Moving Day!

Our move in day was exciting.  I had trouble sleeping the night before since Noa was working, Mila was up all night (again, thank you, Mila) and I knew that I had to get to the house in the morning before the movers.  That entailed getting the girls dropped off at the on-base daycare center and driving to the house.  This doesn't seem like a big deal as I type it out, but I had to do all this by myself, in a still somewhat unfamiliar area.  I was a little nervous about actually getting into our new driveway, as it's a pretty narrow entrance, and turning off the alarm system correctly.  Plus, mornings with the kiddos can be a precarious situation: you never really know what you're gonna get.

Thankfully, the girls were pretty good at drop off and I was able to pull into the driveway without taking out a mirror and I even got there in time to see the moving truck pull up.  I may have done a little happy dance in the car as all this unfolded. 

I wasn't quite sure what to expect at first even though I've done these moves before.  I find that every move is a little different.  The moving company sent a large crew (which, apparently is typical of this company), probably the largest we've had.  There were seven guys, including the foreman.  We did a quick tour of the property and then the guys started unloading the trucks right away.  My job was to double check the numbers on the boxes as they exited the truck and Noa (who showed up soon after me) helped direct the movers to the appropriate rooms and make sure things arrived in satisfactory condition.  We didn't have them unpack every box since we were still unsure where we were putting all the smaller items.  It was quite a production and I'm thankful that we had childcare for the girls since there was a lot going on.

We got a few photos from this chaotic day.  Here's a little glimpse of our moving day:

There were two main trucks, although not all the crates were ours.

Here I am checking numbers and helping direct.  And just for a general perspective, I'm standing in our "driveway" and that is our gate (garage door) that is open behind me.

How many guys does it take to assemble an Ikea kids' play kitchen WITHOUT directions?  I spy three. 

They ended up doing a great job.  They also assembled Ruby's train table, our bed frames, a couple of shelves, and the crib.

At one point, Noa went to the store to grab drinks and snacks for everyone.  I had to take a photo of these gems: ham (the serrano kind they have here) flavored Pringles!  They actually weren't too bad.

Kitchen chaos.  It's gotten better, but we are still trying to figure out how to best organize our kitchen.  This is also a better picture showing the actual kitchen space since I didn't get a good one before.  You can see the washing machine to the left.  I am standing by the kitchen table (our landlord kept it in the house for us) and I'm looking out to the open area.  Those cut-out windows look into the dining room and living room.  It looks like the room is wallpapered, but it's actually tiled all the way up to the orange part of the wall.

After the movers finished, we picked up the girls from daycare and brought them to their new house.  Ruby had a blast reuniting with her toys.  Noa took a pic through the wall cut-out of the business in the living room afterwards.  You can't tell from this pic, but there are a ton of boxes just to the right of this window.

Adventures in House Hunting, Part 2

I know you are waiting on baited breath to find out which house we picked.

Before I give you the big reveal…let's review what we were looking for:

• We wanted to live in Puerto de Santa Maria.  It's the town on the other side of the base that is much bigger than Rota and has a lot of family-friendly neighborhoods.  There are a lot of individual homes with yards, pools, quiet streets, etc.  A lot of American families live in Puerto since it's very family friendly.
• We preferred a one-story home.
• We did NOT want a pool.  Young kids and two anti-water dogs are enough of a reason to avoid a pool.
• We wanted a yard.
• We wanted a community feel, possibly an easy walk to the beach or shops. 
• We wanted enough bedrooms to host family and friends, possibly for long term stays.
• We needed to keep our rent within our housing allowance (basically, we didn't want to pay extra than what the military gives us for housing).

Here's the funny thing: we ended up choosing the ONE house we visited in Rota.

We actually ended up touring the house on a whim.  One of Noa's colleagues was moving back to the states and he suggested that we look at his place, since it was now available to rent.  We were hesitant at first since it was located in Rota and we knew that we wanted to live in Puerto, but decided to check it out in order to say that we gave Rota a chance.

We were quite surprised with ourselves to find that as we walked through the house, we both felt very comfortable and impressed with the property.  There was enough living space for our family and we could easily host friends there as well.  However, it didn't meet many of the priorities we had initially proposed:

•  We wanted to live in Puerto de Santa Maria.  This house was in Rota.
•  We preferred a one-story home. This home has two-stories and has a large staircase.
• We did NOT want a pool.  Young kids and two anti-water dogs are enough of a reason to avoid a pool. Check
• We wanted a yard.  Not a blade of grass to be seen on the property.
• We wanted a community feel, possibly an easy walk to the beach or shops.  This house is not in suburbia like the ones in Puerto, but there is definitely a community feel and a great location for walking to the beach.
• We wanted enough bedrooms to host family and friends, possibly for long term stays. Check!
• We needed to keep our rent within our housing allowance (basically, we didn't want to pay extra than what the military gives us for housing). Check!  Plus it had already been rented to Americans, so we knew that the landlord was already familiar with the housing requirements, rental agreements, etc.

There were a few things that made this house stand out against the other properties in Puerto:

• This house was made with quality materials that could easily stand up to the environmental factors in the summer and winter.
• It had a grand feeling upon entering it.  There are lots of different materials used in the house, including stone and lots of tile.  We actually refer to it as the "castle house" (pictures to come), as it has lots of castle-like qualities and feels very Spanish.  I would never normally choose the style, but when in Spain, do as the Spanish do, right?
• We LOVED the neighborhood.  It was charming to us from the get-go.  The sidewalks are wide, there are restaurants/shopping within walking distance and the houses were well maintained.  We can easily walk to the beach and families spend their evenings on walks with their dogs and kids.  It was so likable.  We couldn't help but be impressed.
• It was secure.  This house didn't have gypsy bars, but it does have security glass and an alarm system, in addition to the outer wall (which is 8 - 9 feet tall).

Even though it didn't fit all we THOUGHT we wanted, it felt right to both of us.  When we got in the car after looking at the place, Noa and I turned to each other and immediately started talking about living there. something just felt right.  No, it wasn't perfect, but it would work and we actually liked that it was different that what we originally planned.  We're only going to be here for about 3 years, so maybe we could live outside of our norm and try some city-living?  We were both game.

After that, it was pretty smooth sailing in terms of getting the paperwork in and getting our move set up.  But before we did that, we needed to show Ruby, of course.  She loved it - she ran around and would open up the doors to rooms and exclaim, "oooo!"  She also climbed the stairs easily, which definitely alleviated my fears about those.  Next we'll have to train Mila on them…but I guess we'll have to get her walking first.  Ha!

And now…on to the photos!

Here is the front (inside our outer wall, which is about 8 feet high):

The front entryway (I love the plant and hope I don't kill it!):

Back patio - that furniture is no longer there since we brought our outdoor table and chairs.

Side of the house - the tile extends all the way around, so no, we don't have grass, but rather we have tile.  Ruby can run on it and ride her bike.  The dogs don't seem to mind it and it's easy to keep clean.

And, stepping inside…I don't have pictures from all the rooms since I was on Ruby duty, but I do have photos from the downstairs.  This is the view from the front entryway of the stairs.  The windows are made out of glass blocks, so we have the privacy, but lots of light.  There's some storage under the stairs, which is already full.  If you were standing where I was when the photo was taken, the front door would be to your right, a small bathroom and kitchen to your left.

And this would be behind you: our dining room...

…which leads to the living room.

In this picture, I am standing in the living room and looking out to the dining room.  You can see our kitchen through those cutouts on the stone wall.  The curtained windows actually are slider doors that lead out to the back patio.

This room is also on the ground floor.  It will be used as an office/guest room. 

I somehow only got one photo of the kitchen.  It's actually quite large and has three main areas: the prep area (shown below), an area for eating and storage, and the area where we put a chair and some of Ruby's playthings.  We can also access the back patio from this room.

I somehow didn't take photos of our upstairs, but as we get settled in, I'll post more photos.  There are four bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs.  We are allowed to paint and plan on painting the girls' bedrooms since they are kind of dark (and Ruby's room looks like a boy's room).  I am excited to get everything organized and unpacked.  It seems to take forever, especially with two little ones around.  But, I know it will get done eventually.

And if you choose to come out and visit this first year, you may be tasked with unpacking boxes or hanging up artwork in our new place.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Adventures in House Hunting, Part 1

I was up early this morning (thank you very much, Mila) and couldn't go back to sleep.  It was one of those mornings where my brain would not shut off.  I think most of the stuff floating around in my head has to do with our upcoming move on FRIDAY!  We'll be in our new house shortly and we have a lot to do before then.

We have now been living in temporary housing for just over a month and it's definitely time to get out of here.  I'm ready to have our stuff (especially toys for the kiddos) and get into a day-to-day routine.  Once we get our things, I'll be busy getting all the boxes unpacked and make the new house our home.  We already have guests planned for the end of October, so I'm going to be on hostess mode.

But, let's back up a bit, shall we?

Prior to moving to Spain, we knew that the house hunting process would be a little slower than Japan (we had a house and cars within two weeks of moving there).  So, in order to expedite the process as much as possible, we tried to research the housing as best we could.  We knew that given the opportunity, we wanted to live out in town instead of on base in order to really experience the Spanish life.  We read as many blogs and housing websites that we could find and wrote to people who were currently living in the Rota area.  Then, we made our list of priorities and wants:

•  We wanted to live in Puerto de Santa Maria.  It's the town on the other side of the base that is much bigger than Rota and has a lot of family-friendly neighborhoods.  There are a lot of individual homes with yards, pools, quiet streets, etc.  A lot of American families live in Puerto since it's very family friendly.
•  We preferred a one-story home.
• We did NOT want a pool.  Young kids and two anti-water dogs are enough of a reason to avoid a pool.
• We wanted a yard.
• We wanted a community feel, possibly an easy walk to the beach or shops. 
• We wanted enough bedrooms to host family and friends, possibly for long term stays.
• We needed to keep our rent within our housing allowance (basically, we didn't want to pay extra than what the military gives us for housing).

After our first couple of days here, Noa attended a housing brief and set up an appointment with the base housing office.  They are the office we go through when renting out in town.  We explained our list of wants/needs and they generated a list of available properties.  I noticed that many of the properties listed had pools, second (or third) stories, but I was trying to be open to the possibilities. 

The next step was to look at the properties.  We'd schedule several hours to look at properties with either a representative from the housing office or an independent housing realtor.  These visits were helpful because we were able to see a wide range of properties and see what living out and town really entails.  The houses are definitely not the same as in the states.

First of all, pools are really common here.  Especially in Puerto.  Most, but not all, houses have them.

The pools were actually very nice.  Most were not very big and all of them could have fences put around them for safety (this is not mandatory in Spain, but landlords will install them for Americans).  It's pretty warm here, so the idea of a pool is enticing, but I know that I would be worried sick if the girls were out playing in the yard and I wasn't right there with them.  So, we axed all the homes with pools.

It's interesting to note that every house is walled off from the street and the neighboring homes.  We were hoping to get a fenced yard for the kids and dogs, but there's no need to worry about that since it's commonplace to have a walled property.  It does make it kind of funny to drive through the neighborhoods because you can only really see the second floor of the homes and sometimes just the roof from the street!

Every house we looked at had tile floors.  There is no wall-to-wall carpeting anywhere.  Part of the reason for this is so houses stay cool in the summer when the temps are high (and many homes do not have A/C).  For us, that just means we'll need more area rugs because again, small children, fragile dog legs, and noise reduction. 

 

 The houses are built with separate spaces, so that each room is easily closed off.  In America, it seems like open-concept homes are all the rage, but here, they have the houses really divided up.  I think they do that to be more energy efficient since utilities are really expensive over here.  I would jokingly think to myself, "what's behind door number 2?"  There are lots of doors.

Energy efficiency is an important factor to consider with these homes and so is comfort.  Many of the homes, especially the older ones were not built to be used year round.  This area of Spain is a vacation area, so most homeowners use their Rota/Puerto house as a second/summer home.  These homes have single pane windows, tile floors, thin wall, etc.  They are created to stay cool.  The problem is that in the damp winter months, the temperatures can go down to the 40s and the homes can feel colder inside than it is outside!!  So, we had to look at how the home was constructed - if it had upgrades or was built more recently - and how A/C and/or heat was produced.  We have also been told that if we live "like Americans," it's going to cost us.  So that means we'll have to bundle up a bit more in the winters and use the sun and wind to our advantage.  Central air conditioning/heat is rare, but we did see a few newer homes with it.  Most had radiators, space heaters, fans, or wall units like this (we also had these in Japan):

Oh, and fireplaces are common too!  Now that I think about it, I think every house we looked at had a fireplace.  One had a wood stove, but most were just regular fireplaces and all were functional if we chose to use it.

A main feature on the exterior of almost every house are gypsy bars on doors and windows.  That sounds like a negative term, but apparently that's what they are called.  This area of Spain is pretty safe, but petty crime still exists, so gypsy bars are the way to protect a home from theft.  They are usually opened by a key from the inside.  Not the most glamorous looking things, but again, they are very, very common.

Speaking of windows, the other common feature on every house (both on and off base) are persianas, which are outer rolling blinds.  These are used to keep the rooms cool and dark, especially in the summer.

Moving inside…the kitchens: most were pretty small and that's where the majority of houses had the washing machine located.

The Spanish don't typically use clothes dryers, although we saw a couple of houses that had them.  Typically, they have an area off the kitchen where they hang their clothes to dry.  We'll be borrowing a dryer from the base so that we can fluff our clothes, but I'm hoping to embrace this line drying for much of our laundry.  Again, the reason for the lack of dryers is energy efficiency.

We were surprised to find that the bedrooms had closets.  I had heard that many European bedrooms didn't have these and that we'd most likely have to furnish a wardrobe.  Not the case here.  The closets are actually really nice.  Most have dividers and/or shelves inside in addition to a hanging bar.

Bathrooms: most of them have bidets!  When Ruby first saw them, she exclaimed, "two potties!"  Oh, boy, this is gonna take some explaining….

Other interesting finds were that the ovens are tiny!  We won't be roasting a large Thanksgiving turkey this year.  I'm thinking cornish hens might be doable.  Hopefully my cookie sheets will fit in there.  Oh, and we'll have to get a conversion chart because the heat is measured in Celcius, of course.

Outdoor patios are available on every home and are very much a part of the lifestyle here.  Many families will use the outdoor space for evening dining. We plan on doing just that!

There are plenty of gardens here and even the homes that had smaller yards or no yard had pots with plants and flowers growing.  It seems like plants are pretty important to the Spanish, as they seem to always look healthy and lush.  A lot of the homes included a gardener in the rental agreement.

We ended up looking at over 25 homes in Puerto!  We also looked at 1 home in Rota in order to give Rota a chance.  So, what did we end up with?

Guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out. But, just for a teaser, I did include one picture from our future home in this post.

I'm mean.  I know.

First Week/Arcos de la Frontera

Looking back, our first week felt a bit like a whirlwind, but compared to our move to Oki, it also seems slow.  Our jet lag kicked in big time and we found ourselves sleepy around 4:00 in the afternoon and wide awake at 3:30 in the morning.  It was definitely challenging with the kiddos.

Bryan was an awesome sponsor.  Not only did he get us all set up in our temporary housing, but he took us all around Rota.  Once we had a free day, we set off to check out Rota on foot.  The first stop: ice cream, of course!

 I took a few quick shots around the city.  Truthfully, I was overwhelmed by trying to take it all in, so there's no real order to these; just random scenes from our new city.

This photo (below) is a little deceiving as to what Rota looks like.  Yes, there are a lot of scooters/mopeds/motorcycles here, but it's definitely less crowded now.  When we walked this street, it was still during the busy tourist season.  These days, you only see parking this crowded around the time school lets out.

We had our first official Spanish tapas at one of the small restaurants (often called "bars" even though they are more like a restaurant) on the beach.  The Spanish set up these temporary bars that are only open during the summer right on the beach.  I also got to enjoy my first glass of Spanish sangria here…yum!  Each place makes it differently, so it's fun to try it out wherever you go.  Poor Ruby is not in this photo because she's sound asleep in the stroller.  She slept through the whole meal!  Jet lag is tough!

We got to also relax at Bryan's apartment (and use his wi-fi!).  He has an amazing view of Rota's beautiful beach!  Oh, and you can see the bar down there that we ate at (white and brown roof).

We also got a little sightseeing in.  Bryan took us to visit Arcos de la Frontera, which is the closest "pueblo blanco" or "white village" to Rota (only about 45 minutes away).  He also invited another family, the Pierce family (who also have two young girls), to join us.

Arcos is pretty amazing because it's built on a cliff, so it has some amazing views. 

It was quite a hike to get to see the views and the streets here are reeeaaalllyyyy narrow.  I am still amazed that cars fit down some of these streets!  I'm not planning on trying it with our CR-V once it arrives.

See those red tables (below)?  We ate lunch there and the cars would drive right next to the table.  It. Was. Crazy.

You can see a car in the background of this photo.  Yes, that car is driving by.

This was one of our tapas: bread with slices of goat cheese and topped with different jellies and olive oil.  It was pretty good.

Santa Maria Church:

Ruby and her new pal, Keira, plan out our walk.

We only got a glimpse of Arcos, but this will probably be a frequent place we'll go to with visitors.  I'm excited to check out the shops and maybe get to see the inside of some of the churches.