Keep it Real, CR

This post was supposed to go up yesterday, but for some reason the auto-post didn't work. Here you go: 

Today we left Ciudad Real. We took a train to Madrid with all our suitcases, and after two days in the big city, we head out on a month-long adventure through Italy and Germany. From Berlin we'll fly to Boston for a couple weeks, and then we'll be back in California by the end of July. I know, it seems nuts to me too. 

I think we'll miss a lot of things about living in Spain, but we're pretty excited to be getting home to see family and friends. Also, most of our friends from Ciudad Real have already left for their own travels, and every day here the temperatures have been above 90º Fahrenheit (and will keep climbing until they get to around 110º in August). So basically, it is time to get out of La Mancha.  

As we do so, here's a list of a few things I'm going to miss about Ciudad Real and Spain: 

Las abuelas - Dear little old ladies of Spain, please never change. Keep wearing your fur coats when it's 70 degrees out, yelling at each other for not eating ice cream, cutting in front of me in the grocery line, and befriending me at the bus stop.

Miami Gastro - Our favorite restaurant in CR, I'll miss our waiter friends and how they know my order even before I do. We'll miss their delicious patatas bravas, gourmet mini-burgers, pimientos de Padrón, and much more. Oh, and really good wine by the glass for €1.50. 

RENFE - Convenient and reliable high-speed rail. When will the U.S. catch up?  

Healthcare - Visits to the doctor with no co-pay. Thanks for that one, Spain! 

Cañas - I didn't think I'd get used to it, but I like how they serve beers in tiny glasses here. I don't know why I like it, I just do. 

Students - I'll miss my students. The little ones who ask me hilarious questions about England because they forget I'm American, draw me pictures, beg me to play "Go Fish", and give me detailed accounts of their weekends of football and videogame playing in the best Spanglish ever. I left my English kids' books with them (thanks Mama Dorn for the books!), so hopefully they'll keep reading.  Miguel Angel and Jesus, Alberto and Isabel, Alfonso Jr., Celia and Alonso, and Jose Maria, I hope I run into you someday and we speak English together! 

And with that, I leave you with photos of some of the things and places that have become so familiar to us. Hope you enjoy them, and hope you can catch some of our updates from the road! 

La Dolores is an awesome cafe; we went for cañas on our last day with my boss, Raquel: 

Here's Will and one of his students, Oscar. Will and I got to hold Oscar's 6-week old baby boy, Antonio!