Tearless Tuesday!

Tuesday, September 30

Yay! Sydney has accepted her fate of going to school in Spain. All of the sudden she is acting like she loves school again and not once did she whine, cry or yell about not going to school in Spain. Everyone is very relieved and happy for her. I think she new her time was up. Tomorrow (actually today for me) I am starting a month long intensive Spanish course, starting with a test of course. Wish me luck!

Up the hill

Monday, September 29

Sunday we were anxious to get outside after being trapped inside all day Saturday due to rain. We met up with our friends and climbed up the hill behind our apartment and went to a park called Carmen de los Martires (Carmen of the Martyrs). The park is right behind this hotel. If your wondering why such a change in the sky, I actually took this picture last Friday while killing some time before I picked up the girls from school.
Despite the name, the park was really lovely and we had a wonderful time walking around and exploring.
There were gardens, mazes, fountains, duck ponds, peacocks, great views and more.

Click here to see a few more pics.

One month...

Friday, September 26

I can't believe we've been in Granada for a month already. It doesn't seem like we've done much, but getting settled takes time. It just seems weird that we haven't even been to the famous castle that is just up the hill, the Alhambra. I am happy to say that I can now walk around town without looking at my map. I love offering my help to English speaking tourists, not that I know where everything is, but I usually know where I am on the map! I know where to buy most things that we need, although Kevin just found a grill and now we're on the search for some charcoal. I've heard they sell it at the hardware stores - I don't think I would have ever looked there.

I'm hesitant to write about Sydney, but I thought an update was in order. Things started out so well regarding her total immersion by going to school in Spain. Well, the honeymoon is over.

Here are a few things Sydney has said in the last 48 hours regarding going to school in Spain:

"If you let me go to Spain school, I'm not going to be your daughter!"

I like how she says I'm letting her go, not making her go. That makes me feel a little bit better.

Kevin's response: If she goes to school in Spain she won't be your daughter, she'll be your hija (pronounced ee-ha and means daughter in Spanish). Luckily Syd didn't hear him say this.

"I'll go to school today so I can go to the playground, but this is my last day, OK?"



"If you stay for the songs, I'll go to school another day."


OK, here is one that will make you feel a little better. Or maybe not. After school Friday she said:

"Guess what mom? I didn't cry today!"

As you can guess the last few mornings have been rough, but the teacher assures me that she is doing fine and even Kyla said she was a lot better at going back inside after recess on Friday.

Thanks goodness it's the weekend. Let's hope things will only get better, because starting Wednesday, I will be starting a Spanish immersion program that requires me to be in class from 9-1pm Monday through Friday.

On a happier note, they had a great time at the playground Friday and we even took them to Burger King. If you are wondering about Kyla, I almost forgot to say that she is doing great. She has started going to a Spanish tutor while the rest of the class does their reading. She seems happy to practice her new vocabulary words and has even signed up to start some extracurricular activities soon. Yay!

The Cookie Bribe

Thursday, September 25

So Sydney has had a change of heart regarding school. She has informed us that she is not going to Spanish school, only Oregon school. So yesterday I stayed with her for several hours, hoping that she would get settled and to convince myself that it wasn't an awful place. I guess the novelty has worn off and she is fed up with the communication barrier. By 11:30am I was planning my escape, but there was no good way out. We played with Kyla at recess, but she still would not say goodbye. So when all the kids went back inside I had to kiss her, say "see you at 2" and walk away. There was a lot of crying, but with only two hours left, I knew she would be OK. So the cookies weren't really a bribe. But they were a reward for staying at school by herself for two hours. I've been collecting the ingredients over the last two weeks. I never did find an acceptable baking sheet. I did find a silicone baking sheet for a good price (it even came with a cake pan and a muffin tin). Of course I discovered that you still have to put something under those very floppy silicone sheets. So I used the broiling pan in the oven to support it. Kevin had to make a special trip home during lunch to replenish our oatmeal (only found at the fancy grocery store) supply since we had eaten most of it for breakfast over the weekend. I never really looked for chocolate chips since we lugged a bunch of Belgian chocolate all over Europe. Chopping the milk chocolate was fine, but the dark chocolate was not as easy.

We thought that using both kinds would make up for the fact that we didn't have semi-sweet. They turned out great, not exactly the same, but close enough.
The recipe is no secret, just good ol' Quaker Oatmeal. I'm realizing that I should have a photo of the girls enjoying their cookies, but I don't so this will have to do.

Another food related news update: We finally found cheddar cheese! It's even at the nearby grocery store. Now, if only they sold it in a money saving 5 pound Costco size block. We've gone through two packs since Monday.

I love Skype and zippers.

Wednesday, September 24

The internet is so great! I just got a Skype account, which you can download for free. If you talk to someone else that has Skype, it's totally free. For only $3/month I can make unlimited calls to landlines and cellphones in the US. For a little more I can have a US number that people can call and will ring on my computer. Did I mention how awesome the internet is? Well, I've talked to a few people and it's been great to be back in contact after going through summer with only a couple short calls. It's especially comforting now that Sydney is having second thoughts about going to school. She did so great the first week, this kind of caught me by surprise. She is really missing her friends and preschool back in Oregon. I'll elaborate more later. On a better note I was able to finally call the insurance company and they're ready to send our check for the stuff that was stolen in Barcelona.

On an entirely different subject check out the new (or old?) alternative to velcro. Sydney got these fancy new tennis shoes that as you'll notice lace up. But she never has to untie them. Look a little closer, there is a little side zipper that works like a charm. What a great idea.

Terrace View

Monday, September 22

Saturday morning around 10am I looked outside my kitchen window and spotted the moon.
This inspired me to climb the three flights of stairs of my apartment building (OK, actually I took the elevator, but I did walk down) to snap a few shots of the view from our terrace on the roof. It was so bright up there, I almost turned my sinus headache into a migraine. These are too exciting, but I had to do something to get out and distract myself from being sick.
Here is the moon above the the church Santo Domingo.Here is the bell tower of another nearby church.
Here is the church down the hill, the same one with the flowers from a few days ago. You can see the mountains just outside of town.
Some nearby rooftops...
My rooftop.
OK, that's about as far as I got this weekend except for an unsuccessfulll trip around the corner in search of some vitamin C. Just so you know, I'm feeling mostly better, definitely on the mend.

Aarr! Matey....Calling all Pirates

Saturday, September 20

If you are near Portland, Oregon this weekend and find yourself dressed like a Pirate, then head on down to the 3rd Annual Portland Pirate Festival. And at the risk of making myself homesick, please send any pictures of your wee pirates my way. I'll go first. Here are my girls with their mateys (is that how you spell the plural of matey) last year.

I just realized yesterday was Talk Like a Pirate Day. Here is the link for PG rated lingo.