—I hope all had a great October!
What went down in October (octubre) for Team Appino?
Ashley and a friend (amiga) took the kids to Vall de Núria in La Cerdanya (part of the Spanish Pyrenees) during one of the many national and school holidays. They rode mountain scooters (scooter de montaña), tubed down the mountain, and just had a great time NOT being in school (escuela) and being in the SUN (sol)!
I went to Prague with Alex for a weekend (fin de semana) - we had some other guys there we knew so we connected with them for beers (Prague is a beer city) and had some amazing food. It was my first time to Prague, and I really enjoyed it. I’m guessing I’ll be back….hopefully with Ashley as I think she would like it and the food…
Hayes and Ellory are playing flag football, what they call ‘football Americana’ here. They are on the same team because Ellory is playing up a league. The coach is really into it and it’s cool…the games are super fun (divertida) and the weather has been just amazing to be outside, but the weekends are burning fast (rapido) and we really want a free one to get out of town with the kids on a few day-trips close to Barcelona since we have the car (cocha) now…and it’s so easy to get to a totally different place/city/environment! Hayes is playing some quarterback, rotating with one of his best friends so it’s cool to see them toss the ball back and forth on the field scoring TD’s just like they do at the park on the weekends! Ellory is playing a ton of defense and what would be a ‘slot corner’ on offense, scoring and running the ball at will. Hayes tossed a TD to Ellory last game and it was badass!!!!
I’m getting better at making fish (pescado) at home. We have worked hard on our sushi/sashimi/maki/nigiri game here - it’s easy to get sushi-grade salmon and tuna (salamo y atun). Hayes and Ells are rolling their own maki rolls! I’ve started learning how to salt-bake fish in the oven (so easy it’s sad) and getting salmon filets in the pan or grill is now like grilling a burger! All the food here is super fresh and easily accessible at relatively good prices. Organic fresh salmon is 24-34€ per kilo (11-16$ per pound!) and high-quality tuna is around 54€ per kilo or 23$ per pound. My goal is to eat fish at least 3 days a week at home, and about 80% of the time I order in a restaurant…my kids call it brain candy!
Hayes had a field trip to Montserrat - a mountain range 35 minutes from our place. They hiked, had a picnic, and learned (aprender) about how the mountains were formed however long ago. I love how they can get out of the city (ciudad) to some of these amazing places and learn from an experience, not just the textbook. Ellory has TWO field trips planned this coming week. One to a ‘Bug Hotel’ for science class and another to Collserola Mountain for a trip (viaje) around nature and how to preserve it…so cool!!
Ellory has her official ‘card’ to play in the Spanish Futbol Federation!!! No more sitting on the sidelines…and her team needs her. The first game she played they won - so they are 1-2 now in a very tough league. What a process! (this was detailed in last blog if you didn’t see it…it’s very serious here to play futbol!).
Halloween happened! It’s so different here of course but it is growing in popularity…see below!
Halloween!
It’s obvi different here than in the states…America (especially Thousand Oaks (our old neighborhood in KC)) knows how to have an amazing time on Halloween (and 4th of July!), so we knew it was going to be different (diferente) and not even close to the same…. so we went in with that attitude and still had a great time. The kids had outfits on all day at school and had nearly an entire day of activities and games (parditos). Ashley was able to help decorate the school and help the entire day with games for the kids…she was exhausted! The day at school ended with a parade for each class on the futbol field…tons of parents came and it was an amazing sunny day 25/26 degrees (78-80 Fahrenheit!). After school there is a neighborhood across the street that hosts trick or treating (truco o trato) every year - it’s a nice apartment complex and a map is provided for which homes pass out candy. It was crazy cool to see so many people we know - we are really making a community here with friends - the kids are as well…it’s special to see them know so many others after coming here with zero friends - I hope they are always learning and seeking growth. The night before all this in the school one of the other neighborhoods, called Turo Parc, where many Americans live (we looked at 10+ places there) holds a trick or treating as well…it’s crazy there - it was fun but I don’t see us going next year. The best part was seeing friends and having a relaxing meal and wine with many other families on a terrace end of the night while the kids played with friends…
Ashley organized a pumpkin carving day in the park for a bunch of friends and their kids…I think she spent the better part of 4 days tracking down these little shitty pie pumpkins so people would have something to carve! It’s not like the US here with giant pumpkins…but we all made the most of it. I think about half the kids there had never carved a pumpkin (calabaza) before.
Scotland
The kids had a 4 day weekend over the Halloween holiday All Saints’ Day (Fiesta de Todos los Santos) in all of Spain. So we hopped a plane to the UK and hit Scotland. I did a search for ‘coolest fall festivals in Europe’ and a forrest light and music festival in Pitlochry popped up (a small town an hour north of Edinburg). So we built the trip around this. We flew into Edinburg, rented a car and hit Glasgow and Paisley where we found other Halloween festivals (fiestas). It was really cool…even if the weather was rainy and cold. It felt good to get out the stocking hats and scarves!!
Fiestas
We live in Sarria - and the Fiesta de Major Sarria was the end of September. It was amazing…I’ll link videos (I posted to youtube!) below. The videos I shot from our front terraces - the drums and correfoc’s went on all week, and the last night for hours and hours - it was amazing!!!)
https://youtube.com/shorts/cbIX6BCLfXQ
So, I’ll not type it all here - but the correct term is Correfoc (fire-run)— it is an open air performance where people dress as devils and light up fireworks and dance to them and drums. It is an amazing Catalan tradition that started in 1078. It’s a representation between good and evil, I’ve heard some say the sparks keep the ‘bad’ away until the next Correfoc…this was our festival in Sarria (most area’s in Barcelona do their own town fiesta - Gracia is the most famous and intricate I think). They really know how to celebrate and party in Catalonia!!
Spanish.
It is coming. I have to look things up constantly and, putting my ego aside, I’ll admit that I have made flashcards to review on the subway - I’m just not a quick learner or thinker like many…but it is coming! I know how to say ‘I have…’ and ‘I need….’ and ‘I want…’ etc - but then I get to a word like bracelet and I don’t know - so I look it up. I forgot my bracelet to get into my gym and I had to ask the receptionist about a borrowed one for the day - so, look up bracelet (pulsera) and string what I know together …. No tengo mi pulsera (I don't have my bracelet), puedo uno porfa (can I have one please?). It’s not perfect, and ‘can I borrow one please’ would make more sense, but I don’t know ‘borrow’ (I nowknow know it is prestado) and I didn’t want to look up and try to remember two new words…but it works and the small (pequeno) little (poco) successes stack and stack and give more confidence!
Next!!
November we are going back to Kansas City for almost 2 weeks. The kids have not been back since we moved in January…I’m excited and nervous all the same time. These thoughts and emotions are not (at the present time) for me to write out here in public, but it is going to be an interesting trip (and amazing). I think I speak (hablar) for us all (todos nosotros) when I say I miss so much, but will quickly miss what we have here. I’ll write some about this next blog…pics below - Happy Thanksgiving!