Learning Learning Learning!
Learning at school, learning at futbol, learning Spanish, learning Padel, learning Europe!
School’s (escuela) in session (for me and the kids!)
So the kids (niños) started school in September and we are getting back into a routine after the whirlwind summer season….a few quick updates:
Enrolling Ellory in ‘The Federation’ has been a process. To play futbol here we have to get a ‘players card’ from the federation, and they don’t make it easy (facil). No, she is not sponsored and has not signed any contracts (financial or otherwise). Yes, she is here legally. No, she doesn’t have any income from futbol. Yes, we have had a ‘Federation approved physician’ give her a specific type of physical….etc etc etc. (she is 7 - they don’t mess around in España Futbol Leagues!). We still feel this is best for her vs the school program as 1) they really don’t speak English 2) much higher level and commitment 3) they push the hell out of her. Oh, and they sell beer (cerveza) at her practices…!!! (no I don’t get one).
Hayes is really doing an amazing job learning (aprendizaje from aprender) Spanish. I always (siempre) ask ‘what is the word for X?’ and he somehow always knows the answer. Ellory - not so much!
We had more visitors from the US!
My Dad and Vickie came back to Barcelona for a few days before they flew to Sardegna for a week of exploring (I went with them only for a day and had dinner with them!) before they went to Croatia to ride bikes and relax with friends (what a trip!). They returned to Barcelona early this week for a few days (días)! See you two for your 3rd trip inside of 14 months or so to Barcelona in March! Yay! Thank you both for being such a good role model for my family…
Ashley’s other brother (hermano) Eric came with his family (she is 2 for 2 on siblings visiting!)! More first-timers to Europe - they really loved it (as did their young daughters!). We checked as many boxes as possible with them during their trip and hope to check more the next time they return…Thank you Eric and Nicole for coming - we really hope you return SOON! I love how many are coming to Europe for the first time with Team Appino as an excuse/reason. You should too!!
We even had dinner (cena) with a couple from our old neighborhood as they were traveling through for a night! Great catching up Kyla and Brian and thanks for coming to Sarria…
September (septiembre) Excitement!
We spent September getting back into a routine with the kids and school, catching up with friends we didn’t see over the summer, and me getting into Padel. The kids have their school, and padel is my school now (in addition to Spanish and a million other things I’m trying to study (estudiar) of course)! I hired a professional coach who is really great - pushes me, yells at me (Jon, that is SHIT! c’mon HIT the ball like hombre not a girl!) and yet we have fun and progress in my game (I still suck). I’m playing with an ever-growing crew (this next week we have 28 guys playing on 7 courts!). Tuesday (and sometimes) Thursday 9-1130a, right after I drop the kids off at school and lessons are on Wednesday (miercoles) - I’m sore a f from this new sport…I’m really getting into it though - and it is going to spread like crazy in America soon (write that down)….it’s already in Miami, New York, and LA. Many of them pickelball courts are gonna be retooled!
We hit La Cerdanya (a Pyrenees mountain region just an hour or so from Barcelona) or specifically ‘Bosque de Meranges’ with friends for mushroom (bolets) hunting - its the season here for chanterelle and a ton of others I can’t recall…we did see the ‘Mario mushrooms’ that are poisonous (red cap with white!). The kids had a Monday holiday (the school has 35 days of holidays this year which includes 2.5 weeks over Christmas!) so leaving Saturday morning and back Monday mid-day for a quick trip was plenty of time for 2 days of hunting and relaxing in the mountains with friends and the kids. Having this mountain range so close (the Pyrenees are 80 minutes by car) to where we live is really amazing - these mountains will be covered in snow end of November and ready to ski through March (marcha)!
I flew to London for the NFL game with Alex! Vikings played the Saints (Vikes won in a great game). It was a quick 2-day trip that was supposed to rain the entire time but of course, it was sunny and beautiful (the world always works out!). I forget how big London is (10M people). We had a proper pulled ‘ale’ (gross) and a Sunday Roast (delicious). We are hitting Prague for another weekend BroTrip again in 2 weeks…everything is so close!
Interesting things!
Spain has really no energy of its own - they get most natural gas from Algeria from 2 undersea pipelines…I’m unsure how the squeeze on European energy will impact us. Ashley said it’s gone up lately and what I read in the FT Times says it’s gonna be a costly winter…a baguette is still 1.20€ and Galician solomio (filet steak) €54/kg though!!
Having a padel buddy say ‘I’m tired man’ and when asked ‘why?’ he says ‘I was on the 34 hour bus from Kiev to Barcelona a day ago’ - he has family and a business there and you can imagine the conversations and perspectives we can get into…
You don’t get stamps on your passport or even go through passport control if you are traveling inside the European Union. It’s like flying KC to Chicago (and the same 1 hour flight time to get to Italy!). Easy peasy….I got a stamp in London though!
Speaking of stamps to mail anything you need to go to the correos and stand in line. It’s €2.10 to mail a card to the states but you can’t just buy €2.10 worth of stamps…nope, go wait in line. Inefficient but again, nice to relax and take time doing simple tasks.
The world should really drink more Catalunya wine (vino). They are very delicious and pretty good priced (you can get a great bottle for €20 and an amazing bottle for €30 - many in the €14 or under crowd are very very good (bueno) as well.
note: most restaurant markups on wine here are about 20-40%, so a €20 bottle (botella) costs €24-26. Not 300% like I was use to in KC.
If you are wondering about snow - no, it doesn’t snow here in Barcelona. They play futbol and padel year round, run and hit the beach all year (the chiringuitos (pop up beach restaurants on the sand) close though in October) but it does get nice and crisp - down to 10 or so some days in December and January - the average in January and Feb is 15 degrees C (59 F!). I am looking forward to cool days with a coffee (cafe) on a terrace!
Small wins with speaking (hablar/discurso) Spanish add up! I’m getting better and better at restaurants and more confident as well….I just need to practice! Being here and trying things out is really the best way to do it - not an app, not a youtube show - just good old fashion practice (and still Duolingo and youtube and Spanish news etc as much as possible). It’s amazing here how many people do speak English though and they are so kind with helping me get better.
I did get a haircut (corte de pelo) last week and I think my Spanish ‘make sure its not too short’ came out ‘make sure it’s short’ and….well….it’ll grow back! jajajajajajajajajajaja (I have a shitty haircut if you didn’t catch that)
October is of course Halloween, and we will for sure miss the show that a great neighborhood like Thousands Oaks puts on. It is celebrated here but different…the school does something as do a few neighborhoods full of Americans. It’ll be fun…but definitely not the same. November and Thanksgiving will be here before we know it….then Ashley is off to Germany with a few gf’s from here and KC for the Christmas markets! If you made it this far on the blog…here are some photos! Cheers to FALL!!!
Looks Awesome. Great experiences for the kids.