|
|
Wednesday, November 15th, Badalona, Spain
.jpg)
I'm feeling a little better today about the school
situation. We went to visit one of the private
schools in Sant Cugat, a ritzy suburb on the fringes of
Barcelona, on Friday. It helped us to reach some
conclusions. This whole wintering in Spain
experience provides some interesting insights into our
decision-making process on Zia. I'm sure there are
many nuggets of wisdom to be found in the rubble of our
discarded plans. Hopefully we will unearth them
and learn their lessons as we continue voyaging through
unfamiliar waters, ports and countries. I don't
think that we can say we made a wrong decision in coming
to Barcelona, since exposure to any language and culture
will be an enriching experience for the girls. Our
choice of Marina Badalona has certainly proved to be a
good one for many reasons. Our only disappointment
is that the girls won't get as much Spanish as I had
hoped.
Europa International School seems fantastic. The
students are 90% Spanish, although the courses are
taught mostly in English. At the level the girls
would be in, the classes are conducted 60% in English,
20% in Spanish and 20% in Catalán. At the cost of $6,000 for three months, it isn't
nearly enough
Spanish to justify the expense. Additionally, the
location is much farther from the center of Barcelona
than we are here in Badalona. We would have to
secure housing in the expensive suburb of Sant Cugat.
Based on all of these issues, we have decided to go with the
public school option.
In
order to enroll our girls in school, we need a
certificado de empadronamiento.
It is essentially a registration with the Town Hall so
that the locality gets the resources it needs on a per
capita basis from the central government. With our
paid invoice from the marina, we can get it in a matter
of hours. Armed with this certificate, we go to
the local school board and they place us in a school.
I went today to see what was required and just need to
go back with all of our passports, etc, and I'll walk
out of the office with the document. Then, we go
to the school board, and within a week or 10 days we
will know where they will go to school. Our local
friends, Rafa y Mari, tell us that the schools close to
the marina are good. Of course, we will go by and check it
out on our own, once they tell us our choices.
Actually, I'm not sure whether we will have a choice or
if they will simply assign us one. I hope to
achieve all this before we leave for our trip home in a
week. That way when we return in January, the
girls can start school with the rest of the children on
the eighth of the month. (In Spain, the big
holiday during Christmas is traditionally celebrated on
January sixth, which marks the Epiphany or the Twelfth
Day of Christmas, when the three kings presented their
gifts to the newborn baby Jesus.)
One of the big attractions of the private school, Europa
International, is that they keep the kids from 9am until
5pm. In contrast, the public schools, in typical
Spanish fashion, run from 9am until 1pm, at which point
they break for lunch for two hours, resuming at 3pm and
finishing for the day at 5pm. This might present
some logistical challenges for us as we plan our free
time, and it certainly would be easier if they kept them
for the whole day, although 9 to 5 is a very long day at
that age. One idea I had was to find a private
tutor who could pick them up and drop them off again
three days a week. That would give me and Joe
enough time to do some longer excursions into Barcelona.
I am also hoping to sign up for some intensive Spanish
classes myself. It will be a little challenging to
fit it all into the time between dropping them off at
9am and being there to pick them up at 1pm. Just
one more challenge to work out!
Speaking of challenges, Joe solved our propane problems.
Hurray! Instead of buying a new propane or butane
tank here in Spain, he ordered up an adapter from
Defender Industries
(thank you Sundai!) that allows us to use the blue
Camping Gaz bottles of mixed propane and butane.
Although at 3 kilos, they are smaller than our regular 5
kilo bottles, they have the huge benefit of being
available everywhere in Europe. If we had stuck
with the regular butane, we would have to deal with the
compatibility issue in every country we visit.
Luckily, our stove and burners work perfectly with it,
so hopefully the problem is solved permanently, or at
least for the time we are in the Med. One decision
well made.
Marina Badalona has proven to be another good decision.
Although it isn't Port Vell, I think we are benefiting
from this fact more than missing out. Here, the
kids have the freedom to play in a much larger area
within our hearing and sight. At Port Vell, they
were only allowed on the pier. While we made some
friends with the crew of the super yacht that was across
the pier from us in Port Vell, we didn't meet any other
cruisers. Here, we have shared a wonderful
camaraderie with a really great group of people.
We had an "International Boules Competition" over the
weekend. You'll be happy to know that Joe and I,
representing the East Coast, took second place behind
Rob and Cathy, representing the West Coast. You
can imagine the jeers we endured as the Americans swept
the competition.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Although most of our new neighbors will be popping back
and forth between their homes and their boats rather
than staying here for the duration, we will all be
cruising in the same waters next summer and will
undoubtedly benefit from the friendships formed here.
The marina is also a quick ride via public
transportation to the city center. There is a bus
that picks us up here, or you can walk the 15 minutes to
the rail station. From there you can catch a train
or a tram, and you can connect to any of the many metro
and rail lines to get virtually anywhere in Barcelona.
For sixty-six Euro cents you can travel for an hour and
fifteen minutes within the central zone. Badalona
is just inside that zone. We can't wait to have
the time to explore!
.jpg)
We
are also benefiting tremendously from the friendship of
Rafa and Mari.
.jpg)
They have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome
in Badalona. Between trips to the local horseback
riding stable, introductions to their nieces who are the
same ages as the girls, assistance in talking to the
school board, and meals together, we've come to rely
upon them for their friendship and opinions.
Rafa's brother Sergio leapt into action when we
explained our problem in refilling our propane tanks.
I feel very badly for the trouble he went through to
help us when in the end we didn't need it.
Communication is definitely a challenge, but my Spanish
is improving by leaps and bounds because of their
patience and willingness to put forth the effort.
Although sometimes exhausting for all of us, I am
determined to accept every invitation, and to invite
them as much as possible, so we can keep up the
friendship and language practice.
.jpg)
The weather continues to be excellent.
Temperatures rise into the low seventies during the
sunny days and fall into the upper 50's overnight.
Our heaters are keeping us warm enough for now. We
probably won't figure out the rental apartment before we
leave for home on the twenty second. In fact, we
might just wind up staying on the boat for the duration.
We'll see. I guess I won't get my heart set on
anything until we know all the implications. This
attitude would have saved me a lot of heartache over the
school issue as I tried desperately to get the Spanish
thing to work. As many of you have told me, it is
only for three months. The girls will learn and
grow so much from the experience regardless of the
language. The important thing is that we are here
and we are trying.
Next entry
>>>>>>>>
Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
|
|
|
|
