Land of the Poop Log

Sending your child to a school in a foreign country is always an interesting experience.

Girona is now our home for the next ?? years, so certain things no longer phase me like they once did.

The school-home communication is very different here, but I am used to it now.

Imagine my delight when a huge folder of work arrived in Eston's backpack yesterday!

I was so excited to get home and read and look at everything.

Crazy, I know.

Inside the folder was an envelope containing his progress report.

All in Spanish, which was fortunate as it would have taken me hours to read it in Catalan.

I had a conference with Eston's teacher last year, but this is his first "real" progress report.

I quickly scanned it to be sure there was nothing we should be super concerned with.

As expected, the report was incredibly positive and Eston is just as fun, respectful and focused at school as he is at home.

The only comment that freaked me out (well, I am a teacher) is that Eston does not always start his math work on his own.  His teacher has to ask him and she does not have to do this with him with any other area of study in the Montessori classroom.

She wrote that she was not worried because his math skills are solid and where they need to be, but of course I was downloading math activities on the Montessori Print Shop website this morning.

Well, he does have over two weeks off from school and he asked if we could have "Mommy School."

No reason not to throw a few extra math activities in the mix to get him excited about math!

Anyway, I was super proud of his progress and I feel very confident in the school choice we made.

The children often draw and write about emotions in his classroom.

Here are a couple of Eston's drawings that were included in his portfolio:

 I particularly like the day he seems to be wearing glasses.

These are Eston's addition cards:

Here in Girona it is not the norm to give teachers presents for the holidays.

I struggle with this, so Eston made each of his teachers a card and a little craft.

 Okay, do you see the way Eston made his letter "C?"

Have I blogged about this before?

I can't remember.

Anyway, the Catalan alphabet is a little different and he keeps using their "C" which is actually not a "C."

I know, I know…can we confuse him any more?

We are going to work on this during vacation as well.

Eston does not return to school until January 8th.

A lot of parents send their kids to casals, which is like a camp/day care during school breaks.

I am actually excited to have Eston at home.

He is at school from Monday-Friday from 9:15-5:15.

We leave our apartment at 8:45 and in the evenings we don't arrive home until nearly 6pm.

Eston goes to bed at 7:30, so I don't spend a lot of time with him during the week.

We have a whole list of fun things we are going to do and I am very excited.

One thing I won't miss these next two weeks…the crazy drop-off and pick-up situation at school.

Parents park everywhere, often illegally, and I am so over it. 

Very few things frustrate me, but this does.

I tried patience and acceptance, but now I park two blocks away and just walk so I don't have to deal with people who are not courteous to others (and children)!

Evidence can be found below.

This person parked in the scooter parking, making it nearly impossible for any of the high school kids to get their scooters out on the road safely.

They are also blocking half the sidewalk, making it tricky for families to get to their parked cars.

 Most of our friends back home in the USA have their "Elf on a Shelf" at this time of year.

Well, here in Catalunya we have Caga Tio.

He comes out every year on December 8th.

The kids feed him orange peels and keep him warm with blankets in hopes that he will grow (and need to relieve himself from all the citrus).

Some parents go as far as starting with a small Caga Tio and slowly replacing him with larger ones, but we keep it simple around here.

On Christmas Eve we will literally beat him with a stick (we use a wooden kitchen spoon) as we sing the traditional song.

"Caga tió,

caga turron,

avellanes i mató,

si no cagues bé

et daré un cop de bastó.

caga tió!"

And the translation…

Poop log,

Poop nougats (turrón),

hazelnuts and mató cheese,

if you don't poop well,

I'll hit you with a stick,

poop log!

So once poor Caga Tio has been beaten enough, he has to "relieve" himself and will poo some candies and a small gift.

Makes Elf on a Shelf look tame, let me tell you.

And this afternoon at school Eston and his pals will be beating the Caga Tio on their playground and enjoying a little sweet treat afterwards.

Because nothing says "appropriate classroom holiday party" like a bunch of kids hitting a poor log with a painted face.

Aaah, Catalunya, I love you.

Yes, this is NOT a Spanish thing…Caga Tio is only appreciated here in Catalunya, thank you very much.

 Our Caga Tio is keeping himself warm behind some presents.

And yes, he will be ready for a potty break on Christmas Eve.

Cadaques

We have just returned from a fantastic weekend in Cadaques.

Though it has changed slightly from the sleepy fishing village/artists retreat it once was, it is still a gorgeous place to spend some time.

Eston did not have school on Friday.

The children and I spent the morning packing and organizing while Rory was training.

We packed the car and set off for Cadaques in the last afternoon.

The middle seat of our car comes completely out, making it super easy to pack bikes and such!

 Charlotte is an expert navigator.

 It is a little over an hour drive and both children fell asleep, so Rory and I were able to catch up a bit and enjoy the beautiful drive.

There is only one road in and out of Cadaques and it is extremely narrow and twisty.

The views were just stunning!

 We frequently use a website that rents vacation homes.

It is cheaper than a hotel and we can have multiple bedrooms and a kitchen.

The apartment we rented in Cadaques was absolutely gorgeous and had three bedrooms, which was ideal.

The kids can always share, but it is always easier when everyone can have their own space for sleeping.

 It was extremely cold and windy on Friday evening.

We bundled up and went for a short walk.

 We were all slow to rise on Friday morning.

Aurelia was awake after 7am and Eston slept until after 8am.

We watched the sunrise from our balcony with Aurelia...

 Eston woke up and went outside in his pajamas...

 Aurelia had her morning nap while Eston and I made pizza dough and planned our day a bit.

 We set out on a nice hike after Aurelia's morning nap.

Rory was out training, so I was alone with the kids.

We started the hike with our jackets, but we lucked out and enjoyed a day of unseasonably warm temperatures.

It reached over 60 degrees and the sun felt so great.

 The kids and I hiked around the peninsula and found a little cove.

Eston and Aurelia played for a bit and we enjoyed the sun.

 This was our apartment building...

 Rory returned later in the afternoon and we went out for a short stroll after he had a rest.

It is not good for him to walk very far, so we just did a short walk.

 Eston and I were intrigued by this house!

 Taking a rest on the dock...

 This morning I took Charlotte out for a little walk around town and took a few photos...

 Our apartment was on the other side of this spectacular door...

 The staircase was hand-carved wood…wow.

We packed the car this morning and I drove back to Girona with the children while Rory ride his bike.

There were a ton of camper vans on the narrow road and I held my breath more than once, but thankfully I have driven on a few narrow roads in various countries, so it was not too bad.

Eston and Aurelia were wide awake for our drive, so I made Eston the navigator.

Four-year-olds make the best navigators, seriously.

I don't have a GPS or anything, so I had Eston look for signs that said "Francia."  

I told him France was the wrong way, so we had to be sure to go the opposite way when the signs said "Francia."

Let me tell you, my son was on it (and it kept him occupied for the entire drive).

"MOM!  There is a sign that says France!  Don't go that way!  That sign says Girona!  That is the right way!"

We found the highway to Girona in no time and were home in just over an hour.

Rory insisted I should park the car in the garage and he would go back later to unload everything.

However, I knew he would be exhausted after his long training session, so the kids and I drove straight to the apartment and illegally parked while we unloaded.

Eston was super helpful and we got everything into the foyer of our building.

I then grabbed Aurelia and we loaded the elevator.

I left the kids in the apartment and ran down to fill the elevator again.

Thankfully it was only two trips.

I then grabbed the kids and put them back in the car and we drove back around to the parking garage to park the car.

We walked home feeling quite pleased with our amazing team effort.

Eston was so proud when Rory came home and Rory had no idea how we'd managed to get it all done!

Florence, Italy

When I tell people that we live in Spain a frequent response is, "Oh, how lovely!  You must travel around Europe every weekend!"

Well, no.

We are not on vacation in Spain, we live here.

There is a large difference.

Eston goes to school, Rory goes to work, Aurelia needs love and care, the apartment has to be cleaned, groceries have to be purchased, the car needs washing, bills have to be paid...normal life.

It is an amazing experience, no doubt, but things are pretty normal around here.

I have taken the kids on a couple of trips, but traveling alone with them is not super relaxing and I don't like Eston to miss school.

Anyway, we decided a family vacation was needed after such a long year of frequent separation.

We made a list of places...Greece, Turkey, etc.

In the end Rory only had a few days before he had to begin training for 2014 and we did not want Eston to miss much school.

We decided to go somewhere nearby and it is a quick hour flight from Girona to Pisa, so we decided to visit Florence, Italy.

We flew from Girona on Thursday afternoon and landed in Pisa an hour later.

Ryan Air has dirst cheap (we all flew for less than $200 US dollars) but you are only allowed to bring a certain amount of luggage.  

Slightly tricky with two kids, but we made it work.

We took the bus from Pisa to the center of Florence.

The bus was another hour, but we arrived in Florence before dark and took a taxi to our vacation rental.

The apartment, built in 1083, was directly across from the Palazzo Pitti.

Amazing.

We woke up on Friday morning and hit the ground running.

Eston and I had done a bit of Florence research and he was super excited to see things we had read about.

We crossed the famous Ponte Vecchio on our way across the river...

Eston marveled at the view! 

 People seemed surprised that we took our children to Florence, but I think you can take children anywhere with proper preparation.

The children behaved perfectly in art museums and then we would take a break and relax and just watch the world go by.

 One of our first stops was the Duomo.

We had read quite a bit about it and Eston was keen to climb the 417 steps to the top.

Tour books suggested leaving children under 6 at home, but I never listen to tour books.

Eston made it faster than most of the out-of-shape adults and I fashioned a "sling" for Aurelia with a blanket and managed to get to the top with her.

Worth every step, let me tell you!!

 I love how tiny Eston looks in this photo!

 I did a lot of research on the different museums and former palaces, so I had lots of stories to tell Eston.

This kept him completely entertained as we toured various places and museums.

He asked good questions and was very respectful.

We have been in lots of art museums and he knows the expectations, so it was quite fun.

Obviously we don't spend 4 hours in a museum.

I do the research to see what key things we want to see and then anything after is a bonus.

 The weather did not cooperate, but that did not slow us down!

I wore my fit pedometer each day.

On Friday we all walked 11.34 kilometers.

Saturday we walked 15.8 kilometers.

Sunday we walked 7 kilometers.

Eston walked every step of the way and never complained, though once he did ask if we were near a taxi cab stand.

Aurelia was cozy in her stroller with the rain fly on, so we actually enjoyed our rainy walks.

 We ate in some really fabulous restaurants (the Italians love children, so it was never a problem).

Aurelia adored Florentine steak and Eston ate a plateful of tiramisu.

We arrived back in Girona early Monday morning and dropped Eston off at school on our way back from the airport.

This may have been a little much for the poor guy, as he is home sick today and has been sleeping for most of the day.

Charlotte enjoyed her stay at the residencia and we are getting back on track.

Lots of laundry after such a fun weekend, hah!

We have Eston's parent/teacher conference tomorrow afternoon (gulp).

His school has several throughout the year, but I am always nervous for the first one, especially since he is relatively new at this school.

Rita is going to stay home with Rita so we can give our full attention to the meeting (and language).

Fall arrived when we were in Italy!

I had to turn on the heat in Eston and Aurelia's bedrooms last night.

Leaves are turning color and it is so beautiful outside.