like it was to die for. From what I could gather from the picture (because that’s how I read these days – it’s like being in preschool), they give you mini balls of ice cream that you dip in the fondue. Yeah, I’ll be going back there to do that one night!

Since I really wanted a meal for Liam we continued on down the street til I saw this place advertising frankfurts (hot dogs) and churros con chocolate. Cristy had mentioned I should go in anywhere that advertises these churros with chocolate because I must try them. Ok, so let’s try that. The place was called Happy Bar and Restaurant. Yes, that is the Spanish name – can you tell they cater to tourists? It appears to be like the TGI Fridays of Spain…quality stuff. They had both an English and Spanish menu which was helpful. What wasn’t helpful was the waitress who hated us from the moment we walked in. Keep in mind this is the FIRST time I have gone into a restaurant on my own without another adult – other than a pastry shop where I can just point to what I want and hand over my money. As I’ve mentioned before restaurants here are not like those at home. This is a leisurely process. However, this was a little too leisurely for me. Upon our seating (ourselves because that’s what it looked like to me), I immediately asked for a leche frio (cold milk… most milk here is room temp or else for small children they heat it). 20 mins later, still waiting for my cold milk for Liam. Another 10 or so go by and I think, this isn’t so much leisurely as she hates us. She finally comes over and I order a pizza and a salad and a water for me. But wait it gets better. I can’t open the water. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s a glass bottle so my thought is one of two things – twist cap or bottle opener. I try and try in vain to twist the cap. Nothing. Ok, I’ve got a college education… I can beat this bottle of water and become victorious. At home, I may even joke with the waiter and say, hey, how do I open this??? Here, I have absolutely no idea how to joke with her much less ask how do I open this? I know abrir is to open but I don’t know how to ask How do you open? If I just say abre, I feel like I’m being demanding and saying…Open this. So I sit there thirsty…

Our food finally comes and Liam’s not thrilled with the pizza. To be honest, it’s just ok. Not horrible…I’ve had worse. But ok. I eat my salad and try to convince him to eat his pizza. When Liam is lying on his side of the booth with his feet on the table I take this as a signal that he is now done with this meal and wants to

move on. Another 10 mins and I finally spot our waitress and ask for the check. All in all, I thought it went pretty well. We were fed and no one suffered any major trauma. Oh and I brought the water back to the flat and when Cristy came by I asked her… how do you open this. Turns out it’s a pull tab – kind of like you would have on a plastic sports bottle type of water. Whoever heard of a pull tab on a glass bottle? Yeah I felt foolish. But at least it was in the comfort of my own home that I felt that way!

I’m going to call Tuesday my best day here yet just because I tried new things on my own that I wasn’t comfortable with. It was a rush to go in somewhere and while not feeling comfortable per se, felt that I could get the job done somehow. I also met Jami (Sven’s wife) and Sidney (Tristan’s wife) on Tuesday afternoon. So I’m slowly making more friends here.

I had actually been emailing with Jami for the last week and so it was nice to meet her on Tuesday before I was actually supposed to meet her on Wednesday. Weds Liam and I met up with Jami and Gina (another Vistaprint wife) who have both been here for 2 years. They were both incredibly nice and we had nice easy conversation which was great. We went up to Parc Guell which is just north of here… like uphill. Yeah, my tush is going to be in great shape when I get home. Pushing Liam (who’s 30 lbs) in his stroller straight uphill. I’m sore today to say the least! Parc Guell isn’t your traditional park though it has some of what you might consider walking trails. There is lots to see like a few buildings that were designed by Gaudi and one that he lived in. It was a beautiful place and Liam enjoyed running around. The challenge being that there were no barriers and as we continued to go up and up, the drop became higher and higher and it wasn’t like it was a hill you would roll down if you fell – these were just drops. Like 20+ foot drops. Some onto rocks. Try keeping a 2 year old away from the edge. Yeah right! But it was absolutely beautiful!

 

Entrance to the park                   What you see when you enter               Gaudi's house

The view of Tibidabo from Parc Guell                           Jami and Liam walking up to the best view area

                                                                                         (notice no railings)

View from the top - gorgeous!                                       Liam and I at the top - 20 ft drop behind him

  

 Jami & Liam at the top              Not sure what this is but it's cool           Jami & Liam beating up the  

                                                                                                                 "monsters" he "found"

   

Liam & I at the bottom of the stairs... watch out for the dragon!

After Parc Guell it was time to start heading back to get Aidan. I had told Jami about my fear of the
commuter rail (called the FGC here) and the bus. Mainly because I hadn’t taken them and was unsure of the process compared to the metro which I feel pretty comfy on by now. She had kindly offered to take me as close to the school before she had head off on her own. Only she and Gina forgot what it was like to have a 2 year old in tow with his stroller. So when we are in the grocery store (an unexpected but pleasant stop since it’s near me and about 3x larger than the store I now go to) and I said, you know, I’ve got to be at the school in a ½ hour, are we good on time? And she said yes… well I trusted her. And why shouldn’t I? I’d do it again. And if we didn’t have Liam with us, we may have made it. So we managed to get on the FGC and I asked Gina the time – 3:35. Shit, Aidan gets out of school at 3:45 and I still need to get to the FGC to the bus and then walk two blocks after that. So I told them, you know, you helped me conquer the FGC, let’s just find me a cab when we get off because I don’t have time to figure out the bus and then walk because I’m already late. Thankfully, I got there right when other parents were doing their pick ups too.
Wednesday was probably my busiest day I have had here so far.

Because after our trip to Parc Guell and then to pick up Aidan, we had our first playdate here. How fantastic! This little girl, Isa, is in Aidan’s class. She reminds me a lot of Lindsey who lives across the street from us at home. And the two of them just hit it off on the first day of school and the mom was the one that totally took me under her wing that first day (go back to the entry about the café after the first day of school). I met up with the au pair at BFIS when picking up Aidan. She’s a lovely girl here for 9 months before she gets married and starts grad school. And you could see how excited Aidan was to go to Isa’s. The best part for me?? We had to take the bus. Now not only did I take the FGC on Wed, I took the bus too. The best part for Aidan? A playdate with a new friend.

The playdate was a little different from home because they have an au pair and it was expected that she would watch all the kids, including Liam and the adults (there was another mom with her son) were in the formal library (which I think was almost as big as my whole flat) where drinks and cookies were served. We had great conversation and laughed a lot. But the atmosphere overall was very different from what I am used to at home. Not good or bad, just different. I didn’t realize where the time was going and before you know it, it was almost 7 and my kids haven’t had dinner yet. I don’t know that Aidan and Liam will ever make it late enough for a Spanish dinner…perhaps in the summer when it’s light out later. But normally they are in bed by 7:30 / 8. We didn’t even get home til 7:40. Oh and it was my date night that I was looking forward to. Only now I’m exhausted and still need to feed the kids, get them ready for bed and fix myself up. The last didn’t really happen. But thanks to Cristy and Shawn (thanks guys!) Josh and I got to go out last night which was fabulous. However, we are old and pathetic and were home by around 10:30. Meanwhile we didn’t leave here til almost 8:30. Every restaurant I’ve been to has been leisurely…except the one we went to last night. It doesn’t matter. We had a few great hours of non kid related conversation and that was worth it! We really need to find a regular sitter here so we can do that more often. It’s on my list of things to do. We hung out with Shawn and Cristy for another hour or so when we got back and it was so nice just relaxing with other adults.

And before I sign off for now, I also found out while we were chatting with Shawn and Cristy last night that yes, in fact, Ricky Schroeder’s kids go to Aidan’s school. See I was right…that was Ricky Schroeder I saw back in November (if you don’t know what I’m talking about go to my Nov entry regarding our discovery trip). Well.. I’m feeling a bit on the crappy side today and must save my energy for girls night today. Will update in the next few days to let you know about any more mis-adventures going on here.

Julie

Weekend update

The weekend was a good one overall. Friday Aidan brought home Chester, the raccoon, from school for having good behavior and one of our jobs was to take pictures thru the weekend of Aidan teaching Chester things. We then had to write a sentence and add it to the class book about what Aidan taught Chester. We decided to teach Chester to share. A good lesson to be learned when one has a sibling. Ahhh… if only it would work with his sibling. One can dream perhaps.

Josh had his company holiday party (to which spouses unfairly were not invited this year) on Friday night so I had the night to myself. I’m sure you read the blog update from then. I had a relaxing evening watching my slingbox and my DVR’d Greys and Private Practice. Doesn’t get much better than that!

Saturday was a nice day here – mid 50s perhaps. I would have loved to have gone to the beach with the kids and take them bike riding down there. But the mall won out and so we hopped on the metro to head down to Poblenou (another neighborhood) – which is also the area where Josh works. The kids hadn’t seen Josh’s building. I would say the funniest part of the day was when I pointed to the right as we were crossing the street and told Aidan at the end of the street was the Mediterranean Sea. Josh said, no it’s to the left. And I said…ummm…those are mountains to your left. Don’t you work here and have a view from your office? Apparently Josh is still trying to get his bearings here ;)

So we went down to Diagonal Mar – one of the larger malls here. Malls are still a relatively new thing in Barcelona. Interestingly, I saw several people with dogs walking in the mall – I didn’t see any in the stores, but the fact that they were allowed in the mall itself was a new experience! I’m sure Jake and Sailor would just love to go shopping!!! We spotted a Toys R Us (though Josh says it’s not so great – must work on that Gena!) and one other toy store. Not so impressive. There were tons of cafes there and some nice looking stores. Toting the kids along, I honestly didn’t go into any stores…we just kind of schmoozed along. We grabbed lunch at a small café that seemed to specialize in hot dogs and hamburger types of meals. It was all that was open other than McDonalds at 1PM. Yes, 1PM and that’s pretty much it. Lunch starts later here. Anyways, I actually did the ordering at the café. It was I’m sure rather hilarious to watch. Hamburguesa sin (without) and then waving my hands back and forth to say nothing since I have no idea how to actually order that. Then hamburgesa con queso – hamburger with cheese. Ordered water as well. All and all a success. Josh ordered Liam’s hot dog and I have no recollection of how you say that so go Josh!! The kids devoured their food but when my hamburger came we realized it was a bit pinkish. Turns out we think it was pork and not regular cow-hamburger. Everything here is pork. You would think that a hamburger is a hamburger. Apparently not. Aidan, however, loved his and devoured the entire thing! And Liam enjoyed his hot dog (they are super size here).

Now we’ve got to be on our way because I’m meeting Cristy for a tapas crawl. She found out about it thru a group called Meet Up that I need to join (apparently Josh has already joined, unbeknownst to me). This was a group of all women and the organizer took us on a tapas tour as well as a bit of the city. So it was fun and informative. We got to meet some very nice women – there were 8 of us in the group. Three of them are from the US but currently living in London. There was our team leader and her partner and then Donna. Oh Donna… she latched on to Cristy and I and was a bit of a downer. I can’t say we were sad to see her leave early.

Anyways, we tried several tapas places – some more traditional than others. The first place we went to had pinchos. Pinchos are tapas that have toothpicks in them. It’s a self service bar where you pick what you want and bring it back to your table. And then you pay by the honor system (imagine that!) based on how many toothpicks you have at the end of your meal. I have to say, I wasn’t thrilled with the ones I choose, but then I’m picky. I did enjoy the house wine though!

After the first tapas place we walked around the Born and Barria Gotica (both neighborhoods) and saw some absolutely beautiful architecture. Marina, a local who has also lived in London for some time, was very informative. Though I have to say, while some of what she told me will stick, it’s the information I gathered from Cristy and another woman from the group. This being regarding nudity in Barcelona. Yes, you’ve all heard of the nude beaches here. However, did you know that public nudity is legal here? You do need to get a permit (where you would carry it, I don’t know) and you can’t just go to city hall and say, I’d like to be nude. Doesn’t fly that way. You need to tell them something like you are expressing your artistic self or that you are fighting the establishment – you know, that kind of thing. So once you get your permit, you can be naked ANYWHERE!! Apparently from what they told me, there is a body building couple that rides bikes around the city naked and a guy that has his nether regions completely tattooed. All should make for some interesting conversation with the kids once the warmer weather arrives and we see random naked people!!!

Sorry to have digressed, but that was a very interesting point that we were discussing there! After our tour which included Santa Maria del Mar – a breathtakingly beautiful church (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_del_Mar,_Barcelona), we headed over to Bubo, a chocolate company! YES!!! I had no idea this was one of the stops! We had an English speaking woman give us a tour and tell us all about their chocolate. It was very frou frou chocolate – not like Lindt or Godiva (and no I don’t consider Godiva frou frou) – it was very artistic looking. Supposedly, the owners are very well known and the chocolate is supposed to be amazing. http://www.bubo.ws/. Honestly, being a bit of a chocolate connoisseur myself since I can't go a day without ;) I was impressed by the artistry in the chocolate but the taste wasn’t anything to write home about (and yet, here I am writing home). Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but I bought some chocolate to take home with me and it was pricey - 1€ for a small bon bon (I bought 6!), 1€ for a macaroon (they were adorable) and 3.5€ for these tiny little cakes. I bought 2 cakes and I’m eating the chocolate moose right now. I’ve definitely have better and won’t pay that much again for it – it’s good but not THAT good.

Now that the chocolate tour is done, it’s now 5PM (or 1600 as they say here) and so we have a 2 hour break before our next 2 stops. Since we were in Cristy’s neighborhood we stopped at her flat and I finally got to meet Shawn who I think may be Josh’s twin. Her flat was completely different than mine (as is her neighborhood) but absolutely fits them perfectly! And what I loved about it was that it actually looked very Spanish and it had history to it. I wish I had taken some pictures. The best part was their rooftop balcony that was a part of their flat and they don’t have to share it with anyone. They had a beautiful view from it too! Don’t get me wrong, our flat is perfect for us, but it’s very contemporary (not necessarily a bad thing) and has absolutely nothing that screams that it’s Spanish other than the European appliances and plugs. Oh and the lack of closets!

After shooting the shit with Shawn for 2 hrs we headed back towards Bubo to meet up with our group for our next stop. This next tapas bar, Inopia was very different from the first and served much more traditional tapas food. What was interesting about this place was that there was only one, yes one, table in the whole place. It was mainly a tapas bar. And the food was fantastic! I think we were there for a good 2 hours just chatting away and enjoying the food. From there we went to our final destination which interestingly had Celtic roots and was very much focused on seafood tapas, they called it Galician tapas. I had the most amazing mussels ever and I don’t think they had anything on them – they were just steamed and that was it – they didn’t need anything else. They also had those fabulous peppers from the other night with the sea salt – yum!!!

From there we all headed home – a fabulous night had by all. And I will definitely be joining Meet Up and hopefully over time will get to know some familiar faces in these groups. It was a great way to meet some new and interesting people. Honestly other than Marina and Hillel who also helped organize, I doubt we’ll see the others again but that’s ok – they were great to talk to for an evening and get to know where they came from, why they were here, etc etc.

Today, Sunday…not the best day. Aidan’s having a rough time adjusting I think. He’s been having a lot of meltdowns lately and while he is a very high strung child at times, there seem to be a lot more of them happening. Today was one of the worst ones (though we had one worse since we’ve been here but it was in the comfort of our home). He just started falling apart on the way to the park. Now in all fairness, he said he didn’t want to go to the park but we thought it would be nice to go as a family and enjoy ourselves. In hindsight, we should not have vetoed his opinion and listened to what he had to say – and we need to be better about that. So on the way to the park, he just started freaking and I told him that he and I needed to go home. So he freaked out more. To the point where I was trying to pick him up to carry him home (Josh was going to continue on with Liam) and he kept running away from me. No joke, people were stopped on the sidewalk watching us. It was all rather mortifying. He finally headed home but twice intentionally ran out of my line of vision which is a huge no no. And then I saw the police heading down our way and thought, OMG, what if one of those people called the police and thought we were trying to take this kid??? Thankfully that was just my overactive imagination! And so that was our day – Aidan was in desperate need of a nap and so we just laid low. It really wasn’t so bad but I think Josh and I were disappointed because we really just wanted to do something fun outside the house with them. There will be other weekends I’m sure to do that, but a bummer since Aidan gets home at 5 during the week and Josh at 7:30 so there is no time to spend with the 2 of them outside really during the week.  For those of you not on Skype I ask you to please get on.  Aidan has only had one friend contact him so far and he really missed everyone.  Josh and I can stay in touch via email but Aidan really needs to see and talk to his friends to connect.  We ended the day on a positive note with everyone in a much better mood and another short trip to the park (well another for Liam but Aidan missed the first trip) but Josh and I both really need to listen better to what the kids tell us and act accordingly (and vice versa!). 

Anyways, that was our weekend in a nutshell. We’re adjusting more and more each day to our surroundings and making new discoveries. Every day is a new adventure to be had. On the agenda this week – date night!! Cristy and Shawn were very kind and have offered to watch the kids on Wednesday night for us so we can go out. We have yet to go out as a couple in our 20 days here and so I think we are really missing out on an opportunity to spend some quality time exploring the city just the two of us without the kids trying to get our attention at every moment. So very much looking forward to that. Josh has Spanish class Mon and Wed. Mon I have a ton of work to get done (that’s a good thing), Tues I’m going out with Brenda and Cristy during the day. And Thurs night will be girls night this week. All things to look forward too!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Miss you all!

Julie

Week in review - making progress...

As I’ve mentioned before, the process of moving to a foreign country and adjusting is going to be in baby steps. And it has been. So far I’ve had my ups (mostly ups thankfully) and some downs. But in order to take control of my life here, I need to make adjustments to my life. It’s not the same life I had in the US and I need to come to terms with that. My life here is completely different save for my work – and even with my work, instead of working mornings, I’m now working evenings – so even that has changed!

I’ve decided that every day, at least for now, I need to have a to do list. Now, I always had a to do list by my side at home and it always felt good to accomplish something on it. But here I feel like that to do list is going to take on a new life of its own. Things as simple as picking up the dry cleaning. Or today, I had to make a decision on my cell phone from home – do I reduce my plan or do I transfer the number to vonage. I’ve been putting off the research and just decided to get it done. Not a huge milestone, but something I can now check off my list. Well, maybe not check off – I made the decision but I still have to perform the action!

I’ve also decided that every day I will walk a minimum of a mile. I really don’t think that will be hard to do on a daily basis but given that my first 2+ weeks here have had at least one of those weeks full of rain, sometimes it’s hard to motivate to leave the house. I’m actually becoming familiar with my “regular” route that I take – usually out the door, down to the end of the street and to the right – that takes me to the metro, to Aidan’s bus stop and to the market. I never go left. The other day, I went left, if only for a little bit. And tomorrow – I’ll go left again because there is a lot to check out down that way too. Baby steps I tell you. Baby steps. And every time I set foot out the door, I see something I didn’t see before, even on my regular route. Stores who’s names I now understand – like the dry cleaner that we spent forever looking for. Now that I know it’s a tintoreria – I’ve found another 3 since then.

I finally set up a playdate for Aidan. I don’t know why I was hesitating. Yes, I do… the mother speaks English, though not as her first language, but I don’t speak Spanish and I feel badly calling her when she is from here and me not speaking the language. Her daughter is in Aidan’s class and she is the one that helped me at the café on the first day of school when I needed to change Liam. So we are meeting after school next Wed for a playdate. Now the question is – what does a playdate consist of here in Spain?

I’ve got to remember to look back at my blog for these good days – the ones where even the littlest item is an accomplishment. Thursday I decided to do something “different” with Liam. By different I mean, not walking aimlessly around town and having him be stroller bound. So today, today we went to the beach! Yes to the beach.
One of the things I do love about Barcelona that I have not had the opportunity to do yet, is to explore the beachfront. They have this amazing bike / walking path right along the Mediterranean and the beaches stretch forever. Liam and I hopped on the metro with his little motorcycle (motorcar as he calls it) – I would have taken a picture of him sitting on it in the metro but I couldn’t hold my foot under his wheel grab my camera and then angle in for a good one. But he was funny. We rode his motorcar down to the water and along the boardwalk for a bit. We stopped for a snack by the boats which he loved looking at. And we even had some lunch. I managed to get him ham and cheese and myself a crepe with chocolate. I was all set until I was waiting for my crepe (the rest was on my tray) and the girl at the counter seemed annoyed that I was waiting and told me in English to go sit. Again with the protocol – I figured that it was a seat yourself place which it is, with no wait staff, only counter help… so wouldn’t you wait for your food? Oh well… I got us the food right? Then we meandered down to the beach area. We saw our first nude sunbather – it wasn’t pretty… I’m only sorry that Aidan and Josh missed it because they would have gotten a kick out of it. I thought of taking a picture just for the fact that it’s something I haven’t seen, but then realized that might be a bit invasive to the sunbather. Liam had a blast just dancing on the beach and throwing sand around. He wasn’t thrilled at having to come home to take a nap (and for me to work!). I do love that we were home by 1, I had him down for a nap by 1:30 and was on my computer before 2 and it wasn’t even 8AM at home so it’s not like I missed any of my work day per se.

Liam when we first got to the beach - so psyched!!                 Montjuic in the distance

 

Marina with the mountains in the background                 Mmmmm....chocolate crepes!

Liam attempted jamon y queso (ham n cheese)                 Little area of restaurants by the beach

Liam touches his first palm tree                                        Pushing his motorcycle down the ramp

Doing a little dance                                                           Swimming in the sand.  Look it's the Med!!

Thursday night I headed out on the town with Cristy. We went to Ciudad Condal. It looks like a tiny little place on Placa de Catalunya. But it turns out that looks are deceiving. And the place is huge, especially by Spanish standards that I’ve seen so far. And they had great sangria too! Awesome conversation, easy conversation and just a relaxing evening. And I tried some new foods as well, which for those that know me, know that’s a BIG step! I have to say they have these tiny sautéed green peppers that are covered in sea salt (Spaniards love salt) – seriously I could eat them all day. I also had calcots – which are these long green onions that are grilled. You peel back the skin, then they have this Romanesque sauce you dip them in, tip back your head and suck it down. Messy but delicious. As a matter of fact, I had seen them on Anthony Bordain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel a while back which made it even cooler to try them out. To watch the episode you can go to: http://www.fancast.com/tv/Anthony-Bourdain%3A-No-Reservations/97436/1353305793/Spain/videos but you have to login to your Comcast acct to watch it. I could definitely get used to this tapas thing – lots of things to try and you fill up quicker than if you had a big meal. Dining out here is definitely a different experience than at home. I’m almost even getting used to going out to eat at 8 rather than being home at 8!

Today was Friday and the big NIE day. I’ve been stressing about this day for a while now. Going to a government office where I cannot for the life of me speak Spanish. Originally I was going to be on my own to do this since Vistaprint’s HR wasn’t going to go with me. But in the end, there were a few new families arriving and I have to say thank god Elise was with me! She actually told me the woman that I dealt with was rather rude – honestly I wouldn’t have had any idea. The process in and of itself it a bit of a pain but not complicated. The paperwork is literally one page plus a copy of my passport. Simple stuff. I was told thru Vistaprint HR that the kids should get NIE numbers (because Brenda happened to mention it so I asked) and did they both need to be present or could Aidan go to school. HR said that after consulting their legal dept, that Aidan did not need to be present. Well… unfortunately legal counsel was wrong. Honestly I can’t be annoyed by it because it’s a government thing – I’m sure if legal counsel checked with 5 different people, those people would have given 5 different answers. Similar to being in the US… finally a similarity! So anyways, we get there and guess what??? Aidan needs to be there. So we were able to get mine and Liam’s taken care of (Josh did his in Dec) but now I will have to go back to take care of Aidan’s. Now what’s involved in getting an NIE number? It’s just a sheet of paper that says where we live, where we are from, what is our country of nationality and how long are we here for. Easy stuff. Then you take this piece of paper and a copy of your passport down to the NIE office where you sit down and they type a bunch of things up and then hand you a piece of paper that you then need to take to a bank down the street where you pay a 10€ fee only to then return back to the office to show that you have paid the fee and they give you back your certificate with your number. You ask – “why can’t they just accept payment when you are there the first time?” Good question! My answer – “because it’s Spain!”. There is no rational answer and guess what, I get the honor and privilege to go do it again!

I will say that despite my really good week so far here, I felt a little defeated after the NIE problem. But it was short lived. While I did have some plans today, nothing was formal and so when I had an opportunity to make a new friend I chose that rather than fix my cell phone (yes, again). Mim is a co-worker of Josh’s wife and they just arrived from the UK. She’s got two little boys – her oldest being a little older than Liam. But we got along great (they just arrived this week) and had an impromptu playdate for the boys. Although Liam was a little grumpy today I think he was excited to have the opportunity to play with someone other than me (and that makes me happy). I see lots of playdates in the future.  AND we went into a cafe - I finally went into a cafe.  And guess what?  Same as going into a cafe at home - you order at the counter and then you sit down and enjoy your food/beverage.  Why did I not do this sooner???  I feel foolish now!

So all in all, I have to say this has been a good week. I know they won’t all be like this, but if this is a sign of things to come, I feel like I’m going to be ok. And that’s a big jump for me this week. We can make this work. I can make this work.

Julie

Take that Spain!!!!

With all valleys come peaks... with all ups some downs... anyways, you get the point.  So far I'm finding that there are most definitely going to be good days and there are going to be some not so good days.  You saw my not so good day over the weekend.  But progressively, things are getting better.  That doesn't mean that things aren't challenging or that every hurdle is an easy one, but while I may knock over some of those hurdles and even possibly jump over a few, I'm at least running in the race.

Overall the last few days have been uneventful.  I think mainly that is because it's been raining...again.  Monday my dryer was installed though I didn't get to use it til today.  That's because it's installed outside and while it has a granite casing above and next to it... I just feel that water (from the rain) and electricity (from the dryer) probably shouldn't mix.  Though when I used it today it was an awesome feeling.  I've never ever been so excited to have dry clothes!  I may use it again tomorrow ;)  I thought they were coming to fix the heat in the kids' room on Monday as well, but getting used to the way Spain runs and nothing is ever an emergency here.  My landlord assures me it will get taken care of soon.  I wonder if I held back my rent if that would help???  Probably not... And they've been very very nice to us.  However, my kids still have a space heater in a room with no fire alarms.  By the time it's fixed, it will be warm out...

Anyways, so that was Monday.  Non eventful.  But that's ok.  I got some work done which was a good thing - a necessary thing.  Because not only do I need to work, but I actually enjoy my work.  So it felt good to get semi-back on track this week.  I proactively asked clients for business this week which is a step in the right direction - if I'm asking for work, then I'm ready to do some work to get that business.  All good there.  And so far, the time difference has not affected me getting my job done - if anything, I have a bunch of work done before anyone is even out of bed in the US! 

Tuesday, again relatively non eventful.  Rain, rain, go away.  It was probably my most productive work day since we've been here and we've covered now how that's a great motivator for me.  I felt ready to take on the world.  And was excited to go out with Cristy in the evening... until unfortunately she had to cancel.  I can't blame her - she was in breakdown mode.  Not to take advantage of her emotional state, but it made me feel good to know that I'm not the only one this is happening too.  And on the flip side, I was saddened by the fact that she too was struggling.  No one wants to see a friend have a tough time.  But I think it helps to put things in perspective too when you see that you aren't the only one that cries when you can't order in a restaurant or that doesn't want to leave the house for fear of the unknown.  Mind you, that's fear of the unknown, not fear of the actual surroundings - I just want to emphasize that I feel perfectly safe where we live.  So anyways, I was all excited for an evening out that didn't happen so instead of letting myself be brought down by this event (ok, I had a few mins of self pity there), I took advantage and used the time to estudiando.... and I need to study badly!!

But honestly the reason I put this blog update in is because today is the day that I kicked Spain's ass.  At least for now.  Because at some point, Spain is going to kick my ass again too.  It's going to be a fight to the end...an ongoing battle.  You never know when it's going to hit back so have your back to the wall and be prepared to come out fighting! 

Did I do anything huge?  By absolutely no means.  At home, the things I accomplished would have been a blip if even that!  But today, I made it to Aidan's school (via cab again - come on, I can't do it ALL in one day) for our new parent orientation.  I met some of theparents of the PTA as well as new families.  Everyone was lovely and I'm sure I'll get to know them all much better as time goes on.  After our orientation I decided to take a walk back home since the sun was (sort of) out and the temps in the 50s - I've done it before (sort of) and decided I could do it again.  This time I took a look at the map BEFORE I set out from the school.  The good thing is that in just one more week since the last time I tried to take this journey, I've learned a lot more of the street names and how they relate to where we live.  So I found 2 main roads near the school that I was familiar with and set off.  But no, I can't stop there with just walking home.  I call Josh because something is wrong with my cell phone and I can't get any emails on it suddenly.  I asked him where the Bright Store was on Lincoln (yes Lincoln, sounds very spanish doesn't it?) since according to my map I was going to go by it.  And yes, I found that too.  Two victories in one day!!  How awesome!!!  So I got my phone, semi-fixed... I may need to go back again, but now I know where it is.  AND I found my way home without having to rely on taking a cab.  Oh and I used my dryer... so almost 3 victories... hello, doesn't get much better than that!! 

On the agenda for later this week....
Thurs - girls night that was rescheduled from Tues.  Can't wait!!!  Spent this afternoon with Cristy and we've totally bonded and am looking forward to an evening of good food, some sangria (but not too much) and great conversation.

Fri - finally tackling the NIE number.  My foreign ID #.  Josh's HR person is taking 2 other families and offered for me to come along as well.  So Thurs I'll be tackling the paperwork to get that done.

Sat - possible birthday party - yes birthday party - Aidan had an invite in his bag yesterday.  Apparently they do combo parties here even if the kids aren't related if their birthdays fall around the same time.  So this one is for 3 students, 2 of which are in Aidan's class and the other is in the other Kindergarten class.  I'm not sure if we are going to do this or not.  As Cristy pointed out to me today when I tried to say, well we don't know anyone and we don't know how to get there... she said - everything will always be new here... ok.  Good point.  So I'll talk it over with Josh and go from there.  Though it means 3 gifts for kids that I don't even know and I don't think Aidan really knows but it will be a good opportunity to get to know some people which would be great, not to mention for the kids to play with other kids. 

So I'm excited that on this hump day, the peak of the week...to say that I'm on top of the world myself. I will take the bull by the horns and I will find a way to make this work. One day at a time.

Julie