Hi ya'll! well we are in the process of making the new apartment our home, putting the "Martinez Touch" in it!! It has been going very well. The difference is already very noticeable. We don't have internet access yet, probably after Friday so until then, we will be rather quite. Hopefully next weekend we'll have pictures to show ya'll!
Greetings from chilly and sunny Madrid!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Royal Palace and the Cathedral of Almudena
Today Fede started a refersher weeklong course on Financial Accounting, which means I have been with the kids most of the day. We decided to take a walk before lunch and made some terrific discoveries. Amongst them, were the Royal Palace and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Almudena. Seen above. Inside the church, as is typical, you find many side chapels. In one such chapel I was delighted to see St. Josemaria Escriva (above right).
We also had the fortune of arriving at the Palace just in time for some kind of procession/calvary display and the kids were thrilled by the men on horses!
Magnificent no? I loved the embroidered fabric that adorned the carriage -- exquisite! The Palace and the Cathedral are in the same complex, facing each other. The whole area is really majestic.
Above is the side entrance to the cathedral and one of the iron doors with a beautiful relief.
Here we are at the Palacio Real complex above. Since our walk did not require the metro I took the big stroller, a thing of beauty!
Near where we are staying you'll find a lovely old church called San Andres. Above you can see pictures if the outside and inside of the church.
Tomorrow is the move to the apartment. From that point on we will be without internet for a while so just bear with me while we get settled!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
And the Winner is....
We are relieved to tell ya'll that we settled on a place to live. If you read previous posts, I mentioned it as our Plan B. Well, Plan A looked like it wasn't going to happen until Oct 28 at the earliest which basically put it out of the running. Disappointing yes, but that's life. As the Rolling Stones so aptly said, "You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need". So be it. I think we found what we needed. While the decor is not to our taste, we will do the best we can to get it into decent shape and take pictures for yall. The move is expected to happen on Thursday.
It is just a few blocks away from the Plaza de los Toros (where they do Bull Runs), in the area of Madrid called Salamanca for those who are familiar with this city.
Now, the next big issue is finding a school for the kids that is within walking distance. At this point, there's nothing we can do because the Educational Commission will give us the choices and we will have to pick one of those.
It is late so I'll sign off but more to come in the following days. Thanks for your prayers!
-MM
It is just a few blocks away from the Plaza de los Toros (where they do Bull Runs), in the area of Madrid called Salamanca for those who are familiar with this city.
Now, the next big issue is finding a school for the kids that is within walking distance. At this point, there's nothing we can do because the Educational Commission will give us the choices and we will have to pick one of those.
It is late so I'll sign off but more to come in the following days. Thanks for your prayers!
-MM
Monday, October 17, 2011
Madrid Happenings
Yesterday we went to see a possible apartment. It's located in a good area, nice building, relatively large (3 bedrooms) on the 5th floor. It pretty much meets all of our requirements (park, church and metro nearby) except we haven't seen the schools in this area. The only other objection we have is that the decoration and furniture are not at all to our liking. Old, mismatched, cluttered, dusty....cats live there currently. While we are not head over heels in love, it is definitely an option (a Plan B).
We also ruled out three other apartments: two that were already taken, another that was too far and expensive. So, I'd like to think we're making progress. Tomorrow we were supposed to visit our current top pick, but it looks like that might be delayed (yes to our dismay....).
In other news, we went to a park and Francisco bit a kid. He was very tired and grouchy, but it's no excuse. I was mortified and felt inclined to invite the poor, sobbing, little boy to bite Francisco back so he'll know what it feels like. The father was probably thinking he should call animal control.
Today we were walking back to our apartment-hotel after having lunch at Burger King and noticed a number of police and expensive cars parked outside a big, governmental building. Several people were also standing around, so we decided to wait to see who would come out. When out walks the Queen of Spain, Reina Sofia!! Pretty cool. :) We were surprised that given who it was, there were relatively few body guards and security.
I'm happy to report that we are having paella for dinner (ok, leftover paella) and vegetable soup. And, Fede gave us the nice surprise of bringing churros and hot chocolate for breakfast this morning (churros are like an unsweetened donut in the shape of a long stick which you dip in the hot chocolate/pudding). They were a hit with everyone.
Another thing for which we are hunting is an umbrella stroller for the metro outings. Fede asked me the day we left Houston if we should take ours and I quickly said no (afterall, we were taking 5 suitcases, 1 big stroller, 2 backpacks and a diaperbag) and wow...I really regret it. It has been incredibly difficult to find a simple umbrella stroller. You know, the kind you buy at Babies R Us for $20 bucks. Impossible. So we have to lug Francisco all over Madrid, swapping him off between the two of us and forcing him to walk at a turtle trot on his fat little legs until he complains. By 6 pm, after a whole day out, it feels like he weighs 200 lbs.
As convenient as everyone says the metro is, I dunno...the amount of time it takes to get to the station, go down a bunch of escalators, study the map, switch lines, wait for the train, down more escalators, up more escalators, wait for another train, until you finally get where you want to go ends up being a heck of a lot of time. In fact, I will go as far as to say that even though Madrid is smaller, and their metro is one of the best, I think we get places faster in Houston by car despite the distance. Not to mention that the smells you encounter on the metro are not of the aromatic variety!!
Every day we go a small grocery run. Milk here comes in 1 liter containers, which is tiny compared to the 3-4 gallons we are used to consuming a week. Everything is in smaller containers, the french bread is great, Rioja 1997 wine for 6 euros, chorizo for a couple of euros...not too shabby!
Antonio and Alejandra have been playing extraordinarily well together. Despite the lack of toys and entertainment, just having a playmate seems to be enough to keep them happy, laughing and getting into trouble. Frankie isn't far behind and usually partakes in the fun too.
Til tomorrow!
We also ruled out three other apartments: two that were already taken, another that was too far and expensive. So, I'd like to think we're making progress. Tomorrow we were supposed to visit our current top pick, but it looks like that might be delayed (yes to our dismay....).
In other news, we went to a park and Francisco bit a kid. He was very tired and grouchy, but it's no excuse. I was mortified and felt inclined to invite the poor, sobbing, little boy to bite Francisco back so he'll know what it feels like. The father was probably thinking he should call animal control.
Today we were walking back to our apartment-hotel after having lunch at Burger King and noticed a number of police and expensive cars parked outside a big, governmental building. Several people were also standing around, so we decided to wait to see who would come out. When out walks the Queen of Spain, Reina Sofia!! Pretty cool. :) We were surprised that given who it was, there were relatively few body guards and security.
I'm happy to report that we are having paella for dinner (ok, leftover paella) and vegetable soup. And, Fede gave us the nice surprise of bringing churros and hot chocolate for breakfast this morning (churros are like an unsweetened donut in the shape of a long stick which you dip in the hot chocolate/pudding). They were a hit with everyone.
Another thing for which we are hunting is an umbrella stroller for the metro outings. Fede asked me the day we left Houston if we should take ours and I quickly said no (afterall, we were taking 5 suitcases, 1 big stroller, 2 backpacks and a diaperbag) and wow...I really regret it. It has been incredibly difficult to find a simple umbrella stroller. You know, the kind you buy at Babies R Us for $20 bucks. Impossible. So we have to lug Francisco all over Madrid, swapping him off between the two of us and forcing him to walk at a turtle trot on his fat little legs until he complains. By 6 pm, after a whole day out, it feels like he weighs 200 lbs.
As convenient as everyone says the metro is, I dunno...the amount of time it takes to get to the station, go down a bunch of escalators, study the map, switch lines, wait for the train, down more escalators, up more escalators, wait for another train, until you finally get where you want to go ends up being a heck of a lot of time. In fact, I will go as far as to say that even though Madrid is smaller, and their metro is one of the best, I think we get places faster in Houston by car despite the distance. Not to mention that the smells you encounter on the metro are not of the aromatic variety!!
Every day we go a small grocery run. Milk here comes in 1 liter containers, which is tiny compared to the 3-4 gallons we are used to consuming a week. Everything is in smaller containers, the french bread is great, Rioja 1997 wine for 6 euros, chorizo for a couple of euros...not too shabby!
Antonio and Alejandra have been playing extraordinarily well together. Despite the lack of toys and entertainment, just having a playmate seems to be enough to keep them happy, laughing and getting into trouble. Frankie isn't far behind and usually partakes in the fun too.
Til tomorrow!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Chorizo n' Oreos
No, this is not the post where we tell of our fabulous new apartment.... that post has yet to materialize.
However, we had a pretty interesting day. After three nights in the apartment-hotel where we were staying on Atocha (one of the main streets in Madrid), loud, dirty, and busy, we were relocated to another apartment-hotel in another area called "La Latina" until Wednesday. We are on a tucked-away street, in a working class area which apparently gets quite a bit of night life (we're waiting for the ruckus to begin!). This apartment has three bedrooms, and is typical of an older-style European home (ie: no open spaces, very compartmentalized).
This afternoon we went to see an apartment in Ciudad Lineal -- northwest part of the city. It is somewhat far away but the realtor told us that it was very large and very cheap (well below our budget) so we decided it was worth a look. Lo and behold, we were escorted to an old, ugly flat --big, yes....but depressingly ugly. Again of the old style -- little rooms connected by halls (true, it had four bedrooms, and a fifth that served as a tiny living room), small "hallway style" kitchen. The guy sat in the living room on one of the old green couches and said "Yes, it's a bit old but VERY comfortable" and as he said this he patted the couch lifting a cloud of dust! hahah... I won't go on. Needless to say that the rule holds: 'You get what your pay for' and frankly, we're willing to pay a little more to maintain some semblance of our old USA lifestyle!
It humors me immensely to recall Fede's effort to maintain a neutral expression while talking to the realtor in regards to this potential home that was so grossly below our standards :) If you all know Fede, and you all do, it is easy to see why this is so funny....
Speaking of the good ol' US of A. I went yesterday to a mini supermarket to buy toothpaste. Now, as all of you will note, when you walk into any Walmart, or Walgreens in the U.S. you have a seemingly endless variety of toothpastes, brands, some with mint, others with whitening agents, scope, "clinically proven" formulas, etc...well, at our local mini-mart (run by Spanish-speaking Chinese women I may add), we had two choices: 1) something that I suppose was toothpaste although from the looks of it, I'm not sure if it was caulking glue 2) and colgate. yes, I mean bottom-of-the-line "anti-cavity", 1960-esque Colgate -(See pic below). Wow. Welcome to Socialism!! Man, given the choices I immediately grabbed the colgate although I could hardly believe I was buying such a miserable little tube of paste!! (And, the product met my low expectations, although it gets the job done). No more Mrs. Picky right?
We had a bit of a scare in the new apartment-hotel this afternoon. Being that it is old, it has sliding locks on the inside of all the bedrooms and these locks are below the door handle. Well, Francisco went into a bedroom, shut the door and slid the lock shut!!! I freaked! We would say, "Frankie, open the door" and he would just laugh from the other side. Of course, we had no way of picking the lock since it can only be opened from the inside. Finally after a few dreadful minutes, I told him we were going to watch a movie and he promptly slid the lock open and we opened the door. Wheeeeeeew. What a scare. Seriously, what brainless constructor would put such a lock within a child's reach?
After that experience, I put a generous amount of masking tape all over the locks so that they won't budge.
Finally, we come to the title of the post "Chorizo n' Oreos". That pretty much sums up our dinner. No, that's not completely true, because I did try to make a simple pasta to deviate a bit from the sandwich menu, but still we are subsisting off of random non-perishable items for the moment.
We know this is all part of the adventure and are trying to take it in stride. Still, we will be happy and relieved when this bohemian lifestyle ends :)
Til tomorrow!
-The Martinez Gypsies
However, we had a pretty interesting day. After three nights in the apartment-hotel where we were staying on Atocha (one of the main streets in Madrid), loud, dirty, and busy, we were relocated to another apartment-hotel in another area called "La Latina" until Wednesday. We are on a tucked-away street, in a working class area which apparently gets quite a bit of night life (we're waiting for the ruckus to begin!). This apartment has three bedrooms, and is typical of an older-style European home (ie: no open spaces, very compartmentalized).
This afternoon we went to see an apartment in Ciudad Lineal -- northwest part of the city. It is somewhat far away but the realtor told us that it was very large and very cheap (well below our budget) so we decided it was worth a look. Lo and behold, we were escorted to an old, ugly flat --big, yes....but depressingly ugly. Again of the old style -- little rooms connected by halls (true, it had four bedrooms, and a fifth that served as a tiny living room), small "hallway style" kitchen. The guy sat in the living room on one of the old green couches and said "Yes, it's a bit old but VERY comfortable" and as he said this he patted the couch lifting a cloud of dust! hahah... I won't go on. Needless to say that the rule holds: 'You get what your pay for' and frankly, we're willing to pay a little more to maintain some semblance of our old USA lifestyle!
It humors me immensely to recall Fede's effort to maintain a neutral expression while talking to the realtor in regards to this potential home that was so grossly below our standards :) If you all know Fede, and you all do, it is easy to see why this is so funny....
Speaking of the good ol' US of A. I went yesterday to a mini supermarket to buy toothpaste. Now, as all of you will note, when you walk into any Walmart, or Walgreens in the U.S. you have a seemingly endless variety of toothpastes, brands, some with mint, others with whitening agents, scope, "clinically proven" formulas, etc...well, at our local mini-mart (run by Spanish-speaking Chinese women I may add), we had two choices: 1) something that I suppose was toothpaste although from the looks of it, I'm not sure if it was caulking glue 2) and colgate. yes, I mean bottom-of-the-line "anti-cavity", 1960-esque Colgate -(See pic below). Wow. Welcome to Socialism!! Man, given the choices I immediately grabbed the colgate although I could hardly believe I was buying such a miserable little tube of paste!! (And, the product met my low expectations, although it gets the job done). No more Mrs. Picky right?
We had a bit of a scare in the new apartment-hotel this afternoon. Being that it is old, it has sliding locks on the inside of all the bedrooms and these locks are below the door handle. Well, Francisco went into a bedroom, shut the door and slid the lock shut!!! I freaked! We would say, "Frankie, open the door" and he would just laugh from the other side. Of course, we had no way of picking the lock since it can only be opened from the inside. Finally after a few dreadful minutes, I told him we were going to watch a movie and he promptly slid the lock open and we opened the door. Wheeeeeeew. What a scare. Seriously, what brainless constructor would put such a lock within a child's reach?
After that experience, I put a generous amount of masking tape all over the locks so that they won't budge.
Finally, we come to the title of the post "Chorizo n' Oreos". That pretty much sums up our dinner. No, that's not completely true, because I did try to make a simple pasta to deviate a bit from the sandwich menu, but still we are subsisting off of random non-perishable items for the moment.
We know this is all part of the adventure and are trying to take it in stride. Still, we will be happy and relieved when this bohemian lifestyle ends :)
Til tomorrow!
-The Martinez Gypsies
Friday, October 14, 2011
Apartment hunting continues...
Hi folks!
So, this apartment business hasn't been so easy as we anticipated. As we look at different options and time keeps ticking, the need to settle on a place has become increasingly urgent.
One option stands out right now, and that's near "Plaza de Espana". This morning we visited the area, which is touristy and has fantastic parks/green areas and decided that we were going to try for this one apartment. All this time we had been looking more towards the northern part of the city, and this area is more to the west, but it has been a pleasant surprise. Above you see Fede with the kids at the Templo de Debod, which is a few minutes walking distance from the apartment. It is a 2000 yr old Egyptian temple that was donated to Spain by Egypt as a gift. Not too shabby!
Our life these past three days has consisted of metro (subway), walking, eating sandwiches, filing out paperwork, getting a cell phone, and going by IE (Instituto de Empresas, which is Fede will study). Really, it has been fun and we're just trying to take it all in.
It's hard to get used to all the stares we get, especially in the metro, because people here are DEFINITELY not accustomed to seeing a young couple with three kids. We might as well have green skin with pink polka dots because we would attract the same amount of attention! Still, we remind ourselves that this is all part of the experience and part of the fun too!
Our snazy new stroller turned out to be rather incompatible with the metro....carrying the huge thing up and down the stairs and squeezing it into the metro cars at peak hours is no walk in the park! It will be great for walking/parks where we will live, but the conclusion is that we will need an umbrella stroller to take in the metro.
The kids love the metro by the way. Antonio comments that everything is so different: from the taste of the milk, to the way you flush a toilet, to the fact that SO many people smoke, he catches everything.
Hopefully in our next post we will have an apartment to show you guys! Please pray. Wishing you all could be here with us!!
-The Martinez
So, this apartment business hasn't been so easy as we anticipated. As we look at different options and time keeps ticking, the need to settle on a place has become increasingly urgent.
One option stands out right now, and that's near "Plaza de Espana". This morning we visited the area, which is touristy and has fantastic parks/green areas and decided that we were going to try for this one apartment. All this time we had been looking more towards the northern part of the city, and this area is more to the west, but it has been a pleasant surprise. Above you see Fede with the kids at the Templo de Debod, which is a few minutes walking distance from the apartment. It is a 2000 yr old Egyptian temple that was donated to Spain by Egypt as a gift. Not too shabby!
Our life these past three days has consisted of metro (subway), walking, eating sandwiches, filing out paperwork, getting a cell phone, and going by IE (Instituto de Empresas, which is Fede will study). Really, it has been fun and we're just trying to take it all in.
It's hard to get used to all the stares we get, especially in the metro, because people here are DEFINITELY not accustomed to seeing a young couple with three kids. We might as well have green skin with pink polka dots because we would attract the same amount of attention! Still, we remind ourselves that this is all part of the experience and part of the fun too!
Our snazy new stroller turned out to be rather incompatible with the metro....carrying the huge thing up and down the stairs and squeezing it into the metro cars at peak hours is no walk in the park! It will be great for walking/parks where we will live, but the conclusion is that we will need an umbrella stroller to take in the metro.
The kids love the metro by the way. Antonio comments that everything is so different: from the taste of the milk, to the way you flush a toilet, to the fact that SO many people smoke, he catches everything.
Hopefully in our next post we will have an apartment to show you guys! Please pray. Wishing you all could be here with us!!
-The Martinez
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Day One in Madrid
Just a quick note following yesterday's post. We're wrapping up our first day in Madrid. The trip went quite well, the kids did great. Upon arriving in Madrid, we were greeted by our friend Maite's sisters, which was terrific and made the arrival so much smoother and easier.
From the air Madrid appears somewhat arid, but once on the streets you appreciate the vast and varied number of pine trees and their derivations. Madrid has lots of gardens, spectacular buildings, beautiful streets and quite a number of people walking. We are just taking it all in :)
We are very tired though, so we took a brief stroll to go eat a "Bocadillo" (little baguette sandwich) with Chorizo (yum!) around this area (Atocha) and hope to spend the day tomorrow looking at apartments. Cross your fingers!!
From the air Madrid appears somewhat arid, but once on the streets you appreciate the vast and varied number of pine trees and their derivations. Madrid has lots of gardens, spectacular buildings, beautiful streets and quite a number of people walking. We are just taking it all in :)
We are very tired though, so we took a brief stroll to go eat a "Bocadillo" (little baguette sandwich) with Chorizo (yum!) around this area (Atocha) and hope to spend the day tomorrow looking at apartments. Cross your fingers!!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
T minus 1 hour!!
Hello everyone! Ok. The moment has arrived! Today, in just about an hour, we board the flight to New York City. From there, we will leave for Madrid at about 8pm this evening.
In case there was any doubt in your mind, let this post confirm your suspicion. We are crazy. We know that.
We have sold our house. Sold both cars. No job. Uprooted our life in Houston....Wow, we're really living the American dream!
But although we are "less" in just about every aspect, we are not hopeless. On the contrary, the excitement and the anticipation of the adventure that we have embarked upon has been the fuel driving us forward. We count on your prayers and feel an immense gratitude for all that each of you has done for us. Thank you!
Making homemade playdough with Grandma.
Last week we squeezed in a short trip to San Antonio so that Martha could promote and recruit for the University of Navarra.
And, just two days ago we had a lovely farewell dinner with some of Antonio's classmates from last year. It was a blast.
So....the next post will be from Madrid. Til then, Godspeed and onward!
In case there was any doubt in your mind, let this post confirm your suspicion. We are crazy. We know that.
We have sold our house. Sold both cars. No job. Uprooted our life in Houston....Wow, we're really living the American dream!
But although we are "less" in just about every aspect, we are not hopeless. On the contrary, the excitement and the anticipation of the adventure that we have embarked upon has been the fuel driving us forward. We count on your prayers and feel an immense gratitude for all that each of you has done for us. Thank you!
Making homemade playdough with Grandma.
Last week we squeezed in a short trip to San Antonio so that Martha could promote and recruit for the University of Navarra.
And, just two days ago we had a lovely farewell dinner with some of Antonio's classmates from last year. It was a blast.
So....the next post will be from Madrid. Til then, Godspeed and onward!
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