Ceramic shopping in Puente Del Arzobispo

Holy Cow!!!!! Long time no hear/see from me. The good news is that we have been busy seeing and doing many things around Europe.  The bad news is that I am WAYYYYYYY behind in telling all of you about our great adventures. I am going to approach this catch up blogging as I would a scrapbook.  I am going to start with the most current and go backwards.  It has been over a year since I blogged last...so I have A LOT of catching up to do. :-)

I am not sure what you think of when you think of Spain.  I don't even remember what I thought of before I moved here.  Unfortunately, most European countries are not really in the "Marketing" business.  They don't recognize their "treasures" because they have done their certain trade for generations and generations.  It is just their way of life.  Living in Madrid now for just over 18 months, we as foreigners, hone in on these "treasures" pretty quickly and the American in us wants to business plan for them because we recognize how unique their products are.  They don't see it as such.  The "treasures" I have discovered while living here so far: olive oil, wine, jamon, olives, Manchego cheese and ceramics, to name the highlights.  This time around I am going to tell you what I know and love of the ceramics here in our region of Spain.

This past week some friends and I took a trip to one of our favorite places to buy ceramics.  If you didn't know about this "treasure" of a place you would never in a million years locate it.  It is in a little town called Puente del Arzobispo located about an hour and half south of Madrid. This unassuming little town is full of ceramic shops...(and cake, well that is for another day).  There are actual storefronts, and then there is De la Cal.  Now, when it comes to the ceramics in Spain you can almost tell where a piece is from just by the design and colors. Each family has its own unique pattern and style of painting...yes all these pieces are still painted by hand.  De la Cal has their own pattern and depending on where they are shipping the items depends on the colors.  For instance, the little town of Segovia, located about an hour north of Madrid, gets some of their pottery from De la Cal and they have their own color scheme called...wait for it...Segovia. :-0 

 

 Here is the glamourous entrance to De la Cal.  See what I mean...would you ever in a million years be able to find this. Never judge a book by its cover.  What lies inside this faded, rusty gate will knock your socks off.  Let me give you a little background on De la Cal...well...as much as I know.  They are a family of five generations that have hand painted and still hand paint beautiful pottery. They do have some large clients.  They do ship all over, but I am sure you would have to order enough to make it worthwhile for them.  One of their big clients is Columbia Restaurant in Florida.  Now, I may be mistaken, but I think this restaurant is the oldest restaurant in Florida.  If you google Columbia Restaurant and go to their shop tab...you will see De la Cal's Sangria Pitchers made just for them.  I of course have a picture as well below.  These were getting ready to be shipped out.  The woman in charge now, Ana, is phenomenal and the sweetest thing going. What I always notice from these types of families is that their work ethic is outstanding.  They work extremely hard and are very accomodating.  In the winter their factory is freezing cold and in the summer it is excruciating hot. I am sure they do all they can to keep costs as low as possible.

 

 

Now to show you and tell you about their "treasures".  What I especially love about De la Cal and what makes them "unique" to me is that they will customize any of their pieces in whatever colors you want...and if it is a successful color scheme they just might name it after you.  The color schemes that I know came about because of  the "Americans" and I think one "Brit" are the Tiffani, Ashleigh and the Belinda.  The first time I went to De la Cal I brought pieces of my current dishes for them to match.  Though, of course, it turned out beautiful, it just wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

 

 

 So, this was my first round.  I still love these pieces and will use them, well have used them, but wait til you see the others.  I will save that for in just a little bit.  I want to show you a little of their warehouse.  It is located on, what appears to be, a little farm. When you come in this big green gate they have chickens and dogs pinned up.  It is just so "typical" really.  They might live right on the property, I am not sure.  You walk up a fairly long dirt driveway to get into their warehouse.  When you arrive in their warehouse there is pottery everywhere.  They have pieces that are formed and drying, pieces waiting to be painted, pieces waiting to be fired, pieces that have been ordered and are waiting to be picked up and pieces waiting to be shipped out...all on this main floor of the warehouse.

 

 

They also have an upstairs.  On the upper floor they have pieces that you can purchase right there...I suppose you could think of it as an "outlet" or maybe even the "seconds" so to speak.  Maybe these are pieces that didn't pass their quality control test to be sent to a customer or maybe the customer decided it wasn't to their liking or maybe they are "discountinued" patterns or types of pieces or have some small defect.  I am not sure, but it is always fun to go up and look around upstairs.  It is extremely dusty up there, but you never know what you will find.











 

I cannot even put in words how much I love this place.  You can sort of tell by these pieces what their signatures are.  The flower on the vase on the right is one.  You can also see this flower in my platter above.  Another signature are the arches with a design within the arch.  This is seen throughout their sangria pitchers, vases and copas.  Some traditional pottery designs of Puente del Arzobispo are bird and hunting scenes.  De la Cal does these as well.  I believe their signature colors are blue and yellow, which you will see below, but like I said that have created some amazing pieces for us "Americans".  If you were to go to their website you would see mostly these types of peices:

This is a sort of fancy filigree design.  It looks very regal to me.  I bet it is quite the story to hear about how they came up with their "signature" design.  Speaking of designs and colors...many of the "Americans" or foreigners in Madrid, per se, order the Tiffani style.  Tiffani was an American whom lived here and wanted a design that reminder her of Spain.  She basically started with the idea of the colors of the Spanish flag and left that idea with the painters and designers at De la Cal.  The pattern and colors have evolved over the years and, of course, each piece is different.  My most recent pieces are a little different from the pieces people have gotten a few years ago.

Sangria pitcher, personalized, along with copas

Tres pisos frutera.  Three tiered.

Close up of the Sangria Pitcher.

 WOW!!!!!!  If this doesn't scream, "I am from Spain" then I don't know what does.  Isn't this one of the most beautiful sights ever... The pattern seems to have evolved to be more colorful throughout the years.  I am guessing because people have requested all sorts of color combinations and they are not about to waste their resources, so they start to use the colors they have, to make it even better.  As we spoke to Ana this time she mentioned to us that we have an "exclusive" color scheme.  She does not offer these color choices to her mainstream clients, though she should becasue they are beautiful.  You have to know what the color scheme is named in order to place your order.  I suppose Europeans are not as flashy as Americans so they are drawn to the much more subdued tones.  What is the saying...Go big or go home. 

Here is an example of the Ashleigh:

Again...holy cow are you kidding me...beautiful.  This color scheme came about when "Ashleigh" was ordering pottery for a wedding gift in the colors of the wedding and now she has a pattern named after her.  Pretty cool!!!! 

Another fun little fact about the pottery in Spain is that each piece has the idea of a signature.  I like to think of it like art...each piece is signed, in one way or the other, by the artist.  The signature basically is the family name or business name and the region or location.  Here are two examples of what De la Cal does:


 

Here you see Ceramica De La Cal (family), Puente Del Arzobispo, Toledo, Espana (location) and Hecho A Mano (Made by Hand).  I have just recently noticed this stamp on their items. It may be new or maybe just on larger pieces.



 

Again...De la Cal (family), Puente and Espana (location).  These are hand painted on most of the pieces that I have.  I only have one piece with the stamp.  We shall see what comes on the pieces that I just ordered.



One other favorite stop of ours when we are in Puente is Cruz Ceramica.   At Cruz you cannot special order items and if you are there and see something you like you better buy it because it might not be there next time and they might never make it like that again.  The Cruz store we go to is run by two sisters.  There storefront is filled with beautiful things, but if they really like you, they let you go to the back warehouse where they house all of their "treasures".  I think if you just walked in off the street, again, you might never know they have a warehouse full of all kinds of things in the back.  We literally pull up cushions and sprawl out on the cement floor digging through the stacks of platters and bowls and whatever we feel like, looking for the "perfect" piece for us.

Here are some Cruz pieces that I have:

Notice right away the difference in both pattern and color designs. Cruz is very intricate and we actually got to observe one of the sisters hand painting a platter.  It is very time intensive as you can clearly see.  The more times we go back it is apparent that they are training the next generation of painters.  The younger generation is a bit more "free" as in the square platter, yet the older generation likes their clean lines and symmetry.  Also notice the CRUZ signature.  They don't specify their location, but most signatures do.  Another little detail on all the platters and some bowls I have noticed, is they are designed with little holes on the back, within the base, for hanging on a wall.

The ceramics are by far one of my favorite things here in Spain and I am sure to leave with quite the collection.  Like I mentioned before, depending on where you purchase the ceramics, the colors and styles will vary.  I will save a comparison of pottery from different regions for a later post.  Today you have just visited Puente Del Arzobispo.  I don't want to overwhelm you all.

Coming from a country where just about everything is mass produced or made in China it certainly is a breath of fresh air to see these amazing small businesses in Spain that are still deeply connected to their roots.

Until next time...

Jamon, jamon and more jamon

When it comes to "jamon" here in Spain the Spaniards DO NOT MESS AROUND!!!!!!  "Jamon" is basically cured ham, but there are many types and characteristics that put all these "jamon's" into different categories.  According to Spaniards...and Wikipedia...the best of the "jamon's" are called "Jamon Iberico" which is made from Iberian pigs.  Often these pigs are specifically black iberian pigs.

Here is what Wikipedia says:

The black Iberian pig lives primarily in the south and southwest parts of Spain, including the provinces of Salamanca, Ciudad Real, Cáceres, Badajoz, Seville, Córdoba and Huelva. It also lives in the southeast parts of Portugal (Barrancos), where it is referred to as porco de raça alentejana.
Immediately after weaning, the piglets are fattened on barley and maize for several weeks. The pigs are then allowed to roam in pasture and oak groves to feed naturally on grass, herbs, acorns, and roots, until the slaughtering time approaches. At that point, the diet may be strictly limited to acorns for the best quality jamón ibérico, or may be a mix of acorns and commercial feed for lesser qualities.
The hams from the slaughtered pigs are salted and left to begin drying for two weeks, after which they are rinsed and left to dry for another four to six weeks. The curing process then takes at least twelve months, although some producers cure their jamones ibéricos for up to 48 months.
In particular, the ibérico hams from the towns of Guijuelo in the Salamanca province and Jabugo in the Huelva province are known for their consistently high quality^{[citation needed]} and both have their own Denominación de origen. Almost the entire town of Jabugo is devoted to the production of jamón ibérico; the biggest producer is 5J Sánchez Romero Carvajal. The town's main square is called La plaza del Jamón.

The hams are labeled according to the pigs' diet, with an acorn diet being most desirable:

• The finest is called jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn). This ham is from free-range pigs that roam oak forests (called la dehesa) along the border between Spain and Portugal, and eat only acorns during this last period. It is also known as jamón ibérico de Montanera. The exercise and diet have a significant impact on the flavor of the meat; the ham is cured for 36 months.
• The next grade is called jamón ibérico de recebo. This ham is from pigs that are pastured and fed a combination of acorns and grain.
• The third type is called jamón ibérico de cebo, or simply, jamón ibérico. This ham is from pigs that are fed only grain. The ham is cured for 24 months.

Jamón ibérico on a jamonera

Additionally, the word puro (pure, referring to the breed) can be added to the previous qualities when both the father and mother of the slaughtered animal are of pure breed and duly registered on the pedigree books held by official breeders.^[1]
The term pata negra is also used to refer to jamón ibérico in general, and may refer to any one of the above three types. The term refers to the color of the pigs' nails, which are white in most traditional pork (Sus domesticus) breeds, but black for the Black Iberian breed. While as a general rule, a black nail should indicate an Ibérico ham, there are cases of counterfeits, with the nails being manually painted.
Bellota jamones are prized both for their smooth texture and rich, savory taste. A good ibérico ham has regular flecks of intramuscular fat (marbling). Because of the pig's diet of acorns, much of the fat is oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid that has been shown to lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol.
The fat content is relatively high compared to jamón serrano, thus giving a rich taste.

Okay...so there is a little background on this treat that Spain is so famous for.  Now that the holidays are upon us this commodity is a hot one.  This is a common gift given during the holidays or common just to have ready for guests.  We noticed these legs of ham hanging on the walls of the supermarkets when we arrived this summer.  We were a bit awestruck at the bizarreness, the smell and the number of these hanging on the walls.  Depending on the category these "jamon's" fall into depends on the price.  These things run from about $40 per kilogram to about $170 per kilogram.  This is crazy.  This all brings us to today.  We had to run to the Carrefour (similar to Walmart) and they have tons of salespeople roaming around with their "product" they are trying to sell...just like Costco, because it is the holidays.  Well their was a representative there today from 5J, which is the biggest producer of these glorious hams.  The sales rep shaved off a little slice of the leg and it literally melted in your mouth.  This was so incredibly delicious that we had to bring some home.  So...of course...just like everything else there are a gazillion choices.  We, obviously, took a packet of the one we just tasted and decided we wanted to see if price "really" did make a difference or were they selling a name.  So the packet we knew we would love was 129 euros per kilo...we only bought a .9 gram packet which was around 12 euro.  We had to pick another kind so we could conduct our test...so we also bought a packet that was 99 euro per kilogram.  I think we got about the same size packet for around 9 euro.  Trying to make our choice was very difficult because of how many types there are.  We decided to stick with the jamon iberico de bellota category.

We got home super excited to conduct our own taste test.  Hands down the pricier jamon took the cake.  The other one was good, but you really can tell a difference.  We like to eat our jamon with queso (particularly manchego...which is another thing Spain is famous for).  The pricier jamon we discovered, that we didn't want to eat it with anything, but itself for fear of masking the awesomeness that it was all alone.  Tanner even had his conclusions.  He loved the expensive one by itself, but admitted that he liked the second one with manchego versus all by itself.  I love that they are starting to understand and distinguish some of these cultural differences.

Now, this is mostly a Spain and Portugal treat, but for those of you in the United States I believe you can order this at latienda.com or maybe you may get lucky in a local Spanish or international type marketplace.  The price truly reflects the quality and is just amazing.  I hope that you get a chance or opportunity to try this lucious appetizer and it would be worth a trip to Spain just for the jamon alone.  Some jamon iberico, manchego, baguette and a glass of red wine...now that is a spanish slice of heaven.

The jamon's line the walls.  There is actually the equivalent to an entire Walmart size aisle dedicated to all of the jamon's.

You can sort of see the "goo" on the outside of these legs.  This is basically a greasy mold type substance.  You obviously cut that off, but they smell terrible.  They have special canvas bags that they place these in when purchased.  They are bags shaped like a ham leg with a handle.

Here are a few legs that have been partially carved.  After speaking with some Spaniards these really don't go bad.  Because of the curing process they can last for months in this state.  The Spaniards say that it really isn't a problem, becuase they don't last long.  Once you start cutting on the leg you just cover it with plastic wrap so that it doesn't dry out.  The key is to shave off the meat in paper thin slices.  This is a true art form and is just amazing to watch.

Challenges, challenges and more challenges

Well...I have been terrible about blogging lately.  I believe it has been two months since I have blogged.  I suppose there is a good and a bad to this.  The bad part is that you all don't get to read about our experiences, but I suppose the good part is that our experiences are feeling a bit more normal and less overwhelming and I hadn't felt the need to rush and blog about it.  As I was chatting with a friend today about how terrible I am at blogging, I thought, I need to be better about this because we can laugh at our experiences here and that may also give all of you a good laugh as well.  So I decided to talk a little about some of our challenges lately where we have had to insert said sense of humor.

We have been here in Madrid now for about 4 months.  We are far from "settled", but definitely feel like we are functioning pretty well.  There are many, many challenges that we face each and every day.  Being 4 months into this these challenges certainly don't feel as strange as they used to and we pretty much accept the fact that whatever we are about to do is certainly not going to be easy.  My friend here always says, "Living here is the good life, but not the easy life".  This is soooo in your face true that we have concluded that if we do not have a sense of humor here we will be eaten alive. :-)  I am going to talk a little about such simple things that become so difficult and our "experiences" along the way.

As a military family we have had our fair share of living in different states, different cities, different military posts and many different houses.  Usually when we get to a new spot we have to "cruise" our current city for all of our favorites.  You know, like our favorite stores, favorite coffee shops, favorite salons, favorite restaurants and really anything that we can "relate" to or "recognize".  Well when you transplant to a foreign land there are certainly no familiarities and definitely no "cruising" the city to look because we would surely get lost.  Then add the language barrier and you are certainly set up for disaster.  So let's take a look at what sorts of challenges that we run into.  Imagine the simplicity of these things in the States and you might be able to understand our frustrations.

Imagine for a second what you do in a day...now imagine doing this in a place where nobody speaks your language and you don't speak theirs.  Here is where you absolutely must have a sense of humor, not only at yourself, but also with the situation.  The grocery store...now this is actually getting much, much better.  I can recognize so many more items on the shelves, have found our favorite olives, favorite jamon and favorite cheeses.  This week, for the first time, I was actually successful at getting a certain cut of meat that I needed.  You don't find as many meat choices that are already cut for you out on display for you to just grab and go here.  There are pre packaged meats, but it doesn't compare to what our grocery stores have.  Plus you really need to know what the cut of meat you want looks like because you aren't going to find a chuck roast anywhere, well no roast for that matter, but that is another blog.  For some reason the pork chops here are paper thin with shrapnel.  Shrapnel, you say, ahhhh yes, shrapnel.  The meat seems to be cut with a bit of wrecklessness.  I have to warn the kids before eating their pork chop that they may find little bones in their meat.  I cannot stand this, but it is what it is, so we just deal with it.  Well...yesterday I ran to my local mercado and went back to the butcher and found the cut of meat I wanted.  Well here comes the hard part...I needed to tell him what I wanted.  I wanted that cut of meat cut thicker and I wanted 6.  So....here it goes.  Hola, Buenas Tardes.  Now remember...I have complete survival spanish...I sound like the local village idiot, but at this point if I can get my need across to them then it is a win win. :-)  Esta. Gruesa. Seis.  Well he cut me the most lucious pork chops that we have gotten yet and it was absolutely AWESOME.  Now you can imagine my pride as I just ordered meat from the butcher in a language that I am not even close to native at speaking.  I was on cloud 9.  It sounds so silly to want to call your husband as you leave the store to tell him that you just got pork chops.  This is just a funny situation that if we were home in the States...who cares...do you want some sort of medal because you bought friggin pork chops...well actually in Spain, yes a medal or girl scout patch of achievement would ROCK.

As a girl this next situation is one that I have been thinking about since we got here.  I am not going to lie.  I am extremely high maintenance and I usually have my new salon in my new city picked out before my new curtains go up.  Again...not here.  I went to an Aveda Salon back home in the States and had looked up the local Aveda Salon pretty much as soon as we landed.  I have been telling my husband for the past 4 months that I need to either go down to the salon or attempt to call to see if anyone speaks English.  This is actually a situation where I absolutley NEED the hairstylist to speak English because there can be no miscommunication when it comes to cutting my hair.  We already had this happen to Ellie and that is a whole other story, but she is 6 and I am not and if my hair is cut way shorter than I had expected there will be tears.  Each week I get an email that talks about recent events and goings on in Madrid.  Well each week they have the Aveda Salon in downtown Madrid highlighted and they talk about one of their services they offer.  Last week in this email it said that a brunch had been organized at this Aveda.  At this brunch you got a consult with a stylist, a free manicure and a mini shoulder massage.  I was certainly ALL OVER this one.  I had been wanting to get my foot in the door of this salon since we arrived and what better way than with a group of other people.  Perfect...this was going to be fabulous.  I drop the kids off at the bus and head into the location to catch the light rail into the regular metro station to take the metro into the city because Lord knows you don't want to drive into Madrid at 10 am, plus there probably wouldn't be anywhere to park.  I arrived at the salon a few minutes early so I popped into the Starbucks right across the street.  Just a little side note, I was so excited when I saw Peppermint Mocha on the menu.  I, of course, ordered myself a Peppermint Mocha and just sat in a little bliss of familiarity as Christmas music played in the background.  It was certainly my happy place for a few moments.  It was now time to head over to my brunch event at Aveda.  I walked inside and was greeted by a Bonjour.  What the...I must admit I sort of froze.  All I could think to say was Hola.  Holy Crap why is she speaking French...wait a minute...THEY ALL ARE SPEAKING FRENCH.  I am bad enough with getting by in Spanish and now I am surrounded by people speaking French.  The coordinator of the event, whom I corresponded with in English, did speak English to me as she checked me in.  Come to find out, this was actually a French Club that had arranged this.  I am not sure how I was included in the original email about this event, but I had to look at it...with a sense of humor.  These ladies did speak Spanish, but not English.  Well, a few spoke English, but they all knew each other and were all speaking French.  It was just one of those moments where I thought, "How bizarre".  The positive that came out of the whole thing was that they were able to get me hooked up with a stylist that does speak English and I was able to make an appointment with him for next week to actually get a cut and a color plus I got a free manicure and shoulder massage.  So again a win win.

I will leave you with one last challenge that is sooo super easy to do in the States that you don't even think twice, but now we are going to figure out how to order a pizza. This should be fun.  Ellie and I were leaving girl scouts and we thought it would be great to bring home a pizza.  So we put Domino's in our GPS and go.  Well, you know how GPS's are.  After the fact we find out that there was a Domino's much closer to where we were to start with, but such is life. So it is pouring down rain and Ellie and I are on an adventure.  Any where you go in Madrid parking is a nightmare.  I am sure this is the same scenario in any major city, but a new one for us to deal with and you certainly must perfect your parallel parking skills. Ellie and I find a perfect parking spot.  I attempt to "fit" into in the spot with my super American Honda Odyssey....ummm yeah...if you see a Honda Odyssey it is a 110% that it is an American driving it seeing as they don't make this Honda model here...even when the Guardia Civil sets up check points...they wave on through the obvious Americans...aka Honda Odyssey's.  So I am trying to parallel park the van into a spot I knew for sure we would fit into.  Well I kept running into something.  So I asked Ellie to jump in the back and look out the back window to see what I was hitting.  She, so politely, says, "Mom, you are hitting the car behind you".  Well that certainly explains that.  I think we will just mosey along to a new spot.  We did find a parking spot and now the real challenge begins...to order the pizza. Now, of course, the toppings are pretty similar, except for the fact that it is all in Spanish and the lady taking your order only speaks Spanish.  We were able with not much trouble to order our hawaiian and bacon pizzas or jamon con pina y bacon.  Whenever I do something new for the first time I swear I feel like I have a mini anxiety attack trying to get through it.  I just freeze up and forget all that I know. So after I placed my order she asked me for my nombre.  Well in the midst of my feeling overwhelmed I responded telefono, because I thought she was asking me my number...nombre/number...they sound the same to me. :-)  Well it wasn't until she called the name of the other lady waiting for her pizza when it donned on me that nombre was name.  I totally knew this, but totally had a brain freeze.  If Chad would have been in this situation his response is always, "No speako the Mexicano," which he totally stole from our friend Ashleigh. You can imagine how far this gets him.  Let's just say I do all the speaking when possible.

Until next time...

September 11, 2011

Today is the 10 year anniversary of events that changed us as a nation.  As I sit in my home in Madrid, Spain I have found it a bit of a difficult day.  Difficult because it is just a regular day here in Spain.  Difficult because this date 10 years ago defines us now and my children will not be taught any of this in school here.  Difficult because as an American in a foreign country I feel that I want to keep that fact hidden.  I don't want to draw attention to myself, but I really want to hang a U.S. flag out on my house to show my pride for my country.  Being an American in Spain is such an incredible opportunity and adventure and I would never want to offend a Spaniard.  As September 11 is just about over here in Spain I wanted to have a post in remembrence.  I read a facebook post yesterday that said. "I don't remember what I was doing last Tuesday, but I can tell you exactly what I was doing on September 11, 2001".  This struck a chord with me.  This is so true.  I love hearing people's stories of where they were and what they were doing and how their lives have been affected by such tragedy that I thought I would share mine.

On September 11, 2001 we were stationed at Ft. Lee in Virginia.  Hubby was attending the Captain's Career Course and I was working just north of Richmond, Virginia in a town called Glen Allen.  I was not at a computer that had internet capabilities nor near a television.  I sort of heard co-workers talking about what was going on, but truly was caught up in my work.  I kept getting updates from co-workers and couldn't believe what I was hearing.  I stepped out of the office to call my mom on the West Coast to just let her know that I was ok and to hear her voice.  Just after lunchtime Hubby called me at work to let me know that he had been released early and to fill me in on the details.  He then told me that Ft. Lee was on lockdown and to try and get a hotel room outside of base because I probably couldn't get on.  I left work early that day and was able to get on base, but waited hours in a line to get on.  Once on post there were soldiers with weapons walking up and down our streets.  There were tanks rolling up and down our streets.  It was just crazy.  Once I got home I was able to see footage for the first time and I just couldn't turn it off.  Hubby and I waited to hear President Bush speak and after President Bush's speech Hubby turned to me and said, "We are going to war."  At that moment I knew our military lives would be drastically different.

In the weeks that followed I struggled with so many emotions.  I would take my lunch break to drive to a parking lot and just sob.  What was going to happen?  What did this mean for us in the military?  How would our country heal?  I felt so much patriotism all around me.  It brought tears to my eyes to see every single house on our street waving the American Flag.  People, for the first time in a long time, put their needs and wants aside to help others.  It was just truly amazing yet so sad that it takes such tragedy for people to come together.  There were people on our street whose husbands were sent up to ground zero to help in the recovery of bodies with a Casualty Affairs unit.  We had another schooling scheduled after Ft. Lee, but which of our friends would be sent away from their families?

We headed to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida for EOD school and then to Ft. Knox, Kentucky to fill a Company Command position of an active EOD Company.  About the time we got to Kentucky the first wave of Marines deployed to Iraq.  By this time we had given birth to one child.  Not sure how many waves came before ours, but in September of 2003 Hubby deployed to Iraq...and I suppose the rest is history.  We now have two children, been through 2 deployments, too many memorial services to count and Hubby wears a bracelet with 2 special names engraved on it representing two of his soldiers that were killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  We are a changed nation and we are a changed family.

I pray everyday for God's protection of our "family" and our military "family".  So many lives lost this day 10 years ago and many more lost since then.  Though we aren't seeing coverage on tv this day, that is probably happening in the States, we do remember.  Terrorists act in evil all over the world and this is one thing that we as Americans share with Madrid.  In 2004 Madrid was attacked with bombs in their commuter train system.  I look forward to mourning with them on the anniversary of their tragedy and knowing we can actually relate.  Because of their terrorist attacks we are here today.  Spain wanted to host the Counter IED Center because of this incident. 

I raise a glass to 10 more years of rebuilding this great nation and pray that Americans everywhere remember how we all treated each other just hours, days, weeks and even months following this great tragedy and to remember that we don't need another tragedy to come together as one.

SEGOVIA!!!!!!

A few weekends ago Hubby's work organized a trip to Segovia.  Segovia is an easy day trip from Madrid and I would say is a must see for anyone visiting here.  There are many things that Segovia is known for.  The few that we saw were the Aqueduct, the Alcazar, the Segovia Cathedral, the Walls of Segovia and Suckling Pig.

The Aqueduct:

The aqueduct is an incredible piece of architecture and engineering.  This was built in the late 1st century or early 2nd century.  The aqueduct is 9 miles long and up to only a few years back was functional.  It brought water from the mountains to the city.  I think the most amazing facts about this structure is that it was built by hand with around 25,000 granite blocks and held together by pure engineering.  There is no mortar whatsoever in this structure.  There are over 170 bows (arches) in the structure.

Incredible.

The next sight we saw was the Segovia Cathedral.  We weren't able to go in because we weren't Catholic and they were having mass.  We went on a Sunday.  You can pay to go in when there isn't mass and we will certainly do that next time we are there.  I must say that buildings here are just so impressive.  When you think about the construction practices back when these buildings were constructed you just stand in awe of what was produced.  These were all done by hand and the detail is just amazing.

After being mesmerized for a bit looking at the Cathedral, we walked through the incredibly tiny streets where you wouldn't think people could walk and drive down...but this is Spain...so they absolutely do.

These incredible streets took us past little shops and vendors and ended at the Alcazar of Segovia.  They say that Walt Disney was inspired by this castle and created Cinderella's castle through this inspiration. This castle was first documented in 1122, but it easily could have existed earlier.  Again...we didn't go inside the castle this trip, but do plan to go in next time.  We were with a big group and we didn't want anybody to feel obligated to pay the entrance fees.  This castle was the residence of many royals and was devastated by fire in 1862, but was rebuilt.  This sight now houses the sight of an Artillery Museum.

Our final destination in Segovia was to have the famous suckling pig. Now...I probably shouldn't have read about this before we went, but I was determined to try it.  A little background...A suckling pig is basically a piglet that is fed strictly on it's mother's milk until slaughtered at about 21 days old.  Oyyyyyy... here we go.  This appeared to be a specialty in Segovia.  It was offered on many, many of the menus here and 2 of the most well know suckling pig restaurants are here. 

The meat of the suckling pig is extremely tender. They say that when these come out of the wood ovens that they cut them with a plate because they are so tender.  I would agree the meat is this tender, but the skin was extremely crisp so I don't know if that is true.  We didn't see them cut the little piglets. It was very tasty and an experience to say the least.

We had a great day in Segovia and hope to go back soon when we are not with a large group and can just wander without losing anybody or worrying about places we need to be by a certain time.

Until we meet again...

More rules of the Spaniards...

I am sure throughout the next 3 years here there will be many postings depicting things/actions that I come across as bizarre/inappropriate/just plain strange that the Spaniards do.  Because I have noticed on more than one occasion these behaviors I have dubbed them as Rules of the Spaniards...such as their driving...here are a few more.

Our stay thus far here in Madrid has required/allowed us to get around using public transportation.  The great thing is that the public transportation here is incredible.  You truly can get anywhere you need to go without any trouble.  A consequence of using public transportation is that you are around other people all day long as you travel to where you need to be.  I posted a post a while ago about the women of Spain.  How smartly they dress and how you don't see them running errands in their pajamas.  This is still true, but as the weather has turned extremely warm a trend of wearing white has emerged among the Madrilenos.  Now...here is where their rule comes in...It must be a Spanish rule that if you wear a white shirt you MUST wear a black bra and if you wear white bottoms, such as slacks, skirts or shorts that you MUST wear some brightly colored underwear.  Being the fashionista that I am (hehehehehe) I find this totally bizarre.  Am I the only one that knows when wearing white you wear nude colored undergarments, not even white undergarments.  It just boggles my mind...do they not see themselves in a mirror before walking out the door.  Now, you may be chuckling, but I am stunned at how many women I see in a day abiding by this RULE!!!!!!  Stacey and Clinton...Madrid needs a What Not to Wear - Undergarments show.

Another rule that I have observed is that when out in public you MUST show as much PDA (Public Display of Affection) as humanly possible.  This one just makes me uncomfortable.  If I knew how to say "Get a room" in spanish I might get to the point of yelling it out at the top of my lungs.  Just today on the Metro ride home a young couple were totally going at it.  Now, when I say going at it, I don't mean a little peck here and there, but full blown, noisemaking, making out.  I find this terribly disturbing.  I try to appreciate that they are in love and expressing that, but I really feel there is a time and a place.  That place is certainly not sitting next to me and my two children on the Metro.  Almost everyday we ride the Metro we experience something of this nature.  Whether it is making out on the escalators, as they wait for the Metro, in the parks...EVERYWHERE!!!!  This, again, may be one of those European things, but I really don't like it and I certainly don't appreciate this RULE.

Until next time....

The Woes of Moving...

Our experiences thus far in Madrid have been over the top incredible.  We are so blessed to be able to have this experience and we have been trying to "stop and smell the roses" and appreciate all that is around us here.  We have been successful in seeing as much as we can see, and do as much as we can do.  With two young children there are times that you are pinched back to reality over things that, as adults, we try and push through in order to make each of our "homes" the best that it can be.  As I mentioned in a previous post, "Every place is what you make of it."  Well, the kids have a harder time embracing this concept.  They cannot always appreciate the age of buildings, statues and fountains.  They don't care to understand, at this point, the history of how a city, such as Madrid, became a city.  All they know is that they have been pulled away from everything that they have ever known, or known for a really long time, and there are days that they just want to go back to what they know. 

Being a military family can sometimes be a double edged sword.  We "get" to move every few years and experience all new places.  Hubby and I have moved many, many times and we always try to look forward to our new locations as an opportunity to see something we have never seen before.  We would even start to get "the itch" when we have been in one place longer than normal.  Some moves are more welcome than others, as the location we were leaving weren't the most ideal locations.  Now, with children, this moving business is a whole new ball game.  We had been very fortunate in our last duty station and had been "stable" for just over 6 years.  Our littlest, LuLu, was born there and our oldest was almost 3 when we arrived to Fort Carson, Colorado.  So having been in that location so long was really all our kids had ever known.  In previous moves our oldest was too little to really understand what was going on and we hadn't yet had the little one.  So this move has been especially tough on LuLu.  She has been torn from, literally, her whole life as she knows it.  There are many days where she wakes up in tears.  She just wants to go back to Colorado and all her friends and everything she is "comfy" with.  As a parent this just breaks your heart.  Hubby and I miss the friends that we have made as well, but we are "old hats" at this moving business, and since most of our friends are also military they know the old Army saying, "See you later".  We NEVER say goodbye...only SEE YOU LATER.   We hope and pray that at some point down the road we do cross paths again with the many special families that we have been blessed to get to know.

There are many more "kinks" put into our moving routine when moving overseas.  As I mentioned before Hubby and I are "old hats" at this moving business, but neither of us have moved overseas before.  In our many, many military moves, we have never had the right conditions to have gotten a door-to-door move.  A door to door move is one that once the movers pack out and load your household goods on their semi the timing works just perfect that you get to your new location and have a house that they can literally drive your things from the home they packed it to the new home and not have to unload the truck in government storage.  This has never happened to us.  Our stuff always goes into storage and is delivered when everything else is in order.  Now...throw an overseas move into the mix.  By the time we get our stuff delivered here in Spain it will have been exactly 2 months since it left our residence in Colorado.  Now, of course, an overseas move is a differnent sort of beast in itself.  Our stuff must ship over on a boat versus being driven in a semi-truck.  Again, for Hubby and I, not that big of deal.  We are certainly looking forward to getting our things, but now think of this whole thing through a childs point of view.  The kids have not seen their toys, beds and all the things that are special to them for 2 months.  Imagine for a moment...leaving your home of 6 years, 2 months ago, with essentially only what you could carry onto an airplane.  I am not going to lie and say that the limited clothing items that I having been wearing for the past 2 months may have to be burned when my other clothes arrive because I cannot stand to look at them anymore. :-)  The kids could really care less about their clothes, but they have really been troopers under the circumstances.  They are confined to this little 2 bedroom apartment with only the toys and things that they could carry in their backpack on the airplane.  Military children are especially resiliant and can adapt very quickly, but the reality is that they are still children and don't yet have the coping skills that adults have.  As a parent we certainly try to "soften the blow", as you will, with all that is going on.  We try to encourage all the great things that they are getting to see and the new people they will meet.  The reality is...sometimes it isn't that easy for the little ones.

We have just about a week left before we can begin to really "settle in" to our new home.  We move into the house next week and will be able to receive our household goods at that time.  We are certainly looking forward to getting our routines and schedules back in order and hopefully with familiar things surrounding us, the kids can start to feel like this is "home" and begin to make new memories and friends.  I never want them to forget all their past experiences, but hope and pray that they can embrace and appreciate where they are in the present.  They truly are a unique breed from other children and probably once they are grown and have their own families will they truly appreciate those past experiences.  Here is to praying that each and every transistion our children go through they feel the Lord's presence as comfort and familiarity.

Until next time....