Friday, January 30, 2009

A is for...

...A is for Alcampo!

As promised, I'm beginning the "ABC's of living in Spain" where I will be writing about the things that either are so completely Spanish that I feel you all should know about them, or things that strike me as funny, etc. etc. The whole point of this series is to give you a little bit more of a glimpse into our life here in España. So without further ado...

Literally meaning, "to the field", Alcampo is the grocery store where we like to do most of our shopping. It's situated in the next town over in Colmenar Viejo, about a 6 minute drive away. This is definitely a modern grocery store, which sells everything from produce to washing machines. We like their store brand and often find it to be the cheapest around. Produce is also quite cheap which we particularly enjoy. One thing that you won't find in your average Canadian grocery stores are the aisles devoted to jamon legs (See below)


A couple of shots of the inside






So, there you have it! If you happen to visit us, chances are you'll probably be making a trip here! 

Friday, January 9, 2009

A year in reflection...

(post written by Becky)

Happy New Year friends! It was some shame that I realized our last blog entry went all the way back to November 23rd. I'm sorry! We have been bad bloggers and will endeavor to do better in 2009. Whenever I'm out and about there are things that will come up and I say to myself "Oh, I should blog about that when I get back home" and then it always leaves my mind. One of the things that keeps me going back to other people's blogs are the regularity in which they update and so I am inspired to be more consistent at letting you know what's going on in our lives. One of the idea that I had was to do a series entitled "The ABC's of living in Spain" in which I will write about things that you might not normally expect a
nd might enlighten you about what living here looks like. Be on the look out! 

It's crazy to think that 2009 is well underway. 2008 went by really quickly and will not be a year that I forget easily. Reflecting back on it, so many things happened that were great and not so great. I had the opportunity to lead a team to Quito, Ecuador for 10 days, learned 
what strength looks like through family members fighting cancer and kicking its butt, moved out of the first home that Charlie and I had as a married couple and had the privilege of watching dear friends and family members get married. 

[ I have tried to upload photos for a while and have been thwarted each time. They will have to wait]

And let us not forget moving to Spain in September! It was a year of challenges and joys and one that I will take away many valuably lessons learned.
We had a wonderful holiday in Leuven, Belgium with Charlie's cousins and just loved every minute of exploring this wonderful country while spending time with family. We had a blast hanging out with their 2 1/2 year old son and simply taking some time off. We came back to Spain refreshed and ready to face the new year. Until then, I think Charlie wants to post some pictures of our time in Belgium so I will leave you with his post.