9 de Octubre and Feast of San Dionís

In Valencia, as in much of Spain, festivals and holidays decorate the calendar almost weekly. Saturday was a day in which two holidays were celebrated simultaneously: 9 de Octubre (Valencia National Day) and Feast of San Dionís (a day for lovers, similiar to St. Valentine's Day). Festivities began on Friday night with a parade and HUGE fireworks display. We, unfortunately, missed this part of the celebration since, in true Spanish tradition, it commenced at midnight! We did, however, walk past the enormous setup site for the fireworks the next day and were still able to smell sulfur in the air at 2:00 in the afternoon!

Throughout the day on Saturday, various celebrations were held around the city. In the Plaza de Virgen, traditional Spanish dancers performed on a temporary stage. The elaborate costumes of the dancers were beautiful! Given the number of festivals and fallas throughout the year that offer opportunities to display them, much time and money is spent creating these works of art. We were happy to discover that the Cathedral was also open to the public during the festival so we were able to see it's interior - breathtaking!

Behind the Cathedral, in Plaza la Reina, a parade celebrating the history of Valencia marched down the street. Again, participants were elaborately adorned, and their procession portrayed the history of Valencian rule throughout the ages. The men and women on parade seemed to take great pride in their roles and put much effort into playing their parts. It was definitely a sight to behold!

Caroline was quick to remind us that, on the American Valentine's Day, sweets are shared with those that you love. She felt strongly that we, too, should honor the similar Spanish custom of San Dionís. Located on a corner in the Plaza la Reina was a huge candy store, so we had the opportunity to do just that. Actually, the traditional Spanish custom is to wrap a handful of handmade marzipan in a handkerchief and give it to your lover on Feast of San Dionís, but absent of a hankie and a place to buy the marzipan, we improvised.

Saturday night, around midnight, as I lay reading in bed, I heard the faint sound of beautiful Spanish music. At first, I thought it was one last procession for the Festival and would soon be over. However, once I noticed that the music did not seem to be fading, I got up and opened the wooden shutters that close off our bedroom to the street sounds below. To my amazement, I found that we were being serenaded by a band of 14 Spanish singers and musicians (Ok, so it was the young Dutch girl staying in the apartment below us that was really being serenaded, but it's my story so I can write it any way I like)! Caroline was still awake reading - having taken siesta that day - and came running into our room to see what was going on. As soon as Bill lifted her to the window, the musicians turned and directed their serenade to her - amazing! I'm not sure that she fully appreciated the rarity of her experience, but it is my hope that she will see many more serenades in her future!

Mercado Central, Valencia

Our apartment in Valencia is situated in a really artsy, wonderfully located neighborhood called "El Carme." It is in the old part of the city and is within easy walking distance to many of the places that we want and need - restaurants, cafes, parks, sites and trains. Our landlord, Anthony, is a New Yorker and has been a tremendous help to us as we work to acclimate to Valencia. He has given us recommendations of nearby areas to explore for our more longterm accommodations, and he offered to go to the local bank with us tomorrow to open a bank account (which he insists is very easy to do here).

Just 3 blocks from our apartment is Mercado Central - the Central Market. The market is unlike anything we have ever seen! Housed in what looks like an old train station are dozens of seafood vendors, fruit markets, cheese and wine counters and butchers (mostly selling ham). As I was still recovering from the food poisoning episode, we hurried through the pungent seafood section and found the meat and produce area. Bill was in heaven!

Serrano ham originates from this area of Spain and the Spainards' affection for 'all things pork' is obvious. Jamon (ham) is a staple on every single menu that we've read - whether it is for breakfast, lunch or dinner. At the Mercado, every part of the pig was for sale, in one form or another. The kids were intrigued (and a little grossed out) by the seemingly ordinary display of various pig parts. I still don't think they believe us that people really eat pig feet (manitas cerdo) or pig heads!

After taking quite a bit of time just walking around an looking at the various offerings at the Mercado, we finally settled on a combination of items to make a light dinner at home. As usual, Bill did a marvelous job putting together a dinner that was healthy, delicious and beautiful. The supplies in our small rental kitchen are a bit scarce, so he made the best of it and prepared a feast that we were all happy with. If he keeps this up, I may just have to marry him!

Holy Toledo!

We were supposed to leave Toledo on Sunday morning to begin our trip to Valencia. However, around 11 p.m. on Saturday, Henry woke up vomiting. "No big deal, " I thought - his stomach viruses never last more than a few hours. However, at around 1:00 a.m., Bill joined in. By his description of the pain, we figured out that they had food poisoning. The night-long battle for the bathroom was on, and the trip to Valencia was postponed. As the day wore on, Caroline and I both became ill as well.

At around 8:00, I made my way down to Aurora's apartment to ask if we could stay another night. I managed to communicate that my family was 'muy inferma' and could not travel. She seemed to understand, as she gave me some chamomile tea and some kind of liquid medicine (which we didn't take) to settle our stomachs. I think that was the last accurate verbal communication she and I shared.

Sometime around midday, we thought maybe we were well enough to travel (I still had not gotten sick), so I was tasked with talking to Aurora to see if she could help us call for a taxi to take us to the train station. I brought the train schedule with me, along with what I thought was the contact information for the taxi company. This time, though, I wasn't very effective in communicating with her. Not only did she not help me make the phone call, but she sent me back to our apartment with a pot of white fish and potato soup that she made for us (I'm pretty sure that the smell alone is what made me sick)!!! Within the hour, Caroline and I began vomiting (big surprise), so we decided to wait until Monday to try to leave.

Around 5:00, there was a knock at our door. It was Aurora. She was presenting me with a Tortilla España (spanish omelette), made with egg and potato. I think she was concerned about us because the markets were closed, as it was Sunday, and the only thing she knew to do was cook. It was very sweet of her, but I felt terrible knowing that there was NO WAY we could eat the food. Call me crazy, but fish and eggs are not exactly what come to mind as nausea reducing foods! I thanked her, though, and told her that we were all 'muy cansado' and tried to gesture that we were all going to sleep. I think she told me to knock on her door in the morning when we were ready to leave, so we said 'buenos noche' and went to bed.

By morning, we were still not feeling great, but we were well enough to travel so we headed out early and began the trip to Valencia. We really loved seeing Toledo and learn of its amazing history, but we were ready to move on. We didn't have a WiFi connection in our apartment, and we really underestimated the impact that being disconnected would have on us.

Vivir en España!

About a year ago, Bill and I made the difficult decision to leave Chicago and it's brutal winters for a while, so we began exploring different places to relocate to. Six months ago, we began researching, plotting and planning ways to bring our family to Spain. Then, on Tuesday, our efforts came to fruition. We left Chicago Tuesday evening and arrived in Madrid early Wednesday morning.

Exhausted and bleary eyed, we were very surprised to arrive in Madrid on the day that a major countrywide political protest was unfolding. When the taxi pulled up to our hotel, we found the streets covered in trash and the windows of the hotel covered in brown paper. Outside the main window of the hotel was a huge sticker that read, "CERRADO" (closed). Apparently our hotel was located across the street from the government offices and was, therefore, in the center of the turmoil. Fortunately, though, we did get our room and the protests only lasted 24 hours. By Thursday morning, the streets were cleaned and the millions of stickers that had been plastered all over the city had been removed.

We were trying to stay awake the first day in Spain, so we spent the afternoon at the Prado Museum and the Botanic Gardens (which were right across the street from our hotel). It was a beautiful - but exhausting - day. By 6:00 in the evening, we couldn't stay awake any longer and went to bed, sleeping for 14 hours! We spent the majority of Thursday at Retiro Parque, an enormously gorgeous park right in the center of the city.

Yesterday and today, we are in Toledo (To-lay-doh), and mid-sized medieval city 30 minutes south of Madrid. We muddled our way through an on-line apartment rental in the heart of the old town and are very happy that we did. When we arrived, we were greeted by Aurora, a probably 100 year old Spanish woman who has likely never left Toledo. Aurora doesn't speak a word of English, so it was very interesting watching her walk us through the apartment. For some reason, she decided to speak mostly to me, giving long verbal directions. I, of course, couldn't understand any of it but I am fairly certain that she gave me a lot of very important information! Our charming apartment looks out into a courtyard shared with a working cloister of a convent.

Toledo is an amazing city! As it was once the capital of Spain, the buildings and cobblestone streets here are thousands of years old. Streets are only about 10 feet wide (barely wide enough for a tiny car to wiz through) and are built on rolling hills. I read that Toledo is considered by many to be the religious capital of Europe, home to the largest number of cathedrals, mosques and synagogues in a single city. We hope to see many of these beautiful sites today.

Tomorrow morning, we head back to Madrid and board a high speed train to Valencia, where we will be for at least 2 weeks. I am anxious to get a bit more settled and fall into a routine. The Spanish countryside is just as I imagined it to be, and I cannot wait to experience more of it!

A Brief Stop in Chicago

So . . . as it turns out, you really can go home again. After 5 1/2 weeks of what turned out to be a four stop tour of Latin America, we are back in Chicago for 3 weeks. More specifically, we are back in Oak Park - in our old condo. We are so fortunate that our dear friends (and renters) David and Rodney have agreed to take us in until the end of the month while we touch base with my mom and reorganize ourselves for the trip to Spain.

It's funny to think that this condo was our home for 10 years. It is where we began our family - it was our first home, where we brought our babies home from the hospital and where we created so many memories. Because of the boys' impeccable decorating abilities, the condo looks nothing like it did when we lived here, but there is still something very familiar about it. Though I know it isn't here anymore, I keep looking at the wall in the kitchen where we hung our clock to try to see the time (it is now a chalkboard). We had so much dirty laundry to take care of when we arrived yesterday, so I decided to use our big washer and dryer in the basement. It had not been used in 2 1/2 years, since we also installed laundry in the unit and D&R use that. However, much to my delight, the bottle of laundry detergent that I bought before we left was still sitting there - waiting for me! I also ran into an old neighbor while I was in the basement, and we talked as if we had never left (except for how shocked he was at seeing how tall Henry has grown).

I still can't gauge the kids' reactions to being back in the old place. They definitely see it as D&R's home, but they are extremely comfortable here. On the train from the airport yesterday, Caroline said that she feels so much safer in Oak Park than she did in Chicago. I'm not sure where that came from, but I'm glad she feels it. Henry and Caroline absolutely love having D&R's dog, Lars, to play with (he even slept on their bed for a while last night) and are thrilled that they are now old enough to walk over to Mills Park alone (together, but with us watching from the balcony).

We'll be here for 3 weeks - unpacking, repacking, visiting with friends and family and spending as much time with my mom as possible. We leave for Spain on the 28th of September, and are VERY excited. We have learned a lot these past weeks and look forward to using that knowledge in the adventures ahead. Our focus now is trying to ensure that D&R still like us as much when we leave as they did when we arrived!

Presenting the new Mr. & Mrs. Jordan

Tic-toc, game is locked - all of the t's are crossed and i's are dotted. Yesterday, we welcomed a new Jordan into the mix, as Matt and Jackie celebrated their love in front of 45 friends and family in Cancun. The day could not have been more perfect! I have never seen Matt happier than he has looked this past week and by the time the ceremony rolled around, he was absolutely glowing! Surprising no one, Jackie was completely radiant.

There was not a dry eye in the house as Bill serenaded the newlyweds during their first dance as husband and wife. Several months ago, Matt asked his dad to sing Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love" while he and Jackie danced their first dance. I have to admit, I was very nervous that Bill would not be able to get through the song without completely breaking down, but he did a phenomenal job! Many people later told me that they thought it was actually a recording of Elvis until they saw Bill's lips moving. I may be a bit biased, but it was my favorite part of the evening!

Matt asked Henry to be a Junior Groomsman and Caroline was one of two flower girls. They both did a great job in their roles and their participation made the day even more special for them. They both love Matt (Bubbie) and Jackie so much, and are so excited to have a new sister. Caroline was hoping that having a new sister would mean that Jackie would come and live with us, but we explained to her that this is the start of Matt and Jackie's new life together, so they might want a little privacy. She didn't much like that answer!

Wedding Prep

The sun is shining, guests are arriving and anticipation is building. In less than 72 hours, we will officially welcome a new member to the family as Matt and Jackie say their vows in a beachfront gazebo in Cancun, Mexico. I am in awe of their calm, yet celebratory demeanor as they hustle to finalize the few remaining details of their wedding. As Matt pointed out, it has already been a year of planning, so most everything has been taken care of. Still, though, I remember the effort that went into making our wedding so special, and it seems daunting to imagine having to do it from 1,000 miles away! However, both the bride and groom-to-be are glowing and are showing no outward signs of fatigue.

Matt and Jackie selected a very nice (yes, I said nice) all-inclusive resort to be the site for their wedding. Once again, our little family was upgraded to a room that is far too nice for our hillbilly ways, but we are trying not to embarrass ourselves (or anyone else). It is a Master Suite, so Bill and I are enjoying having our own bedroom for the first time in a month! I am a little worried, though, as Henry and Caroline keep mentioning how much they love staying in resorts. I'm afraid they are in for a bit of a rude awakening . . .