September 19, 2009
Yes it is September and we left for Spain one year ago August. I have been crazy and panicing that I won’t get my blog done before a year has passed. Good thing that I had detailed lists on my calendar to keep up.
Sunday, November 9 - Brent was busy getting Lee Brown, his wife and another professor at the airport and getting them situated. Dr. Brown was coming in to host a Strength and Conditioning Conference for the week at the UEM. Dr. Brown was Steve’s mentor when he got his Masters at UC Fullerton. Dr. Brown is in remission from cancer, and then recently this summer (2009) his son was killed in a hiking accident. Very genuine guy and very sad story. While Brent was dealing with this, I left him with mom to go to Paris for a long weekend.
Originally we were going to take the overnight train with Ana and Alfonso, but Alfonso ended up getting a job interview. So we decided to go anyway, fly, and stay at a discounted Marriott due to friends and family. Mom and I had to take the bus, train, subway to get to the airport. Then when we landed in Paris we took the subway and got lost. The confidence that I had for subways in Greece, London, and Spain completely dissolved in Paris. Their subway runs with the train and I couldn’t understand it. We arrived soooo late in the evening that the subway was beginning to support the scary looking people. Mom and I were exhausted from walking everywhere – that we were done. We did manage to find a taxi to get us where we were going.
Staying with my mom is always interesting. She has her own time zone and the rules are always according to her. Forget compromise, more like I need a brown paper bag to breathe in. Needless to say, we are both still alive to talk about it.
I was very impressed with France. The people were very nice, we only had a few negative interactions, and most of them were because they were impatient with Mom, so was I. It could have been because we were there during the off season. It was the off season, because the weather truly was horrible. It rained, was cold and had huge gusts of wind the whole time. We toughed it out and got great use out of our rain coats and umbrellas.
Every morning while Mom was getting ready, I went downstairs to check email. The keyboards in France/French are completely messed up. I sent myself an email with the keyboard line design. I did take a long time to use the computer because I had to hunt and peck my typing.
We stayed in La Defense. We were able to take the bus to the actual building. La Defense is a huge commercial building in the shape of picture frame. If you are in La Defense, you can stand look down Champ de Elyse framed by this 13 story building. It was quite impressive. The buildings in this area were so cool and there were statues, art, and fountains everywhere that were so hip.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Today is actually April 28th. I was in Spain for four months and it has taken me four months to get into a routine and start catching up on things. I doesn’t hurt/help that I am trying to get a job now that student teaching is done, so I have waiting time.
Friday, November 7, 2008
When Mom was ready for the day, I took her for the tour of Madrid. We pretty much did the whole thing, and Mom was tired. I did explain that I usually do the tour in two days, but Mom exercises a lot and doesn’t meander at exhibits etc.
We then picked up the girls from school. I don’t remember if I mentioned it, but Bryce was picked up last week and wasn’t her usual smile and wave kid. She had her head down etc “uh oh, what happened.” Her English Teacher came over and told me that she was playing with the scissors while they were making spiders for Halloween. She cut her nose. She still has the slight scare on the top. Brent says that she was smelling the Spanish scissors to see if they are any different from American scissors.
While we have been in Spain, everyone has had school, except me. Kelly and Chelsea have had a internship where they are working at this Spa. The spa is run by a doctor and a physical therapist. The ladies put together rehabilitation exercise programs for the patients and use their Spanish. They work Thursdays and Fridays. They are also taking a volleyball class, which both are avid players and fans.
All of the students are enrolled in a Spanish class at the University. Brent was going, but it was WAY over his head - so he dropped. He goes to school almost every day to work on research and projects with Alfonso. Steve and Laurie also worked on some projects with Jonathan, who is in the same department as Alfonso.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Today’s goal was to get Mom a manicure and hair done. I really don’t know if this is possible, because I haven’t seen places - I wasn’t really looking for them. We went to the center of Boadilla, by where our famous bus stop is, the train stop, and the sandwich stop.
We found a place for Jocelyn to get her hair cut. With my broken Spanish, the lady understood. I gave Jocelyn the dictionary and pointed out the words short and same - so same haircut but shorter. The lady came and took her away. We were able to take pictures and watch. Jocelyn was watching everything. She was really afraid of the lady that was the barber - because of how quick and short she cut the boys’ hair. I explained the concept to her, and she was relieved. Jocelyn was successful in explaining, but it wasn’t short enough. I explained that it had been six months, so cut it short. Her hair was adorable.
We then found a place for my Mom, but not a nail place. I found one after we ran out of time during her visit. Really, who goes to Europe and thinks that they can continue the exact same routine that they have at home - hello - stay home!!!
That night we were invited with Mom to dinner at Alvaro’s home. Alvaro was one of the students who came out from Spain to take a semester at ASU. He started to live with our friend Mark, but decided mid-way, that he wanted to really get to enjoy ASU and live on campus instead. Needless to say, his study behaviors in the second half didn’t match the first half of his journey.
We had to caravan to Alvaro’s. We followed Alvaro’s dad in Ana’s car, so we would get there okay, and then use Tomtom to get home. Mom and I rode with Alvaro’s dad who didn’t speak any Spanish, while Alvaro rode with Brent and the girls. I was able to keep a logical conversation with him, even though I thought I missed most. I was quizzed and caught a significant amount of the conversation - Yea Me!!!
Alvaro lived near the first train stop, we recognized the surroundings. He lived in a 10 story apartment building. They were on the 7th floor. There are only two apartments per building. It had marble floors and chandeliers with low ceiling (don’t understand) and was very nice. Lots of little rooms.
The girls were slated to sit the front room to eat, while the rest of squished around the dining room table. Alvaro lives at home with his parents, his sister who is a lawyer, and his little brother who is in high school and a foot taller than Alvaro. It is customary to live at home until you get married or move in with your significant other.
Dinner was wonderful. They had boquerones en vinagre solo para mi. They had the anchovies in vinegar just for me - my favorite and a motif with me and the Spaniards - they all served it to me because they all remembered that I loved it!!! How awesome is that?!!!
Alvaro’s dad is a journalist and his mom is a producer of TV shows. They were charming people and we so thoroughly enjoyed their hospitality. They continued to ask questions about how Alvaro was in Arizona. A difficult conversation topic that we couldn’t skirt around - which made things interesting!!!
Alvaro’s dad loaded us up with wine. He is a total wine aficionado, even in Spain. It was so cool to hear his suggestions and then be able to go and get them without a lot of bank!!!
Leaving the evening was very difficult. You never want to leave because you don’t want this once in a lifetime event to end. That is the summation of my journey to Europe!!!
We were stopped by the Civil Guardia on the way home. This is the traffic police of Spain. The actual Policia is in charge of the bigger things. We have heard stories about them, so we were scared to have any contact with them. Stories where people were pulled over and charged $400 for nothing. They had a check point set up. They stopped us and I didn’t understand a word. They didn’t understand a word either and waived us on. I figured out after the fact, that Ana’s head light was burning out!!! Keep this in mind as our story continues!!!
Saturday, November 1
We woke up and carved our pumpkins. I don’t think my children cared that October was already over.
Once the Ladies woke up, we decided to take Kelly and Chelsea to do the tourist stuff in Madrid. We went to Puerta Del Sol and took them to have chocolate at the most famous bakery in Madrid. Everyone was really thrilled to get the actual dream of the best of the best in chocolate y pastres.
After that we walked all the way to Retiro Park, checking out the amazing architecture of downtown’s high rises. We had Sangria in the park and then headed home.
We began Pirate Day, a day early.
Sunday, November 2nd - Pirate Day.
When Brent and I were in Germany, the girls had a Harry Potter Day and stayed in their pjammies and watched movies with Kelly and Chelsea. We decided to do the same thing as a house family - but Pirates!!! We had all three movies and decided to start early on Saturday, so only two to watch on Sunday. We all dressed up as pirates and had swords and patches etc.
A break between our movies, we made dinner and set the table. Our dinner was fish, fruit kabobs, and pina coladas. We decorated the table with our pumpkins, candles, bottles of “Pretend” rum. It was fabulous.
We took all of the cushions off of all of the couches and laid them all out on the floor in the living room. This room has a fireplace in the middle, which makes it difficult to maneuver things. We all grabbed our comforters and snuggled together watching movies from someone’s lap top.
The funniest part about Pirate Day, is that Chelsea was talking in her sleep (Kelly and Chelsea share a room). Kelly heard Chelsea say, “Why is the rum always gone?!”.
Tuesday, November 4th
Today was Election Day. Nothing was happening during the day in Spain, because of the 8 hour time difference.
Jocelyn did have a substitute at school today. The lady asked Jocelyn why she was sitting so close to Belin. They explained that Belin was translating for Jocelyn. Then the teacher asked Jocelyn where she was from in espanol. Jocelyn answered United States. The teacher then spoke in English and asked where. Jocelyn said Arizona. The teacher then said that she was from Glendale. Jocelyn answered that one of our students (Chelsea) lived in Glendale. This teacher goes home to Arizona every summer to see her grandkids!!!!
Wednesday, November 5th
Laurie and Steve left for the Marathon in Greece today. They have been training for this marathon for about six months. This is Steve’s first. It is the actual ancient Marathon from the City of Marathon to Athens. How cool is that - something I would love to do in the future!!!
We couldn’t find the results last night of the election (internet so slow), so we got up early this morning and hooked up to NPR via the web. We were able to see the first polling coming in. We heard the speeches from McCain and Obama. It was pretty incredible and it was difficult being away from it all.
The amazing thing was that I had a hard time speaking espanol, because I was concentrating on English. The other parents were also talking about the American Elections. Everyone in the world was excited about the change in America. I don’t think it mattered who America elected - it was a change.
Thursday, November 6
Gammy arrived today (my mom). The sisters and I pooled our gift money for my mom together and shipped her out to Spain. She came bearing gifts of chocolate chip cookie mix, candy corns, granola, library books (Jocelyn can’t read enough), and Spam (this was the Aunts’ crazy shopping idea!!!).
So while I was waiting to get my mom, there was a lot of whispering in the airport. I couldn’t understand that well, so when we got home, I went to the Spain news to read……Bin Laden’s son had landed in Madrid from Saudi Arabia on the same day and was trying to get asylum. Wow Spain had some tough decisions - Gammy or Bin Laden!!! Thankfully they sent Mr. Bin Laden packing to Egypt!!!
The first thing that Gammy got to do, was go to the pasteria for chocolate. I hadn’t had time to eat yet, and we had some errands to do, I also had Ana’s car.
After our errands and dropping off Gammy‘s stuff at the house, we were able to pick Brent up from the University. Brent gave Mom a wonderful tour of the campus and we had lunch together in the cafeteria. The lunch is similar to most restaurants at lunch time and for the girls’ school. You get primer plata, segundo plata y tercer plata. The first plate is usually a soup. The second plate is a meal with a veggie side. The third plate is usually a salad or a yogurt or a piece of fruit. It is a lot of food. Mom and I shared it and still didn’t finish it all. The girls usually can’t leave until they eat the first plate and most of the second plate.
Then Mom got to go with me to the grocery store. With Ana’s car, we were able to purchase more. Then Mom got to take a nap until we went and picked the girls up from school. It was the usual - “That’s my Gammy” and jumping up and down etc!!! An awesome experience and great for anyone’s self esteem.
We woke up and carved our pumpkins. I don’t think my children cared that October was already over.
Once the Ladies woke up, we decided to take Kelly and Chelsea to do the tourist stuff in Madrid. We went to Puerta Del Sol and took them to have chocolate at the most famous bakery in Madrid. Everyone was really thrilled to get the actual dream of the best of the best in chocolate y pastres.
After that we walked all the way to Retiro Park, checking out the amazing architecture of downtown’s high rises. We had Sangria in the park and then headed home.
We began Pirate Day, a day early.
Sunday, November 2nd - Pirate Day.
When Brent and I were in Germany, the girls had a Harry Potter Day and stayed in their pjammies and watched movies with Kelly and Chelsea. We decided to do the same thing as a house family - but Pirates!!! We had all three movies and decided to start early on Saturday, so only two to watch on Sunday. We all dressed up as pirates and had swords and patches etc.
A break between our movies, we made dinner and set the table. Our dinner was fish, fruit kabobs, and pina coladas. We decorated the table with our pumpkins, candles, bottles of “Pretend” rum. It was fabulous.
We took all of the cushions off of all of the couches and laid them all out on the floor in the living room. This room has a fireplace in the middle, which makes it difficult to maneuver things. We all grabbed our comforters and snuggled together watching movies from someone’s lap top.
The funniest part about Pirate Day, is that Chelsea was talking in her sleep (Kelly and Chelsea share a room). Kelly heard Chelsea say, “Why is the rum always gone?!”.
Tuesday, November 4th
Today was Election Day. Nothing was happening during the day in Spain, because of the 8 hour time difference.
Jocelyn did have a substitute at school today. The lady asked Jocelyn why she was sitting so close to Belin. They explained that Belin was translating for Jocelyn. Then the teacher asked Jocelyn where she was from in espanol. Jocelyn answered United States. The teacher then spoke in English and asked where. Jocelyn said Arizona. The teacher then said that she was from Glendale. Jocelyn answered that one of our students (Chelsea) lived in Glendale. This teacher goes home to Arizona every summer to see her grandkids!!!!
Wednesday, November 5th
Laurie and Steve left for the Marathon in Greece today. They have been training for this marathon for about six months. This is Steve’s first. It is the actual ancient Marathon from the City of Marathon to Athens. How cool is that - something I would love to do in the future!!!
We couldn’t find the results last night of the election (internet so slow), so we got up early this morning and hooked up to NPR via the web. We were able to see the first polling coming in. We heard the speeches from McCain and Obama. It was pretty incredible and it was difficult being away from it all.
The amazing thing was that I had a hard time speaking espanol, because I was concentrating on English. The other parents were also talking about the American Elections. Everyone in the world was excited about the change in America. I don’t think it mattered who America elected - it was a change.
Thursday, November 6
Gammy arrived today (my mom). The sisters and I pooled our gift money for my mom together and shipped her out to Spain. She came bearing gifts of chocolate chip cookie mix, candy corns, granola, library books (Jocelyn can’t read enough), and Spam (this was the Aunts’ crazy shopping idea!!!).
So while I was waiting to get my mom, there was a lot of whispering in the airport. I couldn’t understand that well, so when we got home, I went to the Spain news to read……Bin Laden’s son had landed in Madrid from Saudi Arabia on the same day and was trying to get asylum. Wow Spain had some tough decisions - Gammy or Bin Laden!!! Thankfully they sent Mr. Bin Laden packing to Egypt!!!
The first thing that Gammy got to do, was go to the pasteria for chocolate. I hadn’t had time to eat yet, and we had some errands to do, I also had Ana’s car.
After our errands and dropping off Gammy‘s stuff at the house, we were able to pick Brent up from the University. Brent gave Mom a wonderful tour of the campus and we had lunch together in the cafeteria. The lunch is similar to most restaurants at lunch time and for the girls’ school. You get primer plata, segundo plata y tercer plata. The first plate is usually a soup. The second plate is a meal with a veggie side. The third plate is usually a salad or a yogurt or a piece of fruit. It is a lot of food. Mom and I shared it and still didn’t finish it all. The girls usually can’t leave until they eat the first plate and most of the second plate.
Then Mom got to go with me to the grocery store. With Ana’s car, we were able to purchase more. Then Mom got to take a nap until we went and picked the girls up from school. It was the usual - “That’s my Gammy” and jumping up and down etc!!! An awesome experience and great for anyone’s self esteem.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, October 24th
Leon is where Alfonso received his PhD. We met up with his mentor Jose Antonio, his wife, and his son. His poor wife was in a cast, due to surgery. It was very interesting to see a woman get around ancient Spain with a wheel chair and crutches. I had met his mentor and I sat across from his wife during a dinner Brent had on my first visit to Spain. At that time, she was just a PhD student working on kids with muscular dystrophy and exercise. I had no idea that they were an item when they were at the dinner three years ago. They were wonderfully charming people - typical of Spain.Alfonso walked us through the center of town at about 7:30. It was completely desolate. We walked by a Gaudi building and they had a statue of Gaudi admiring his work while sitting on a park bench - photo opportunity!! We continued to check out the center of the city and there was no one. We also walked by the cathedral which is a sister to the Notre Dame, Alfonso said we would be back tomorrow. He also explained that this part of Leon is called the watering hole, because it has 1 bar per 17 people. He also said, “Just wait, the people will come.” Right he was, come 8:00, that area was swamped with people.
The first tapas bar, we got drinks and they gave us meatballs for free tapas. The girls liked eating with toothpicks - yes, we were bar hopping with our children. The next place was packed and we ate chips and drank outside on counters surrounding the building. Then we headed to La Bicha. This place is well known for their morcilla. Morcilla is blood sausage, Ana wouldn’t tell us what is was until we were done eating. This La Bicha place was literally a hole in the wall. Only one guy was working, the boss. The place was packed - the fire marshall would have kicked half of us out. The guy was very grumpy and Ana said that he won’t serve you if he doesn’t like you. He never has anyone help him, because he is a tyrant - but has the best morcilla around. I concur and the place was entertaining in the people watching to say the least. We then headed back to the hotel for the night.
The next day, Brent and Alfonso had the conference. Ana, the girls, and I went and toured a mid evil church. It had tombs of kings and queens of the regions since the 12th century here. The thing is, Napoleon took over the crypt as stables and then buried his own people in the same tombs. So researchers haven’t tried to tackle this issue yet.
We met Alfonso and Brent in the downtown city center. We did some shopping. Brent and Alfonso got hats; Jocelyn, Ana, and I got boots. We then toured the cathedral with its flying buttresses. It was great, because it was during the day and we could see the stained glass. The girls kissed the statues out front and played on the LEON sign. We then toured the monastery, which is still active. We also found a traveling museum depicting the Moorish life, which was such a fabulous recap of our trip to Granada. We learned even more!!!
That night we went to dinner with Jose Antonio and his family. They took us to the caves. This is in the wine country were the families drilled caves to store their wine reserves. The restaurant was in a bunch of abandoned caves that they had drilled together. It was really cool eating. The food was more of the “interesting” Spanish cuisine.
Sunday, we got up and headed to Valladolid. This is where one of Alfonso’s closest friends lives. We met up with him and his two sons. The city was crazy. They have their own film festival every year, and place doubles in size. We had tappas with Juan throughout the city, because it was crazy finding any place to sit and visit. He took us on a tour of the cathedral. This cathedral was started by Carlos the fifth and was to be finished by his son, Felipe. Felipe decided to stop working on Valladolid, and instead started El Escorial in Madrid. There is some tension still on that matter.
Thursday, October 30th
Today, Bryce wore her Halloween shirt from Aunt Jen to school (She has been sleeping in Grandma‘s). We also found her a witch’s hat that matched. All of the little kids got to parade through the school, so the big kids could see them dressed up. Jocelyn and our neighbor friend Lucia both saw Bryce all dressed up. Jocelyn watched Halloween movies English, during English class.The girls didn’t have school on Halloween. We got up and went into Madrid. Off of our train, there is a stop that has a MacDonald’s, an American Rib Place, and a movie theater. We planned a family date.
Bryce chose MacDonald’s for lunch - surprisingly good - I don’t even eat it in the US. Then we went to see High School Musical Three - per Jocelyn’s request. This was the perfect movie to see in espanol. We had seen the previous two, we knew the characters, it was the senior year so we had a clue about the story line, and the songs were in English. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and can’t wait to see if what I thought happened really did in English!!!
We then met up with Kelly and Chelsea at the Rib place - Jocelyn’s request. Steve and Laurie were away touring Rome. The rib place was all decorated and very cool. The thing is, Halloween in Spain is scary - we didn’t really like it. The video in the restaurant continued to place scary scenes from every horror film. The service was yucky. We left only to have freaky people about. We rushed home as quickly as possible.
At home we had our own Halloween. Everyone dressed up. Jocelyn and Bryce put on makeup and the Ladies’ shoes. I dressed up as a beggar in Puerta Del Sol. The Ladies’ looked like jacked up ballerinas. Very Funny. Everyone had their door and their candy, and Jocelyn and Bryce went trick or treating to everyone’s door. We then sat about and ate our stash. A lovely Halloween!!!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Monday, October 20th
This morning, Luke and his Aunt Bri (Steve’s sister who flew in on Thursday from her travels to Ireland) went home. We were sad to see him leave. He and Bryce entertained each other wonderfully, now the task is given to all of us big kids.
Brent decided to make his paella for his parents on his own. He did a remarkable job, and it was fun to see him go through the process on his own. We will have you over for Brent’s paella, you bring the drinks – he might kill me for the suggestion!!!
That night, the electricity went out. You should have seen the panic in the house. I looked out the window and realized that it was city wide!!! We are sooo getting used to chaos – an understatement.
Ana and Alfonso have been wonderful to us. They have lent us her car when ever we basically needed it, like for the parents visiting. She has even said that we can continue to use it until we go home!!!! Our little gifts that make our hearts sing HUGE songs!!!
Tuesday, October 21st.
Today, Grandpa and Grandma took us to a last hurrah lunch at our favorite Sandwich shop. After that, they went with me to get the girls from school for the last time. There was something wrong. As soon as Bryce’s class came out of the door, she was dragging behind the class and not making eye contact with us. Apparently during English class, they were making spiders for Halloween. For whatever reason goes through her mind, she literally opened the scissors on her nose and sliced her nose!!!! The teacher had put iodine on it. Brent said she wanted to “smell” the scissors to see if they were the same as in AZ!!! My child!!!
For dinner, Jim and Gayle made a fabulous Midwestern Stew for everybody. We invited Ana and Alfonso over as a thank you. We had a fabulous time drinking, eating, visiting, and enjoying everybody – is there anything more in life?
We got Grandma and Grandpa off to Minnesota on Wednesday. They spent two weeks with us, where I literally exhausted them. Then they had a week in Minnesota with Brent’s Grandma before flying home to their daughter Julie and her five girls!!!!
Thursday was Pedro’s Dissertation Defense. Pedro was Alfonso’s PhD student who came out to AZ and studied with Brent’s former student Matt at AT Stills University. He was in AZ for a year. The bummer was that he lived by himself on campus and was completely driven in his research. We kind of forgot about him when our students went home!!! Bad!!! It was soo good to reconnect with him.
The cool thing about Spanish Dissertations, is that the student has his Dissertation published in hard back in the beginning to give to the professors, versus after everything has been defended in the US. There is a formal panel “Court” that the student defends to. They try and get professors from other universities and other colleges from the home university. There was a professor from the Medical College of the UEM, a professor from the same department as Pedro, Brent from ASU/USA, a professor from another university in Madrid, and another professor from Valencia. We told that professor that we LOVED his city.
The professors sit on a formal podium, as the student presents to the panel and then to us sitting in the audience. I was able to thumb through Pedro’s defense, because his abstracts were in English to be published in the official periodicals/journals. Pedro even included several patents that he had from Spain of the equipment he designed in order to do his research – Very Impressive. Pedro did an excellent job defending. Brent was able to understand a bunch, or he is a real good BS’er!!!
After that, Pedro took his “Court” to dinner. Brent told me to come as well. I was the only woman and not a PhD!!! His girlfriend wasn’t even there. I felt bad, but am so glad I didn’t get to miss out of the incredible meal. He was sooo cute. He called his dad while holding the wine list, so he could order the perfect wine!!! They brought their rendition of a chili relleno for a start – which is a stuffed bell pepper smothered in cheese. Nobody was eating. I took my spoonful. When the waitress went to take it away – I grabbed it from her!! I totally made her laugh. After that, she brought any plate by me before heading to the kitchen!!
The dinner was a lifetime favorite. They brought cork trivets to each of us. Then they delivered platters of thinly sliced beef. Then they gave us terracotta plates that were more than sizzling hot. We were instructed to take a piece of meat and literally cook it to our desired consistency on our plate. When the plate chilled, they brought out new plates. I think I ate rarer than usual meat and burned my tongue because I was so excited to eat it!!! Phenomenal!!!!
Friday, October 24th
We pulled the girls out of school after a half day. We then went to the UEM to pull Ana out of her Physical Therapy School. We then headed in the car to Leon in the north of Spain. Alfonso had left that morning with his boys. His parents live up there, and he was going to drop the boys off at his parents’ home. They had a weekend alone!!!! We were headed to Leon because Alfonso and Brent had a conference.
Alfonso is a mover and a shaker, just like Brent in his research. There are people from the “Old School” who aren’t too keen to change – crazy when they are scientists and isn’t science research and change!!!! Well, they uninvited Brent to present, but Alfonso still wanted him to come. He was either uninvited due to being an American, or being affiliated with Alfonso. Oh well, their loss!!!
Leon has a wonderful shopping district. I would equate it to Rodeo Drive, except no cars drive through. At the base of the shopping district is a Gaudhi Palace. They have a statue of Guadhi on a park bench admiring his work – I totally touristed that photo out. At the end of the district is the Cathedral. This is literally the sister to Notre Dame with the flying buttresses!!! Is AMAZING becoming cliché?
This morning, Luke and his Aunt Bri (Steve’s sister who flew in on Thursday from her travels to Ireland) went home. We were sad to see him leave. He and Bryce entertained each other wonderfully, now the task is given to all of us big kids.
Brent decided to make his paella for his parents on his own. He did a remarkable job, and it was fun to see him go through the process on his own. We will have you over for Brent’s paella, you bring the drinks – he might kill me for the suggestion!!!
That night, the electricity went out. You should have seen the panic in the house. I looked out the window and realized that it was city wide!!! We are sooo getting used to chaos – an understatement.
Ana and Alfonso have been wonderful to us. They have lent us her car when ever we basically needed it, like for the parents visiting. She has even said that we can continue to use it until we go home!!!! Our little gifts that make our hearts sing HUGE songs!!!
Tuesday, October 21st.
Today, Grandpa and Grandma took us to a last hurrah lunch at our favorite Sandwich shop. After that, they went with me to get the girls from school for the last time. There was something wrong. As soon as Bryce’s class came out of the door, she was dragging behind the class and not making eye contact with us. Apparently during English class, they were making spiders for Halloween. For whatever reason goes through her mind, she literally opened the scissors on her nose and sliced her nose!!!! The teacher had put iodine on it. Brent said she wanted to “smell” the scissors to see if they were the same as in AZ!!! My child!!!
For dinner, Jim and Gayle made a fabulous Midwestern Stew for everybody. We invited Ana and Alfonso over as a thank you. We had a fabulous time drinking, eating, visiting, and enjoying everybody – is there anything more in life?
We got Grandma and Grandpa off to Minnesota on Wednesday. They spent two weeks with us, where I literally exhausted them. Then they had a week in Minnesota with Brent’s Grandma before flying home to their daughter Julie and her five girls!!!!
Thursday was Pedro’s Dissertation Defense. Pedro was Alfonso’s PhD student who came out to AZ and studied with Brent’s former student Matt at AT Stills University. He was in AZ for a year. The bummer was that he lived by himself on campus and was completely driven in his research. We kind of forgot about him when our students went home!!! Bad!!! It was soo good to reconnect with him.
The cool thing about Spanish Dissertations, is that the student has his Dissertation published in hard back in the beginning to give to the professors, versus after everything has been defended in the US. There is a formal panel “Court” that the student defends to. They try and get professors from other universities and other colleges from the home university. There was a professor from the Medical College of the UEM, a professor from the same department as Pedro, Brent from ASU/USA, a professor from another university in Madrid, and another professor from Valencia. We told that professor that we LOVED his city.
The professors sit on a formal podium, as the student presents to the panel and then to us sitting in the audience. I was able to thumb through Pedro’s defense, because his abstracts were in English to be published in the official periodicals/journals. Pedro even included several patents that he had from Spain of the equipment he designed in order to do his research – Very Impressive. Pedro did an excellent job defending. Brent was able to understand a bunch, or he is a real good BS’er!!!
After that, Pedro took his “Court” to dinner. Brent told me to come as well. I was the only woman and not a PhD!!! His girlfriend wasn’t even there. I felt bad, but am so glad I didn’t get to miss out of the incredible meal. He was sooo cute. He called his dad while holding the wine list, so he could order the perfect wine!!! They brought their rendition of a chili relleno for a start – which is a stuffed bell pepper smothered in cheese. Nobody was eating. I took my spoonful. When the waitress went to take it away – I grabbed it from her!! I totally made her laugh. After that, she brought any plate by me before heading to the kitchen!!
The dinner was a lifetime favorite. They brought cork trivets to each of us. Then they delivered platters of thinly sliced beef. Then they gave us terracotta plates that were more than sizzling hot. We were instructed to take a piece of meat and literally cook it to our desired consistency on our plate. When the plate chilled, they brought out new plates. I think I ate rarer than usual meat and burned my tongue because I was so excited to eat it!!! Phenomenal!!!!
Friday, October 24th
We pulled the girls out of school after a half day. We then went to the UEM to pull Ana out of her Physical Therapy School. We then headed in the car to Leon in the north of Spain. Alfonso had left that morning with his boys. His parents live up there, and he was going to drop the boys off at his parents’ home. They had a weekend alone!!!! We were headed to Leon because Alfonso and Brent had a conference.
Alfonso is a mover and a shaker, just like Brent in his research. There are people from the “Old School” who aren’t too keen to change – crazy when they are scientists and isn’t science research and change!!!! Well, they uninvited Brent to present, but Alfonso still wanted him to come. He was either uninvited due to being an American, or being affiliated with Alfonso. Oh well, their loss!!!
Leon has a wonderful shopping district. I would equate it to Rodeo Drive, except no cars drive through. At the base of the shopping district is a Gaudhi Palace. They have a statue of Guadhi on a park bench admiring his work – I totally touristed that photo out. At the end of the district is the Cathedral. This is literally the sister to Notre Dame with the flying buttresses!!! Is AMAZING becoming cliché?
Saturday, October 18
Granada is about 4 hours south of Madrid. It is in the midst of Olive and Almond trees. The countryside looks like patchwork quilts of different shades of green. The groves were very well groomed. The reason to go to Granada is the Alhambra. This is the last Moorish Palace built in Spain before the Spanish Catholic Invasion. This King built the Palacio Nazaries (palace), the Alcazaba (Military Post), and the Generalife (gardens) according to his interpretation of heaven on earth. They only allow 8000 people in a day, and even with those huge numbers, you have to order your tickets in advance. We had ours for Sunday, so we had a leisure time headed to Granada.
The drive was a fun one!!! The sky looked like we were driving into tornado land with huge amounts of rain. I kept everyone entertained with reading “Pollyanna”. Jocelyn kept yelling at me for looking out the window and not reading!!!
We saw lots of Toros on the side of the road. By Toros, I mean three story tall all black billboard cut outs of a bull. This is the advertising for the El Toro Winery. It is very effective and I just love them. In reading about Spain, Doug and Amber told me that the winery commissioned an artist to design the Toros. He did it, and regrets it, because his most famous piece is commercial.
We stopped at a wonderful café for lunch. The roadside diners here have linen tablecloths and servers with suits on. We thought we paid for the wine and the water, so when we didn’t finish them, we took them to go. Actually it is the table wine and you pay for an unlimited glass. Oops!!! A Walmart move by us!!!
We made it to the Alhambra and our hotel was directly across the street. Our hotel was the Guadalupe and it was very nice. We got situated, picked up our tickets for the morning, and then found the city bus to get to the center of Granada. The bus was standing room only and it took us up and down hairpin turns. The good thing was that the ride was quick, so no time to get sick.
We were dropped off at the Christopher Columbus statue. This one was amazing in that it was iron, with Queen Isabelle holding Colon’s (how they pronounce/spell his name in Spain) globe and maps. The statue was surrounded with fountains. The entrance to the statue was towers of flowers. Since we were there just after Columbus Day, there was a wreath at the base. In fact, all of the Colon Statues in Spain had wreaths at them during the month of October. Very dramatic and priceless.
We walked the city looking for a place to eat. The greatest part was the little men at the cross walks. Here, the man is red when you can’t cross or green when you do cross. In Granada and some of the other tourist places, the green guy is animated when it is time to cross the street. And he starts to walk really fast when the time is running out. I stood in the middle of the street and photographed the hombre verde for about two or three light changes!!!
The city reminded me a lot of Valencia, and as I am touring Spain, the little villages are very similar in a “Spanish” kind of way. We gave up on finding dinner, but found a pasteria – bakery for chocolate y cervezas. We decided we would get fancied up and eat dinner at the hotel. As we were headed back to the bus stop, there was a huge group of young men on the other side of the street. They looked like they were a futbol team that had just finished practice. There were about 50 of them. We followed them along as they chanted. Next thing we know, they all stormed the Colon Statue and were jumping in the fountain!! Very entertaining.
We got ready and had a lovely, fancy dinner at the hotel. The girls were very nicely behaved. There was an older woman sitting alone behind us. She was laughing at the girls every time I looked back. When she left, she made a point of saying, “Thank you for an enjoyable evening!”
We got up early and headed to the Alhambra. The gates opened at 8, and we had our appointment for the palace at 9:15. You can only enter the palace during the 1/2 hour of your time. You can stay as long as you would like. You only can tour the Alhambra areas from 8-2 or from 2-8 every day. We immediately got our audio tour and started towards the palace.
The Alhambra. I can easily equate it to heaven. It was amazing to realize that the construction of this heavenly Moorish palace began at about 1000. When the Catholics invaded (1490’s), they took over the Alhambra and input their touches, which weren’t so great and almost insulting. The palace had marble floors, alabaster carvings all over the place, ceilings that were inlaid with these alabaster carvings. It was difficult to comprehend how they were able to construct such a thing. The Moors used all of the available light for heating, cooling, and visuals. They were firm believers of water being an avenue to peace and tranquility. I think I’m going to install fountains or a garden hose in every room of my AZ house. The detail was indescribable and the experience was exquisite.
After our brains hurt from all of the beautiful stimuli, we headed to the Alcazar. Any word starting with Al is a Moor word. Alcazar translates to the Armory or Artillery section of the Palace. This was constructed before the Palace. The exterior walls of most of the facility were still in place. You could see the bath houses for the soldiers, the irrigation system for transporting water through the palace gardens, and the military walls of protection. At one point, I looked up to the bell tower (the highest point in Granada) and saw my child hanging over the wall. Apparently she purposely separated from her Daddy. I ran up those steps as fast as my legs would carry me. I was too tired to yell at her once I found her!!!
Once we were done with the Alcazar we had enough. We didn’t even make it to the “Official Gardens – Generalife Area.” There were gardens throughout the property and again, it was incredible!!!
We checked out of the hotel and headed down the road. We found another quaint restaurant for our road stop. Here we were able to watch one of the last races for the Formula One Championship. Hamilton from the UK basically clenched the points needed while we watched during lunch. Another pretty cool European culture item checked off of the list.
Granada is about 4 hours south of Madrid. It is in the midst of Olive and Almond trees. The countryside looks like patchwork quilts of different shades of green. The groves were very well groomed. The reason to go to Granada is the Alhambra. This is the last Moorish Palace built in Spain before the Spanish Catholic Invasion. This King built the Palacio Nazaries (palace), the Alcazaba (Military Post), and the Generalife (gardens) according to his interpretation of heaven on earth. They only allow 8000 people in a day, and even with those huge numbers, you have to order your tickets in advance. We had ours for Sunday, so we had a leisure time headed to Granada.
The drive was a fun one!!! The sky looked like we were driving into tornado land with huge amounts of rain. I kept everyone entertained with reading “Pollyanna”. Jocelyn kept yelling at me for looking out the window and not reading!!!
We saw lots of Toros on the side of the road. By Toros, I mean three story tall all black billboard cut outs of a bull. This is the advertising for the El Toro Winery. It is very effective and I just love them. In reading about Spain, Doug and Amber told me that the winery commissioned an artist to design the Toros. He did it, and regrets it, because his most famous piece is commercial.
We stopped at a wonderful café for lunch. The roadside diners here have linen tablecloths and servers with suits on. We thought we paid for the wine and the water, so when we didn’t finish them, we took them to go. Actually it is the table wine and you pay for an unlimited glass. Oops!!! A Walmart move by us!!!
We made it to the Alhambra and our hotel was directly across the street. Our hotel was the Guadalupe and it was very nice. We got situated, picked up our tickets for the morning, and then found the city bus to get to the center of Granada. The bus was standing room only and it took us up and down hairpin turns. The good thing was that the ride was quick, so no time to get sick.
We were dropped off at the Christopher Columbus statue. This one was amazing in that it was iron, with Queen Isabelle holding Colon’s (how they pronounce/spell his name in Spain) globe and maps. The statue was surrounded with fountains. The entrance to the statue was towers of flowers. Since we were there just after Columbus Day, there was a wreath at the base. In fact, all of the Colon Statues in Spain had wreaths at them during the month of October. Very dramatic and priceless.
We walked the city looking for a place to eat. The greatest part was the little men at the cross walks. Here, the man is red when you can’t cross or green when you do cross. In Granada and some of the other tourist places, the green guy is animated when it is time to cross the street. And he starts to walk really fast when the time is running out. I stood in the middle of the street and photographed the hombre verde for about two or three light changes!!!
The city reminded me a lot of Valencia, and as I am touring Spain, the little villages are very similar in a “Spanish” kind of way. We gave up on finding dinner, but found a pasteria – bakery for chocolate y cervezas. We decided we would get fancied up and eat dinner at the hotel. As we were headed back to the bus stop, there was a huge group of young men on the other side of the street. They looked like they were a futbol team that had just finished practice. There were about 50 of them. We followed them along as they chanted. Next thing we know, they all stormed the Colon Statue and were jumping in the fountain!! Very entertaining.
We got ready and had a lovely, fancy dinner at the hotel. The girls were very nicely behaved. There was an older woman sitting alone behind us. She was laughing at the girls every time I looked back. When she left, she made a point of saying, “Thank you for an enjoyable evening!”
We got up early and headed to the Alhambra. The gates opened at 8, and we had our appointment for the palace at 9:15. You can only enter the palace during the 1/2 hour of your time. You can stay as long as you would like. You only can tour the Alhambra areas from 8-2 or from 2-8 every day. We immediately got our audio tour and started towards the palace.
The Alhambra. I can easily equate it to heaven. It was amazing to realize that the construction of this heavenly Moorish palace began at about 1000. When the Catholics invaded (1490’s), they took over the Alhambra and input their touches, which weren’t so great and almost insulting. The palace had marble floors, alabaster carvings all over the place, ceilings that were inlaid with these alabaster carvings. It was difficult to comprehend how they were able to construct such a thing. The Moors used all of the available light for heating, cooling, and visuals. They were firm believers of water being an avenue to peace and tranquility. I think I’m going to install fountains or a garden hose in every room of my AZ house. The detail was indescribable and the experience was exquisite.
After our brains hurt from all of the beautiful stimuli, we headed to the Alcazar. Any word starting with Al is a Moor word. Alcazar translates to the Armory or Artillery section of the Palace. This was constructed before the Palace. The exterior walls of most of the facility were still in place. You could see the bath houses for the soldiers, the irrigation system for transporting water through the palace gardens, and the military walls of protection. At one point, I looked up to the bell tower (the highest point in Granada) and saw my child hanging over the wall. Apparently she purposely separated from her Daddy. I ran up those steps as fast as my legs would carry me. I was too tired to yell at her once I found her!!!
Once we were done with the Alcazar we had enough. We didn’t even make it to the “Official Gardens – Generalife Area.” There were gardens throughout the property and again, it was incredible!!!
We checked out of the hotel and headed down the road. We found another quaint restaurant for our road stop. Here we were able to watch one of the last races for the Formula One Championship. Hamilton from the UK basically clenched the points needed while we watched during lunch. Another pretty cool European culture item checked off of the list.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Well, I have more down time. My mom went home on Saturday. The weather has changed, sorry Grandma and pa, it has stopped raining. It rained every day for six weeks. If it skipped a day, it would rain for 24 hours straight!!! It is just extremely cold and there is no moisture – so no snow for our troubles. We are really getting used to the scarves, gloves, and long jackets.
The bus situation is getting more interesting. Brent and I were one of the first on the scene, when the bus was being detoured off of the main drag (construction – even here). The bus was trying to avoid an open trench when it literally “wrapped” itself around a telephone pole. It broke all of the windows out of one side. The driver was out on the phone and all of the people were still inside.
Another situation happened with Steve and Laurie in the same week. They were headed to campus on the bus, when a car pulled out of its parking space in front of the bus. The bus driver swerved to miss the car and drove up on the median and into a tree. No one was hurt, not even the tree. The bus did break a headlight. The bus driver got out of the bus and chased the car. Later, while they continued on the drive, the bus driver pulled over a police officer to tell what had happened. Laurie and Steve were quite entertained.
I forgot to mention what is like when a new family member goes to pick up Jocelyn and Bryce from school. I take the visitor into the courtyard where all of the parents wait for the children to come out of doors throughout the courtyard. Bryce’s class has windows that look out onto the courtyard. Usually when a visitor is coming, I let her know that they left today and will be flying all day. She usually thinks they are going to be here on that day and she is very sad. I now have to stop telling her that part. I do tell them that I’m going to bring them a surprise when I pick them up from school. They know who it is and are very excited. On every occasion, I have pointed out Bryce’s classroom. As I am pointing, she is out of her desk waiving out the window, or actually yelling through the window and waving. I know she gets into trouble – but it’s just too damn cute. The teachers then escort the students out to the playground to be picked up by the parents. Bryce is usually pointing out the visitor to her friends and saying “That’s Aunt Cold, Aunt Jen, Grandpa and Grandma, Gammy etc.” It is quite touching!!!
Every night after putting the girls to bed, we adults and Grandpa and Grandma would drink and play cards. What a hoot to see all of us around the glass table in the veranda giggling. I loved how our students/roommates called Grandpa and Grandma and Gammy by their Grandparent names.
Friday, October 17th,
Yikes, I’m month behind – how does that happen????
Today I decided not to take the girls to school. We had tickets to go see Flamenco Dancing in Madrid and it started at 6:30. It usually takes two hours to get there. Brent said I should just get them after lunch at 2. I told him I was going to do the other half of Madrid with his parents during the day, so he could get the girls out after his meeting. He was scared of the language challenge – so no school today!!!
This was pretty much the only time that Grandpa and ma got to enjoy the Boadilla bus. We started at the Puerta Del Sol and walked to Banco Espana so they could see the beautiful architecture of Madrid. We then walked to Colon Centro, which is the homage to Christopher Columbus. This is cool because almost every city in Spain has something celebrating Columbus and to be here during Columbus Day is cool. On the way, the streets were lined with booths selling antique books. We found a first edition Harry Potter in Spanish for 15e – almost $23 – so we said no. We then walked to Retiro Park and had drinks. After that, I almost killed my in-laws by trying to find a nonexistent metro stop.
We did make it to Flemenco on time. Did I mention that I had originally purchased the tickets for the wrong day. I was paying attention to when tickets were available versus when we wanted to come. It all worked out well. The Flemenco was in a theater, so great seats and no smoking. It was early enough so that the girls got to enjoy it. We had Kelly and Chelsea meet us there. The Flemenco was performed by ballet dancers, so they were very smooth. When we came out, it was raining and we headed to Plaza Mayor for dinner.
Saturday, October 18th
Today we headed out to Granada. We took Grandpa and Grandma to hot chocolate and pasterias in Boadilla first. The hot chocolate here is more than amazing. It is like a melted chocolate bar or hot chocolate made with the consistency of cheese soup. Even I can’t finish it!!! We sat outside because the shop was full of smoking people. It was raining outside, but we found a nice spot under a canopy.
We then headed to Granada with huge black skies. If it were Kansas, we would have been looking for underground bunkers. This drive was kind of stressful for Brent. I kept the car entertained with reading Pollyanna. Jocelyn wouldn’t let me look at the beautiful countryside because she wanted me to get through the book.
We had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant along the road. We even took the left over wine and water for our own party later – since we thought we paid for it. We realized that we didn’t and we took their house bottles. I kind of feel bad about that. So now I’m another step closer to “Locked Up Abroad”.
The bus situation is getting more interesting. Brent and I were one of the first on the scene, when the bus was being detoured off of the main drag (construction – even here). The bus was trying to avoid an open trench when it literally “wrapped” itself around a telephone pole. It broke all of the windows out of one side. The driver was out on the phone and all of the people were still inside.
Another situation happened with Steve and Laurie in the same week. They were headed to campus on the bus, when a car pulled out of its parking space in front of the bus. The bus driver swerved to miss the car and drove up on the median and into a tree. No one was hurt, not even the tree. The bus did break a headlight. The bus driver got out of the bus and chased the car. Later, while they continued on the drive, the bus driver pulled over a police officer to tell what had happened. Laurie and Steve were quite entertained.
I forgot to mention what is like when a new family member goes to pick up Jocelyn and Bryce from school. I take the visitor into the courtyard where all of the parents wait for the children to come out of doors throughout the courtyard. Bryce’s class has windows that look out onto the courtyard. Usually when a visitor is coming, I let her know that they left today and will be flying all day. She usually thinks they are going to be here on that day and she is very sad. I now have to stop telling her that part. I do tell them that I’m going to bring them a surprise when I pick them up from school. They know who it is and are very excited. On every occasion, I have pointed out Bryce’s classroom. As I am pointing, she is out of her desk waiving out the window, or actually yelling through the window and waving. I know she gets into trouble – but it’s just too damn cute. The teachers then escort the students out to the playground to be picked up by the parents. Bryce is usually pointing out the visitor to her friends and saying “That’s Aunt Cold, Aunt Jen, Grandpa and Grandma, Gammy etc.” It is quite touching!!!
Every night after putting the girls to bed, we adults and Grandpa and Grandma would drink and play cards. What a hoot to see all of us around the glass table in the veranda giggling. I loved how our students/roommates called Grandpa and Grandma and Gammy by their Grandparent names.
Friday, October 17th,
Yikes, I’m month behind – how does that happen????
Today I decided not to take the girls to school. We had tickets to go see Flamenco Dancing in Madrid and it started at 6:30. It usually takes two hours to get there. Brent said I should just get them after lunch at 2. I told him I was going to do the other half of Madrid with his parents during the day, so he could get the girls out after his meeting. He was scared of the language challenge – so no school today!!!
This was pretty much the only time that Grandpa and ma got to enjoy the Boadilla bus. We started at the Puerta Del Sol and walked to Banco Espana so they could see the beautiful architecture of Madrid. We then walked to Colon Centro, which is the homage to Christopher Columbus. This is cool because almost every city in Spain has something celebrating Columbus and to be here during Columbus Day is cool. On the way, the streets were lined with booths selling antique books. We found a first edition Harry Potter in Spanish for 15e – almost $23 – so we said no. We then walked to Retiro Park and had drinks. After that, I almost killed my in-laws by trying to find a nonexistent metro stop.
We did make it to Flemenco on time. Did I mention that I had originally purchased the tickets for the wrong day. I was paying attention to when tickets were available versus when we wanted to come. It all worked out well. The Flemenco was in a theater, so great seats and no smoking. It was early enough so that the girls got to enjoy it. We had Kelly and Chelsea meet us there. The Flemenco was performed by ballet dancers, so they were very smooth. When we came out, it was raining and we headed to Plaza Mayor for dinner.
Saturday, October 18th
Today we headed out to Granada. We took Grandpa and Grandma to hot chocolate and pasterias in Boadilla first. The hot chocolate here is more than amazing. It is like a melted chocolate bar or hot chocolate made with the consistency of cheese soup. Even I can’t finish it!!! We sat outside because the shop was full of smoking people. It was raining outside, but we found a nice spot under a canopy.
We then headed to Granada with huge black skies. If it were Kansas, we would have been looking for underground bunkers. This drive was kind of stressful for Brent. I kept the car entertained with reading Pollyanna. Jocelyn wouldn’t let me look at the beautiful countryside because she wanted me to get through the book.
We had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant along the road. We even took the left over wine and water for our own party later – since we thought we paid for it. We realized that we didn’t and we took their house bottles. I kind of feel bad about that. So now I’m another step closer to “Locked Up Abroad”.
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