Corrida de Toros (The Bullfight!)

Last Sunday, Levi and I had a uniquely Spanish adventure:

We'd been trying to find a local bullfight event for Levi's birthday and we found one about an hour and half back up the coast from here. It was in a seaside town/city (300,000) called Fuengirola. So, we rented a car and headed up there, hoping to find tickets. They wouldn't let us order or purchase before hand, you had to be at the bullring, so we headed out in hopes for the best. 

It was a pretty incredible experience! We made it up to the town and hunted around for awhile to find the bullring. It is in an older section of downtown and not a lot of signs to get us there, so it was good practice using our Spanish and trying to narrow down where it was. 

Once we'd found it, thankfully, there was no trouble getting tickets. The ticket booth was open, although of course, the cheapest tickets (30Euro) were already 'sold out', so we only had to pay another 5 Euros each for ours. You can buy either 'Sol' (Sun) or 'Sombrero' (Shade) tickets and the price doubles to sit on the side not facing the sun, but we figured the sun would set halfway through the event and we'd have at least some shade. 

We had a great authentic meal at a bar/restaurant next to the bullring, completely lined with posters and framed photos of bullfighters over the years. It was really a cool spot, hanging out on the terrace with the locals and tourists eating and drinking, waiting for the event. A few locals were hanging out at the bar, sipping their beers and trading lies. 

It was a leisurely meal and we wandered to our 'seats' (our spot on the concrete steps) and waited for the start. 

The whole affair uses a lot of tradition and there is a full brass band playing along with the event and the different phases of the event. Without going through the gory details, and culminating with the killing of the bull, it as at the very least a pretty amazing peek into the Spanish culture and history. 

Of course, none of the bulls left the arena alive, and we were both a little shocked at the bluntness of it all. We were a little quieter on the ride home and glad we were NOT bulls in Spain. 

Certainly not a day either of us will ever forget!

~Hems

Maltese thought & history summary

We are in Malta now and it has been amazing seeing some history of the Knights of Malta, you know the guys in all the knight garb you see in all the movies. Think of the Three Musketeers. These guys were from all over Europe and typically were from privileged or royal families, and usually not first born sons. They were not in line for the throne in their home countries, so they spent time conquering, building, and basically pillaging. The entire Mediterranean region was being slowly taken over by the Moors from Africa, and I think the idea of the Knights was to protect people from Europe wanting to make pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The order was originally the Knights of St. John. Their first "capital" was the island of Rhodes in Greece, which we were able to see while we were there a few months ago. The were overrun there and for several years were looking for a place to call home in the Med. We also saw a lot of construction in smaller islands in Kos and Turkey, all from the same era.

Then the king of Sicily believed in the cause and offered the Knights the island of Malta for the price of a Maltese falcon (basically a 'token' price as the birds were everywhere, like we "sell" something we want to give to someone for $1.00) The knights agreed and at least they had a home, although they thought it was not a great gift, as the island was pretty much abandoned, some villagers and not much produce or natural beauty. So, they set up shop here and began building on the best harbor of the island, what is now Grand Harbor. They were attacked by the Moors and Turks in an epic battle in 1575. The Turks came with 30,000 troops and the Knights and locals were only 5,000. The war lasted for 2 long years and the Knights were victorious. After having fought for the island, they felt more attached and protective of it, and began to fortify and develop it in earnest. That is when the major project of development took place in Valetta, now the capital and a stunning peninsula city VERY well protected with walls and lookouts and forts all over it.

In their spare time, the Knights were terrorizing the seas around from the fledgling faith of Islam, thinking that raiding and pillaging their ships was 'stealing from the devil.'

All in all, it's a very fascinating piece of history that we are very glad we made the effort to sail down and see. As with a lot of other sites we've seen, it is way more interesting to see it than to have read it in books. Our only hope is that our boat-schooled teenagers see it that way as well!

~ Hems

Travel-schooling ~ Sailing lessons

The Hemingway's on Mehari

 After getting on to the sailboat, our family quickly realized that if we all did not learn sailing and the basics ...we would be in a heap of trouble. We also realized that the burden of this adventure could NOT solely lie on Erik.  Which meant school must now take a dramatic change.  Erik and I were excited about this, however I am not sure the kids were at first. 


Erik has always been one of those people that LOVED learning.  I can remember being newly married and going to the library.  His stack of books were always "How-to's" and topics which fascinated him. This has also been our goal for Homeschooling.  There is no way we as parents can possibly teach everything a
child wants or needs to know, but if you teach a love for learning or skills so that they can teach themselves, then that is success!  So we were in a perfect situation to teach our kids this very lesson.



First, all kids were given basic sailing books.  Boat terms and vocabulary. Emergency procedures,  and equipment.  We all needed to know the proper names of things in order to be on the same page. Levi was also given a diesel motor maintenance book, because guess who was now going to learn to up-keep the

Travel-schooling ~ Life Lessons

After the last 2 posts about Homeschooling,  Erik and I have started calling our school...."travel-schooling".  We figured, "Why not?"  There are thousands of books on home-schooling,  car-schooling,  why not "travel-schooling"? Our kids have learned so much more while traveling than only their academics.  They are learning life lessons that can not be taught in a book or at school.  Two of which I was reminded of while we were on our trip recently to Jordan.

Best Buds :)

The first one is about family friendships.  While we have been traveling our kids have learned to be close friends with each other.  Although we tried to be a close family before we left the US, traveling has encouraged closer relationships among our children. If they don't get along....they don't have a friend.  Our family "motto" has always been:  Friends come and go, but family is forever. (Thanks Rosie:)  Lily(6) and Zoe(4) are very close and are now joined at the hip. Zoe informed me the other day that she never wanted to get married,  because then she would be lonely without Lily.  Even doing school with Lily,  Zoe sits patiently by her side until she is done.  I have even found them many times holding hands while they are sleeping! Too precious!  Maggie(16) and Levi(15) are similar.  They are both well into the teen years and have a developed a close friendship.  As they experience "teen issues", they are able to talk to each other about it from the opposite perspective...boy/girl.  I can only imagine how having a "boy perspective" in my teen-age years could have helped me.  Some people have told us.....traveling will either test any relationship, strengthen or weaken it.  This is true!  It has done both in our family at different times.

Mags & Levi waiting at a 
museum for us to be done :)

The next thing I was reminded of is how we have learned to WAIT.  Yes, wait.  I am not sure in America I ever truly knew how to wait....or my kids for that matter.  While you travel you must learn to wait.  You are waiting for visas, in lines, crossing boarders, while driving, on trains, on buses, for buses, help in a store, for the wind, for the right weather, for your anchor to hold....and the list goes on.  I must say when we first started this adventure we were all very impatient and did not know how to wait. But eventually learned and are still learning, (by the grace of God) to wait and wait patiently.  

I could go on more but you will just have to "wait" for the next blog......Rachel :)

Homeschooling abroad part II "no books"

OK,  so I addressed the issues I have faced home schooling abroad concerning books in my last blog, but what about schooling with no books?  Can it be done and what options are there?

Recently Maggie enrolled in an online school for some extra classes while we were hanging out in Israel.  This seemed to work out great.  She only needed the computer and time!  She took a Spanish course and a Baking 101 class. She loved it!  There was every class available to choose from.  Anything from Math to Art courses. She was able to log on any time of the day and work at her own pace.  This was also nice for me because it gave her someone else to be accountable to.  She would do her lesson on the computer and then test at the end of a unit.  She would then wait for the teacher to correct and grade her then email/post her results.  This particular school would send a certificate at the end of the class.  This might be helpful for college if you needed the records. There are many online schools now and  this can be done anywhere. This might be a good option for older kids if you have consistent internet.  It would definately be one I would choose. 

I need to remember that this incredible journey we are on has been school in itself, without books. When we moved to Costa Rica they had automatic "Spanish Immersion". Actually every country we have been in has been a language immersion in itself. We are learning basic vocabulary in every country, and learning to recognize different alphabets.  So far we have had introductions to Spanish, Greek, Turkish, Russian, Hebrew, and "British English". Levi is getting good at remembering and figuring out familiar words that he hears a lot. Maggie seems to have a knack for figuring out alphabets.  She was reading most words in Turkey and Greece before we left.  Ever tried shopping in Greek? You can double your time in the store trying to figure out what is what!


Speaking of shopping,  this brings up money and exchange rates.  Our children have now been exposed, taught and educated in Greek, Turkish, and Irsaeli money.  Which by the way is...the Euro, Turkish Lira and the Shekel. They have had to learn the exchange rates in every country. Non-stop math going on in your head at all times. Some days after shopping my head hurts! The other day Lily (6) saw a U.S. quarter and said "What kind-of money is this?"


We are learning geography and cultures up close.  Not only identifying and becoming familiar with these countries on a map but experiencing them. They have rode a camels in the Turkish desert, eaten a Turkish Kofte and a Doner Kebap, and bought spices in the Turkish Bazaar.  Not to mention swam in the Sea of Galilee, eaten an Israeli Felafel, and touched the Western Wall, in the Old City, during Sukkoth.


This is just a touch of what they are learning just by traveling. In all these things, I know it is giving them independence and confidence just to try new things and problem solve.  They are experiencing things that so many kids will never get a chance too...I am grateful for this opportunity and this is part of the reason we took  on this adventure to begin with.


So there you have travel-schooling at it's finest!


~Rachel

Homeschooling Abroad! "books"

Hello, this is Rachel and I'm going to try and answer some questions we've had about the challenge of schooling on the go. It will hopefully be an ongoing addition to the blog. I want to start it off by saying, "YOU CAN DO IT!"

Maggie planning our route

Almost everywhere we travel, the most common questions I am asked is...."How do the kids do school?"  It is funny to think back at how many times I have been asked this question.  And even funnier to think back to the different responses I have given.  I even remember shopping in Costa Rica and being heavily questioned while trying to defend myself and my childrens' education to a man that stocked shelves in a grocery store. I was answering questions about testing,  my education, accountability, socialization, college, and PE. Yes, I still shopped there after that incident...hahaha

First of all, it helps that I have been homeschooling since the beginning of our kids schooling.  Maggie is now in the 11th grade and has never been to a public school.  I have been doing this long enough to know and understand all the "myths" that come along with homeschooling in general.  Two of the most common being.....What about their socialization? And (my favorite) What makes you qualified to teach YOUR children?