Our adventure in Spain is well under way! Nick has been at work for a month. The boys have been at school since September 1. The girls are quickly establishing their routine and finding friendships.
We are enjoying our town of Sant Cugat. We are appreciating more and more its quaint, unique character. It takes us just about fifteen minutes to drive into Barcelona through the "Tunels de Vallvidrera" (the mountains to the west of the city). The boys prefer to take the train (the option we use for getting to school in the morning), so there are a lot of options and rarely is there a dull moment!
We purchased a car a couple of weeks ago, having determined that with a family of five, public transportation was just a little too ambitious!
School is different to what we have been used to! We begin at 8:30AM and end at 4PM, so the day is longer. But the boys have more variety. Classes are different every day and along with Reading/Writing, Math, Science, and Social Studies, there are several sessions of Art, P.E., Music, and Spanish/Catalan Studies. Logan is loving his first formal venture into school (he is in the Pre-K class) and Landen has settled in well into third grade. Neither the boys nor Dad have quite got used to running into each other on campus yet, but all are enjoying this aspect of life at a smaller school!
Nick is teaching a greater variety of classes than before, but class sizes are smaller. He teaches most of the Jr. High students and heads up some of the personal/advisory side of Middle School life. This has been a natural step for him towards an aspect of youth work/teaching he enjoys.
Kathi has connected with several moms with toddlers. Some are English-speaking and some are Spanish-speakers. The families in our apartment complex are very friendly and to the extent that their language allows, they have been very welcoming of us.
Leigha celebrated her first birthday a couple of weeks ago and is very nearly walking! She is a bubbly little girl, with a determined personality! She brings us all - especially her two big brothers - much joy and laughter.
We are slowly making connections at International Church of Barcelona and are excited to see how God might use our backgrounds and interests to serve in this new church.
We continue to be grateful that we have this awesome opportunity to be here.
