When Nick and family moved back to the U.S. in July of 2020 after living in Japan for seven years, we were beyond ecstatic. We looked so forward to being real-life grandparents to our 2- and 4-year old grandchildren. Yes, we visited Japan four times but to actually be able to develop a real relationship with our grandchildren on a regular basis was a dream. Fast forward to April when we had to say goodbye to them once again. It tore my heart out. We had been seeing them every week and having family dinners on Sundays with Lauren, Nick and family over at our house. The grandkids would often spend the night at our house from Friday until Sunday, we were their second home. It became our new lifestyle and we had endless activities from playing at our house with their own little play area, their own toys that stayed at our house, their own little craft table with activity books and they always had fun in my kitchen or reading with me from one of our baskets of children's books, some of the same books I read to Nick and Lauren. Hana and I shared a mutual interest and bond playing our ukuleles together and we spent many spring and summer days at our local Alki beach. When they left, it left a huge void. I can't say I had really gotten over it even after two months. We FaceTime with them from Japan but I can already see how much they are growing.
"Hana, can you still speak English?"
"Yes, Grandma!!"
"Oh, good. I'm so relieved!"
Even after Nick left for Spain a few weeks after they did, it was again suddenly so empty around here. There was so much going on with him getting ready to move and he brought lots of stuff over to our house and even lived here the last week after the movers came to his house. Moving internationally is not an easy task. He reassured me that he and Sachiyo were use to it. Really? It was exhausting to me to see all the stuff he had to do everyday. His friends came over to our house for dinner one last time before he left and even they were asking him how he keeps track of it all. He said his smart phone makes it a lot easier now than when he first began going to Japan for work. (He started going for 3-4 months at a time in 2010 before he got his permanent job there.) Since he moved to Spain, we've been texting and FaceTiming nearly everyday, as there are still things to be done. Eventually, he suggested we come visit him before the rest of the family arrives from Japan so we can see his new place, do sightseeing in Seville and other areas around here in Spain and just get oriented to this life before we start spending all our time with the grandkids. Not a bad idea. Before I knew it, he and Bruce had the whole trip planned. I was busy hosting my sister who came to town with her husband and son and then my brother and his wife came. So, for ten days I was busy hosting and entertaining and when they all left, Bruce showed me our agenda to Spain. I guess it was actually happening. My only input was to change it so we could have a couple days in Paris since we were flying in and out of Charles-de-Gaulle airport. I had three weeks to get ready to go to Europe for 17 days.
And now here we are. Nick does not need to take any time off work during our visit like during our trips to Japan. We felt helpless there trying to learn the culture, maneuver the trains, language...just everything! It's not like that here at all. Bruce got an international driver's license so Nick rides his bike to work (he's already lost seven pounds) and we have free access to drive anywhere we want to go. Nick does have every evening planned with a full agenda and an iCalendar to keep track of what we're doing everyday but it has been very relaxing, so far.
He worked from home the first workday we were here so he was able to answer any questions we had about his house.
We watched him work while we swam in his pool. We call his house his "Spanish villa". It is extremely comfortable here. The weather has been perfect, although they are forecasting a 3-digit heat wave coming up. His "villa" has four bedrooms and four bathrooms, including a bathroom for the pool area.
On our first evening here, we were so taken by his beautiful home and the pool looked so inviting.
We are actually looking forward to the heat wave! He had picked us up at the Seville airport when we first arrived and we immediately did a walking tour of Seville which is about a 1-1/2 hours drive from his house in El Puerto de Santa Maria. Nick has been on several tours in Seville so he was our personal tour guide; showing us the central landmarks of Seville and explaining all the history and Spanish culture. Below is the a huge plaza called Plaza de Espana. It is not an ancient structure but a pretty modern-time development built in 1929 when Seville hosted an Exposition World's Fair. It is a huge half-circle building surrounding the plaza where lots of community events are held.
There is a moat where you can rent row boats with four bridges over the moat. The moat represents the ancient kingdoms of Spain. Around the plaza are many tiled alcoves each representing a different province of Spain.
These were very educational for us because Nick explained a lot of Spanish history as we viewed many of the individual alcoves and what each region is known for historically, agriculturally, etc.
I don't think we will ever get tired of seeing all the beautiful tile on the architecture here in Spain.
While we were there we ran into some street flamenco dancers. They were not in full costume but the dancing was amazing. Since we had only been on Spanish soil for a few hours, we were pretty thrilled to see this. Seville is known for the flamenco dancing and for bull fighting, the latter in which we don't plan to see...
After the plaza, we walked past the Cathedral de Sevilla that is the third largest cathedral in the world and largest Gothic cathedral in the world.
We went to take a look inside and Nick told us more interesting facts including about Christopher Columbus being buried here.
Columbus wanted to be buried in the New World which he discovered and so he was buried in the Dominican Republic for awhile until political disputes kicked him out. Even though he was from Italy, he is buried in Spain because Spain was the only European country who would fund his explorations to the New World. He sailed in and out of Seville four times. He is also buried here because his son lived in Seville and is now buried next to him.
We continued our walking tour and saw the royal palace called the Royal Alcazar of Sevilla. This is where the royals of Spain stay when they visit the area. It is the oldest royal family residence in Europe that’s still in use. In ancient times, it was part of Seville's city wall.
I didn't mention that Seville is one of Spain's greenest cities with acres and acres of beautiful gardens.
I admit that the parks, gardens, and natural scenery are just as beautiful as its tiled architecture and we thoroughly enjoyed strolling around here.
By the time we headed home, it was dark so you know it was late because it doesn't get dark here until 10:00pm. Also, the Spanish eat dinner really late around 9:00pm since afternoon is siesta time. Many shops and restaurants close between 2pm - 5pm. I don't think people really take siestas but it's a Spanish tradition and everyone follows it. We are already getting use to it and the fact that it stays light longer in the evenings helps a lot.
As we were driving out of Seville, we saw another famous landmark; the Tower of Gold or Torre del Oro.
It's called that for the golden reflection of the sun off the Guadalquivir River. It was the starting and ending point for all shipping to the New World on the Guadalquivir River during ancient times when Seville was a bustling port city in the 12th century. Eventually, the river experienced lower water levels until it no longer is a port city. But the Guadalquivir River continues to be the only navigable river in the entire country.
We are slowly getting orientated and accustomed to this new home of Nick's and we are so glad we decided to make this trip. I am already out of my funk of missing everyone and I think it was good for me to get away from home. This is definitely the ultimate get-away, for sure. It has been a very relaxing vacation and we've enjoyed meeting Nick's friends, co-workers, super friendly locals, and just experiencing this new Spanish lifestyle. To be quite honest, we feel a similar vibe as Hawaii here because of the birds, the flowers, the temperature and laid back mentality. I guess you could say we feel very much at home here and that is definitely a good thing. Thank you, Nick, for inviting us and Cheers to Spain!
Comments
Post a Comment