Successful Six

November 4th has come and gone...we've been celebrating through the week with a grand finale yesterday.  And don't worry, this has nothing to do with the elections. ;)  Emily turned six this year in the midst of masking and coronavirus madness, we still managed to have a very happy birthday.  The night of the third we hung balloons in the kitchen so she'd have a surprise in the morning and after a pancake breakfast and leaving her at school, we set about decorrating, wrapping/assembling gifts and baking a cake.  Her biggest birthday gift was a giant sandbox.  We're still waiting on the last bags of sand to fill it, but there is enough in it at the moment to play and enjoy--she LOVES it.  

For the past two months...but really since the beginning of quarentine in March, she's been digging in our flowerbeds and making mudpies around the patio; busily baking for her "bug restaurant" (co-owned, I think, with my mother). ;)  She was becomming more destructive than Norte, who has also taken to digging...  So it dawned on me (after we'd already made some birthday/Christmas purchases) that a sandbox was the perfect gift for her.  I was right.

I think especially after the unnatural way they are required to distance at school with their masks on at all times, contact with nature has become even more important.  I can actually see Emily "decompressing" after lunch as she's running the sand through her fingers or building sand castles.  She spends hours in there all on her own building and playing, happy as a clam.  It is therapeutic for sure. Now more than ever, with the chance of another full lockdown looming over us, I am grateful that we have this new way to reconnect with ourselves and our senses.

Emily came out of school bubbling about the gifts from her teachers.  Her PE teacher and head of school gave her a pen, and her teacher gave her a cut out crown that read "feliz cumpleaños".  Her friends sang to her, and she was definitely made to feel special.  At home, she was thrilled by her birthday surprises and even wrote us a thank you note in the evening.  She is an amazing little girl and certainly deserved every bit of the attention she got/gets. 

COVID restrictions don't allow for gatherings of more than six people, so I was on my own with Emily and four friends yesterday at her birthday party.  All of the kids are from her class at school, and we celebrated outside in the patio.  As party favors we gave each child a letter (first in their name) to paint and take home.  They had a blast digging in the sand, jumping on the trampoline, throwing balls for Norte, singing danceing and just being together.  It was a lot of fun, and once again Emily was just so happy.  

It makes me feel so much more confident about school seeing how her teachers and friends have shown their love and appreciation for her this week.  Thursday, the day after her birthday three different children brought her homemade picture/birthday cards to school for her, and we got several voice messages with birthday wishes, too. :)  Emily is also feeling more comfortable with friends and last week went into school without too many tears holding hands with some of her classmates.  I am afraid she's coming around just in time for them to close schools...although so far schools remain 100% open.

Schools are the only thing continuing with "normality" these days.  Restrictions are tightening weekly it seems (though I guess it's actually every 14 days).  Today it has been announced that all non-essential businesses must close by 6pm and curfew has been extended an hour on either end.  It used to be 11pm-6am and is now 10pm-7am.  The state will continue with closed borders and no one can leave any town or city in Andalusia without justified cause.  I have a certificate from work so I can travel to Estepa.  These new restrictions will be in place two weeks...That means Thanksgiving week, we'll be looking at extentions or a further crack-down.

Some people are theorizing that the government will really tighten up now to try and ease the situation in hospitals and ERs nation-wide, then open back up slightly at Christmas time to give the economy a little shot in the arm with the intention of shutting down again in January.  The truth is that the Spanish economy has been the hardest hit by the pandemic out of all European nations.  Our heavy reliance on tourism for income has meant that things have taken a severe nose-dive.  I can't imagine that they will lock us all away at Christmas (economic suicide for sure), but at the same time, it seems wildly irresponsible to mess with people and jobs the way they are right now: slowly strangling things and drawing out the agony more than necessary.

Your next question is, "So, how's the bar faring?"  I have told all my friends and family, and any of you who have visited me know I am not exagerating when I say that Spaniards are die-hard bar-goers.  This means that business is doing pretty well, all things considered; but the intesity of work has been ramped up tenfold.  Angelines now has to play police on top of serving drinks and sanitizing tables and chairs.  She's the one reprimanding those people who are milling about without stools (new law requires you be seated to be drinking), people who forget to pull up their masks between sips, people who are socializing between tables, people who are gathering in groups >7...  She says that while she is forcibly working fewer hours and actually is able to have a steady sleep schedule (which is certainly beneficial), the psychological exhaustion is extreme.  People no longer have time to linger over drinks so they come and pound them down one after another, which means that reasoning with them about social distancing and masking is virtually impossible...

Anyway, this post was supposed to be about Emily and her wonderful birthday...not the ineptitude of world governemts to deal with coronavirus. 

I'll leave you with some pictures.

The thank you Emily wrote.  Sometimes when she is sounding out words she adds extra vowels... ;)  O and she wrote my name with Spanish spelling: biola (mommy or momi is easier!).

Ready for her birthday party!

 

Letter painting

We even got Ga's birthday card in the mail ON her birthday!  This was the table she found when she came home from school.

 

Legal at Last...(almost)

An American tourist is welcome to come to Spain, rent a car, and drive around the country for the full three-month duration of a normal tourist visa without any documents other than a valid US driver's license and a passport.  This is obvious if you want to encourage tourism, of course, but maybe not the wisest decision from a road-safety standpoint.  Once you become a resident, however, you must obtain a Spanish driver's licence.  If it weren't such a lucrative business, I wouldn't have been so resistant; but honestly, it seemed to me much more a matter of money than safety, and so I've held out fourteen years on principal.  Some of you may think this was foolish, or risky and maybe it was.  A licence doesn't protect you from traffic accidents, but I never fully researched the legal/judicial implications of having an accident without a Spanish licence.  I have always had a valid US licence--even renewed it from here.  But now, fourteen years, 500 euros and two tests later, I am on my way to being a Spanish driver.  

This past Thursday was my practical driving test: the last hoop to jump through.  I passed. :)  I would say, with flying colors--my paralell parking has really improved!--but the examiner said I had the car in first gear too much and that at one point I failed to slow for an obstacle.  Still, a pass is a pass; I'll take it.  Now I've got to give two passport photos to the driving school for them to send in the paperwork to the "DMV" and then wait for my licence.  I will be issued a temporary permit until my actual licence comes, but that takes about a week, too.  

Everything has been very slow because of the pandemic.  My theory exam was pushed back two weeks from the original date and when I passed that in August, I was told the first practical exam wouldn't be until mid-September, which extended itself to mid-October!  Now I'll be sitting around waiting for paperwork.  

In the meantime, I have begun working in Estepa and must necessarily drive into town every day.  It is beginning to feel like I'm tempting fate (part of why I haven't posted about this before now!).  I am not generally superstitious, but all the same I couldn't help feeling like I was going to jinx myself.  At this point, I am feeling more confident (crosses fingers).  

Work is going well.  It is really nice not to bring anything home.  When I'm home, I'm home--what a difference from these past two years.  I am working in the afternoons, which does cut-back significantly on my time with Emily, but even so we have lunch every day together and I am with her for about an hour after we eat before needing to leave.  I get home for bedtime.  She's adjusted pretty well to the schedule.  Everything is so much more relaxed compared to the frantic pace of our time in Granada.  I am continually grateful we made this decision...even despite my scepticism regarding public school.

I'll save details of school for another post.   Emily is also slowly adjusting to this as well.  The 20/21 school-year is a huge change for everyone with all the new COVID protocol, but for Emily, of course, that's just magnifying her own difficulties transitioning into a new grade, new school, with new kids and new methodology.  After a month an a half, she finally confessed to me the other night that she's "starting to like school a little bit".  That's good enough for me at this point.  There have been a lot of tears over these past weeks when I leave her in the mornings, and at home it's been a constant litany of "...but I don't want to go to school", "I don't like school", "I miss you", "but you can teach me!"... and the list goes on.  This bedtime confession of hers is no small deal.  We are finally beginning to see light at the end of this tunnel. ;)

Shout out to Jazzercise

When I was small, about Emily's age, my mom began teaching jazzercise as part of an employee health program at the Forest Service District Office where my dad worked.  Some of you may not know this bit of my mother's employment history, but any of you who have seen her on the dance floor will not be surprised in the least!  Granted she has her own style, but also an undeniable sense of rhythm.  She is a born teacher and has always enjoyed physical exercise.  Creating choreographies to Madona, Paula Abdul and Diana Ross came natrually, I guess (or at least it seemed that way to six-year-old me).

Emily and I would often tag along to classes in the afternoons.  I'm not sure if we wanted to or if there was no one to leave us with...either way, we did enjoy ourselves.  We would curl up under stacked conference chairs against one wall with our crayons and paper, drawing and coloring as my mom lead the steps and shouted out instructions to her class over the loud, steady music. 

 At the end of the hour came my favorite part: relaxation cool down.  Mom would put on some relaxing music, everyone would lie down on the floor (Emily and I included), and she would walk us through some deep breathing and relaxation visualization.  To this day, I use this technique to help myself sleep when I'm tossing and turning, and talking Emily through some visualization at bedtime has now become a nighttime habbit.

I hadn't thought about my mom and her jazzy moves in quite a long time, and probably wouldn't have if I hadn't signed up for zumba classes in September.  Zumba is basically the 21st century name for Jazzercise!  The music is a lot more Reggeton and latin beat, but the idea is exactly the same: mixing dance and fittness.  

I am not a dancer, though I consider I have a pretty good sense of rhythm.  When things get too merengue-esque I just have to laugh because I'm the only one tripping over my feet instead of working up a sweat.  Still, though, it's great to get out and do something for ME for an hour.  It's great to work up a sweat and have sore muscles the next day.  It's great to laugh and feel a part of something.  

The woman who gives the classes is amazing.  I don't know how she can do it virtually non-stop for two consecutive classes and four days a week...but I guess it's her job.  She's up in front whistling and gesturing, occasionally shouting out encouragement or just whooping for fun.  It was watching her in class the other day, as we were grapevining and clapping to the beat, jumping and squatting and sweating, that I was reminded of my own ebullient mother leading her own classes at about my age.  

I burst out with a big smile and nearly lost the beat thinking back to those days in the conference room at the Klamath National Forest District Office. :)

I love you, Mom.

Jackpot!

 Yesterday I got a frantic phone call from my sister-in-law (she's fine and has the green light to be out and about now): something about the lottery...  I couldn't understand her through her excited shrieking and passed the phone to Angelines.  It turns out that the Association for Cancer here in La Roda sold a winning lotter ticket number for yesterday's drawing!  My sister-in-law is part of the association and sold many of the tickets herself--25,000 euros to each winning number!  It turns out, my mother-in-law bought a ticket with the intention of sharing with her children if she won--6,000 each!  It turns out that the number was sold exclusively here in La Roda.  2.5 MILLION euros have been spread among the residents.  Pretty amazing for a town of under 5,000, right?  Most people split the cost of the tickets with friends or family.  Few people won the complete 25,000 exclusively for themselves; but many many people got something. :)  We're all pretty excited.  You can imagine.  

Other news: Emily has lost her first tooth!  On the second day of school, she apparantly swallowed it while she was eating her mid-morning snack.  I am sorry we don't have it, but we assured her that "Ratoncito Pérez" would still come even without the physical tooth.  She left a very sweet little note and a bowl of cheese for the mouse (no Tooth Fairy here).  Sure enough, in the morning she had a little bag of chocolate coins in "exchange" for her tooth.  She was thrilled!

The start of school has been good.  Emily has been a little tearful in the mornings, but very bravely has gone in with little urging.  I am very proud--this is a huge change for her.  There is another little girl who is new to school and we have been getting together with her after school.  They are in separate classes but play together at recess.  Even though in first grade, they mix the kids up (they aren't with the same classes they've had in preschool), everyone else has the advantage of knowing each other.  I am happy that Emily can be a familiar face for this little girl, and of course that Em has someone guaranteed to play with.  She is pleased with her teacher and has come home saying they watch movies (oh dear!)...  I'm just glad that for now she's happy.  She's brought home stickers both days for good behaviour (not sure how I feel about the reward system) and one for reading quietly to herself (!). 

As far as I go, it's been a little strange to be home in the morning without Emily.  It has been really nice to just be a mom and not a teacher at my daughter's school.  Getting ready in the morning, I am just focused on her, and not worrying about getting myself together and set for the day.  Instead of going to school with her and heading into work, I came home at 9:10am Friday and took Norte for a long bike ride. :)  It was fantastic.  I am expecting word from the academy in Estepa this week.  I think it's most likely that I have afternoon classes, which will be a bummer on one hand because I won't be with Emily much, but then again we have weekends.  We'll just have to wait and see.  

For now, things are just great, especially with the little boost from the lottery. ;)

Last Days of "Freedom"

Thursday is the first day of school for in-class school for Emily.  We are making our way through the list of materials she needs, including her own little hygiene kit with hand sanitizer, and extra mask, wipeys and kleenex.  There is no sharing of materials allowed and I think it will be quite a taks to get every last pencil and crayon labled with her name.  Today was a meeting with parents to fill us in on the COVID protocol: separate entry points, separated (color-coded) toilets by grade-level, separated designated areas on the playground and specific times to use the toilets.  We are encouraged to take our child's temperature at home before school and the slightest sign of fever means staying home.  The same is true of other symptoms: cough, sneezing, diarrhea, etc.  And of course all elementary students are to wear masks 100% of the time.

I don't know how long school will last.  The posibility of going online is very real.  It seems that in most places where schools have already opened, many have been forced to shut down again after only a few weeks.  I am hopeful that we'll have at least two solid weeks of class before that may have to happen here though.  I really hope that Emily has a chance to bond with her teachers and classmates before they get sent online again, if that is what ends up happening.

The first grade teachers have split the subjects between them so that each has both groups at different times.  One teacher will give Natural and Social Scieneces and English, while the other gives Math and Language.  This way there are fewer teachers going in and out of classes.  Still, P.E., Music and Religion are taught by other teachers.  Emily's teacher is one that I worked with when I was an Auxiliar in La Roda, and used to be our neighbor when Angelines and I lived in the piso.  I like her very much and I am happy that Emily is in her class.  Besides, there are several friends in that class, so Em won't be enitrely alone in before she meets and makes friends with more of the children in class.

Because my brother-in-law is the school handy-man, we arranged to have a sneek peek of the school a week ago (once we'd got news of Emily's negative test results!).  She was very curious, and I think understandably nervous about her new school.  She wanted to know what her classroom looked like and what the playground was like, etc.  It was really wonderful that we had that possibility and I think it did a lot to make Emily feel a little more comfortable about starting school.  So far she has expressed only excitement and interest...we shall see what happens Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Some of my fears of her potential unpreparedness were assuaged at today's meeting, and so I am also feeling better about the start of school.  The teachers assured us that they would not be using their books for the first week and a half at least and that class would mostly be focused on social and emotional stability and group bonding.  As they put it, they'll be spending these frist weeks getting them out of "pre-school mode and into elementary".  I think that this is probably the case always, but I am sure that especially this year, all of the first graders are behind what is normally expected of them given the way last school year ended.

As a family we are also enjoying these last few days together.  It will be strange to have Emily in school again after so much time.  Last week we took one last camping trip to a nearby reservoir.  They had peddle-boats and paddle boards for rent.  We did both on separate days and had a nice time.  Thankfully the weather cooperated, too and it wasn't terribly hot.  

Summer's End

 Probably most of you know that Spain's experiencing a severe resurgence of COVID-19.  A little over two weeks ago the city decided to close the pool because of the rise of cases in a nearby town.  During that last week of the pool we found out that there were two positive cases in town.  I won't bore you with all the ins and outs, but the bottom line is that my sister-in-law has come up positive.  Emily usually spends weekend mornings with her tita while I'm cleaning at the bar.  Even though Emily hasn't had direct contact with her tita since August 9th, she has to get tested tomorrow.  She has shown no symptoms, but of course we all know that doesn't mean anything.  My mother-in-law is in the same boat as Emily: to be tested tomorrow.  I think we should know test results by the end of the week.  I do wish they could be faster!

Also in line with the latest COVID news is that I was called to substitue teach at the academy because there was a student who was positive.  Even though all the rest of her group and the teacher were negative, they are required by protocol to be isolated for two weeks.  So they were down a teacher.  This week will be week two.  It's been nice to be doing something (ie. working a bit) and it's about 10,000 times easier than my work in Granada.  I plan to have a more serious talk with my boss this week to find out just what I can expect in September so I can begin to look for work elsewhere if need be.

Earning a little extra money in these two weeks is nice because with the virus flare-up, the government continues to cut hours and enforce restrictions on bars.  We now must be closed at 1:00am and no drinks served passed 12:30.  For my American audience this may seem perfectly normal...but if you know anything about Spanish culture (especially in the hot Andalusian summers) you know that no one goes out before about 9:30-10:00pm and that's for dinner...  With closing time at 1:00, that only gives about 2 hours of conceiveable good business.  Needless to say, things are a lot slower this weekend than in the past few weeks.

September is nearly upon us. School is (theorhetically) around the corner.  I am nervous to see what the next few weeks hold for us.

So much...so little time

Well, I was just recapping where you all left me a little over a month ago: finishing school and first playdate since the beginning of March.  One and a half months later the whole panorama has changed. 

June 29 Angelines and I made the decision to leave Granada and stay full-time in La Roda.  There are a lot of nuances to the decision which I won't go into on this public forum, but suffice it to say there were many factors and it was not a decision made lightly.  At times, I am suddenly overwhelmed by this new reality and flooded with doubt as to whether or not we have chosen wisely.  Ultimately, however, the best decision is always the one you make...so here goes: jumping into small-town life all over again with both feet!

I am most concerned about school for Emily.  This year, by Spanish law she'll head into first grade, and I think the drastic contrast from self-directed, Montessori learning, to text books and homework will be rough at first.  I am confident that children adapt much more easily than we do, and I think that come October I'll be able to say that it's been tougher on me than on my daughter. (fingers crossed). 

Knowing that she's at a school where she is respected as a human being and allowed to follow her inner guide just as she is at home is something we will all miss; but when it comes down to it, a happy, supportive, loving home is worth 100 times any school.  There will be an adjustment period, I'm sure, but I am also confident that we'll come through this stronger as a family.

Emily was initially sad when we told her we were leaving Granada.  She immediately said she didn't want to leave her great teachers, but since breaking the news, she really hasn't said much else.  I am sure it is simmering and sinking in.  I know it will come up when we least expect it, but so far so good.  She is even happily telling people around town that she's going to be here this year and that she'll have a new school. The other day she asked what the classrooms in her new school were like, if the teacher would explain the rules to her and if her teacher would speak Spanish or English.  So she is processing, but for now there doesn't seem to be too much fear or resistance...only time will tell.

As for me, I am also processing still.  These past two years have been a struggle, but also incredibly rewarding.  It is a beautiful thing to work in an environment steeped in mutual respect, in which the children are really encouraged to be themselves and follow their interests.  It is humbling to see the ways in which they grow, blosom and flourish given the right conditions.  I will certatinly miss that.

I don't know what I'll do in the Fall.  I am planning to go back to private English classes from home (or perhaps via Zoom)as a last resort.  I have made contact with my ex-boss from the English academy in a town nearby, and she seems to be hopeful that business will pick up enough to need to hire someone in September.  I was very happy working with/for her and would gladly go back even if my heart is with Montessori.

On the other hand it does feel refreshing to be investing time and energy in our home here and know that we'll actually be able to enjoy it this year.  For the past two years La Roda has just been a place to sleep on weekends.  All the time and energy spent during confinement paiting and fixing things feels like it has a purpose now.  And it feels really good to organize and order things as we slowly reincorporate all of our stuff from La Zubia into our home here.  Many things are being tossed or donated, lightening the load is a big part of all of this--physically and metaphorically speaking.

Last week at the city pool (yes, it is open) on two separate days, a tiny bat landed on my things.  This has never happened before, and I think it quite odd as well because it was around one o'clock the fist day and at about eight pm the second.  The second occasion was admitedly closer to dusk and a more appropriate time for bats to be active, but there was still plenty of light.  Niether animal seemed sick or wounded and both flew away on their own relatively quickly.  I decided to look up the significance of bats and when they appear in dreams at least, this is what I found:

The Bat symbolism, in this case, is almost always putting you on notice of a significant change in your life. Explicitly, you must pay attention to the signs that are surrounding you. In this case, these clues could be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. The Bat meaning signifies the death of some part of you that no longer serves your higher calling.

I am not sure what to make of it still, but there can be no denying that the winds of change are blowing here in Eastern Seville.