Summer camp in Spain

Starting a life in a new town, in a new country involves a lot of figuring things out. This involves a lot of walking, looking, shopping, reading, stopping, asking questions, etc. Much of this is not interesting to kids, who just want to go to the beach, especially when it is over 85 degrees out. So what do you do?

Our apartment happens to be a block from El Club Náutico (the yacht club). We thought it might be a good place to rent paddle boards or kayaks, so we stopped in one day to ask.

We arrived just before 2 (the hour is important as you will soon learn). We were met by a somewhat grumpy woman. She informed us that El Club Náutico does NOT rent any boats. All of the exciting looking boats, paddle boards and kayaks belong to the members (and yes, there is a waiting list to become a member). BUT, they do have a summer camp that our children could join. She proceeded to describe all of the details of the camp. I asked if she had a sheet explaining all of the details, or perhaps a website. We were told no. It would be too confusing to have all that information out like that. It is better just to share information by word of mouth. We asked about signing up. She said she would gladly help us with that, but later.

Remember when I told you that it was almost 2? Well the entire country stops at 2 for lunch. Everything stops at 2, for at least 2 hours, often 3. Everything closes. Everything, except restaurants. So remember when I said that she was grumpy? Well, we were about to cut into her lunch hour.

So after thinking about it, we decided that this would be an awesome opportunity for the kids to have fun, while we took care of boring business, and have an opportunity to meet some local kids. So I returned after 5 when she returned to work, and she was much more friendly, and interested in helping me.

And wow, what fun!

Camp involves paddle boarding, kayaking, swimming in the sea and the pool, trips to the nearby water parks (one is an inflatable obstacle course in the sea, the other is inland full of water slides), beach soccer, etc.

Our kids were very resistant, but we insisted. They were a bit nervous.

The kids have now gone for 2 days. They have mixed feelings about camp. The activities are fun. They’ve each met some nice kids and made at least one friend. But some kids have not been so nice. Sadly, some have called Leo “Americano Tonto (Stupid American).” They both tell us that the kids swear a lot, both in English and in Spanish. Oliver says he only knows one swear word in Spanish, but they say it a lot. They have been quite curious about our boys and our boys laugh at some of the questions:

“Do you like Trump?”

What is your dip? (Oliver was having a snack of hummus and chips)

Meanwhile, Todd and I have been enjoying exploring on our own. We’ve researched buying some second-hand bikes.

We tried out a couple today, and bikes to the nearby town of Velez-Málaga, visited a market, found a mall and a movie theater, found the cemetery (I got a little creeped out, it felt too enclosed).

We also found the local library

And looked at lots and lots of apartments (from the outside).

We found one we LOVE, but have to wait until Friday to see if we can get it (there is one other family ahead of us, fingers crossed).

So much more to do tomorrow.