Hola all my Spark Friends!

Well, it is the end of October and I have been here in Spain for just over 6 months. It has been a very busy 6 months with renovations, a vacation in Italy and lots of house guests.

Now that the cooler weather is starting, I feel like the activity is slowing down and I am thinking more inward. My husband is in California, on business, this week and I have had time to regroup and focus more on myself. Thus, I am ready to start tracking my food again. I have had a few pounds of weight gain, but not bad considering I haven't been tracking. I am really looking forward to getting back in touch with all of you and believe it or not, I am looking forward to tracking.

A quick update of how I am doing in Spain:

I read an article on moving to a new country and it helped me immensely. When we first got here the renovations on the pool and patio area made my life very fast paced. By September, things started to slow down and I felt somewhat sad. I was starting to feel very out of place. Suddenly all the differences really got to me. The language, culture, habits, people, driving, food etc. I realized that the Honeymoon stage was over and I spent many days being sad because I missed all the things that were familiar to me. This article that I read said that there were 4 stages. I learned from the article that I was somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd stage - wanting and missing things from back home and also embracing many new things in my new home.

I have been driving more and more and getting around which has made it easier for me to acclimatize myself to my new home. I only have an international driving certificate, so I will have to start the process soon to get my driving license in Spain. I should also enrol in some Spanish lessons. Up until now, I have been overwhelmed with all of the changes and didn't want to do anything other than to get use to my new surroundings. Most people say that my Spanish is good. But I talk like a 2 or 3 year old. I can get my points across and have very simple conversations, but my verb conjugation is terrible and my vocabulary is very limited. For now, I am OK with that.

Well, I plan on checking in often now and will keep you all up to date.

Hasta Luego!
xo