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Today is our wedding day! …or not.
If an American were to look at the special Basque wedding beret we were given on our wedding day, she may very well conclude that we were married today, July 10, 2013. You see, my wife’s family knew...
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Bar Culture in Spain
After living in Spain for so long, I have internalized so much of the culture, that I forget what is quirky about it and what seems weird to outsiders. One aspect of Spanish culture that visitors often...
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Dusk Ducks
I’ve just come back from summer vacation in Extremadura. Due to the sheer heat of the summer, much of our activity there is restricted to the evening and night time. Most days we would go for a walk to...
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Spanish Lesson for New Parents
When you learn a second language, apart from the grammar rules, you obtain a very thinly spread vocabulary of a variety of subjects. But when you’re living in a country that speaks that foreign...
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Conversations with a bilingual preschooler: Overtranslation
The other day I was out walking with my bilingual four-year-old daughter, and we passed a pair of elderly women. One of them was carrying a plastic bag full of plastic bottle caps to recycle, probably...
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Colindres in October
The following is a document written by my father, Paul Rasmussen, about his trip to visit us in Spain in October 2013. October is my favorite month for visiting my son and his family in northern Spain....
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Halloween School Pumpkin Carving 2013
Once again this year, I volunteered to go into Nora’s class and carve a pumpkin. Her teacher managed to acquire a 30 kg (66 lb) pumpkin from a fruit vendor in her hometown, and I agreed to come into...
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Pumpkin Carving Party 2013
As in previous years, I was given two little pumpkins by daily grocer, and we invited a kid or two over to participate in the annual ritual. The first year, we invited our neighbor, Oscar. He seemed...
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Golf in Pedreña – Home of Seve Ballesteros
My token answer for the often asked question is that, what I miss most about the United States, apart from my family, is the relatively easy access to golf. In Spain, I’m lucky if I get to play once or...
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International Travel With Kids
We just got back from our first transatlantic pond hop as a fully formed family of four. The offspring were very well behaved, considering the adventure we went through. I’ll be using this post to vent...
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Sunday Waves in Santander
Despite the four of us being at various stages of battle against a winter cold virus, we decided to go, last Sunday, to Santander to see the penguins. Nora has expressed some interest in penguins, and...
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Carnival 2014 – Cops and Robbers and Bees
After my impressive performance her first year, for the last two years of Nora’s daycare, I was ordained the official daycare photographer for the Carnival parade, where all the kids and parents (from...
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The Guggenheim in Bilbao
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that it’s only as we’re rounding out our ninth year living in eastern Cantabria that we have actually entered Frank Gehry’s incredibly unique building that tops all...
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Visiting El Greco – Toledo 2014
For many years now, my wife has expressed interest in visiting the Spanish city of Toledo. Although she’s not much of an art aficionado, if you ever ask her who her favorite painter is, she’ll reliably...
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Dougall’s – Local Cantabrian Beer
I discovered this brewery two years ago, and I’ve been keeping an eye out for it, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I noticed it in the local Lupa supermarket chain. Some googling tells me that the...
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The sun sets late in Spain
If you’ve ever been to Spain in the summer, you’ll know that the sun sets very late, which suits Spaniards, who like to have dinner as late as 10 or 11 at night, very well. It’s not just because of the...
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Bull Run Baby
Last Sunday we watched the annual Chupinazo event, a nationally televised event in Spain, which is very special to us. It’s the start of the San Fermín festival in Pamplona. We tried to instill some...
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Comillas – Día del Indiano
On our final weekend before our children come home from summer vacation with their grandparents, my wife and I decided we should take full advantage of our kidlessness and do some traveling tourism...
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Condado de la Mota – Mogro
On Sunday morning, our last weekend day before our children return from summer vacation, my wife and I realized we had total freedom to do whatever we wished. As we were contemplating our options, my...
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Ampuero 2014
This past weekend we went to the annual festival in Ampuero. The best way to describe it is that it’s a mini-San-Fermín, the enormous annual festival in Pamplona known worldwide for its encierro...
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