Last Two Months - Saying Good-bye

The hardest part about leaving Barcelona is saying good-bye to all the amazing people that we came to know.   It seemed like the month of June was just one big farewell.  Too bad Barcelona is so far from Detroit, we will definitely miss the friends we made in Spain.

ASB Spanish Class group.  Some of us were together for 3 years!

We had so many great Spanish class lunches, this was officially my last class

Farewell lunch with Ann Long, Karen Hausch, Christine Lee and Gorana Ilijev

Farewell picnic with members of the Cornellá Ward

Mis amigas del barrio, our last dinner party

Ciara's friends Noelia and Maria Belen

We will miss all the singing and dancing (well maybe not all of us)

Last picture with the Cornellà high-priest group

Rylan having a farewell with his school friends

Cole's farewell with his school friends

The last youth activity in the pool at La Mallola

The kids with Angel, who always remembered their names, even their middle names

Lunch with my favourite couple, Socorro and Americo

Dinner out with our Barcelona Brazilian Japanese friends

Masumi and Adrianna (well at least we all look Japanese)

Celebrating Maricarmen's birthday the night before we left Spain.  Bishop Gil drove us to the airport the next morning 

The Next Door Neighbour

Here is an update on Ciara's schooling.  So far she has not been upset about going to school every day. I spoke to her teacher and she says that Ciara is doing fine.  Once she got really frustrated with her math homework, but other than that, she has been doing her homework without any problems.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Ciara all of a sudden started playing with our next door neighbour.  Since that day, they have been talking to each other almost every day.  Now they have started writing notes to each other as well and putting them in the mailbox.  I am very happy that Ciara has found someone she really enjoys being with and vice versa.  Elena is only in grade 3, but I think that it is easier for Ciara to associate with girls younger than she is because they have the same interests.  It's like Ciara finally has the little sister that she always wanted :)

Here is a link to a funny Halloween video I made today:

http://www.storybots.com/halloween/view/hTPRcEe1jA

Week 7, Sunday

Well, I don't usually blog on a Sunday, but I forgot to blog last Friday.  Ciara had her first swimming lesson on Friday.  She was completely fine, no apprehension whatsoever.  I find that lately, Ciara is the most adventurous of all the kids.  She wants to be out all the time!  It's such a difference from last year.

I just want to mention something really neat that happened today.  Our next door neighbours have a daughter named Elena who is in grade 3 at the American School.  The daughter is extremely friendly and very bright, I think she speaks 5 languages.  For the past year, Ciara has shown no interest in Elena whatsoever.  Elena on the other hand always says hi to our children and is excited to see them.

This afternoon, out of the blue, Ciara says she is going over to the neighbour's house.  I wondered what neighbour?  Well, she was off to Elena's house.  Then 15 minutes later, Elena was over at our house.  Much to my horror, Ciara took Elena to her really messy room and proceeded to show her around the entire house.  I guess the tour of the house didn't scare her off because they were talking about having a sleepover next.

This was just a short encounter with the girl who lives next door, but again it shows the progress that Ciara has made in the last month.  A few months ago, she would never have said hi to Elena, she would have tried to avoid her.  Now she is already planning on inviting her to her birthday party (which we have not planned yet).  I am cautiously optimistic that Ciara will continue to be friendly and social when she starts school next week.

Finally, I just want to mention that Ciara and I finished another book on Friday.  It's called "Dogs don't Tell Jokes" by Louis Sachar.  Again, we both really enjoyed this book about a boy in grade 7 who tells jokes all the time.   We read this book, because during the summer we read "There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom" which was also written by Louis Sachar.  Ciara's grade 5 teacher last year gave her the book to read over the summer.  We enjoyed that book so much that we wanted to read another book by the same author.   So we highly recommend both books again for anyone grade 5 and up.

Week 4, Thursday

Today, I'm feeling like something is not working.  Ciara has been making a lot of progress on the social and emotional front, but within the last couple of days I find that she is slipping back into her old ways: a lot of negativity, stubborness and anger.  I really don't know what it is and I have a feeling that Ciara doesn't know what is bothering her either.

Well, when I started homeschooling, I knew that it wouldn't be easy.  Every day won't be wonderful.  I need to take each day in strides, and also remember that I have 3 other children and a husband.  Because I spend so much time with Ciara each day, it is very easy for me to be affected by her mood.  I can't let it bother me so much.

I think that Ciara needs some close friends.  That's what she has been missing since we moved to Spain.  She has one friend at church, but there is a communication barrier which makes it difficult to really share her feelings.  She has had such a hard time making friends at school.  She wasn't able to find anyone who was interested in the same things she was and she was intimidated by large groups of kids.  Sadly, even her teacher and school counsellor could not think of anyone in her class last year that would've been a good fit for her.  I hope that going back to school part-time in grade 5 will be good for Ciara.  As she will be doing the most difficult subjects at home, maybe school will be a less intimidating environment and she will feel more comfortable socializing.  Let's hope so :)