I know I owe you some serious back-blogs...all in good time, I promise. For now I'll just say that I had a wonderful blitz visit with my family. I wasn't home for long enough to do a lot of what we would have liked, but we were still able to cram quite a bit into my 10 days: Rotary conference (obviously!), a horseback lesson on my boy, a hike in Lakes Basin, picnic at Lake Davis; and dinner with family friends, H.S. math teacher and much of my mom's extended family!! ...Not bad, eh? ;)
I hit the ground running in Reno, NV...and upon my return did exactly the same! My flight home went through Madrid and it just so happens that my very best friend, Miriam had been able to prolong a work visit to the Spanish capital and so I intentionally missed my connection to Malaga and stayed with her for two days before heading home on the train. :)
I arrived in Madrid at 7:40 am after a restless "night" with an annoying, complaining, girl who wouldn't stop pushing my seat. She said I wasn't giving her enough room (!)--the seats only incline about 10 degrees (if that!); I'm pretty sure I'm entitled to put my seat as far back as it will go. Sorry.
Anyway, after making my way to Miriam's hotel via subway I was determined not to sleep. We had breakfast and then took a stroll through the Retiro Park behind the Prado museum. We had a leisuerly lunch in the cutest little vegetarian cafe (YES,vegetarian in Spain!...ah, the benefits of the big city...). The food was absolutely delicious. My favorite was beet hummus--beautiful color--with pita bread. :)
Since I was determined not to sleep we had coffee and then decided to explore the Caixa Forum--a museum Miriam had read about in her guide book. It's part of the social out-reach programs that my bank does. If you have an account with them, you get in free. :) So I saved four euros on this experimental visit. M and I thought we probably wouldn't spend much time in the museum (don't know where we got THAT idea!)... but it turned out to be a fascinating show! Really this deserves it's own post; sorry, no more details. Sufice it to say we spent the remainder of the afternoon in the museum.
In the evening we hooked up with my friend Adam and his partner, Maria for tapas. It was great to see them and enjoy some more good food. So this means that I didn't actually end up getting back to the hotel and in bed until around 12ish; but of course being in bed doesn't mean I was asleep, especially when I'm sharing the room with Miriam. We were wide awake and talking until around 3, I think. Actually she was helping me with an assignment I had to finish for my art class by the next day! What better candidate for the job than my very own Art Historian. It felt a little as though we were back in high school working on a group project together. ;)
Monday was another great day, though it got off to a very late start. We didn't wake up until around 12 noon and spent most of the day simply enjoying each other's company. In the late afternoon we made a visit to the Reina Sofia museum followed by tapas late into the night. Then Tuesday at 5:30am I was out of bed and on my way to Atocha to catch the high-speed train home. I had a cafe to hold my eyes open in the dining car and watched the sun rise over golden fields and olive groves.
Tuesday afternoon I had three hours of English classes with kids ages 3-8... Are you beginning to see why I haven't blogged lately? ;)
My life since getting back to La Roda has been a blur. I somehow made it through that first week (jet-lag is for sissies!!) and when the weekend rolled around, instead of sleeping I enlisted the help of family and friends to move EVERYTHING we own from one house to the next. The entire time I'd been in the States, Angelines, her sister, brother and mother had been cleaning, scrubbing, scouring and painting the new house. It was pretty dirty...and by my in-laws' borderline OCD standards, downright appalling! My sister-in-law actually took apart the pipes under the kitchen sink to clean them inside and out!! (Just so you know, the sink wasn't clogged...she's just that thorough)
Anyway, Sunday we finally got the bed moved and so we're officially moved out/in. ;) There are still some random odds and ends to be moved here from the other house, and lord knows I've got plenty of boxes to unpack still; but at least we have made significant progress. All this week my mother and sister-in-law have been here cleaning (still!...) and in the afternoons, my brother-in-law has been helping A to paint walls and ceilings. This has all been quite the undertaking, but I am oh so happy to be here! What a beautiful house we've managed to buy (or begin buying is perhaps more accurate). ;) I will be sure to post pictures once things are tidied up and in place.
...Well, I started off by promising back-blogs to tell about home, etc. but I think I've pretty well covered it! See, this is what always happens: I sit down with the intention of just writing something quick, and get sucked into a four-screen-long blog post! How does that happen? This is why when things get crazy, as they have been, I don't even allow myself to begin writing.
And now I'm off to bed. It is late and there is much to be done tomorrow.
(I will save pictures for a future post)
