Futbol, Volleyball, and Flamenco

The kids are signed up for some extracurricular activities at a school that is just down the block from us. As you walk down the streets here you see lots of big wooden doors and wonder what lies behind them. Every now and then you get a glimpse. It can be any number of things; an apartment building, a church, a museum, a music academy, a school, a department store. You have no idea based on the look outside. This school looks just like any other door, but opens up into a huge stone courtyard with two levels (outdoor) surrounded by all the classrooms. Many of the private and semi private schools around here are convents or monastaries that have been converted to schools. As a matter of fact, the school we thought might have an opening for Cassy was called "Las Eslavas" as in "The Slaves". Our Spanish friend, Ivan, assured me that it is actually a very forward thinking school and not to worry, it was just called Las Eslavas because it used to be a convent called Slaves of the Lord.

Anyway, our first day of activities was yesterday. Luckily, all the kids have activities at the same school, on the same days, and between 4-6pm...I wish that could happen at home! We went yesterday and everyone was a little apprehensive. Cassy is signed up for volleyball (which is not her first love). Apparently girls do not play soccer in Spain, so for her age group there is not a girls soccer league. She was so nervous and when the girls showed up all together with their matching outfits to practice I could see her panic, but she was very brave and joined right in. The coach was really nice, although he did not speak English and the girls were very accepting and wanted to know all about Cassidy, especially if she was a Justin Beiber fan...to which she was very P.C. and just smiled and said, "Do you?"

Alex was really nervous because he does not speak much Spanish at all, but he started playing and pretty soon there was a group of boys gathered around him all saying "Alex! Alex!" and trying to speak to him in English (the two or three words that they know). They were so cute and kept saying, "Good job Alex!"

At home, I have resisted putting Addy in the shake your booty dance classes. We have kept with the 'pretend you are a raindrop and hop across the floor' type of dancing. Well, call it Flamenco and a Spanish cultural experience, and bring on the booty dancing. I have never seen anything like it, it was so cute. Next time I will be ready with video and camera in hand. I really don't know much about Flamenco and haven't seen any performances yet, so I didn't know what we were getting into. Addy loved it and she was the best booty shaker out there in her pink tutu skirt with her brown boots.

Connor is also signed up for futbol, but his coach couldn't be there, so they just played a scrimmage with their team. He played goalie and decided that he is good at goalie. Cassy asked if she could play and the boys were very impressed that a girl had such soccer moves. They kept giving her a thumbs up, "You good!" Connor was happy to have his sister playing too. They play on a stone courtyard, rather than a grass field and the kids do not wear shin guards. The boys had them on and the nuns kept walking by and pointing and giggling and exclaiming something exciting about the shin guards.

Everyone had a good experience and they are excited to make some new friends. Hopefully they will become a little more familiar with the language this way too. And best of all....mom gets a break!