Primer Dia de Escuala (First Day of School)!

Today we were all a bundle of nerves and excitement as Ruby embarked on her first day of Spanish school.  This year she will be in the 4-year-old class (the Spanish use the calendar year to determine what grade to assign students; Ruby will turn 4 in November, so she's in the 4-year-old class).  

I'll admit that I was pretty nervous about the day, but tried to show excitement to support Ruby.  We were all very excited for her this morning, especially our nanny, Maria, who helped us get Ruby into the Spanish school system.

A few weeks ago, Maria, while out at a cafe with Ruby and Mila, ran into Ruby's teacher.  So Ruby was actually able to meet her before school started.  I think that made things so much easier today.  In fact, drop off was pretty quick since Ruby was distracted by all the toys in the classroom. 

When we picked her up, Ruby was happy and her teacher reported that she didn't cry.  Ruby told us that she played outside and that she only played with girls.  Haha!  Her teacher also said that she spoke a little Spanish, so I'm thrilled that she's already using Spanish in the classroom setting.  

We are looking forward to this new adventure.  I can't wait to see how much Ruby grows this year!

Commander!

Last week our family celebrated a milestone for Noa: his promotion to Commander!  I was waiting for the official photos from the hospital, but those may take some time, so I'm posting with a few from our phones to share this event.

Military promotions are interesting because they can take almost a year to actually take place.  Service members will get notified of their selection to the next rank, but the actual promotion may take several months to a year from that point.  Until then, the service member is known as (new title)-select.  So, for almost a year, Noa was considered a Commander-select.  

Last week, he and another service member from the hospital participated in a small ceremony in the courtyard to make their promotions official.  The Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, and Command Master Chief of the hospital were there, in addition to 20+ service members (mostly officers) from the hospital to witness the event.  The day was beautiful and sunny, although the sun was right in our eyes for some of the photo opportunities.  Oh well, we're keeping it real.

The girls were troopers, considering it was Mila's nap time and the sun was in their eyes.

The ceremony included our family when it was Noa's turn.  I changed his lapel pin (Noa gets a new pin to show his new position).  Talk about pressure: all those in attendance watch this part.  Thankfully, I didn't drop anything or stab my finger while pinning it.  

A view of the ceremony: service members in attendance to the right, 

Noa in front with the CO of the hospital.

Our family with Captain Starks.

Noa, always thinking of others, presented me and the girls with flowers for our 

support of his career.  He's a total keeper.

Not the best photo, since the sun was in our eyes, but we were so happy to share the moment with Maria,

 our nanny, who is such a big part of our lives here.

Congrats to Noa, who works so hard to support our family and give us a fun, adventurous life with the Navy.  We are so proud of you!

 

Dirt Rain

For the second time this summer, we had an unpleasant weather phenomenon happen: dirt rain.

  Summers here are hot, somewhat humid, and pretty dry.  Yesterday began as a warm, windy day, but the later afternoon turned extremely foggy and arid.  When it started sprinkling outside, we were fooled into thinking we were getting a random summer shower, only to have the rain last a few minutes but leave lasting effects.

Also known as rain dust, it's dust (most likely from the deserts of Africa) that becomes airborn and brought back down from the atmosphere as rain.  The superfine particles of dust make everything look coated in a film of dirt, even after the water is all dried up.  Sadly, it's not just something that can be rinsed off.  You have to scrub or use a power washer to get things clean.  Our patio, even with a power washer, takes hours to clean because of the other items that get coated, like the playhouse, stationary picnic table, grill, etc.  This was not on the to-do list for this week.  Sigh.

A few of our patio chairs will need to be scrubbed down.

The entire playhouse will need to be scrubbed inside and out.  

The girls really can't play in it until this is done.

All the outdoor plants look like this.

Tile, tile, tile...thank God for the pressure washer!

I'm so thankful Noa realized what was happening this time and grabbed the clothes off the outside line!  

Spainiversary

Yesterday marked our one year anniversary of moving to Spain.  It's our "Spainiversary" weekend!

taken about 1 year ago in Arcos de la Frontera, Spain

I took a break from the blog due to the rigors of the past year, but lately I've been really missing it.  I find myself "writing" blog posts in my head or taking a photo "for the blog," even though I haven't written for months.  Now that we are a little more settled and have a routine, I'd like to start back up with the blog - mostly for myself - in order to chronicle our lives in Spain and record life moments of the girls as they grow.

When friends ask me about moving so often to new places, I usually comment that it takes a full year to really feel like a place is home.  I can say that's definitely true for this move.  Rota has become our home and I find myself feeling more relaxed and settled with each passing day.  With time, Spain has become more and more familiar and making friends has helped tremendously.  There are some absolutely wonderful things about living in Spain.  Some of my favorites so far:

- Family is number 1 here.  Kids are included in everything, late dinners out (including the bars, which really aren't like bars in the US), holiday trips away, performances, you name it.  Children are praised, cherished, and included in all aspects of life.  Grandparents are often seen toting around their grandkids to and from school.  Businesses may decide not to open because the owner's brother happens to have a birthday that day.  It is clearly a family-oriented society here.

- Living so close to the beach and most other things.  During the off season, we take walks to the beach quite a bit.  It's only a 7 minute walk, at most, and we are able to see the most colorful sunsets in the evenings.  There is a fabulous boardwalk that winds through the trees along the coast and then leads you into downtown. Sadly, we haven't been to the beach as much over the summer since the summer tourists and blazing heat envelope our little town.  I'm looking forward to the summer season ending so that we can go back to our less-crowded beach days and walks to see the sunset.  In the meantime, we love not having to drive to many places in town since we can walk.  If we need something from the grocery store, it's a 5 minute walk from our house.  Ruby's school is across the street.  Yesterday, I took a 15 minutes walk to the vet with Gunnar.  Yes, we still have to drive to some places (to base, other towns, etc) but having the option to walk is awesome.

- Wine, sherry, and jamón are new staples for us.  Actually we've always been wine enthusiasts, but most of our wine now comes from Spain or Portugal.  And, it's very affordable (I'll admit that we typically buy pretty cheap wine).  Sherry is similar to port and made exclusively in this region.  It definitely takes some getting used to, but now that we know our favorite varieties, we'll sip on some sherry every now and then.  Then there's the jamon...wow.  Jamón is probably as loved here in Spain as the wine and sherry. Although the word "jamón" translates to "ham," it's just not ham like in the U.S.  Jamón is a cured meat and sliced ultra thin.  There are even stores that are dedicated to selling only jamón (you know it's a jamón store from the legs of pigs hanging about).  In the States, I don't eat ham, but here I love to indulge in some jamón Serrano on a tostada (toast) with some tomato and olive oil.  Yum!  

- Fashion and body image is in the eye of the beholder.  Fashion here is crazy.  It is colorful and all over the place.  Before moving here, I was told that Europe is dressy.  It is true that people take more care in what they wear.  It's very uncommon to see someone walking around in sleepwear (unlike a trip to my neighborhood Wal-Mart, where I could always find folks sporting their favorite pj pants).  However, the clothes are different.  I often relate the fashion to styles seen in the 80s, but really it's just a mix of styles: very short shorts, but they rise up past the belly button, super skinny pants (on men), lots of floral patterns, track suits, etc.  It's actually really fun to people watch here because you never know what you are going to see clothes-wise.  The other interesting thing is that even though most of the clothes fit tighter over here, the size of the person doesn't seem to matter...to anyone.  There doesn't ever seem to be any judgement about a person's size or what he/she will wear.  A classic example is the beach.  Yes, it is common for women to go topless here, although I actually saw much more of this in northern Spain.  What is even more intriguing is that almost all women wear 2-piece bathing suits.  The young 16-year-old teenager to the 70-year-old grandma.  The men usually wear shorter swim trunks that are more fitted than you'd see in the US or they wear Speedos, regardless of how large the person may be.  The Spanish just don't seem to care if they look perfect or not and instead focus on enjoying themselves, whether at the beach or the bar or out for a stroll.

There are still some things about Spanish life that are challenging.  Although I find myself and our family getting used to living here, we are learning to adapt to the things that are still difficult for us, like:

- The language barrier is very real.  We have found that speaking Spanish is almost a necessity here.  Sure, you can get by without it, but it definitely closes off your world and opportunities.  Noa has been doing self-study for the past year and can carry on a pretty good conversation.  I am taking group lessons and struggle more with the language acquisition.  Unfortunately, I seem to find other priorities when it comes time to sit down and study Spanish.  The girls are picking it up through our nanny, who is Spanish, and from other things like books and songs.  Ruby will be starting Spanish school in a couple of weeks, so she will most likely become the strongest Spanish speaker in our family.  It helps to have a Spanish-speaking friend, but sometimes you find yourself solo and cannot overcome the language barrier, even with the help of Google translate.  It probably doesn't help that the dialect in Spain is a little different than Latin America.  In Spain, they speak using a lisp with certain sounds (they pronounce kitchen as "co-thee-na" instead of "co-see-na").  And in Southern Spain, they also often cut off the ends of words.  It makes comprehension quite difficult.

- The driving and parking take some getting used to.  We have two cars here: our CR-V that we drove in Washington and a smaller (although not tiny) Euro spec Mazda 4-door.  Although it's not a large car in the states, the CR-V is pretty big here and we have to avoid some streets and parking garages with it because of the size.  Sadly, it has already earned some scratches on the front and rear bumpers.  Even Noa's smaller car can be tricky to park and maneuver around town.  It took awhile to get used to all the round-a-bouts, which are standard here.  I usually like them except, as in most places, many people don't know or choose not to drive in them the correct way.  Pedestrians are king here and always have the right of way.  The problem is that the Spanish people often step out into the street without looking, causing the driver (me) a sudden heart attack and needing to suddenly brake. 

- Life is scheduled differently.  The Spanish follow a daily schedule that took some getting used to.   A typical day begins at 8 or 9 am.   A very light breakfast (maybe a tostada or pastry) is eaten later in the morning, say at 11 am.  Lunch is around 2 or 3 o'clock, followed by siesta (rest).  Many stores and businesses close at this time and reopen sometime after 5 pm.  If we go out to eat around 6, many restaurants won't even be open.  If we wait until 7 pm, we have to ask if the kitchen is open (they'll serve drinks but not food if the kitchen is closed).  Dinner usually begins at 9 pm.  Bedtime is at midnight or later.  Ruby's school schedule varies from a typical preschool in the states.  Her school day will begin at 9 am and end at 2 pm, however, she will not have a lunch time at school, only a snack time.

So, we are still adjusting, but life feels more normal now than several months ago.  I still miss Washington; we miss all our dear friends in the U.S.  We are fortunate to live in a time where Facebook, Facetime, and e-mail allow us to keep in touch, but the distance is still hard.  We have made some great friendships here and I am excited to watch the friendships grow for my kiddos.  Ruby is at an age where she learning how to be a good friend and I enjoy helping her through that process.  She has some really wonderful little friends here. 

It's hard to go back and talk about all the things that have happened over the past few months.  I haven't decided if I'll go back and relive those moments through the blog or just write a big recap.  I guess we'll see.  For now, we're back and glad to be here.

Surveying Sevilla

Sevilla, Spain is the closest major city to us.  It only takes us about an hour and a half to drive there and we also have options to take a bus or train there as well (we hope to travel there by train soon!).  Technically, we've already been to Sevilla with our multiple Costco runs and dropping off Noa's parents at the train station, but we hadn't even tasted a sliver of Sevilla's charm and culture yet.  We decided to take an afternoon to check out the Christmas markets there.

Driving to Sevilla was pretty simple, thanks to our handy GPS and we easily found parking downtown.  Right away we noticed one of the main attractions in the downtown: the horse and carriage rides!  There were tons of them riding by us and parked in front of the Cathedral.  We decided to forgo a ride so that we could enjoy one at a later date with friends.  Instead, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and enjoyed some cafe con leche (basically the Spanish coffee we always drink out here, it's espresso with milk and sometimes sugar).

Haha (or as they type in Spain, "jajaja"), Noa's name was written as "Nowa" on his cup (yes, we found a Starbucks.  I think there are actually three in Seville, so it's not too hard to find.

The funny thing about eating at any cafe in Europe is that you find yourself sitting at a table, maybe scrolling through your phone or chatting with a friend while looking across the street at something like this:

Gorgeous old buildings abound around us and it's funny to me that they become so commonplace after awhile.  It's also a bit bizarre when I see American icons becoming just as commonplace (at least in the cities):

We decided to walk around and try to find some of the Christmas markets we've heard about.  We'd take frequent stops to look at beautiful buildings or if something caught out eyes, like this passageway:

Ruby was curious, but stayed safely behind dad when we found this street performer:

These orange trees grow throughout the streets of Seville.  They are such a refreshing pop of color in the city! 

 We soon found a Nativity market with stand after stand displaying assorted Nativity pieces:

Then we wandered around outside of the Cathedral.  We popped in for a moment (there was actually a children's choir and orchestra performing), but didn't stay since we had a restless baby and there weren't full tours happening at the time.

Mila was obviously impressed by the ornate architecture.  :)

When we came across these "towers" of pointsettia plants in the square outside of the Cathedral, I grabbed the opportunity to get a photo with Rubes.  After about twenty takes of "now make a silly face.  Okay, this time a scary face.  Now, surprised," we finally got a cute, smiling one.  Oh, toddlers....always keeping us on our toes!

Team Juloa:

Soon, it was time to eat again.  We found a place that served Ruby-friendly food (read: pizza and spaghetti) and then walked back to the car.  We weren't prepared for what the evening brought: crowds.  Lots and lots of them.  It was as if the sun went down and everyone in Seville decided to come out.  It was the end of a holiday weekend for Spain, but we didn't anticipate the magnitude of the crowds.  I tried to take a picture to capture the craziness, but unfortunately it came out blurry:

This posed a challenge with our large stroller, but we were able to push through and make it back to the car eventually.  On the way back, I marveled at the outdoor lights, since Rota (and most Spanish towns) lack in outdoor Christmas decorations.

And here's one more shot of the Cathedral at night with the Nativity market close by:

The Beginning of the Christmas Season

Now that we are into December, we have been busy preparing for Christmas and enjoying the Christmas season activities.  Normally, I go a little over the top with decorating for Christmas - after all, it is my favorite holiday - but, we had to limit the number of Christmas boxes we could bring with us.  We the "main" decorations up: the tree, Nativity scene, stockings, and a few extra things here and there.  I did have to order garland since it's really hard to find here.

And, yes, we've (and by "we" I mean Noa) built some fires in our fireplace.  Our house gets pretty chilly in the evenings and the fireplace is so cozy and warm.  I love it, although we were a little spoiled by our fireplace in Washington.  This one actually has to be monitored and attended to or else the fire goes out! 

This past week we checked out Rota's small Christmas market downtown.

Tonight's event was going on base to WMR's Winter Wonderland.  They provide food stands, crafts, "snow," train rides, and other fun kid activities.  We got there a little late due to the girls' napping schedule, but we did get there in time to see Santa's dramatic entrance…by helicopter!

First the elves dropped:

Then the helicopter made another pass and brought Santa down.  It was pretty fun to watch!

Then, hopped on a fire truck and made his way to the crowds and boy, was it crowded!

Could you find Santa in that crowd?  Anyway, we never got super close, but that's okay because we got some food after that and then headed into one of the hangers to see the holiday laser light show.

We didn't get to stay for the entire program, which included a list of stars (singers, actors) who were visiting for a USO tour, due to impending bedtimes.  But, our Christmas season is starting off with lots of fun activities. I know the rest of the month will be packed with things to do, but I'm glad we are finding time to enjoy some of that this month has to offer.