Permanent quarters

We are doing fine here in Spain. It has taken us a while to get settled. After about 3 weeks in our temporary quarters (in the city), we finally moved into our permanent quarters on September 21st. We live a short distance outside Madrid in an area called Somosaguas Centro which is actually a part of Pozuelo de Alarcon (a near-lying suburb of Madrid). A large park (Casa de Campo) lies between our neighborhood and downtown Madrid. To get to work, it is an hour commute by foot/metro and a 25 minute drive (not during rush hour).

Jay’s job here is much different than it was in Abidjan because his responsibilities are fewer. He is bored already, but he handles it pretty well. The office politics of European posts leave something to be desired, but even so, we’ve met plenty of very nice people and are certain that we will enjoy our time here.

For the past several days, we have been very busy getting our place spiffed up. We are living in a duplex again, but the house is very large…four levels. A loft, guest room, 3 bedrooms, an eat-in kitchen (yay!), dining and large living room, and the basement has a HUGE play area for the kids plus separate storage and laundry rooms. There are four full baths and one half bath. So, like I said…BIG. We definitely have room for visitors (hint, hint). The yard is smallish, but certainly sufficient and there is a gardener who handles the routine stuff (mowing and hedge trimming). No complaints there…

The construction is a bit dated and (as with any older place) there are some quirky issues to be resolved, but (all in all) we think it is gonna be fine once we finish scrubbing it down. Thankfully, there have not been too many allergy issues with the place, but apparently there are few renters who share our enthusiasm for cleanliness. It’s like no one has really cleaned the place in about 10 years. We have to be pretty picky about that stuff because of Jay’s allergies… and also because our kids insist on licking random objects and eating things off the floor. What is that about? Oh well, they’re building their immunity, right?

Arrival in Spain

La Plaza Mayor

On September 1st, we headed to Madrid. Except for a minor delay in Atlanta, the flights were mostly uneventful. Emily was relieved to discover that (after so many months) James and Simon haven’t lost their trans-Atlantic travelability.

Things are getting on track here in España. It is definitely nice to have all of us together and living as a family under one roof. It has taken a bit of getting used to for all of us. During the 8 month separation, we all became accustomed to our particular circumstances, and whenever Jay visited, it always felt like we were on vacation. So, now we’re in the process of re-learning how to live as a family in real life conditions. It hasn’t been too rough though, because we’re so relieved to be together.

We arrived in Madrid just before Labor Day weekend, so we had some time to settle in and recover from jetlag. Jay has been to work for a few days and Emily has been at home with the boys. So far, so good. We are in a temporary residence in downtown Madrid at present which allows us the opportunity to get acquainted with the city. We’ve done a little exploring and have been happy with what we’ve seen of the city so far. How could anyone complain about a place that has an entire museum devoted to cured pork?

It's not really a museum...more like a giant meat market.
Pig = yummy!

Madrid has a nice mix of old and new architecture and a surprising number of parks and green spaces (especially nice for the boys). Thankfully, the public transportation system is great here, so even when we do move to our permanent residence (in 2 weeks or so), we will still have relatively easy access to the sites.

Our permanent residence is a bit further out where houses are larger and have backyards. The family living next door, (Armitage), is acting as our social sponsors. They are very nice and have 2 children just older than ours, and (so far) the kids play really well together. Yay! You gotta love built-in playmates. We hear good things about our home and our neighborhood and are hopeful that our move-in will go smoothly.

It seems like we probably won’t receive our stuff for a while. Our air shipment probably won’t be here for 2-3 weeks and our water/ground shipment will take even longer. We should be fine though. Getting settled and acquainted with Madrid should keep Jay and I busy enough. Since they have an APO here, Em planned ahead and shipped some toys, which should occupy the boys sufficiently until the rest arrive.

We have discovered that Spaniards are a lot like other Europeans in that they are aloof/reserved at first, but nice once you get an opportunity to talk a little bit. Everyone we have interacted with so far has been very helpful and kind. The boys tend to attract a lot of admirers where ever we go…partially because they are muy rubio, but also because it seems that Spaniards really love children.

The Spanish-speaking is going alright. Emily can communicate well enough to get by, but she is often annoyed that (1) she knows her “cavewoman Spanish” is probably auditory torture for all her listeners, and (2) the Spanish insist on using different words for everything, so she has found it necessary to re-learn a lot of vocabulary (aseos instead of baños, zumos instead of jugos). Fortunately, the Embassy provides free Spanish classes, so we’ll definitely get on-board with those as soon as possible.

More news next month. (Hopefully we’ll be in our permanent quarters by then.)

Abrazos,
La Familia Biddulph

The Royal Palace of Madrid and courtyard

James in front of the palace...about 12 seconds before his balloon flew into a tree and the wailing commenced.

Cathedral of Almudena