And so this is Christmas...

This year has been topsy turvy for all of us.  Christmas time just makes it blaringly obvious all over again.  Honestly though, things are a little more "normal" around here than for some people now that the government has loosened restrictions a little bit and the bar can be open until 10:30pm.  Of course, at Chistmas that's ridiculously early...but we are happy and relieved that we have a few more hours to do business.  In an attempt to save some money, I am on-call for Angelines to help out (except for Christmas Eve and probably New Year's Eve either).  

Yesterday I spent cooking from about 3pm on.  It was a little like a mini Thanksgiving.  Every year for Christmas Eve my mother-in-law comes over and the three of us (Emily usually passes out before mama gets home from the bar) have a nice quiet dinner together.  In that respect, this year was completely normal.  We didn't make my mother-in-law eat in the garage, we weren't wearing masks.  We see her often enough that it would be silly, honestly.  Yes, Angelines is working now, but that doesn't actually put her in close contact with people and she wears a mask (as does everyone else) so we felt it was okay.  Most importantly, my mother-in-law felt comfortable with it and I think we were all happy to be able to carry on with our Christmas Eve tradition--Emily most of all.

She had her abuelita all to herself all evening and was thrilled.  I think abuelita thought she was being unhelpful, but of course, just keeping Emily occupied and allowing me to carry on in the kitchen was the most helpful thing she could have done!  They played games, danced, abuela gave her a shower (Emily refused otherwise!).  It was a fun-filled evening and Emily reluctantly went to sleep at about 10pm.  She really wanted to catch Santa, but... ;)

For dinner I made my first ever stuffed pork loin.  It came out quite well, if I do say so myself.  When I asked Emily if it was good (she ate before we did), she said, "No, mommy.  It's DELICIOUS!"  So that was pretty high praise, I thought, even though Em really isn't a very picky eater.  It was very tasty, although because I couldn't forsee Angelines's arrival time, and when she got here we were just hungry, our meal was luke warm at best.  Still, it was yummy and so we enjoyed our leisurely meal and chatted until close to midnight.

When abuelita had gone home, Santa had to get busy.  If you remember last year there was a slip up and Emily discovered her present ahead of time because I thought I was so clever assembling before Christmas Eve.  Not this year.  We weren't going to risk it again, so last night we busted out the screwdrivers and wrapping paper and got down to it.  I was terrified Emily was going to wake up and catch us!

This year Santa brought a beautiful puppet theatre with hand puppets.  She also got a few books and a new watch.  Santa left a few things at her tita's house, too and so Emily got a huge box of 80 markers and a new scooter to top off the morning.  She was pretty excited.  We got to open our stocking with my parents on a video call at about 11pm PST and later this evening we got to be a part of their Christmas morning, too.  I guess having video call gift-opening is something we've been a little ahead of the curve on. ;)

This year, however, was the first year that Emily was really interested in watching my family in the States open their presents.  At first, Emily started to moan about wanting more presents, but once we got on the video call, she was rapt watching how they all took turns opening and admiring each other's gifts.  Finally, as the evening wore on she whispered to me, "Mommy, will you wrap my presents back up so I can open them again?"  How could I resist??  Fortunately, I did have enough wrapping paper (not my mother's daughter in that department!).  So I re-wrapped a few of her presents and she got to have a turn for about three rounds of gift opening.  It was adorable how much she wanted to be a part of it all and I thought it was quite an ingenious solution to ask me to re-wrap the gifts, most kids would probably throw a fit or just get sad and mopy about not having more presents.  She is a Christmas kid, through and through.

It's been a wonderful day.  I feel so grateful for living where I do; for a job that gives me the same holidays as my daughter; a wife who works so hard in the time she's given and for my most amazing little girl with whom to share this magical holiday.  I am so happy, too, that Angelines wasn't too worn out to participate in the fun of preparing for and partaking of Christmas morning.  This year is all about taking stock of what's truly important.  We aren't making the money we usually do this time of year, but I am certain that I am one of the wealthiest women on the planet.

Merry, merry Christmas to you all.

(...and to all a good night!)

The face paint was also a Christmas gift. ;)

Happy, happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm only a little late...We celebrated, as always, the Saturday after Thanksgiving since Thursday obviously is not a holiday in Spain.  So this post is just under a week late. ;)  Not bad.

This year is a strange year (understatment of the century!), but I'm sure now that Thanksgiving has passed you'll all agree with me that it is so anti-natural to have to think about distancing and masking and quarantining or just flat out NOT celebrating with the people you love.  

About a month ago I warned Angelines that whatever the situation of the pandemic, we would be eating turkey and celebrating Thanksgiving...even if it was just the three of us.  In my mind, I had decided to make up little Thanksgiving day baskets of food to leave at my friends' doors and we could maybe zoom for a bit to toast.  The week before Thanksgiving I was talking with a friend about it and she reminded me that the current restrictions allow for gatherings of up to six people, so why not invite a few friends.  One good friend who always attends Thanksgiving lost his father just two weeks before and I wasn't sure he would feel up to getting together to celebrate.  Another good friend lives with her elderly and diabetic mother and I thought maybe she would be concerned about coming over to the house.  But in the end, I thought I might as well ask, worst case scenario, they would say no and I'd take them a basket of turkey and pumpkin pie anyway.

I decided to call my friend who lost his father first.  When I asked if he thought he and his partner would be up to coming to celebrate his answer made me cry: it's not about what I feel up to, it's actually something I need.  Now, more than ever, I need to be with the people I love and the people who love me.  Of course we'll be there.  I was in tears on the phone.  My friend who lives with her mother also accepted the invitation immediately.  And really, except for Emily, who is in school, and I guess myself, teaching in Estepa, none of us have really been socializing or seeing anyone.  So it was relatively safe.

When I hung up that morning I was overwhelmed by grattitude.  I was so grateful that I could offer this "excuse", or perhaps opportunity is the better word, for us to all get together and soak up the love and friendship that we are all starved for lately.  I was so happy and so proud that the most beautiful of American traditions has also really become a tradition here in La Roda; that my friends are all so willing and excited to partake and share with me in my traditions turned theirs; and above all that I could do this for them.

This year was the first year in 14 years of celebrating that Angelines wouldn't have to rush off after "dinner" (actually lunch) to open the bar.  It was also the first year that I didn't have to clean the bar the morning of our celebration while the turkey was cooking in the oven.  For the first time, Angelines and I could prepare together, cleaning, washing dishes, setting the table.  Everything was ready and set before our guests arrived...I think this is a first, too!

Emily helped too, of course.  First thing she said in the morning (her eyes popped open at 6:50am) was, when can we go put the oil on the turkey??  She LOVES Thanksgiving and was especially excited this year to have our friends come: "I haven't seen them in so long!"  It warmed my heart to see how much she loves our friends.  She made each of them a little present and was in her element as the center of attention throughout our feast. 

Our Thanksgiving menu has become it's own tradition.  We don't usually get too creative when it comes to the food prep because we all love the food we've always made.  My pinenut-raisin stuffing is a classic at this point, a friend always brings the mashed potatoes (amazingly good!), another brings a gorgeous green salad.  We always have some kind of cooked veggie, too.  This year, I asked Angelines to make her grilled mixed vegetables--soooo good!  Then of course we have turkey, gravey, cranberry chutney and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  We did branch out this year with the desserts: in honor of my good friend Adam, we made tapioca pudding (a tradition he shared with us when we celebrated together 13 years ago).  It was delicious!  I made it with coconut milk rather than cream...and it was fabulous. 

Even amidst the strangeness of having to limit our invitations and worrying about things like having windows open despite the cold, this was one of my very favorite Thanksgiving celebrations ever.  We were so starved for each other's company that we didn't even really eat turkey, but just feasted on stories, laugher, friendship and love...really what Thanksgiving is all about. 

Sunday Escape

COVID-19 may be ruining the economy and collapsing the health system, but I'm not complaining about having Angelines at home 100% over the weekend.  We were able to spend Saturday and Sunday as a family--such a gift.  No late nights at the bar, which translate into late mornings for Angelines; no bar to clean for Emily and me.  We were all up together and had pancakes for breakfast, walked the dog, did chores around the house that we couldn't get to during the week...  It was fantastic.

Sunday was especially great.  We are confined to our towns under these new restrictions, but technically the sierra out of town where we celebrated our wedding is still city property so...  After a long walk on the converted train track with Norte in the morning, we came home and quickly threw everything together to make migas in the countryside.  With the car loaded, we picked up my mother-in-law and headed out.

It was the perfect day: no wind, just a light breeze and sunny cloudless skies.  It was actually downright hot in the sun.  Emily even ended up taking off her shirt at one point.  We set up "camp" and spent about five hours cooking, eating, exploring and just enjoying each other.  Laughing in the fresh air, seems to me to be about the best remedy for all the craziness going on around us.  

This weekend, weather permitting, we are going to spend another day up in the sierra, :)

Migas: fried bread with chorizo, morcilla, potato and garlic.  It's eaten with pommegranet and other juicy fruit (grapes, melon or orange).

Abuelita rocking her baby.

On our morning walk with Norte. :)

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. ;)