Hola, friends! I’ve been missing you! We’ve had such a busy couple of weeks, and tomorrow we’re finally getting internet in our new Madrid apartment, so I’ll be back in touch on a regular basis again, which will be nice.
I would imagine you’ve been really busy lately as well, yes? With school starting in many parts of the world, we’ve all been finishing up our summer vacations and gathering everything together for the start of a new school year. I hope it’s all gone smoothly and you’ve had a wonderful summer.
We arrived in Madrid one week ago, and I think I’ve finally kicked the jet lag. The night before last I slept for 11 1/2 hours, and now I feel like a human being again. I always have trouble going this direction. We spent the week getting our apartment set up. We’re renting a furnished apartment, so we didn’t need to buy very much. We made a special trip to Ikea to buy a desk for S, and lots of trips to El Corte Ingles for hardware, a printer, and groceries almost every day. But most of our time has been spent setting up a bank account, doing what we need to do to get our residency cards (our visas were just the first part of a multi-step process to becoming residents), and getting S registered for school. Everything takes many trips to a variety of government agencies, so Todd has been running all over the city taking care of each level of bureaucracy.
S will be starting fifth grade next Wednesday! I can hardly believe it. She’ll be attending a bilingual public school here in Madrid, so the first month or two will probably be challenging for her as she learns the language. But within about three months we think she’ll be fluent, and we all think it will be worth it. She’s really excited to meet new friends and has been adapting to our new country very smoothly. My next job is to find a violin teacher and a ballet school, and then I think we’ll be ready for our year in Spain!
My little rooftop atelier is all set up, too. I brought along a small sewing machine and some fabric in my suitcase (which is why I have very few clothes here–I may need to purchase more underwear soon!), and now that we have a voltage transformer I’m sewing again. I have lots of work to do to catch up after our move.
Due to lack of internet, I don’t have much in the way of links to share with you this week. But I can recommend a couple of books in the meantime. I’ve been re-reading Tender is the Night after reading a fascinating biography of Gerald and Sara Murphy, the couple upon whom the book is based.
What have you been reading? Any great articles or books you care to recommend?