Hola from Spain!!  The girls and I arrived in Barcelona safely and on time on Friday Nov 19th.  Our flight left Victoria on Thursday at 2:00pm and although there was lots of emotion we were mostly ready to start our adventure.  Our traveling could not have gone better and the girls were wonderful.  On the long flight from Vancouver to Frankfurt we had three of the four middle seats but the lady who checked us in moved the man somewhere else so we had the whole middle section to ourselves.  Tessa thought Lufthansa was just ´wonderful´ - they had the best food and nicest attendants and weren’t we fortunate.  I really appreciate when she is so affable and pleased with everything.  Tessa ended up sleeping for about 2.5 hours but Grace did not sleep a wink.  This proved challenging when we transferred in Frankfurt because it was the middle of the night our time and she was beyond exhausted.  Again good things happened and we got put in a special security line that took 10 mins instead of 45mins!!!  Walking through the airport was long and tiring but with encouragement the girls hung in there and once we were at our gate for Barcelona Grace fell fast asleep.  She was basically unconscious walking onto the plane and didn´t wake until we landed at 3:15pm (6:15am Victoria time) in Barcelona.

Our luggage arrived with us and as soon as we walked out the doors Anatolijus was waiting expectantly with a big smile.  Our luggage was the last off the plane so he was getting worried as we were one of the last to emerge.  After lots of hugs and happy hellos we headed to the car park and started the last part of our journey, the 2.5 hour drive to Zaragoza.   Aside from Tessa throwing up (oh yes, she threw up on my lap during the last 30mins of our flight to Barcelona, she was fine and I was damp and smelled sour) and the drive feeling long we arrived in good shape.  When we walked into our apartment we were so happy to see a couch, coffee table, arm chairs, and a dining room table and chairs.  Anatolijus had gotten approval to rent furniture until our container arrives so we have no complaints as our biggest concern was this ín-between´ time which is now taken care of.  Tessa thought the apartment was beautiful and wonderful and Grace was quite unhappy saying, ´It is so empty and nothing what I expected¨.  In the morning with the sun shining in we all had a new perspective and Grace felt much better. 

The first week has been the girls and I adjusting to the time zone and being at home, walking to the grocery store and finding parks to play in.  It has felt strange not having access to any communication -  we don´t have a phone yet or internet or TV or radio.  At the same time the girls have played wonderfully together using their imagination and big pieces of cardboard and this únplugging´was something I was also looking forward to.  So we are safe and comfortable while also quite isolated so pangs of missing home and friends have certainly come.

Our next big thing is school – we have decided not to go to the private schools but have been accepted into a semi-private school run by the Jesuits.  It is considered one of the best schools in the city and people cannot believe they have found space for both the girls.  The other amazing thing is it is a 20 min walk from our apartment so my hopes of adopting the European lifestyle of walking most places is coming true.  Tomorrow we have a meeting at 11:30am with the teachers and then the girls can most likely start on Tuesday.  Grace is a bit nervous but mostly excited and Tessa has informed me she is not going to go to school.  The biggest relief to me is that the schedule of the school is 9-12pm and then I pick them up and take them home for lunch and then they return to school from 2:30-5pm.  It will be very different for us, however my biggest concern with the private schools was that both girls were to go from 9-5pm without seeing me and I didn’t think they could handle it.  I feel much better about this and the teachers we met briefly on Thursday could not have been warmer and kinder (good for a mother’s heart).

This weekend we took the girls to the old town and had café con leche and pastries at a beautiful café, we also went to IKEA with about 3,000 other people.  Today we visited an amazing aquarium that recreates the marine life of the Nile, Amazon, Mekong and Ebro rivers.  I have never been so close to a live crocodile in my life and the huge tanks of exotic fish were very interesting.  So we are getting to know our new city, it feels safe and clean and filled with families and young children.  We definitely need to now focus on learning Spanish so we can participate and get to know people.  We are feeling very blessed and quite surprised that we are actually here! 

We would love to hear news of you, Anatolijus just got internet for his laptop so in the evenings and weekends I can now access email.  We hope this finds you all well.  Cathy and Anatolijus

Family coming! Family coming!

Yes, only 4 days left until Cathy and the girls land in Spain, cant wait.  

Tomorrow I am finally moving into our new apartment (they call it a duplex here, because it is on 2 floors).  This weekend I was finally able to go and contribute to Spanish economy by buying a bed (at IKEA) and a few misc things for us to use while waiting for our things to arrive in a container in December.

Family is arriving in Barcelona on Friday, then we take a fast train to Zaragoza, which takes about 1.5 hours.  The girls will love the train: it is very new and very fast.  And then: to our new home.

On the weekend, depending on the jet lag and tiredness, we may do a bit of exploring of the city and just hang out, hug and cook our first meal (or go out if we are too tired to cook).

By the way, the bed I just bought is the one for the guest room: even before our stuff is here we are already all good to go for the visitors (wink, wink).

Ok, time to go iron some shirts for work tomorrow (did you know I can now iron and do laundry?

Canada in your pocket...

While I have been working most of my spare time, there are a couple of new experiences I am happy to share.  Here is one of them.  

Police.  Or Policia Zaragoza.  The other night I was driving home and turned left off the main street to my hotel.  Just as I stopped in front of the underground parking gates of my hotel, a little police car pulled up behind with their lights flashing.  Was I speeding?  Did I cut someone off? Did I make a wrong turn?

The policeman spoke quite good English once I told him I did not speak castelliano (Spanish' that is).  He asked me where I was from.  Once I told him I was from Canada you would have thought the guy was a friend of mine from long time ago.  He wanted to tell me that he heard lots of good things about Canada and one day he would like to go there.  I told him I was from the west coast, Victoria, which just made him so much happier.  Of course, being a polite tourist-like entity I am, I had to remind him that he does live in a very nice country, with lots of neat history, excellent food and cheap wine.  He was still quite keen on visiting Canada, to which I had to remain encouraging and very pleased of his enthusiasm (I do already miss the greenery in Victoria, not the rain, yet).

In the end, after asking me a few more questions, he suggested an alternative way to turn to the hotel driveway and drove off with his cop-partner.

Conclusion: Spanish cops are much more forgiving and less materialistic than my Lithuanian cop friends.  On my last trip to Lithuania just over a month ago I did have to volunteer some hard-earned cash in exchange for a friendly conversation about new Lithuanian traffic signal rules.  I suppose Lithuania is further east and less people know about a country called Canada.