Christmas + Holidays 2019

Our holiday season in Spain has (finally) come to an end -- I know I am a little late to the post holiday recap but for us it only ended two weeks ago and I am finally getting our lives back in order.  After our trip to Florence, we hit the ground running with Christmas ballet recitals, school performances, parties and more --

Serafina had her first ballet recital and she freaking ROCKED it.  This was the first time on stage where she didn't completely freak out from stage freight and I am not sure who was more proud, us or her!  Then a few days later she had her Christmas dance performance at school and she ROCKED that too -- again just having so much fun on stage dancing!

For Christmas we spent Christmas Eve with friends at their house with of course no pictures because too much fun was being had. We rushed home late to put out cookies for Santa and get to sleep... Or Serafina went to sleep and Trevor and I played Santa which is seriously so much fun!

Christmas morning was amazing.  Serafina had been asking for a Barbie Dream house for months so we went all out and got her a HUGE doll house!  She had a blast and in true Serafina fashion, she was more excited about the presents she got for Trevor and I than the ones she got.  It was the sweetest thing.

best we could get!

We also had our very good friends over for brunch -- a waffle and mimosa bar.  The kids had so much fun playing with all their new toys and the adults had fun just hanging out.  It was a wonderful Christmas.

Then we had a relaxing week (with Serafina of course being sick) before we celebrated New Years and this year we had the party at our house!  We had our close friends over, ate and drank and the kids ran wild -- then around 11PM we made our way to the main plaza in our town to ring in the New Year!  And yes all the kids came with us, this is Spain -- kids come to every big event and party and stay up very late!  The parents ate their grapes at midnight and toasted with champagne while the kids ate M&Ms and toasted with sparking fruit juice (called Magic).  Serafina thought it was the most fun night ever and loved celebrating with all of her friends.

We then had another few days to recover before the next (and final holiday) -- Three Kings Day (read more about it here).  This is the big holiday for Spain.  The Kings enter the cities on January 5th, usually in the morning and kids have a chance to tell them what they want and talk with the Kings.  Then in the evening there is a parade through each town -- each King has a float and throws candy and toys to all the people along the route.  It is crazy and fun and wild and seriously one of my most favorite days of the entire year.

And then the Kings deliver presents that night (much like Santa on Christmas Eve), so Serafina was excited to leave out some treats for the Kings and wake up to find they had left her a few gifts on the morning of January 6th!

And then after three holidays in two and a half weeks, we were all exhausted and ready to get back into our routine of school, work and life.  But we had another wonderful holiday season in Spain!

First Day of School 2019

Our sweet Peanut had her first day of 4 años -- her second year of school at the elementary school.  This is sort of like preschool but also more like her second year of Kindergarten (Spain has three years of traditional school before kids hit 1st grade) -- there isn't really an American equivalent :)

Every year kids change physical classrooms, but for the infantil kiddos (so grades three, four and five años) they stay with the same kids and same teacher.  Serafina's teacher last year was a substitute for the whole school year which I didn't quite understand at the time.  It gets confusing but from what I can understand, teachers are hired by the province government and then can teach in any of the cities/schools within that province.  Some teachers get fixed positions and stay at the same school, while others get substitute positions (often times these are permanent sub position so the teacher moves to various schools as needed).  Long story to explain that Serafina got a new teacher this year which is actually pretty rare for her age/grade, but all the kids stayed the same.  Serafina seemed to really like her new teacher (Seño Inma) and from what I saw, she seems great!

Either way -- it will be another amazing year and it is so nice having some idea of what is going on this year (from my stand point)!  And also nice that we don't have staggered start for this first week -- today was 2 hours for the whole school, then full days start tomorrow!

And just for fun, more facts about Spanish schools -- for the first time in forever, our school will mix up kids in the older elementary grades every two years.  It used to be that kids stayed with the same kids/class for their entire time in elementary school, but the teachers did change in the older grades.  This is very normal and what schools did for years (I have no idea if this new change was our school only or city-wide or province-wide).  There was a HUGE uproar over the classes changing kids every two years.  I just had to giggle since in the states, most kids change teachers and kiddos every single year!

Spanish Public School

We have officially made it through one full school year of the Peanut attending Spanish public school and I wanted to write about it all!  It was a lot to take in and learn over the year -- so sorry with all my ramblings but I really want to get it all down.

first day of school

First things first -- this is only our experience at our specific school, with our specific teacher and class.  Every American sending their children to Spanish school has different experiences but this is ours.

Schools in Spain don't look like schools in the states -- no big fancy building, no parking lot or kiss/drop zone or bus parking, no big playgrounds... They often look like a random building in the middle of a neighborhood.  The classrooms are much (MUCH) smaller than what you would find in the states.  Serafina's classroom is easily half the size of a classroom in an American school, but it still has tables with chairs for each kid, centers to play in and a circle area for group lessons.  And while the younger kids do have a separate playground, it is not fancy and not big.  The older kids have a large concrete courtyard to run and play in -- but they all seem to enjoy themselves and love recreo (recess) which is a lot longer than in the states.

Kids in Spain start school (like real true elementary school) when they are three years old (or the year they turn three).  I talk a lot about the details in this post and about the crazy registration process in this post.  We were placed in a neighborhood public school that was our top choice (mainly because I knew we could get in) -- and it is a large school.  There are three classes per grade level at the infantil level (the younger kids aged three to five).  Each class at the infantil level has one teacher and 25 kids, but usually they have aids/paraeducators coming and going from what I can gather.  And an insane level of parent involvement (more on that later).  Serafina was placed in a class with a male teacher -- we will call him Profe J (kids call their teachers profe for males (short for profesor) and seño for females (short for señora) + their first name).

learning about jet packs

School is from 9am to 2pm every day (for elementary -- high school has a little longer hours, but not by much).  School starts promptly at 9am and you really can't be late -- every single school (from what I understand) has huge gates/walls around it, very similar to all the houses here so this is not unusual.  But this means that you can't walk on campus whenever you want -- the gates are opened by a city worker about 8:55am each day (and then typically they are closed by 9:10am so you can't linger).  The gates open back up at about 1:55pm each day (again by a city worker) and then close again about 2:10pm.  So it seems pretty safe -- you have to be buzzed into the building if you come outside of the pick up/drop off times.  From what I understand, you can drop your kid off late and/or pick up early, just have to sign them in/out with whom ever is in the office.  While each school does have a secretary, s/he has specific office hours so if you need something from the secretary, you often have to wait for the office hours.

For pick up/drop off -- only parents* with kids in the infantil classes can go inside the gates as the building/courtyard area is not large.  All the other classes line up in the courtyard but kiss their parent/family member goodbye outside the gates.  The infantil classes line up outside their classrooms and when the bell (sounds more like a siren) rings at 9am, the teacher comes out and brings their class inside.  Then at the end of the day, the kids are released when the teacher sees a parent (or guardian) outside the classroom door.  This is only for the infantil classes, I am not sure how it all works for the older kiddos.

There are no half days or early release or anything like that which is nice as I can rely on the same hours every day.  There seems to be no teacher work/in-service days -- also, I am fairly certain that the teacher doesn't even have a prep period everyday and for sure doesn't get a lunch break as everyone goes home for lunch.  The kids eat a snack or desayuno (breakfast) at school but then go home and eat lunch with their families.  There is a lunch program for kiddos of parents who work called comedor -- and you have to prove that you are working and your kiddo doesn't have other care.  If kids do any after school activities, even those provided by the school, they tend to start after 4pm. 

There are no school buses for any school (as far as I know).  So even if you don't live within walking distance, no bus will pick you up.  This means that parents/grandparents/other family members pick up and drop off kids every single day.  You either walk or drive to school but there is no parking lot for our school, only street parking so it can get tricky finding parking and people get creative.  But it means that everyone is walking from home or their car -- and it can get a little crazy with the whole school walking/driving at the same time.  So many schools (ours included) have police blocking off roads and directing traffic both at the beginning and end of the school day to help with the chaos.  But it is also quite fun walking with everyone.  And also fun to walk with friends too.  I seriously love when we meet Serafina's classmates on the walk to/from school -- she will run ahead with her friends while I attempt to speak with the parents :)

Communication with the teacher is very different from anything I experienced in the states (I was a special education teacher for 8+ years before moving to Spain).  I have no email for the teacher and no class phone number.  Teachers do have office hours (for lack of a better word) -- Profe J has them on Mondays from 6-8pm so if I need to have a meeting with him, that is when it happens.  However, we also have a lot more face to face contact with the teachers daily so no formal communication doesn't seem like a big deal.  I see Profe J every single day at drop off and pick up so this is when I share anything with him and he can briefly share with me as well (anything major then we set a meeting but we haven't needed that yet).  We did have a parent/teacher conference in November (as did all the kids in Serafina's class) but I don't think this is a common practice as I know friends who have not had parent/teacher conferences.  We also get notices/newsletters each trimester on the new unit/theme -- explaining what the kids will be doing and how parents can get involved.  There are also permission slips for anything happening that requires payment or leaving school grounds (field trip, fun events and the like).

While the communication is different, I am not saying there is no communication.  There is so much communication I don't always know what to do :)  Each class has at least one group WhatsApp chat -- sometimes one with the teacher and one just the parents.  Our class has one group chat of just the parents and only the delegada or class parent has Profe J's number and communicates with him, then passes along information to us.  So if you have a question for the teacher -- you message the delegada or group chat and ask the question, then the delegada messages the teacher (at least this is what seems to be happening).  I honestly don't even know how to accurately explain the group chat.  This is a common topic of horror and humor among my friends here in Spain who have children in Spanish schools.... when something is happening (field trip, end of year party, anything major) the messages come in fast and furious -- we are talking hundreds of messages in a short amount of time.  It is not unusual for me to go to bed and wake up to hundreds of missed messages which of course are all in Spanish.  And translating is not always easy as they use an extensive amount of text language that no online/app translator recognizes.  This is when I often message the delegada separately and simply say ayuda (help)!  Our delegada does not speak English but she will tell me what is going on -- she and her husband have been a huge help to me this year.  I have also been very lucky because our delegada will put any important message with big bold red explanation marks so I know I really have to pay attention to those messages. There is also a PTSA but called AMPA (stands for the exact same thing) and any information they want to share goes through our class delegada to the parents through the group chat.

The school also has a lot of parent involvement and from what I understand, this is fairly normal for other schools as well.  Each trimester parents/families are encouraged to create some sort of project/presentation relating to the theme/unit.  There is usually a fun, hands on activity at least once a week (usually more) that requires parent volunteers.  Parents decorate the classroom according to the theme -- so at the beginning of each trimester, we spend a few days in the classroom after school putting up new bulletin boards and creating some seriously intricate decorations!  The teacher will gladly do any art projects to help make the room more personable for the kids -- for example, when the theme was the universe, the parents created a solar system mobile and then also had the kids make rockets to put on the door.  The parents supplied all the things needed for the kiddos to make the rockets and even came into class to do the project with the kids.  Speaking of supplies.... Parents pay for ALL of the supplies for all of these activities and also ALL school supplies for the entire class for the entire year.  AND the parents buy these supplies and bring them to the teacher.  The delegada gets a list from the teacher at the beginning of the year of everything that s/he will need -- and s/he will go buy it all and the parents split the bill evenly.  If the teacher needs anything else throughout the year, the parents buy it.  Freaking genius.  Our family has not spent more than 50€ the entire school year for supplies and teacher gifts.  But as a teacher in the states, I spent so so so much more than 50€ out of pocket for supplies.

going to the cinema

learning about rocket ships and space

Serafina gets grades three times a year and they are not mailed out -- or given to the students to be taken home.  The whole school has a parent/teacher night at the end of each trimester (with your own teacher/class) where the teacher basically does an open house.  They talk about how the trimester went, what the kiddos learned and also what they will be learning in the next trimester.... And then they hand out the grades and student work from that trimester.  Parents sign a formal sign in sheet to say they have received the grades and then can ask any questions to the teacher.  Our grade meetings typically only last about thirty minutes but they can go longer (depends on the parents and teachers).  I tried explaining to some parents that this doesn't happen in the states and they thought I was crazy :)

Another thing that is different -- teacher gifts for Christmas and end of year.  Instead of each kid bringing if a gift, every student puts in a few euros (usually no more than 5) and the teacher gets a HUGE gift from the whole class.  For Christmas, our class bought Profe J a leg of jamon including some other local foods and treats.  And for the end of year, we got him and his wife a spa day at a local spa.  Students tend to not bring in individual gifts, it can be considered offensive as a lot of thought and time goes into the whole class gift.  Class gifts are also bought for any aids/paraeducators that work in the classroom.

Serafina was placed in a classroom with no other American students.  There are other Americans in her grade level, but not in her class (and actually both of those students have since moved so now she is currently the only American in her grade).  And it did bring about some challenges but also some seriously amazing experiences.  None of the parents speak English and neither does the teacher.  Or if they do speak English, they sure have not used it with me!  And obviously because we are attending a Spanish school, everything is done in Spanish -- as it should be.  But it can seem like a full-time job just to translate all the communication that goes on -- the parent group chat, the permission slips, the newsletters, etc.  We also don't think Serafina's teacher quite understood what it meant to have an American in his classroom.  The first few months of school we were constantly trying to explain to him that Serafina only speaks English at home, that we as a family do not speak Spanish.  Luckily things did start to click for her after Christmas break.  And oddly enough our other major challenge has been that I send a very LARGE desayuno (breakfast/snack) to school because it is eaten at American lunch time.  So all the other kids have small, normal sized snacks for desayuno whereas Serafina takes a Yumbox (bento box) for her desayuno each day!  It took some explaining to Profe J that Americans function on an entirely different schedule than the Spanish and that while we live in Spain, we have not fully adopted the Spanish schedule/lifestyle.  All is well now and she keeps bringing her large desayuno to school!

Serafina also has the most amazing class -- kids, parents and teacher.  They have been so welcoming of us outsiders.  Even though the parents (or kids or teacher) don't speak English, they have attempted to talk to me so frequently, letting me stumble through my beginner Spanish and helping me when I get stuck.  They love on my kid, always giving her hugs and kisses and being genuinely happy to see her each day!  Sadly, I know this is not always the norm for Americans entering into the Spanish community.  We live in a very small town and most of the kids in Serafina's class knew each other long before they entered the school -- parents are friends, families are friends (and this is very similar in other schools as well).  It can be hard to be an outsider in this very tight knit community.  While we did get lucky with an amazing group of kids and parents, I also worked hard to be present and attempt to get to know some of the parents.  I show up for the parent meetings, I volunteer to help decorate the classroom, I attempt to chime in in the group chats, I talk with the parents at pick up/drop off as best I can...  It isn't easy and it takes so so so much courage and bravery on my part but it has made our year that much better.

sensory play activity

The activities they do are so cool and so much fun!  During Carnaval the whole school has the same theme/unit and so much instruction is related to the theme -- this year Serafina learned ALL ABOUT the planets and it was so amazing.  Then everyone dresses up according to that theme and parades around the streets by the school.  The whole school also has a big end of year celebration called Fin de Curso -- again there is a school-wide theme, this year it was cinema so the students learn all about cinema while preparing a performance/dance for fin de curso.  Each class does a dance to a song relating to the theme -- Serafina's class did a dance to Hakuna Matata and all dressed up as characters from the movie.  The party is after school on a Friday or Saturday with the whole school and their families in attendance where each class performs their dance and then parties the night away -- complete with bounce houses for the kids and drinks/food for the adults (yes, alcohol is served at school functions).  And the party goes late -- we left about 9pm and it was really just getting started!

science day

working with a parent volunteer

fin de curso

The infantil classes typically have fun events to celebrate the various seasons -- eating roast chestnuts (an actual roaster came to school), having churros con chocolate (a churro truck came to school), walking to see all the churches are their nativity scenes at Christmas time, having a Christmas performance, planting flowers, a end of the year party at a local park and more...  They've had whole school wide celebrations for Fiesta Nacional de España (national holiday), Dia de Andalucia (regional holiday) and various other holidays!  The whole school also does what Americans would consider field day -- but they call it fiesta de agua (water party).  They always seem to be celebrating and having a blast learning at the same time!

Christmas performance

fiesta de agua

end of year party at the park

It can be challenging not knowing exactly what is going on at school -- and it has taken some stepping out of my comfort zone to make it all work.  Serafina has been in a Spanish school setting since she was two years old; it isn't new for her to speak Spanish or to be confused sometimes.  She is a pro at switching between Spanish at school and English at home.  With her preschool the director/principal spoke English as did some of the parents, so I often got notices in English or could have someone explain things to me in English.... with her current school, that is not the case.  So while it can be really frustrating to not really understand all that is going on, we are giving Serafina an amazing opportunity to learn a second language and we are giving our family some pretty cool experiences being immersed into the culture!

*I use the word parents but it is not uncommon to see grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle... or any other family member dropping off and picking kids up.  Sometimes the whole family comes to get the kiddos -- I often see both mom and dad picking up (and dropping off) kids in Serafina's class every single day.

Feria 2019

Our 4th féria.  And still just as magical and amazing as our first -- maybe even better since we knew what to expect and we also ran into so many people we knew...  If you need a refresher on féria, read this post and this post -- it is similar to a super fancy county fair, but really there is nothing that comes close to comparing féria to anything in the states.  Feria is FULL of tradition as it started off as horse/cattle fair/market where the dealers set up casetas (tents) to entertain the clients with wine and food -- nowadays people just gather to celebrate the fair!

As usual, Trevor's coworkers had a very fun lunch the first day of féria -- this is a true family affair and is easily one of my more favorite days of the year.  Everyone dresses up and has an absolute blast eating, drink and dancing the day away.  This year I opted to not go with a typical féria dress -- the skin tight, mermaid style, so many ruffles!  Instead I found an amazing féria like ball gown at El Corte Inglés and it was perfect.  I fit in with the flowers and ruffles, but I could move!

And then, sadly, just like in 2017 our sweet Peanut got super sick... this time with scarlett fever (strep throat that presents as a nasty rash).  It is highly contagious so even though she got started on antibiotics, we needed to keep her away from others for the medicine to kick in.  So that meant no more féria for the weekend (and féria in our town only goes for a long weekend).  And then Trevor got sick.... but I was at least able to sneak away for a little bit to enjoy féria at night.

A bit about the daily schedule to féria -- first, féria doesn't get started until about noon.  This is when things open, but most people don't show up until 2/3pm for lunch.  Many families will come earlier to do the rides (all féria have a caseta/tent area and a ride area and both are very separate).  During the day/afternoon féria is all about socializing, eating, drinking and watching all the horses.  There is a parade (for lack of a better word) of gorgeous Andalucian horses that make big loops around half of the féria grounds (where the casetas are).  There will be single riders, double riders (usually a man and a women) or carriages and you can often hop on (for a price) any of the carriages to take a loop or two around the area.  Most women riding the horses are in traditional mens' féria clothes (think super fancy horsing riding outfits) but occasionally you will see a woman riding side saddle in a féria dress which is pure talent if you ask me!  Then the horses leave probably about 5/6pm and the streets are cleaned... Local dance studios (all flamenco) will perform in the peñas around this time as well.  And then the best part of the whole day is when the lights come on usually around 9pm!  The gates (arches) light up, the casetas and the decorations/lights going over the streets -- it is really magical!  People are usually eating and drinking, sitting in the casetas (tents) or peñas (stand alone buildings) and milling about in the streets and outside talking and hanging out.  Live bands/music start about this time as well -- and everyone starts dancing sevillanas, the type of flamenco dance that is performed during féria.  Then as the night goes on and the rebujitos (typical féria drink) are flowing, many of the younger crowd migrates towards the club side of the grounds (especially as the rides close down, usually around midnight) -- the clubs are still in casetas but usually are playing club/modern music and serving drinks, no food.  And then the party just continues... until the wee hours of the morning (usually until 6/7am) -- in all the casetas and peñas, not just the clubs.  A lot to take in, I know :)

And since I have never actually written in detail about the food that is eaten/served, I should probably do that too.  I did talk about the rebujitos in this post but it is sherry (manzanilla or fino (very very dry) sherry) mixed with 7-Up or Sprite or something lemon/limey and they are delicious and refreshing and go down like water.  I did briefly mention in this post that the food is typical southern Spain tapas -- but most of the food is the same in any caseta or peña so just go where you want to eat!  You will find legs of jamon in every place -- amazingly cut to perfection, this is the jamon that is famous in Spain and should be tried at least once.  You can also get tortilla de patatas (Spanish omelette), pinchitos (chicken made with saffron and served on a skewer), filetes (pork filet sandwiches -- or to make one of these better, get a filete serranito which has the pork filet, jamon and a fried green pepper, these are my personal favorite), buñuelos (small doughnuts topped with whatever you want), pimientos fritos (fried green peppers -- like roasted small, skinny bell peppers covered in coarse salt -- another favorite of mine), chocos fritos (fried cuttlefish)... The list goes on, usually things that are fried and/or pork.  Most of the food is simple but good and there is always patatas fritas (french fries) or churros con chocolate!  And also there are often food trucks selling various hamburgers, pizzas, kebabs, etc -- so there is something for everyone!

So another féria come and gone -- and while it was not the go everyday and experience everything weekend that we have done in the past, we still enjoyed what we could and once again cannot wait for next year!

Carnaval 2019

I wrote about Carnaval before so refresh your memory here -- but it is very similar to Mardi Gras or other carnival celebrations throughout the world, the party/celebration leading up to Lent... Although here in Spain, the party continues after Lent which I don't quite understand but oh well!

Just like last year, we went to the large street party in Cadiz and had a blast.  Everyone dresses up in group costumes (costumes are a must and part of the fun)!  This street party is not kid friendly...

Our small town does a parade that all the schools participate in -- each local school makes a float and dresses up.  This year our school dressed up as Super Monsters (from the Netflix show) for the parade, parents included.  They had patterns for all the costumes and seamstresses on hand who could sew them for you, there was even a few practices for the dance you had to learn!  We opted out of the big town parade....

But most schools have a parade (or pasacalle -- no floats) during the school for the kids the Friday before the big town parade.  Each school has a theme for the carnaval unit and this year Serafina's school had the theme of -- the universe or el universo.  For the six or so weeks leading up to carnaval, the WHOLE school learned about the universe.  Parents and kids did projects, activites and more to teach their classes about the universe.  Serafina and I did a poster on NASA complete with a model shuttle/rocket!  The parents also decorated the classroom to coordinate with the theme!*  It was such a fun unit.  Then on the day of the pasacalle ALL the students and ALL the teachers dressed up according to the theme.  Serafina went as the solar system, with a costume made by me.

The day of the parade was so much fun (especially because our kiddo has a slight obsession with parades).  The parents were not allowed to participate -- only to watch.  The younger kids were paired with older kids to walk and it was adorable.  The kids and their classes paraded through the streets making a big circle around the school, complete with a police escort and everything.  This was a real parade!  And just like every other carnaval parade or event, so much confetti and paper streamers were thrown... so much!

the streets were covered with confetti

This was a day that I just thanked my lucky stars that we live in Spain and we get to experience cultural things like this.  Serafina was SO happy and SO excited and will be talking about her pasacalle forever :)

And thankfully our carnaval season was not over -- we went to a neighboring town for their amazing parade.  Chipiona does not have a feria like most towns in southern Spain do so they go ALL OUT for carnaval.  I am talking insanely intricate and elaborate and detailed costumes, floats, dances, performances -- it was so cool!

The parade typically starts in the afternoon but people start grabbing their spot along the route early in the day (or even the night before)!  We went a little early and got lucky with some front row seats on the sidewalk.  Just like a typical American parade -- this one lasts hours so bring your chairs, coolers full of food and anything else you might want/need for an afternoon of parade viewing!  But in true Spanish way of doing things -- there is lots of drinking and no toilets so be prepared!

Another wonderful carnaval season and such a fun time to be in Spain!



*So parent involvement in schools is the norm and also expected here in Spain.  This really deserves a post on its own -- but very simply put, if the teacher needs any supplies or anything, the parents provide it and the parents decorate the classroom for each new unit/theme.  It is pretty awesome.