Last week was Carnaval, the celebratory beginning of lent. Not a big event in our heathen household but a slightly bigger deal here in Spain, given the importance of Catholicism. The kids’ school celebrated with a party and costumes and a 4 day weekend. We didn’t really celebrate Halloween last fall because we were traveling so we put in a bit more of an effort for this. Kaia called it “Second Halloween” and dressed up like a witch, Jett had a werewolf mask.

Religion is a much bigger topic of conversation among the 6 year old set than back at home. Two of K’s friends are Christian and one is Muslim. They have been trying to convince her that God created humans and that evolution can’t be true. Well, at least Christians and Muslims agree on this one detail, sigh. The other day K was very frustrated and asked us, “What am I? Am I Christian? Am I Muslim? Am I Jesus???”

We tried explaining descent with modification to her but we’re not sure she is ready for Darwin. This whole God thing is much easier to explain…

Anyway, as with all long weekends, we took the opportunity to travel! This time we boarded yet another convenient and efficient high speed rail to the Costa del Sol and spent a couple days frolicking in the sun! We stayed at a British resort where everyone spoke English and appeared to be drunk. But the accommodations were comfortable and the apartment-hotel was bigger than our flat in Madrid and had a view of the sea. The water was still pretty frigid. Nobody else was in the water, to which our kids said: ‘pahshaw! Watch this scaredy cats!’

There were some friendly cats as well.

Gibraltar was a short drive away so we went there on our third day. It was pretty easy to park on the Spanish side and then walk across the boarder into this strange little territory that belongs to England. The cars suddenly drove on the other side of the street and tapas bars were replaced with pubs. It was all kind of surreal.

We took a very steep cable car up the sheer rock face of the mountain where Moors and British troops carved out tunnels and caves for defensive purposes. The views were spectacular. But the best part, and the primary reason we went, was MONKEYS! Macaques, to be exact. They were brought over a while ago and seem to live off tourist food. We saw one female grab a sandwich out of some British tourists’ hands and another one take a bright blue candy out of a squeamish girls hands (I think it was an airhead). The lesson is, do not eat candy around human-acclimatized macaques! We also saw one literally jump on a mans back to forcibly take stuff out of his backpack. This was not their first rodeo!

On our way out of town, we stopped into the charming town of Mijas that is up on the mountain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It used to be a small puebla and is now a popular spot for artists and tourists. The buildings are all painted a gleaming white and the streets are a maze of small alleys lined with souvenir shops and local goods. There were two competing businesses in the town square, a donkey cart and a horse-drawn carriage tour. We let the kids ride the bronze donkey instead.

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There’s a beautiful old church perched on the edge of a cliff as well. The story goes that in the 1500s some kids kept seeing a dove perched on the same rock every day. Eventually, they got their dad to dig under the rock where the bird sat and they found a statue of the Virgen de Pena so they carved out the rock and built a church there. It’s a bit far-fetched but the church is rather quaint!

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And of course, we petted the local kitties! What more could we want?

The weather is starting to get warmer with just a wisp of spring in the air. I think this is unusually early for Spain and another sign of the changing climate. But it did lead to a nice day trip to Cuenca, a historic town about an hour outside of Madrid. We took the high speed rail, the best form of travel as far as I am concerned (Californians! Get on it! Imagine riding from SF to LA in under 3 hours!). The kids read and watched a movie while Vance and I enjoyed our adult beverage in the cafe car. It’s never too early for a cerveza 🍻 in Spain!

Cuenca is built precariously atop sandstone cliffs and the buildings seem to melt into the rocks. A series of buildings extend quite a way over the cliffs and are referred to as the hanging houses. They have been renovated on the inside and house a free modern art museum. It’s a very cool concept. The kids moaned relentlessly at going into “another” museum but in the end, they enjoyed the views from the overhanging balconies that look out over the river valley.

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The best part of the day might have been the hike up the cliffs to get a better view of the town. Living in a big city without a car has made getting off the pavement difficult so it was nice to walk on some dirt trails. There were lots of stone spires and cliffs to scramble on as well as old Roman ruins to climb. Jett particularly liked walking along an old Roman ruin. Because when in a Roman aqueduct…

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I don’t know who this guy is, but apologies for the insensitive behavior of my kids.

Well it’s the year 4718 on the lunar calendar. Not as weighty as 2020 but still impressive. We were sad that we couldn’t spend it with our family, as is tradition so I decided to celebrate it by making my own dumplings 🥟 and having some friends over. The kids were also excited to receive their hong bao’s, or red envelopes. It didn’t quite work out that way since we all got the stinking flu and were shivering in bed the whole week leading up to then new year. We ended up canceling dinner with friends but luckily the dumplings were already made.

Knowing that it might take me a while to find all of the ingredients to make dumplings (chives or cebollino, sesame oil, also a thin rolling pin for the wrappers) I started early and froze the dumplings a week beforehand. I could literally feel the flu creeping up on me as I sealed the last one. I made a traditional Shandong dumpling of fish and chives. Then I turned my attention to the red envelopes. They were so hard to find! There are these stores in Spain that sell everything; kitchenware, yarn, stationary, hosiery, potting soil, everything! They are called hipers or Bazars and they are always operated by Chinese people. People here have an annoying habit of calling them “Chinese shops”. I find that racist so I call them Bazars. Because you wouldn’t call the bread shop the Spanish shop. Why? Because Spanish people do more than sell freaking bread! But I’m going off topic. The fact is these Bazars have almost anything you could want and there are 4 right by my house. Vance and I went to all four and none of them had red envelopes. What? How can that be? Three of said they just sold out. I was doubtful about that. I was starting to panic. Chinese New Year was just days away and where the heck was I supposed to find red envelopes?? Could I just make envelopes out of red paper? Could I color a regular envelope? Would that be bad luck? This was not a good way to start a new year! In a Hail Mary move, we went to lunch in a Chinese restaurant in another neighborhood. When I saw that the food was pretty authentic, I decided to ask the owner if she knew where I could find red envelopes. And she, angel that she was, just gave me some!!! Amazing! Of course, right after, Vance saw some in a grocery store. But it was an auspicious start. We had dumplings and red envelopes for the start of the Year of the rat 🐀 !

So, Gong xi fa cai! Which doesn’t mean Happy New year or anything. It means, I hope you get rich! Um… ok!

We just got back from a great trip into the mountains for some family ski time. The Pyrenees run along the border between Spain and France. We ended up in a mountain valley called Val D’Aran in Catalonia which has its own language and culture that is distinct from other regions of Spain. Driving there, we noticed a sudden change in the architecture once we crossed from one side of the border in Aragon to Catalonia. The houses all had slate roofs and had a French feel to them. The valley we stayed in is dotted with little tiny villages that sit at the bottom of the valley, below the snow line. In fact, the mountain range in this stretch of the mountain range was not that high, only about 2000 meters (or 6500 ft). The town we stayed in was called Garos and looked to only have a population of 100-200 people.

It hadn’t snowed in a couple of weeks so there wasn’t much snow and what was there was either man made or kind of icy, but that didn’t stop us from having a great time! Both kids had half day lessons each day and improved noticeably from the last time we went skiing.

We had two great days of skiing and at the end of the second day, we had to try the chicken broth drink that was on tap at all the bars. The bartender told us that Spaniards are very evolved in drinking this stuff. The kids were fans too.

But then that night, Kaia showed up at our bed in the middle of the night complaining of a hurting belly. What 10 years of parenting has taught me is you do not invite your kid into bed when they come to you in the middle of the night with an upset tummy. But, I was so tired. At least I put a garbage can by the bed before passing out again. And sure enough, a little while later, the yakking started. It seemed that everyone belly felt a little off. It must have been a stomach bug. Kaia and Vance stayed in for the last day of skiing while Jett forced me to ski more than I’ve ever skied in one day!

We also celebrated Tres Magos in Garos. The kids left their shoes by the heater at night and got some presents from the three kings! Wow! How did they find us all the way in the mountains??

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A bunch of photos didn’t upload properly in the last “Catching Up” post so check out the new photos!

With the holidays, things have been a bit busy. There has been a lot of traveling and exploring! The kids had a long weekend break at their school, a puente or bridge, so we took the opportunity to visit the ocean. Valencia is Spain’s third largest city and is situated right on the Mediterranean Sea. We stayed in the old fishing neighborhood and could walk to the beach. The water was too cold for everyone except our San Francisco kids.

We had a good tip on a good paella restaurant so we had to try it since paella was invented in Valencia. It did not disappoint. Look how big the pan was!

There’s also an impressive science museum in Valencia that dominated the landscape with its modern and animal inspired architecture. The kids spent all day there. Their favorite part of the museum? An old school marble exhibit showing how gravity works.

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Before we left to go back to Madrid we wandered into a local restaurant for breakfast where everyone was having half meter long sandwiches and coffee with brandy. Turns out their specialty was horse bocadillo. The kids were traumatized. We had the chicken.

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The kids’ school had a Christmas and Three Kings presentation. Three Kings day, January 6th, is actually a way bigger deal. The kids all sang and gave their letters to one of the three kings. One may have been in brown face 🤦🏻. But that’s someone else’s future political career in ruins.

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A few weeks later, we jetted off to Paris to meet our friends Shane and Deidra and their boys. Paris is cold in winter but utterly charming still. The last time Vance and I were here was way pre-children and about 18 years ago. We never made it to the Eiffel Tower before. But tourist trap or not, we decided to take the kids to see it. It was SO tall! And, pro-tip: if you walk up the first 690 steps to the elevator on the 2nd platform, there is no line to get to the top. The climb was exhilarating and the views increíble!

The metro worker strike meant it was harder to get around but we got to see a lot on foot and scooter. Notre dame was undergoing reconstruction but was still impressive And the Musee D’Orsay was a highlight as well.

And CREPES!

Then we returned to Madrid for Christmas. We have a tiny Christmas tree that Vance bought in Plaza Mayor, about a mile away. He had to carry it back and ended up stopping halfway back to rest and get a beer.

Some friends from San Francisco visited Madrid and celebrated Christmas Eve with us. One of the saddest parts about being in Spain for a year is Jett is missing his last year at his wonderful elementary school, West Portal. Our friends brought him a West Portal class of 2020 sweatshirt that has all of the 5th graders names on it. It was such a thoughtful gift. Jett, who is usually not very expressive verbally said that he was so grateful for it. 😭😭

We then took the train to Toledo for a day trip and the kids all got weaponized!

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It is now 2020. January 2nd, to be exact, and we are in the Pyrenees for a few days of skiing. We stopped in Zaragoza on the way here. It is a cool city that was originally built by the Romans and called Caesaragustus, named for the first emperor of the Roman emperor. The city then was under Islamic rule, and now Spanish. Check out this scene above where you can see the entrance of the Roman ruins on the right, a mosque in the background, and two Catholic Churches from two different eras in the front.

The town square was full of Christmas stuff including a walk through nativity scene and little covered carts that sold lottery tickets! So cute!

The lottery is a really big deal here. I’m not sure why. Instead of buying your own winning number combination, you purchase with a group of people from your community, like a bar, or school group. Everyone gets the same decima, or number, and if you win, you split the winnings with everyone that shares the number. So socialist, right? I bought a ticket with a group of parents from the kids’ school and we won! Only 100Euros, but a win is a win! Here are a couple of many ads for the lottery. They are pretty well done and emotional for those prone to tears (I’m not crying, you’re crying!): https://youtu.be/poMLvQeDCkQ and another one: https://youtu.be/73lWWeCzOdo

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We are now in a tiny village called Garos that is over the top charming and just a few minutes from the slopes.

And that’s the catch up!

Certain things are surprisingly different in Spain. Initially, one of the challenges was knowing where to go to buy essential items like toothpaste (Pharmacy) or bleach (still don’t really know). Or where to get things that we’ve never needed before like salt for the dishwasher. Does anyone else know about this? Apparently there’s a hole in the bottom of our dishwasher for salt?!? But one of the things that we have really been missing is home baked goods. At home, I can whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and fill the house with that caramel aroma in half an hour. But I have yet to find a source for good brown sugar. This hasn’t been a huge problem, just one of those small things that we miss. But with Kaia’s birthday coming up, I knew that I wanted to make her a birthday cake but it was so difficult finding all the different items. The hardest items to find were baking powder, powdered sugar, and good milk. I was wary of new items because of something that happened when we first got to Spain.

When we first traveling in Galicia in northern Spain, we rented a little Airbnb apartment in the small fishing town of Fisterra and because the restaurants open for dinner so late, we wanted to cook an earlier dinner at home. I planned to make stir fried noodles because I found some noodles in the store there. But I could not find any soy sauce or sesame oil so I thought I would make do with salt. I could not find the salt. Up and down the store, no salt. I finally found a tiny section with spices and thought, ‘Aha! there must be salt here.’ Hidden on a bottom shelf I found a bottle that said, ‘Sal’, success! So I cooked everything up and started to salt it. Tasting it, there was not much flavor, so I added more salt. We sat down to eat. But the lack of flavor was still pretty bad so we all started to sprinkle more salt on our plates, lots of it. Then I noticed that underneath the word ‘Sal,’ were the words ‘sodium bicarbonato’. Yes, I had been flavoring our dinner with baking soda, which I now know, has absolutely no flavor. Apparently, large amounts can be an irritant but luckily no one got sick.

So after the baking soda fiasco I was really careful to make sure I got the right items. After several weeks of sourcing everything, I finally found baking powder in one part of the grocery store, powdered sugar in another section of the grocery store (the sugar section), and vanilla extract in a whole other store. All the milk in the grocery store tastes like water though. A lot of it is the shelf stable variety which the kids won’t touch but even the refrigerated milk lacked flavor. So we also found a bakery a few blocks away with whole milk that tastes like it does at home and comes in a refillable glass bottle! hurray! And while not essential, I also found sprinkles for Kaia’s cake.

We had a nice party for Kaia last weekend with a couple of friends from school as well our friends David, Melinda, and Inigo’s families. Our little girl is 6 and really into headstands!

The kids had a long weekend for All Saint’s Day so we took the opportunity to pop over to Italy. Vance and I have always wanted to visit Venice and take the kids to see Rome. The airport in Venice is built right along the water so we walked along 4 long moving sidewalks to a busy dock with water taxis and a water bus service. We hopped on one just as it was ready to leave and zoomed off to Venice in the dark.

It’s a good thing that Jett started learning how to read Roman numerals just before our trip. It came in handy at many monuments in Italy.

Although Venice was utterly charming and beautiful, the food was pretty atrocious and expensive. So we zipped off in another water bus to go to Rome to get some really good food. We ate lots and lots of pizza and pasta…

Since it was a bank holiday, the crowds were huge. So we saw the roman forum, coliseum, and pantheon from outside. They were still impressive and it gave us more time to eat! We did convince the kids to go to one cathedral, St. Clement Basilisca. It’s a 14th century church built on top of a 3rd century church, built on top of a 1st century pagan temple. Three stories built on top of each other. They’ve excavated the bottom levels so you can walk back through centuries of history.

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Toledo is only a short and very easy 30 minute train ride away from Madrid. The train station is a 10 minute walk from our apartment so the whole thing was really easy. We went there yesterday with our friends, John and Kathy and their kids. Toledo is a charming old Spanish town with a long history and Christian, Jewish, and Islamic influences. The architecture was a distinct mixture of moorish and Spanish designs. The grand cathedral was amazing! Built in the Middle Ages, it took 200 years to complete. So maybe there is hope for our high speed railway in California? Anyways, the cathedral was impressive and contained columns pillaged from the former mosque that stood there. The crypt held the bones of Saint Ursula. Never heard her? She was a badass. She was a princess that lived around the year 400 AD. One day, she met Atilda the Hun and he was so taken with her beauty that he wanted her to renounce her religion and marry him. But when she refused him, he had her and her 80 or so maidens killed. I guess he couldn’t handle rejection. Now her bones are interred and on display in the Toledo cathedral! Crazy!

People here say that Madrid only has two seasons, summer and winter. And sure enough, one day we were all wearing tank tops and sandals and the next day, it got really cold. brrr!

We were headed out because we heard that there was going to be a parade of sheep through the middle of Madrid. This we had to see! It was one of the most delightfully unusual things we could have seen. There were thousands of sheep and goats parading down the Calle Mayor and through the busy Plaza del Sol. They were followed up by some cows pulling wagons. These were probably the biggest cows we have ever seen! Their eyes were covered and at one point they started veering straight into the kids! Yikes!

Then, the next day Vance’s aunt Sue came for a visit. We all went to our first flamenco show. We were right by the stage and got to experience the show in the most amazing way. It was so vibrant and passionate. The kids were transfixed; it had the perfect combination of beautiful clothes and vigorous stomping to hold both of their attention. After the opening act, Jett said “That was amazing!” Which is a lot for him. We’ll have to go again soon!

We got caught in a major downpour last night after dinner with David and Iñigo’s families