Bye 2023, welcome 2024!

The very best of new year, warm greetings from our family to yours!!! ❤️

Here is our 2023 in summary:

January:
– Sky’s 14th tooth fell off, it’s the last one of the bottom jaw. Next 6 would be the upper canines and molars.
– We watched the 3 Kings’ parade in our town, St Anthony’s (the patron saint of animals) procession in another town, and the Chinese New Year celebration in Barcelona. We also went to a children theatre show and we did some hikes and excursions. It was a fun month filled with events and activities!

February:
– Sky got 2nd place of breaststroke in a nearby town’s swimming competition, being a member of her school’s swimming team. So proud of her!
– This month’s events: Carnaval (we watched both the parade in our town and in Barcelona), Light festival, some hikes, and we had a guided visit to the salt mountain (at a depth of 86m) in Cardona, which was very impressive!

March:

– Stella was interviewed by a local radio. Her Catalan teacher is a regular guest at the radio and due to the international mother language day, she thought it might be interesting for the listeners to hear Stella’s story, how she ends up speaking 6 languages (and is following a Catalan course at the moment).
– Sky’s eye exam result: 0,25 more myopia left and 0,25 more astigmatism right. Because the measurements have changed within a year since she got her glasses, the optical shop replaced the lenses for free.
– We traded in the VW Polo which we have bought the first month we came to Spain for a Toyota Auris, which is a few years younger. Very satisfied with the deal!

– Sky turned 11!!! This year she celebrated it together with 2 friends whose birthdays are close to hers at an Escape Room. After the game we brought the folks to a park to have a picnic with cakes.

April:
– Sky won a prize from Super3 (it’s a children club, originated from a Catalonian TV channel, which organizes lots of activities, discounts and prizes for its members): We’re granted entries to watch the movie Super Mario Bros!
– Sky got a palate expander to widen the roof of her upper jaw, because it’s obviously overcrowded and this way we’ve made the first step in the whole braces treatment…hopefully with a good result. The first week wearing the expander was quite rough. She had difficulty eating (of course), swallowing, and even talking. Bites of food got often stuck between the expander and the palate, and we carried toothpicks everywhere… But after 10 days she got used to it and although we still have to be very careful choosing the size and form of her food, and doubling the time needed to finish the meal…it got better and better.
– Sky is officially 1cm taller than me (mom)!

May:
– Raia turns 4, he’s a happy cat as long as we can tell (meaning: sleeping the whole day -in the sun preferably, being fed on time -however strict on diet because otherwise he will eat non-stop, and getting head-and-butt scratches whenever he wants to).
– We watched a basketball match of FC Barcelona (Barça Bàsquet) at Palau Blaugrana. It was such an experience! Like a music concert, but all about sport. Love it!

– Sky participated in 2 choirs this year. One was a general choir for 5th grade students in Catalonia, and the other one was organized by the Liceu Conservatory of Barcelona, where she follows their program (piano + music language) at school.

June:
– We installed solar panels! It’s quite an investment, but it’s subsidized both from European Commision and from Spanish/local government. We believe firmly in renewable energy and moreover, it’s a common-sense decision to make use of the solar energy if you live in Spain, where you get around 300 annual days of sunshine.
– Stella got a B1 Catalan certificate!

July:
– Sky attended the local summer camp for four weeks. It’s a general youth camp, so not a specific one like a sport camp, art camp or another themed camp. She likes it a lot and will repeat next year!
– For the first time, Sky rode on the back of Papa’s motorcycle. The first few times she was a bit nervous, but after she gets used she just can’t get enough of it!

August:
– Summer holiday! We were back in the Netherlands for the 1st time in 5 years. What we did was a 20-days round trip, stopping at France and Luxembourg on our way there, then staying for 1 week in the Netherlands, and visiting Basel (CH), Germany and France again on the way home. We had a good fun, especially the experience of floating down the Rhine river using a “Wickelfisch” in Basel was amazing! And of course it’s great to see families and friends again after such a long time.

September:
– This month Sky started playing basketball in the Catalonian league, joining the local basketball club in our town (up till now she has been playing with her school club, which does competition among schools but not officially registered). Being in a league means 3 times training a week and a match in the weekend, against other teams. She likes it a lot and the team has been doing quite well so far.
– Stella got a “plus” glasses, +1! While she actually feels like they’re not necessary (yet), age doesn’t lie! Joop’s sight is getting better for myopia, but a bit worse for presbyopia. So the lower part of his bifocal glasses is measured zero because one neutralizes the other.
– Stella starts giving Indonesian lessons again (online), would love to do more in the future!

November:
– Sky’s palate expander was taken out after staying in her mouth for almost 8 months, she’s so happy she can eat everything again, and much easier and quicker! (certain foods were forbidden because they might get stuck on the expander, like Spanish ham/jamón and chewing gums…). Now she needs to wear it only at night, to prevent the palates getting back to their old positions. This, until all her baby teeth fall off, which could take about 6 months.
– Sky got new glasses (with the same lenses since the eye exam gave exactly the same result as before).
– Joop replaced the bumper of our small car Aygo by himself, which is quite an achievement! The car was hit in March, not severe but a corner of the bumper was broken and it took us a half year to scan scrap yards to find an exact same type and color bumper.

December:
– Stella is TEFL-certified!!! She’s been doing Level 5 TEFL course since the summer and she’s now got the certificate.
– Joop also got a language certificate: an A2 in Catalan!
– For the very first time we put Christmas lights outside the house, on the balcony. As Sky said: “All the neighbours have one, and we -a family with a child- don’t have any!” So there it is, a multicolor string lights Sky has chosen herself (and no, it doesn’t go-disco; on and off!).
– Remember that Sky was 1cm taller than Mom at the beginning of the year? Well, by the end of the year she has grown 6 cm more! And her shoes are 2 sizes bigger than mine!
– Sky got 3rd place in the Copa Nadal (= Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona, in the category 50m breaststroke. She still nailed it with almost no practice or doing anything serious except going swimming with her school every week.
– By the time I posted this, we’ve just gotten back from our 5-days trip to Sevilla, the capital and largest city of Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. I’ve visited this city before (more than 20 years ago!) but Joop and Sky haven’t been there yet. We decided to visit it now because it is impossible to visit it in the summer due to the heat. The city is sooooo beautiful!!! And we went by train, which was fast and comfortable!

Bye, adiós 2022…Welcome, hola 2023!

2022 has been a wonderful year; where we finally live a “free” life, where almost all Covid-related restrictions are lifted (only need to wear masks at public transport and health centers) and all events and festivals are celebrated again after 2 years of nothingness.

• The most important thing this year: We bought a house 🏠 !!! This is such a huge step because now it seems like we will be living in Spain for a longer time. We saw the house we liked in January, in another city about 12km from our place but with the same distance to Sky’s school (it’s important because we want her to stay at the same school). We started the negotiation immediately; we hired an agency who speaks Dutch to help us with the intricate Spanish property procedure, although we now speak enough Spanish to understand everything. Spent 2 months after that to find the best mortgage and to close the contract, which happened in April. The final contract was signed in July and we spent the whole month cleaning up and fixing things in the new house, until the 8th of August when we moved everything (moving the piano was a complicated one because it needed to enter through the balcony of the 2nd floor – we don’t have a garden). Then we cleaned up the apartment we’ve rented for 4 years and painted it like new. So basically we’ve been working hard the whole summer, when they say it’s one of the hottest summer ever! ☀️
• Slowly but sure we are getting used to our new city, which is much smaller than the one before. Now we live close to the city center so we can reach everything on foot or by bicycle, which is such a great thing! The neighbors and other people we met so far are all so nice, it’s much easier to talk to people on the street. We also become members of the city’s sport club, so Joop and Sky can go swimming often and Stella will go to the gym (not so often…).
• Just 3 weeks after we moved to our new house, we’re hit by a terrible storm with a short but strong tornado 🌪️ which passed by exactly above our house. It broke the sunscreen’s arm of the second floor but luckily the reparation was covered by the insurence.
• Stella has started a Catalan course at level B1, at a learning center very nearby the house. Still having fun writing in her blog placesbonitos, however with a long pause in the summer due to the hectic of moving. In January she won a breakfast box from an earlier Christmas quiz and in October she was announced as one of the winners (10th place) of the annual summer photo competition organized by the city’s magazine.
• Joop has been able to travel abroad again for business purposes ✈️. Yet for high priority visits only, but oh the freedom!
• Sky is now a grade 5 student. Her school has 2 buildings (which are located almost next to each other) and this year she moved to the ‘bigger’ building, and once again becomes the youngest of the whole school. She is happy and her report is excellent. She continues playing basketball and shows great interest in football (she often plays during the break together with the boys and all 3 of us followed the World Cup closely this year). She is a member of her school’s swimming team and early this year she won a gold medal 🥇 (first in the city tournament) and a 3rd place trophy 🏆 (in Barcelona). She got a new, amazing piano teacher after the summer and she feels more motivated than ever. This year was also filled with many first-timers: first time she did forward roll underwater and backward roll on the ground, first time blowing a bubble with chewing gum, first time going trick-or-treat with her friends, first time she’s got a 9 for Catalan in her report and first time that she’s going to try to stay awake till New Year’s Eve…let’s see how it goes!
• Raia our cat turns 3 this year. He needed 5 days to get used to the new house (of which the first day completely under the couch) but he is now enjoying the bigger space, where he would spend hours watching birds at the balcony. In fact, this year he has caught 2 little birds 🐦!!! One at the balcony and another which flew inside the house (this one unfortunately didn’t survive…).
• We’ve got Joop’s mom and sister (from the Netherlands) coming for a visit in April, and also Stella’s brother and sister-in-law (from Australia) in June. Finally, post-Covid! 🥳
• We had two short vacations this year, both not so far from home but so interesting and relaxing at the same time; a proof and reminder of the many wonderful places we still need to discover around the area. In March we’ve been to Sagunto (Valencia province) and recently just before the year ends we spent some wonderful days in Delta del Ebro (Tarragona province).

So, here’s to a wonderful holiday and a great 2023! Warmest greetings from our family to yours! 🥂

Bye 2021, most welcome 2022!

I used the exact same title as last year’s post because 2021 seems like a copy of 2020. Ok, maybe not exactly the same…we didn’t have a hard lockdown like last year and the “new-normal” has given us freedom in many more aspects. But till this pandemic is over (no idea if it’s feasible!), I would still be looking forward to a new year with more hope than ever. But! As always when the end of the year is approaching, let’s stay still for a moment to recall the memories. Adding another candle to our birthday cakes, here come our highlights of 2021:

• My biggest decision this year is to start a new blog: placesbonitos.wordpress.com, where I try to document the beautiful places we’ve visited and the hiking routes we’ve done around the area. For our own memories, but also to help and inspire others. Got a lot of positive reactions from the visitors!
• Being busy with my new blog and as I think that the time has come, I decided that this is the last year of my ‘365project’, where for the past 8 years I’ve been posting 1 photo each day in Facebook and Instagram; the photo-of-the-day. Those are 2.922 photo’s in total!
• Time really flies, we’ve been living in Spain for 3,5 years now. How about the languages? Well, since I’m getting more confident with my Spanish, now I’ve started to learn Catalan more seriously. Joop has finished his Spanish courses and as he’s already been doing since the very beginning, he keeps using it at his work. Sky can switch between English and Spanish almost as easy as speaking Dutch, which remains her mother tongue and our language here at home. This year she received a compliment from her Catalan teacher for the progress she made. And at school she starts to learn German too. She has been learning German from Duolingo for about one year and I think she’s starting to get the hang of it.
• In the summer we’ve been travelling across 4 autonomous communities of Spain: Navarra – Asturias – Basque country – Aragón. Each with their own characteristics and beauty. It was fantastic! During the Christmas holiday we visited Calp (near Alicante) and we loved it to bits!
• At the beginning of this year when Sky was still in 3rd grade, she started to have basketball matches with her school team against other schools. And it continues now she is in 4th grade. Usually on a Saturday morning, about 5 or 6 matches per trimester. It’s so fun to watch! Especially when the opponent is quite equal or a bit better, which is about half of all the matches, it’s so exciting!
• Not only basketball, Sky is also chosen to represent her school in swimming competitions. She is the only one from her grade who competes in breaststroke, her favorite style. We have just started this December (there will be more or less one competition every 2 months). She likes it and she really did a good job, finished 4th from 9 participants in her group.
• This year the total age of the 3 of us is…100! (well, 102 if we count our cat Raia too) 😁. By the way Raia is still the sweetest cat ever and we feel very lucky to be his human!
• I got 2 of my last molar teeth removed. It’s about time, because due to their irregular positions, it’s difficult to maintain them clean and healthy. It was surprisingly an easy procedure and I hardly felt any pain, thank Goodness!
• We got a new sofa, a grey-cotton fabric this time, replacing our 14 years old red leather sofa which we donated to an animal association.

Last but not least, we would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. Let’s think positive and act positive, be the version you like the most of yourself! ❤️

Bye 2020, most welcome 2021!

For sure just like the most of you, I’m more than eager to say goodbye to 2020.
Here’s a cheers 🍻 for a healthy, safe and happy 2021!

Since I have been absent for quite a while in this blog, I thought it’s a good idea to make a summary of the most important moments of this year. 2020 is an unforgettable, extraordinary year for many reasons:

• Of course, the lockdown. March 13th was the last day we could roam around without having to wear a mask. Followed by 7 weeks of full lockdown (meaning fully stayed inside the house, I only went out alone once a week to do the groceries). Then several weeks of 1-km lockdown (we’re allowed to go outside 1 hour a day within 1 km distance of our house). In the summer in August we did have a 3 weeks roadtrip around 3 provinces of Spain: Castilla y León, Cantabria and La Rioja. After the summer the situation turned unpredictable again, until now. Province closure, municipal and region restrictions, weekend limitation, nighttime curfew, limited gatherings, and so on.
• During the first lockdown, from March till the end of school year, we had online school and I turned into a half-teacher 😁. Which went really well, amazingly. But we’re so thankful that Sky has been able to go to school “normally” since September till today which is the last day of school before Christmas holiday.
• 4th of July was a very sad day for us: our dear cat Lot died.
• 4th of September: we adopted another cat, we called him Raia and he is the sweetest, cuddliest cat we’ve ever had! 😻
• 9th of November: I got robbed. Someone distracted me after I stepped in the car and put my bag on the passanger seat. It just took 1 minute and the bag was gone. But a miracle happened, that night a man came to our house to return the bag and all the documentations inside which he found on the side of the road. I lost my phone, some money and the credit card (which I have blocked immediately after the robbery) but most importantly I got all my papers back!
• 10th of November: The day we -super proud parents- will always remember (yes, it’s the next day after I got robbed…such an emotional roller-coaster). The new book of J.K.Rowling (titled “El Ickabog” in Spanish) was released and Sky’s drawing is in it!!! She is one of the 34 winners of the drawing competition for the book’s illustration. That night she appeared in the television, both in children news and in 9 p.m. journal. The interview was done a few days before and having a TV-crew coming to our house was probably a one-in-a-lifetime experience. 😍
• This is the year when Sky has donated 25 cm of her hair for a good cause, when I started to drive the car again (yes, it took me almost 2 years to collect my mood to mingle in the Spanish traffic), when Sky has to wait 3 months to be able to celebrate her birthday with some friends, when we were getting creative in cooking, doing exercises, using resources, playing, studying, meeting-up…. a year when we learn to know all the streets around our house and discover all the beautiful places in our city or just outside the city (we’re lucky to live in a pretty area).
• And moreover, this is the year where we all have to slow down, to learn to value the things we have and be grateful, instead of rushing, living life on autopilot and always wanting to have more and to go farther. I do hope with all of my heart that next year will feel normal again, but let’s not lose the positive things we’ve got from this extraordinary year 2020.

Catalan Book Review

 

And then comes the moment that she brings a book from school to be read and reviewed…in Catalan language! Up till now she has done about 4 book reports on her previous class (1^st grade) and 1 book in this new class, but all of them were in English. She doesn’t even get one in Spanish yet. So she’s quite nervous that she now has to read and review a book in Catalan. It’s not a very long and difficult book, but it does have quite some text to read.

14 months ago she only spoke a few words in English and zero Spanish except ‘hola’ and ‘adios’. Nowadays she speaks English quite well and also Spanish. According to herself her English is at this moment a bit better than her Spanish, but it’s absolutely amazing how quickly she masters these two languages. Saying so, learning Catalan is not her focus last year. She understands it a bit (much much more than we do!) but talking is difficult and reading also. Since Catalan’s writing is not phonetically spoken like Spanish. You read it differently than how you speak it. Maybe this year her teacher wants her to learn more Catalan, hence giving her a Catalan book to be reviewed. Maybe.

Most people living in Catalonia are bilingual. They switch between Spanish and Catalan fluently, which is amazing. Well, good thing and bad thing. Because while they mostly don’t mind to speak only in Spanish when they find out we’re not speaking Catalan (yet), they still tend to use some Catalan words in their speaking. So it happened that we suddenly heard our doctor said something in Catalan, but also the neighbour, office colleague, and of course on the street where it’s all written and said in Catalan (about 70-80%). We had one funny experience when we bought Sky’s bike from a guy living in Vic, a city about one hour riding from our house. As usual, we started the conversation by apologizing for our very simple Spanish. His answer: “Well, it’s not my first language either (Catalan it is), so we are equal.” That was a genius statement!!

 

For those who think that Spanish and Catalan are similar…no they are not. Well okay, the amount of similar vocabulary is significant and you will learn Catalan absolutely quicker when you already speak Spanish. When I read I can often guess the meaning of the text (based on my Spanish vocabulary). But when listening, depending on who’s speaking and the context, sometimes I understand completely zero and other times up to 40%. That’s it. I followed basic Catalan class last year, 20 hours in 2 weeks. All my classmates were South-American whose Spanish is their mother language. And they all need to learn Catalan from the basic. That shows how different those two languages are. I do not avoid to learn more Catalan, not at all. But at this point I think it’s wiser to strengthen my Spanish first. My plan is to continue learning Catalan next year. Poco a poco, they say. Poc a poc, in Catalan. Little by little.

Back to the book review. I promised Sky to read the book together with her, because we are learning together. I think that relieves her a bit, knowing that we are all in the same journey. That it’s not something scary we’re facing, but an interesting stuff for all of us. Learning language takes time, but it’s fun! 🙂

Her Spanish comics

Emigration Milestone

Last week I felt that we have reached an important milestone regarding our emigration from the Netherlands to Spain, 14 months ago. I said “we”, but it’s actually Sky’s milestone. For the first time since our move she wanted to; and was able to; talk about our time in the Netherlands. Without crying or feeling homesick. Just talking. With the same emotion like when we talk about the dinosaurs. We were talking about her previous classmates and her friends, in which grade they are now. About how we used to walk to school (“that I still remember very well”, she said) and also to the grocery store (“I’m not sure I remember that”), and how the surroundings of our previous house have changed rapidly from what we heard from friends living nearby.

It sounds simple. But I believe it’s a huge milestone for her, and for us. I sensed how she feels more and more ‘home’ here in Spain. And by being able to talk about her previous life without feeling homesick, means she already feels comfortable with her new life, her new environment.

And she likes her school a lot. She missed school so much during the long summer holiday. Yesterday she told us: “I have so many friends here, sometimes I don’t know who I should play with!” Such a luxury! And an awesome news to hear for us, her parents! 🙂

A little celebration last weekend because she turns 7,5 years old!

Our summer holiday

This summer has been fabulous. We spent almost 3 weeks travelling around the Aragón region of Huesca province of Spain and a bit of the Basque Country of French. It was such a beautiful region. Rich of mountains, forests, nature, animal, but also culture and things-to-do. In August it’s literally a cool place to go since the temperature is a few grades lower than the rest of Spain (which is…hot).

Here’s a summary of our day-to-day holiday pictures (the same like I posted as ‘photo of the day’ in my Instagram: m_stella_n):

El Salinar (salt mining) in Peralta de la Sal.

Castle of Monzon, Huesca.

Barranco (nature preserve) in Gabasa, Huesca, Aragon.

Alquezar, one of the most beautiful village in Spain. We did the hike along the river Vero…amazing!

Arrived in Tarnos, France. Sky took Lot for a stroll in the garden of our holiday house. Lot has been fantastic during the whole holiday!

The beach of Tarnos, France.

Visited a cute village La Bastide-Clairence and an amazing prehistoric cave Grottes d’Oxocelhaya et d’Isturits.

Beautiful nature reserve park du Marais d’Orx. Spotting some beavers and turtles!

Biarritz, France.

Stand up peddle at Hossegor Lake, French.

Bayonne, French.

The backyard of our 3rd holiday house in Latré, Aragon, Spain.

A ‘poza’ in the midst of beautiful greens, Huesca, Spain.

Jaca, Aragon, Huesca.

An ‘animated forest’, Parque Lacuniacha, Huesca.

“Senda de Izarbe”, a walking trail with painted rocks on the route.

Castillo de Loarre, one of the oldest in Spain and one of the best preserved Romanesque castle and abbey in Europe.

“Fiesta de San Lorenzo” in Huesca.

summer holiday ‘casals’ in Spain

We are now in our 4th week of in total 11 weeks of summer holiday. Eleven?? Yes, 11! While the summer school holiday in the Netherlands is 6 weeks, here in Spain the kids are roaming free in the summer for almost 3 months. I have to admit they have a reason for it, since the summer months are just too warm…we reached 40°C last week and the average is between 32-35°C. So it’s often too hot to do anything, especially in the midday hours (that’s why Spanish people are having ‘siesta‘ between 2 and 4pm, or simply stop working and having an extensive lunch). I think going to school with this temperature would not be such a good idea.

But 11 weeks…first time hearing it I had a shiver and inevitably came into my mind: What should we do in those weeks??
I know the summer break should be used to relax and recharge. I know that we should not entertain our kids too much. I know that being bored every now and then is good for our kids’ creativity. And in-between those long weeks we could also spend 2-3 weeks to have our family holiday. But still…11 weeks seem so endless!

Now, in our 4th week, I must say we are going good. Time flies indeed. And my girl has grown more like a friend rather than a child I should entertain all the time. She could create her own play or project and I feel like walking alongside instead of pulling or pushing her. We go out together and discover new places, but also stay at home having a chat or other cozy moments. That’s so nice! Still some long weeks to go, but I’m sure we will survive, haha!

For those who needs some activities for the kids, one thing I learned this summer in Spain is that there are lots and lots of summer courses organized in the summer months. It’s called “casal“, and you can find them in all sorts, activity types, prices etc. From sport to dance, from art to technics…in Spanish or English or Catalan (or mixed, like most)…only in the morning till lunch or the whole day…the offers are almost infinite. If both parents have to work (or the kids simply want to join the activities), it’s a perfect way to have fun. The signing up often starts months earlier and the popular casals get full very quickly. Almost all casals are held in June, July and the first week of September, but not in August. From what we experienced last year, in August the whole city seems to be asleep…

Since this is the first time for Sky to join a casal, we only chose two. She did an art casal two weeks ago and this week a theatre casal. And she loves them!! She even already said next year she wants to do these two again…at least, but probably more! And we even just prolonged the theatre casal because she’s just so curious what theme they will be doing next week and she asked me if she can come for another week. Of course!
I’m so happy to see that she enjoys the casals so much. At the beginning I was a bit worried about the language, since the official language is Catalans, and that’s her least strong language. But apparently it’s not a problem at all. When it’s needed they will talk in Spanish, and joining casals means her Catalans is improving a lot! A win-win situation to maintain her foreign languages during this long summer holiday.

So here are some photo’s of her casals results. The theme of the art casal is ‘journey to Paris’, so they made a 3D Louvre and Eiffel tower, sculpted a clay Gargoyle, painted themselves as Mona Lisa, drew like a Monet, painted Notre Dame, the Thalys high speed train and the tourists’ boat along the Seine river…

And at the theatre casal the story goes about the wolf. But instead of being the big scary wolf like in the Red Riding Hood, the 3 little pigs and the seven little goats story, this wolf is lonely and wanted to make friends with all the characters in those stories. I really beam with pride watching the video of their performance. My girl really seems to have fun. She did a great job playing her role, and speaking her dialogue in a language she didn’t know at all one year ago! ♥

She is one of the 4 (instead of 7) little goats.

The star of the end dance at the party of the wolf!

summer camp, end of school year

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While I’m typing this, my daughter is in the summer camp. It’s the end of the school year here in Spain, and the school organizes a 3-days summer camp each year. Hundreds of children from all grades are having one of the most joyful days in their life. Each two grades share the same destination. Sky is in the first grade, and together with the second grade she is now staying in a ‘casa de colonias‘, a hotel-like building with many facilities indoor and outdoor where children or other big groups can enjoy their time together. I have received photo’s from her teacher yesterday and today and while I know that the hotel is in the midst of nature, I’m still impressed about how green and beautiful the surroundings are. I saw photo’s of my daughter and her friends nurturing vegetable gardens, playing games between the bushes, having their snacks under the shadow of the many big trees, a group photo in their dormitory with the many bunk beds… I think she is having a huge fun!

But it was not easy, it is not. Because this is the very first time she is not sleeping with us at night. The first time she spends more than three quarter of a day without us, her parents. And that for 2 nights; 3 days! Of course we have prepared her (and the other way around) as best as we could. We had talks, she had tears and stomach ache. Woke up in the middle of the night. More talks, more tears. It’s all in the package. Sooner or later there will be the first time. And the time has come. She knows it really well, and however she’s quite scared of it, she was also very excited. Not once she said she didn’t want to go to the camp. I think she wanted to try and she knew she would have tons of fun. Only the first step is always a bit scary. For all of us!

learn and be proud

School’s field trip to Maritime Museum Barcelona

We were walking to her school one morning when she asked me: “Mama, can I stay in this school for many years? Till what age can I stay at school actually?” I smiled at her and answered: “Till you’re 18 years old. And yes, you can stay as long as you like.”

And I really hope I didn’t make a false promise. She likes her school very much and we; all three of us; like to live here. So hopefully she can indeed stay for many years at her amazing school.

So many things happened in the past few months. Yesterday was the last day of my Spanish course this school year. In September I will start with the next level and I got more than enough exam-points for that. Our Spanish is getting better and better. I wouldn’t say we’re advanced, but we’ve got enough to communicate with people. Sky has just got her periodical eye-control and we bought new glasses for her (her right eye now has lower cylinder and the left one stays the same). And she has finished a set of dental treatments (6 visits were needed in total). And all of those were done fully in Spanish. We’re so proud of ourselves!

But the most amazing thing is of course to see how well Sky is developing in these 10 months we’re living in Spain. I see that she now feels confident to communicate in English and Spanish, and she understands Catalans much better than me. At the Jocs Florals (Sant Jordi) celebration at school 6 weeks ago, she was one of the winners of poetry-drawing competition…in the Spanish category!!! We were called secretly by her teacher a few weeks before to attend the ceremony, so to gave her a surprise that we were there. It was such a grand moment to watch her on the stage…so proud…❤️