journal of a wacky expat family
While the big boys went off to Brussels on a boys' weekend trip, we headed to Parque Atracciones with the Nordin family. We had a spectacular day and stayed from open until close!!! The kids had so much fun and Truman rode his first "real" roller coaster, 4 times in fact. :)
Truman's Spanish classes learned about and celebrated San Isidro, the patron saint of Madrid. They dressed up as chulapas and chulapos and learned a few traditional Spanish dances. Alicia was his partner, of course, and they look adorable!!!
We're taking a few days off and heading south.
Truman: Mom, I really want to go to Nana's because she has the lake, popcorn, I can practice my skateboard and she has the red drink...what's it called again?
Jess: Kool-aid?
Truman: Yes Kool-aid. It's so good.
Truman walking around the mall... With knee pads. :)
[I wrote this a week ago but forgot to post it. Oops.]
Last night Jess and I went out for dinner with some our friends from our old neighborhood. Fang stayed and watched the kids. She made Chinese food (Kung Pao chicken and spicy beans) for the kids,which is always a big hit.
Jess and I took a taxi downtown and met up with our friends at a random bar near the restaurant. Even though it's not too cold (about 32 degrees F) the plaza was mostly empty. In the summer there would be people everywhere.
After a little foosball, Ms Pacman, and some wine (random, I know), we left and headed to the restaurant.
We don't go out often because it's expensive and pretty inconvenient if you have children. We didn't finish our dessert until nearly 1:00am, and then it's normal to sit for another chatting and then go somewhere after for drinks and chatting.
We're not that cool. :) We promised Fang we'd be back by 1:15 so we quick hopped in a cab and came home. Fine for me though, I was yawning the entire way home.
Despite being a complicated night, it was super nice to go out and act like adults for an evening. :)
On Wednesdays, Truman stays home with Jess and they have homeschool. He learns a little bit, spends some quality time with him Mom, and in general, gets a break from the all-day, everyday grind at school. ...
Read MoreOn Friday night we finally got to eat our piglet. (I've always wanted to start a blog post like that!) ...
Read MoreLast night Addi was super quiet and grumpy. When I got home from work and I tried to talk to her she made the point of ignoring me. Hmmm, a bit strange, but we roll with it. Then when she wouldn't set the table and I got after her she blew up and stormed upstairs to her room in a huff. Hmmm again. Obviously this is not about setting the table. ...
Read MoreIt's nearly 10:00pm, the kids are in bed and Jess is in the kitchen madly whipping up paleo desserts that she can take to bible study (they rotate bringing treats) in the morning. She's feeling the pressure because everyone knows she's grain-free and she basically has to prove to them that you can have food that doesn't taste like crap. No pressure. ...
Read MoreWe successfully made it through our short week (two days in school for the kids, and three days in the office for me)! For being a short week, it definitely seemed long but I suppose the first few days coming back from a vacation always feel long. ...
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Henry: Dad, when we move to Iowa do you think you'll have hair?
Me: No, I think that's pretty unlikely.
(pause)
Henry: Do you think you'll look better as a farmer with hair or without?
“Dad, since your nose is so pointy like Aunt Katie’s, does it hurt to push it up, like a pig nose?”
Back to work today. Luckily it was a slow-ish day but still plenty of action.
After giving the kids nearly three weeks of close contact inside our house, we are trying hard to find our polite, nice children. Towards that end ...
Read MoreYesterday as a family we went out for a 3.5 mile bike and walk. There is a section of the king's old hunting grounds called El Pardo that is accessible from a spot near our house. The walk was nice, except for the occasional fit from Truman where he would throw his bike down and refuse to go any further.
Read MoreYesterday we met a few friends in downtown Pozuelo (our town) to see the local Three Kings parade. Unbeknownst to us, the Three Kings are a really big deal here. In the US, the kings play small side part in nativity, but then are mostly forgotten. Their biggest claim to fame is that when the children perform the nativity play at church, even though both the shepherds and the kings weard the same robes, the kings get to wear paper crowns and the shepherds only get head wrap things. That's about it.
Read More“Mom, I think in the future, you should be able to say “God, I think heaven is a place you should be able to travel to.” That way people could check it out and not be so afraid of dying.”
Adeline and Truman with the Christmas candle thing.
Apparently, it doesn't take much to knock me off of the blog posting bandwagon. After a really strong November blog posting month, December was pretty weak. We'll see if I can get the groove back in January.
So what to do about December? Well, I'll try to put up several posts to catch up for the last two weeks of December.
In summary, we've really enjoyed being at home together for two weeks. Yes, we're getting a little stir-crazy but all-in-all it's been very nice. The last time we did this we were in Beijing and we had to take an impromptu road trip to Tianjin just to keep ourselves from going crazy. That's not the case here since it's sunny and we can go outside everyday if we wish.
Still, we really wish we were in Iowa right now. Not because we miss the abysmal weather but we miss our family. I hope everyone realizes that.
Jess and I spent the past week or so really working hard on the house plans. I read a residential architecture book and Jess has been like an iPad zombie, going through hundreds of floor plans looking for house ideas on Houzz.
Truman assuming the "Christmas Vacation" position:
Cured ham is big in Spain. I like it, but I'm not hardcore like the locals.
You can buy a jamon leg (an entire cured pig leg, hoof included) at almost any grocery store but the quality varies widely and I do not understand or appreciate all the subtleties of the various regions and options.
Enter "Cinco Jotas" brand. Apparently it is the highest quality so I looked for it at the grocery store. It was the equivalent of $750 for a couple of kilograms of cured ham. Pretty unbelievable. I certainly wasn't going to buy an entire leg but I bought a few slices of it to try tonight. It's good but I don't think it's $750 good.
