casacollins

It's been a busy coupla weeks since Mark returned from Japan...Funny thing, in Spanish, "Japan", "ham", and "soap" are almost the same word: "Japon", "jamon" and "sabon". Whew, if that doesn't confuse the gal at the deli counter I don't know what would!

Anyway, Mark returned from Japan just in time for Halloween. We begged him to go as a sumo wrestler, but he misplaced his big Japanese "thong" somewhere and decided to go as a bloody ghoul thingy. Halloween in Granada is definitely different than at home. first, they don't really celebrate it. Nov. 1st is All Saints Day, but it's more of a day off work than a religious holiday. (More about post-Franco Spain and religion another time.) Our school, "Granada College" had a full afternoon of costumes, games and parties for the kids and parents. Every child dressed in scarey costumes. They don't do fairies, princesses, robots, firemen, superheroes, or plays on words, etc. for costumes. They really go for the fear factor. I think our school is unique in that most schools don't recognize Halloween at all here. Then we had a party on Halloween night in our "Club Social" building in our development. Sandra and I planned it with the kids (all 6) and invited about 25 people from school and the neighborhood. It was great! Spiderwebs, fortune telling, apple bobbing, creepy/mushy things in bowls, candy!, and beer. A good time was had by all. The Halloween photo includes Sandra with witch's hat, Lucy (purple vest and witch hat), Mark, me (green witch), Ben (neighbor boy/devil), Alina (black cat), Reed (skeleton/alien guy), Lydia (fortune teller with knife in head), Anna (neighbor/vampire), and Wynne (black cat).

We've gone on two excursions since our last blog. First, we tried going to Cordoba, but thought it better to turn around after an hour in the car, lunch at a great restaurant, and a little sight-seeing. We were all set to make the 2 hour trip to Cordoba to see this mosque turned cathedral. There's a "forest" of 850 columns inside and it's supposed to be spectacular. BUT, the kids weren't crazy about driving anymore, so we settled for the less major ruins of Alcala (see photo of kids with castle on hill behind them and olive orchards flanking them) and the city of Baena (see photo of plaza with fountains and cool building with archways). To summarize the guidebooks, southern Spain has all these cool towns with ruins of castles and mosques that have been built upon and destroyed by various aggressive types (Nazrids of north Africa and Catholics from Europe). The towns are not at all the same, nor are the ruins, but the themes are generally similar.

Second, we went to the Sierra Nevadas again! We love it up there. The views are terrific and it's very peaceful. The photo of the five of us at what looks like the top of the mountain is our family near the peak (probably something like a 15 hour hike from where we were for all I know) called "Mulhacen". There is also a statue of the Patron Saint of Snow. I don't know what her real name is, but leave it to the Catholics to change it from something like "Mariposa" to "Patron Saint of Snow". Somehow I suppose that was a promotion so she probably didn't mind. We saw and heard a herd of sheep in the actual ski area. Pretty cool sight. We were all so curious as it was our first time seeing that. All the sheep had bells on (no they were not dressed up) and were grazing all over the hillside. The shepherd was a salty, old guy (maybe 44, but looked 84) whom I mistakenly thought was an entrepeneur of another sort and asked him if he did trail rides with his horse because my daughter was interested in riding. He mumbled something about his horse being sick, but in summer he does walks. It was not until later that I saw him in his real occupation and thought he must've thought I was some North Shore ninny who was insensitive to the indigenous population of the Sierras. Oops.

And of course we have our regular nod to the ham industry. You'll notice the photo of the Jamon section at Alcampo superstore. Check out all that JAMON!!!! Yes, I stood there in the store taking the picture whilst all the locals went about their shopping wondering why someone would take a photo of the jamon. Once I figure out how to explain that in Spanish you know I'm going to say something to someone in the ham department. Maybe even get a photo of the jamon guy with his wares! Stay tuned for that one...

Tomorrow we have a visitor, Ben Saper (Camp Echo/Evanstonian who is in Madrid studying this semester) is coming to Granada. We're all excited to have a guest and to take him around and show off this great city. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out who each other is at the bus station. Maybe we should all wear red, white and blue. Perhaps Wynne in a flamenco dress will be enough. Next week we're going to Geneva to visit John and Amy Jacobs (friends through Mark) and their kids for five days. We're so looking forward to the trip and seeing their kids who we have never met! One nice side benefit (so we are told) is that by going to Switzerland, our tourist status in Spain will be extended another 90 days. We figure in 90 more days we will go to Morocco and 90 days after that maybe Greece. A great solution to our visa problem.

The kids are doing well with the adjustment and all. Reed started soccer after school on Tues. and Lydia is planning to join the group today. They miss the sports teams at home so this is a welcome addition to their days. Wynne is taking dance after lunch two days a week and loves it. Yay! The work at school is challenging because it is in a different language for half the day, but they seem to be doing fine with the curriculum. We figure they're learning a lot of other stuff and cumulatively speaking they'll be just fine. Mark and I are brushing up on our University of Chicago "Everyday Math" facts we learned from Lydia and Reed over the last few years so we can tutor them to keep them up to speed with what's going on in Evanston's schools. Wonderful comment from Lydia, "I'm really going to appreciate King Lab when we go back. I don't think I'll ever complain again about math or lunch."

Es la vida in Espana!