Daily Schedule

My Schedule

Wake up at 7:00 a.m. get ready to go to work
Joan and I leave the house and are in the car at 8:05
We arrive in our parking garage at 8:55 almost exactly
By 9:05 we are in our favorite cafe to have breakfast which is a great start to the day
We're in the office by 9:25
I leave for Spanish class at 11:30 and return to the office at 1:45 when class is over
At 2:00 Joan and I go to lunch and spend 30 minutes to an hour on our break
At 6:00 we leave the office
If it's a Monday or Tuesday I teach English after work from 6:30-7:30 or 8:30 depending.
If it happens to be a Wednesday or Friday Joan and I head home or do something fun around town
Thursday he has class at the University so I do other things until 8:30 when he's done and we go home.
Once I'm at home ( any night of the week) I make dinner, do laundry, clean a bit, try to study Spanish, prepare lessons for the English classes, work on my other things such as researching universities, call the family in the states or watch our favorite shows via computer downloads.

The weekends can be pretty busy as well but Sundays are reserved for a long lunch with his family and relaxing afternoons.

Some of you ( my family in particular) have been asking about a "normal day" for me, well there's an example of a normal week. My resolution, Our resolution, (forget waiting for December 31) is to spice up our life. Sure we have responsibilities and such but everyone can get stuck in the monotony of everyday existence. I've been looking into Salsa classes, if we can manage to fit it into the schedule somewhere. I also want to find a good church to go too, I know I won't find anything like what I'm used to in the states but if I can find a place where I feel comfortable that would be a great blessing.

It is true though, you have time for what you make time for. It's about prioritizing and organizing my life in the way I need or want it to be. I know once we are living in Girona it will be easier to work with the time, the hours I would be spending in the car driving to and from work, can be spent on important things.

Only two weeks until the big move!

El Niño Con El Pijama De Rayas

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Cargado por coolvibesinfo

I'm sure that this film came out in the states ages ago as Spain gets the movies almost always five months later for some reason but incase you haven't seen it. Stop reading my blog, check the movie times and make plans to see it. I read the book before, actually I read the book in two days. I couldn't put it down. I suppose that's why I could watch the movie dubbed in Spanish and understand almost everything.

Without giving anything away I must say how powerful and moving this movie is. Seeing the Holocaust through the perspective of a child is incredibly heartbreaking. I've read numerous books with the child being the protagonist but never telling such a tale as this. Without a doubt the book is much much better so perhaps I should be urging you stop reading my blog and go to your nearest bookstore and read this tale instead. Perhaps you should. The book takes you through the thoughts as Bruno, it weaves you into his life and captures your thoughts so that you feel as if you are right there with him. The book has won two Irish Book Awards, The Bisto Book Of The Year and The Qué Leer Award in Spain.

Check out the trailer and then go see for yourself whether in the cinema or between the pages of John Boyne's novel.

Una Habitación Nueva y otras cosas

I have a few pictures of the new flat but I will just post four. The place isn't finished yet so the other pictures aren't that great anyway. Besides I want you all to see the finished product once Joan and I have moved in. The first picture is looking down from the loft into the living room. The second photo is of the sofa in the living room that also serves as a bed if we need it to. The living room looks small in the photo and not that it's big but it definetly is more spacious than the picture shows. My favorite part is the different textures, the stone, the brick and the hardwood floors. The third is of the main window in the living room. The last one is of the sink and mirror area in the bedroom. You can see the shower is to the right of the mirror and to the left is the bathroom which isn't in the picture. Nothing much to see, just a toilet surrounded by mosaic tile, nice but a boring photo. Those are the only pictures for now but like I said, I'll add more in a month or so after we've moved in!



In other news, I drove today. This is a big deal because I haven't been behind the wheel in 10 months! I don't know why I never took the car out before but we never had time or we did other things...but today Joan made me basically. We went to his parents to see his brother and pick up a few things. I ended up driving the quad around the property for awhile and it felt so good driving again, driving something. Joan asked if I wanted to take the Volkswagen around the property a bit, so I did, I felt comfortable so we drove around Lloret and to Fenals Beach to have a coffee. I was so nervous, I almost hit a cop on a motorbike ( he didn't notice but I sure did) went through the crazy roundabouts and managed to park fairly well. I used to be so confident, I've always been a great driver but I had to get back into that mindset. Joan's mom was happy I finally took the car out and said I could anytime. Now that Adriana has her new car, I'll have more opportunity to take it out if I need/want to. Joan will call the consulate Monday to see about my license and if it's valid here as well. I hope so, if I have to take the test that will be a major drag. First of all the written test will be in Spanish and the driving test will be with a manuel car and it will be 1200 euros or something ridiculous. I think I'd rather drive illegally. Kinda.

Tonight Albert is coming over for a bit and when Shabir gets home we're going to go out for alittle while with him. He will be returning from the Paris Auto Show so I'm expecting a lot of car talk.

Tomorrow Joan's uncles and cousins will be there for lunch so I'm pretty excited about that. It's nice to have big family gatherings. I also have a lot to do tomorrow, study for Spanish a bit, prepare the lessons for my class Monday with Pablo and Carlos, pack and do laundry. Hopefully I can get everything done. Today was such a lazy day, I slept in until 12 then laid around the couch for an hour and after watched an episode of Prison Break with Joan. I didn't even leave the house until 5:30 today. Lazy Saturdays are good now and then.

I better end this post and get ready for tonight. Hope all is well in the states, as well as it can be right now.

Ciao