It’s been a fun couple of weeks. We have had lots of visitors from home and Spain. Vance’s cousin and her family came to visit and brought us Peet’s coffee! Yay! Ate some excellent paella and the kids added some additional rooms to Kaia’s cardboard dollhouse (thank you Amazon delivery!). 

Then our friends, John and Kathy and their two kids, Louie and Kasha came to visit. We’ve had a fun time catching up and exploring Madrid together. Then, Andrea’s college roommate, who lives in Barcelona, came to visit and we all celebrated Andrea’s birthday together. 

Yesterday, two very unusual and exciting things happened. While walking home, we were inches away when two taxi drivers got into a full on fist fight with each other. One taxi driver was blocking traffic to board some passengers and the other taxi driver honked. Then the first taxi driver got out and started yelling at the second taxi driver. Then the second taxi driver slammed his door into the first taxi driver and then IT WAS ON! Full on brawl in the street. Jett walked right into it and was inches (ok, he says 10 feet) away from all the flying fists. Luckily nobody, not even the taxi drivers, were too hurt. The police showed up with their big batons and broke it up. Then later that same day, Vance went out with John and his friend for drinks and ended up at a disco. See? I told you. Highly unusual events! 

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Ok, I can’t say that people didn’t warn me about how late people in Spain stay up but I was not prepared for how different the schedule is here. When we were traveling in Galicia, we once had to run around frantically from one mythical restaurant to another that Google Maps claimed to be open at 7pm. But every place we went had the same answer, come back at 9pm when dinner service begins! 9 pm! What kind of craziness is that?

Well now that we are in our own place in Madrid, it’s slightly better because we can prepare our own meals and get the kids to bed at a reasonable time. But most places are still closed from 4pm to 8:30pm for siesta and then open up for dinner at around the time I’m usually ready to pull on my pj bottoms and plop on the couch with a glass of vino tinto.

Tonight we are going to a professor’s house for dinner. He was a Masters student at SFSU and wanted to welcome us and reminisce about the Bay Area. Mind you, it’s a Tuesday night. The kids have school tomorrow and everyone has to work in the morning. The time he wants us to arrive at his house? 8pm! Is this thing going to end before midnight? Well we are going to be troopers and do as the madrilenos do!

Also the kids started their extracurricular activities today. Here’s Kaia with her best buddy in their ballet outfits. I will say that to wonderful that the kids have their activities in the middle of the day! Jett made a buddy too and they pelted each other with acorns in Retiro Park this weekend. Those suckers hurt!

We took the metro to an amusement park in Madrid. It was strangely empty which meant Jett could ride the Tifun 4 times in a row without taking a break. Andrea rode it once and thought she was going to die. Vance got very nauseous on the teacup ride. The kids could not understand why their parents are so lame.

The kids miss Jing Jing so much. They talk about him everyday. So when we heard about a kitty cafe we had to go get our kitty fix. It was amazing! Like a real life Neko Atsume.

At last, the weather is starting to cool and that means that Madrid gets on with business. The kids started school today! Somehow, with the Spanish cutoff dates, Kaia skipped a grade and now in 1st grade. Whatevs, I’m calling it Kindergarten . They both look adorable in their uniforms. Kaia almost lost it over the suspenders on her skirt. They kept slipping off her shoulders. When we got to school, I realized they should be crossed across her back. All is good. It was chaos at drop off and they wouldn’t let parents past the lobby. Perhaps that’s for the best. Fingers crossed they have a good day!

After yet another morning spent in a government immigration office (progress at a snail’s pace) we decided it was time for vino blanco. Any time is a good time for wine

We moved into our beautiful new apartment this week. It is all newly renovated so everything is super beautiful and new. It’s been heavenly having a home again and AIR CONDITIONING!

Kitties, just a post about kitties

In our last few days in Galicia we found an awesome stretch of coastline with perfect waves for surfing. Both Jett and Kaia stood up on their boards! Jett declared it the best day of his life! We had so much fun that we went back the next day. Towards the end of our surfing session, Jett started screaming in pain. At first we thought he cut his foot on a rock, but it was so painful, we sought out help from a lifeguard. The lifeguard immediately started suctioning his foot and told us that it was a weeverfish sting. These fish a normally below the sand but can come out when it is low tide and impart a tell-tale sting of 3 puncture wounds from their 3 dorsal spines. Jett was in incredible pain even after the suctioning. We were told that he needed to soak his foot in hot water. We had to find a restaurant down the road and asked for a bucket of hot water. After soaking his foot for about 30 minutes the pain started to subside.

The next day, we headed back to Madrid via high-speed rail. It was very fun and relaxing. We are going to have to travel by train more. We got back to Madrid not feeling like we were traveling all day! Hopefully California will get on our highspeed rail soon!