Voss Family European Vacation

While we have enjoyed settling in to our new Spanish lifestyle, the time has come to begin our big European roadtrip! Tomorrow we're hitting the road and will travel around for the next six weeks. On the itinerary are France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland and Belgium. Two weeks will be spent in our sweet fully restored Volkswagen camper van in Corsica and Sardinia. Needless to say, it is going to be an interesting adventure! Fingers crossed all goes well :)

Jugando con los animales

In our pre-Zoe days sight seeing usually entailed visiting interesting museums, going on hikes and eating out at hip restaurants. These days sight seeing is still interesting but definitely much different. Each weekend we are trying to get out and explore a different family fun activity near our town.

Last weekend we visited a Crocodile Park outside of Malaga and this weekend we visited a free zoo located high up in the hills from our house. I think the best way to describe both places would be "quirky but fun." The Crocodile park was a bit pricey at 15 Euros an adult but I have to say that it was well maintained and pretty informative. There was a bilingual talk given about the Crocodiles where an employee (maybe the owner?) jumped in the cage with a bunch of the Crocs and demonstrated just how quick they can move by poking a couple with a big stick. It was impressive but a little too scary for Zoe's tastes so we skipped out on the baby crocodile holding portion of the tour. Probably for the best.      

This weekend we drove just a 1/2 hour into the hills to Peña Escrita a free zoo which was actually pretty interesting. Getting there was a bit of adventure up a twisty goat trail of a road with steep cliff drop offs at some points but we made it there in one piece. The views were amazing at the top. It was a steep climb between animal habitats so I had a bit of a workout carrying Zoe around. I was surprised how many different kinds of animals were there. I think some of the highlights were the bears, lions, camel, baboons and ostriches. It was very informative, we even learned "What the fox says" (Insert catchy annoying music here). They had some black foxes that were very interested in some carrots our friends were eating and let out a high pitch wail letting us know they would like to share. The zoo also had a couple of restaurants and even a swimming pool but they were all closed with no signs about when they would open again. Such is the Spanish way. We are learning how to go with the flow.  

Semana Santa and Easter

Zoe and I had a very interesting cultural experience during Semana Santa while John visited Morocco with his Czech friends. Everyday, there were multiple religious processions throughout the streets with full marching bands and ornate heavy sculptures. Most surprising I think were the hooded men and women in these processions. It was shocking because the outfits look very similar to those of the KKK in the states. According to my Spanish teacher, the true meaning is one that dates back to the Middle Ages, when as punishment men and women were forced to wear pointed hats as they were dragged through the streets. Later, men and women began to wear the hats voluntarily as penance to God. The hoods were then added too keep their identities hidden since it was a personal act that only God needed to know about. The other big surprise, was how late these processions would last. During the week we had marching bands going past our bedroom window well into the night. Fortunately for me, Zoe is a very deep sleeper. Unfortunately for me, I am not. No amount of earplugs or white noise could mask the beating drums that paraded past our single paned windows. Thankfully, it lasted only one week. John made it home before Easter Sunday so we all had a fun time watching Zoe search for eggs and enjoy all of her fun Easter treats. I did my own egg hunt searching high and low for plastic eggs but in the end I just made my own out of paper maché. Zoe didn't seem to mind though since they still had yummy treats inside. Most of said treats were consumed by yours truly after the little rascal was in bed paired with a nice Spanish wine. Happy Easter :)  

Ronda and the Great Baboo Crisis

With schools closed and classes cancelled for a local holiday that no one could seem to explain to me, we decided to head over to Ronda to meet up with friends. Like traveling pros, we packed up and headed out in under an hour.
When we arrived in Ronda John left to meet his friend while Zoe and I went to explore a bit. Ronda is a beautiful city located high up on a cliff with amazing views of the mountains and valley below. Zoe quickly fell asleep in the stroller and it started to rain so I stopped for lunch at a nice restaurant. Halfway through my glass of wine the food arrived and Zoe woke up. It was then that I noticed that her special lovey "Baboo" the bunny was gone. I panicked and quickly asked for the check. Since apparently I chose the only restaurant in the world that does not have any boxes for leftovers my food was left behind totally untouched while I ran around in the rain searching for our VIR (very important  rabbit). Having retraced my steps twice we finally headed back to the hotel and I attempted to soothe Zoe about Baboo with cookies and tv. When John came home I set out again on my own as a last ditch effort before giving up. I must have looked like a crazy person wandering around in the rain totally soaked asking everyone I passed if they had seen a stuffed rabbit. Naturally, right before I was about to turn around and head home I saw him tucked away in a corner out of the rain. Needless to say, we all felt very relieved to have him home. I suppose loss is a lesson that every person has to learn at some point in life but I'm glad we managed to avoid that particular lesson for Zoe.... for now at least.
We were happy to have Baboo back with us the weather was miserable the next day so instead of visiting Gibraltar we headed home early and visited the spa by our house. While we had a bit of a rough start, in the end the weekend was a success after all. 

Git er done!

We made some more checks on our "settling in" checklist which included getting our internet connected, finding a daycare for Zoe and registering our visas. We also have been continuing to explore the city and even made some short day trips.
When trying to accomplish anything here in Spain both patience and a good sense of humor are helpful to have. When we went to sign up for internet access we were told that someone would come to install it sometime between the following day and three weeks later.  When someone did arrive to set it up a week later we were told that he needed access to the electrical room on the first floor of our building. We went to ask our landlord if she had the key to this room and she said that she didn't but she thought the person in 2A or 2B did. This set off a chain of events that ended up with me and the cable guy standing in the hallway with four of our neighbors discussing who may have the key. Finally someone volunteered to try her keys even though she was pretty sure they wouldn't work. In the end though they did and we are fully connected and John can now watch House of Cards on Netflix so crisis averted.
Zoe is also settling in nicely to her daycare which is located on the bottom floor of our building. She was excited at first but then a bit overwhelmed. This week has been better though with no tears. Her teacher Isabella is so sweet and has been very patient with us so far.
With Zoe in daycare John and I took advantage of the kid free time to finally go and register our visas which I have to say, was the easiest task so far here in Spain.
Last weekend we went to visit one of the mountain towns about two hours away called Alhama de Granada. Even with bonine my stomach was doing somersaults the whole way up the twisty road to the town. It was all worthwhile though, the view of the valley there was beautiful.  We found a fantastic restaurant with a beautiful patio and by some miracle of God Zoe was quiet and well behaved through the whole meal. It was a great day.
This weekend we went to Nerja which is a small town only about 20 minutes away. While it is super touristy, the view from the "Balcon de Europa" has a great view of the ocean and John was excited to find a Mexican restaurant which, while overpriced, actually had some pretty good food. I think Mexican food here is kind of fancy and exotic. Please don't judge us for eating Mexican food....we are currently going through withdrawals from "El Camion" in Ballard.
This week we are searching for a family doctor and starting language school so that we can perfect our thpanish lithsp. I am getting better already.

Explorando la ciudad

Now that we are becoming a bit more settled in our new home we are enjoying exploring the city. Yesterday we found a great new kids park just a couple blocks away from our house and today after my morning jog we went to check out the aquarium and then stumbled across a carnival parade and Sunday market. We were all impressed with how great the aquarium is for such a small town. They even had not one but two big sharks! They were chubby guys and looked pretty well fed. I'd hate to be one of the other fish in that tank.
John is sticking to his word and has become our official Spanish chef. For lunch today we had sauteed potatoes and chorizo. We are so happy to be able to cook at home now. Eating out can be a bit of an adventure when you are in a new place. Even if you understand what it says on the menu nine times out of ten what you get is a bit of a surprise and not always in a good way. A few days ago we went to a restaurant and John ordered a dish which was described to me in spanish by the waiter as "a couscous dish with fish and veggies." What john was given though was a plate of plain couscous and then another plate full of fried anchovies and jalapeno peppers. John was a trooper though and did his best to eat what he could. We are in fresh food heaven now. Downstairs from our apartment is a butcher shop and next door is a produce shop that also sells fresh bread. Everything is so cheap. I'm not sure we will ever be able to pay $3.50 for a baguette again now that we have become spoiled with paying only .45 cents.

Getting Settled

While it took a bit of effort to find a place that met all of our requirements (parking, walking distance to the town center/beach, 3 bedrooms,  not decorated to look like a low budget 80's porn set.... you know the usual) we finally found an apartment that fit the bill. The only downside is that it's barely furnished so we have been doing a ton of shopping. Fortunately, there are plenty of ceramic figurines here so we can check those off the list. My favorite thing though is the big patio where I envision us drinking many glasses of good wine and strong coffee. If you are interested in visiting us please let us know what dates you would like to come. The visitation calendar is filling up quickly!

The Adventure Begins!

I'm still not sure how we managed but we successfully packed up all of our belongings and hit the road from Seattle to Napa January 25th. After visiting with family a bit we caught a plane on February 2nd for Germany. I was nervous about traveling so much with a toddler but Zoe has been a little trooper. Thank goodness for ipads!
Our good friend Jan greeted us in Germany in our new station wagon with cold beer and fresh pretzels and took us to a beautiful spa with an amazing play pool for kids. Since it was only 8am in Germany we did our best to stay awake and adjust to the new time zone. He then brought us to our rental apartment and Zoe and I slept hard for over 17 hours straight. After recovering for a couple of days we headed to a cabin in the mountains in Austria with our other friends Jan,  Janina, and Ron. Poor John was sick as a dog while the rest of us had fun playing in the snow.
After returning from our snowy adventure we stayed a couple more days in Germany and then loaded up for the big drive to Almuñecar. We drove straight through France and made it here a bit dazed after three days and around 27 hours driving. Since arriving we have been renting a room while we look for an apartment.
Thankfully the hunt is over as John found a great place just five minutes walk from the beach! We sign paperwork tomorrow.  Both of us are eager to get a bit more settled. It is so beautiful here. Stay tuned for more photos and details about our new lives as Spanish beach bums....

¡Vamanos!

After months of planning and preparation (mostly by John) we are coming closer to our big European adventure! With our Spanish Visas officially obtained and our plane tickets purchased we are on our way. A lot of people have asked why we chose Spain to move to and I would have to say the biggest reason why is our love of tacos......juuuuusst kidding. Not about the tacos though we still like those, however we are aware that this is not traditional Spanish food. The real reason was actually a combination of factors. John and I are both passionate about traveling the world and with Zoe not in school yet now seemed like a great time to get in as much traveling as possible. Also, while I try to speak Spanish occasionally with her there is nothing like complete immersion to learn a new language. Hopefully, this will be a great opportunity for me to improve my Spanish grammar and vocabulary as well. Other reasons why we chose Spain are for it's beauty, culture and location. This spring we are planning on taking a six week family road trip around Europe to explore neighboring countries. The itinerary has yet to be set but we will definitely be spending time in Italy, France and Germany.

Thank you so much to everyone who was able to come say goodbye to us at our open house! It was so nice to visit with friends old and new. We love our Seattle home and leaving for a year will definitely be bittersweet. Goodbye for now but don't get too comfortable...we will be back soon.