casacollins

We have been here many months now and remain clueless about a lot of political issues. However, we can still appreciate good grafitti when we see it. Not sure who Peito is, but I think he's dead. May he rest in Peace. Lots of grafitti here. Some political, some social, some simply a way for idle teens to "express themselves".






The 2nd photo is a glimpse into Spain's future. Land is relatively inexpensive here and developers are snatching up farms as fast as they can. In the meantime, shepherds are still roaming. Goats, sheep, and horses can still be seen grazing (albeit right next to the highway). The Spanish would do well to resist the temptation of fast cash and preserve their beautiful countryside with some serious zoning and a zoning board that enforces codes! This photo was taken on our way to school where 10,000 new homes and 2 big golf courses are said to be going up in the next 5 years.







The 3rd picture is a picture of how two "developers" built one on top of the other. At the Alhambra Palace complex there is evidence of the different architectural styles of the Moors and the Catholics. Look at the building in the background. That was built by the Moors. When the Catholics took over Al Andalus (Andalucia) and Spain in 1492 they became the new owners of the exquisite Moorish architectural gem, the Alhambra. Soon enough King Charles V built his own palace right in the middle of every building on the compound--fortunately his palace is aesthetically pleasing. When the Catholics took over the mosques they were not as thoughtful. In Cordoba, the Catholics occupied the city and therefore the biggest mosque in Europe. They built a cathedral smack in the middle of the mosque (see previous blog about Cordoba for photo). When the ruler of that region saw what the enthusiastic architects had done to the former mosque he declared it a travesty, however, the construction was done and he chose to leave it rather than rebuild. If only they had some sort of zoning codes back then, right? Ha!







This 4th photo is our wonderful neighbors, The Swales (Bill, Pam, Carter and Billy), who came to visit in the end of February. They were not prisoners at the Alcazaba (Fortress) of the Alhambra, as you can see by their smiling faces. Billy and Reed were used to seeing each other every day for the past 9 years and this year has reminded us all to cherish that good fortune of proximity. The kids(and parents!) all fell back in with each other immediately and it was as if we had never been away. That sure feels good.








Our 5th photo is to document amazing serendipity. This is us in Granada with our neighbors, Pam and Bill, and another family, the Minas, who moved from Grant Street eight or nine years ago. The Minas lived in South Africa and Prague before moving to Madrid last summer. They learned from another Evanston familia that we were in Granada. They were doing a little tour of Granada and sent us an email to see if we could get together. So here we are all these Grant St. neighbors in Granada so many thousands of miles away from the place that originally introduced us. Pretty cool. Great to see everyone. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see the Minas again before we head home. We're looking forward to being back on Grant Street too.












Before the Swales headed home we all spent a stormy and fun day in Marbella. It is a unique town that caters so much to tourists from England and other European countries that almost all the staff in the hotels, restaurants and shops speak English. Really uncommon in Andalucia. It's on the coast and has some great hotels and beaches. Here is a shot of our kids getting ready for a unique beach experience. Fortunately, the stormy weather prevented everyone else from partaking, but the kids had fun anyway! I like that there are certain words in English that just don't translate in to Spanish so you have to just use the English word.