Settling in - weeks 2.5 and 3

Sorry about the blogging downtime - we have been having some logistical problems due to I-net issues (signal we were "borrowing" diappeared and took some time for us to get some legit form of I-net). All is good now, though.


We're now ending our 2nd full week in San Sebastian and we can honestly say that a routine has started. The girls finished their first full week of school (note the unis) and are liking it - Kelsey has made some good friends and Audrey is playing the "meet and greet game" which she excels at.










They are attending an all-girls, private Catholic school that teaches in Spanish, English and Basque (Eskibel - http://www.eskibel.com/index.asp). We are in the process of phasing out the Basque portion of the classes. We take them to meet their bus @ 8:30 and meet them again after school @ 5 (note the whips that they ride to and from school - probably why the tuition is upwards of 500 Euros/mo for the two of them - worth it though). They eat lunch @ school and have a couple of recesses - totals about 2 hrs of down time which helps with the longer school day. So far their favorite classes are, obviously, the ones taught in English but that will change.

Dan started "feeding the fertile minds" at Tecnun (http://www.tecnun.es/) this past Thursday and has taught two classes now (class meets Thurs/Fri from 9-10:30 - feel free to tell him what you think about this demanding schedule). He is teaching a "structural health monitoring" class to the equivalent of senior engineering students. The class deals with determining how buildings and bridges are behaving and making informed decisions about whether to repair/replace them (basically an overeducated way of saying he is teaching whatever he feels like). Dan is going to his on-campus office for a reasonable amount of time everyday to prepare notes and hang with the hombres there (other faculty and graduate students - he is drinking ALOT of coffee with them).

Cindy is holding down the fort and exploring San Sebastian. She is taking "power walks" along the beach most mornings and enjoying the relaxing time. She is also keeping close track of what Dan says in Spanglish so the family does not get deported.

When we are not doing our weekly gig we all are continuing to head to the beach - one goal is to go there every day that we are here, regardless of the weather (its been great so far - mid-60s to mid-70s and sunny - locals are telling us to brace for the rain, though). The girls love to visit a playground in the sand that is quite close to our apartment - has many exciting things to play on that would not meet legal standards of safety in the U.S., like the death-defying spinning stand on wheel doohickey shown here (the girl in the red dress is Ana - daughter of the faculty member at Tecnun that helped Dan with the sabbatical - she is a good bud of Audrey's and goes to Eskibel).

So far, so good. We'll keep you informed about our adventures. Hope everyone in the States is doing well. We miss you one and all.

Week 2.5 - WE ARE HERE (don't tell anyone...)

After all the trials and tribulations we have arrived in San Sebastian, Spain, are are settling in. Believe it or not the trip overseas was remarkably uneventful, with minor delays and ALL, yes ALL, our bags arrived.

After landing in Bilbao we were driven to San Sebastian in a van sent by the University of Navarra by a nice young man who TOTALLY ROCKED a mullet, northern-Spain style (we'll call him the mulletrockingSpanishvandrivingdude). After helping us stick our bags in the van the mulletrockingSpanishvandrivingdude drove us to SS in RECORD time (Mercedes vans can do approximately 200 mph, by our estimation) while all of us drifted in and out of conciousness due to sleep deprivation. We pulled up to our apartment and hung with the mulletrockingSpanishvandrivingdude until our keys arrived and then hauled the bags to the fourth floor of our building, which is actually the fifth floor in non-metric countries (NO, Dan is not that strong, we had help and an elevator).





Once in the apartment, we put everything away and took in the views from out our window. The apartment is on Calle Matia (Matia Street) about 5 mins from the Playa de Ondarreta (one of SSs main beaches - in the background of the pic) and in a nice neighborhood with everything close by. After doing some initial neighborhood scouting we all passed out and slept for 10-15 hours.








Since arriving we've been taking care of some basic things, getting a bank account and cell phones, meeting with the realtor to pay our "finders fee" (NOTE TO SELF - become a realtor in Spain - they get 12% OF ANY DEAL), visiting the girls' school (they'll start late this week or early next) and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, enjoying the beach (Kelsey and Dan swam to the floating swim/slide platform thingy in the background of the last pic today). We figured we needed it.



















That's it so far - hope you enjoy and expect another post at the end of this week. Ciao.

Week 2 - waiting for not much

Sorry about the delayed Week 2 post - we've been a band of Gypsy's lately. Our squatting with the Grandparents continued, 1st half of the week with Cindy's and the second half with Dan's. Even though the sole purpose of sticking around was to (hopefully) receive everyone's Visas, we were able to spend some more quality time with the families which was great.

The end of the week was JUDGMENT TIME. We headed east from Columbus to spend the night in a hotel in western Jersey (Stanhope - aka SPAINhope, NJ to be exact - picture Barcelona surrounded by Superfund sites) Thursday. This was so we could get our bright and shiny faces to the Spanish Consulate Friday morning to pick up any and all documents that may be there. We headed to Manhattan and entered the 5th portal to hell (aka the Spanish Consulate) @ 10am to find out that Cindy's and the girls' Visas had not arrived and, BETTER YET, the Spanish government only approved Dan's Visa for 3 months! YIPPEE! After some questioning and weak answers from the Spanish authorities we put our tails between our legs, spent some time in FAO Schwartz (NO MONEY SPENT!) and drove back to State College. Here we spent a few nights, got our bags, and basically came to the conclusion that we were going, regardless of the circumstances!



Once again, the additional time spent with friends was great. We were able to have dinner with friends and eat some delicious SWEET Spanish-themed cookies (thanks KA aka MS), do breakfast with the Youmans @ the Corner Room (traditional kids wink pic shown) and say some goodbyes again.












Sunday, the 14th of September, we headed to Philly to fly out. Regardless of all the garbage that we went throught to get our "paperwork" we were excited to finally head to Spain (the objects blocking out the sun behind K&A are our bags). We'll let you know what happens.

Week 1 - visit to notSpain

This will be the first of (hopefully) a series of posts about our adventures during the next 6 months. Expect exquisite prose from all the Linzells.

For those of you that are not aware of our plans between now and next March - Dan is on sabbatical from Penn State for the entire academic year and will be teaching and doing research at TECNUN, the technical campus of the University of Navarra, in San Sebastian, Spain. The entire Linzell brood is joining him. Kelsey and Audrey will be attending school and Cindy will be keeping everyone in line and hopefully getting some time to herself.

We WERE scheduled to leave on September 1st, however the Spanish government put a wrinkle in our plans by not completing Visas Cindy and the girls needed for our stay on time. Since our house in State College was rented starting September 2nd we had to scramble to find a place. Fortunately, the Grandparents stepped up and graciously allowed us to stay at their places in O H I O (otherwise known as notSpain).




Even though our departure has been delayed, we've had fun. We went to see the Lion King (which TOTALLY ROCKED according to the girls - not just because they got little Lion King choc-o-pops),



Dan and Kelsey were able to watch Ohio State look like a I-AA team in person against Ohio U,

we hiked Old Man's cave (neat state park near Cindy's parents' house) and Dan was able to get in some flyfishing.

Our next departure date is September 14th out of Philly and IT IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE AGAIN. Between now and then we have to travel to NYC to pick up any Spanish documents that are at the consulate there, go back to State College to spend a few nights and retrieve the multitude of bags that Cindy skillfully (repeat, SKILLFULLY) packed and then head to Philly to leave.

We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures as much as we do sharing them with you.