Settling In October

SETTLING IN

October has been a month of settling. The kids have now been going to school full days for a month. They are used to the routine of after-school tennis lessons, surf lessons, and the extracurriculars they do during comedor (Artes Marciales, Ciencia Divertida, y Bailar). While they are still tired at night and on the weekends, they seem to be adjusting to this routine of life which is beautiful!  

Davin is settled into the routine of working from home. He looks forward to his 2pm espresso that he gets at the bar downstairs to keep him ‘inspired’ during the workday. He spent nine days traveling to Taipei for work. It was difficult to have him gone but we all managed to survive without the help of family that we usually get back home. No emergencies - ¡gracias a dios!

Language acquisition is still slow for all of us. Because Davin is working he isn’t getting much time to practice his Spanish but recently started an advanced class that will hopefully kickstart improvements. The kids seem to be understanding a great deal and are just now starting to respond confidently to certain questions. I am taking 4.5 hours of classes throughout the week, plus doing grammar books, creating anki vocab flash cards, and journaling outside of that. Just like the kids I am understanding a great deal but I lack the confidence to speak. Feeling a bit depressed that we’ve been here for just over two months and I’m still not speaking has inspired me to take some action and put myself out there (which is terrifying for me)!  So I joined AMPA.

AMPA (Asociación de Madres y Padres de Alumnos)

AMPA is the same concept as PTA in the U.S. - parents and teachers working together to make school improvements and plan activities for students and families. One difference, however, is that you can ‘join’ the AMPA association for €20/kid and then you get access to more activities/parties as a member. I never participated in the PTA in the states but thought AMPA would be a great opportunity to meet moms and learn Spanish. Luckily the Halloween party preparations provided a great opportunity for me to join in and help.

HALLOWEEN IN ESPAÑA

"Tortas de chuches"

Halloween is not a traditional holiday celebrated in Spain, although, like many other European countries, the American marketing is starting to gain traction. The Arenal school is the only Spanish school in town that throws a Halloween fiesta for the students. I was happy to be invited by an AMPA mom to help with the festivities because up to this point I have only made a few mom-friends... that are english. As someone who is more introverted, it has been extremely intimidating joining a room full of Spanish women who all know each other and what’s going on. One mom knows enough english to give me instructions on the task at hand, but otherwise it is loud, animated Spanish within women constantly talking over one another. Talk about a party! I felt uneasy and awkward- sitting there silently- but each afternoon I go I get more comfortable. The women don’t seem to care that I can’t participate in conversation (YET) and seem happy to have my help. It's been a relief to hear that several of them have gone through the same process! I am slowly starting to figure out names and learn the backgrounds of the women. Several are native french speakers and Spanish conversation will all the sudden turn into french and then evolve into broken english, and then finish in Spanish. It’s so fun!

Friday, October 30th

Friday was the day of the fiesta: one for the entire school from 3-4:30 and then another all night party starting at 5:30 for the families that have joined AMPA. I went to the school in the morning and we prepared food for the bar. Yes, the bar for the parents- I still can’t get over that! Between ten women we whipped together traditional Spanish bocadillas for over 200 people: jamón serrano, jamón york, Spanish tortilla, atún, atún y aceitunas, queso y jamón, all on fresh baked buns doused in olive oil. It was so fun make authentic Spanish food in the constant chatter of happy women. We all stayed and ate the school lunch which was my first opportunity to see what my kids were eating. It was a beautiful meat roast, roasted potatoes and vegetables, ensalada, and fresh fruit. Even though I don’t eat meat I was impressed at the quality of food in comparison to standard US school lunch. Cigarette breaks and espresso followed to keep the moms going:)

"Hombre muerte y murciélago"

After seeing how watered down halloween has gotten at school in the states (no costumes, no candy, nothing scary, and only fall themed activities) it was great to see fake blood, guts, and gore and little kids having a blast playing halloween games! I ran bowling for the chiquitos and got to practice my Spanish “¡muy bien! ¡más fuerte!”

Saturday, October 31st

In a round-a-bout way we’ve met a great group of families outside of our school. The families are a mix of couples - Danish, American, Spanish, German, Venezuelan. One couple hosted an authentic american style halloween party which was wonderful. Davin and I absolutely get a high being surrounded by people from various backgrounds who have a similar story to us about how they ended up in Jávea- dumb luck perhaps? As transplants, we all have a common appreciation for Jávea and for the process of leaving everything behind to move here. We had a fabulous evening of conversation and stories, sitting outside overlooking views of the sea while the kids made new friends.

Other October Family Fun (that I haven't had time to blog about)

Denia Castle

This is the remains of a palace situated at top of the castle overlooking the town and port of Denia. It was built in the XVII century. You can walk around the grounds and there is a museum that has a bunch of artifacts from the Roman and Iberian times, most of which were discovered in Denia.

Xábia Family Bike Ride

The town organizes a family bike ride in which they close down the streets. We started in the Old Town, went through the Port, along the sea through the Arenal beach area, the up the mountain to Pinosol park. In true Spanish style, they handed out bocadillas, beer, and soda at the park. There was a raffle and afterwards we rode back through farmland (mainly mandarin groves) to the Old Town.

Saturday Market in Jalón

Jalón is the capital of the Jalón Valley, situated beside the River Gorgos, in a plain, surrounded by the Sierra de Bernia and the Sierra del Forner mountains. 
Jalón has some of the most magnificent scenery in the region,with its landscape of olive and pine trees, intermingled with orange groves and vineyards. Each Saturday the town is packed with vendors and shoppers buying and selling clothes, art, food, etc - flea market style.

OTRA NOTICIAS

Things that continue to surprise me:

• Finding pieces of seaweed in the laundry
• Tiger mosquitos - they are the doped up, super-insect version of Minnesotan mosquitos
• Going downstairs to the ‘cafe’ and seeing the spanish laborers drinking shots of liquor, in addition to many bottles of beer or wine, eating olives, and chain smoking at 9:30am. Wait! Before heading back to work.  Wait! Wait!  Before driving back to work in the company van. Love it.
• Tasting salt when I dip my head under the sea water (oh yeah- it’s not a lake?!)
• When Spaniards say “adios” as a greeting rather than ‘hola’
• Looking out one aparment window and seeing the sea.  Looking out another and seeing montgo.
• Loud fireworks. Wherever.  Whenever. For no apparent reason.
• Rain. Usually when all the washing is hanging out to dry on the terrace. (Oh, how I miss having a clothes dryer)
• Stores closed on Sundays. “Guess we’re eating out kids.”
• The double-cheek-kiss greeting...although I’m starting to get the hang of it (which is a big stretch from a normal MN meet and greet)

Random things I’ve done in Spain:

• Erased over THREE HUNDRED pages of used math workbooks since the school uses books that have been discontinued by the publisher. While I’m all for recycling… I decided that (during the 2.5 hours I spent erasing) I would happily let a tree die to have avoided that experience.
• Learned to cook octopus and make typical spanish breakfast “tostada con tomate”!
• Surfed for the first time!
• Rolled irrigation hoses, collected dried beans and harvested them on an eco-farm. More to come on that on-going adventure in the future!