Saturday, July 23, 2011

House Hunting in Madrid

House hunting in Madrid...this has been quite the experience.  Being Americans in Spain we started off this process knowing that we not only wouldn't get what we were used to in America, but also that we didn't really want anything like we could get in America.  We are in Spain for 3 years and want to fully experience Spanish living.  We wanted a home with Spanish character and charm, plus a pool never hurt anybody, right? (hehehe)

We started off the hunt a little closer to the Madrid city center with homes that were more of a row house style.  Now don't get me wrong...these homes were huge compared to what we could get in the States.  Our first house we looked at was a row house (so connected to other houses on both sides), but it had about 4,800 square feet of living space.  Are you freakin kidding me?  Even though there were houses on either side of us and we would share walls...would you even hear them in 4800 square feet?  I don't know, but it was incredible.  This particular one had been completely renovated inside and was absolutely gorgeous.  The downfall was that though it had a huge pool, the yard was just a tiny strip and with two children this just would not fit our needs.  We saw a gamut of homes ranging from old and dated to ultra modern and made completely of cement with state of the art appliances and amenities.  After the first couple of days we quickly realized that with children and our lifestyle we did need a little bit more outside living than the city type places offered. So we headed to the burbs.

On a side note...we have a friend who is living in downtown Madrid.  They actually have an apartment just next to the opera house in an incredible location.  They look out one window on the Opera House and another window is the Royal Palace.  Don't be fooled when you think of downtown like you would a downtown apartment in New York City.  Their apartment is just over 3,000 square feet and has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms with a formal dining room, formal living space with a salon type area off of that.  Tons of storage, built ins and 10 foot ceilings.  Amazing...but again not a place we would be comfortable in with 2 smaller children and no yard space.  Just an FYI.

Some interesting features in just about every home we looked at was the servant quarters.  Most homes in Madrid have many floors or levels, they range from 2-4 floors and the basement area is never really factored in.  The basement level is strictly for storage and service employees.  The service quarters usually have a bedroom and bathroom connected, but are just at the lowest level of the home so the service isn't really seen.  In many of the homes we looked at there were actually service employees not only living in the space, but cleaning and such when we were there.  I thought it was very awkward, but the realtor explained that this was not only completely normal, but a pretty good deal for the worker.  They had a place to live, free of charge, and got a small wage to go out on the town on their days off.  All these homes would also have a service entrance, usually into the kitchen area. 

The kitchens....this is a whole other issue.  In the States we are so used to having huge kitchens that open up to the rest of the house so that we are always connected to our guests and the family areas.  Well in Spain...this is definitely not the case.  Hubby and I were discussing this issue and came to the realization that because the service or chiccas, mainly do the cooking, or that is how it used to be, the kitchens are a bit isolated and not open to anything.  Again, so they wouldn't be seen.  So strange to me, but a much different way of life here. 

The bedrooms were pretty normal size.  They were a bit smaller, but that is because instead of a closet per se they would have wardrobes.  Now a wardrobe is sort of a closet/dresser in one.  There was closet space to hang things, both short and long, and then built in drawers.  This totally eliminates the need for dressers and that sort of bulky furniture.  Brilliant if you ask me.  We now just need to find space to store our dressers because we really won't need them.  This would be a piece of advice that I would pass along to somebody coming here.  The storage is just unreal.  It seems like in every wall they put closets.  They definitely embrace the season they are in.  They use all the storage closets to put their winter clothes when it is summer and so on. Again...my sort of style.

The Spanish really focus on family and friends and use their homes to live like this.  Bedrooms are not the size of living rooms and kitchens are not connected to the social areas, but they don't live in the kitchen or isolate themselves in their bedrooms.  They live in their common areas and treasure their time with each other.  Children are right in the middle of everything all the time, they are not shunned to a playroom or to their bedrooms.  We look forward to embracing this in our new casa.

If you ever want to look at homes abroad...just for fun...a website called www.idealista.com is what we used in Madrid and it is just fun to see how other countries live.






Until next time....

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Every Place is What you Make of IT

"Every place is what you make of it."  This is a phrase that a wise woman once told me when we first got stationed at Fort Knox in Kentucky.  This is the best piece of advice I have ever gotten and I try to live by those words each and every day.  When the going gets tough those words are sometimes hard to say, but I still try.  These words also take on different meanings depending on the situation and/or location.  Fort Knox for instance is just south of Louisville and there is absolutely nothing around you (at least when we were stationed there, there wasn't).  We had a Wal-Mart out one gate and a road leading to Louisville out the other gate.  Fort Knox turned out to be one of my favorite experiences because you had to make the best of it or you would for sure shrivel up and die.

Now that we have been in Madrid for just over a week this phrase, yet again, takes on a whole new meaning.  We realized well before we arrived here what an incredible experience this was going to be and were excited before we got here.  Having moved many, many times in our 14 years being in the military we are old hats at getting to a new location and immediately exploring to see what the new city has to offer.  In the States that is much easier than here.  In the states you get in your car and explore.  Here...not so much.  We have explored most everything on foot via the Metro, which is great, but I realized today that it makes it a bit difficult to know where exactly you are located within the city.  Now, I of course can read a map, but when we are out and about we haven't had a city map with us, just the metro map.  This will probably change once we are truly sort of on our own, but we have had the luxury to be with a "guide" most of the time or at least when it is necessary. 

Those of you that have had a European experience can relate to this next part.  Every place is what you make of it also can translate to making each place work for you in a manner of comfort.  I am sure that it isn't only Spain, but we have to remind ourselves each and every day that this isn't America and the amenities that we don't think twice about being able to get are not here or are very, very different and we have to be able to adapt.  In all the Army wife type classes that I would take part in, myself and other spouses would joke that our personalities are adaptable with notice and not one of these fly by the seat of your pants type personalities.  This has been a challenge for me.  I am all about trying new things and making my surroundings work for me, but I have gotten to the point a few times where I miss the conveniences of American living.  Because things here are different it doesn't mean that it is a bad thing, just a point at which I need to adapt, which takes time. 

Some examples of where adaptation is needed and that make me miss America.  Let's start with one fresh on my mind because I am right in the middle of it...Laundry.  The washing machine that we have in our apartment is a combination washer/dryer.  There are separate dryers, but we don't have one yet, but in either case it takes forever to do a load of laundry.  In our machine it takes an hour and half to wash a load and an additional 2 hours to dry it, most of the time you need to dry it for a bit longer because the clothers are still damp.  A bit of a side note...a load of laundry consists of about 3 or 4 pairs of shorts and a couple of t-shirts...that is it.  They are extrememly small.  I think of the fancy washers and dryers in the States that can wash a load the size of a king size bed comforter in about 20 minutes and then dry that super large load in another 20 minutes.  Well my personal washer and dryer in the States wasn't that efficient, but I could wash a good amount of clothing in one load.  You certainly could not plan a week's worth of laundry here to be done in a Sunday afternoon.  You have to do a few loads each and every day.  Items such as heavier cottons, like khaki shorts for instance, come out of the dry cycle bunched in a ball and extremely wrinkled...so you have to turn around and iron items like this on top of the crazy long dry time.  This might be different once we get a separate dryer...I hope. 

Yesterday was a day when I was having an off feeling.  We decided to go for lunch, which I was a bit reluctant about because I just wanted some familiarity.  We came across a diner.  It was called Peggy Sue's American Diner.  Praise God...a little piece of USA just one street over.  I, of course, ordered a hamburger...another item that I am missing so much.  Well, let's just say, it was nothing like an American hamburger.  It was delicious, but not an American burger.  That brings me to my next item I am missing...BEEF.  Now we haven't been here that long and have not really "looked" around for beef, but you just don't see it in the grocery stores or on the menu in restaurants.  I am sure there are restuarants that specialize in steaks and such, we just have not located them as of yet.  The food here is delicious...it is just different.  Again, not necessarily different in a bad way, but different in a way that requires adaptation.  We walk through the grocery store and have to just identify items that we recognize and figure out what other items we recognize that will go with each other in order to make a meal.  Because lunch time is really the big meal of the day we are finding ourselves eating much smaller and simpler dinners.  Which we really enjoy.  When in the grocery store you actually use a glove to get your fruits and vegetables and you have them weighed and marked with the weight and price before you get to the check out.  Soda...well this has been a sore point from the get go.  I knew they didn't have Dr. Pepper here before I came, but didn't really find out what they do have.  Their soda selections are very limited.  They basically have Coke, Diet Coke, Orange Fanta and Lemon Fanta.  That be it.  The lemon Fanta is really yummy and refreshing and is usually my choice if we are out to eat.  Being military we have the extreme advantage of being able to use the Navy Exchange within the US Embassy.  Thank goodness for these little gems.  The Navy Exchange has many of the items that we as Americans in Madrid would be missing.  Lets take peanut butter or salad dressing for instance.  These are items that are not readily available in many of the little stores that we have been in.  We did find thousand island dressing in another store, but I haven't seen ranch or anythink like it as of yet.  Again...we have been here just over a week and certainly have not been everywhere.

House hunting is another adaptation process.  We know where hubby is working and where the kids will be attending school.  That opens up several neighborhoods or suburb areas that we could live in.  We haven't decided if we want to live completely different than we would live when we are in the States or fall back on our comfort level and get a huge compound type area which includes its very own mcmansion.  There are pros and cons to both of these.  Being emersed in a more local community or being more isolated with a huge house and a huge yard with a huge fence that surrounds us.  We have not seen the mcmansion type properties as of yet, but are leaning towards full emersion.  We want to learn this language and culture and become a part of it and what better way than to plant yourself right in the middle of it and be forced, in a sense, to adapt very quickly.  The house hunting process will certainly be another post once we get a few more areas and houses under our belt.  The homes here are huge, even within a closer quarters community.  We looked at a home that is around 4800 square feet and is considered to be a row house type or town house, meaning that it is connected to other homes, yet the inside is so huge I am not sure you would know it.  Who knows.

With each and every day we adapt a little bit more to new experiences and what our life will be like for the next three years.  We look forward to growing in ways that we would never have had the chance without the military.  With any type of growing there has to be room for some growing pains.  We will certainly make the most out of this place and I challenge you to always remember that every place is what you make of it.

Until next time.....

Monday, July 18, 2011

The People we have Encountered

Yesterday was just an incredible day all around.  We did all the touristy type sightseeing plus some other gems here and there.  I will learn more about all the locations we went and blog separately about those individual places.  We saw many of the plaza's, historic buildings, statues, parks and so much more.  At the end of our day yesterday we stopped in a little yogurt place and were again awed by how the people we have met thus far are just so incredible.  So I thought I would take the time to explain what we have encountered.

The very first day we arrived at the Headquarters the kids and I were sort of sent to this community room to wait while hubby started the in-processing process of basically getting us checked in to yet another location. The kids and I played some games and just waited until we were to meet up with hubby for lunch.  We went to lunch at the chow hall or what is similar to a DFAC (dining facility).  The lunch room was decked out in French colors, French cheeses and champagne.  I was thinking to myself...well they don't mess around here.  Well it turned out that it was Bastille Day and the French were sharing a piece of their culture with everyone.  Apparently on the 4th of July the Good Ol US of A threw a big BBQ with hot dogs, hamburgers, watermelon and so on.  So we got our food and sat down to eat.  We weren't there but maybe a half hour or so when this sweet little American boy came up to our table and asked us if we were new.  Not sure if it was that obvious (hehehehe) or if it was (as I can imagine) seeing another potential American with young children and getting so excited to have something in common with someone else and oh yeah...we can actually communicate.  Well it turns out that this little boy was LuLu's age and also going into the first grade.  He had a little brother and we all chatted about where they had been stationed and of course met his mom.  It was so nice to find another mom and get some insight into neighborhoods to possibly live and so on. 

The next day while we were at the Headquarters hubby and I were in a meeting with the housing office and the kids were doing a music class there and we met yet another American family with kids.  These are the moments that I long for.  Somebody I can chat with and they totally understand where we are at this point in the process because they have also been here.  On the train ride home that night we ran into a Spanish civilian that works at the Headquarters.  He knew English because that is the official language of the Headquarters so we must have looked like we were confused because he asked us if we needed any help.  We were looking at the Metro map, but we actually were not confused.  On the train he began chatting with us on our story...essentially.  We talked to him about where we were temporarily staying until we found housing and he gave us the run down on what we need to see in the city while we are living down there.  Again...just so nice to take the time to tell us what his city has to offer. 

Now we fast forward to last night and after our stroll in the Retiro Park we stopped to find ice cream or something.  We took a new route back to the apartment just to broaden our horizons on what is all around us.  We found this cute little yogurt shop and popped in.  We of course asked the gal working if she spoke English and she spoke just about enough English that we spoke Spanish so it was perfect.  We ordered our yogurt and she was just so sweet.  The price was for a "natural" yogurt with 1 topping and she let the kids get 3 toppings for the same price.  I actually have not had a frozen yogurt in the States so I don't know the tastes, but this really was like plain yogurt just frozen.  It wasn't vanilla or anything like that.  It had that zing or tang that plain yogurt has.  Like I said this could totally be how it tastes in the States, but I have never had it.  We sat for a bit and were reading all the different ice-cream flavors, which are in Spanish, and we were trying to decode them.  There were two other ladies in the shop as well.  We came across one that said Turron.  We looked this up in our dictionary and it wasn't in there.  So we asked her what it was.  She proceeded to just give us a sample and ask the other ladies if they knew the English word for it.  She put it into her phone and he phone then spoke "nougat".  Well that is exactly what it tasted like.  This started a whole lesson on what the flavors were and we tested each one.  She was just so sweet and wasn't put off that we didn't know the language or what these flavors were.  She even brought out two flavors for the kids which ended up being their versions of Bubblegum and Cotton Candy.







These are the moments that make me fall in love with this city more and more.  I hope that by sharing our experiences with our friends and family that we light a fire in each and everyone of you to step out of your comfort zone and embrace those situations.  We are embracing this situation and are eager to learn all that we can.  I challenge you to do the same...or come to Spain and let us guide you out of your comfort zone.

Until next time....

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Las Mujeres de Espana (The Women of Spain)

It is morning time here in Madrid and I am the only one up...so I have brewed a cup of coffee and thought that I would talk about one of my observations here.  Forgive me if I have spelled a spanish word incorrectly here and there.  I know some words and once they go plural I am not exactly sure how they are spelled.  I am totally winging it here. :-)

The women of Spain are such an interesting thing.  Unlike the States, the women here, well at least the ones I have seen thus far, are extremely sophistcated and put together.  They seem to have a respect  and confidence for and about themselves that American women do not have.  Even on the metro on a Saturday afternoon they have their hair and makeup done, they are wearing an actual outfit and not their pajamas or sweatpants, they have a fancy shoe and fabulous handbag.  I love this.  For those of you that know me, you know that I wouldn't be caught dead outside my house in anything more than put together.  Occasionally I would take the kids to school in my yoga clothes or if we were home cleaning or what not I would be in "grubbies", but I would NEVER go to the store like that.  I wish American women would embrace this.  I think if they did they would have such confidence in everything that they do.  There is just something that happens to you when you have "the look".  It will be interesting to see if they have the types of crimes against women here that they do in the States, such as domestic violence.  They probably do, but I would like to bet that it isn't as common.  The reason I think this is becasue when you feel confident and look it you are less likely to have self esteem issues and feel dependent on what another person thinks about you.

The clothing that I have noticed isn't much different than in the states.  They seem to have the same sort of styles, but kicked up a notch.  I have only noticed a few items that seem a bit strange to me.  I also have noticed, though the younger generation does go for items a bit on the short side, I haven't found myself saying, "She SHOULD NOT be wearing that".  I felt like everytime I went out in the Springs there would be many people that have squeezed in to things that just were not flattering.  I also really haven't noticed any "weight" issues.  You have the "plump" grandmas, but not to the point where they have scooters at the Carrefour for those that cannot walk through the grocery store.  Now, again, we have not even been here a week and I certainly have not been everywhere and seen everything, but just found it so interesting this little lifestyle aspect.  I am not sure why these women are so fabulous, but I love it and I hope someday that this "way of life" can make it to the States, even if just in little waves.  I would love for American women to have a sort of "control" because of the way they feel each and every day.

Until next time...

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Restaurant retaliation

Yesterday we chatted a little about the food here in Madrid.  I mentioned that there are beautiful meats and cheeses.  We had been here 3 days and the meats and cheeses is really all we had eaten so last night we decided that we were going to be brave and try out a little cafe/barra just downstairs from our apartment.  These little neighborhood bars are everywhere.  They are not what you would think of when you think bar.  These are family establishments where you could sit for hours and chat and eat tapas or pop in for a quick coffee, tea, beer or whatever.  We decided that it looked cute and it was close.  It was around 8 pm so restaurants are not quite open yet.  Dinner time in Madrid starts around 9 pm.  They tend to eat huge lunches between 2-4 in the afternoon and then little bites (tapas/bocadillas) in the evening.  Every meal here is a social event.  We were not looking for a dinner type meal, but just a little snack.  The bar looked open because there were a few people in it, but I didn't notice anyone with food.  When we walked in I immediately asked, "Habla usted Inglais?"...the waitress replied, "NO".  We sat down anyway and thought that we could certainly figure this out.  I was trying to ask her if we could eat, but had no idea how to put a sentence together asking this.  I found a phrase in my Spanish/English dictionary that basically asked if they were serving dinner.  Well she said no because really that type of place doesn't serve dinner.  She tried to explain to me that on a certain street we would find dinner and possibly English speaking establishments.  We were totally deflated that we absolutely could not communicate with her at all.  It was very awkward, but we got up and left.  We walked a few blocks and found a place that looked to be a chain of some sort.  I was able to get my thoughts together a bit and when we went in I was able to ask if they were open for us to eat...sort of...abierta come. :-)  She said, "Si". I asked her if she spoke english and she said, "so-so"...oooo I can so relate.  We sat down and were pleased to see that under the Spanish menu items were those same things in English. Praise God for that find.  We successfully ordered dinner and drinks.

Now we will fast forward to today.  We were meeting our co-sponsor this morning so that he could show us the embassy and we had to share our previous evenings experience at the little cafe/bar downstairs.  He said, with vindication in his eyes, that we would run around a bit and go eat at that cafe/bar for lunch.  After our embassy trip and some other little bits of excitement we made it back to that little place and went in for lunch.  Our co-sponsor was able to tell us what to say, "Este es cocina abierta?"  Is the kitchen open?  The waiter said, "Si" and we sat.  We ordered our "refrescas" or sodas and we decoded the menu.  We have potentially cracked the code at one little bar/cafe and maybe next time when we try it on our own we will succeed.  Chad even asked for the bill, "La cuenta, por favor." Oh and by the way the food was super yummy. 

On a bit of a side note, one of my observations at this little place is that couples young and old would literally stop in, order a coffee, leave the money on the table and just go. We had two couples "pop" in while we were there and they ended up sitting right next to us.  They had a quick bite and went.  It was like they were on a walk or heading home from shopping or something like that, felt like grabbing a quick bite or drink and off they went again.  I just loved this.  It gives a whole new meaning to "fast food".  So much healthier than your local McDonalds and with such character.  Love it.

More to come on so many situations and experiences. 

Until next time...

Friday, July 15, 2011

Boots on the ground

Well it has been just over a week since I have posted anything. As you can imagine a lot has happened in a week. We arrived in Madrid on Wednesday July 13th.  We arrived around 0730 Wednesday morning, which would have been Julu 12 @ 2330 Colorado time. So basically at this point we had been up since 0700 Tuesday morning.  Our first plan of attack was to keep everyone awake as long as possible. We did pretty well with the help of our incredible sponsors and co-sponsors.  I realize this is how things work here, but the Americans that we have been "assigned" to have just been beyond incredible. The kids crashed finally around 3pm.  Hubby and I made it until around 8pm, with little dozes here and there. The first night certainly could have been worse, but wasn't too bad. After we crashed, the kids, of course, woke up at 11pm thinking it was morning. We were able to put on a movie for them and they slept off and on throughout the night. We had to get up the next morning and begin the in processing process through the place where my husband will be working.

Our first order of business was getting to the place where we needed to in process.  This began our extensive Metro system lesson. The Metro, really all public transportation here, is just incredible.  Those of you in big cities are familiar with this sort of thing, but we have never really experienced it.  This leads to yet another incident with our littlest child.  A little preface about our little one, she is an extreme drama queen, her belly always seems to hurt and we have figured this is partly because she worries about everthing.  So, as usual, we were in the middle of this whole Metro process and had only a few stops to go when she informs me that her belly hurts and she thinks she is going to be sick. Praise God we were off the actual Metro and waiting for the next train when she puked in one of the trash cans. Oh dear...what could I do, but wipe her face, get her something to drink and forge on. We had places to be and with a co-sponsor with us I didn't really want to hold up the whole process. I thought about sending them on, but I had no idea where I had to go, so we had to put on our big girl panties and just go. By the time we made it to the Headquarters she was doing just fine and was able to sit and just get composed again. The kids and I hung out in a community room and played games while Chad did all his running around. We left the headquarters around 5pm for the next adventure.

Next on the agenda was to get some groceries.  One of the big supermarkets here in Madrid is the Carrefour.  This is very similar to a Wal-mart.  It has electronics, sporting goods, clothing, household items, food and other little odds and ends.  Food here in Spain is really nothing like the States.  Items that are more luxury items for us, such as: chorizos, cured hams, salamis, various cured meats, a gazillion types of cheeses are standard everyday items here. The meat/cheese aisle is similar to the size of our frozen food section. There were 4 huge aisles of these goodies for like 1 euro for a package of salami or chorizo or whatever.  Totally incredible.  There were even whole cured legs of pig just hanging in the aisle.  Depending on the type of pig or "jamon" was how it was priced. So neat. We stocked up on some meats/cheeses and some other little things. Not sure how the cooking will go just yet.  Because of the language barrier things got a little sticky checking out. Thank goodness our co-sponsors spouse speak spanish as she is from Puerto Rico and is seriously a god sent.  The checker asked me a question and they speak so fast that you just sort of freeze up.  Our co-sponsor saves us (0nce again).  She was just asking me if I had a Carrefour discount card...who knew.  We survived yet another Madrid experience. After our Carrefour run we headed back downtown to see our co-sponsors apartment and we had to get our Abono (Metro pass).  The apartments downtown will have to be another post, because they are just incredible. 

The Metro pass (Abono)...these little creatures are your ticket to the underground rail system and depending on which areas you choose,d you get unlimited rides to the areas that you have specified an paid for the month.  Some interesting things on this process...the only place to get these...you would think the Metro station...that would make sense, but oh no, you get them from Tobacco shops.  The particular Tobacco shop that we went to didn't speak English...again thank God for a bi-lingual spouse.  This language things is truly extremely overwhelming and intimidating.  I have never felt at such a loss.  The language barrier really makes you think twice with what you really need or don't need.  Right now I am to the point that if I can figure it out on my own I will try that before I try and stumble through a conversation. This is certainly unexpected in one of the top tourist spots in all of Europe, but it is true, the people of Madrid DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH.  We finally made it back to our apartment.  Completely tuckered out. 

I will end with this, but have so many things to tell you all about.  The women of Spain, our first Restaurant experience, more on the grocery stores, the wonderful people we are meeting, the driving and the list just goes on. 

So until next time...

Friday, July 8, 2011

The birth of Touching Trees in Spain name

After we received orders to Spain back in February of 2011 I had thought about starting a blog as a way to keep in touch with our friends and family and as an outlet to document all of our lessons learned, travels and whatever else Spain decides to throw our way.  At about a week out of from our flight I decided to actually sit down and figure this blog thing out.  As I was trying to come up with a clever name for my blog my husband blurted out Touching Trees in Spain.  My little family got quite a chuckle and decided that this would absolutely be the name, but we would have to preface what the title actually means.  So for those of you that have not heard this story here it goes:

Back in March of 2010 my husband was returning from his year long deployment to Iraq.  My husband was with a unit that traditionally flies with their own equipment which results in flying on Military aircraft.  Well it seems inevitable that Military aircraft always breakdown on the return flight, but some how have no issues for that initial flight to Iraq.  So, of course the aircraft has to land in Spain for one reason or another.  Upon my husbands unit's landing in Spain they were briefed on a situation that occurred in Spain.  They were told that in Spain the King owns all the trees and because the King owns all the trees you are not allowed to touch the trees.  If you touch a tree you might just get an "extended/indefinite" stay in Spain.  Once my husband returned home from the deployment and we were having breakfast the next morning he told our family this story.  I thought it was just ludicrous that this was real, but it apparently was an issue since they had a briefing on the subject prior to landing.  This story pretty much scarred our 4 year old daughter.  She sat at the table and just sobbed and sobbed.  Through the hysterical crying we could barely make out, "I never want to go to Spain", "You can't touch the trees in Spain" and this went on for several minutes and whenever we told this story to anybody else.  My husband calmly sat at the table and reassured her that there was absolutely no way we would ever go to Spain.  Explaining to her that there were no jobs in his field in Spain.

Now we fast forward a year or so.  In December of 2010, while my husband was attending a school, he found out about this new position that was opening up in Madrid, Spain.  He of course mentions it to me in passing.  One of the things you learn very quickly as a military wife is that you never get your hopes up on any location until you have orders...and even then it isn't guaranteed.  In February of this year we finally got our assignment and lo and behold it was to Madrid.  Even now being the week that we are leaving it still seems a bit surreal.  After we found out where we were headed we had to "break" it to the kids.  They were not excited at all.  This was for several reasons, but that story told just a year ago came back to bite us as one of the reasons why the kids did not want to live in Spain.  As we tried to explain the great opportunities and adventures that lie ahead the kids still were not excited.  This started a mad search for touching trees in Spain.  We checked out numerous books from the library and did countless Internet searches.  In all of our attempts we turned up nothing whatsoever that stated the King owns all the trees and/or that you are not allowed to touch them.  I guess we will find out in just a couple of days if this is in fact a "law" in Spain.  I will be sure to keep you updated on that status. 

The kids have come around and are excited for this adventure, but in all military situations it is hard to leave where you are, at the time.  In this instance we had been in our last location for 6 years.  Our daughter was born in that location and had never moved.  We look forward to this incredible adventure that awaits us in Spain and we might just touch a tree or 2. :-)

Until next time....