Michelle's blog

Happy 31st Birthday Justin!!!

I searched out some fun gifts yesterday, most of which included candy that I have never heard of and two spanish childrens books. More fun birthday events scheduled for tonight and the weekend.

It has almost been a week since our arrival to Marbella. Justin has started to work at the office, and I have begun some exploring.

One of the most frustrating aspects is that it has been raining here since Monday. Yes, I know this is the Costa del Sol, and I have been assured that it will pass and the sun will soon fill the days. I just had a different idea of how to spend my first week here. But it hasn't stopped me from everything I wanted to do. Between rain showers, I wandered all over Old Town, visiting the Plaza de los Naranjos, Iglesia Mayor de la Encamacion, and the Museo del Grabado Espanol Contempraneo. Nearby to our apartment is Parque de la Alameda, and of course walking along the boardwalk.

When the rain kept me indoors, I've been working on Spanish. I've been focusing my study using the Michel Thomas Method and I am really enjoying it. You start by learning words that are similar to english and then simple sentences, gradually moving onto bigger more complex ones. I still have lots to work on, but I think it is working well. I have been trying to limit TV while here, mainly because we are living on the coast of Spain and I do not want to spend my time that way, but it occasionally gets turned on. We only have 3 english channels; BBC World News, CNN and a sport channel, so I will be up to date on current world events. The third channel is called EuroSport, and all I see on it is horse racing, European gymnastics, and Curling! Go figure.

Gilmore Girls is shown on TV... what a perfect way for me to learn spanish. Now if only they didn't talk so fast...

Now that I have a chance to get to working on the blog... I have lots to catch everyone up on.

Moving to Spain meant leaving Georgetown... and though I may not miss getting up super early every morning, I will most definitely miss all my coworkers. And speaking about them, before leaving the city, we had an excellent happy hour at Vapianos. Justin even mentioned it was as good as a GUH holiday party. Thanks everyone for coming out to it. And I mean it, if any of you want to visit... turns out the couch is a pullout bed with views of the sea!

Before leaving for Spain, our first task was moving out of DC. It didn't make any sense to have an apartment while we were away, so the plan was to pack everything and keep it in storage near my parents in CT. Over the past year or so I have been working hard at getting rid of things (Freecycle) we don't use/need but it still seems like we had a ton of stuff. On the actual moving weekend, Nate was a huge help by coming down and helping us with the loading, driving, and unloading of the truck. Thank you Nate!

By Sunday, everything with the truck was settled and unpacked into storage, and then we had a fun week hanging out with my parents and introducing Macy to Toby. One of my patients had lent me a dvd on how to introduce cats and dogs so we tried to follow the guidelines, and I think it is working well. First night we kept Macy to herself, my parents have given her a room off the side of the house which will be a cat only 'safe space'. Its great, lots of windows and light, and a gas stove that Macy can spend hours watching. Around the second day, we allowed Macy and Toby to meet thru a cracked door. Toby was very interested, and Macy had some interest but typically turned around and walked the other way from him. By the third day, they both got a chance to meet, and they were well behaved. By the time we left them, Macy had the ability to move in and out of the safe room and would rest on the chair in the living room as long as someone was nearby to keep an eye on the dog.

I liked having the chance to chill at home before flying out, we had dinner family dinner with Lena, Jimmy, KC and Marc, and Justin set up our Wii for my dad and we had some good games of bowling and golf. One evening Justin and I went over to visit my grandma and make her a fabulous (if I do say so myself) dinner of chicken saltimbocca, orzo, and fresh berries with marscapone. Spent a day with my mom, and managed to get a lunch at Shady Glen. And even before flying out of JFK, met up with Gwen and had dinner at the Bayou.

Oh and for the record... I did excellent with the flights. :)