Before arriving we rented an apartment for the first month, so we had a place to be while getting to know the town and figuring out where we want to be for the rest of the year.

Our first apartment is small but really lovely. We are getting used to live in 70 m2 (750 Square feet). Mostly it works fine. The boys share a room and are so tired at the end of the day that they fall asleep without issues.

Our kitchen is tiny. It is what my mom calls a 1 butt kitchen. At first we really didn’t like having the kitchen separate from the living space as most kitchens around here seem to be. But now I understand the advantage of having the kitchen separate. It is hot here, and cooking heats the house up. So, we close up the kitchen and keep all of the heat in one room, instead of heating up the entire apartment.

Living in such tight quarters necessitates keeping things tidy. Amazingly, the boys are really into doing chores and earn some euros! Spain has brought us new chores and then some we just have to do differently. First, is the laundry. Washing machines here are small and we don’t have a dryer (it is very rare for someone to have one). To keep up, we have to do a load every day and it has to be hung up outside to dry. Oliver’s first attempt at starting a load of laundry resulted in a sudsy mess due to miscommunication. I asked him to fill the cup 3/4 full. I meant the cap of the laundry detergent. He interpreted it as the detergent compartment in the machine, which drains directly into the machine. So about 1/3 of the bottle of detergent later, he started to realize something wasn’t right. Then we were stuck with much too much soap in the machine and we weren’t sure what to do about it.

As I said, it is hot here, and humid. Thankfully our apartment has some fantastic windows to open up in the evenings and mornings and air conditioning for the rest of the day. Our air conditioner fills a jug with water that needs to be emptied 2-3 times day (Something we learned after a friendly knock on the door from our downstairs neighbor who informed us that our unit was dripping on her porch).

And with all of the sand that gets tracked in from the beach (on feet, bodies and in bathing suits), there is always sweeping to be done. The first time we returned from the beach and the kids removed their suits, we discovered that they each brought about a cup of “sand” with them (which is more like little pebbles). We have now learned to use the great showers on the beach before we come home.

Our complex has a great pool. We haven’t used it too much, since we prefer swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, but today both Leo and I had a couple of scratches that stung in the salt water, so the pool was a nice alternative. The funny thing about the pool is that it is closed every day after lunch for siesta (from 3-5). That seems like a great time to swim to us, but what do us Americans know?

Our apartment is on the 10th floor. Occasionally we we walk up or down all of those stairs, but usually we take the small elevator. This provides many intimate opportunities to visit with the other residents. There are 3 other units on our floor, but we’ve only seen a neighbor once (maybe that is a good thing with two not so quiet children).

The best two things about our apartment are the view and the proximity of the beach. ❤️

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We did find a new home, which I will describe later, that is bigger (with space for visitors🙂), but will not be ready until November 1. So we will stay here until then (except for a 2 week period at the end of September when it was already rented, so we move to a slightly larger apartment 2 blocks away). While in our tiny but beautiful space we will have 2 sets of visitors. First my dad and then two weeks later my mom. We are going to get creative with the space to make room for everyone!

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.

Has a week already passed? Has it only been a week?

So much has happened. Where do we start?

Since we hadn’t actually spent much time in Torre Del Mar before starting our adventure, we decided to rent an apartment for one month, to give us time to get to know the town and the neighborhoods, before settling on a long term home.

Torre Del Mar is a popular summer vacation spot for Spaniards and other Europeans, so it is currently high season. Rents for August are quite expensive, so we chose a small apartment. Despite being small, this apartment is in an amazing spot. The apartment is on the first street off of the beach.

We have an amazing view from the 10th floor.