My Last Day in Spain

Wednesday was my last full day in Madrid.  Mario had to go to his tutoring session, so I went back to the Temple.  I think I will enjoy my time there because of all the English speakers that work there. What a blessing to have a Temple in Madrid.  I am really excited about our opportunity to move there. Nothing is a for sure thing with the military until we are on the plane, but if we do get the opportunity to live there, I am sure we will love it.  I started my Rosetta Stone today.  I get marked down on my pronunciations.   I don't think I'll ever learn to roll my r's.  But if I could just understand it, I'll be happy.

Here are some random pictures from our wonderful week:

We rented a paddle boat at the park and pretended we were in Italy.

Giant statues everywhere

The Spanish Air Force Headquarters where Mario will work.
He's excited about his giant office and it has windows overlooking park.
It will be so much better than working underground.

The International section at the grocery store.  Not cheap!!

All the Prius taxi cabs lined up at airport

We saw them in person at the mall

The characters from the above book.  I didn't want them to see me taking a
 picture so I went far away.  It was very odd especially since
it was in the middle of an expensive department store.

Nice walkway between large multilane street.  Unfortunately
people don't like to pick up their pet droppings.

Huge, confusing roundabouts, everywhere!

Underground Metro

My Itinerary

Hmmm!  Nebraska???  We didn't try it.

Staircase where Mario was tutored

That is a driveway to parking garage thru Mario's tutoring building.
It is very narrow.  I didn't believe a car could fit until I saw the cars parked on the other side.

Freaky motorized stuffed animals at the mall

Another Nebraska restaurant.  Why so popular here?

The grocery cart??

Segovia

Monday was the day I got a metro pass and went all over the city while Mario was in class and then with him when he was done.  We were both exhausted by the end of the day.

Mario took Tuesday off from his tutoring so we could do a day trip.  We opted for a city about an hour away.  Again, we were brave and pulled the little rental car out from the parking garage of the hotel.  Mario and I were filled with major anxiety every time we got in that car.  Our car insurance doesn't cover rental cars in Europe.  We paid for the insurance there but it still had a huge deductible. The parking garage had a tiny amount of space to drive and it had several poles that we had to weave in and out of.  It only had room for one car to go at a time, so there were lights directing us when to proceed and when to stop.  We saw a lot of cars with dents in their doors, so I'm assuming they were from those tiny parking garages.

Anyway, we had borrowed a GPS and we were on our way to Segovia.  It was a great drive but a little intimidating because we didn't understand all the highway signs.  I remember at one point Mario thinking one sign was trying to tell us that traffic was going to be coming head on.  I think in reality the sign was trying to tell us to shut off our headlights.  Big difference.  I was desperately searching my little Spanish book that I bought at the airport for clues to what all the signs meant.

After paying outrageous amounts for tolls, we finally made it to Segovia.  It was well worth it.  It was a beautiful city with an amazing aqueduct, cathedral and castle.  Mario and I paid to take a tour of the castle.  We enjoyed walking around the city for a few hours before heading back to Madrid.

the dungeon

overlooking Segovia from the castle tower

the castle

On the way back from Segovia, we stopped at a small outlet mall.  It had a couple of familiar stores, North Face and Nike.  It was so small and still expensive, so we didn't purchase anything.  After the outlet mall, we took a quick nap and then took the metro to the Temple that evening.  I tried to talk Mario into driving the car to the Temple, but he had enough of driving for one day.  I think it took about 45 minutes to go by metro.  It was so nice to be in the Temple.  I was so glad to hear some of the Temple workers speaking English.  I had to wear the headset since I was the only one in the session that didn't speak Spanish.  I thought maybe I didn't need the headset since I go so often, I probably have it memorized.  Oh my goodness, was I wrong.  I really needed that headset.  Mario did well in Spanish and he said he understood everything.  He's awesome.  Maybe one day I can do it without the headset.

Tuesday was probably my favorite day.  It was so relaxing (other than the driving).  It was so nice to spend time with just Mario.  We had so much fun together.  Mario said he has never heard me as laugh as much as I laughed on this trip.  We really did have a great time and it made us both realize that we'll be just fine when the kids all leave us.  We have much to do and see even when it is just the two of us.  We both feel so lucky (blessed) to have each other.

Finding a Neighborhood and a Ward

On Saturday, Mario and I decided to put all our fears of driving behind us and go out and check out some neighborhoods.  If we lived in the city, by Mario's work, we were thinking about an apartment similar to this one:

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.

The Metro and Pizza

On Friday, Mario showed me around the city.  I somehow talked him into taking the Metro (underground public transportation system) all the way to IKEA.  It probably took close to an hour to get there, but it was worth it.  Mario had never been to an IKEA and I think he loved it as much as I did.  It made us want to get rid of all our furniture and start over.  We know it's not the best quality furniture but who needs great quality when you move so often and the movers will destroy it anyway.

If I remember correctly, Mario had to get back to the city for his Spanish tutoring and I just hung out there on the computer while he studied.

After that, we explored more of the city using the Metro.  I absolutely loved the Metro, except I am afraid of germs.  I should have packed some hand sanitizer.  Everyone says the public transportation is cheap but I didn't find it cheap.  I guess if you live there and buy a month pass, it is cheaper than gas and car insurance.  But for us, we were paying $2-$3 for each leg of our trip.  But it was worth it because I learned the system very well and quickly so Mario trusted me to use it alone while he was in class.  One day, I even bought a daily pass for $12 and I tell you what, I got my money's worth.  Mario wouldn't let me buy one of those again because we went EVERYWHERE all day long. I kept getting lost once I got off the Metro and I often headed the complete opposite direction.  Like, one morning I decided I would go look for the Temple.  I got off and walked about a mile before deciding I must be going the wrong direction.  I got a lot of exercise that day.

Friday evening, Frank and his wife, picked us up at our hotel and we walked to a pizza place a couple blocks away.  Wow, best pizza I have even eaten.  We got there about 8 pm (restaurants close in the afternoon and don't reopen until at least 8 pm) and stayed until a little after 11.  It was quite different than the US.  You have to signal to the server that you want them to come to your table.  They don't just drop by every few minutes.  They don't bring you the check until you signal for them.  The restaurants apparently don't care if you hang out all night long.  I kept expecting them to kick us out because they got really busy around 10 pm, but not a word.  We had a good time talking to Frank and his wife.  Frank did most of the talking which was a little annoying.  We found him to be a little flaky but pretty nice.  We got the impression that he doesn't work a whole lot.  He started already making some excuses for why the office isn't run as efficiently as it should.  I guess he doesn't want Mario blaming him when Mario takes over the job.  Who knows, but Mario and I were glad to be introduced to that pizza place.  It was delicious and another restaurant that we went back to a few times that week.

Picking a School

I have been home a week now and things have finally calmed down enough that I can sit down and blog about my time in Spain.

I arrived about 9:30 on Thursday morning.  Mario picked me up with a rental car and we were off to the hotel so I could shower and change before our noon meeting at the American School and 3:30 meeting with the International school.  I was crazy for scheduling appointments so soon after getting off an all night flight but I was anxious to find a school so we could find a neighborhood.  We didn't have a GPS but we found the American School with using the maps app on my iPhone that wasn't connected to service but it would at least have a dot showing where we were.  That app came in handy all week.  We pulled up to the school and it was completely gated off with an armed security guard.  We had to put my purse through an airport-type security screener.  I asked if the kids have to do that everyday and he said no, just visitors.  We walked in to the school and was greeted by a very friendly lady who gave us a tour of the entire middle and upper school.  When we first walked in, we saw a boy in line with his class wearing a BYU t-shirt.  Mario so desperately wanted to go talk to him and get his info so we could contact his parents.  But I restrained him.  But seeing that shirt was such comfort to us because we knew there would be other LDS kids in the school.

We loved the school.  Our tour guide let us walk in the classrooms and see the interactions between the teachers and the students.  One thing I noticed, was everyone looked very happy and friendly. The teachers spoke perfect English, which I later found out was because they only hire teachers from America.  That was a relief because I was worried about the teachers using heavy accents and my children not understanding.  I received 3 B's in college and 2 of them were from a teacher from India and I didn't understand but a few words he said.  So I'm clearly not good with accents. The school was clean, big, and modern looking.  It has 1/3 American, 1/3 Spaniard, 1/3 International students.  So I love the diversity my children will be exposed to, but still enough Americans to feel at home.  The school offers many clubs and sports (unfortunately not crosscountry) and Boy Scouts. The kids are very excited because soccer is HUGE in Spain and two soccer players from the Real Madrid have their children at that school.  One of them, Ronaldo, is regarded by some as the world's best soccer player.  A father told me that the mothers all dress up now to take their kids to and from school in hopes to see Ronaldo.  Fortunately the military will pay for transportation for the kids so hopefully I won't have to drop off and pick up very often.

Our next stop was the International College of Spain.  It is k-12, not a college level like we know here in the US.  We should have turned around the moment we saw it and not wasted our time.  It was also very heavily guarded and once we got inside, we could barely find a parking spot.  I'm pretty sure we parked illegally.  The admissions lady forgot to write down our appointment so she wasn't aware we were coming.  Fortunately, she was kind enough to show us around anyway.  The school was so unimpressive.  It was in an old mansion (which is kind of cool) but very outdated.  We saw many students just lounging around.  Mario said it looked like a daycare.  I'm not sure it was that bad but it just made our school decision so much easier.  It was also located in a very rich neighborhood and we decided that just wasn't a neighborhood we would be comfortable living in. Besides, we could only afford an apartment near that school.

Getting back to the hotel after visiting the school proved to be a huge challenge and would have made that $150 GPS rental so worth it.  We got lost for probably two hours.  There are two large loops that circle Madrid.  So it sounded easy. Holy cow!  Their highways are so confusing.  We had to stop and ask for help so many times and even got a police escort for part of the route.  We were so upset by time we got back to the hotel, that we wanted to return our rental car the next day.  We didn't want anything to do with driving in Madrid.

But, at least step one was completed, we found a school!  That evening Mario showed me a local grocery store and we went out to a tiny little restaurant that served the most delicious salads and crepes made fresh right in front of us.  It turned out to be the cheapest place we could find, but also one of the most delicious.  So we went there at least 2 or 3 more times that week.  They knew us well by time we left because there are just two young guys that own and work there.  Fortunately, it is only a block or two from Mario's work so we can meet there for lunch often.

Incredibly, I was able to stay away until 9 pm that night and then I slept solidly until about 5 in the morning and then I went back to sleep until 9 am, which is really sleeping in for me.

Our police escort

My Observations about the People in Madrid

First thing I noticed was that many smoke especially young teenage and college age girls. They don't have tattoos. They don't chew gum and don't wear sunglasses. They don't have brand names plastered all over their clothing and purses like we do in the US. They drive tiny cars (makes the Toyota Prius look large) but expensive cars. There are lots of BMW, Mini Coopers, Mercedes, and Land Rovers. Their bigger cars like mini vans are really narrow and they have to be because the streets are very narrow with cars parked everywhere. We don't see many of the vans. We've only seen a couple trucks and they don't really look the same. They have back ends covered not open like we do in US.

They have the best transportation here with the underground metro system. I absolutely love it. It can literally take us anywhere in the city. It is very busy in the afternoon because everyone goes home for siestas. Then they go back to work after.

Food is mostly the same as the US, just different brands. There are a few things we couldn't find in the regular grocery store like peanut butter and Mac and Cheese. Don't worry though, we found an American store that sells each for about $9. Ouch!!! They don't use preservatives in their food here which is good. They love their breads, so do I. I have to stay away from the bakeries. I think most of the salads are oil and vinegar. I don't think they do dressings like Ranch.

The people here love little children and they give them lots of candy. My kids should love that aspect. I asked an American at church if her kids mind going to church where they don't understand the language. She said no because they always get large bags of chocolate even on Fast Sunday.

The people are super affectionate. They hug and kiss all over each other. The public displays of affection will take a little getting used to.

The people have been super friendly to us. A Puerto Rican guy that Mario is replacing says that the locals aren't friendly to him. We found that odd since they have been very friendly to us. But then Mario guessed that maybe it's because Mario is very light skinned like the people here. I guess there some prejudices towards Latinos here.

Spain, Here I Come

I'm so excited to be flying out to Spain today. Mario and I consider this our 20 year anniversary trip. We have lots to see and do so it won't be relaxing. But it should be lots of fun.

If I could just find a Spanish/English dictionary for the times Mario is in class and I'm out on my own. (I say that just to stress Mario and Eric out. I think they want me to just stay in the hotel room while Mario is being tutored.)

Not sure what to do with myself as I sit in the airport and on the airplane without four kids to keep under control. This really will be a vacation!

Hopefully I will be able to find Mario at the airport without too much trouble. This shall be interesting.


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