journal of a wacky expat family
Today we tried to recover a little bit from yesterday. We enjoyed an extra hour of sleep thanks to the daylight savings clock change. Around 1:00 this afternoon we had a Halloween party at ASM.
The kids continued to enjoy their weekend of free eating and had candy and donuts for breakfast. Luckily, they all felt a little sick tonight. :)
Candy coma:
Candy heartburn:
I know I look like Hannah Montana but I'm actually dressed as Thor.
Saturdays used to be out 'family recovery' days. It seems like that is no longer the case. Today we had:
- Adeline's birthday party
- Henry's basketball game
- Henry and Truman's football practice
- Trick-or-treating at a local neighborhood
It was a good day but we are exhausted. Or at least Jess and I are, the kids are on a sugar high from all of their Halloween candy.
After a long week, we're having "Friday night Spanish dinner". Jamón, queso and wine.
If you're ever curious what the parking garage at my office looks like at 3:00pm on a Friday, this is it. People start taking off at 12:00pm. Despite all my charm and pressure techniques, this is one aspect of Spanish work culture I cannot seem to change.
With Halloween a little more than a week away, it's time for the kids to test out their Halloween costumes.
Remember, always bring along a side-kick to maximize your candy on Halloween.
Last week we received our August/September water bill for the new house and it was shocking that it's approximately 800 euros cheaper than the same one we received last year (at the old house).
Right about this time last year I remember thinking "Holy crap! We can't afford to live here, the utility costs in Europe are insane!".
Or, we were just renting an older house with a massive (unknown) water leak in the backyard.
Look at this cool art exhibit that Henry did!
Jess sent me the picture; Henry never even mentioned it. He communicates just about as badly as his dad.
Last night we had Addi's birthday at a local Mexican restaurant. The dinner was lackluster but the 45 minute ride home in terrible Madrid traffic was awesome; Addi and I lipsynced to Taylor Swift all the way home.
Best part of my day by far!
It was a bit scary how old she seemed, sitting in the front seat singing about boyfriends...
Opening a few gifts before heading off to school.
Over easy eggs and new boots. The perfect breakfast combo!
Late night leftover cake and some wine.
Probably not the fairy tale way of celebrating an anniversary but it worked for us. We were lucky we stayed awake after putting the kids to bed.
A friend of ours commented that your anniversary is only important if you plan to stop there. We don't plan on stopping any time soon.
Love you Jess.
I constantly disappoint myself.
One of the main reasons that we wanted to start a blog is so we can look back on it and remember what was happening in our lives during this time. Unfortunately, we've not prioritized posting to the blog so all of our experiences and memories are going unrecorded.
So, in an attempt to change my behavior, I will publish one post every day for the next 21 days. Each post will have at least one picture and a sentence or two.
If you see I've gone a day without posting, feel free to ridicule me mercilessly. It's part of the motivation process. :)
One more thought for the day.
I once heard someone describe the difference between a professional and amateur. The professional is someone who can step up and deliver no matter the circumstances. An amateur can deliver, but they need to feel good and have a good day.
Think Tiger Woods. He can stand there when the pressure is on and deliver a killer drive off the tee, despite hecklers, bad weather, or illness. A good amateur golfer can hit a great shot, but everything needs to go right. That great shot is in there, but the stars need to align for it to come out.
When it comes to traveling internationally with kids, Jess is a professional. She delivers every time, despite not feeling well, huge flight delays, bad food, etc. To an amateur like me, that type of consistency and calmness is simply amazing.
Jess and the kids come back today and I'm SOOO excited! Not that I don't enjoy my summer monk-like existence, but I'm really looking forward to being with the kids and having all five of us together again. Once nice thing about living abroad and being segregated from everyone we know is that the five of us get a lot of 'family unit' time. I miss that.
This year is not quite as complicated as this time last year, but it's close. Last year they were getting off the plane in a strange country, eat strange food, move into a new house, to attend a new school, and meet new friends. This year, the country and the food are the same, but the house, school and friends will change.
There is a lot of anxiety.
Of course we can overcome it, but it's hard to do that when we're separated. Together, all things become much more manageable!
So I was taking a break with a few of my colleagues on Friday and one of them casually mentioned that I am extremely easy for them to understand. We just had an all employee meeting where I did quite a bit speaking so I took this as good feedback about the meeting.
They followed this up by asking me if I intentionally tried to speak that way or if it was natural. I had to think about it for a second, because in general, when we speak it "just comes out" but then answered there are two reasons that I can think of why I'm easy to understand.
To satisfy my own curiosity I decided to do a little research. It turns out that there is a name for the accent that I have (and if you're in my family member, then you have it to). The actual name for the accent that we speak with is called "General American" and is the most common dialect of American English. It is sometimes referred to as the "newscaster accent".
Even though it is hard to pinpoint the exact location of the general American dialect, there is a map as you can see below. Sorry Minnesota. Sorry Chicago. Forget about it Michigan. It looks like it's a gift that only a special few have, from Lincoln, Nebraska to Peoria, Illinois. Hmmm, what's the center of the General American universe? It looks an awful lot like Des Moines, Iowa.
In the past two days, Jess and I have walked 25 miles (says our Fitbits) from moving nearly everything we own from our rental house in La Moraleja to our new rental house in Pozuelo. It's been hit and long, but more or less we were able to move things at our own pace.
Today is the last day with a major focus on moving. After this it's all about cleaning and organizing the new house. The moving company will arrive in about an hour to pick up the large furniture that we couldn't get. Hopefully it goes smoothly!
I saw this online and I find it really interesting. Spanish is listed as easy (it's all relative I suppose) and Chinese is listed as hard (I believe it!). Now if only I had 575-600 hours to sit in a class and learn Spanish! :)
Read MoreIt's finally here!
Friday was the last day of school and now Jess and the kids are off to their annual "Iowa Summer". Yesterday was basically an all day packing event. Things are more complicated this year since we are moving houses in July. Jess has been trying to do some house move packing as well but it's slow going.
Everyone was up at 5 to get ready and headed to the airport in high spirits. Three flights and they'll be home!
Many of you know that Henry has taken guitar lessons this year at school. He took a few lessons while we were in China but there were many kids and the quality of the instruction was quite low. This year he received 1:1 instruction from his teacher, Jorge. Once a week all year he and Jorge would practice. And not boring stuff either! Each week Jorge would show him the power chords for a popular song. Henry practiced songs from the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Boston, etc.
On June 4 was the music recital at ICS. Kids played their songs on their chosen instruments (violin, guitar, drums, or piano) and Jorge or the other teacher played accompaniment parts so no matter what instrument they played (well, except for the violin) it was like they were in a rock band.
Henry played "Horse With No Name" by America. yep, the 1971 classic. :) His friend Alejandro joined him on the drums.
We recorded video of it but it's too large to upload so here are a few photos.
Truman's working on his guns for summer vacation. A. Kettlebell workout in the basement.
Watch out ladies! :)
A few weeks ago, Truman got a visit from a fire truck at school. Here are a few pictures.
Perhaps it's because many of our friends have been on summer vacation for a few weeks already, and Jess, due to the miracles of modern technology, gets to see friend's photos of their summer fun piped directly into her phone 24/7 (thanks Facebook mobile app), or the fact that we have been in Spain 6 full months since our last visit home, or the fact that in Madrid the sun doesn't set until 9:50 (and it doesn't get dark until 10:30-ish) so it definitely doesn't feel like school should be in session.
Read MoreWhat did you do that got Mommy's attention?" Oh boy ...
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