Thursday, July 14, 2011

Summer

Wow - it is hard to believe that it has been a month since I last posted. We have been jet setting in Spain, moving, taking a French class and trying to relax with the kids by the pool. We had an amazing time in Spain. We started by going to Madrid for 3 days and enjoyed some museums, parks and fast food. We then flew to Mallorca - a little island off the coast of Spain. We rented a car and drove around this amazing little island. We saw beaches and mountains and lots of beautiful countryside. We spent 5 days here and we all felt that we could have stayed longer. The beautiful Mediterranean Sea was absolutely gorgeous. We then headed back to Madrid for another week. We saw more museums, went to malls, drank Starbucks, walked through parks, went to a zoo, and enjoyed amazing architecture. Overall it was an amazing opportunity, one our kids will hopefully never forget.

As soon as we got back, we started a French intensive course at the university. It is 8-12 everyday for 5 weeks. It has been a huge boost in our language, but our brain hurt at the end of the time. We also joined a pool here and that has been fun. We meet the kids here after class and hang out for a few hours to play and swim.

In the midst of all these things we moved to another apartment. Our new apartment was painted, and it looks great. It was a good opportunity for us to clean out some things, go through clothes that were too small and reevaluate what we are choosing to keep around us. So overall it was a really positive experience.

The kids are having a good summer too - they are spending the night at friends house, enjoying some independence while we are at class and love being lazy. Ron has been taking the time to hang out with some of the nationals and practice his French while drinking tea. It has been good to try to build some good relationships.

Well, in the next post I will put up some pictures from our summer. Internet and power continue to be an issue, although this week the power has been much better. The president promised to keep the power better since the last riots and demonstrations. So hopefully it will continue! Enjoy your summer! Drop us a line if you have some time.