casacollins

Hola Everyone! Who likes manchego cheese and olive oil? That's what the highways smell like here. Funniest thing. I guess they really only smell like olives from the olive groves. Beats the heck out of industrial pollution that smacks of McDonald's fries. Anyone?

We have arrived and have even settled in a little. Our flights were great. Good food, good sleeping (more or less), good wine, good company. Wow. All on the plane, too. The foreigners' fiasco in the airport getting our bags (most of them) was amusing to the spaniards, I'm sure. It took forever to get food, euros, the car, the bags, the bathrooms. All this done with little to no Spanish or sleep!

Once we were in our little Renault wagon we hit the highway and headed to Granada. After 5 hours or so we saw the Sierra Nevada mountains and new we were close! Pulled into town, (which is 200,000 plus people, but is crazy in some parts with traffic and has roads as mixed up as my morning hairdoo. Yikes.) to find that we were in the middle of the Vuelta de Espana (huge national bike race like the Tour de France) and our hotel was right by the starting line! Go figure. It took us over an hour to find our hotel which we was no farther than 5 blocks away! The Hotel Los Angeles (angels everywhere--serious Catholics) was great...nice big pool, balconies, nice restaurants, great rooms, the works. The only bummer is that my and Mark's bags didn't show up at the airport or hotel for 3 more days--peeee--yewwww! We didn't know if we'd ever see our stuff again. Why did we put jewelry, cameras, year's supply of medicine and other important things in our bags anyway? Oh yea, because we carried so much other stuff we had no more room for it! I did fantasize for a few minutes about buying all new Spanish clothes! Silver lining.

Anyway, we were at the hotel from Thursday till Monday. The kids adjusted each in their own way. They all said their good-byes in Evanston and were sad at different times. That was a little tough as parents, but we knew that it would be worth it, hopefully. Lydia was disappointed that Granada was so urban. She didn't expect traffic or graffiti. Weird, but graffiti is everywhere here. Not usually criminal or vulgar, just public and disruptive to the really old crumbly walls that deserve more respect. The food is a bit tricky for them--they're not so keen on the different salads, sauces, meats, and sandwiches, but we all appreciate the yummy ice cream!

We met our new landlord, Jose Maria, and 84 year old man, and his wife, Maravilla on Monday. They took our whole family out for lunch at this very nice restaurant. The Spanish start with appetizers of cured Serrano ham, cheese, gazpacho, salads, bread, wine, etc. Then you get your main dish and can't even begin to eat it. Then we ordered fruit for dessert and the waiter shows up with half a watermelon for each person! Jose Maria has a niece who translated almost everything for us because our Spanish is almost as non-existent Jose Maria's English. It was great, though. He and Maravilla were sooooooooooooooooooooooooo nice. They loved our kids and showed them around the house and held their hands and told them how cute they were. Reed smiled a lot and looked a little uncomfortable, but loved every minute of that warm attention. Lydia, they think looks really Spanish, and they give Wynne as much ice cream as she wants. Anyway, the house is white stucco, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, big patio and pool attached to the backyards of about 8 houses. It's great! There are lots of trees around and it's about 4 blocks from the kids' school, Granada College.

So we moved in on Tuesday and took a little time to adjust. Their living room is different--no sofa. The tv is in Spanish and the kitchen and living room have fluorescent lights. The kitchen is small, but efficient. The washing machine and dish washer require a tutorial from our friendly neighbor because who knows what is going on when I press whatever button that makes a noise. So much is "fly by the seat of our pants" these days. We're picking up a lot of Spanish, but don't exactly know what anyone really means. We have ventured out to do grocery shopping and some household shopping. Today we even bought some electrical stuff and school uniforms! Those are cute. The kids love them and it keeps the Spanish fashion guesswork to a minimum.

We've had a lot of fun so far. It's definitely exciting and new everyday. Today a lady from one of the villages nearby sold me 2 melons and ripped me off. Not too bad, but I guess I knew it was coming. She said she was poor and had 5 kids and was divorced. I got no sympathy when I told here I had 3 kids and a husband who likes to cook. Darn. I gave here the money and then asked the neighbor if that was a lot. She said yes, but not to worry, that's what happens when you're learning. Oh well.

The kids start school on the 12th. Before then we gotta practice up on our numeros because math is one of the subjects in spanish. I also need to figure out the washer because I guess I have to wash their uniforms every other day. I'm trying to figure out how to cook without recipes or ingredients because our cookbooks haven't arrived yet and I have no clue what the things are called on the shelves in the grocery store. It's a little bit like living in a fog.

We are lucky to be here. The neighbors are fabulous. The Marin-Mirases (landlords) are wonderful. Mark's colleague's brother is great and works at a restaurant with an English menu! The melon lady won't be back until she's got potatoes and I will challenge her in Spanish! The weather is amazing. The pool is refreshing. And we have the Internet. So, keep in touch if you want.

Hope you are all well.