ARE WE MOVING OR NOT?
We have been on the verge of moving for a week now, so I keep thinking I shouldn't buy anything that I would have to move. Then for some reason or another we don't move and we order Pizza again, and resort to using paper towel as the toilet paper runs out. I have also washed my clothes with Shampoo this week as to avoid buying new detergent that I have to move.
THE TRANSFORMER...
The boys dragged their x box here from the US and soon found out a regular converter plug wouldn't work. It became Holden's and Ricky's mission to find a transformer. A device that could convert US 220 volt to Spain's 110 volt. It was like an emergency situation. How could they go week without Halo or Call of Duty? I said, "Just buy a new European model and save yourself the time." "I read on the internet a transformer is $16, why would I spend 200euros?" Ricky bit back. We combed every tech store in town looking with no success. We were told we had to go to "The Rambla's" the famous tourist street and find something in an "off" store. Like an underground business.
"Hey, there is a specialty electric store." Ricky blurts out as he pulls up onto the curb in the mini van.
And here it is.....
"If this works, you should play XBOX in Spanish," I say, grasping for something cultural.
The moment of transformer truth.....
"It's on fire, quick, unplug it Faith," yells Holden. Ricky leaps over Faith and grabs pulls the plug out. The XBOX is smoking.
"I am going to the store to buy a European XBOX , let's go boys," and Ricky is out the door.
MY FIRST GiRLS LUNCH
"If you aren't too busy Andrea, some of us are getting together for lunch," one of the Mom's at school asked on Monday.
"Too busy?" I have not had one social engagement in 3 weeks.
ON THE UPHILL NOW....
Later in the week Cambrie got invited to a friend's "Sea House" in Tamiriu (Costa Brava). I met the mother and in talking she invited the whole family out. I felt so emotional that a stranger would invite our whole family to her place. Our isolated family bubble was opening and all of us we more than ready for some socializing. Leave it to Cambrie to hook us up with a trip to Costa Brava.
Cambrie wake boarding for first time on Mediterranian Sea.
Holden looks pretty happy.
Luke checking out the water from the dock.
Andrea and her new friend Anke from Holland as we pull up to cafe.
Cambrie with Merel from Holland, Isabel from Brazil, and Zoe from Napa Valley after a fun weekend.
I did say UPS and DOWNS.....
Our car got towed this week and we discovered that Barcelona has a whole underground network of towing storage facilities. If your car gets towed her, they leave a bright green triangle sticker on the ground where your car used to be. We drove around and around and then realized that a little elevator on the side of the road led down to the tow yard below. 200e later we back home.
Then, when we got home from the Sea, our new mini van broke down. For some reason it didn't recognize the chip in the key that talks to the engine. We spent a frustrating Sunday being trapped without a car to get anywhere, we tried explaining this problem to emergeny Spanish locksmiths, but that was impossible. We sent the kids to school in a taxi Monday morning and waited for the rental car places to open.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK....
ANDREA:
"crap I didn't realize I dropped my phone in the street."
FAITH:
"Mom will your phone still work?"
CAMBRIE:
"Mom, you need to wash all these clothes again, they smell like cat pee."
LUKE:
After surfing in a mini storm swell...
"It would have been safer to swim in a sewage plant...the garbage was one thing, but when poo floated by, I had get out. Smell me."
HOLDEN:
"Mom, my 11:30pm curfew is not going to fly here. People don't even start eating dinner until 10:30pm."
After the car challenge this week, I added the column..."things we miss about America." Of course missing friends and family are a given.
oxox Andrea
