Adíos, Rocío

Rocío leaves for France tomorrow to be a nanny for 9 months. She only knows a phrase or two in French. I have confidence in her that she will learn really quickly because her English is pretty good and she spent only five months in Ireland as a nanny. She is signed up with an agency that matches au pairs and families in Europe. She learned about the opportunity only a couple of weeks ago. Both the Bucknell students and Rocío and her crew are so adventurous. When I was a young'on I was way too cautious and terrified that something bad would happen to me to travel much, plus I never had any money. It would have been really cool to do what Rocío is doing. She is an only child and loves kids and so the work is more fun than work for her.

She invited me to a concert that her friend Jimmy was performing in. I met her at Burger King and we walked over to a bar where her teacher from the Sports Activities class was along with some of her classmates, including her ex-boyfriend and her current boyfriend were hanging out. Yusef (current boyfriend of Moroccan descent) and I had sodas, everyone else was drinking beer and SMOKING like chimneys. I had a really interesting conversation with Caroline, an American student from North Carolina who is doing study abroad here, and Rocío's teacher. He traveled quite a bit to Morocco and was telling us which foods to try and where to go. I thought it was a little strange that Rocío's ex and current boyfriend were hanging out together with Rocío and everything was hunky dory. I would have been SO uncomfortable!

We went to Sugarpop, a club that hosts different musical acts. The doors were shut and tons of people were outside. They were supposed to open at 9. Three of Rocío's girlfriends were there-María, Mahou and I can't remember the other one's name. They totally had the typical Spanish girl look going on with their hair and clothes. Since the club still wasn't open an hour later, we went to another bar and had another drink and tapas. Everyone else had hamburgers and alcohol as their drink and tapa, but Yusef and I had tortilla and soda. Did I mention that Yusef is Muslim? I don't know a ton about Muslims, but he told me that they don't drink or smoke and that the meat they eat has to be specially prepared according to some strict rules.

I really like Yusef, not just because he was the only sober buddy I had that night, but also because he loves Doraemon just as much as I do. When we got to the bar, our table was filthy. The bar was packed, standing room only and the waiter was taking forever. The homemaker in me just had to clean that table. I swept all the crumbs onto the floor and then busted out a baby wipe from my bag and wiped the table down. Later, Yusef was coughing and I offered him a cough drop. I also had my camera which I kept busting out and some Advil for Rocío's headache. Yusef told me that my bag is just like Doraemon's magic pouch--I have something in there for every situation.

When we got back to the club, it was packed, barely standing room only. The first band took forever setting up. Luckily, the concert was free. The music was OK. One of the musician's was a professor of Rocío's. The girls all left and I decided to go too since it was near midnight and I couldn't call Collin because everyone claimed that their phones were unpaid for so they didn't work (young and irresponsible!). Rocío begged me not to go home since it would have been one of our last opportunities to hang out, but since I didn't really like the music and I knew that I was going to be dead tired the next day since I'm 31 and not 19 like her, I decided to call it a night. When I got home, I reeked of smoke, the only drawback to going out with Rocío. Yusef and I were conspiring to get her to stop smoking or at least smoke less. I told her she owed me a Euro for every cigarette she smoked in front of me and Yusef kept stealing the pack out of her purse and hiding it from her. Seriously, everyone smokes here. I'm surprised at how used to it I am. I don't like the smell and I would never do it myself, but a few years ago, I would never have been able to sit next to someone who was smoking.

Let's talk about the touchy-feelyness of Spanish youth. Rocío kept kissing me on the cheek, the big SMACKING kind of kisses. I had to do double cheek kisses all night to everyone I met and then when someone left they did double cheek kisses all around. I lost count around 20. Also, the boys would face each other and hold the backs of each other's necks while they were talking. They would also come up behind each other and hug or put their arms around each other's shoulders while they were talking. During one of the songs, everyone in our group put their arms around each other and swayed to the music. They also talk with their faces really close to each other. I just went along with it. I didn't want to stand out as the standoffish American in the group, Caroline had left earlier in the evening. Also, since we were all crammed together at tiny tables in both bars, people couldn't help but be sitting practically in each other's laps. Strange for me who gets irritated when family members horn in on my personal space at times. Maybe I will get over it from being here where none of my friends have a sense of what personal space is. I ended up giving Rocío a big smack on the cheek when we said goodbye and stroking her friend María's hair (I think it's contagious, I would never stroke the hair of a person I had just met in the states!). Look out American friends, I might come back as an overly touchy-feely girl with no sense of personal space who talks to you with our noses touching.

It was probably for the best that I didn't stay with Rocío when she asked me too since she didn't end up going home until 9 am. We were supposed to go to the Mosque with Yusef the next day, but since she hadn't paid her phone bill and slept in until 6 pm, we didn't end up going. She did swing by and I went to Café Fútbol with her and Yusef for a soda. Her dreamboat waiter with the blue eyes was there trying to flirt with her. As we left, he came out with a big plate of churros. I don't know if he had made them for us or was explaining with hand gestures why he couldn't hang out with her more. I bought her a Spanish to French phrase book as a going away present, but accidently got a French to Spanish version. She and Ysuef went to María's birthday party and I went and traded the book for the right one. I dropped it off at her house the next day after church and we said our final goodbye. It was sad. She kept hugging me and kissing me on the cheek. I told her that it wasn't goodbye, but rather see you later since we will be coming back to Granada in a few years. Whaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!! I hate goodbyes.

El Día de Acción de Gracias

Our Guest List-Fatima, Paula, José, Inma, Marta, Lucía, María, Raquel, Julio, their parents, Elena, Tyler and his parents, Andrea, Megan and her brother and sister, Michelle and her sister and parents, Sara, Caitlyn, and Cody and his parents. Counting us, that made 33 people for Thanksgiving dinner. Fatima ordered the turkey and mashed potatoes from her favorite restaurant. I made 3 pumpkin pies and two cheesecakes at Inma's house on Tuesday. We had a really great time chatting while we mixed the ingredients and tried to figure out her oven. I was worried that the pies would end up tasting like smoke because even though she'd have a puff outside on the terrace, the cigarette smoke kept blowing into the house. We drove to my house because I needed help with all the pies and ingredients. I didn't know that Collin was in the house and he didn't make himself known. We brought up one batch of pies and then went down to the garage and returned with another. When I walked back in, I noticed that the light in the boys' room was on so I went in and turned it off. Like a murderer in a scary movie, Collin slid out from behind the closet door. I didn't scream or say anything and neither did he. I figured that he didn't want to talk to Inma because he was wearing sweats. Later, we had a long laugh about it.

I went to Rebecca's house to make the apple pies. She and Juan Carlos helped me peel apples. I used her food processor to make the crust. It was SO much easier to make the crust her robot de cocina instead of using two knives to cut the butter into the flour like I did the two other times I made apple pies here. They turned out pretty good, but had a slightly smoky flavor from the juice dripping down from the pies and burning on the bottom of the oven. Rebecca made me tomato toast on some really good bread she bought from a store nearby which inspired me to fire our bread man. After all, he only brings around three types of bread and our family only likes one type. So we've had the same kind of bread every day except Sundays for 5 months. I had stopped eating it and so then we would be left with half a loaf of old bread every day which I didn't want to waste. For awhile I was making French toast every week just to use up the old bread. I also used a week's worth of old bread for the stuffing for Thanksgiving which turned out perfect using Dawn and Nathan Gee's recipe minus the sausage and turkey drippings.

Back to Rebecca's house. She had never made pastry before and it was really fun to teach her. Her husband was more worried about the pies turning out just right than I was and kept check on the pies and trying to get me to change the temperature. The kitchen got so smokey from the burning apple juice that every time we opened up the oven, the kitchen would fill with smoke and we would all have to go outside to recuperate. We had all the windows open, and since they live right next to the mountains, all the flies in the area came into the kitchen to have a little look see. I am not exaggerating when I say that there were at least 20 flies in the kitchen. I was only halfway done with the pies when the time came for me to pick up the kids from school so I had to call Collin to get him to pick them up for me. Juan Carlos made a yummy red cabbage salad with garlic and olive oil and sherry vinegar and a disgusting ham and bean dish that Rebecca refused to eat after one bite. I did my darndest, but I couldn't finish it either. I don't think it was his fault. He bought it in the freezer section and the ham was as hard as jerky and there was a very bitter flavor to the whole thing and the beans were mushy. Instead, Rebecca served up some almond and artichoke soup which I really liked. She complained that he had left all the hard leaves in, but I felt like hey at least he cooks at all. We all had a piece of pie and then Rebecca took me home.

On the actual day of the feast, Emma brought home a poster that she and her friends had made in Civics class. Rocío couldn't come to the actual feast because she had a conference she had to go to. She came over and helped me whip some cream while I washed the dishes and tidied up the kitchen. I promised her I'd bring her over some food the next day. Cody and his parents showed up a little early and I was still getting dressed. All the guests brought something: wine, chocolates, pastries or candy or all of the above.

I tried (twice) to make the same candied yams that Barbara and April have made before, but the first time they turned out too hard (according to Elena who was giving the kids their Spanish lesson while I was making them.) The second time they turned out too soft. I ended up pureeing them and mixing in some egg and milk to make a souffle. I topped one half with marshmallows and the other half with walnuts and brown sugar and then baked it. I got tons of complements on it and think I'll make it again next year. Collin told me not to make them because he didn't think they would get eaten, but there was only about 1 tablespoon left in the dish. The salad I invented was a hit: spinach, walnuts, pomegranate seeds, shaved Pecorino cheese topped with a balsamic reduction. There wasn't a leaf left of that salad. I never did solve the mystery of the missing Pecorino cheese I bought at Carrefour. I was sure that I bought it, but when it came time for me to use it, I couldn't find it anywhere. I took everything out of the fridge to look for it and even looked in the car in case it fell out of the bag. I ended up having to buy a new one Thursday morning. I think we ordered too much turkey. Elena said she was a little disillusioned that we didn't have a whole turkey, but there was no way I was going to try and make one in the oven we have here. Plus, I have never made one before and am terrified to try. Meat is NOT my strong suit. We didn't order enough mashed potatoes. No one touched the gravy from the restaurant, but all the roasted garlic gravy I made was gone from the serving dish. I got the recipe for the stock and gravy from Epicurious. I ended up making a really yummy turkey pot pie with the remaining stock vegetables, leftover gravy and turkey. All I really had to do was whip up a quick pie crust for the top and stick it in the oven. We ended up with a lot of leftover desserts, I think because people were so full from dinner and the guests had brought so many sweets with them.

Notes for next time:

Order half the amount of turkey

Double the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes

We need way more wine glasses, silverware, and dishes (Bucknell, I'm talking to you! We ran out of everything and people were drinking wine out of tea cups and coffee mugs and I had to wash a bunch of silverware even though we had bought plastic stuff to supplement what we already had.)

Change the stove and oven so I don't have to go over to friends' houses to bake stuff

Make half the amount of desserts

Buy way more soft drinks and mosto

Buy better plastic cups and have a permanent marker nearby

Plan a few activities for the kids to do on their own

Have a better explanation of why we celebrate Thanksgiving for our Spanish guests

Invite the kids' teachers as well as the principal and director of the school

I was a little worried that the English-Spanish barrier would be a problem, but there were enough people that could speak both languages to translate for those who couldn't understand. Cody's dad was talking a mile a minute to our downstairs neighbors, the husband spoke English, but the wife didn't. It was strange to talk to Fatima and Elena in English because usually we speak to each other in Spanish. All the parents and siblings of the students were super nice and friendly. I think everyone had a good time. Collin had a slideshow playing on his laptop of some of the best pictures we've taken over the semester with some music.

Emma and all the girls were playing in her room and Emma was getting a little pushed out of shape because her room was clean before and of course with Raquel, Lucia, Marta, Emma and Paula all playing in there, it didn't stay that way. Plus the boys kept trying to get in and play with the girls who wanted to be alone. Finally, the boys played Legos with Julio and then Castle Keep with Julio and after he left, Megan's brother. Paula was SO cute! She gave Collin a kiss and left either snot or food on his face which he didn't know about until after everyone had left.

I spent most of the time talking to Cody's parents, Cody, Elena and Fatima. I also spent a lot of time with Inma, Jose and Maria. There was a really funny moment when Cody's parents, Cody, Fatima, Elena and I were talking. Cody and I were talking to each other in Spanish for what seemed like a very long time. All of the sudden, I said, "I don't know why we're talking to each other in Spanish when everyone here speaks English, including us!" I guess we were both so used to speaking in Spanish that it just seemed like the natural choice at the time. Another funny moment was when Emma made a paper turkey for Elena that had Happy Thanksgiving written on it. Cody's dad told her that she had to put it on the refrigerator because it tradition (in English). Elena said, "I don't know what you just said, but I'll do it!"

I was exhausted by the time everyone left, but I made myself at least put food away and clear up our little kitchen table so we'd have somewhere to eat in the morning. I also packed up leftovers to share with Rocio, Flor, Rebecca and Juan Carlos.

Concha had cleaned the day of Thanksgiving and then came over the day after to clean. Emma wrote her a nice card decorated with glitter glue thanking her for all her hard work. I really appreciated it too. Collin and I were both satisfied with how everything turned out. I was a little bummed that none of the families from church could come and neither could Rocio, Flor or Rebecca and Juan Carlos, but we had a pretty full house anyway.

Salobreña with Goyo and Charo

Last Saturday we had lunch with Goyo and Charo. They are very good friends with Manuel and Alice from Bucknell's Spanish department. We met them last year in Lewisburg when they were visiting Alice and Manuel. Manuel and Goyo have been friends since they were boys in boarding school in Madrid together. They have a beautiful setup in a piso just across the street from the beach with a pool, tennis court and patio. They also have three bedrooms and two terrazas.We brought them a red and white enamel bowl from Country Cupboard filled with candy surrounding a white candle with a red ribbon around it. We bought it in July and managed to eat all the candy I had filled it with from an old fashioned candy store in Old Sacramento, so we ended up filling it again with Spanish candy from Bel Ros in Carrerfour.

After having a soda and watching Charo clean mussels and stir paella, Goyo took us around in his car. He showed us el Castillo de Salobreña (the symbol for our favorite brand of mosto), the old sugar factory, the huertas (produce gardens) below the castle, and a really cool rocky pathway than ran alongside the beach. Aidan did his usual glass and shell collecting, Ian did cartwheels and Emma made designs in the sand. We passed an American style burger joint on the beach that was called, 'McPepe's'. I don't know why, but I thought it was hilarious. We drove back to the house and had olives, empanadas with cheese, spinach or tuna and tomato inside, and mixed nuts. The kids filled up on the nuts and empanadas. Then we had tortilla, Charo makes her very thin and wet in the middle. After the tortilla we had steamed mussels. Charo and Goyo were slurping them down with the salty water they had inside the shells. Collin and I ate them as well. I think Ian's days of eating everything are coming to an end. He didn't want to even try a mussel. Poor Collin was having an extremely hard time eating the mussels and Goyo told him he didn't have to eat them. Charo seemed to think I was really enjoying mine so she gave me the BIGGEST one. If you have never eaten mussels before, I have to tell you that they look like orange aliens curled up in pods and have a very salty taste and soft, yet rubbery texture. Then Charo brought out a paella that had what looked like a little bit of everything from the sea, plus a whole chicken. She proceeded to give GIANT helpings of paella to the kids, but only gave them chicken and rice. Collin and I got everything including: tiny squid, calamari rings, chicken (all bones and skin included), more mussels and shrimp. The kids claimed to be very full and left a lot of paella on their plates, but Charo had served up Hungry Man-sized portions. We had a store bought Tiramisu flavored cake roll, turrón blando and dark chocolate turrón for desert. Surprise, surprise--the kids' appetites returned in a hurry. Emma totally hogged the turrón blando. Goyo said she could take the rest home and she didn't want to share with anyone.

Goyo and Charo were singing songs that the kids had learned in school to and with the kids. They acted like grandparents to the kids. I wish we had hung out with them sooner and that they were coming to Thanksgiving. Aidan, Emma and Ian colored some pictures for them to hang on their fridge. Goyo and Charo kept praising them and saying how smart and cute the kids were. They were really amazed by Ian's gymnastic ability and kept saying, ''¡Qué barbaridad!'' Goyo kept saying, ''¡Qué rico!'' (about the food) and really rolling his rrrrrrrr's. Emma was copying him, including his hand gestures when he said it. We all had a really great time together. They are so nice and fun to chat with.

Collin took the kids down to the patio so Ian could blow off some gymnastic steam. While he was gone, I had some herbal tea and chatted with Goyo and Charo. We talked about Spanish cinema, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, how nice Alice and Manuel are, the kids' schooling, Goyo's English, and my Spanish. The table we were sitting at in the living room had a very long, thick table cloth on it and a heater hanging from the center of the underside to warm you up on cold days. Goyo said it was very common in Spain and that almost everyone has them. Seems like a great idea to me. I would love to have one in our basement in PA.

We said goodbye and went to the beach with just our family for a little bit before heading home. I got some cool pictures with the sun setting in the background. A little girl heard us speaking English and came up to us and introduced herself (her name is Claudia) and then sang first a number song and then a color song in English. She also asked me to take pictures of her. Aidan fell in the water, naturally, someone always does. It must be a rule or something that when you especially don't want to get wet, say in November, you end up doing just that. We drove home, all very tired and watched Jumanji.

Luna Nueva

Aidan and I went to see Luna Nueva at the Neptuno 2000 theater in Granada. We wanted to see the 7 o'clock show, but it was sold out so we had to see the 8:40 pm show. There were three different theaters within the theater showing it and there was a show every 1/2 hour, but since it was a Friday night and every teenager in Granada wanted to see it. . . . Aidan and I spent our time window shopping while we waited. We found the coolest variety store. It had fake Harry Potter action figures, but called them "Hurry Peter." I was annoyed that I didn't have my camera. 

The doors to our theater were locked and had an electronic sign that said "proteyado" above it. The doors opened and went got carried along the tide of teenagers into the theater where the credits of the previous show were still playing. Here in Spain you have an assigned seat like you would in a concert. Aidan and I ended up near the front, but in the center. A couple in front of us was making out and Aidan said, "Why do there always have to be teenagers that always kiss when the people in the movie are smooching?" There were popcorn and wrappers all  over the floor. I guess they don't sweep in between showings. 

They showed the WORST previews. Aidan was understandably freaked out when they showed previews for Sorority Row and some movie about a guy making a pact with the Devil. I had to cover his eyes for most of the previews. I kind of felt like a bad parent for taking him, but there were about 5 other kids under the age of 12 in the theater, including a 6 year old. Plus, I didn't know they were going to show previews for horror movies. Aidan has read books 1-3 and wanted to see the movie with me. The Twilight movies are pretty tame, but I guess they figured vampires would bring in the horror movie crowd.

I really liked the movie. It was so fun to watch it with such an engaged crowd. When Jacob pulled off his shirt to mop the blood off Bella's face, every girl in the crowd swooned and said stuff like, "¡Madre mía!, and "¡qué cuerpazo tiene!" When Edward and Bella kissed, more swooning and all the girls were saying, "¡qué bonito!" At the end of the movie when Edward tells Bella she has to marry him if she wants to become a vampire, the crowd burst into applause and screamed and whooped. I spent a lot of the movie with a goofy smile on my face and was trying to hide it from Aidan. He kept saying, "Quit putting your hands on your face, it's so annoying!" I really wanted Jacob and Bella to kiss and I was whispering, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Aidan told me to stop doing that too. I think it was also too scary for him during the beginning part with the Voluturi. I probably should have seen it with Rocío, but it was a fun mother-son date anyway. Beforehand, Aidan and I went to a candy shop and I let him pick whatever he wanted. He ended up with a bag of gum. I had assorted gummies. They had the cutest gummy candy shaped like flan. I think Aidan had a good time, despite the scary parts and my giddy unmomlike behavior. We didn't get home until 11:30 pm. I hope he sleeps in tomorrow.

Spanish Recipes

Here are two of my favorite Spanish recipes that I make all the time:

Lentejas

17 oz. of lentils, the brownish green kind, soaked in water overnight

2 tomatoes

1 red or green pepper, diced

1 onion, chopped

1/2 head of garlic, sliced thin

3 bay leaves

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 potato, peeled and diced

1 T olive oil

2 chicken or vegetable stock cubes

Drain the lentils. Heat up the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the lentils and stir around for 5 minutes. Add everything else (except for the potato) and stir everything around for a 5 more minutes. Add enough water to the saucepan to cover up the lentils and vegetables. Cook over medium-high heat for at least half and hour or until the lentils and carrots are soft. Add the potatoes and continue cooking until they are fork tender. Stir in the stock cubes until dissolved. Serve with bread.

Pisto (the Spaniards answer to Ratatouille)

2 T olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 lbs. zucchini diced

2 lbs. tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1/4 t sugar

1 t

lots of fresh ground pepper

6 eggs (optional)

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-heat, add onion and cook 5 minutes stirring, add garlic, stir 1 minute. Stir in squash and 1/2 t salt and toss 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and sugar and 1 t. Turn the heat to medium-high. Stir after 5 minutes. Add juice from tomatoes and 1/4 c water, stir together and turn heat down to medium-low and cook uncovered for 30-35 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Stir often, add water as needed every 10 minutes or until the mixture starts to stick. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Make six wells in the pisto and break an egg carefully into each well and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook 6-8 minutes more.

Best Friends and Brownies

On Wednesday I went over to Rocío's house to make brownies, get my hair straightened and watch THE SHOW. SHe came over after her Red Cross First Aid class and waited outside until Collin got home from playing soccer with the CLM students. She waited outside because she was with Yusef, one of her friends that likes her. Yusef is Morrocan, but grew up in Spain. I met him the other night at the protest. I told them they could come up, but they didn't want to (I think because she wanted to have a smoke). I drove to her house and Yusef came with because he lives nearby. Rocío is a very nervous passenger and to be honest, I'm a nervous driver (in Granada) and she would tell me to turn right as I was passing the turn which didn't give me enough time to make them. I ended up going around a couple roundabouts twice because she wasn't a such great co-pilot (according to Yusef). But she doesn't have her license so it is probably hard for her to figure stuff like that out.

Straightening my hair was kind of a process. Geez, washing and conditioning it is a long process in itself because my hair is so curly and LONG right now, straightened it goes down to about 4 inches above my waist. First, I blow dried my hair at home and then later, Rocío used a flat iron to straighten it even more. I think it would have come out straighter if we had used some product, but neither of us had any so it definitely looked like straightened curly hair. One of these days I would love to do the Japanese straightening, but I think I would probably regret it eventually when my hair started going curly at the top, but remained straight at the bottom while it was growing out.

I taught Rocío how to make my favorite brownie recipe in English. Her parents were home and her dad was making a type of fish called "rape" pronounced rah-pey. I tried it and it was pretty good, but he had used mayo to make the batter stick to the fish and I not a huge mayo fan. Rocío made omelets with a TON of olive oil and then she told me that omelets taste good with jam on them. They had tomato jam and so I tried it. It wasn't bad. I probably wouldn't eat it everyday, but it was pretty good. The brownies turned out great, I used a recipe from Epicurious that has you melt dark chocolate and butter together and also has walnuts in it. Her mom and dad were chatting away, mostly to me while we were trying to watch THE SHOW and Rocío was totally annoyed because we couldn't hear what was going on, plus sometimes she has to explain stuff to me when I don't catch what they say. Finally, her parents went to bed and we could concentrate. I went home at 1 a.m.

The next day Marta and Lucía came over after school. I made crunchy chicken, fries and cut up some melon. Afterwards, we all had brownies. Emma started eating the crumbs off of Marta and Lucía's plates. Then all the girls scraped the crumbs out of the pan and were licking their plates. I guess the brownies were a hit. They played on the patio for awhile and then were playing with Legos and Emma's stuffed animals. Inma, their mom, bought Emma a baby doll just like the ones Marta and Lucía have for Emma to remember them by. Emma was over the moon. She kept hugging and kissing Marta and Lucía and thanking them over and over. She and the twins came up with the name Rosita for the doll. It smells like cake and is anatomically correct. I let Emma skip her Spanish lesson because she had friends over. I made them a big bowl of popcorn and they watched Corpse Bride in Spanish at the kitchen table on Collin's laptop. Lucía kept talking and Emma and Marta kept rolling their eyes at her and telling her to quit talking. I put the twins hair in rag rolls to show Inma how to do it. It was so cute to hear Emma chatting with them in Spanish. I call them the "tres mellizas" after a Spanish cartoon about triplets. I wish, wish, wish we were staying for longer so the kids could enjoy their friends and learn more Spanish. I think the play date was a success since the girls were hiding behind the couch when their mom came to pick them up.

Ian is finally happy in school. He is much less likely to throw fits now that I signed him out of religion. He also plays with friends every day at recess. I wish it hadn't taken him so long to acclimate himself to school here because he had such a miserable two months and now we only have about a month and a half left.