Life in Spain

Hola Family and Friends!

On our flight to Spain I told Carl that never in my life did I think I would get to see Spain, yet alone live here for 3 years…

It’s been a little over week since we arrived.  We continue to learn about the naval base and the nearby communities.  The people we meet, both US and Spanish natives, are friendly and helpful.  We practice what little Spanish we know daily, but are still a long ways from having conversations.  Southern Spain is known for speaking Spanish with the most slang and at the fastest pace, making it very difficult to keep up with.   We’re still in temporary housing on base for now.  And we are the proud owners of a “Rota beater” car. 

A Spanish day looks a lot different than a typical day for us.  They start their days later and end much later than we’re use to.  Spanish eat their main meal of the day in the late afternoon, which usually consists of tapas (delicious small portions of foods).  Dinner is usually around 9 pm or so.  And if they go out it doesn’t happen before midnight and it is common to stay up until sunrise, which seems wild to us.  The Spanish foods we’ve tried were delicious.  They take pride in their ham and fish, tapas and Sangria.  Baguette bread is served with most meals and olive oil is used for everything.  The foods are not spicy and many seasoned with garlic.

This past weekend we went hiking near a town called El Bosque with a group of people who work at the hospital with Carl.  On the hike we saw some ancient ruins and a lot of animals both domesticated and wild- goats, wild pigs, donkeys and wild cows.  It was awesome! 

We have tons of places we hope to visit in Spain and other countries to see while we are in Europe.  I hope 3 years will be enough!

With Love,

Aubrie