An Afternoon at the Beach

 Because we are only 40 minutes away from the beach we are trying to make sure we take the opportunities to go.  Today we loaded up the kids after school and took a little trip to the beach.  We are addicted!!!

A Cultural Celebration

This Sunday Chucena had a special Celebration for the 25th Anniversary of becoming part of an even bigger festival celebrated throughout the area.  Honestly I was not getting exactly what it was but it is a Catholic Pilgrimage that goes through Chucena and celebrating the Virgin Mary.  if you are interested in the particulars check out the wedsite.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romer%C3%ADa_de_El_Roc%C3%ADo

Miranda and I found some cute wrap around faux flamenco skirts and it was fun to be dressed up with everyone else.  These Ladies are a few of our friends here.
With our neighbors we helped decorate our own street for the celebration.

In the morning this man came down the street playing his drum and flute and calling everyone to Mass

There was a parade around town with the horses leading the way, followed by the officials and the a oxen drawn float.

Sadly Jackson got car sick on the way home from church so he missed going out to see all of this because he wanted to lay down.

We were able to meat even more people in town.  It is funny how there are lots of people in town that come up to us at these kind of events and introduce themselves telling us that they have wanted to meet us but not known how to.  Steven had a great time talking to these two gentlemen.

This is our neighbor that invited us over for a drink and it turned into her feeding us a 4 course meal.  They were wonderful and so fun to talk to.  Their oldest daughter is studying English so she was able to practice a little bit of English and translate for me as I spoke with her mom.  She gifted us a beautiful sketch of Jesus Christ.
As always the people here are wonderful.

 All the rest of the pictures are the preparations and work we did with the neighbors to get ready for the day and decorate the street.  It was fun!!!

Football (soccer) Pride

We went to our first futbol game her in Spain.  It was just a middle school soccer game but it was a little crazy.  Constant screaming fans firework smoke bombs, angry players, lot and lots of yellow and red cards, and a large crowd.  As we already knew the people here in Spain take their soccer seriously.

Stake Primary Activity

 Last weekend we had a Primary Activity.  The theme was Family History and the kids had a good time.  They got to scrub clothes with a washboard, and use a very heavy iron.
After that they did a cute little puppet show of family history stories that were submitted by the kids.  We submitted one from our history so even though it was in Spanish it was fun for the kids to have one for us.

It was a little funny because when we were first told about the activity it was scheduled for 5 hours.  What!!  A 5 hour activity.

We thought it was probably a typo but we were wrong.  After a few activities we had a full big meal and then a few more activities.  The Spaniards have a way of not hurrying with anything and they took their time.  Not in a horrible way just not in a hurry, it was 5 hours long.  

We had a good time and the kids really loved the puppets.

Do I Look Crazy to You? Don't Answer That!

Communication is an interesting thing.  As you know I don't speak a lot of Spanish and here in Spain I am surrounded by Spaniards that don't speak very much (mostly none) English.  Mostly this is great.  It is part of the reason that we chose to live in the small town of Chucena.  We didn't want to be surrounded by Spaniards that spoke English because if we did that I know that the children and I would use that as a crutch which would limit the amount of Spanish we would learn.

But. . .  This constant inability to communicate with the people that I come in contact with can also be a great source of insecurity and at times frustration.  I consider myself to be a very confident person.   I know who I am (A Daughter of God) and I receive a lot of confidence in that pure knowledge. I don't give much thought to what other people think about me, I just don't let it bother me.  But I also have hard days and rough moments like most of us  so I thought I would share a few.

Everyone has seen, or had, one of those moments in a grocery store with a naughty child.  I have had so many I should write a book.  But, when you are in a different country with a different culture those moments feel very different to me lately.  in the USA, Usually I make a funny comment to the people around me and we laugh it off together as a normal young child moment.  I know that people in American understand and most of them are not judging me (and if they are who really cares).  Here in Spain I have no idea what the people are thinking sometimes because I can't communicate with them and if I am having a bad day mentally it can cause my mind to think the worst.

The other day I went shopping with Kaden, around here it is weird to have kids at the store at all in the morning because they have free childcare from 4 months old and up (I get asked constantly why I don't have Kaden in it, but that is a post for another day)  Anyway,  when we were about ready to check out he picked up a bag a chips and walked right out the door, after walking away (stealing the chips) he set off down the street and walked for at least 30 yards, all the while turning around and laughing at me as I am calling him back (me trying my best not to get frustrated). When he got far enough to turn the corner so I could not see him anymore I had no choice but to chace.  I left everything in the store and ran after him.  Thankfully he stopped when he turned the corner but I was pretty embarrassed as I drug him back to the store and then paid for the bag of chips that my child just stole from the store.

Honestly, normally I would probably be able to laugh this kind of situation off but as I mentioned I was in an ornery place mentally that day already and all of the sudden I am feeling like everyone is looking at my like I am crazy or stupid.  I can't really say anything to them to turn it into a joke all I could do was try and laugh it off and leave.  It was a rough moment feeling dumb and embarrassed and caring what the people around me were thinking about me (sometimes I think I am representing every American person to the people here).

I came home and tried to brush it off. but then that same day another horrible situation came about and all the feeling came flying back.

So. . . After school Jacob went to go play at the local soccer field and 30 minutes later he came running back to the house saying that his friend, and our next door neighbor who is 13 "punched him in the face and beat him up"   What!!!!!!  Steven and I tried to calmly walk over to the field and see what actually happened.  (I was fuming by the way and had to leave while Steven was talking because I was not holding my emotions together very well)  Steven had a good conversation with the boys (surrounded by probably 20 other children)  and found out that what really happened was a huge misunderstanding and miscommunication.   Both boys got a little heated with the game, they each started speaking louder, and it was a he said he said from how it escalated from there.  Steven handled it beautifully by the way and the boys are now great friend again. 

The point being to all of this 

first:  It was a hard day of feeling crazy and lonely and frustrated about not really being able to communicate

second:  Don't jump to thinking people are thinking bad about you.

Last but not least:  It was one day and it has all gotten better from there.  People really are mostly amazing and wonderful. 

We still love it here even when we have days like this.

Smoking

I have found that in the USA smoking has now become something that is not acceptable in public.  Sure there are still a large number of people that smoke (14% in the USA) but at least for me I don't see it in public very often.
I was a little shocked to see how prevalent smoking is in the cultural here is Spain.
The picture to the left is a group of teachers at the elementary school that get together and have smoke right before school starts,  I have seen them out during the recess hours doing the same thing.  The people often stand around and smoke.  It is a prevalent part of the culture that I have seen.
So I asked about it...
The person I asked is the Principal of the school, we have become good friends, she does smoke, but I knew I could ask her without her getting offended.

She told me that back in 2006 Spain passed strict new laws about smoking in public places and other laws that sounded similar to the kind we have in the US.  For about 4 or 5 years she noticed a large drop in the amount of people she saw smoking  (she was not smoking at the time, she quit for 7 years and then started back up again when she served as the Mayor of Chucena because of the Stress)
After a few years the old habits started coming back and the laws were not really enforced so it all became part of the everyday life again.  In some circles they stand around and smoke and offer each other a cigarette etc so it can be hard to stay away from.  For the most part they still seem to not smoke inside at all but I still find it rather strange.  According to the stats I looked up 28% of Spaniards smoke.

15 Years In Love!!!

Today we celebrated our 15 Year Anniversary!!!  I feel very lucky to have this wonderful man by my side.
Each Anniversary we like to take the time to look back on the years we have been together.  In our early years we counted how many times we had moved, how many children we had, how many states we lived in etc.
This 15th year of our marriage finds us on a special adventure and we our lucky enough to be counting the number of counties he has taken me to.
Even without all the amazing travel I am so glad that I get to be with him,  He really is the most wonderful husband and father.  Happy Anniversary To Us!!!!

Carnival

This last week the kids celebrated carnival at school.  They had so much fun dressing up and they each got to waltz down a runway to clapping and cheering.

It was a fun day!

Cordoba

There is so much History in Cordoba I am not sure where to begin.  Most of our day was spent among the Muslim Ruins and Elaborate Creations of the Moorish people so I will focus on that.  We first visited the ancient City of Medina Azahara.  This is the city of the most powerful Moorish Ruler Abd Ar Raman 3rd had built for himself in 940ad.  It showed his great power and in its hay day it was beautiful with grand court yards, huge arches, and a system of terraces on the hill to place him at the very top.

The museum did a great job of presenting it to us with a movie that brought it to life for the kids. That always helps to make it more fun and relatable and to imagine what life would have been like living there.

After visiting the ruins of the Moorish City we went into the City of Cordoba to see the sights.

We only had a short period of time  to see Cordoba so we began at one of my favorite Cathedrals that for me really is a Masque.  It was originally a Masque that was added onto many times over the years to become bigger and more grand.  It really is so beautiful inside and it is hard to explain.  I explained it to the kids by telling them that for me it looked like candy land inside.
When the Christians took over the land they converted the building into a cathedral but thankfully kept much of the original structure intact to see.  It is one of my favorite buildings.

Cordoba is also just a fun city to walk around and see the sight.  They have an ancient roman built bridge, beautiful walkways and roads, plazas, and just a picture perfect feel about it.
We did get a quick picture of the family helping push the stroller up a hill.  Sometimes it gets a little heavy and we all help out.