a few old notes...

20-2-09
We are enjoying our new little apartment. It is about twice the size of the apartment in SF and half the rent and the building is half the age. Most the furniture on the other hand is about twice my age, but it is for six months and so for now, I still think it's cute. The last few days we have gone grocery shopping, got a cell phone, determined the health care we want, learned a bit about internet, and some other things that i've lost track of. We are working on making this one antenna work and give us internet. If it works that's great we'll use it. Until then, there is free wi-fi at the 'Oficina de tourist' and a bar down the road (kinda far) and we have a friend who said I could use theirs. ;) The Oficina has near the slowest connection that I've seen in a while. The joke was that the page that loads in a second with DSL loaded after two horse carriages passed and a burro caravan went by- it didn't have a watch so I had to time the loading page by things that went by. hehehe.

21-2-09
I guess it's the second day at the apartment and we are freaking out that there is no internet. It's not only that we are spoiled and used to having it, but also there are at least a dozen things that we still need to take care of that are back in the States and we can't if we can't get access at a decent hour, which is like seven o'clock local time and the time everything closes...

On a lighter note, I've found that creative ideas are coming in to my head all the time. Which is good. Sooner than later there will be more mini projects that i'll have to share. :)

Jeni is loving waking around town. We are still looking for a local place that she can go off leash and be a dog. Some people walk with out leashes in town but I still fear she'll make problems with the burros or worse run in to a restaurant and steal the food! Molly wants to be an outdoor cat, and I think in a few weeks she will have worn Alan into letting her out. :)

Morning walk

My pano's aren't the best yet. I tried to shoot the view that I have been seeing on the morning walk with jeni. I take her up the road behind the apartment and look over the Sea and the valleys leading to the shore.

Our new view

This is our new view out of our balcony. It took a few days but we now have internet :) which was a lot harder than I thought it would be... It's actually still not done being installed, thus the connection is Super beyond belief or not there. So far it's working out ok.

-What's Strange in Spain-

Toilets are funny shaped and you can't see your poop

Toilets have two buttons. One for each one of your jobs on it. Two makes more water come out. :)

Monster locks for monster gates

Houses are named

Roundabouts are used instead of stop signs but stop signs here say "STOP"

Light switches are on both sides of the bed and at all doors entering a room.
e.g. a bedroom with a patio has at least four switches.

If a room doesn't have a window, the switch is in the hall before you enter the room.

Cigarettes aren't sold in supermarkets

Cigarette machines are in bars

CAMELS is a type of coffee with the same cigarette logo

Good wine that doesn't go bad by morning can cost 3€

Beer can be found for .50 cent € or a forty for 1,65 €

commas are used where points are used in money and vise versa one thousand euro is written 1.000,00 €

People are rarely in a hurry, even if they have someone waiting.

Apartments rarely come unfurnished.

electricity is expensive.

Washing machines are warm to hot. In apartments they are in the kitchen counter.

Produce is really cheap and really good and fresh.

The Farmacia can help you with most things we would need to go to the doctor for.

the Farmacia has drugs for cheap that work.

Private Health here includes house calls

Private health in the states for the two of us was near $300, here it's 100€ or less with more things given than in the states.

Telephone service is slow to install and expensive to use.

Malls have beautiful wood work and marble bathrooms.

If your home faces the Med. Sea, white sand blows into your home.

Most houses have pools. Many of the pools are kept dry in the winter. and 9ft is a standard depth

The Air-conditioning and Heat is one unit which is controlled by a remote control.

The 'Off' button on the T.V. makes the remote not work.

Refrigerators are small.

Wine racks are common in the kitchen.

Brits complain that the bedrooms are dark.

Brits have people get out of the car to help them park.

Brits stop at cross walks, where Spanish make sure they miss each other.

Brits actually look happy here in Spain.

Brits like their Brit TV. BBC has commercials between shows.

They feed stray cats. They= everyone

People care more about good company then what your profession is.

Electric stoves suck. I'm sure they aren't actually that different from the ones in the US but we aren't used to using them. the food tends to go: cold, cold, cold, warm, burnt.

We went out and about today...

Between jet lag and just not sleeping, it's not uncommon for my mornings to start quite early. I've been waking up between 2-4am and having midnight snacks and tea. last night I finally slept the whole night through but woke up at 5am. What am I to do at five when the rest of the country isn't really up until 10? Well, i waited about fifteen minutes and Alan woke up. This morning a cup of coffee, a few clouds and the sun rise made me happy. I wrapped myself in the blanket from the bed and sat on the patio. :)

We decided to go to town and eat breakfast, it was great but so strange. We got these breakfast sandwiches that had olive oil instead of butter if your Brit and Majo for the Americans. It tasted great but between the oil and the cheese, it was fattier and heavier than I expected and could barely eat half. The coffee was great. I think coffee con leche here is a double long espresso with milk no foam in California. Add a sugar and it's damn good. We wondered town. I think we made a giant circle where I realized it's easy to get lost cause it all looks the same but it's not that big so it's easy to get found.

Mijas, is a small town on a hill that is all white with little one way streets and the sidewalks are just different colored cobble stones. Most the time shop owners are socializing out side the store so you walk in the middle of the street until you see a car coming. There are these side allies, that are people's front stoop and are shortcuts up and down the hill. Most people have these hanging plants on the walls and gardens where they can. The ground is mainly rock so potted plants and top soil are a must.

There is a shop for everything. This old man has just gotten his olive oil freshly pressed and is carrying about a gallon of oil home. Which i assume is quite useful seeing as though they cook everything with olive oil, even thier fries. Even Burger King makes their fries in olive oil.

I wanted to go to the mall which is 'parque commercial'. We weren't so sure of what we were getting or if it was to look and see what there was. But when i saw the Ben&Jerry's I realized that I am still not used to the flavor of the water and the Ice Cream shop is the best place to get water that I knew would be good. Yeah that made alot of sence.... But at this fine mall I found my water, paid a euro more than i should, but I had the best tasting water so far. Happy hydrated me... It was from the Sierra Nevada Mountians which sparked a fine chat with a woman who told me that Spain's Sierra Navada mountians are used for skying and that when you are on them you can see the the ocean! This talk was in spanish and I was quite proud of myself. I spoke and she understood me and vise versa!
There are more pics in the album.

I'm here

Hello Everyone!

After a 9hr flight to Dublin and a RUN through customs and then the airport, we flew for another 2.5 hours or so to Malaga. We finally arrived in Spain shocked that we made it with ourselves and our bags all on the same plane.

Until two days ago, I hadn't had bad jet lag but that was until two days ago... for the last two days I've been sleeping strange hours and waking up at 3am. ¨here are a few pictures i've taken of our trip and new home :)

The below pic is a link to an album :)

Spain