We were anticipating some struggles during the weekend/Spanish holiday (Monday), owing to the fact that the whole family is easily bored, and because life slows down considerably here on the weekend. But that’s hardly been the case.
Suffice to say that one of our children (name withheld to protect the innocent) is a festering mess: insomnia, lice, pinkeye, stomach flu, fever. The kid has spent two days on the couch and it doesn’t appear to be over yet. We obtained the name of a good children’s hospital and taxi company in case there’s a turn for the worse, but we’re optimistic it’ll only last another 24 hours. The child has become combative with the siblings again, which indicates we’re almost done.
Life for the other two kids (and for the festering mess while not sick) has been pretty good: Play at the park, shop at the mall, play ball in the park, take bus rides, swim. Nathan, who could barely float over the 4th of July weekend, can now swim the width of the pool in both breast stroke and crawl. He splashes everyone else in the pool and makes various gasping sounds while doing it, alarming the life guard, but he gets across that pool (thanks Grossman Camp!). Nora is still a fish, and has found some friends to play with at the pool. Seth refuses to enter the pool (an extension of his extreme reluctance to bathe, most likely) but plays ball in a nearby basketball court. Seth is also holding up fairly well in the total absence of backhoes – we’re in a fairly new section of Madrid, and there’s no street construction to speak of.
We are still without internet, plunging us back into early 1990s (but without the good music). Apologies if one of you reading this is sitting in our in-box; we have to walk 15 minutes to the mall to get free wireless. It’s trite to say, but we really don’t know how people survived without the modern conveniences.
Nathan has been asking all sorts of interesting questions about the banking system, Euros, what happens in Spain, and whether his teachers will speak Spanish to him. Here’s some questions we made up for the blog:
What is your favorite thing about Madrid?
Nathan: My new basketball. I also like Pans’ French fries (Pans is a restaurant with fairly gross fries).
Nora: Swimming in the pool.
What’s the most surprising thing about Madrid?
Nora: There are kids at the park at 12:30 at night.
Nathan: There’s one of my favorite restaurants here!
Are you looking forward to school?
Nora: No. At first, I won’t be able to understand people.
Nathan: No, because I can’t tie my shoes.
What do you miss most about the U.S.?
Nathan: The Red Sox. The Red Sox winning. Isaac R.
Nora: Everything.
What do you NOT miss about the U.S.?
Nathan: Robbins Park.
Nora: Getting scrapes and cuts. I don’t get them here.
What do you know about Spain?
Nathan: There are a lot of parks. We get to go swimming almost every day!
Nora: That there are no backhoes.
Stay tuned for details of sick child's Monday visit to the ER (sick child is fine, just has the mother of all Spanish viruses)
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