This is La Sagrada Familia.  I am lucky enough to walk by it often.  It's stunning and I'm completely mesmerized when the bells chime.

Still Waiting for Internet Here..

Gosh darnit dskjg;'kdshpoqeg.  Any day now..  sigh.

First Night in Our Aparment

We've had an exhausting couple of days.  Between the jetlag, heat and moving on the other side of the world with a baby, I was ready to hibernate the rest of the summer.  The first night in town we stayed at AC Hotel on a great deal.  It was a perfect clean stylish little place to grumpily crash out at with a huge pristine white pressed bed -- which delivered the best nap of my life.

Today was very eventful.  Here's the recap:

• This morning we moved into our apartment.  The rental ad said the unit was "5th floor with no lift" but in reality they should have called it what it was and that is the 7th floor.  Apparently the 1st floor really doesn't start until the 3rd floor.  You get the picture here.. (update: we actually moved outta this place after 2 days.. roaches.. ew!  Our new place has an elevator!)
• Federal Cafe- found this adorable cafe in the hood.  Had a delicious cage free egg bake with spinach and mushrooms. 
• Gym - the whole family joined a local gym and went swimming.

I've also noticed some interesting details about doing business here.  At this point it's not clear if this is a Barcelona or a Spain thing.

• Bank Draft - Seems to be the standard form of payment for rent, gyms and about everything that has a recurring bill.  Not a debit or credit card. It seems businesses want a direct wire bank draft.  Convenient for everyone except the sender.
• Capitalization fees - If you decide to join a gym, send a kid to school, start up some yoga classes or even purchase insurance there is a capital contribution fee for anyone doing business with a company for the first time.  These fees are a one time fee and in addition to regular monthly or other revolving fees.  For the gym it was about 50 euro, for preschool it varies from 200-300 euro and for private schools I've seen anywhere from 1500-3000 euros.  Insurance I was quoted was about 50 euro

The other detail our whole family noticed is the chocolate and Nesquick obsession.  It's EVERYWHERE!  Even Hello Kitty Nesquick cereal and crunchy chocolate doodles (think cheetos!).

Thoughts on Revolutionary Road

They should have went to Paris.

Things I'll Miss and Won't Miss in San Francisco

As much as I need a break from San Francisco, there are things and places that I will miss. SoMa of course is at the top of my list.  Not all of South of Market area-- but most of it.  Here are some of the other things I'll miss about San Francisco.

• Large amount of Vegetarian, Vegan and Organic options in restaurants and stores
• LoveFest/LoveParade or whatever they change it to again this year
• Triptych 
• Golden Gate Park
• Blue Bottle and Peets - wah!
• Being surrounded by internet and technology folks (my peeps!)
• Sipping Hot Cocoa during the holidays by the tree in Union Square
• Rainbow Market and Whole Foods, even though you're pricey I'll miss you too!
• Yerba Buena Gardens
• SoMa, Castro, North Beach and Mission Bay -  I'll miss you...

Here are some of things I won't miss:

• Fresh fertilizer in the potted plants on our street
• abundance of crack in certain areas of SoMa - both kinds!
• that snobby SF persona that is unwelcoming to tourists yet feels this is the best place on earth
• 6th Street and the TL - Farewell!

Is this home?

This may be our future temporary nest!  Cross your fingers for us.

Planning for Barcelona!

Our destination will be Barcelona! The other schools applied (and accepted- ahem!) were located in Madrid, Grenoble and Malmo.  Even though the schools all had interesting programs - they just didn't sound as enjoyable and diverse as Barcelona.

Since so much time has passed I went back to my original checklist to see how I'm doing.

1.  Packing up and minimizing all the crap you accumulate over the years is actually quite difficult. Although I did get a fair amount of things tossed away, donated and and/or sold there's still much to do.  My main problem is paper!  There's a lot of sorting, shredding and filing in my future.

2.  Visa's - Holy crap!  I had no idea how tedious each step can be. Our appointment at the embassy is early June however there are a couple more things we are waiting on. Emma's passport is now officially 3 weeks late and the agency hustled me for an additional expedite fee, which doesn't actually guarantee it will be expedited.  For whatever reason, when ever I call for an update they keep asking if we are going to China!? 

Another item is the FBI clearance letter with apostille.  Of course the letter and the apostille can't be done at the same time or place.  The clearance letter is returned to you by mail and then you mail off the apostille request to another agency.  The whole time you are waiting and everyone is taking much longer then they said they would.  I'm just hoping we get these items back before our appointment.

3. Learning Spanish --it's going well.  I have another class today!