General update 10.23.15
We’re still here, going to school, exercising in the
beautiful (if sometimes variable) fall Madrid weather, eating baguettes from
Montes like they are going out of style, and consuming large amounts of olive
oil. Surprisingly, we're finding that we’re still learning about life in Spain,
even after about year in the country. Here’s the latest updates.
* Group texting. Some of you may have teens who engage in group
texting– if so, you know that your kids’ phone can go off dozens, if not
hundreds, of times an hour. Nora’s JCDS class formed a group chat at the end of
the year, and one night she received several hundred texts (thank heavens for
all-you-can-eat data plans).
In Spain, adults get in on the fun, too. Jon and/or I are on
group chats for each kids’ soccer team, Nathan’s class, and for birthday
parties. It’s a little overwhelming, particularly to those of us who a) are
using iPhone 3s as their Spanish phone; and b) have barely mastered texting with
one person.
Correspondingly, there seem to be very few group email lists
for things like soccer or school, as there are in the US. I long for the
old-fashioned approach…
* In the “why didn’t we notice this last time?” department,
it finally dawned on us that eggs are not refrigerated in Spanish grocery
stores. Eggs are also sometimes covered in feather fluff and other chicken
byproducts. Coincidentally, a friend posted this on FB:
http://www.davidwolfe.com/refrigerating-eggs-america/
It explains both the feather fluff and non-refrigeration. And
why Spain is just more sensible than the US on eggs.
* Also in the “why didn’t we noticed this last time?”
department – Jon and I were out for our usual Wednesday date walk, and wandered
into a flea / fruit market on the fairgrounds in San Sebastian (next town
over). There was some halfway decent-looking lettuce and a lot of other
good-looking veggies (including about 15 waiting-for-me-to-eat-them brussel
sprouts!), so we’ll shop there next week, when nobody is traveling.
* With cooler weather, we’ve had to become more aggressive
in our laundry management. There’s typically no dryers in Madrid apartments
(great for the environment!), meaning everyone hangs the laundry on a rack
after washing. (Aside: Heather loves the rack and idea of no dryer so much that
she tried to get Jon to buy her one in Arlington. Jon does not love the rack,
or the cardboard-like towels it produces. So no rack.). When the weather is
warm, the clothes can dry in an hour or two. But when the weather is cool, it
can take a couple days. Eventually we’ll
have to bring the rack into the kitchen, but in the meantime, Heather’s got a
parade route set up for the clothes: they start on the rack to get a little dry
overnight, then move to various doors and backs of chairs all over the
apartment to get more dry, then, when almost dry, get placed on beds to finish
out the process. Other clothes follow along from the spots they vacate.
* The kids continue to rave about the food at school. Here’s
Seth comment from yesterday: “Today, lunch was kind of good. We had soup and it
was really good and then we had couscous and chicken. You know, I put both in
my mouth at the same time and I like mixed them together. And I liked that. Then
for dessert we had the BEST peaches I’ve ever had.” This is pretty high praise
from the kid who would only eat five or six foods when he came to Spain the
first time.
* Soccer. Last time we were here, Nathan was in the first
grade, just learning soccer. He was roundly outclassed by every Spanish kid he
played against, yet I (Heather) still have happy memories of watching him
excitedly wiggle and jump excitedly all over the soccer court (yes, pavement) as
he tried to occasionally get his foot on the ball. Then he came back to the US
and literally ran circles around the other 7-year-olds.
This time around, Nathan’s in 5th grade and is
(thanks to good US coaching) right about average for his age group. He works
hard in practice and comes up with the ball now and then, something he wasn’t
doing four years ago.
Seth is another story.
He’s now in Nathan’s old shoes, and it’s going about the same for him as
it did for Nathan. Including the jumping and wiggling around. We’ll see if he
has the same experience on the US side. So
far he seems most interested in being goalie, which strikes fear in our heart,
both because parents of goalies often seem stressed out and because goalies
specialize VERY early in Alcobendas clubs, dressing up in goalie costumes and
essentially attending their own practice rather than learning general soccer skills.
We’re not so into that.
Nora has joined the girls’ 7-12 town soccer league. That is,
ages 7-12. About 15 of them, all together. In one practice. There’s also an age
13-18 practice for girls as well. As far as the eye can see in our part of
Madrid, there’s little boys playing soccer. Nathan’s club has five teams at his
age, as does Seth. But only 15 female
players at the elementary level.
* My (Heather) struggle to master the Madrid bus system
continues. I scored big on Wednesday, while waiting for the bus in the location
designated by Google Maps and also marked by this bus-stop-like apparatus and
set of bus timetables:
As I stood and waited, a 197 bus (see picture! Timetable
displayed! I swear!) drove by, the driver wagging his finger at me. Then a 191 bus driver
(also pictured on the stanchion, near the top!) actually stopped his bus, got off and
then lectured me about why I could not in fact get on his bus at this location. And then got back on his bus and drove away. I felt very inadequately Spanish at that point -- even someone with as little experience in this country as I should have been able to get in a real shouting match with the driver. But I couldn't manage it.
The bus stop the 191 driver indicated as just up the road…not there. The
taxis that drove past as I tried to hail them also gave me the same wagging finger
treatment, suggesting that perhaps I’d better just plan to walk everywhere this year.
