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Just because I thought it is funny. To get to ones house very often one has to take a challenge; hence the driveway…. It is truly inconceivable how steep, narrow, unpaved, scary and challenging a driveway can be. And then I am speaking in good weather conditions. I do not even want to think about it when it rains, luckily that does not happen very often.  So here some driveway pictures for you. I have to admit that the photo does not give you the same perspective as it would b in reality, but still a hint of what it is like.

 

The good thing is…. our driveway is nothing like these. We have the best level drive way I have seen. Good for us.

 

One of the main reasons for us to move to Spain is to learn the language. When I was studying in Britain and working along the side of my studies, I worked at a very large hotel chain where countless young managers came and went. I loved to talk to them and hear their stories of different countries where they had been whilst working for the same hotel chain. That was when I decided I wanted to work in a French and Spanish speaking country, at least 6 months in a row, to master the language. As it turned out, I never did. I met the love of my life and had to come back to The Netherlands if I wanted our friendship to grow into something more. A wise choice but that nagging feeling of so badly wanting to speak both French and Spanish very well never left me.

Besides that, over the years of regularity and reaching the age which is characterized with contemplating your life so far, we asked ourselves the question; “Is this it?”, and “Is this what we really want” Answers to these (and a lot of other) questions led us to look into leaving the treaded paths we knew and heading for adventure.

A lot of you will know that we have looked at moving to Chili, and then the New Zealand option passed and we very briefly brushed on France. On vacation to the Czech Republic for the so many-eth time, Remco started looking at real estate and fell head over heels in love with a 1936 milk factory in Moravia. Long story short, in the process of sorting things out in order to buy the place (more on that in a future post) and the best time to leave The Netherlands, we realised we had some time to fill between one and two. Right when that realisation dawned on us we happened to visit my parents who just moved into their new rental in Spain.

It should not take much to convince you that being in Spain mid winter, meaning you can sit outside in the sun in shorts and t-shirts having your morning coffee, is a very good and pleasant thing. That is when I realised this is it; That time gap that needs to be filled, should be filled whilst being in Spain. This way I could have a chance to learn Spanish well and we also give the kids a go at acquiring another language. So now it was my turn to start looking at real estate but in Spain.

It did not take me long to find this very pleasant, spacious and affordable house. Situated in an area we had never been…… A place in the municipality of Comares (province of Malaga), near a hamlet called Los Ventorros but really in ‘el campo’ (the countryside) as they say here when I try to explain where we live. We do not even know our official address but not to worry, the postman does not come our way anyway.

I wanted to go and see the house for real before committing to a rental contract, so my Love and I booked ourselves an early anniversary trip. That is when I fell in love again. This time with an area, with the landscape, with the beautiful views, with the thought of being able to live there for a while.

So the rental contract was settled in no time. Now I have a love in Spain and my Love has a love in The Czech Republic. We thoroughly enjoy our time in Spain but also look forward to the process of making something awesome out of the 1936 factory in Moravia.  We will have to see if we can get the best of both worlds, but for now we have enough adventure planned for the next couple of years.

Want to know what the house looks like, what I find in the pool and hear about the best invention ever that is probably as old as my grandmother?…..head over to the post about our house somewhere in el campo. 

If you got curious about the 1936 factory in Moravia, take a look at www.moravianrhapsody.eu. And if you feel like a work vacation next summer, let us know. 

 

 

Wow, the first week has flown by. The number of unpacked boxes has dwindled but they have not all gone. The first load of laundry is due (still have to figure out the workings of the washing machine, that’s why I have put it off), met Eduard, Filippe and Sander and tore my biking shoe off the sole while trying to climb that steep bit of the road. After a couple of days we realised we are actually hosting a little panda bear and have access to our very own “vineyard”.

Yes Spain here we are!!! Esa familia holandesa con cuatro hijos!!! Apparently our reputation, which I did not know we had, has preceded us. Well I guess we gave them more to talk about. We are now that biking family with strong kids. And yes strong kids indeed!

Being as Dutch as we can be, we decided that we should bring our bikes. Well not our “stadsfietsen” Those would not get us very far here, no we traded our regular city bikes for the mountain/racing varieties. Meaning, we bought the kids new/secondhand ones in The Netherlands, Remco got himself a good mountainbike for his birthday and I myself decided that the 25 plus year old racing bike (that really is a retro by now) that has been in the Dijkstra family forever, would do.

So we take the kids on an almost daily 5 km uphill biking trip that starts at 378 m height and ends at 646 m. That is a 268 meter difference between beginning and end, spread over 5 km. Translated into what that means in reality; hard, very hard work. On the first trip I thought my bike was stalling. But nothing wrong with the bike or the gears, it was the mountain that was stalling. in retrospect, that makes me laugh, even that I thought it was the bike but it also shows that I never experienced anything like this. And on the third trip I ripped my shoe of the sole that is pegged to the peddle. I guess I was pulling to hard to get up the mountain and of course, my shoes being almost as old as the bike, gave way. Wow, and the kids just do it. Well “just” is not the right word. This is character building. I am astonished at the will power and determination of all four of them. They do it and even set goals for themselves as in less breaks and trying to be faster every time we go.

 

You might raise your eyebrows as to the why of this biking. Well getting from A to B is the point and in this case from home to school. Yes, there is a school bus but it does not stop at our place, we would still have to bike 2,5 km to get to the nearest bus stop. The last 2,5 km are the easier ones so we might as well go the whole way. So we will. Hence “Esa familia ciclista holandesa con cuatro hijos fuertes!”

Eduard, Filippe and Sander are actually Eduard, Filippe and Sander Salamander. Three little cute lizards that the kids found in the pool. I guess lizards cannot swim so the kids felt compelled to rescue the little critters. They told me it was a mama, papa and a baby. Unfortunately they did not make it. But the Eduard, Filippe and Sander tribe is quite big. I start to see family members in various places outside. I hope it stays that way and that I will not find them inside the house. The little panda bear however we do find in the house. It is our youngest, our coffee bean or brown bean as we call her at times. She has been in the pool wearing her googles all the time which resulted in light circles around the eyes and a tanned skin in the rest of her face. She is a fast tanner, so that happens. Very cute!

So this first week also included our first trip to the stores to get stocked up. Now since we choose to live a bit more remote, going to a shop is not like back in Eindhoven, hopping on a bike and ride for 5 min to get that one forgotten item. No, here I have to plan seriously for a week ahead, plus extra unexpected emergency meals, plus water. And after that has been done I have to drive for 45 min to the nearest big store (note distance is only 30 km but it being all windy roads with sharp turns, the average speed is very low). I still find driving the big van a bit difficult. It is that I cannot easily measure the width and length and after a minor run in with another car in Eindhoven I lost a bit of confidence. Add up to that the steep, winding, narrow roads, I will not take much to convince you of my added stress to have to go. So far so good, I was driving with my family to support me.

The shop is also nothing like what I am used to. It is so big, even the XL versions of the Dutch supermarkets would be labeled S next to these. Added stress, but this time choice stress. Too many options.

But like with every thing that choice stress also has a downside (or actually upside in this case). Too many options also means a wide range to choose from. So that gave me the opportunity to find something nice and original to use as water pitcher. I also discovered there is a big international aisle, and yes I could get some “appelmoes” and there is peanut butter but I did get the latter at the price of €4,58 a jar, and no they did not carry “rookworst” in their assortment, but hey, we are in Spain now so…..

Since Andalusia is is very sunny,  we have to eat a lot of sun ripened fruit and veggies. Mjummmm. Tomatoes, oranges, bananas. They all taste very different as in a lot better. I also wanted to get some cucumber cause that is something that goes down well in our house, yes available, the price was shocking though. After reading the sign I understood why; “Pepino holandés” 1,99 each. So that would pay for the travel expenses of the cucumber. Well, not out of my pocket, we will substitute that for pimiento rojo (rode paprika) which is a fraction of the cucumber price.

The best fruit so far, totally free of charge, comes from our own yard. We discovered the biggest, juiciest, sweetest grapes you can imagine. We asked one of the kids to go pick a bunch and this is what we got… Lovely.

Now apart from all these everyday life things I have not even touched on the school and work thing. But I will keep that for one the next posts. Please come back to read more about the Daring Dijkstras.