It doesn't look all that great from the outside, but inside it is about 3000 square feet plus across the street from a city park. So we figured it would be a good compromise if we could live by a park. But we were so undecided. It seemed like everyone we talked to advised us to live in the city. It was tempting because I knew Erin wouldn't be able to drive there, so she could use the metro to go anywhere she wanted to go. But the longer I rode the metro, the more I realized I wasn't sure I wanted her to be on it more than she had to. There is a lot of exposure to worldly things on the metro.
So Mario and I decided to drive out to the suburbs and see if we could find an area closer to the school to live. We found a great area about 5 minutes south of the school that we both thought were nice. The houses were huge-probably at least 5,000-9,000 square feet. Mario was in heaven, but I was nervous about the utility bills in such a large house. It was more of a rural area with all the neighborhoods a little more spaced apart with large fences around there entire property so I don't think the neighbors get to know one another. But we found that very common in all the neighborhoods.
We decided to try the wards for both the city and for that suburban area on Sunday. It was a huge challenge trying to figure out what the ward boundaries were but one day I came across a feature on LDS.org that outlined the boundaries of each ward in the city. I'm glad I took a picture of it because I haven't found that feature since. The purple and blue lines are the boundaries.
We attended the 5th Ward Sunday morning. That would have been the ward if we chose the city apartment. It was wonderful because they have several members from the Philippines in the ward so they had a separate RS and Sunday School class taught in English. We couldn't stay for Sacrament meeting because we had to rush down to the 9th Ward that would be our ward if we chose the neighborhood in the suburbs. Nothing was taught in English. I can understand a little bit of Spanish but the teachers spoke so fast, I understood nothing. I did meet a great American family at the ward though and the wife told me that she regrets not moving to a neighborhood just north of the school because that is where many of the American families live that attend the American School we had chosen. Oh man, I wish I would have known that earlier. That would have made this whole process easier. Of course I want to live where my kids will have the most friends and be able to walk to each other's houses. I tried to ask the school if there was a neighborhood where a lot of students lived and their answer was "all over the city."
So Mario and I abandoned both neighborhoods we were considering and drove over to the neighborhood just north of the school. We had driven a little of the neighborhood before and didn't like it, but this time we found some streets we did like. Most of the houses are duplexes but they are huge and have garages and their own private pools. Unfortunately the neighborhood is in the Madrid 1st ward and so we weren't able to attend church since it was too late. But they do meet in the same building, in the city as the 5th Ward. So we at least got to see the building.
It was a crazy, busy weekend but we felt so good that we narrowed down the neighborhood, we knew what school and what ward we would attend.
Oh, I almost forgot. We woke up Sunday morning to a big DUI bust just outside our hotel. Aren't their little police vehicles so cute? This was definitely not a pro on the pro and cons list of living in the city. It is noisy. The first morning I was awoken by a crowd cheering at 5 am. You would have thought their Real Madrid team was playing a soccer game at that time. But no, just a bunch of drunks. Again, another reason not to choose the city.
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