School Festival

This past week the kids had their School Festival, in honor of Blessed Faustino -the Founder of the Congregation of Nuns who began the School. Antonio and Alejandra had been rehearsing for weeks and were ready to participate in the play and festivities.

It began on Wednesday with the School Parade. Alejandra was dressed as a Spanish Flamenco dancer and Antonio was a Real Madrid soccer player. We had initially hoped that he would agree to be a Bullfighter, in keeping with the Spanish theme, but as soon as he saw the tight torero pants he frowned and said no-way! I think he was expecting something a little more "manly" and "cool" than sequence and tights!!

At any rate, to my surprise, even the teachers dressed up for the Parade, so when I picked them up that afternoon, I felt like I had walked into a Halloween party in the middle of March! It was very amusing.

Here we have both of the kids' teachers: Antonio with Beatriz, dressed as a Chinese lady; Alejandra with Margarita, dressed as a school girl -super cute!

Thursday, when I picked up the kids their faces were covered in the remains of a delicious hot chocolate snack at school; Friday they ate churros during recess and Antonio reported that they did "absolutely no school work during these days!"

Friday afternoon was the school play. Alejandra was in a number called "Paint, paint, paint without stopping" and as such, she was dressed as a painter. Antonio was in a skit about keeping the earth clean and the effects of pollution, and he was a puffy white cloud. And, well, Francisco just enjoyed trying on his siblings' "zapatillas" -which were the white, canvas shoes, typical of Spain that were required for the costumes. These zapatillas are surprisingly comfortable (and oh-so-fashionable!) and the kids have enjoyed wearing them around the house. They smell of bubblegum too! Francisco feels really left out that he didn't get his own pair and he flops around in theirs....I'm going to need to run to the store for another pair soon.



Speaking of Francisco, that boy is getting fiesty! His new favorite word is "stop!" -which is rather curious, since we don't speak in English, so we're not quite sure where he picked it up (perhaps Elmo's videos?). At meal times he absolutely insists on feeding himself, and as you can imagine, we have a fiasco thrice daily: as the yogurt dribbles down the spoon and onto his shirt and pants, I explain to him that he just can't do it alone yet. This however is not something he's willing to swallow (literally) and so begins the tantrum: he thrashes about, hopping to and fro in his high-chair, screaming, trying to tear apart the placemat, flip the plate over, spill his milk, etc. He's been succesful on a number of ocassions, but now we're all pretty much prepared.

He also corrects me frequently: "Asi no!" ("Not like that!") and then adds, "Asi, si" ("Like this") and he demonstrates the action his way...sigh...picky, picky, picky. He's still as cute as a button though, so we'll keep him.

Here are Francisco and Alejandra wearing masks of their class mascots. Fran is wearing Antonio's "Pinto" mask, a little green monster that frolics about the classroom; Alejandra is wearing "Lila", a little lilac monster. We go to this park, seen above, pretty much every day now. The weather has been warm and sunny and after school the park is swarming with kids.

So, I've saved the best for last. In January, the kids "discovered" Michael Jackson. It all started when they came home from school singing "Heal the World" (one of Michael Jackson's songs) as part of a little performance for "The Day of Peace." Well, that was the start of something special. They are completely taken to his music, his moves, and his videos (I mean, how could you not be? He was a genius before he got all weird). And after watching a couple of his videos, we noticed that Antonio was trying (with a good measure of success) to imitate his moves! It was incredibly amusing and so we tried to coax him to let us film him dancing.  Initially he was absolutely against it, but after a little bribery we managed to get a few clips. I had to haggle with Antonio a bit. He wouldn't dance for less than 2 euros, but I got him down to 1 euro. Granted, because he knew he was being filmed, he is more reserved and self-conscious (stage fright), so the video does not do full justice compared to the  all-out performances, which I will try to capture in the future. But it does serve as a little foretaste of his style!

(By the way, he requested that I let him grow his hair out like Michael Jackson, to which I said, absolutely not!)

And, Francisco has learned the Guardian Angel Prayer (although he's clowning around, so it doesn't sound as clear as he's actually able to say it):

Angel de la Guarda

Mi dulce compania

No me desampares

Ni de noche ni de dia

Hasta que me pongas

En paz y alegria

Con todos los Santos

Jesus, Jose y Maria. Amen

Segovia

A couple of weeks ago we visited Segovia, just 30 minutes outside of Madrid. We had no real expectations, and boy were we in for a treat. It was magnificent. Similar to Toledo, but perhaps better in some respects, because of the Castle (Alcazar) located here. Segovia is another fortified city, trapped in the 16th century, with a spectacular cathedral (seen above) and the very famous Roman Aqueduct.

From the train station we took a taxi to Alcazar (which literally means Castle), seen above. As soon as Francisco saw the towers (turrets) he started yelling "Rapunzel!" and spent the rest of the tour convinced that she was hiding somewhere in there. Alcazar has some of the most amazing rooms inside --exquisitely decorated in the Al-mudejar (Muslim) style of the 16th century. It is also very well preserved, complete with a throne room (with the kings thrones) and their bed chamber - so cool. We were surprised at how cold it was in the castle and visualized its past inhabitants shivering within its cold stoney walls all the time.

 

The landscapes are so beautiful in this area. Very arid with snow capped mountains, and rich in yellow and brown hues. As you can see, it was a chilly day but the brilliant sun countered this and made it very pleasant.

The kids loved seeing the artillery room in Alcazar, complete with knights, canons (and balls), swords, and arrows. We also climbed the steep spiraling staircase (yes, carrying Francisco!) up to the towers (Seen above, bottom left pic) for a magnificent view of Segovia and the mountains.

 

As you can see, Francisco found many potential "Rapunzel" towers and as he banged on door after door, insisting that she open, we finally had to tell him that she was taking a nap. Only then was he satisfied and the tour went on (in the left picture above you might make out a faint red blotch at the base of the Tower door, that's Francisco). The bottom right picture is of a small church on the outskirts of Segovia, it was too far to walk but have heard it is beautiful. Buildings such as these were almost common throughout Segovia, marking it with such a special sense of history.

From Alcazar we walked towards the main plaza to see the Cathedral, which can be seen in the background. Two rivers converge in Segovia, making it strategically very fortified.

Along the way to the Cathedral, bellies began to rumble, so we took a break at a little park and our little monsters got their fill.

This is very impressive back end of the Cathedral. On the inside, it reminded us of Toledo's Cathedral. After visiting, we took a side-street off the Main Plaza and found a restaurant called Lazaros, where we ate Cochinillo (this is the trademark food of Segovia), which is a roasted suckling pig. It was really good and the dessert, Ponche Segoviano, was awesome too.

From there, it was time to see the third major attraction of Segovia: The Roman Aqueduct. It is a thing of beauty. It has been restored somewhat over the centuries, but it retains its original structure and stones. The aqueduct is quite imposing especially contrasting with the deep blue sky.

We just hung out there (which is what a lot of people seem to do, they just hang out at the base of the aqueduct!) and walked through nearby streets for the rest of the afternoon.

It almost goes without saying that the vast majority of these pictures were taken by Fede, who did an excellent job. It'll be hard to decide which ones to frame once we're back in the States!

Here are the two boys, just as cute as can be. And, we're happy to report that they're fighting less and playing more together (yay!)

When one travels to these Castillian towns (like Toledo and Segovia) it is hard not to notice the deep impression that the "Catholic Monarchs" (Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella) had on Spain. Their crest of "Castilla y Leon" (the Castle and the Lion) are found on every historic building. Talk about effective 16th century propaganda!

 

I realize that this post is photo-rich, and it was just hard to leave out so many terrific shots. It was such a beautiful day trip and we hope that you've been able to experience a bit of Segovia through it. Signing off with one last picture, Fede's favorite!