Rotary Madrid

Thanks to my adventurous mother, I enjoyed a new cultural experience today here in Spain: a Rotary International club meeting. Mom is a fairly new member of Rotary, and there's an open invitation for Rotary members from all around the world to drop in on a club meeting wherever they happen to be. So, she did all the legwork & found a group that meets for lunch every Tuesday at the Palace Hotel (a rather nice establishment). She took me along as her buddy/translator.

We were mildly underdressed for the occasion (I without a tie or jacket, Mom in her nicer vacation attire), but no one made us feel the lesser for it. I was probably the youngest person in the room by about fifteen years. I would guess about half of the 30-40 club members present spoke fluent English, including two Americans who had each spent half their lives in Spain (one man half of his 86 years, another woman half of her 50). The elder American gentleman lost his wife just last week; he was present at the meeting particularly because he needed a change of scenery. We sat between a Swiss gentleman who spent a generation as the CEO of a cosmetics company and a Spaniard who works as a headhunter. There were folks from a wide variety of career fields, as is the Rotary way, and generally speaking two generations present (the "white-haired" folks and those in the 45-50 range brought in to reinvigorate the group, as our headhunter friend explained).

The food and beverage were all delicious. The main presentation of the day focused on building an elite Spanish university. Based on global university rankings, the best university in Spain only ranks as #150 worldwide. Our resident expert (a physicist-turned-educational researcher who himself has spent time at Stanford, Berkeley, and Princeton) focused on two important traits for building such a university: independence from political oversight, and a global faculty and student body (which for him would require abandoning the regional languages). He also talked about the importance of philanthropy and independence between campuses. With a number of professors in the club, a heated conversation ensued in the Q&A time, so Mom and I got to witness the Spanish passion in full swing. It was a lot of fun. We spent part of our metro ride home talking about whether the eliteness of a university was its most important trait, plus the general equality of undergraduate education from one institution to the next, even in the hallowed halls of the upper-tier schools.

On our way out of the hotel, we decided not to pay 1,400 € for a purse. We'd rather take our pocket change elsewhere, thank you.

Recovery, thankfulness, and reflection.

Last week was a doozy!  I had a few moments of not feeling well last Sunday, but the real jump-start to our family illness was Andy throwing up in his highchair during lunch on Tuesday.  I was really grateful that the "my baby needs me more than this grosses me out" ability kicked in as I gave Andy a bath, started laundry, and cleaned up the highchair.

The next few days involved only one more vomit incident (poor Andy...poor crib this time), lots of body aches, and lots of toilet flushing.  But, here we are, trying to get back into the swing of things, trying to tell the fatigue (and other lingering effects) to hop on the next train out of town, or at least out of our apartment.

Being sick will forever remind me of that horrible time last year when Ben was really sick, and we felt completely helpless as newcomers and foreigners in Madrid.  This year wasn't nearly as serious, and we were able to get ourselves to the doctor (in our own car even!) without involving an ER visit.

Life in another country is all about celebrating the little things sometimes.  This is one of those times.  I am trying to be a person of thankfulness and a person of prayer.  Sometimes by my own power, sometimes by relying on the Holy Spirit as my true power source.  But, today, Father, I pause to say thank you for taking us through a week of illness and ask for a full restoration of health for the sake of your glory.
And now I'd better get Andy some more cereal.  

Saving money - BOOM!

With a year under our belts, we're finally at the place where we know how to save money on general expenses. When we first arrived, we went with whatever bank, utility company, or phone provider was easiest/recommended without doing any of our own research. Then, when we bought a car in November, we did the research & saved a small fortune annually (almost 1,000 €) on the best insurance plan for our situation. Today I just moved our banking to a different bank, because the old bank was charging us exorbitant fees, whereas the new account has no fees or commissions on anything. This will probably save another 150 € per year or more. It's a good feeling to be able to navigate the culture well enough to make these decisions now. Also, since car insurance and banking fees officially came from the "work funds" portion of our budget, we've just gained about 100 € per month that we can spend on the youth rather than giving it to "the man."

Up next, our utilities and cell phone service providers... maybe. :)

2 years of Parenthood

Two years already?  I (Meggan) was showing my friend, Candela, the Shutterfly book of Andy's first year today as we were celebrating Andy's 2nd birthday.  I have definitely had my moments of missing baby Andy (though I still call him that), but the joys of Andy growing and learning really are very joyful. He occasionally hugs, he frequently kisses, he spells his name out loud, has his favorite little movies...  He also is obsessed with the metro and insists upon going there every time we leave the house, doesn't really like being put in his stroller when I have to go grocery shopping, and can flail like nobody's business when he's upset.  Parenthood is quite the roller-coaster.

As a wise friend told me, having small children simplifies your life.  I get Andy dressed, fed, cleaned up, and to bed day after day.  We go the grocery store, the park...everywhere together.  Sometimes it's monotony, sometimes it's wonderfully peaceful, sometimes it makes me stir-crazy.  I'm trying to learn to be content every day, trying to take better care of myself, trying to be more patient, trying to enjoy each moment with Andy without being overly sentimental.  I'm also trying to get Andy to stop hitting his head on things (including my face) when he's angry.  There's a lot of trying going on, even in the midst of a rather simple life.

Parenthood is life-changing.  There are days when I really miss being a student at UW and at Denver Seminary.  Almost every day I miss ballet classes in Littleton.  A lot of who I was seems very far away sometimes.  I know that living in another country has a lot to do with that, too.  What I know for sure, however, is that my life is much richer being a parent.  I am very grateful for the gift and challenge of having Andy.