They came out smiling!!!! Yeah YEAH Yeah! The little one didn't have much of a clue about what had been going on, but nonetheless was smiling and playing with another child. The elder one came out with a big grin, and stayed content.
They were happy over lunch, and very loud. The eldest felt compelled to lie head down hanging out of an armchair and shout revolutionary history at me. We started at the French revolution, moved through the American, on and on through the Russian revolution, the Hungarian, the Velvet..... Meanwhile the youngest was amusing herself by sitting on my prone body and shouting, "Hola! Bon Dia!" into my face at about 3 second intervals. Very joyous, but very loud. The little one however did not want to go back to school. At all. Thought two drop offs a day might be a problem.
The husband seemes to be holding up as well.
I am going for a nap. Right now.
So far, so good.
Monday, January 8, 2007
First day of school, and first day back at work Part 1
Well, the husband got off to work, he seems to have slept well. I didn't and every time I was awake, he was snoring, so that is good. The girls got off reasonably willingly this morning, nothing like a well timed bribe. Told them that if they got out the door in time, I would get them a chocolate croissant at the bakery on the way to school. Worked!
The older one looked like she was trying hard not to cry when I left her. She was in the playground and was worried about finding her class. Well, that was her most immediate worry. I hooked her up with a bunch of girls in her grade who she knows from the jazz class they were doing. She looked marginally cheerier. It is harder on her, because so much of what grade five girls do is stand around and talk, and she can't. She isn't very sporty so that isn't such and option.
Went into the class with the younger one. Got her a hook, and a desk, the teacher asked her which of the girls she knew from jazz, and she pointed some out, and she sat my daughter with them. Bless her. We managed to figure out what was going to happen today, and she will give me a copy of the schedule for them. Left her having her neighbour playing with her hair, and smiling a bit. She has to go out to gym. They go to the community center for it and walk right by the house. Two of the girls in her grade live on our street, which will be marvelous once she can talk to them.
I didn't well up until I left.
To boot, they don't have any of the school books they need, as they weren't available. I managed to tell the English teacher this before I left, so the teachers know.
Hope they're doing OK. They come home for lunch for two hours. Dropping them off the second time may be worse or better depending on how the morning went.
My shoulders are about as high as my ears. Weird how we carry tension in our bodies like that.
The older one looked like she was trying hard not to cry when I left her. She was in the playground and was worried about finding her class. Well, that was her most immediate worry. I hooked her up with a bunch of girls in her grade who she knows from the jazz class they were doing. She looked marginally cheerier. It is harder on her, because so much of what grade five girls do is stand around and talk, and she can't. She isn't very sporty so that isn't such and option.
Went into the class with the younger one. Got her a hook, and a desk, the teacher asked her which of the girls she knew from jazz, and she pointed some out, and she sat my daughter with them. Bless her. We managed to figure out what was going to happen today, and she will give me a copy of the schedule for them. Left her having her neighbour playing with her hair, and smiling a bit. She has to go out to gym. They go to the community center for it and walk right by the house. Two of the girls in her grade live on our street, which will be marvelous once she can talk to them.
I didn't well up until I left.
To boot, they don't have any of the school books they need, as they weren't available. I managed to tell the English teacher this before I left, so the teachers know.
Hope they're doing OK. They come home for lunch for two hours. Dropping them off the second time may be worse or better depending on how the morning went.
My shoulders are about as high as my ears. Weird how we carry tension in our bodies like that.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
An emotional day, Bahamas pics, my father in law
Well, it has been a very emotional day all around. My husband has been pretty quiet on the whole. A fair number of teary calls to Canada, the kids have been upset, and are also pretty worked up about starting school tomorrow on top of everything else. On the whole, the family is a little touchy. Pretty much everything is setting off the youngest daughter, the elder is holding steadier, although she is having trouble going to sleep for the third night running. The double hit of her grandfather dying and starting school is taking a toll.
The Polly Pocket's went bungy jumping today, and they scared a neighbour's dog! Walked in the hills again, so lovely and warm. Someone was burning leaves, I love that smell. I know, it's full of all sorts of different toxins, but it does smell great.
Then we made ourselves homesick watching these videos of sailing in the Bahamas. They are made by a friend of ours, and we can actually see my husband in one pic of the traditional racing yachts. You've got to know where to look though. If you've got the time, these are slide shows of friends of ours, and we have been to many of the places they have featured. It also gives a nice feel for what the water and the sea are like. I particularily love the photos of the sea..it is the most ethereal blue....I love it and miss it so much. The video's are here, and here ,and finally here.
Lots of heavy sighs all around. I also am developing a sore throat and I have a muscle in my back that won't quit hurting. Like it is all cramped up. The joys of stress. I am supposed to try to set up a job interview tomorrow. I am worried about my husband, sad about my in laws, and my sisters in law who are so worn out, and who have done so much and continue to do so much, and uptight and worried about my kids. There ya go. Sometimes things suck, even when your living the dream.
My father in law, like my mother in law, lived through the Spanish civil war, which was by all counts absolutely brutal. He was in the Spanish Marines during World War II, which the Spanish didn't join. He was stationed in Majorca, so it cannot have been all a hardship. I am told that the Spanish marines had a swimming course. They marched everyone down to a pier at the sea, and asked who could swim. Everyone who could were told to jump in. Then all the non-swimmers were all forced to jump in too. I guess the idea was that the swimmers who hadn't been injured by the falling non-swimmers could save them. Fortunately, my Father in Law was one of the ones who could swim. Seems a harsh system.
He and my Mother in Law moved to Canada with at three year old, an 18 month old, and my husband's Mom was 6 month's pregnant. They didn't have a job lined up, and all they knew of Canada was from the movie Rosalie - which I understand involved axes, trees and a lot of snow. Montreal was a darn site better than that fortunately. They did well, they both are fluent in 4 languages and are interested in the world, and music and books and mathematics, and history and science.... He painted quite a bit and quite well, and had his own quirks... the most noticeable being his complete unwillingness to eat ANY fruit or vegetables in ANY form EVER. Well, he is rumoured to have drunk orange juice sometimes, and he would eat red sauce on pasta. Must have driven his wife nuts.
His daughters probably know lots of good stories about him that I don't. My husband summed it up though. He was a good man.
The Polly Pocket's went bungy jumping today, and they scared a neighbour's dog! Walked in the hills again, so lovely and warm. Someone was burning leaves, I love that smell. I know, it's full of all sorts of different toxins, but it does smell great.
Then we made ourselves homesick watching these videos of sailing in the Bahamas. They are made by a friend of ours, and we can actually see my husband in one pic of the traditional racing yachts. You've got to know where to look though. If you've got the time, these are slide shows of friends of ours, and we have been to many of the places they have featured. It also gives a nice feel for what the water and the sea are like. I particularily love the photos of the sea..it is the most ethereal blue....I love it and miss it so much. The video's are here, and here ,and finally here.
Lots of heavy sighs all around. I also am developing a sore throat and I have a muscle in my back that won't quit hurting. Like it is all cramped up. The joys of stress. I am supposed to try to set up a job interview tomorrow. I am worried about my husband, sad about my in laws, and my sisters in law who are so worn out, and who have done so much and continue to do so much, and uptight and worried about my kids. There ya go. Sometimes things suck, even when your living the dream.
My father in law, like my mother in law, lived through the Spanish civil war, which was by all counts absolutely brutal. He was in the Spanish Marines during World War II, which the Spanish didn't join. He was stationed in Majorca, so it cannot have been all a hardship. I am told that the Spanish marines had a swimming course. They marched everyone down to a pier at the sea, and asked who could swim. Everyone who could were told to jump in. Then all the non-swimmers were all forced to jump in too. I guess the idea was that the swimmers who hadn't been injured by the falling non-swimmers could save them. Fortunately, my Father in Law was one of the ones who could swim. Seems a harsh system.
He and my Mother in Law moved to Canada with at three year old, an 18 month old, and my husband's Mom was 6 month's pregnant. They didn't have a job lined up, and all they knew of Canada was from the movie Rosalie - which I understand involved axes, trees and a lot of snow. Montreal was a darn site better than that fortunately. They did well, they both are fluent in 4 languages and are interested in the world, and music and books and mathematics, and history and science.... He painted quite a bit and quite well, and had his own quirks... the most noticeable being his complete unwillingness to eat ANY fruit or vegetables in ANY form EVER. Well, he is rumoured to have drunk orange juice sometimes, and he would eat red sauce on pasta. Must have driven his wife nuts.
His daughters probably know lots of good stories about him that I don't. My husband summed it up though. He was a good man.
My husband's father died last night.
My father in law died last night. It was not entirely unexpected, but still. Well. Anyway. My husband is doing reasonably well. Rather a grim day. He was not in any pain and was not conscious. One of my husband's sisters was with him at the end.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Diversity, pitching Polly off the porch, and the husband's father is gravely ill
In ecological systems, the strongest and most vibrant communities are the most diverse. They can withstand many insults and dangers, pests and pestilence. The greater the variety, the stronger and richer the community, and the better it's chance at survival, and better it's chance to flourish.
The same holds true for individual species, one of the great problems with animals that have escaped extinction is that their survival remains compromised for hundreds of years. The reduction of the genetic diversity to a few members weakens every future member of the group. They are permanently vulnerable to disease, and are much reduced in their ability to adapt.
This is also part of the reason that fringe members of a species are so important, they tend to hold greater diversity in their beings in order to cope with the marginal conditions in which they dwell.
Why is it then, that we as humans do not easily, or do not at all welcome and support diversity. We are animals, but our greatest tool for adaptation is cultural and social. If we reduce our diversity down to a Sylvester Stallone, Coca-cola world of tabloid people magazine thinking, are we not inherently weakening ourselves, like the poor cheetah who are all virtually identical twins?
The variety of ways in which we think, speak, eat, dream and love is our strength. It is our most important attribute. So also, by inference are the fringe members of the culture, the ones living outside the cosy warmth of the herd. The artists, the passionate nerds, the explorers and adventurers. Small independent caches of diversity, variety and resilience.
We need to go much farther than tolerating diversity. We need to recognize it as our greatest strength, as a species, a culture, a village and a family. Lets celebrate this richness and resilience, and strength. Especially now as we are brought into the duality of increasing contact between cultures, riding the subway in Toronto, you are likely to hear at least half of the conversations in languages other than English, and simultaneously, everywhere you go people are drinking coke, eating burgers and shopping at walmart while wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
What I have been struck by most here in Spain is the similarity of the culture... you have to look for the differences. So I'm voting for celebrations of diversity, for balancing the duality of increased contact between cultures and the pressure towards uniformity of culture. Of creating a unity within humanity and still honouring and maintaining our diversity.
I'll keep studying Catalan, as well as learning some Castillian. I hope my kids do to.
If you are interested, there have been posts and comments on a similar topic over at this site. She is discussing her experiences in Spanish schools, but it carries.
More mundanely, the eldest child now has a wildly loose tooth, we are getting moment by moment updates on it's movements, but as yet it cannot do any disgusting maneuvers.
Had Christmas mark two this morning, quieter...pancake breakfast, gifts and goodies. Then the traditional walk in the afternoon, even if it was about 19 degrees at the top of the mountain... dinner at home, I didn't have huge plans for something fancy, but it came out plainer than planned. We had a number of phone calls to the husband's family in Canada, and a bunch of conversations around it all. The tortell de Reis, was really more of a sweet bread, but very good nonetheless. There are two surprises hidden in them. One is a glass king, the younger daughter got that, it makes you king or queen for the day, and you get to wear the crown. The lovely lady at the bakery gave us two crowns, so no problem there. The elder daughter got the fava bean, which means you are supposed to pay up for the cake...(do they have bean counters here too?) The girls ignored that altogether and decided that they were both queens. Watched a movie in the evening. Nice quiet family Christmas. On the whole, it was very lovely.
The kids spent part of the day throwing Polly Pocket off the porch. They played a game on the boat, where they tied the Polly's to a plastic grocery bag like a parachute and harnessed the wind, that at times howled through the boat, to send them kiting, like the folks who go kite surfing, but we did it indoors. Not enough wind here, so instead Polly went parachuting, much to the neighbour's amusement.
On a sad note, we got an e-mail from the husband's family, and his Dad is extremely unwell. Hence the calls, and the simplified dinner. His father has MS, and has been living in a chronic care hospital for 16 years, but has taken a very serious turn for the worse in the last few days. It is really pretty bad, the nurses at the hospital have called my sister-in-law to come over twice now. Not very nice at all.
The same holds true for individual species, one of the great problems with animals that have escaped extinction is that their survival remains compromised for hundreds of years. The reduction of the genetic diversity to a few members weakens every future member of the group. They are permanently vulnerable to disease, and are much reduced in their ability to adapt.
This is also part of the reason that fringe members of a species are so important, they tend to hold greater diversity in their beings in order to cope with the marginal conditions in which they dwell.
Why is it then, that we as humans do not easily, or do not at all welcome and support diversity. We are animals, but our greatest tool for adaptation is cultural and social. If we reduce our diversity down to a Sylvester Stallone, Coca-cola world of tabloid people magazine thinking, are we not inherently weakening ourselves, like the poor cheetah who are all virtually identical twins?
The variety of ways in which we think, speak, eat, dream and love is our strength. It is our most important attribute. So also, by inference are the fringe members of the culture, the ones living outside the cosy warmth of the herd. The artists, the passionate nerds, the explorers and adventurers. Small independent caches of diversity, variety and resilience.
We need to go much farther than tolerating diversity. We need to recognize it as our greatest strength, as a species, a culture, a village and a family. Lets celebrate this richness and resilience, and strength. Especially now as we are brought into the duality of increasing contact between cultures, riding the subway in Toronto, you are likely to hear at least half of the conversations in languages other than English, and simultaneously, everywhere you go people are drinking coke, eating burgers and shopping at walmart while wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
What I have been struck by most here in Spain is the similarity of the culture... you have to look for the differences. So I'm voting for celebrations of diversity, for balancing the duality of increased contact between cultures and the pressure towards uniformity of culture. Of creating a unity within humanity and still honouring and maintaining our diversity.
I'll keep studying Catalan, as well as learning some Castillian. I hope my kids do to.
If you are interested, there have been posts and comments on a similar topic over at this site. She is discussing her experiences in Spanish schools, but it carries.
More mundanely, the eldest child now has a wildly loose tooth, we are getting moment by moment updates on it's movements, but as yet it cannot do any disgusting maneuvers.
Had Christmas mark two this morning, quieter...pancake breakfast, gifts and goodies. Then the traditional walk in the afternoon, even if it was about 19 degrees at the top of the mountain... dinner at home, I didn't have huge plans for something fancy, but it came out plainer than planned. We had a number of phone calls to the husband's family in Canada, and a bunch of conversations around it all. The tortell de Reis, was really more of a sweet bread, but very good nonetheless. There are two surprises hidden in them. One is a glass king, the younger daughter got that, it makes you king or queen for the day, and you get to wear the crown. The lovely lady at the bakery gave us two crowns, so no problem there. The elder daughter got the fava bean, which means you are supposed to pay up for the cake...(do they have bean counters here too?) The girls ignored that altogether and decided that they were both queens. Watched a movie in the evening. Nice quiet family Christmas. On the whole, it was very lovely.
The kids spent part of the day throwing Polly Pocket off the porch. They played a game on the boat, where they tied the Polly's to a plastic grocery bag like a parachute and harnessed the wind, that at times howled through the boat, to send them kiting, like the folks who go kite surfing, but we did it indoors. Not enough wind here, so instead Polly went parachuting, much to the neighbour's amusement.
On a sad note, we got an e-mail from the husband's family, and his Dad is extremely unwell. Hence the calls, and the simplified dinner. His father has MS, and has been living in a chronic care hospital for 16 years, but has taken a very serious turn for the worse in the last few days. It is really pretty bad, the nurses at the hospital have called my sister-in-law to come over twice now. Not very nice at all.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Loose teeth, three kings and a scaaaaarryyy picture from my sister
The younger child has a tooth that is so loose, she can actually close her lips with it on the OUTSIDE. Eeeeewwwwwwwwwwww. She loves walking around with that sort of Nanny McPhee look, to the disgust of the rest of us. It blows when she talks, and if she lies down, it hangs sideways in her mouth. We are entering day two of this...
Have to gloat, sorry folks, but it is so nice today... I am sitting on the balcony today writing this, in a sleeveless tank top, pants, and a red cowboy hat. The sun is so warm....The town is playing Christmas carols over the loud speakers. Strangely a lot of them are English ones. The town is alive with shoppers, last day before three kings... and the town square has a big dais and three thrones set up in it for the kings. The parade starts at 6, we'll go to watch. I'll post and let you know what happens afterwards. After all those years of white Christmases, I can love them, but I am very happy with the warm and sunny Christmases we've had of late. Mmmmmm. Getting a tan in Jan still seems like a treat, thankfully.
Got a Tortell de Reis. A three kings cake. It is a ring, looks a bit more breadish than cakey, and has candied fruit on top, and what looks like a sweet glaze. We'll eat it tomorrow, although I don't know if it is supposed to be today. Here is a recipe - can't believe I included this, but while looking for this image I found it.
The girls are reading Calvin and Hobbes aloud to each other and shrieking with giggles, while Oh Christmas Tree is playing in Catalan. I like Christmas carols, and we haven't been beleaguered by them since October, so they are still charming.
News flash...the younger daughter just sneezed out that tooth..thank god. That baby soOOAAAAaaaaarrrred across the room, got a good five feet and then bounced a couple of times. It came OUT.
......later.
Back from the Three kings, pretty weary. Went out at 6, good Canadians. Of course it didn't start for at least another hour. Spotted kids with plastic bags to hold the candy, and most of the kids had letters for the kings. We had neither. I had asked the kids to write a letter earlier, but they hadn't bothered. So once we finally found a spot where we thought the parade would pass, I had to go back for bags, paper, pens and envelopes. The eldest was irritated with us because we didn't know what was going on. On the way down we had also seen paper balls and paper lanterns, like Chinese lanterns but in all sorts of bright colours and patterns. Turns out the children carry these, little children. 2 year olds with paper ornaments, with lit candles inside. It would give every North American Fire Marshall complete kittens. A lot of the kids had made the lanterns themselves, and they were swinging them around as you would expect a two year old to swing them around. No one got hurt though.
The parade eventually appeared, and leading it were three giraffes. These were three guys on stilts, leaning on a second pair of stilts for the front legs. They also had enormous hats. Their faces appeared at the base of the giraffe's neck, just above the chest, and the entire neck and head was above it. They were very good, they had that graceful discombobulated walk that giraffes do, and they would bow down their heads and nibble at unsuspecting people's heads as well.
The kings were each on their own thrones, on their own floats, throwing candy to the masses, there were a few people banging drums. They were a band, but forget North American marching bands. This is a land that was filled with anarchists for years, of course they didn't carry cards, how could they, but there were no uniforms, nor marching in step. They played in time though. The Fire Marshall would have loved this part too, behind two of the floats there were teams of girls, about 11 or 12 years old, with flaming torches, completely open. Now you have to remember that these are very narrow European streets. One way narrow European streets; lined with small children and adults all diving into the street to get the candy that the kings and their assistants are throwing. Under the feet of these girls with flaming torches. It was quite something.
It was incredibly packed. Sort of a cross between a neighbourhood street party, Halloween, and a massive mob scene. The streets were COMPLETELY full of people. Probably half the town turned out. It was frankly amazing. The other thing that was kind of nice was that we actually recognized people! Had conversations with them!
Everyone wound up at the placa in front of the ajuntamin, the city hall, and the Kings got down from the floats and went into the church. This is the epiphany, I suppose they are actually meant to clap eyes on Jesus at some point, it was their role historically. We didn't go in to see what they did. No one else did either. Eventually they reappeared, and climbed up onto the balcony above the placa, sort of like, oh Franco, Mussolini and Hitler, addressing the masses. I pointed out that the Pope also has a long standing tradition of addressing the masses from the balcony as well. Still, I felt a bit like we were standing in an old newsreel. They asked everyone if we were good, we all said yes. They told us that they were bringing two gifts. One was tolerance, and the other diversity which we already had. I liked the message basically, but I though tolerance a rather small goal. So I would like to make my wish. Lets all try to move beyond tolerance, and instead celebrate our diversity. Tolerance is good, don't get me wrong, but I think we can do better.
After the speech from on high, they came down to their thrones, and the kids lined up to give them their letters and get a candy. After watching for a bit, we realized that the eldest was too old, but the youngest could still go. She went. I was a bit surprised, but up she went, said Hola, gave him the letter, got a sweet, said gracias, and BOOTED it off the stage. Couldn't get around to the other side fast enough. Fortunately we were about a hundred yards from home for this whole venture, and we had already established that if anyone got lost, they were to go home. We got to her before she felt the need to go home though.
Kids are in bed. There is a pot of water outside the front door for the camels, and two slippers poised hopefully outside their bedroom doors. The eldest had a small weep about going to school again, but was told to think of dogs instead. Seems to have worked. The dog is helping and we haven't even gotten it yet. Now as long as it doesn't bite anyone.
One last thing. I was checking my e-mail, and here's a scary picture, sent by my sister:
Have to gloat, sorry folks, but it is so nice today... I am sitting on the balcony today writing this, in a sleeveless tank top, pants, and a red cowboy hat. The sun is so warm....The town is playing Christmas carols over the loud speakers. Strangely a lot of them are English ones. The town is alive with shoppers, last day before three kings... and the town square has a big dais and three thrones set up in it for the kings. The parade starts at 6, we'll go to watch. I'll post and let you know what happens afterwards. After all those years of white Christmases, I can love them, but I am very happy with the warm and sunny Christmases we've had of late. Mmmmmm. Getting a tan in Jan still seems like a treat, thankfully.
Got a Tortell de Reis. A three kings cake. It is a ring, looks a bit more breadish than cakey, and has candied fruit on top, and what looks like a sweet glaze. We'll eat it tomorrow, although I don't know if it is supposed to be today. Here is a recipe - can't believe I included this, but while looking for this image I found it.
The girls are reading Calvin and Hobbes aloud to each other and shrieking with giggles, while Oh Christmas Tree is playing in Catalan. I like Christmas carols, and we haven't been beleaguered by them since October, so they are still charming.
News flash...the younger daughter just sneezed out that tooth..thank god. That baby soOOAAAAaaaaarrrred across the room, got a good five feet and then bounced a couple of times. It came OUT.
......later.
Back from the Three kings, pretty weary. Went out at 6, good Canadians. Of course it didn't start for at least another hour. Spotted kids with plastic bags to hold the candy, and most of the kids had letters for the kings. We had neither. I had asked the kids to write a letter earlier, but they hadn't bothered. So once we finally found a spot where we thought the parade would pass, I had to go back for bags, paper, pens and envelopes. The eldest was irritated with us because we didn't know what was going on. On the way down we had also seen paper balls and paper lanterns, like Chinese lanterns but in all sorts of bright colours and patterns. Turns out the children carry these, little children. 2 year olds with paper ornaments, with lit candles inside. It would give every North American Fire Marshall complete kittens. A lot of the kids had made the lanterns themselves, and they were swinging them around as you would expect a two year old to swing them around. No one got hurt though.
The parade eventually appeared, and leading it were three giraffes. These were three guys on stilts, leaning on a second pair of stilts for the front legs. They also had enormous hats. Their faces appeared at the base of the giraffe's neck, just above the chest, and the entire neck and head was above it. They were very good, they had that graceful discombobulated walk that giraffes do, and they would bow down their heads and nibble at unsuspecting people's heads as well.
The kings were each on their own thrones, on their own floats, throwing candy to the masses, there were a few people banging drums. They were a band, but forget North American marching bands. This is a land that was filled with anarchists for years, of course they didn't carry cards, how could they, but there were no uniforms, nor marching in step. They played in time though. The Fire Marshall would have loved this part too, behind two of the floats there were teams of girls, about 11 or 12 years old, with flaming torches, completely open. Now you have to remember that these are very narrow European streets. One way narrow European streets; lined with small children and adults all diving into the street to get the candy that the kings and their assistants are throwing. Under the feet of these girls with flaming torches. It was quite something.
It was incredibly packed. Sort of a cross between a neighbourhood street party, Halloween, and a massive mob scene. The streets were COMPLETELY full of people. Probably half the town turned out. It was frankly amazing. The other thing that was kind of nice was that we actually recognized people! Had conversations with them!
Everyone wound up at the placa in front of the ajuntamin, the city hall, and the Kings got down from the floats and went into the church. This is the epiphany, I suppose they are actually meant to clap eyes on Jesus at some point, it was their role historically. We didn't go in to see what they did. No one else did either. Eventually they reappeared, and climbed up onto the balcony above the placa, sort of like, oh Franco, Mussolini and Hitler, addressing the masses. I pointed out that the Pope also has a long standing tradition of addressing the masses from the balcony as well. Still, I felt a bit like we were standing in an old newsreel. They asked everyone if we were good, we all said yes. They told us that they were bringing two gifts. One was tolerance, and the other diversity which we already had. I liked the message basically, but I though tolerance a rather small goal. So I would like to make my wish. Lets all try to move beyond tolerance, and instead celebrate our diversity. Tolerance is good, don't get me wrong, but I think we can do better.
After the speech from on high, they came down to their thrones, and the kids lined up to give them their letters and get a candy. After watching for a bit, we realized that the eldest was too old, but the youngest could still go. She went. I was a bit surprised, but up she went, said Hola, gave him the letter, got a sweet, said gracias, and BOOTED it off the stage. Couldn't get around to the other side fast enough. Fortunately we were about a hundred yards from home for this whole venture, and we had already established that if anyone got lost, they were to go home. We got to her before she felt the need to go home though.
Kids are in bed. There is a pot of water outside the front door for the camels, and two slippers poised hopefully outside their bedroom doors. The eldest had a small weep about going to school again, but was told to think of dogs instead. Seems to have worked. The dog is helping and we haven't even gotten it yet. Now as long as it doesn't bite anyone.
One last thing. I was checking my e-mail, and here's a scary picture, sent by my sister:
Dread about school, and medical card hassles that were actually kind of nice.
The kids are growing anxious about starting school on Monday. Particularly the older one. They still speak almost no Catalan or Castilian. We were away so much, and had company so much... they are mostly worried about getting bullied. They have seen it happening in Canada, and by ill-luck, or maybe good-luck, we are reading a book that has several characters being bullied and being very unhappy in school as they don't have friends. It is sparking conversation, and bringing out the issue in a manageable way, obliquely as art should do. Let's hope there's a good ending to the book though. I am reasonably confident about the kid's school. The teachers seem together, and the culture seems to be pretty intolerant of bullying. As far as I can tell, the same word is used for a bully as is used for a child abuser. Speaks to a high level of intolerance of bullying, unlike all the British, and their colonies who view it, at best, as a right of passage. The school is small and the classes are small. The kids that we have met all seem nice.
That said, someone is sure to be nasty to them at some point, and I cannot protect them from that. Systemic bullying, would undeniably require a large response, but I don't think it will get to that. They do seem very nice.
Does make a mother uptight though. We are asking a lot of them, and this is going to be a very tough term. One of the reasons I want to get a dog is because of this issue. Gives them some unconditional love. Hope the damn dog ends up nice. That would be awful wouldn't it, if the dog was unfriendly too.
It is so hard sending them off knowing that it is going to be difficult for them, although I have hopes that it will be OK. All they will need is one person, just one to be friendly and invite them to join in the play. It would make all the difference.
The elder one has always made friends quickly and easily, and she knows that this is not going to be the same. The younger is more reticent, and we'll see how she does. I imagine there will be many posts about this as we work our way though it. I have Catalan class on the evening of the first day of school. I am debating skipping, but I really want to go. I'll probably play it by ear.
On a brighter note....WE HAVE HEALTH CARDS AND A DOCTOR! YEAH! This was in fact rather a hassle, although resolvable in the end. It took quite a while for the papers from work to come in, and then we were told, by the school strangely enough, how to get the papers.
Just show up, no problem.
But the kids were in London, so we had to wait. Came back on the 30th, a weekend, then the Monday was a holiday for New Years, so in on the Tue to the medical center here. I am so impressed by them. This is a town of 6,000 or so. There is a hospital in the larger city about 5 km away, but we have our own medical center that is manned 24HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK!!!!! It is two blocks away. This is amazing. There is a doctor, a nurse and an administrator on duty all the time!
So in we go, getting the husband registered is a no brainer, he is Spanish and has a social insurance number. The kids and I. No. Not so easy. She thinks we may have to get a "llibre de familia" a family book, seems to include the marriage licence and birth certificates and other related legal documents of a nuclear family. They allow gay marriage here, so I assume they simply use the same document. That would be very interesting to find out. We managed to move from one of only five countries in the world that allows gay marriage, to another. I am pleased.
Anyway, we have to go into the big town to get the girls and I put on to my husband's card as beneficiaries. The feminist in me doesn't really like the taste of that. Apparently I cannot get a social insurance number until I get a job, and if I lose the job, I lose the number. No pension for me it seems. Even as an EU citizen. I am not getting too irritated about this, because it is entirely possible we have the information wrong. May become a Spanish citizen eventually if this goes on. I could next September.
Into town today, no wait, first the husband went to the justice of the peace yesterday and was told that it would take a couple of months to get this llibre de familia....to replicate forms we already have. *gritted teeth*
Into town today. Sit down in the waiting room of the social insurance office. We were number 121, it actually moved pretty fast. Then we get up to the desk. No the girls and I are not eligible yaddah yaddah yaddah..... this goes around and around, we are about to be signed up as refugees for access to the medical system. I must say the sound of that was a shock. I am not sure that Canadians qualify as refugees anywhere. It also made me realize how closely I identify myself as someone who is one of the haves. I'll need to ponder my way around that a little more closely. Didn't like thinking of myself and my kids as refugees. Nobody does I imagine.
Then we start filling in the forms. The husband pulls out his Spanish ID card, and all of a sudden it changes. OH. YOUR SPANISH!!! No problem. That was a relief, and the woman was VERY nice, both before and after the citizenship issue was dealt with. I have to say, the people I have dealt with here have been uniformly nice. In the real sense of the word. They try to help, they are kind and they work at making it all work. Gotta like it.
You all thought I was going to vent, and if I didn't have the cards in my wallet right now, after 24 hours work, I probably would be. It wasn't smooth, but it got done.
When we got back home the husband went to the medical center to get the cards, issued right there. Oh and they said that if anything happened while we were trying to sort this out, we weren't to worry, we had a Dr, and they would just admit anyone of us that was sick as my husband. How's that eh? Anyway, the husband goes off, comes back a while later, not done yet. Oh NOOOO now what? Turns out an emergency case had come in, and he volunteered to go back later. I had a card at this point but not the kids. When he went back around 6, he returned very shortly. Sinking feeling in my stomach again. But NO, (I am starting to really love all these Catalans we are dealing with) the lady at the medical center had filled out all the forms, made the cards, everything while she was waiting for him, all he had to do was sign, and go. They'll mail us the permanent cards soon.
I am absolutely massively impressed. NEVER could have been done so elegantly and pleasantly in Canada, and we speak the language there.
That said, someone is sure to be nasty to them at some point, and I cannot protect them from that. Systemic bullying, would undeniably require a large response, but I don't think it will get to that. They do seem very nice.
Does make a mother uptight though. We are asking a lot of them, and this is going to be a very tough term. One of the reasons I want to get a dog is because of this issue. Gives them some unconditional love. Hope the damn dog ends up nice. That would be awful wouldn't it, if the dog was unfriendly too.
It is so hard sending them off knowing that it is going to be difficult for them, although I have hopes that it will be OK. All they will need is one person, just one to be friendly and invite them to join in the play. It would make all the difference.
The elder one has always made friends quickly and easily, and she knows that this is not going to be the same. The younger is more reticent, and we'll see how she does. I imagine there will be many posts about this as we work our way though it. I have Catalan class on the evening of the first day of school. I am debating skipping, but I really want to go. I'll probably play it by ear.
On a brighter note....WE HAVE HEALTH CARDS AND A DOCTOR! YEAH! This was in fact rather a hassle, although resolvable in the end. It took quite a while for the papers from work to come in, and then we were told, by the school strangely enough, how to get the papers.
Just show up, no problem.
But the kids were in London, so we had to wait. Came back on the 30th, a weekend, then the Monday was a holiday for New Years, so in on the Tue to the medical center here. I am so impressed by them. This is a town of 6,000 or so. There is a hospital in the larger city about 5 km away, but we have our own medical center that is manned 24HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK!!!!! It is two blocks away. This is amazing. There is a doctor, a nurse and an administrator on duty all the time!
So in we go, getting the husband registered is a no brainer, he is Spanish and has a social insurance number. The kids and I. No. Not so easy. She thinks we may have to get a "llibre de familia" a family book, seems to include the marriage licence and birth certificates and other related legal documents of a nuclear family. They allow gay marriage here, so I assume they simply use the same document. That would be very interesting to find out. We managed to move from one of only five countries in the world that allows gay marriage, to another. I am pleased.
Anyway, we have to go into the big town to get the girls and I put on to my husband's card as beneficiaries. The feminist in me doesn't really like the taste of that. Apparently I cannot get a social insurance number until I get a job, and if I lose the job, I lose the number. No pension for me it seems. Even as an EU citizen. I am not getting too irritated about this, because it is entirely possible we have the information wrong. May become a Spanish citizen eventually if this goes on. I could next September.
Into town today, no wait, first the husband went to the justice of the peace yesterday and was told that it would take a couple of months to get this llibre de familia....to replicate forms we already have. *gritted teeth*
Into town today. Sit down in the waiting room of the social insurance office. We were number 121, it actually moved pretty fast. Then we get up to the desk. No the girls and I are not eligible yaddah yaddah yaddah..... this goes around and around, we are about to be signed up as refugees for access to the medical system. I must say the sound of that was a shock. I am not sure that Canadians qualify as refugees anywhere. It also made me realize how closely I identify myself as someone who is one of the haves. I'll need to ponder my way around that a little more closely. Didn't like thinking of myself and my kids as refugees. Nobody does I imagine.
Then we start filling in the forms. The husband pulls out his Spanish ID card, and all of a sudden it changes. OH. YOUR SPANISH!!! No problem. That was a relief, and the woman was VERY nice, both before and after the citizenship issue was dealt with. I have to say, the people I have dealt with here have been uniformly nice. In the real sense of the word. They try to help, they are kind and they work at making it all work. Gotta like it.
You all thought I was going to vent, and if I didn't have the cards in my wallet right now, after 24 hours work, I probably would be. It wasn't smooth, but it got done.
When we got back home the husband went to the medical center to get the cards, issued right there. Oh and they said that if anything happened while we were trying to sort this out, we weren't to worry, we had a Dr, and they would just admit anyone of us that was sick as my husband. How's that eh? Anyway, the husband goes off, comes back a while later, not done yet. Oh NOOOO now what? Turns out an emergency case had come in, and he volunteered to go back later. I had a card at this point but not the kids. When he went back around 6, he returned very shortly. Sinking feeling in my stomach again. But NO, (I am starting to really love all these Catalans we are dealing with) the lady at the medical center had filled out all the forms, made the cards, everything while she was waiting for him, all he had to do was sign, and go. They'll mail us the permanent cards soon.
I am absolutely massively impressed. NEVER could have been done so elegantly and pleasantly in Canada, and we speak the language there.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Olympics and the three kings
I love the Olympics, I love watching them and my life grinds to a halt if at all possible while they are on, winter or summer. I do have questions about the whole process, there is the bread not circuses argument, which to some extent I find specious, there can be room for both. On a simpler level, the sheer selfishness that is required to achieve that level of mastery I find a little hard to swallow. I was training at sailing with the idea of trying to make the team for the Atlanta Olympics, went to a number of Nationals, spent too much on a boat....decided, blessedly early on that it wasn't fun, sort of like business travel, but you can't afford to extend the trip for a day or two, and you regularly get wet and cold, and I realized that by the end of the entire process I would probably HATE sailing. Plus, I couldn't get fired up about what my spreader deflection should be considering the fore casted wind speed and wave heights while taking into consideration........blahblahblah. The thing that really threw me over though was the sheer selfish drive that was required. You have to ask of yourself, all of your friends and family, your government, and plain old strangers for a truckload of money, time and energy. So that YOU can go. Maybe.
I quit, and bless my team mate, we are still friends, even though it killed her dream too.
That was a really long intro to the fact that, nonetheless, I LOVE the Olympics. I think I relate to how much they WANT it. I love watching them win, and every time there are some truly great moments of absolute sportsmanship. People who have put years of their and other peoples time and money and energy into this, and when it all comes apart, they do the right thing. Canadian sailors who give up a race to help a fellow competitor, etc, etc, etc.
So why am I talking about this? We went to Montjuic today, the sight of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. I was really amazed, and it was really exciting to be standing where it all went on. To see the venues, and the plaza where the athletes lined up to go into the stadium. It was a beautiful place, although quite odd looking. The eldest said it looked like a computer animation and it does. Found this image on the web, and it quite captures the otherworldly feel of the place. The guy who put this site up has WAY more photos, so check it all out if you want, you'll see lots of stuff we haven't.
There are galleries and gardens, and ponds and fountains and lots of stairs. It is really very lovely, and we didn't begin to see all of it. Worth another trip, although the kids voted it the worst thing in Barcelona so far, so there may be considerable resistance to a repeat. They cannot seem to articulate what was so awful, but they didn't like it. It may be the sheer distances they had to walk. Who knows.
The three kings celebration is coming up on the 6th. Santa and Christmas is a bit of an import here, and the three kings is the big hoorah..parade on the 5th, then the kids put out their shoes, and the kings come by and leave something in it. Like Holland, but a month later. If they are bad it is coal, if they are good... Well the girls will put them out, but these days the coal comes from the patisseria. I went and bought some chocolate coal today. Chunks of chocolate cake looking stuff, although it is a pitchy black, and even slightly grayish. The patisseria makes glorious stuff, so it should be good to taste. It is the same place that had the candy potty in the window, although that is gone now. I will probably post more about this as it comes closer.
We have the second tree and a FEW presents under it as well. Still madly making decorations, between trips to government offices which I don't want to talk about. More offices tomorrow, maybe by them I will want to vent. Not now.
I quit, and bless my team mate, we are still friends, even though it killed her dream too.
That was a really long intro to the fact that, nonetheless, I LOVE the Olympics. I think I relate to how much they WANT it. I love watching them win, and every time there are some truly great moments of absolute sportsmanship. People who have put years of their and other peoples time and money and energy into this, and when it all comes apart, they do the right thing. Canadian sailors who give up a race to help a fellow competitor, etc, etc, etc.
So why am I talking about this? We went to Montjuic today, the sight of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. I was really amazed, and it was really exciting to be standing where it all went on. To see the venues, and the plaza where the athletes lined up to go into the stadium. It was a beautiful place, although quite odd looking. The eldest said it looked like a computer animation and it does. Found this image on the web, and it quite captures the otherworldly feel of the place. The guy who put this site up has WAY more photos, so check it all out if you want, you'll see lots of stuff we haven't.
There are galleries and gardens, and ponds and fountains and lots of stairs. It is really very lovely, and we didn't begin to see all of it. Worth another trip, although the kids voted it the worst thing in Barcelona so far, so there may be considerable resistance to a repeat. They cannot seem to articulate what was so awful, but they didn't like it. It may be the sheer distances they had to walk. Who knows.
The three kings celebration is coming up on the 6th. Santa and Christmas is a bit of an import here, and the three kings is the big hoorah..parade on the 5th, then the kids put out their shoes, and the kings come by and leave something in it. Like Holland, but a month later. If they are bad it is coal, if they are good... Well the girls will put them out, but these days the coal comes from the patisseria. I went and bought some chocolate coal today. Chunks of chocolate cake looking stuff, although it is a pitchy black, and even slightly grayish. The patisseria makes glorious stuff, so it should be good to taste. It is the same place that had the candy potty in the window, although that is gone now. I will probably post more about this as it comes closer.
We have the second tree and a FEW presents under it as well. Still madly making decorations, between trips to government offices which I don't want to talk about. More offices tomorrow, maybe by them I will want to vent. Not now.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Buying text books, the kids and internet music. A day in the life blahblahblah
Into a neighbouring town, to get school books for the girls. Very limited success and a grumpy temperament. The list came sometime near Christmas...and I didn't go until today, the first full business day after New Years. What with being away and all, the husband didn't even think to go. Well, they have to order them, and they won't be ready until next week sometime....the school cannot be too uptight as this IS Spain, and this is normal. I am not at all bothered about this, and neither are the kids.
I may not bother buying the English language texts for the girls, indeed I am a little confused that they are going to be in the English classes at all, I was under the impression that they would be doing extra Catalan lessons at that time. They don't appear to be doing Spanish lessons at all, so I am a little confused. Why would they be taking English lessons from a non-native speaker, and not taking Spanish? I mean really. I am busily learning Catalan, but on a global level, Spanish is a far more useful language that Catalan, and I intend to start to study it pretty damn soon. If we can get the cash together I will try and take lessons while the kids are at school.
We will have to talk to the school about this.
The only book I managed to buy, I thought was a Catalan dictionary. Turns out it is a Catalan - English dictionary designed for Catalan speakers learning English. Great! I have managed to spend a little of our scarce cash on a book describing a language we already know in a language we cannot understand. Nice shootin' TEX
Might as well go back to bed. Shaping up to be one of those days where I am bad-tempered, and correspondingly nothing goes right. Stems from me I believe not the world. That doesn't seem to help though.
....later. Life improved, nothing like lunch and three or four cups of tea to change a person's outlook on life. Went off the the medical center to start the process to get health cards. Nationalized health care here. There are as many forms to fill out as you might imagine. To quote the two year old nephew, "yucky yucky yucky."
The younger daughter loves to play soccer, well, to kick a soccer ball around so went off to do that. Like a fall day here, sunny, just needed a warm shirt. Very nice. There is a great park nearby, it has a kids area with carved wooden animals for the kids to ride on, like those springy horses, but rough carved out of wood. Very cool. Never got the nephew's over there while they were here. That's OK, they'll be back.
Pandora...asked a question and got no answers, so here's what I found out when I signed up. It is a music sight, you sign up and can create up to 100 "radio stations" these are essentially random play of tracks that relate to music and musicians that you have selected. For instance we created a crooners station with Sinatra, Torme, Dean Martin, Dinah Washington.... and we get some from them, but also other performers that are in the same genre. You can get rid of individual performances and encourage others. So while you don't have any control over the individual songs, you can program the station to the kinds of music you like to listen too. That said, there appears to be no classical. It had never heard of Mozart. Nor does there seem to be much variety in the style of music beyond fairly mainstream. I'm having trouble getting the Cajun/zydeco station set up. It keeps getting confused. Maybe, once again, I am a weird nerd in my tastes, either that or I am just to old and it is aimed younger. Since we have no stereo, and essentially haven't had one for 4 years, and only have about 10 cd's (the rest are stored in the basement of our house, with everything that isn't stored on the boat....) this is a nice chance to hear some music, it is also a good way to find artists you may not know who play the kind of music you might like at least some of the time. I may not have much luck finding African and Caribbean drumming music though. Of course you can listen while you do something else, it's a seperate window.
OK, go here to discover that the Catalan's are not the only ones with some unusual-to-my-eyes traditions.
I may not bother buying the English language texts for the girls, indeed I am a little confused that they are going to be in the English classes at all, I was under the impression that they would be doing extra Catalan lessons at that time. They don't appear to be doing Spanish lessons at all, so I am a little confused. Why would they be taking English lessons from a non-native speaker, and not taking Spanish? I mean really. I am busily learning Catalan, but on a global level, Spanish is a far more useful language that Catalan, and I intend to start to study it pretty damn soon. If we can get the cash together I will try and take lessons while the kids are at school.
We will have to talk to the school about this.
The only book I managed to buy, I thought was a Catalan dictionary. Turns out it is a Catalan - English dictionary designed for Catalan speakers learning English. Great! I have managed to spend a little of our scarce cash on a book describing a language we already know in a language we cannot understand. Nice shootin' TEX
Might as well go back to bed. Shaping up to be one of those days where I am bad-tempered, and correspondingly nothing goes right. Stems from me I believe not the world. That doesn't seem to help though.
....later. Life improved, nothing like lunch and three or four cups of tea to change a person's outlook on life. Went off the the medical center to start the process to get health cards. Nationalized health care here. There are as many forms to fill out as you might imagine. To quote the two year old nephew, "yucky yucky yucky."
The younger daughter loves to play soccer, well, to kick a soccer ball around so went off to do that. Like a fall day here, sunny, just needed a warm shirt. Very nice. There is a great park nearby, it has a kids area with carved wooden animals for the kids to ride on, like those springy horses, but rough carved out of wood. Very cool. Never got the nephew's over there while they were here. That's OK, they'll be back.
Pandora...asked a question and got no answers, so here's what I found out when I signed up. It is a music sight, you sign up and can create up to 100 "radio stations" these are essentially random play of tracks that relate to music and musicians that you have selected. For instance we created a crooners station with Sinatra, Torme, Dean Martin, Dinah Washington.... and we get some from them, but also other performers that are in the same genre. You can get rid of individual performances and encourage others. So while you don't have any control over the individual songs, you can program the station to the kinds of music you like to listen too. That said, there appears to be no classical. It had never heard of Mozart. Nor does there seem to be much variety in the style of music beyond fairly mainstream. I'm having trouble getting the Cajun/zydeco station set up. It keeps getting confused. Maybe, once again, I am a weird nerd in my tastes, either that or I am just to old and it is aimed younger. Since we have no stereo, and essentially haven't had one for 4 years, and only have about 10 cd's (the rest are stored in the basement of our house, with everything that isn't stored on the boat....) this is a nice chance to hear some music, it is also a good way to find artists you may not know who play the kind of music you might like at least some of the time. I may not have much luck finding African and Caribbean drumming music though. Of course you can listen while you do something else, it's a seperate window.
OK, go here to discover that the Catalan's are not the only ones with some unusual-to-my-eyes traditions.
Monday, January 1, 2007
Lots of pics thanks to the sister, a walk in the hill and technology
This is the Polish tree at the sister's house, not the Spanish one.
The younger daughter skating! She managed to stand on skates once at age 3 before we left Toronto 4 years ago, and here she in about 10 minutes into her next try. Pretty impressive even if her doting mother does say so.
The 10 year olds drawing, not a copy. Should be an interesting decade we all have coming up. Again, a certain amount of maternal pride here.
Again, the elder daughter. These are the two characters Pat and Mat that made a constant appearance in our Christmas. See previous post about the theme song of Christmas 2006. Allow me to continue to gloat by pointing out that she did this from memory. Her sister's drawings are also, to my mind, quite excellent, but the only one we have a photo of has a name on it, so I am reluctant to post. Sorry folks. The Grandparents would murder me.
This cat came by the first time on Christmas Eve, and brought great good luck as there was a visitor. A place is traditionally set for a visitor, and we got one. He or she came back a few days later, and got fed big time. He or she looked quite gaunt.
More pictures from the exhibit of Jozep Wilkon. I think this is the last, he is amazing. We could identify a number of the species. He has managed to create art and expression and still retained the character of the animal. Loved this guy.
Walked in the hills behind the town today, uphill out and down on the way back - obviously. We were ostensibly searching for fragrant fronds for our aromatically challenged artificial Christmas tree. We managed to gather some eucalyptus branches and pods, which are traditional here and you can buy them in the market, and some pine branches, that I laid in the fake tree. Also found anise seed growing wild, and pine nuts, as well as a dazzling array of differently shaped very small oak leaves. (Oh for a camera)
The kids have a favorite spot in the hills where they have created a miniature drystone walled house that has so far been left untouched by other park users. Last time the little one found a stream of catepillars working their way up a tree, today I spotted a stick insect on a tree trunk. I was actually pretty excited, first I had seen outside of a zoo.
There are a fair number of pessebres up in the town, the Catalan name for Nativity scenes, one even includes two yellow cars. Modern day three kings can hop into their mustang to go visit Jesus a little faster I guess. There are even some live ones. Suprisingly, the caganer has not been visible in any of these scenes. Maybe he is more popular in the private ones. I read in one book that the caganer is supposed to bring fertility (presumably to the fields) in the coming year. It was a largely peasant culture for a very long time. As the husband likes to phrase it, Catalan did not go through the ringer of Victorianism, and due to frequent repressions has been most strongly maintained in isolated peasant farm communities, which may explain some to the baser elements to the language.
On a techno note... two things. First, I am getting a little ticked off with google these days, starting to feel a little like shopping at Walmart so I have gone over to ask.com sometimes. They don't always work as well, but, unlike at google, some of what comes up is not a .com.
Here's a question now, came across a site, pandora, that lets you play music for free as much as you like, and they create your own radio stations based on your taste, you can have up to a hundred. Sounds a little too good to be true. Anyone heard about them? We don't have a radio here, and although that is the husband's Christmas gift, it looks like the cost of the kids text books for school is going to defer that present for a bit.
Happy New Year everyone.
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