It has been an eventful four months. June and July were packed with goodbye parties and beach BBQs as the majority of my friends returned to their respective countries. Summertime was a more relaxed schedule with the kids, filled with English at the beach or the pool...seeing as how it got into the 90s almost every day! We fully enjoyed the World Cup, where I was simultaneously sad for the US and ecstatic for Spain's first win. The kids were adorable, especially my oldest,a 12 year old boy enraptured by his football (soccer) heroes! 
One of my ventures was a day trip with Lisa (my German language school intern friend) and her two cousins to Tarifa. This included teaching them English curse words, taking a mountain of pictures of the African coast/ruins of the old city/the white dune sands and crystal clear blue-green water, hiking up a huge dune and a beach picnic. The festival of Malaga was a week where the city threw out all the stops in celebration with dancing flamenco, drinking Malaga's famous sweet wine, eating traditional Spanish food, almost killing yourself on state fair-like rides and in general making merry Spanish style--incredibly fun!
In mid-July my good friend Maddie came to visit and I got a week of vacation to explore Barcelona and Paris with her. It was unforgettable! The highlights: tapas in Malaga, cheese and wine in a cafe in Montmart with my Parisian au pair friend Marie, the Louve and D'Orssay art museums, Versailles (my favorite!!), Notre Dame, Gaui's mind-bending architecture, going up the Eiffel tower (pictured here with Maddie and Marie), the food including picnics in the park and a BBQ in the countryside with Marie, the Paris Opera House, the crypts, a WWII walking tour, and doing it all with Maddie.
My favorite memory: lying in the grass in Marie Antoinette's picturesque "village" with Maddie, soaking up the pale blue skies and green countryside, processing the ridiculous extravagance that is the Versailles palace, and planning how to explore the acres of the famous gardens. Of course, it was not all baby's breath and rose petals--we had our fair share of travel snags and stresses but all in all, it was an amazing trip. I count myself so lucky to have these experiences!
At the end of July I moved to La Cala del Moral, a small fishing village that got swallowed up by Malaga metropolis, to be with friends of my first family. My first family went to Asturias for vacation so I spent my August days with two boys, nine and twelve, their funny welcoming parents, and their grandmother in her huge house. They spoke English at a lower level than my last kids so my Spanish got a tougher work-out than before! Afternoon siestas, dips in the pool three times a day, a new Spanish dish to try daily and various trips with the family made the month seem like vacation.
I went to the caves of Nerja with them (which is also my favorite beach on La Costa del Sol!) and was blown away by the huge rock formations. We also went to Rio Verde, which is a small valley near Granada in the mountains with a river full of waterfalls, cliffs to dive off of (Exhibit A to the left), and water so cold and clear you think it must have been snow two minutes before. Beautiful!! I am excited for the next chapter in my Spanish adventure book, though...
It is entitled "Madrid: What the Heck am I Doing?!" So, the grandmother of my first family has health problems and is moving in to live with them. This = no room or work for me, which simultaneously breaks my heart at leaving the kids and refreshes me with the prospect of a new journey. I decided to look for a family in Madrid since a) I have never been here, b) Malaga was feeling too small for another ten months, c) I can travel more and d) most of my friends were leaving. At the end of August I was still asking myself and the knots in my stomach why I was uprooting myself, but I was optimistic. And it has exceeded my expectations! I found a family of three, with a Spanish mother, a Venezuelan father, and a 3-year old girl named Jasmin. She is very smart, friendly, well-behaved and in general a bundle of adorable! We are settling into a great routine. I left Malaga on September 3 after a farewell party with my friends and a night out with my August family. O, bittersweet feelings!
I will start Spanish classes in October and continue my Spanish studies, along with beginning some volunteer work in a public library--I am following the previous blog's train of thought of school libary. We will see what happens! I have high hopes for my time here in Madrid. The family is very welcoming and I have already made a few Spanish and au pair friends. Well, that's all for now, folks--feel free to email me, I love hearing from y'all! Hope you had a great summer and good luck with everything! PS If you are wondering, this picture is of the matching bracelets from Torremolinos that Lisa, her cousins, and I got while spending time together. Five bonus points if you can point out my hand!
No comments:
Post a Comment