Things we can't get here

So if your planning a visit we have a request for items. We really miss some food items that we can't find here.

-Kraft Mac & Cheese (the kids are getting sick of ham and cheese sandwiches)
-Brown sugar (the brown sugar is granulated and not even as fine as white sugar)
-Packets of taco seasoning, enchilada seasoning, dry lipton soup mixes
-Some decent salad dressing (Ranch)
-Chocolate chips
-Mckenzie would really like someone to bring her some orange chicken from Panda

One month

We've been here one month and to celebrate I made a video of some of our experiences. Hope you enjoy.

Funny stuff about Spain

I few things here in Spain that have made us laugh...

-Brent went to make home teaching visits. The dad for one of his families said that mornings were not a good time. So Brent asked him if 1:30 was ok? The dad responded again that mornings weren't good. Fearing that he'd been misunderstood him Brent asked again if 1:30 was ok. This time Brent's H.T. companion who was standing nearby cut in and said aren't you listening....mornings aren't good. Later Brent asked his companion when does the afternoon begin and he said 4:30. We have found that every thing is about 2 + hours later. People don't eat dinner here until 9:00 pm or later. Getting up early in the morning is 8. Spain is the only mission in the entire world where missionaries don't follow the schedule in the handbook. They have to be up by 7:30 with lights out at 11:30 pm.

-When we were in Barcelona Mckenzie was at the hotel desk where we were staying she overheard the lady at the desk tell some tourists that the tour busses stop for the day at 9 in the afternoon.

-Brent was driving with a guy in the ward and he was telling him about getting a Spanish driving license. He told Brent to make sure that when he takes his driving exam not to run red lights. Running red lights is rampant. People stop and then they continue as if it were a stop sign.

-Driving home tonight we just saw a police car with a headlight out. Never see that in the states.

Just some of the things I remember of the top of my head.

El Coche

The song you're listening to right now is "Por Ti" by Bea Bronchal. Who is Bea Bronchal? Well, we'll get to that in a minute. First I want to tell you about El Coche. El Coche is the Spanish word for car. And earlier this week we were fortunate enough to find a 2001 Chrysler Voyager. I found the car on the Spanish equivalent to Craig's List and got a great deal.

Several days passed however before we could drive the car because we didn't have car insurance. Most companies require a Spanish driver's license which is on the "to do" list. When the agent called with the good news that we qualified for insurance we also got some bad news. The 2001 Chrysler wasn't really a 2001. The car's ID number revealed that it was really 1999. And what I thought was a great deal wasn't. ($6,500 for a car with 200,000 miles).

But give the seller credit...he was really good. So who is Bea Bronchal? She is the daughter of the seller, and according to the seller she is Spain's number #1 recording artist. But when I mentioned her name to some of the youth at church no one had ever heard of her. But I feel better about over-paying for the car knowing that Bea has ridden in it.

Post: Brent Dixon

Visiting the sights

Today we went to Ciudad De Las Artes Y Las Ciencias which is the largest aquarium in euorpe to look at sea animals. we saw lots of animals like sharks and sea horses and later saw secrets of the mummys in an imax theater but cade kept getting scared. By Riley

The Many Changes!

So I mckenzie is gonna start off the family blogs... and the real question is how are us kids handling the culture change?? Well I can tell you coming from a 16 year old girl that it is easier said than done. There was definitely a lot of things that i did not expect. But as my family is entering our fourth week here we have had some culture shock. From the Topless beaches to kisses on the cheek. Not only has our every day lives changed but our church experience is pretty different, this is were we first encountered the kissing on the cheek. I have to say I really do like the kisses on the cheek as it takes away some of the awkwardness of meeting new people and it is a lot more friendly. Also it was very different coming from a ward that has about 30 young women and going to a ward that only has about 10. Because ther are only 10 yw our mutual activities are all day events. I don't think that Spain was expecting us either. The families are very small here. We go through food and other things rather quickly so we go to Al Campo quite often and because our family is so big we were even able to score big family discounts at the aquarium! There have been many things that have been hard to embrace but some things that have come rather easily is the weather, food, and shopping. We go to the beach at least 4 times a week. Although there are many things that have changed we have still managed to find a McDonalds, same food and all. This may be the one thing in our adventurous life that hasn't changed.

Posting

So the family wants to get involved with the blog over the next week or so they each will take a turn to post what they want on our blog. Let's hope they don't embarass.

The Bidet

I looked up bidet on wikipedia here is what I found. Bidet is a French word for pony. This etymology comes from the fact that one rides a bidet much like one does a pony. If you don't know, they are used for washing the unmentionables. If you'd like a more detailed definition you can look at wikipedia yourself. Here is the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet

We have three of them in the house. I rather like them. Other than the traditional use; here are other ways I have found the bidet useful:

-clipping toenails

-soaking stained clothes

-washing feet (with tile floors and lots of sand we always have dirty feet.)

-hand washing clothes

Laundry

Laundry is an everyday occurrence her in Spain. I only have so much room on the line for drying clothes. Yep, I feel like I'm embracing the spanish culture by hanging my clothes out to dry. Can I mention that I also feel very green. My only problem is how do I keep my towels from being crunchy. They are not soft at all. If you have suggestions please post them.

An Unfortunate Event

Dogs! Los Perros! Here in Spain nobody cleans up their dog poo. Everywhere you go there is poo.

Brent came home one night after dark. Need I say more?

What was I thinking?

So, our first week at church as I tried communicating with people I mentioned I played the piano. I for some reason thought that it might be a good idea. In my momentary brain lapse I thought "I really should do something that would really be a stretch for me and help me grow." WHAT WAS I THINKING!?! I am in misery now as I struggle to learn and play 3 songs for the choir. I've practiced Sunday, Tuesday, and tonight. I don't think even one of the songs are getting any better. Tonight at choir practice the choir director told me they were going to the other room and practice singing while I sit in the chapel and practice more. I practiced for 2 hours tonight with no improvement. Tomorrow I get to go for another practice. Let's just say I used to like "All Creatures of our God and King."

The run around

So, for the last two days Brent has been going to offices to get our permanent residency cards. Let's just say he is getting the run around literally. Yesterday he went to some office and he found out that they can't find our files. They recently moved to a new office and some files are at the old and some at the new. Anyway, we can't get these cards until they find them. Today he went to one office waited an hour and then they told him it was the wrong office. They told him to go to a different office and wait an hour to be told that was the wrong office. He went to 3 different offices before being told he needed to go back to one of the previous offices. He went back there and saw that there were double the amount of people in line and decided to try again tomorrow. I think I won't complain about the DMV anymore.

Hace calor

32 Celsius whatever that means. All I know is it means hot!!! I'm so glad we live so close to the beach so that we can cool down.


I attempted running yesterday morning. At 7:30 I stepped outside and it was warm but I didn't think it would be so bad. The humidity got the best of me. I managed to squeak out 4.6 miles along the waterfront. The entire esplanade is about 2.3 miles. I started out at my usual pace but my heart was working overtime to keep my body cooled down. By the end I was barely running because my heartrate was so high. I hope it gets better or I'll be joining a gym to workout indoors.

One week already?!?

We got here a week ago today and a lot has happened. We make a daily trek to the supermercado "Alcampo". The only way there without a car or bus is by walking along the beach. So we make the mile trek back home with filled grocery bags.

We usually spend an hour a day at the beach playing in the water it feels really good after sweating with all this heat and humidity. The air conditioning doesn't seem to be working on the main floor of our house. The middle floor is very comfortable but sweltering on the ground floor.

Some of us are adjusting to the time difference others not so much. Mckenzie seems to stay awake until 2 am.

The ward is very friendly even with the major language barrier. Already Mckenzie has been asked to play the piano for the youth choir and Cassie has been asked to join her in singing. I think I have been roped into playing for the ward choir. Brent and Riley went out Tuesday night with the elders on visits. Today Mckenzie, Cassie, and I went out with the sister missionaries. We visited with a woman from Nigeria who was hoping to make it into the olympics running the 400.

We have done lots of cleaning. Our house was very dirty and had a film all over everything. I still have a few places to wipe down.

We took the family tues. into the old city to do a little sightseeing. It will be interesting to try sightseeing all over Europe with 5 kids!!! Lot's of complaining, hot humid weather, and cranky parents.