Catch up

Tomorrow marks two weeks in Madrid and everything is going well. The flight was delayed in Bangkok and we were met at the gate and taken to a tiny hotel at the other end of the airport (with me humping Sloane, our RAID brick, sheesh she's heavy). We got 40-5 hrs sleep in real beds so actually the delay worked out nicely, I don't think anyone slept on the plane from Melbourne. The next flight though is the big one, over 14 hours, and although the food on Thai was great the 747 had the cheap fit-out and we didn't have VOD. Then the 3 movies that they played on the screen ended up being the exact 3 that Jo had watched on the Melb-Bangkok leg :-), so she knows them really well know. They also played Old Dogs with Travolta and Robin Williams, definitely the worst movie ever made, not a good choice when you're locked in a tin can at 32,000. But the food was good and we made it to Madrid around mid afternoon.The apartment is close to the kids schools, my work by light rail and the airport, so we were at our new home really quickly after breezing through immigration etc. Unpacking took the next few days and Jo commented that we had brought far too much stuff. It's a 4 bedroom apartment, large by local standards, and of course tiny by ours but we'll get used to it I'm sure. We were missing several important pieces of kit, primarily a TV, so we hit a local department store, El Corte Ingles (The English Cut), which is like Myers/Sears/The Bay and carried all our stuff home on the metro, even the 40" LCD :-).

Jo took the kids to the schools on Monday and Cam was able to start immediately, the girls had an entrance exam the next day and started right after. Jo picked up their uniforms and they look quite smart (photos to come). The Easter/term break started last Friday so they only got a few days of school in before being back home again. Not enough time for them to make friends that they wanted to see over the break, but they have all said that the students are nice to them and they've been included in social activities. a few minor issues, like the provided hot lunch having unfamiliar food, Jasmine going from being at the top of the French class in Aus to the bottom in Madrid, and the level of achievement being quite high (for example Abbie's class is doing algebra, something she's never seen before). The school has around 75% local Spanish kids attending, they generally have at least one english speaking parent and they want to end up attending a British university. Jasmines year 9 exams will be sent to Kings College in Oxford for marking...The weather has been unseasonably cool and that's meant that we haven't been out as much as we'd like. But the kids walked every day to school, Jo with Cam as his school campus is much further away than the girls. We've hit downtown and seen the palace, Plaza Major etc, but not the Retiro park and some other sights that will be much nicer for everyone on a sunny day.

We hit Ikea on Saturday, electing to leave the kids in the apartment as they were a little shopped out, and then regretting it as the day turned into a really sunny one. Oh well. The store was a long way away and we had to take a 30 minute subway ride to get there, plus a decent walk at the end. We got a lot more stuff than we intended, and then forgot to get a printer/scanner, but importantly Ab's now has a new bed and mattress and all the kids rooms have a more personal touch so they're feeling much more at home. The Xbox is set up and we have shared internet throughout the apartment using a work provided GSM modem. It's fairly slow though and I can't improve it until our Residency cards arrive and I can actually sign up for something better, but it's working and that's the main thing, we are connected to you.

The Easter holiday here is Thursday/Friday so I'm picking up a rental car tonight and we have some driving planned. Tomorrow we'll hit Manzaneres del Real, the castle used in the film El Cid, that's just to the north of the city, and then on a little further to Sergovia to see the aqueduct, cathedral and awesome Alcazar in the walled town. On Friday a Spanish colleague has invited us to his holiday house in the La Rioja region, just south of the Basque Country. This is the big wine region of Spain and we hope to hit a winery to two and enjoy some good food before coming back on Sunday.

So, we're starting to feel at home although some way to go yet, and we're missing Australia. But summer is coming and that means some travel... I have to get planning.

Andy, out.