Mother’s day

Whilst looking on the internet for information about fiestas in Spain I stumbled on some great news. Or at least it was pleasant information for me. On the 1st May the Spanish celebrate Mother’s day! That’s the first weekend we are in Cádiz, I couldn’t believe my luck.

Mother’s day in its current form started in America in 1910. In that year they elected the second Sunday in May as the day to celebrate Mother’s day. A lot of countries copied the concept from America and also celebrate it on that day, but there are some exceptions. Spain is one of the exceptions, because they celebrate it on the first Sunday in May.

This year I can celebrate my first Spanish mother’s day, although there are no special festivities I do intend to enjoy it to the fullest! And one week later I can celebrate it once more, because in The Netherlands we celebrate Mother’s day on the second Sunday of May! So this year I can receive a double amount of love! I really don’t have to receive twice the amount of gifts, but having a lay in and getting breakfast in bed is something I wouldn’t say no to even if it is two weeks in a row! Although I do hope that in Spain we will be able to have breakfast sitting on a patio enjoying the early morning sun. I can’t think of a better way of enjoying Mother’s day!

Fiestas and Ferias

The holiday is getting closer by the day and we are really looking forward to it. As part of the fun we are preparing our trip by looking on the internet and checking what we can see and do in that week. We already noticed a nice trip in Tarifa where we can go on a boat to spot dolphins, but we also wanted to visit a fiesta or feria to see that side of the Spanish way of living. At first we thought we hit the jackpot when we realized that 2nd May they celebrate Labour Day in Spain, but unfortunately it only means that the shops are closed that day. Luckily for us, after some more snooping around on the internet, we found some other fiestas in surrounding villages.

One of them is in Vejer where they celebrate the Feria de Primavera from 27th April until 2nd May. There is a carnival and a livestock market. It doesn’t sound very exciting, but it is certainly something we will keep in mind. Just in case we might have nothing to do one day!

Another feria, which is probably worth visiting, is the one in Jerez. It is called Feria de Caballo and takes place from 2nd May until 9th may. It is known as a colourful festival with the well-known horses from Jerez and surroundings. This is definitely a feria we want to visit. We haven’t decided which day to go yet, but we do know we will not go on 3rd May because we will go to Conil that day. Conil will celebrate the cruces de Mayo that day. They decorate crosses and show them in procession or along the streets. People on the internet say that Conil is at its best on that day so, according to us, that is a definite must see. We don’t want to miss the opportunity to really get acquainted with the Spanish culture and everything that has to do with it.
One week is probably too short to get to know the Spanish people, culture and way of living in Cádiz, but we will definitely have a go at it. Let’s just hope we will have time to relax as well!!

Can we still choose?

Every once in a while there is someone who makes us face the reality about our decisions and the way we are preparing at the moment. At those moments we rethink our plans with regard to the bed and breakfast, language school or the fact that we want to move abroad.

This time it was my dad who asked me: “will you still be able to choose? You have already enrolled for a university, JW is going to Spain and your both doing a course.” It made me realise that, maybe, we can't choose any more. Of course we can still decide not to go at all, but if we want to move abroad Spain will definitely be the place to go. Even though we said we would use our holiday in May to experience if Spain offers a future for us, the decisions we made in the last few months have ensured that we either have to move to Spain or we won't move at all. I know there are also other countries in which they speak Spanish, but going to South America is not something we would choose to do. It is simply to far away!Luckily, we are both still very enthusiastic about moving to Spain, so the chance that we won't move is very small. How ever, we will keep in mind that we still have the opportunity to say “no” if we really want to. And if so, we will at least have had a great experience preparing for the move!