Spain Archives - Open Road Carsons

Welcome Back to School

September 19, 2022 by Kari Carson

After a REEEEAAAAALLLLLLY long summer, we were all ready for school to start. The girls had been on summer break since the end of May, and the first day of school in Spain was September 12. During those months, we were pretty busy. We:

Packed up our house,
hiked in Yellowstone with family,
rode horses in Big Sky Montana with family,
rode bikes in Glacier National Park with friends,
spent time with dear friends in Washington,
visited the Pacific coast in Anacortes,
played pickleball in Bellingham with friends,
met up with our friends from Ecuador in Tacoma,
picked up our visas in Miami,
ate tasty food in Little Havana,
swam in the sun in Hilton Head,
cozied in a cabin with cousins in Greenville,
acted at the Clemson Little Theater,
tubed in Lake Hartwell,
swimming and splashing while saying goodbye to friends,
said goodbye to our house,
packed 4 suitcases for the year,
flew to Spain,
took a train to Granada,
moved into our new house in the Albaicin,
splashed in the Mediterranean Sea at the Balcony of Europe in Nerja with friends from the States,
brushed up on Spanish with three weeks of classes at a language school,
spent a week with friends in Santiago de Compostela.

Whew! It was a wonderfully full and fun-packed summer. And we were ready for school and a routine at long last.

Questions, questions, and more questions

We had so many questions before school started… Were the girls indeed registered at the school? What were the hours of school? Is there recess? Do you take a snack for recess? What kinds of school supplies do we need? Who would their teacher be? How many kids would be in their classes? Where are their classrooms? What type of clothes to wear to school? Where do they go when they arrive?

Fortunately, we got to visit the school the day before school started, so we had an answer to some of the questions:

Yes, the girls were indeed registered for school. Whew!!
School day is from 9-2. However, the first day started at 11:00.
Yes, the students pack a healthy snack to eat during recess, and no, we were not registered for lunch at school (which was served at 2:00).
Serena is in Marta’s class, and Ida was going to be Ali’s teacher. There were about 25 students in each class.
We also learned that MANY new international families would be starting at the school this year. Many families’ plans to move to Spain were delayed due to the pandemic, so this year everyone was making their dreams a reality.
The teachers would share the school supplies list once class started.
Girls enter through the back entrance, and the first day they will be sorted into their classes.

Colorful mural at the girls’ school entrance.

School hallways ready to welcome kids back

Whew! We all felt a little more comfortable and ready for the first day.

The First Day

Here’s they are: Serena is ready for her 1st day of 6th grade, and Ali is ready for 4th grade. (6th grade is part of elementary school here.)

When we arrived at school, it was a bit crazy with families meeting up after summer break, and new families like us taking it all in.

The principal said a few words of welcome, and the kids were grouped into their classes. It was not a sorting like at Hogwarts but rather, cones with an attendance list of each class. There are two classes for each grade so the school is much smaller than Clemson Elementary.

Our family likes to celebrate the first day of school with a special cake. We light candles and talk about our wishes for the school year. This year, learning Spanish and making new friends are at the top of the list.

Welcome Back: Sueños

The Monday after school started there was a welcome back for the families. It had a special theme this year because every 4 years, they go through a visioning process where students, parents, and community members share their dreams (sueños) and wishes for the school. The students prepared a fun dance to kick off the evening.

This dance makes me sooo happy. Ali was so excited for it. They rehearsed all week at recess. You can see her in the pants and pink hat. Serena wasn’t there because she had her first orchestra practice. I loved that the kids were into it, but also the teachers and principals were dancing too. (They’re the tall ones at the back). Do you think this could happen at our school back home? I can’t imagine teachers, administration, and students getting into it like here, but it sure was fun and wonderful for community building 🙂

The rest of the night, parents discussed and wrote down their wish lists for the school. And the idea is that after collecting all of these ideas, the school comes up with a plan, committees and steps to implement the ideas.

The Girls’ Classes

I would love for Serena and Ali to create a guest post, so you can hear their perspective on the first month of school. But, you’ll get my input.

We knew this was a public school all in Spanish, and we knew that it had many international students. It was a strong reason that we chose the school because we thought it might make it easier to find friends who were going through the same thing. The school has a language and cultural support program to help kids by pulling them out for extra support once every two weeks. They tested the kids the first week, and Serena doesn’t need the classes. It so impressive how much her Spanish has come back. She’s already writing more fiction stories in Spanish.

Serena and Ali were lucky to have a strong base of Spanish before the start of school, so they have interpreted for some of the other kids from their class. One girl in Ali’s class that doesn’t know very much Spanish, and there are other English-speaking kids who have been at the school for more than a year. Ali’s good friends so far are from Bermuda, London, Canada, and California (which is practically another country for us :D). It might take her longer to master Spanish, but she has no shortage of friends.

Serena said that over half of her class is from another country or has a parent from another country. Amazing! Serena has been really helpful for the other new student in her class from Norway who doesn’t know any Spanish. Since she’s also blond, many of the kids in her class think they are twins 🙂

Serena has a blog post about the First Week of School. You can find it HERE on Serena’s Blog.

The ceiling is falling?!

Ali had a little extra excitement the first week of class. The ceiling in the classrooms of the 4th and 5th graders was supposedly fixed over the summer, but little pieces started falling down. So, after spending days decorating their classroom, they had to move out. The school is old, and not very large, so they school is having to be very creative and flexible. Ali’s class is now in the gym with the other 4th grade class (with a divider between the classes).

Since they had to move the 5th graders too, they moved all 5th graders into Serena’s 6th grade classroom, and her class moved into the other 6th grade classroom. That made for 50 kids and 2 teachers in a classroom! Ugh. Thankfully, Serena said that the teachers do a great job of keeping the kids in order. Serena’s class has now moved to the cafeteria. Apparently things aren’t as fast moving as in the States, so now it’s been 50 days and the ceiling hasn’t been fixed yet. Oh well. It’s part of learning to be flexible that is a huge part of this whole international experience. And, I do hope they’ll get it fixed soon.

The same day that the ceiling started to crumble, Ali got a new teacher. It turned out that her teacher was pregnant, so instead of her leaving halfway through the schoolyear, they switched the teacher now. Ali’s new teacher is Pablo and so far so good.

Other differences…

The first week was dedicated to community and team-building activities. Ali’s class didn’t get into any academic content until 6 days in. (Not all schools are like this here though.)

The whole school is out at recess at the same time. It’s pretty crazy out there. Since lunch isn’t until 2:00, kids have sandwiches for snack.

The teachers are also the special subject teachers. For example, Serena’s teacher is also their art teacher and is the French teacher for several classes. The PE teacher also has a 3rd grade class. Oh, and the principal teaches a few classes. It’s interesting and sure makes for a lot of prep for the teachers.

Serena has a French class. So, she’ll be catching up with the students who have studied it for a year.

The girls have a special class called Valores (Values), where they learn about values and being good community members and citizens. In her first class, Ali and her classmates gave notes with compliments to each other, and Serena’s class talked about doing favors for other people.

Hmmm… I’m trying to think of other differences, but I’ll have to ask the girls to do it. For me, the biggest change is having to prepare 3 meals at home. Meal prep is a lot, especially since I usually send sandwiches for their snack, which take is off as a lunch option, but it’s fun to talk at mealtimes together.

Oh, and I’m liking the 9 am start time. I love living so close to school. There have been several days that we leave home at 8:57 and make it to school on time. #NeverinClemson

Serena also has a blog post about the differences from school here and in the US. You can find it HERE on Serena’s Blog.

After School

The girls’ school day ends at 2:00, and then they come home for lunch. It makes for a very long afternoon, so we were happy to have some extracurricular activities for the girls.

We wanted the girls to continue their activities from the US, so we researched music lessons for the girls before we arrived. We’ve found some other options since we’ve been here.

Ali

Ali was very excited about her piano teacher because she’s lots of fun. Her teacher is from Canada, so Ali gets to take her weekly lessons in English. A nice surprise was that her teacher here uses the same approach/books as Ali’s teacher back home, so it will be good continuity. I just wish I’d brought those books with us!

Ali was inspired by the flamenco show that we attended, so we found flamenco dance lessons for her. She loves it so far and dances around the house twirling her hands like an expert flamenco dancer.

Serena

We found a music school near our house for violin lessons for Serena. Her lessons are in Spanish, so that is totally new, and she also got to join the orchestra. She was really excited about this since she wasn’t able to join the youth orchestra in Greenville that she’d been selected for before we left. It’s been a bit of a challenge because the don’t use C-D-E-F-G-A-B like we do in the States. It is going to be a lot of new vocabulary.

Serena started playing volleyball last year in Clemson, and we found a volleyball team that seems like it’s right on her level. The girls are older, but the players her age are as tall as Ali. They play with lower nets and a smaller court, so Serena was happy to bump up to this team.

Us

As for us, Chad’s found a soccer team to play with. It’s guys from our neighborhood, so it’s been a fun way for him to be active, meet people, and speak Spanish. They play at 9pm on Thursday nights. Friday nights Chad plays pickup basketball. He’s also very keen on improving his Spanish fluency, so he’s taking a couple of private lessons each week and has been listening to a real estate investor podcast in Spanish.

I’ve found a yoga studio that I really love. I hadn’t attended an in-person class in a really long time. It’s downtown, so it gives me a good reason to head down the hill once a week. I’ve also started taking a Zumba class at our local community center. I’m still looking for English students 🙂 I have met other expat friends and have had fun meeting up for coffee, touring the city, riding bikes, and hanging out. And there’s always grocery shopping, laundry, and meal preparation. It’s amazing how my days fly by.

At home

It’s been nice to be in a routine, and with our new friends and activities, we’re feeling more at home here.

Views Around the Albaicín and Beyond

September 16, 2022 by Kari Carson

I wish I were more of a poet or a better wordsmith to have the words to describe the gorgeous views around me. So, instead I’ll just share some pictures from our days in Granada so far. Most everything is new for us here, and some days I just realize how special it is to be able to live in a different and beautiful place and culture for a year.

As you know, we live in the Albaicín neighborhood. The roads and walkways in the Albaicín and historical parts of downtown are all made of cobblestone (empedrado).

These are not all the usual cobblestone streets, the stones are laid with special designs in some areas.

Ornate cobblestone designs near the Cathedral

Here’s a pretty typical view walking through the streets of the Albaicín.

You never quite know what awaits you around a corner.

Cool girls! Cool door! If these walls could talk, what would this one say?!

Often you’re surprised with vistas of the Alhambra keeping watch over the city.

This area takes on a different look as the Alhambra is lit by the sunset.

A very good-looking guy with another view of the Alhambra

Just more cobblestones, bougainvillea from a *carmen*, and views of the Alhambra

Do you see the green draping over the walls in the picture above? That is a carmen. Carmenes are big houses here in the Albaicín behind thick exterior walls with a lush green garden (and sometimes a pool) inside.

The name carmen comes from the Arabic word for grape vines, and often you’ll see vines laden with fruit hanging over the walls. Sometimes it will be greenery, and other times beautifully scented flowers or fruit trees. Soto de Rojas (1584-1658) said that a carmen id a “paradise closed to many and open gardens for a few” (my translation.) We’ve been into a couple of carmenes, and they are always a wonderful surprise of spacious and peaceful green areas inside (and sometimes with a magnificent view of the Alhambra).

My morning run – up to the Alhambra and beyond

A morning run makes me feel good and brightens my day. It’s been fun to have some new routes and things to look at during my run. Here’s are some different views of the Alhambra as I climb the hill up to trails just above it.

And I keep climbing up to the trail:

And as you look back on the Albaicín from the climb up, here’s the view:

View of the Albaycin on the climb up to the Alhambra

Another route that I take up to my run is through this Spanish gate to the Alhambra.

This gate was obviously post-Spanish conquest of the city

Once I get above the Alhambra, I’m rewarded with some pretty spectacular views.

I’m sometimes worn out before I get to the trailhead 🙂 but it’s always been worth it with this view:

Looking down on the city from above the Alhambra

And eventually a bit of nature:

My run leads me to expansive olive groves.

Ok, maybe your tired of seeing views of the Alhambra, but it’s such an iconic and powerful presence in the city.

Centro (Downtown)

We spend a lot of our time in the Albaicín. We do head down to the Centro (downtown) and are overtaken by tourists, markets, and more historical sites.

Granada fountain. *Granada* is Spanish for “pomegranate”.

Ali said when we got here that she’s going to have to get used to seeing lots graffiti again (like we did in Ecuador). There are some more beautiful than this, but it’s really common.

These next pictures are ones the girls took from their first visit to the Centro.

There are lots of tourist shops with fantastic displays.

Orange trees line the sidewalks in many parts of the downtown.

The ornate roof of the *Capilla Real* (Royal Chapel) where Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand are buried.

In the silk market area, there are a lot of people doing henna tattoos. We couldn’t resist.

More vistas

And to finish out this post, I’m going to include some more panoramic views.

Climbing up to the Albaicín from the Centro

There’s another mirador (overlook) called San Cristobal that’s near our house and with a different view of the Albaicín and over the city.

I think this wall was from the Al-Andalus era (~1100). The Albaicín is mostly inside the wall.

Turn to the right at this lookout and you have another awesome view, especially at sunset. Not quite a Clemson sunset, but it is also stunning.

My sunshines and a sunset over the city of Granada

I think I’ve already shared it, but this is the view from our terraza (balcony/deck). The church at the top is called San Miguel Alto.

One evening after dinner, we climbed many stairs up to the church at San Miguel Alto for some pretty pictures:

Alhambra to the left and the Albaicín to the right, wonderful girls in the middle

And I’ll end this post with another view from San Miguel, the sunset over the Albaícin and beyond.

A beautiful view and an even more beautiful family

I’m thankful to share these views and experiences with my family here and now virtually with you, our family and friends.

Do you think we’ll ever get tired of these views?!

Santiago de Compostela with Friends

September 8, 2022 by Kari Carson

When we were exploring options on where to live in Spain, Santiago de Compostela was at the top of our list because we have some very special friends from Clemson who live there.

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela is in northwestern Spain in the region of Galicia.

It is a verdant area, and in addition to Spanish, they speak gallego (Galician). The street signs are all in gallego, which is a Romance language that seems to me to be a mix of Spanish and Portuguese.

I was torn about moving there because I really wanted to be near our friends, but at the same time I was also worried about the gray skies and rain affecting my mental health. The sunshine in Granada won out in the end, but we were so excited to visit and finally see our friends.

We had a fantastic welcome! It was so wonderful for all of us to catch up since 2019. The girls have all grown so much, but their friendships didn’t skip a beat.

We had a fun surprise the morning after our arrival. A Carnaval parade! I still don’t understand why it was in September since Carnaval is in the spring before lent and Easter. Regardless, it was such a fantastic way to be welcomed to the city. The costumes and music were fantastic.

These guys used these inflated dried pig bladders as cymbals!

And it was loud with these huge drums and bagpipes, which are traditional to this region with a Celtic history.

The Cathedral

The most famous spot in Santiago de Compostela is the Cathedral. It is the terminus of the Caminos de Santiago, which are pilgrimage routes across Spain to the church with the remains of St. James.

It was exciting and emotional to see the pilgrims arrive to the church after their long journeys.

We visited the tomb with St. James’ remains. This entrance is only open every four years, and we happened to be lucky to enter.

Climbing up to the roof of the cathedral offered great views of the plaza and city below.

Around the City

We took a tourist train to get the lay of the land, and the girls brought smiles to all we passed by.

After a very hot and arid August in Granada, we savored the lush tree- and grass-filled parks and landscapes in Santiago de Compostela.

And enjoyed catching up with old friends

We also visited a special place called Ciudad de la Cultura de Galicia (City of Culture of Galicia) in Santiago de Compostela. It’s a complex of cultural buildings (exposition hall, event center, library, artist workspace, theater…) designed by a group of architects led by Peter Eisenman (and a also has a really fun playground.)

We had a wonderful time wandering around this medieval city.

Cuisine

Santiago de Compostela is famous for its many seafood dishes, especially pulpo (octopus).

We have a rule that the girls have to try everything…

Including percebes…

Ali might pass on the barnacles next time.

After another few weeks in Santiago de Compostela, we might not fit on these walkways.

Ice cream sampling is mandatory in every visit.

Padrón

While in Santiago de Compostela, we took a short train to a town called Padrón. It was the home of the famous Galician poet and pioneer feminist Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885). We arrived too late to visit her house, but we did get to have lunch at the Sunday feria market.

And friends. Is there a better combination? (Ali says no pulpo)

Delicious food and drinks + new places + friends = A perfect day

A Coruña

We wanted to visit another part of Spain’s coast and visited A Coruña. We didn’t have many expectations or plans for our visit, but we loved it and decided to spend the night there.

A Coruña is famous for its lighthouse la Torre de Hercules (the Tower of Hercules). It was built in the 2nd Century and was renovated in 1791 and is the oldest lighthouse still in use.

We lost count of the steps up to the top

This area was known as the end of the earth (Finisterra is a nearby city) and also as the Coast of Death due to the many shipwrecks on the rocky shore.

We weren’t in a ship so we could fully enjoy the beauty of the coast line.

We also rented bicycles and loved riding along the bikeway that skirts the coast.

A Coruña is a popular place for surfers.

Maybe we’ll come back to learn how to surf.

We walked all around the city. I love plazas like this one that you find around Spain.

There aren’t plazas like these in Granada

We visited the harbor and marina to see the boats that have safely fared these waters.

Castro de Baroña

We also got to visit another breathtaking place on the coast.

Castro de Baroña is a fortified settlement from the Iron Age. It is surrounded by two walls and contains twenty roundhouses that were inhabited from the 1st Century BC until the 1st Century AD. (Thank you for the refresher, Wikipedia).

We could have climbing around the rocks and watched the ocean for hours.

This place was unlike anywhere I’d been before. Walking around this old settlement, Serena and I wondered what life was like for the people who inhabited this place two thousand years ago.

Can you find Ali in this picture? She’s sitting atop of one of pointy-er rocks just left of center.

Sweet Memories

We had such a fun time in Santiago de Compostela visiting our friend and are already looking forward to getting together again.

Map of Santiago de Compostela: https://dondeesta.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/%C2%BFDonde-esta-Santiago-de-Compostela-800×445.png

A Day Trip to the Alpujarra

August 22, 2022 by Kari Carson

One of the things we like about attending language schools is the opportunity for extracurricular activities. This weekend, a guide took us and another family from our language school to the Alpujarras, a group of mountain towns near Granada.

I’d never heard of the Alpujarras before I arrived in Granada, but many locals told us that we should visit. They described them as picturesque, quaint towns on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We visited Lanjarón, Pamaneira, Capileira, and Trevélez. (circled in purple)

The Alpujarras are important in Spanish history because there used to be a population of about 40,000 Muslims living here in the 15th and 16th century. (Most of Spain was Muslim from 711-1492). There were two Rebellions of the Alpujarras, in which the Spanish Muslims tried to oust the Catholic Monarchs. The efforts were unsuccessful and resulted in the expulsion or conversion of Muslims in Spain.

As a result, the population in the Alpujarras at the end of the 16th century dropped to 7,000. The Spanish government tried to incentivize Catholics to repopulate the area afterwards, but it was rather unsuccessful. The Alpujarras were relatively isolated until roads were improved. I learned this on the tour and also on Wikipedia article about the Alpujarra.

It takes about 1.5 hours to get to the Alpujarras by bus. We left Granada at 9 am and didn’t get home until 8:30 pm. It was a full day!

Here are some pictures from our day.

Pampaneira (population 321 in 2018)

The streets are pretty narrow and very charming.

The houses in the southern part of Spain are white because the reflective color keeps the buildings cooler. The narrow streets and walkways keep things cooler too, since there are lots of shadows and not a huge area for the sun to heat up between the houses. Living in these 95+` degree days with no air conditioning, I appreciate everything that cools things down.

There are many vertical gardens throughout the villages, which not only make lovely pictures but also keeps the area feeling cooler.

Not your average stroll back home in the States.

I liked the knitted decorations in Pampaneira.

Our guide told us that the tradition of throwing coins into a fountain originated in the Americas. Apparently, money was made of silver, and when silver is added to water it makes the water potable. Is that true? What do you think?

Pampaneira is known for its rugs. The ones here now are often factory made, but we visited one of the last weavers in Pampaneira. It’s becoming a lost art since factories can do the work in a fraction of the time. I would have loved to get some rugs to take back to the States if only they’d fit in our suitcases 🙂

This is one of the last working looms in the town.

Trevélez (population 721 in 2018)

All the touring made us hungry, and it was 2 pm. Our next stop was Trevélez for lunch. It was a long, windy, and nausea-inducing, mountain road to get there. We were thankful for our seats at the front of the bus.

Seeing ham legs hanging from the ceiling or walls is very common here in Spain.

Trevélez is known throughout Spain for its high quality ham (jamón ibérico and jamón serrano.)

We took a tour of one of local places where the ham is cured. If you have a weak stomach, you might want to scroll quickly through these next pictures.

As we walked through the three story building, we saw the whole drying and preparation process from bottom to top. It takes 1-3 years to properly prepare and cure a Spanish ham.

1st step is to cover the ham legs with sea salt to dry them out. This particular ham curing facility only uses sea salt, which is one thing that differentiates the ham here from other places that use lower quality salts.

Floors 2 and 3 looked like this. Apparently, the mold is part of the process.

The smell was very strong. It wasn’t exactly a bad smell (Ali might beg to differ), but it was strong and pervasive.

Ali has sworn off pork since this visit, and to be honest, I’m not as keen on it either.

I was thankful that we had lunch before this visit. And, I was glad it wasn’t the last stop of the day.

Capileira (population 588 in 2018)

We headed back to the van for one more visit to the town of Capileira.

It seems that these days, many of these houses are rentals or Airbnbs. The roads are steep, so the aging residents have a hard time making their way through the steep and narrow streets with no car access.

This is one of the few buildings not painted white. It is actually made of slate, which is a local stone and is the only legal option other than painting your dwelling or business white.

The architecture is interesting. Homes in Capileira are built like a stair-step above the next one below it. Roofs are made of wood, a layer of slate from the area, and a layer of as special kind of thick gravel that makes it impermeable. All you can see from above is the dirt and the chimney. Apparently this same style of construction is also found in Berber dwellings in northern Africa. I learned that on the tour 🙂

We had a wonderful day touring beautiful towns in the Alpujarras with our guide Juan.

The three highest peaks in peninsular Spain are in this area just outside of Trevélez. We hope to come back to do some hiking in the mountains.

PHOTO CREDIT: Map of Las Alpujarras: https://www.theolivepress.es/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/website-2_i000036.jpg

Let the Spanish Commence!

August 19, 2022 by Kari Carson

I’m going to switch this up a bit. It’s taking me so long to write these long epic posts. So, I’m just going to do a quick highlight of the day/week and post out of order as I go back and fill in the last two weeks.

So, we’ve been here in Granada for three weeks now. Spanish technically started then, but we’ve been in a bit of a bubble just doing our thing and getting our house situated here.

The girls’ art production has slowed though they have managed to read more than 20 novels, and they were starting to get on each others’ nerves more than usual. We were all beginning to flounder without a routine and somewhere to be. It was time!

The girls will be attending a public school here… and no, not a bilingual one. It will start September 12. They have a big challenge ahead, so we want to give them a bigger base of Spanish to help prepare them for school.

The girls haven’t practiced Spanish too much since we got back from Ecuador 4 years ago. (Yes! It’s hard to believe it was that long ago.) They were completely fluent when we got back. Ali was 5 and Serena 7, so their language needs have expanded significantly since then. Serena says she’s able to understand most things, but speaking has been more of a challenge for her. Ali hasn’t been wanting to speak much Spanish.

So, we’ve found a language school here in Granada that teaches children. Many of the kids are in the same boat as Serena and Ali as they will also be attending a local school for a year. An added bonus for having them at a language school was for them to meet more kids.

They were so excited for their first day of class.

School Day

The girls are at language school for 4 hours a day for 3 weeks, and we go to organized activities at the school at night (for board games, movie night, cooking classes). This weekend, we will go to a few towns in the Alpujarras mountains south of Granada with the school.

The girls started in the same class with another girl a little bit older than Serena. She got bumped up to a higher level, so they added two boys of the same age to their class, though their Spanish isn’t as strong as the girls’.

Chad will take 2 hours of private classes a day for a couple of weeks for a refresher.

Serena and Ali were in great moods after the first day. I was so happy that it went well for them because a bad experience would have soured the next weeks of classes.

Ali was speaking in Spanish off and on throughout the rest of the evening and through the days since classes started and Serena too. Chad also enjoyed his classes.

Everyone’s Spanish has improved tremendously in just four days of classes. Their Spanish will improve by leaps and bounds over the next few weeks of classes. I wonder how long until they’ll be fluent again.

International House Hunting

July 29, 2022 by Kari Carson

How have we found our houses when living abroad? Choosing a country and a city was a challenge, but choosing a house wasn’t really hard at all. It was much less dramatic than the tv show.

House Hunting: Ecuador

We were very adventurous when we moved to Ecuador. We didn’t find a house or school until we arrived, though we had researched schools and neighborhoods. We’d never even been to Ecuador, so we were really hoping we’d like the city and want to stay.

The first two weeks in Cuenca, we stayed in an Airbnb as we got to know the city and decided where we wanted to live. Once we knew that, we contacted a language school to see if they had anyone who was renting a furnished apartment. They did, and it was in a fantastic location, just one block from a well-stocked grocery store and had four parks within a half-mile.

I didn’t love the two bedroom, three bathroom apartment with a 9 square foot balcony, but Chad was ready to settle. It ended up working out perfectly. There was a restaurant and produce stand right across the street, a hospital two blocks away, and a pub on the way to the laundromat down the street. And, we found the sweetest preschool for Ali just five blocks away. The location of Serena’s school was not important since she took a bus to and from school.

House Hunting: Spain

We did things differently for our move to Spain. Christine with YourYearInSpain, who helps foreigners move to Spain, was extremely knowledgeable and helpful about neighborhoods and schools. After we told her our criteria and our interests, she recommended three central walkable neighborhoods with good schools nearby.

She had some apartment and house listings from local owners that we could choose from in those areas. Some were smallish apartments without much comfortable sitting space. Another house had a fantastic view of the Alhambra, but we decided not to rent that one because the layout was awkward and the kitchen was small.

One house with a wrap-around terrace with a great view of the mountains nearby, a comfortable-looking family room, a piano (Ali could keep playing!), and a spacious kitchen caught our eye. It was in the Albaicín neighborhood, which is the historic Muslim quarter of Granada. In the 11th century, it was the center of the Zirid Kingdom of Granada and was one of the most important cities of Al-Andalus, the Islamic state that controlled most of the Iberian peninsula (current day Spain and Portugal) from 711 until 1492.

In our 2009 travels in Spain with Chad’s parents, we loved visiting the Albaicin’s winding medieval pedestrian streets, white-washed buildings, location on a hillside, and fantastic views of La Alhambra. We were excited about the prospect of living there.

Signing a Lease?

I was reluctant to sign a lease to secure this house. We’d never seen it in person or walked through the nearby streets to get a feel for the area and the neighbors. However, in order to register the girls for school, we needed to have proof that we lived in the neighborhood. So, we signed a lease to rent the house.

A few weeks after we signed the lease, I woke up one morning very worried. I remembered that people in Spain smoke a lot, and I was afraid that the house would smell like cigarette smoke. Uh oh! I hadn’t even thought about it until that moment. You can’t see the stink of cigarette smoke in pictures, and it was something I couldn’t live with. Yikes! Was this house going to work out for us?

The Big Reveal

We were so excited to finally see our home when we arrived to Granada on a hot 107℉ (42 ℃) evening. The uncle of the landlords (who live out of town) was waiting for us with our key.

The house is painted white, has a clay tile roof, and has charming wooden doors. It is adjacent to a small parking area surrounded by other houses. It looked well-kept from the outside with pretty flower boxes.

My first impression of the house was that it was just like the pictures we saw when we signed the contract. Inside the house, it was warm, though thankfully not hot. We already knew there was no air conditioning in most of the house.

And, to my tremendous relief, it did not smell like cigarettes.

Compared to our apartment in Ecuador, the house is very spacious. It has three-stories with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and an office with a futon.

The house has an interesting mix of Arabic and Austrian influences.

We love this doorway between the sitting room and kitchen.

The art on the walls is in Arabic (see above), and the pictures look like they’re from Egypt. Correct me in the comments section below if you know better or can tell me what the wall hangings say.

These photos are so intriguing. I wonder about the stories behind these faces.

It is weird to have these women looking at me when I go to sleep at night. Hmmm… maybe I should just move the pictures 🙂

There are a couple of huge bookshelves. It looks like 98% of the books are in German and at least 30% of them are about Egypt.

Room by Room

We’ll share some pictures from our house for your virtual visit.

First Floor (or the Ground Floor)

Here’s the sitting area you see right when you walk in.

The tilework going up the steps has some tiles of a pomegranate. In English, *granada* means pomegranate.

The kitchen is spacious. It has all of the dishes, pans, plates and utensils that we will need. We are missing having a dishwasher and a microwave. I’ve spent many hours trying to sort through the cabinets to see what there is and to make room for our groceries.

Our first dinner at home in our kitchen/dining room.

We do have a washing machine, though no dryer, which I understand is the norm here in Spain. The air is so dry that it takes no time at all to dry our clothes.

Second Floor

The living room is on the second floor. We’ve enjoyed cuddling up on the couch while streaming Disney+. We just finished up Ms. Marvel, which was a fun series. I don’t have a picture of us on the couch, but I do have this fantastic picture of Ali playing the piano.

We hope to start music lessons in September.

Our bedroom is rather unremarkable. There’s a bed, a small window, and a small closet. Half of the closet is used for hanging clothes, and the other half has four shelves and four drawers for Chad and my clothes. Thank good we didn’t pack too much! Our winter clothes are still in our suitcases since there’s no space for them in the closet. (Plus, I can’t bear to even look at them in this heat!)

The girls’ bedroom has more space. They have bunk beds, bookshelves, a desk, an armoire, a dresser, and two windows. When we moved in, half of the drawers were full of stuff, including dinosaurs, swords, games, and random mismatched articles of clothing.

Serena and Ali got busy right away making making the room their own. They emptied the drawers, packed away unwanted toys into a box, and arranged their bookshelves and drawers just the way they wanted them.

After discovering the house’s stash of art supplies, the girls spent hours painting, drawing, cutting, tying, and gluing decorations for their room.

They crafted these hanging tassels from yarn they found in a basket.

They also made a room for Jade, their American girl doll, complete with bed, desk, and photos for her walls.

Jade’s room has since been relocated and expanded to include a classroom and bathroom. My girls are so creative.

The bathrooms are fine. One has a small bathtub and a bidet. We did some research to learn how to use it :). The other bathroom has a tiny shower. Every time I bend over to wash my legs, I bump into the faucet and turn the water off. And, the showerhead doesn’t reach Chad’s shoulders, so thankfully it’s the sprayer hose type that we can take off and move. And we thought our shower back home was small!

Third Floor

Right now, the third floor is our favorite. It has air conditioning!

The third floor is an office with a futon. We moved the girls’ mattresses up for now, and we are all camping up there to stay cool. We tidy up each morning before starting work.

Pardon the mess. We were still getting moved in.

There’s also a fantastic wrap-around terrace with fantastic views of the hillside. You can also see the green lush gardens of the Generalife (the 14th century summer palace of the Nasrid rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus) and the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The girls have been working hard to keep these plants alive.

The rooftop dining area needs some TLC. We’ve enjoyed evening breezes at dinner time.

There’s an overlook of the city from the church at the top of the hillside.

You can see the neighbors’ terraces and the Generalife gardens in the distance.

The Neighborhood

Our house is in a great location with lots of nearby restaurants, a grocery a block away, and a bakery around the corner (I’m blaming their croissants if we come back heavier than we left :). There are historic monuments everywhere you turn, like the gate to the 11th century fortress that was once here.

The girls’ school is a five minute walk. It’s a 15ish minute walk downhill to get to the centro (downtown) and 25 minutes to a big grocery store. We’ve taken a 5 euro taxi from downtown once, and there’s also a bus we’ve yet to take. The uphill trek always gets our heart rate up, and we welcome the little bit of exercise returning from downtown since the trip often includes an ice cream cone.

So that’s it. Now you can feel like you’ve stopped by for a quick visit. We hope you enjoyed your tour!

Photo credit: El Albayzín Panorama – By Bert K. – originally posted to Flickr as Granada, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11941637