A Dog Called Wanda

Collin left this morning for Madrid. We ALL miss him. It feels a little strange to be here in the apartment without him. He met up with Dale and Valerie Pratt-Hegstrom, his former professors and current friends from our BYU days. They are leading the study abroad program for BYU in Alcala. I'm not sure if they were serious or not, but they said that they don't have anyone to lead the program next semester and did Collin want to. Why didn't we rent our house out? We could have made a nice little chunk of money! I told him that he should think about it. We would be in Alcala in a really nice place. He said he didn't think we should do it since the kids want to go home, but I think we should. I think it is a great opportunity and we should take it if we can. Of course I miss America and Pennsylvania, but Collin has his sabbatical right after this and would be free to do the BYU study abroad. I really want him to do it. The kids and my Spanish would be awesome if we did it. Plus, we would get to see our Madrid friends. Maybe I should ask Dale and Valerie to look into a school for the kids in Alcala. I totally want to do it! I hope I can convince Collin!

I had a Spanish lesson this morning with Rebecca. I stayed up way too late last night with Collin, since he was leaving, and Rebecca could tell that I was really tired during my lesson. She leaves for Holland this weekend. So I get a little break from my actual lessons (phew!). Mercedes, my language exchange partner, has to return to Seville for work. Her boyfriend lives in Granada and she spends almost every weekend here. So we might be able to get together to talk on Saturday or Sunday. I really liked having her to talk to every day. She is funny and interesting and young (she's 28). Today she brought her boyfriend's puppy for the kids to play with. The dog's name is Wanda. Wanda is a French Bulldog and she is adorable! One of her ears is permanently sticking up and the other ear always lays down. The kids and I had the best time taking care of her while Mercedes went to her French class after our language exchange. Emma and I played with her the most. This surprised me a little because Aidan is always going on and on about how much he wants a dog. Wanda has not been trained yet, nor is she housebroken. She peed twice and pooped once in our apartment. I actually wiped her bum with a baby wipe to make sure no poop ended up on the furniture. She did NOT like that one bit. Emma keeps saying that she misses Wanda (even though she was mad at Wanda for about 20 minutes because she bit Emma's ear. I let Ian take some pictures with Aidan's camera and he took one of his own face which he thought was really funny.

I had to take a four hour nap today to make up for all the sleep I lost last night. I was pretty crabby with the kids. So the kids might have watched Garfield 2 twice and played a bit too much on the computer. We made up for all the time spent indoors by meeting Javier and Nuria to do heelys.

We met them by the fountain near Corte Ingles and then went to another plaza with less people and more free benches. Javier and my kids heeled around for awhile and then played hide and seek. Javier kept disappearing and my kids were freaking out a little. I think I have trained them to worry if someone goes out of sight for too long. Javier was hiding further afield than I would have let my own kids go. They were all climbing a tree when a policeman came and told them to get down and not to climb anymore. Nuria and I were talking on a bench at the other end of the plaza. I asked her if I should get up and go over there and she told me to stay put and speak English! I decided to treat us all to an ice cream. Nuria didn't want any. I got pistachio, Emma, Aidan and Ian all chose cookies (vanilla ice cream with chocolate cookies, it sounds like cookies and cream flavor, but was nothing like it), Javier chose vanilla and lemon. We walked to a bar right by Nuria's apartment building and they treated me to drinks and tapas. I had mosto, they had beer. (They meaning she and her husband, Juan Carlos had beer, not Javier!) The tapas were pretty good: fresh tomatoes in olive oil; fried, salted almonds (my favorite); wheat bread with roasted green peppers (not bell peppers though, these were long and skinny); potato chips and chorizo with white bread. I tried the chorizo, but didn't really care for it and I am afraid that I am going to repeat the 4 day stomachache experience that I had with the morcilla. The kids had a great time heelying around, playing a very complicated game of hide and seek, throwing green oranges at each other and doing gymnastics. I learned a few new words from Nuria, mostly gymnastic terms since Javier and Ian were doing a lot of cartweels, roundoffs and handstands. Nuria and Juan Carlos, are very nice and easy to talk to. I love making new friends, especially when they have kids for my kids to play with. Javier reminds me so much of Ian. They both love gymnastics, they both push the limits of how far away they can go from their parents, they want to do free running all the time. The kids here play a little rougher than they do at home, but they are also more loving and touchy feeley. I think my kids are going to have to toughen up if they want to make friends here. They need to learn to give as good as they get. It is hard though, because at home I am always telling them not to push and be rough, but that is how the kids, at least the boys, play here. I guess they'll learn soon enough when school starts.

La Herraduru

Where do I begin? Speedos, thongs or topless ladies? Well, they were all hanging out at the beach in La Herraduru which means "horseshoe." All of the little girls were wearing bikini bottoms, but no tops. Half of the men were wearing Speedos. I saw one lady (pictured with husband giving me a dirty look) in a thong. I saw several ladies without tops on in all their buxom splendor. The beach in Spain is truly a vouyeur's paradise. The paparazzi/journalist in me has broken loose. I would probably hate it if someone was taking pictures of me in my bathing suit, but then again I don't wear a thong . . . Aidan felt very strongly that the women should not be topless, nor the little girls. He seemed very offended by the sight of all those bare breasts.

Oh, you want to read about the beach itself and not just the scantily clad people on it? Well, okay. The beach itself was made almost entirely out of rocks, not sand, but rocks from as small as a pinhead to as large as a loaf of bread and every size in between. The water was clear as glass and you could see all the way down to the rocky seabed. There were fish swimming around and bumping into our legs. I saw three different types: black and white striped; grey, blue and yellow; and maroon and white striped. I tried for about an hour to catch one in a bucket to show the kids, but I didn't have any luck. The water was pretty cold so we didn't swim as much as we did when we went to Salobreña. Also, there weren't any waves. La Herraduru beach would have been perfect for snorkeling or paddling, but it wasn't any good for bodysurfing. It was cleaner and much less crowded than the beach we went to before. I tried to rig up a regular umbrella with a broomstick to make my own ghetto beach umbrella, but it didn't work too well. The beach was so rocky that I couldn't push the pole down far enough into the ground. The umbrella kept falling over. Collin taped it to a chair and someone always had to be sitting in the chair or else it would fall over. So I figured out that a regular umbrella+broomstick+tape does not=a beach umbrella. The kids had a great time looking for sea glass (I found a piece of red sea glass and gave it to Aidan) and interesting stones. One of the kids (who shall remain nameless) buried him/herself in rocks up to the waist, peed and then marked the spot with a long stone sticking up on end so no one would walk there. I made him/her rinse off in the ocean. Why s/he didn't just pee in the ocean like everyone else is a mystery to me.

I am just accomplishing all kinds of stuff in my 31st year. I just learned how to float on my back in the water. It helps that it is supersalty here. Before, when I would try to float, I would panic and stiffen up and sink. Here, I can float all day and it is so relaxing, even in freezing water.

We got two awesome packages from April containing all sorts of treats, books, games, and clothing. Emma got a fab new pair of brown and pink tennis shoes that she wore to bed. She also got some super low socks with monkeys and bananas on them that I am totally jealous of. April, will you send me some too? Emma's fit me! I can't wait until we can share clothes. Emma also got an adorable grey sweater with colorful buttons and a matching hairband. Aidan was really excited about getting New Moon and Eclipse as he just finished Twilight today. Ian and Aidan were both excited about the new Bakugan they got in the package.

My brain is fried. Too much sun and Spanish.

Another Successful Language Exchange

We finally met with the original language exchange people that we were supposed to meet in the park the day it rained. Her name is Nuria and she has an 8-year-old son named Javier. We met them at the newspaper kiosk at the beginning of our street and walked to their apartment. They live very close by. I left Ian at home with Collin because I wasn't sure how big or kid friendly their apartment would be. The kids ended up playing a game kind of like mousetrap, but with dominoes and Wii. They had a great time. They also ate cookies and milk. Javier put all his cookies in a glass of milk and smashed them up, then ate them with a spoon. Here you can buy chocolate milk with cookies mixed in. I'm curious to know how that would taste. Nuria's English isn't as good as my Spanish which is a nice change. She is going to live in Liverpool, U.K. for three months and wants to improve her English before she goes. She also wants Javier to be able to communicate with other kids. We mostly talked about Granada, living in a foreign country, how much harder it is to actually speak a different language than just reading or writing it. They have an indoor pool in their building and said they would invite us to swim when it opens up in September. Her parents also have a house in the country with a pool that she said we could go to also. We are going to meet them again on Friday in Puerta Real so the kids can all use their heelys. Javier is the only Spanish kid I've seen with heelys. He is SUPER SPORTY! He is the skiing champion of Granada (I'm assuming in his age group) and his acrobatic gymnastics team is ranked 5th in the world. Nuria is a P.E. teacher, so I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Javier was doing cartwheels and splits all over the place in their apartment. I am looking forward to conversing with her, but more importantly for Aidan to have a friend that lives close by that we will see on a regular basis. I think we will try and meet at least three times a week.

Today I feel like we could have spent a year here. I wish we had thought ahead and rented our house out for a year. I would like for the kids and I to have a very firm grasp on the the Spanish language and culture. Thumbs up for Granada!

el flamenco Jondo

Collin and I got tickets to see a flamenco show in the Generalife Gardens at the Alhambra. This was the eighth edition of "Lorca y Granada en los Jardines del Generalife." This year Cristina Hoyos, a legendary Flamenco interpreter, along with the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía presented "Poema del Cante Jondo en el Café de Chinitas" by Frederico García Lorca. 

Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theater director. He had a close relationship with Salvador Dalí who designed the stage settings in his second play Mariana Pineda. Lorca's life was very divided. His public persona was a successful author, his private life was depressed due to his homosexuality which he had to keep hidden. He was murdered at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War most probably by Nationalists. Lorca's life and death could not be openly discussed in Spain until after the death of the Spanish dictator Franco. Lorca is considered, "the finest poet. . . . (of) Imperial Spain."

El  Cante Jondo is a vocal style of flamenco music, a form of Andalusian folk music which means "deep song." Flamenco music is divided into three groups, the deepest and most serious forms are know as cante jondo. 

The show was two hours long. It was presented in a theater under the stars with a beautiful view of Granada and bats flying overhead. The women's costumes were vibrant in color and very intricately made. Flamenco dancing reminds me of tap dancing, but with a more hollow sound. I especially enjoyed the more soulful, less lighthearted numbers. There was one called Silence which featured a male dancer. He danced alone, under one spotlight. At first it was silent and you could only hear his breathing and footwork. Eventually, music was added and Lorca's poetry was read during his dance. There was another number I really enjoyed with three female dancers dressed in different shades of blue. Their dresses had extremely long trains. Their dance interpreted a poem about three rivers. The Green Mirror was a tragic and soulful dance with poetry as well. There were some numbers that were just singing, others, just dancing, most a combination of the two with poetry added. It was an amazing show! I have only seen flamenco twice before, but this was definitely the most professional and beautiful. Some of the singing sounds like painful howling. A little definitely goes a long way. But, combined with dancing, other instruments and the castanets, it sounds good. 

We almost didn't get to go to the show. I had asked my friend, Veronica, to babysit a week before. She called me the day of and said she was having some health problems and couldn't do it. So I called Ana Maria and she said I could bring the kids over to her house around 9 pm. We got there a little early and when we rang the bell, there was no answer. We tried her husband's cell phone and again there was no answer. Collin and I started to panic. He wanted me to go to the show by myself and take the bus to get there. Then we decided that one of us would go with Emma, but Emma didn't want to go unless I bought her a bag of popcorn (I don't think she understood what kind of a show it was, but the girl next to me was cracking and eating sunflower seeds during the entire show, so maybe popcorn wouldn't have been so offensive). Just as I was about to call another friend to see if she wanted to go with me instead of Collin or Emma, Ana Maria showed up with her kids. They had gone to the park around the corner. Collin and I drove off to see the show. Collin didn't have any problems driving or parking and we got there in good time and we able to leave without getting stuck in traffic. I am SO GLAD that we were able to see the show! When we got back to Ana Maria's at midnight, the kids were all still awake and watching Hotel for Dogs in Spanish. They didn't want to leave, especially since they had been playing with Brenda's new puppy. Everyone, except me, slept in. I couldn't because I had a 9 o'clock Spanish lesson with Rebecca. 

Our Barrio Rocked the Beach

I didn't fall asleep until 3 am this morning. We got up at 8 am to get ready to go to the beach with some friends from church. We followed Justo to a beach near Salombreña, which incidentally, is where the best Mormon wine comes from. Eight families from church came and put their beach towels, plastic tables, umbrellas and food all together and shared, shared, shared! I brought a watermelon to share, but everyone else brought tortilla, cake, meatballs, veal sandwiches, and cumber salad. Except for the cake, I stuck to our own food.

It was probably the most fun we have ever had at the beach. The kids had tons of other kids to play with. The Orozco kids brought a coke bottle shaped raft that the kids would hold on to to go over a wave. Ian wanted to be in the water the entire time. Collin and I had to keep a really close eye on him and Emma because the waves kept going over their heads. We brought a pail and serving ladle to the beach for digging and Emma lost the ladle in the water. Oops! Aidan spent a LOT of time looking for beach glass and interesting rocks. The sand on the beach was dirt colored and there were tons and tons of tumbled pebbles of all shapes, sizes and colors. We were all sitting around looking for white and gray tumbled stones when Collin picked up what he thought was a stone . . . a brown, squishy, stinky stone. He screamed and ran into the ocean to wash the poop off his hand. We stopped sifting stones after that. We didn't want to encounter any more "sea chocolate." Leonor had me help her collect fine black sand so she and her friend could exifoliate each other with it. Little Carlos pretty much had to have his mom carry him in the ocean because he was scared. She kept pointing to Ian and saying how Ian was smaller than him and wasn't scared. I said that I wish Ian was a little more scared, he would be safer that way.

The Ferrers rented a paddle boat with a slide on it, but we didn't use it because it had to be in deep water and our kids are not strong swimmers. Sara, Ana Maria and I were joking around taking swimsuit model pictures and the creepy guy that the kids are scared of came and posed behind us and then wanted us to take a picture of just him. Ana Maria pretended to take a picture of him, but then he wanted to see it so she was found out.

We all got sunburns, especially Collin and the kids. We all applied sunscreen several times, but we were at the beach at the hottest time of day, Spain is near the equator and the water and sand and kids climbing all over us washed/rubbed the sunscreen off. The kids want to go to the beach again next week, but it probably won't be as fun by ourselves.

The beach is the BEST place to people watch, even better than a carnival. We saw a couple of topless ladies, a few men in Speedos and a lady (pictured) who took her top off and pulled her bikini bottom up her up to tan her cheeks. I think Spaniards have a pretty healthy body image attitude. There were people of all shapes and sizes, wearing all sorts of bathing suits, showing all sorts of skin (smooth, tan, white, wrinkly, cellulity, hairy, etc.,). They just let it all hang out. No one appeared to be self conscious and I also didn't notice anyone (except for our family) staring at anyone. Tons of little girls were wearing bottoms without tops and a bunch of little kids were totally naked.