Traduce Aqui:

Friday, August 26, 2016

My Little Chatterbox

Now that you're somewhat up-to-date with our travels, I thought I should post a quick something about my dear Emily Alejandra.

Maybe it was exposure to a third language, or maybe she's just growing up, but her language skills really took off over the four days we were in Belgium.  I was amazed by the sudden change--even I noticed it and usually those kinds of changes in children aren't noticeable for those of us who are with the kid 24/7.  Anyway, she came back to Spain talking a blue streak.  Although she mixes the two languages, many of her words remain English.  I am sure this has everything to do with my parents' visit and the extra doses of English she was getting with them.

She is becoming more and more of a parrot--repeating everything, and often with fairly good pronunciation.  But even more fun is that she is beginning to speak intentionally and spontaneously to communicate beyond simply asking for things.  A favourite is rememorating time and time again, her many falls and "pupas" (owies) that she has on her knees.  The light pink scars do kind of stand out now that her legs are so tan from the beach!  She also likes to point out if anyone is wearing shashes (glasses) or a coco (ponytail).  Yesterday she popped out with: "Bye-bye, beach!" as we were heading to the car after our Wednesday outing to Málaga.

It is also amazing to me to see how much she remembers based on what she says. Of course her memory is best when it comes to her numerous falls, but I have been surprised and pleased by how much she remembers my parents' visit and our time in Belgium with Nanny (Maggie).  One of my dad's projects while he was here was covering our BBQ stovepipe (cement) in white cement so that it would blend in more with the patio wall and then my mom and I decorated it with beach shells she had collected.  They helped Emmy put her handprint in the wet cement and wrote her name and the date.  Several times since our return from Belguique, she has pointed to the BBQ and said, "Me hand Poppa, Ga".

She also remembers clearly a more traumatizing moment in Belgium when she ripped Aunt Maggie's glasses off her face and tore out her nose ring!  It sounds worse than it actually was, but Maggie's nose was bleeding and it certainly hurt.  Emily was shocked by her Auntie's reaction and when I pointed out she'd given Nanny a pupa she was pretty interested.  I asked her to appologize and now at random moments, when she remembers, she'll pop up with: "Sorry, Nanny.  Pupa nose shashes."

And then there are the times that she unintelligibly babbles.  I've been on skype twice now since coming back from our trip and both times she is right there babbling away, doing her best to talk over whoever is on the other end of the call!  We can hardly get a word in edge-wise.  If you want to skype with me it's best to do it after she's asleep...though she's so darn cute, it's a shame to miss her.

Speaking of her antics, we've actually just come home from an evening out in Estepa.  My boss told me about a concert that one of our students was directing and I thought that sounded like fun.  Emily loves music and especially dancing and clapping--she is very flamenca!  This was going to be different medlies and rock-fusion played by a concert band, but I knew Em would be up for it.  And she was.  She danced up a storm!  My boss and her husband were, of course, enchanted with her.  After various dance performances and leading them around to see interesting things (leaves, rocks, etc.) she blew them kisses when it was time to come home.  I think their hearts had completely melted by that point!

She is a gift. I really don't know what I did to deserve such a wonderful, social, sweet, patient, fun daughter.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Beautiful Belgium

As promised, here is the rest of the story. ;)

Me and Fan Fan :)
Emily and I caught our plane Thursday evening.  My sweet daughter fell asleep before take-off and woke up just an hour before landing.  She has proven once again to be the ideal travel partener. I would never have dreamed of doing a trip like this solo if she weren't so willing to go with the flow and entertain herself much of the time.  And now that she's beginning to talk, she has become quite the charmer, so it's fun to be able to say, "I'm with her!"

We arrived in Brussels, picked up a rented carseat (which we only ended up using twice!) and were greeted at our host's home by Ga (my mom) Poppa (my dad), Tita Nannie (that's Maggie in Emily-speak) and a delicious spaghetti dinner.  Emily turned on full charm and was the evening's entertainment.  Bernarnd, our host (first exchange student's father), has a grandson just Emily's age and so the house was fully equipped with plenty of toys and gismos for Emily to discover and play with.  He also has a beautiful and very large back yard that Emily called the "parque", which we were all able to explore and enjoy since the weather cleared up nicely as our visit progressed.

Bernard's daughter, Fanny was our first exchange student, as I mentioned.  She holds a special place in all our hearts and really is like a sister for me.  I visited her when I did my exchange in Granada and she attended my wedding seven years ago.  In 2014 we reconnected  when we discovered that both of us were pregnant and due around the same time.  Her little Eliot was born just two weeks after our Emily.  Friday morning we had brunch over at her beautifully rennovated house.  Visiting her and her adorable family was a wonderful treat.

Emily and Eliot: the next generation of friendship!
Emily and Eliot got along as well as two 21-month-olds can be expected to--which is to say they mostly ignored one another.  At this age there isn't much playing "together" so much as playing "next to each other".  Still, we got some cute pictures.  I think they could pass for twins, though Eliot is much heftier than my delicate little girl.  And it was a pleasure for me to finally meet Ivan, Fanny's doting partner and super-dad.  He is great and I am happy that my Fan Fan has found such a wonderful person with whom to share her life and her parenthood.

Chatting in the garden...

After a nice long nap back at our home away from home (Bernard left us the keys since he was out of town for the weekend), we joined up with our second Belgian sister/daughter, Charlotte for a sushi dinner.  We had another wonderful few hours catching up over snacks and dinner.  Charlotte was married a year ago and still has that newly-wed glow about her.  She showed us pictures from the wedding, but unfortunately her husband was out of town and we weren't able to meet him.  The evening was too late for Emily, who started getting sleepy (read crabby) toward the end, but for the rest of us our visit was too short.

Friday was a great day.  Visiting both with Fanny and with Charlotte was wonderfully comfortable and relaxing.  It was such a reaffirmation of the strength of our friendship that after so many years--in Charlotte's case we hadn't seen her since 2005!--we were able to chat as if no time had passed.    I really felt at home with both of them, a great feeling when you're in a foreign country.

Emmy exploring the "parque" with Ga.
Charlotte was quite enamored of Emily, and she was pretty smitten with Sha Sha, too. ;)

Friday, August 19, 2016

Blitz Visit to Belgium!

In 2008 my family hosted its third Belgian girl through Rotary International's youth exchange program.  She is a lovely girl who, as was our experience with all our exchanges, fit right in with the family and really became a part of our Sierra Valley/Portola lives.  That autumn I was actually back in the States working at my alma mater teaching lower-level Spanish classes and so I too came to know and love Justine.  Last year she announced her marriage and even arranged the wedding date around my family's schedules.

It was difficult coordinating every one, but in the end all of us except Lucy and Angelines were present at the ceremony which took place last Saturday on a (freakishly) beautifully sunny day in the countryside outside Mouscron, Belgium.  The weather was so nice I was frantically hunting for shade and wishing I had my hat, sunglasses and sunscreen!  All the Belgians, on the other hand were bravely sitting out in the sunshine soaking up as much as possible.  We Spaniards certainly couldn't live without the sun (two cloudy days in a row ammount to seasonal depression!), but we also know that to enjoy it, one ought to be prepared.  My family was laughing at me for hugging the walls and hedges in search of shade.

The wedding was beautiful.  Spanish weddings have nearly ruined me.  Here the ceremonies are nearly all religious...and even when they aren't there's just a lot of blather about the legal responsabilities of the spouses, etc.  Very few people do much of anything personal even in civil ceremonies.  Plus, Spanish weddings are very expensive for the attendants, which grates on my more frugal tendancies.  In the States, you can get away with buying some thoughtful gift for maybe between 20-30 dollars (perhaps even less if you're a good shopper), but in Spain you're expected to fork over a minimum of 50 euros cash--many times closer to 100.  This is some unwritten cultural norm that I personally hate because it ammounts to people inviting as many friends, family and acquaintences as possible just for the money.  In Spain, on a whole it seems that people are invited and attend weddings out of a sense of obligation and not because either party is particularly interested in the event or the people involved.  It's really very sad I think.

So with my newly aquired Spanish sensitivities, I really enjoyed the origniality of Justine and Christoph's wedding.  It was as all weddings should be: a celebration of the love between two people and their dedication to each other to make a life together. I am not one to cry, but I couldn't help the tears welling in my eyes throughout the ceremony.  Justine was absolutely radiant and Christoph was so dashing.  They were so obviously in love and everyone there knew it--it was a truly beautiful thing and I am so happy that I was able to be there to celebrate with them.

I think I will save the rest of out Belgian visit for another post because I feel this getting long, but first a few pictures from the wedding:

Seeing Maggie was definitely a highlight to my Belgian visit.
Emily made a new friend at the wedding: Eva, 4 yrs.  They were inseparable!
 
The bride throwing the bouquet...Maggie caught it!!! ...another European wedding in my future?

Three generations of Barkley Wilbanks :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Days at the Lake

The whole crew at the lake.
Spain is hot in August.  Are any of you surprised?  Our daily highs are normally over 100º F and at night sometimes it only cools down to around 79ºF.  My parents' visit has been no exception, although we have had some cooler days in the mix.  In any case, they aren't complaining because they are staying in the one air-conditioned room in the house!

To beat the heat we have made three visits to a nearby lake since the city pool is closed for repairs all summer.  It's actually a resevoir and with the minimal rains this year, the lake level is so low it's made for some nice beaches.  And thanks to the hot, Andalusian sun, the water is around 70º+--like a giant bathtub!

Our routine has been getting up from the siesta around 6pm getting our stuff organized and in the car and then making the 35 minute drive to the lake to enjoy the sunset over the water.  Because we get there so late, we don't have time for more than a quick dip; but this way we're able to avoid the usual August crowds, and anyway the days are so hot and the water is so warm that swimming even after the sun sets feels deliciously refreshing.

Emily is perhaps the only one not quite so enchanted with the lake, although she does begin to repeat "lake, lake!" when we round the corner on the highway and you can see the blue-green water stretching out before us.  She fell down on the rocky path our first visit and got a pretty nicely skinned knee.  And once you get in the water, the shore drops off quickly, so the area where she can touch bottom and play is quite limited.  We have to hold her hand(s) the whole time, unlike at the beach.  Even so, she seems contented to splash and throw rocks or sticks for Bela.

Francisco joined us the first day.
And is by far the biggest fan of these evening excursions to the lake.  They have recently made dogs at the beach illegal...and although the term "illegal" in Spain is often a bit flexible, with the outrageous number of beach-goers in August it would be completely impossible, not to mention irresponsible, to take her to the beach.  There is a dog beach we discovered a few years ago, but it has been thusly designated because it is not a very good beach for swimming.  It's very rocky; there is hardly any sand.  It is not a good beach for Emily and so we haven't been yet since it's gotten hot.  Bela was therefore all the more excited to be off on an adventure with us, especially one that included water.  She immediately makes friends with all the kids along the beach and inevitably has a following of at least three under-12-year-olds who happily throw sticks and marvel at what a good swimmer she is. 

So we have spent three evenings swimming and enjoying the cool breeze off the lake.  Having my parents here has been such a good excuse to get out and do a bit more.  So often we fall into a routine that hardly gets us out of the house; but on days that are too hot to go to the park or even out in the patio, it can be rough to keep Emily entertained not to mention maintain our own sanity.  These little trips to the lake have made it seem like I'm on vacation.


Emily wanted to ride in the back with Bela. :)

Friday, August 5, 2016

Firefighter Sam

Once again, blogging has gotten away from me and not for lack of material to write about!  Perhaps in a few weeks I'll have time for a "back-blog" or two, but the main news around these parts lately is my parents' visit. :)

My mom and dad arrived just last Thursday night and are unfortunately leaving this coming Wednesday.  A too-short visit by any standards, but a visit, regardless of duration, is always welcome, of course.

Last Thursday we got Emily dressed up after our daily siesta and headed to Málaga.  "Ga" and "Poppa" didn't get in until 8:45 so we had plenty of time.  And while that may seem to be a late hour to be driving back and forth from the airport, I assure you it is not.  In Spain they don't refer to 8pm as the "afternoon" for nothing! ;)  Emily met them in the arrivals lounge with kisses and immediately took my mother's hand to begin leading her around the airport.  My mom, for her part, practically threw down her bags to get on all fours and coddle, kiss, and chatter with Emily the minute she came through the little exit gate.  It was adorable to see them...but we did have to pull my mom up and out of the way of other travellers.

At home we had a late (for my parents) dinner, and then we all headed for bed.  I worked Friday and needed to be up by 6am.  However, around two in the morning, my dad burst into our bedroom shouting in whispers something about a "fuego, FIRE"!  I was half asleep and not processing his frantic spanglish.  I thought somehow we had lit the garage on fire when I had ignited the thermostat for my mom before heading to bed.  He clarified that the fire was in the campo, but it was "pretty big" and should call the fire department...

He had gotten up from bed to go to the bathroom and heard crackling coming from outside (we of course had the doors and windows open to let in the cool, night air).  At first he thought it was leaves rustling in the breeze, but when he pulled aside the curtain to look out over our upstairs terrace, he saw a fire not 50 meters from the house burning quickly through the dry weeds alongside the train tracks and flaring impressivly with each slight gust of wind!

La Roda has no fire department, news that shocked my father.  "Call the police!" was his response, but it took me a while to think how I'd do that since I don't know they're number.  Finally I thought to grab Angelines's phone (who was mumbling that it was probably just some farmer burning slash and we should just leave it) and was able to find the number among her contacts. "The number you have reached is unavailable" was the message I got after dialing the local police--typical.  My dad was becoming increasingly alarmed by the lack of emergency support we have here in rural Spain and becoming more and more worried about the spreading fire.

I finally remembered the Spanish equivalent of 911 and dialed 061; but this, as it turned out, was only a number for medical emergencies and I was told to call 112 instead.  I was in my underwear standing up on my terrace turned fire look-out, choking on smoke and finally on the thrid telephone call I got ahold of someone who would alert the appropriate authorities.  At this point, I just had to laugh...and also thank God that it wasn't my house that was on fire!

While we waited for the firemen, the fire drew more of an audience.  Some passerby came up to take pictures and our across-the-street neighbors all came out in their flip flops and PJs to see what the ruckus was about.  Nobody knew who to call or what to do, and I felt pretty on top of it being able to tell them all that the authories had been informed and that a fire engine was on the way.

About 15 minutes after my call, the Guardia Civil showed up.  These are not firemen, but similar to national police.  By the time they arrived, the fire had petered out and was really nothing to worry about.  Even so, they jumped out of their car with a fire extinguisher and headed out to the fire's edge, just a glittering line in the dust at this point; but when they reached the line and pulled the trigger it turned out it was empty!  A bit chagrined, the officer came back to our little group of spectators and explained that they had used the extinguisher the other day and forgotten to replace it..."Does anyone have a bucket of water?", was his question.

By the time the fire truck arrived, with flashing lights, (but to my disappointment no siren) the Guardia Civil had already put out what was left of the blaze with our neighbor's bucket.  The firefighters in full gear--helmets, boots, fireproof pants, etc.--inspected the area, but didn't even need to unroll the hose.  What seemed at first to be quite a dangerous and exciting incident, had fizzled into nothing more than a large patch of charred ground along the railroad track.  We even started to feel a little silly for calling the authorities, but you can never be to careful with these things.  Had there been more wind that night, things could have got out of control quickly and although there probably wouldn't have been any structural damage, it certainly would have left a much more lasting and ugly scar on the terrain.

So my dad the firefighter saved the day (or night as the case may be) on his first evening on vacation here in España.  Thankfully, no real harm was done and so all the mishaps and poor coordination make for nothing more than a fun story to tell, but it does give one pause.  I hope I never need the fire brigade to come any faster than they did last Friday night!