Back to Spanish Class... Again

March was a busy month for me and I'm in no way complaining...I feel like I've hardly had time to just sit back and relax much less get any work or studying done.  I went away in mid March for a few days with my girlfriends and upon my return the following morning my cousin Meghan arrived for a week.  Just a week later, we were off and running for Italy for Semana Santa having returned on Friday night. 

So since March was so busy, I decided that I would take most of the month off from my Spanish classes as well as the first week of April.  Now I've been taking class consistently since Feb 2011 with the exception of summer vacation and Christmas break.  I hadn't thought much of it and didn't realize how much I was getting from these classes...until I stopped.  At one point during this month I realized I hadn't learned a single new thing and it really really bothered me. 

To me this is significant.  I've always said that it was important to me to learn the language here - I live in Spain therefore I should speak Spanish.  Unlike "some" people I know (ahem, Josh), I know I can get by with what I currently know but I want to learn more.  But I guess the reason that the fact that it bothered me was signficant was because I hadn't been in a rush to learn before and now I feel this pressing need to learn as much as I can while the motivation is there.  I was just taking it day by day and I certainly didn't look forward to class on Tuesday and Thursday knowing that I was going to have to really focus my brain and absorb everything being thrown at me.  But for some reason these days, and maybe it's because I know have a better timeline in my head of how long we will be here, I have this need to learn. 

The school I go to is ok...nothing to write home about (and yet here I write home to you about it).  But one of the things that bothers me about this school is that the owner will just throw you back into a class that's currently doing the book you want to do.  So while I've missed a month of classes, essentially I'm supposed to jump right back in as if those 4 weeks didn't happen and that's a bit intimidating because I know they covered stuff that I just don't know.  The only good thing is that my teacher was also out all month and so hopefully the sub moved at a slower pace.  In the meantime, I'll do some review of my own in the hopes of catching up before I go back on Thursday. 

Besos,
Julie

Felice Pascua! Happy Easter!

Growing up, Easter was never a religious holiday in our house, at least in my eyes - I'm sure in part this was because we were raised mostly Jewish (I say mostly because my dad's family is Lutheran and we would also do things with his family) and so Easter wasn't "our" holiday but at the same time my parents would still take part in the fun aspects of non Jewish holidays.  It was a time to decorate eggs which were then hidden by the Easter Bunny around the house while my brother and I slept and we would awaken to baskets filled with chocolate, candy and usually a stuffed animal.  However, in Spain, Easter is taken much more seriously and while there are definitely treats for the kids and I can see an influence from other countries with colored eggs becoming more popular, it's still considered to be a serious and religious day. 

Well, in our house it will still be low key and fun and I don't even think the boys know that this is a religious holiday to begin with (perhaps at some point we should think of mentioning that).  On Saturday, we spent a little time with our US purchased easter egg painting kit coloring our eggs.  It was a little bit anti climatic as the kids finished coloring them in about 5 minutes (it took longer to boil them!) as it was just a simple kit to color the eggs and then add stickers.  No cool texture stuff, no wax crayons, nothing exciting.  But they were happy and it's nice to see them taking in the simple pleasures without any frills. 

Egg cartons make great headphones

They also make a good hat for Jake

Preparing the egg holders

Getting the cups ready for the dye

If it's something messy, I'm in!

Watching how his brother does it...

Focused

He went to bed with this sticker still on his head...

Trying to pin him down to put stickers on him as well...didn't work so well but it was worth the laugh

On Saturday night I spent some time putting together both of their baskets, which are actually sand pails that I bought when we moved here and realized that a basket was hard to come by. The kids don't seem to care and so now they are officially Easter pails :).

I bought 2 dozen eggs....this is what made it to the table...

The Easter Bunny has been here!

Aidan has been talking about Easter constantly lately.  I give credit for this to the movie, Hop, one of his periodic favorites, especially this time of year.  He's incredibly into the Easter Bunny this year and rather fascinated by how he, like Santa, is able to deliver all those baskets all over the world in just one night.  He's so excited as a matter of fact that my initial plan had been only some candy and no gift - these kids have so many toys already.  But the look on his face when he was talking about how the Easter Bunny will bring him a toy just melted my heart.  So at the very last minute on Saturday I was out at El Corte Ingles, the only thing open on this long holiday weekend, in search of a little something for him to open on Sunday morning (and of course something for Liam too).

I should also note that Aidan's latest theory which I happen to like.  He said that the Easter Bunny takes the eggs that we color and replaces them with the plastic ones that are filled with candy.  I like his thinking and we made sure to dispose of the real eggs and to take a bite of the cookie that Aidan left out for said bunny :)

What I didn't expect was that Aidan's excitement rivaled that of Christmas... he was up at 3:30AM wanting to know if the Easter Bunny had arrived.  Yes, 3:30AM.  I don't think he's gotten up at 3:30 for Santa in the past - apparently candy trumps toys.  And he was up again at 6:30.  I sent him back to bed each time much to his chagrin.  So when he was finally allowed up at 8:30 it was a bit anticlimatic - he inspected his basket, went over to the TV and turned on Alvin and the Chipmunks, Chipwrecked (I do not recommend by the way...crappy movie) for the 6th time in 24 hours.  Ahhh kids...

Ohhhhh, I found an egg!

Total bedhead... looks at his basket and walks to the tv

There's candy in here!!!

Alvin and the Chipmunks...AGAIN

Hunting for eggs

Aidan said the egg hunt was too easy (we kept it to one room for Liam) so apparently next year we need to up the ante

There's an egg in my shoe!!

Pokemon!!!

CARS 2!!

The kids and I met up with some new friends around lunchtime for a great adult/kid playdate by the beach. It was a gorgeous day and we ate lunch right along the beach with the kids playing in the sand next to us. And nothing beats and ice cream sundae and crepes after lunch. We ended up going to our friends' house after ice cream for an extended playdate - so what we thought would be a fun afternoon ended up being a fun 9 hours! What a great time and it was nice to spend some time with new people that we click with - we're all looking forward to the next time!

Aidan and Liam with their friends from school

Today, Monday, is a holiday still in Barcelona and since I took the kids for 9 hours yesterday, Josh is now in charge today so I can get some work done and perhaps have a little quiet chill time for myself as well.  Too bad nothing is open, it would be a great shopping day!!  The kids are off tomorrow as well (professional day) which makes their April vacation a 1 1/2 week deal - I'll be ready for them to go back to school on Wednesday and get some routine back in our lives but regardless, it's been a great vacation with them.

Besos,
Julie

Two Pukers and a Trip to the ER – Ahhh Vacation

So you already know about puker number 1…that was Liam coming up the hill today getting car sick.  No new news there.  Puker number 2 was Aidan and no, he wasn’t sick.  He’s apparently got mine and Josh’s belly which is the belly that can’t handle anything medically related.  I still think I might be adopted since my mom is an emergency room nurse, I’m obviously not her daughter.

Why was Aidan puking for a medically related issue??  Well, Liam and I were being silly tonight while Josh was making dinner – having a dance off and just a good time.  Apparently we had too good of a time and every good time must end with an injury.  I don’t even remember exactly how it happened but the end result was Liam falling flat on his face with his chin connecting to the terracotta tile in the villa.  The blood immediately started to spurt out much to my absolute fear. 

At first I thought he smashed his nose.  Then, I’ll be honest, I thought he cut an artery (yet I couldn't figure out how he could have cut himself in the first place since he landed on nothing sharp) since the blood was coming from what looked like his neck (it turned out to be below his chin).  There was just that much blood coming out at once, at least as far as I was concerned.  How he would have cut an artery is beyond me but that was my first thought.  My next move was to get him to lay on his back so I could control the blood.  Josh and I disagreed on whether he needed to go to the hospital or not but I won out.

And so dinner prep was halted to go down to Sorrento to the ER.  Liam was covered in blood and Aidan was freaking out the whole way down thinking Liam was dying or something.  He worked himself up pretty good and apparently after he and Josh dropped us at the ER, he puked 3 times along the side of the road.  Ah the joys of kids. 

Liam and I went into the hospital and it was pretty much dark.  No receptionist, no interpretation booth (there was a sign for one), no nothing.  We just started to walk down a hall until I saw someone.  I showed him Liam’s chin and he pointed to a room and another man came in.  He asked if we spoke Italian which of course, I don’t.  Another person came in and they just had Liam lay on a bed.  This guy spoke some English which was good – and told me Liam needed 2 stitches.  I’m pretty sure we were on the only patients in hospital but at least that means we were the first ones seen!!

I saw them prep the needle and thread and immediately asked if they were going to give him a shot of Novocain to help with the pain.  He gave me a look like, seriously????  So he was going to have to deal with the stitches without any medical assistance.  My poor baby!!  He was so brave!

And of course, his mom, who has just a terrible stomach for this kind of stuff, started to feel nauseous part way thru.  This is the second time this is happened (Aidan had stitches at age 1) and I feel like a total failure as a mom that I can’t even be there to support my kids when they need me.  Though it makes me feel slightly better to know that Josh would have passed out long before me ;)  So I’m not the only one. 

In the end, there were 4 men holding Liam down for his 2 stitches.  He was given some iodine on a bandaid and they guided me to the sink to wash off all his blood (we left with him covered in blood and I’m thinking the cute Boden tee he’s wearing is headed for the trash).  I met with the doctor in his “office” (I use this term very loosely) and he asked if I had Liam’s passport with me which I didn’t.  I gave him his medical card instead which seemed to do the job.

The doctor told me that I should give Liam antibiotics.  Ummm… ok, there are about 5 million antibiotics out there, which kind???  He asked if I ever give him any antibiotics.  Again, ok, for what?  He asked for a fever and I told him I give him Tylenol / acetaminophen.  He gave me a blank stare.  I mentioned penicillin.  He said, yes to that… so apparently I’m to give him penicillin for a few days.  He didn’t write me a prescription and just told me to go to the pharmacy and if there is an issue to come back to see him. 

Liam was acting pretty sleepy at this point and I felt I needed to point out that he fell on his face and should he check for a concussion??  I know, overreacting mom here, but still.  He gave me a look like I was crazy and waved me off.  So I guess we’re good there??

Off to the pharmacy I asked her for penicillin for Liam.  She asked if amoxicillin was ok and I said fine as long as it’s the same thing (which I was pretty sure it was but needed her to reassure me on that).  She handed it to me for 2,30€ and didn’t say another word.  So I had to ask how much to give him and how often, etc.  Seriously what do people do here when they need medical assistance???? 

Anyways, Liam was fine on the way home and kept telling us “poor liamy” which I’m sure he will continue to use for as long as he can milk it.  Aidan is fine and Josh is finally getting to making dinner at 8PM.  Ah well, never a dull moment when on vacation with the Marcus family!!!

Liam with his battle wound this morning... I had to double up on the bandaid (good thing I brought some on the trip) since he was bleeding thru the original one...

Besos,

Julie  

How to Achieve Buns of Steel (Our Trip to Positano)

Today we made it to Positano which is on the Amalfi Coast.  Technically Sorrento, which we are staying just outside of, isn’t actually on the Amalfi Coast.  It’s like saying Wareham is on the Cape…it’s just not.  Josh wasn’t aware of this as he thought we were staying on the Amalfi Coast, so I thought I’d share with everyone else.

The road to Positano was no different than the roads we’ve been taking from Naples or to Sorrento – very narrow, very windy with turns that are measured in degrees – a 1^st degree turn is a complete 180 degree switchback.  Then we’ve seen ones that are listed as 2^nd or 3^rd degree.  Regardless, every 50 feet there is another turn and so unless you are a local, you aren’t really going more than 30mph.  Five kilometers took us a good 20 minutes on these roads believe it or not.  And once again, I ring the praise of Josh who took it all in stride and got us to Positano (and everywhere else this trip) safely.

To say that the views as we approached Positano were breathtaking would be an understatement.  The last 1/3 of the trip to Positano was along a coastal highway that had pretty much no barrier between us and the Mediterranean very far down below.  I’ll admit, I’ve had some reservations about this trip just based on what I’d read before about these roads…but after doing similar roads in Ireland and in other parts of Italy, these really were no worse.  But the books and websites definitely made them out to be worse than they are…

But I digress, the views as we approached Positano were like nothing I’ve seen before.  The cliffs looming out into the sea and the water as turquoise as I’ve ever seen and just perfectly calm on a beautiful day (which was supposed to be rainy).  We knew the challenge here would be parking.  The town is a pedestrian town and so I knew parking would be limited – and when I saw cars parked significant distance from the town, I had some concern because there was no way the kids were doing a multiple mile trek just to get into town.  So we kept driving.  And when we got into town we eventually found roadside parking by a meter.  Whew!!!  Turns out if you go even a little further down there were 2 or 3 parking lots.  I cannot even imagine what it’s like here in the summer time when it’s peak season since it was hard enough to find a spot in the off season.  

View as we drive along the coastal highway

View behind us...not bad since I literally just pointed the camera out the window backwards...

Not much protecting us from the sea below... notice the little farmstand on the corner

Close up of farmstand

Getting closer!!

Mountains in front of us...and cool bridge on the right

Our first glimpse of the town...

Closer!!

View from where we parked

Soooo excited!  Only he doesn't know how far he's going to have to walk yet

I hate it when he sits on the edge of something that has a long fall behind it... soooo nervewracking!

We immediately found a set of stairs and figured we’d walk down them and get off the one main road that goes down thru town (and then back up again in order for you to leave).  Slowly the water inched closer to us and while we had absolutely no idea where we were going, we figured we’d get to the base and go from there.  But as a nice surprise, we ended up right by the beach and shopping area at the base of Positano. 

Our first set of stairs, at least these are going down...

Lots of stairs heading down (means at some point we will have to go back up!!!)

Getting closer to the bottom

Aidan loved walking alongthe small pedestrian streets/stairs

Famous church in Positano (we didn't go in)

Town nestled into the mountainside

Another angle

Soooo close!

Ah finally the beach and amazing views!!!

Can we go to the beach, please?????  (and of course I left their bathing suits at the villa)

Me and my boys :)

I loved how this one was literally built into the side of the mountain - check out the lower levels!

The kids were thrilled to have a beach though of course we left their bathing suits in the villa, (a) not expecting a beach and (b) not expecting the weather to be nearly warm enough today to need them.  Ah well, they enjoyed playing in the sand and collecting sea glass along the way.  Ever since Greece last summer, they are on a total sea glass kick.  Then we took our time looking for a place to eat for lunch.

Playing in the sand

I'm soooo happy Mommy!!!!

Flowers everywhere and they smelled soooo good!

Just so you know, our car was parked almost at the top...

Aidan with Positano behind him

Some of our sea glass finds along with some cool smooth tiles

Aidan collecting sea glass

Beautiful tables... wish we could get one!!!

The pergola went on forever above us... not all of it was in bloom but I bet it's gorgeous when it is (and shady too!)

Tough guy

Liam wanted to pose with these flowers

Close up

And he wanted me to take his picture here too...

We had lunch at a touristy little Italian restaurant.  Again, I’m getting carbed out – never thought I’d say that.  I think when I get home on Friday, I’ll have a nice piece of chicken.  Of course, it’s Good Friday when we get home which means everything will be closed – I can only hope stuff will be open on Sat since Sun and Mon are holidays too (no the grocery stores do not open on holidays like they do in the States).  And then I’ll have a good run to work it all off!!

Yum Prosciutto and mozzarella for lunch!!

Aidan has been on a mussels kick all week... also yummy!!!

We wandered around town for a little bit and sat on the beach while the kids collected more sea glass and tried to skip stones.  The sun felt soooo great and it’s a teaser knowing that summer will be here before we know it.  The beach wasn’t crowded at all and it was just mellow and peaceful. 

More sea glass!

Skipping stones

Only Liam could be comfy laying on the rocks

Eventually we knew we’d have to do the hike back up the mountain to the car.  Our car was literally up NINE large flights of stairs and by large flights I mean HUGE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS THAT GO ON FOREVER!!!  I think there were thousands of stairs... in reality it was probably a few hundred, but it felt like thousands.  And I can't imagine doing this trek in the dead of summer - with temps in the early 70s, it was certainly warm enough going up and up and up forever!!

Many of the stairs going back up....

And more... they are neverending!!

We finally made it back to the car and I have to give kudos to little Liam and his 4 year old legs who made it all the way back up without complaint and even raced me the last 2 flights up!  Go Liam!!  We made our way thru the rest of the town in the car assuming (since it was a one way street) that eventually there would be a sign that would lead us back to the main highway and we were right – so easy peasy.  And it was such a beautiful town that I wish we could have explored more (without the kids) and maybe someday we’ll get back and do the other towns on the Amalfi Coast.

Sleepy baby...who then puked...

The drive back was little more than 30 minutes, again incredibly windy, twisty roads.  Unfortunately Liam fell asleep and was thrown constantly from side to side as we wound around the roads.  He’s been so great on this trip so far given his past history.  But not to buck tradition, he made it all the way back to within 100 yards of our villa before he had that tell tale sign of imminent puking.  And I got him out of the car just in time for him to vomit all over the street.  Ah well, it’s not a road trip unless someone pukes…

Besos,

Julie