
<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8723523184_5e9845a627_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Big Sister Hug">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8723523184_d08eb4f771_t.jpg" alt="Big Sister Hug"/>
</a>

The biggest event this month was Nora going off to camp for three days and two nights. Her preschool has been doing this for seventeen years, and the kids love it. Nora was pretty excited about packing her suitcase, with her stuffed animals and flashlight and bathing suit, and myriad other items on a list we were given. In the weeks leading up to the trip, she kept commenting on how she was really going to miss us, and especially Ian. She also never tired of saying that she was going to _pasarlo pipa_, a Spanish expression meaning to "have a great time".  On the morning of the trip, there was a brief moment of cold feet in which she was crying, hugging her mother tight and saying that she didn't want to go. It was pretty heartbreaking, but we convinced her to just take her suitcase down to the school and discuss her concerns with her teacher. She agreed, but then forgot all about them when the time came.

Normally they start school at 9:30, but our information pamphlet said the bus was leaving at 10:00, so we were still casually at home feeding the baby at 9:38 when another mother called us to tell us that Nora was the only one that hadn't showed up yet. Embarrassed (we are usually one of the most punctual families), we raced down to the school. When Nora saw all the other kids in line, she instinctively got in line with them and followed their teacher, like little ducklings, to the bus.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8903987032_3325769b5f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Off to camp!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8903987032_bfdf2d2514.jpg" alt="Off to camp!"/>
</a>

They got the suitcases and kids loaded onto the bus, but for some reason, the bus just sat there for ten minutes before actually leaving, with parents outside waving to their kids and the kids waving back. Unfortunately, this was just too much for Nora, and we watched a slow storm of tears form on her face. Her teacher picked her up and was consoling her just as the bus drove off. I felt pretty certain that she got over it as soon as her teacher started addressing the bus full of kids or leading them in song or something, but my wife was having maternal visions of her sobbing uncontrollably for hours on end. We knew that they only called parents to come pick up their kids (the camp is an hour away!) if the kid has a fever, and that that has only ever happened once. So the first day we spent fairly worried.

There had been some concern that Nora's best friend, Claudia, wouldn't be going to the camp because her baby sister was due to be born on the same day they left. It turns out that Claudia's mother has the same marksmanship [as Nora's mother](/2013/04/28/welcome-ian/), because she started going into labor just as the bus pulled away. Claudia's sister, Mara, was born that evening.

The first evening they were at the camp, the mobile chatroom of mothers from her class lit up with activity. "Why hasn't the teacher told us anything?" "I thought she was going to send us a message?!" "What could be wrong?" "My husband and I can't sleep until we hear something!" "I've been pacing around all day with nothing to clean or tidy up." "When is \[the teacher\] going to tell us something!?" It wasn't until just after eleven o'clock that we got the SMS from the teacher telling us that everyone was asleep and had had a wonderful day. The collective sigh of relief in the chatroom was deafening.

When the teacher sent us a direct message the following morning, inquiring about the protocol for changing Nora's insoles the podiatrist prescribed her, we took the opportunity to ask if Nora was happy. We got back a video from her. Apparently, while the other kids were off doing some workshop or another, Claudia and Nora preferred (and this surprised none of their parents) to be with their teacher making the beds. But it was clear that they were both happy in their own ways.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ddH3qKtIsqs?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The weather this week (and all year, really) has been _terrible_. Cold and rainy and yucky. The camp where they went, [Albergue Paradiso](http://www.albergue-paradiso.com/), is very much a place to be outdoors, with the farm and gardens and activities. Unfortunately the kids this year had to stay indoors the entire time.

We don't have a lot of details about what took place at the camp, but we are getting bits and pieces. There was a clown named Tito, and a magician who kept losing his balls and hat, which the children would find for him. They saw a beekeeper give a presentation and got to touch a honeycomb. One night they had a sock hop which involved dancing on a mat while the six year olds (the oldest group) waved their flashlights around, and she came home with a balloon animal flower. Nora did confess that, on the second night, she snuck into her teacher's bed and spent the night there.

She has three more weeks of school, only in the mornings, and then she's officially a preschool sophomore!

### Baby Ian

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8903979166_4d90604e3b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Baby Ian">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8903979166_82baf38a18_m.jpg" alt="Baby Ian"/>
</a>

The littlest member of the family is doing well. He aced his one month doctor's checkup and impressed his pediatrician with his strength and stamina of holding his head up and looking around while prone. I'm pretty sure his sister couldn't do that for six months.

After a rocky start, he and his mother have the breast feeding thing worked out, although he usually needs a top up with formula for dessert. He is already very noticeably bigger than he was a month ago, a fact we verified by taking him to see Baby Mara at the maternity ward yesterday. Ian and Mara gazed into each other's eyes quite enchantedly. When it was time for us to go, I decided we should change his diaper, which I did on Mara's mother's hospital bed, and we had our very first diaper-off fecal event, spewing a nice brown puddle onto the clean sheets. He must have been trying to impress Mara… Son, I don't have a lot of knowledge about how to impress girls to impart to you, but I think we can mark projectile defecation off the list.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8903926594_ff6ae56b47_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian and Mara">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8903926594_2f35489d7f.jpg" alt="Ian and Mara"/>
</a>

Ian, son, never leave a girl hanging on a fist bump.

If you ever want your ear talked off, just ask the parent of two or more children about any differences between their kids. When you have a second child, _the differences are all you can see_. Ian is a much softer crier than Nora was, but he is also very much more interested in being held all the time. He loves nothing more than sleeping on his mother or father's chest.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8903993836_ef44ea73db_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Boys' Nap">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8903993836_a58cedd6de_z.jpg" alt="Boys' Nap"/>
</a>

Next month we have several things planned. My parents are coming to meet Ian for the first time. We're going to baptize the little guy, a.k.a. have a big party, and then my friends Simon and Paola are coming to visit from Brussels. It should be fun!

The state of the offspring is strong!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8723523184_5e9845a627_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Big Sister Hug">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-may-2013/8723523184_d08eb4f771.jpg" alt="Big Sister Hug"/>
</a>


State of the Offspring Address - May 2013


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/7680189060_e6955594b1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="In Front of her School">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/7680189060_d96914d8ab_t.jpg" alt="In Front of her School"/>
</a>

It's really hard to believe, but my daughter is already finishing her first school year. Like in the States, school isn't mandatory until age six, but study after study shows nothing but advantages of a good preschool education. For a post she's preparing, my blogrollmate, the very popular Kaley, from [Y Mucho Más](http://ymuchomas.com/), asked me for an interview about my experiences in the Spanish education system. Her questions were excellent, and it felt sort of like an exit interview after this first year. 

### What sort of schools did you have to choose from?

In my small town of 7,000 people, there are four public schools at distances of 100, 500, 1000, and 1200 meters from our house. The second and fourth of those are pre-school only, funneling into the other two for _primaria_, what Americans call "elementary school". The second closest school attracts a lot of students by claiming to be bilingual. When I visited and spoke to their principal about possibly taking my daughter there last year (they're the only preschool that starts at 2 rather than 3 years old), he proudly announced that his students learn words like "yellow" and "big". Since my two year old was already speaking entire grammatically correct compound sentences in both English and Spanish, it wasn't much of a draw for us, but it might have been if they were promising a different language.

The other option would be to take her to a private Catholic school in a neighboring town, but my daughter hates riding in the car, and my wife and I live a lifestyle where we rarely use our car, so that was not very appealing.

### What were your criteria?

We didn't have many criteria beyond it being easy to take her to school, so the further schools weren't very attractive at all. Plus, the nearby school – It's literally across the street! – came highly recommended by everyone in our neighborhood. My local grocery store is run by a family of siblings that all went to that school and send their children there. When I went to speak to the administrator there, the word he kept using to describe his school was the Spanish _familiar_, meaning "like a family". The older kids know and care for the younger kids, and since everyone lives in the neighborhood, your kid already knows all the kids playing on the swings on Saturday, etc. It really was a no-brainer.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/8883210507_d69250b4bd_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="School Circus">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/8883210507_74ecaa4f79.jpg" alt="School Circus"/>
</a>

My daughter's school's decoration for a circus themed semester.

### What were their criteria? Was there some sort of points system?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/8883827626_1c6287fbdb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora The Gypsy will read your fortune">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/8883827626_45918c7bd9_m.jpg" alt="Nora The Gypsy will read your fortune"/>
</a>

 Yes, they did have a points system, but I never learned any of the numerical values. I just [knew](/2012/04/23/state-of-the-offspring-address-april-2012/) the order of importance:

- If your older sibling goes there, you're in for sure.
- The closer you live, the more likely you'll get in.
- The closer your parents work, the more likely you'll get in.
- If you're _empadronado_ (registered as a resident) in the town, you'll get in before someone who's not.
- I think the final tie breaker was to let in kids with lower household incomes before those with higher incomes.

### How did you apply?

There was an application to fill out: the child's stats, like data of birth, both parents' employers addresses, land and mobile phone numbers, a passport photo, whether or not you planned on leaving the kid at school for lunch, etc. We had to include a _certificado de empadronamiento_ (town registry certificate) as proof of residence, and optionally last year's tax returns if we thought it was going to come down to that.

### How do they let you know if you got in?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/8883900694_bdd5617152_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Accepted to School - May 2012">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/8883900694_34920fdbd0_m.jpg" alt="Accepted to School - May 2012"/>
</a>

A list was posted outside the school. A friend of mine even photographed it and sent me this picture before I saw it.

We were pretty confident that our proximity to the school would win us a place, but that didn't stop us from being quite nervous. At first they said there were only 20 spots, and then we heard 21, and in the end they accepted 25 kids, one of whom chose another school before the school year started, leaving 24 kids in my daughter's class. I don't know of a single person who wanted to get in and didn't.

I still can't comprehend how one teacher – or even two or three! – can manage two dozen little preschoolers at once, but it sure seems like they manage. That's professionalism!

### What are the costs of _educación infantil_? How do they compare to the US (if you know)?

We're not paying a dime, because my daughter comes home every day for lunch. The kids that do stay for lunch (18 of the 24) pay what seems to me to be an exorbitant sum of 4.50€ / day for lunch. It's provided by a private catering company that won the contract with the local government. Considering that we have restaurants in town that will serve two enormous courses, plus dessert, with unlimited bread, wine and water for only 8€, the 4.50€ for a bowl of lentils and a yoghurt seems steep.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/8161344502_6f6e34892c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Tortuga Tomasa">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/8161344502_cac7497938_m.jpg" alt="Nora and Tortuga Tomasa"/>
</a>

Actually, I lied, we do have expenses. Every day one student in the class gets to be the _encargado_ (the class manager), which comes with such responsibilities as being first in the line to enter and leave school, "reading" (with a list of mugshots) role call, reciting the class rules (no hitting, shouting, pushing; put everything back in its place when you're done with it; etc.), ringing a bell to announce that it's time for morning fruit, and then passing out the fruit to everybody. For the children, this is a _huge_ honor that is looked forward to. The night before your child is the _encargado_, she brings home the class mascot, a stuffed turtle, and a canvas bag that needs to be returned the following morning full of two apples, two bananas, and two pears for the morning fruit snack the next day. So my daughter's school is costing us about 2€ every 24th day, or 0.08€ a day. Okay, so I guess that _is_ a dime!

When I went to elementary school, our school lunch cost about $1.25, I think, which an online inflation calculator – a.k.a. The Make You Feel Old Engine – puts at $2.65 in 2013 dollars, or 2€. Just like in the States, the poorer Spanish children have their school meals subsidized, but I don't know by how much.

### Are you happy with the school now that the end of the year is nearing?

We are absolutely delighted. My daughter's teacher is an enchanting woman who manages to be both extremely loved and respected by her students. I don't know how she does it. And we're lucky, because the school policy is that the preschoolers stay with the same teacher for all three years of preschool before they start _primaria_ at age six. Plus it seems like my daughter's school goes over and above when it comes to decorating and organizing events and crafts and things. My expectations are consistently surpassed.

The convenience of having the school so close is also a godsend. We literally leave our house three to four minutes before the bell rings and have plenty of time.

I don't regret our choice at all.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/7680189060_e6955594b1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="In Front of her School">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-29-preschool-in-spain/7680189060_d96914d8ab.jpg" alt="In Front of her School"/>
</a>


Preschool in Spain


[![Ian's First Month Birthday Party (cropped)](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827496584_ebddd19865_t.jpg "Ian's First Month Birthday Party (cropped)")](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/8827496584 "View 'Ian's First Month Birthday Party (cropped)' on Flickr.com")Today Ian turns one month old. It's been both a long and a quick month. He's grown quite a bit. While he weighed less than his sister at birth, she was only 3.6 kg at the one month mark, and he's already up to 4 kg. His size difference is already noticeable, as he's much larger, especially his head, than he was at birth. Probably because he never stops eating. All the parenting pamphlets say that newborns need to eat roughly every three hours, but apparently Ian can't read the pamphlets, because he's hungry pretty much every hour.  We had a pretty good tradition of celebrating Nora's first eleven _cumplemeses_, month birthdays, with a meal of homemade hamburgers and fries and it looks like we're on track to continue with Ian.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816711041_7e19095332_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816711041_8d67d657c2_m.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816721503_533f91f934_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816721503_2c6650cf2b_m.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

The grub.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827274940_3c495e4e28_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827274940_a510676fcc.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

My wife's parents have only ever eaten hamburgers at my house, I think.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827334680_1b37d88c30_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827334680_0e0ca5ccd0.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

Big Sister gets first dibs on the bonbons.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816755379_7240134260_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816755379_cb597fc8cd.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

Ian already likes his Aunt Belén.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816895663_a84f0786c5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816895663_def4b50dc9.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

Silly girls and handsome boys.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827504616_d0b8dbe044_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827504616_bd81245a0a.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

Someone's tired of taking photos...

[![Ian's First Month Birthday Party (cropped)](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827496584_ebddd19865_n.jpg "Ian's First Month Birthday Party (cropped)")](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/8827496584 "View 'Ian's First Month Birthday Party (cropped)' on Flickr.com")[![Ian's First Month Birthday Party (cropped)](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827488556_c2244b9667_n.jpg "Ian's First Month Birthday Party (cropped)")](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/8827488556 "View 'Ian's First Month Birthday Party (cropped)' on Flickr.com")

The birthday boy. Much more awake than [his sister was](/2009/04/24/one-month-old/).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816800681_e3a6a2619d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816800681_657af3d3e4_m.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816820843_1f8247fc25_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8816820843_d8724e229f_m.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

With his _abuela_, and a snack with _abuelo_.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827444580_98f1e5cbb3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827444580_bf43f3d571.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

He seems to be a pretty photogenic lad so far.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827431570_ee8f9d2e91_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian's First Month Birthday Party">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-25-ian-is-one-month-old/8827431570_cb2a3ba5e1.jpg" alt="Ian's First Month Birthday Party"/>
</a>

Happy birthday, son! May you live many, many, many more months.


Ian is One Month Old


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8740387205_9c8c2afd0b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Come at me, bro!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8740387205_f53325c4ef_t.jpg" alt="Come at me, bro!"/>
</a>

Well, we finally had our first incidence of one of my children making the other cry with pain. To be honest, I was surprised that it was the little guy that initiated what every prognosticator of sibling relationships assures me will be at least a dozen year conflict. Let the record forever show that "He started it!" Although it wouldn't take much of a baby lawyer to throw charges of premeditation into doubt. He was only 16 days old.

My infant son was looking so adorable on his changing mat, which his sister got [plenty of use](/2009/06/09/dancing-a-jig/) out of, and I had the idea of having her lie down with her head next to his, for a cute sibling photo shoot. I only got one good photo before things turned ugly. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741500774_de35674cbe_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="When Little Brothers Attack">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741500774_baaaf52567.jpg" alt="When Little Brothers Attack"/>
</a>

This is the one good picture I got. Clever idea, don't you think?

Now on to the carnage…

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741501928_265e9d9e06_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="When Little Brothers Attack">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741501928_13ce5cee0c.jpg" alt="When Little Brothers Attack"/>
</a>

Fistful of hair, and concern passing over his sister's face. And…

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741502944_9d19a0f145_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="When Little Brothers Attack">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741502944_8757332aa0.jpg" alt="When Little Brothers Attack"/>
</a>

Yank!

The job of a war photojournalist is a tough one. [RIP, Chris Hondros](/2011/04/25/a-good-friend-remembers-chris-hondros/). When do you put down the camera and try to intervene, and when do you let the conflict play out and document it for the world to see. At this point, I chose to put down the camera and dip my toe in the immense lake of sibling dispute parenting for the first time. I managed to pry his surprisingly strong fist open, and his victim scurried away to safety.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741617864_1455a4af8b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Come at me, bro!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741617864_cf8e60786e.jpg" alt="Come at me, bro!"/>
</a>

[Come at me, bro!](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/come-at-me-bro)

About fifteen minutes after the incident, my wife noticed something glistening in Ian's hand.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741506728_a23649cae5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Gold Lock">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-15-when-little-brothers-attack-episode-1/8741506728_3e3cd458c9.jpg" alt="Gold Lock"/>
</a>

He kept a souvenir! That's cold.


When Little Brothers Attack, Episode 1


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-08-5813-fibonacci-day-viral-experiment/8713277617_82874cd826_t.jpg" alt="Happy Fibonacci Day" class="post-thumb"/>Several months ago, amongst random meandering thoughts, I realized that there would be a day this year that would match three consecutive numbers on the [Fibonacci sequence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number). For those of you who can't remember your math teacher's face, the Fibonacci sequence is the sequence of numbers that starts with 0 and 1, and creates each number in the sequence by summing the previous two. So it goes: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89… You may notice that three of those numbers are 5, 8, and 13, which are today's date. _In the United States and nowhere else._ Anyway, this sequence is important throughout mathematics, including [the awesomeness of the Golden Ratio](/2010/01/07/optimizing-picture-to-border-ratio/) and its surprising, [but not so surprising when you think about it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahXIMUkSXX0), occurrence in Nature.  As a veteran of the internet – I remember telnet, gopher and when you had to capitalize Internet, as if it were a deity – and a regular social network surfer, I had some inclination of the type of nerdiness that is ripe for viral distribution. [As I've mentioned before](/2013/03/02/facebook-intelligence-tests-and-the-real-geniuses/), people really like sharing things that some percentage of their followers are too stupid to understand, so as to broadcast the cleverness of the sharer. That's why I intentionally left the explanation out of the image I submitted.

While a nerdy post such as this won't have the broad "unwashed masses" appeal as, say, [Grumpy Cat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumpy_Cat) or [laughing babies](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxUulGkLu4I), it does have that special egotistical boasting impetus for sharing that I mentioned above, which the others do not.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-08-5813-fibonacci-day-viral-experiment/8713277617_3a7a3fdaa7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Happy Fibonacci Day">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-08-5813-fibonacci-day-viral-experiment/8713277617_82874cd826.jpg" alt="Happy Fibonacci Day"/>
</a>

As I mentioned, I had the idea for the meme several months ago, but I created the image several days in advance. It took me well under ten minutes, most of which was spent searching the web for a suitable golden spiral to rip off. Then it was a matter of throwing some text on it in Photoshop with some outer glow and drop shadow, and an "erikras.com" watermark to prove it was mine, and we were good to go. It's my firm belief that gradients are naturally more pleasing to us because that is how we see objects in nature. I'm not sure why I chose pink, but I did.

Unfortunately, in my haste, I forgot to copy the outer glow and drop shadow effect to the word "Happy". Oh well. Don't they say that the master painters deliberately left errors to prove the originality of their works? Or have I been watching too much _White Collar_?

I had to set a reminder so I wouldn't forget to publish the image at 11pm Spanish time the day before. I'd miss the Asian audience, but the date format used was clearly targeted for Americans. As expected, my first comments were from my pedant friends moaning (as would I) about the idiocy of the American date format. [_¡Viva la ISO 8601!_](http://xkcd.com/1179/)

I must admit, and I apologize to those I underestimated for this, that I was surprised the prime delivery vehicle for the meme was [Tumblr](http://mini.erikras.com/post/49881432239/happy-fibonacci-day-everybody-it-wont-happen). It turns out that with some specific tags on a Tumblr post, you can really gain some traction. And with enough people linking Tumblr to their Twitter account, as I do, and often use, it will leak over to Twitter as well. I underestimated the popularity of Tumblr. The ease of sharing media such as images and video, and the lowered expectation of not being "a real blog", with demands for more elaborate content, greatly facilitates the spread of bite-sized awesomeness through Tumblr.

The numbers, as they stand as of 11pm, Central European Time, 24 hours before I posted the meme, are:

120 shares of my original Facebook image, 4250 notes (rebloggings and likes) of my original image on Tumblr, and many, many (how to count?) references to Fibonacci Day on Twitter. Not all of the Twitter references are due to my work, but a fairly big percentage are. Surely some number of nerds would've recognized this pattern on their own and created a stir, but it's hard to tell. Many of the most referenced pages do have my image. That's the thing about image memes, is that there is no way to get good analytics about the depth of social penetration, what with all the copying to [Instagram](http://instagram.com/p/ZD3YH-hys0/), pic.twitter.com, and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=460306074052090). The latter alone has well over 4,500 shares.

_**Update (24 hours later)**: The original Tumblr post has 13,700+ notes, and the Facebook post I linked to above has 10,000 shares._

So why do it? Well, it's fun, first of all, but I won't deny there's a sense of "15 minutes of fame" akin to having your photo in the local paper, where you can claim that, for a brief moment, a whole bunch of people read your name and became briefly aware of your existence. For damn sure, it's not for the web traffic, because I've had absolutely zero spike in web page hits of people curious enough to type in the url watermarked at the bottom of the image. Were I to attempt something like this again, with a monetary, real viral marketing, objective, I'd put a more substantial "Come check out Erik's Rugs and Carpets" message on the image. There's no way to keep people from copying it, so unless you achieve the ultimate internet domination of getting invited to _The Today Show_, like whoever owns Grumpy Cat did (see, I don't even know her name), then you're not really gaining anything beyond ego stroking.

But then, sometimes the ego needs a little fondling…


5/8/13 - Fibonacci Day Viral Experiment


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-08-interview-with-internations/8719078109_e8c2a4f61c_t.jpg" alt="Colindres and Laredo from above" class="post-thumb"/>Recently I was contacted by [InterNations](http://www.internations.org/), an organization I registered my expat status with several years ago and have since been diligently ignoring all their newsletters about meet ups in Madrid. They asked if I'd like to do an interview with them and to be featured on their site. I agreed, but then [life got complicated](/2013/04/28/welcome-ian/), and they ended up having to nag me several times, but we finally did [the interview](http://www.internations.org/spain-expats/guide/recommended-expat-blogs-spain-15730/erik-american-in-spain-9) and they published it. They've given me permission to re-post it here for your enjoyment. Some of my regular readers might not know my answers to some of these basic questions. 

## Erik: American in Spain

![Colindres and Laredo from above](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-08-interview-with-internations/8719078109_e8c2a4f61c.jpg)

**Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Who you are, where you come from, when you moved to Spain, etc.**

My name is Erik Rasmussen, and I grew up in western North Carolina. When I was attending college in Raleigh, North Carolina, I applied and was accepted for an [IAESTE](http://www.iaeste.org) work exchange program to go to Copenhagen, Denmark for six months in 1999. It was an eye-opening experience living abroad for the first time. Matters became complicated when I fell in love with a Spanish girl. After examining a range of immigration options, we chose to go to England in 2001, where we lived together for four years. Then, in June 2005, my soon-to-be wife got a job in Cantabria, and we moved to Spain. We\\'ve been here ever since, getting married and having two children.

**When and why did you decide to start blogging about your experiences?**

Back when I went to Denmark in 1999, I kept a journal, which I posted on the internet. This was blogging back before the word existed. When in England, I had a website where I would post photos and captions, but I never really started a real blog until a year after I moved to Spain, in 2006.

I started it mainly to keep my family and friends informed back home, but I soon found that a community of other expat bloggers came out of the woodwork and started caring more about me and my posts than my hometown friends did. It\\'s not such a huge point anymore because of how easy it is to share about your daily life on Facebook, but before Facebook, the only way was to email people with stories and photos, and I never really liked doing that because I never knew if I was annoying people or if they even cared. With blogging, it\\'s a matter of putting the information out there, and the people who care will read it, and those that don\\'t won\\'t. It\\'s a good way to figure out who really cares about you.

**Do you have any favorite blog entries of yours?**

My personal favorites are the nerdy ones, like [Optimizing Picture To Border Ratio With Phi](/2010/01/07/optimizing-picture-to-border-ratio/) and [Distance to the Horizon](/2008/03/25/distance-to-the-horizon/), and my Photoshopping fun, like [My Peeps](/2009/01/21/my-peeps/) and [Four Noras](/2012/10/02/four-noras-from-6-months-to-3-5-years/), but the ones about our trips, like [our honeymoon to the Caribbean](/2007/11/13/honeymoon-wrap-up/), are fun, too.

**Tell us about the ways your new life in Spain differs from that back home. Did you have trouble getting used to the new circumstances? Did you experience culture shock?**

Ha! I can barely remember life back home. Having lived in two other foreign countries first, I was much more open to adapting to new ways of living, plus I had been visiting my wife\\'s family in Spain for several years before we moved, so my feet were already wet, so to speak.

At home, I never really went out to bars very much, because they were always so far away that I\\'d have to drive to them, which sort of defeats some of the purpose. In Spain, I love nothing better than hopping from bar to bar, taking turns buying rounds and snacking on whatever they give with each drink. Oh, and in my Spanish town of 7000 residents, we have 40 bars, compared to my American hometown, which has 20,000 residents and 1 bar.

Most of my culture shock now happens going the other way now, like being dumbfounded when a meal is served in the US without bread. What\\'s supposed to go in my left hand?

**Do you think you were fully prepared for what awaited you in Spain? If you could, would you change some decisions/preparations you made?**

I suppose so. I did most of my Spanish learning when I was in England, living with my future Spanish bride and partying with a group of Spaniards. I took classes at a local community college and then had a social group to listen and practice with.

**Every expat knows that expat life comes with some hilarious anecdotes and funny experiences. Care to share one with us?**

One time, when we were just visiting from England, we had rented a car at the airport and were spending a few weeks with my wife\\'s family in Extremadura. A the time, their car didn\\'t have air conditioning, and our rental car did, so I was in charge of driving the family around on various day trips. One day I was driving through Zafra, and a guardia civil was directing traffic, with one hand up and another one waving underneath it. I figured he meant for me to go, but apparently I was wrong. He whistled and gestured angrily for me to pull over to the side of the road. At this point, my future father-in-law had a wonderful idea. He said, â€œOkay, nobody talk but Erik. Let him deal with this.â€ At this point, my Spanish was pretty weak, but I understood what he\\'d said. I stumbled through a â€œPerdona…americano…â€ with some shrugging, and the guardia civil decided it would be too much of a hassle to deal with me (plus, he was supposed to be directing traffic), so he waved me on. Whew! I haven\\'t been pulled over since, but I always keep my American driver license on the outside of my wallet to play the Stupid Tourist role again if I need to.

**Which three tips would you like to give future expats before they embark on their new life in Spain?**

- Have as good working knowledge of Spanish as you can before you get here; know all tenses and conjugations for at least a hundred basic verbs, and be prepared to take classes when you get here.
- Be open to new experiences and flavors and lifestyles. Be open to changing yourself. If you\\'re a vegan or vegetarian, you might starve.
- In Spain – and generally in life, but more so, I think, in Spain – if you don\\'t complain when people or corporations treat you poorly, you will lose. Banks and phone companies will overcharge you, but if you call them and say, â€œHey, WTF, man!â€ they will say, â€œOh, sorry about that,â€ and lower the prices. It\\'s a fool\\'s game to overcharge the complacent. Complaining is very well rewarded in Spain.

**How is the expat community in Spain? Did you have a hard time finding like-minded people or fellow expats?**

I live in a small town, in which I\\'ve met one or two young British and American people who were here temporarily. Just in the past few years, I\\'ve seen an explosion of other expat blogs from elsewhere in Spain, and they all seem like good people whose observations often remind me so much of myself a few years ago.

**How would you summarize your expat life in Spain in a single, catchy sentence?**

My favorite Spanish proverb: â€œWith bread and wine, one walks the pathâ€.


Interview with InterNations


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8710819347_7cbbfa45e3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Tilted Boats">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8710819347_2121fe8733_t.jpg" alt="Tilted Boats"/>
</a>

Today we had some wonderful weather, and I grabbed my camera as we were leaving for our usual afternoon walk around town. In May, seven o'clock in the afternoon is well before Golden Hour, but the visibility was good and I managed to capture a few good shutter clicks. A few of them just begged to be [tilt-shifted](/2008/04/18/tilt-shifting/), to highlight the subject of the photo. When Photoshop beckons, I go running…  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8711947164_7bf658dab7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tilted Boats">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8711947164_5aca6f74c7.jpg" alt="Tilted Boats"/>
</a>

It was just barely closer to low tide than high tide when we were walking by the water, so most of the (abandoned?) boats were on dry land.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8710821507_cf18464906_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tilted Boats">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8710821507_73b2ae566d.jpg" alt="Tilted Boats"/>
</a>

The look a bit like grazing ungulates.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8711945188_74a3fe66f9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tilted Boats">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8711945188_fbc6eb6913.jpg" alt="Tilted Boats"/>
</a>

Not floating for another four hours.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8711947702_9074130230_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tiltshifted Reader">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8711947702_c80da22f30.jpg" alt="Tiltshifted Reader"/>
</a>

This guy was having a wonderful dog walk. What could be better than reading in the sun?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8710819347_7cbbfa45e3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tilted Boats">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-05-tilted-boats/8710819347_2121fe8733_c.jpg" alt="Tilted Boats"/>
</a>

It's been so long since I've done a "random photos I took on a walk" post that I think that'll be the next post. But for now, I hope you've enjoyed these.


Tilted Boats


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704819832_8a25f26a61_t.jpg" alt="Tamarind" class="post-thumb"/>The other day, during my bidaily visit to the local grocer, my grocer and friend, Andrés, said, "Hey, Erik, come here for a second. I have something to give you." From its hiding place behind some yogurt in the display fridge, he pulled out three strange fruit pods. He explained that they are called [tamarinds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind), and that they are native to Africa and are sort of a cross between a peanut and a date. I had never heard of such a thing, but he instructed me on how to peel and eat them, warning that the seeds are _very_ hard and to be careful.  When I got home, I got out my camera and cracked open a tamarind. The "date peanut" description is very apt. The fruit meat is very pulpy and sweet, and the seeds are hard as granite. Apparently to plant them, it's best to cut some grooves in the seeds to give the little sprouts inside a fighting chance of getting out of there. Some internet research shows that, while native to Africa and a favorite food of elephants, tamarind is most commonly used in Thai, Indian and Chinese cuisine, with some popularity in Mexico and Central America as well. They, along with anchovies, are also an ingredient in _Worcestershire Sauce_.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704819832_e97d917f31_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tamarind">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704819832_8a25f26a61.jpg" alt="Tamarind"/>
</a>

Let's be honest…they _are_ a bit turdlike.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704955774_53e63d1a43_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tamarind - Quarter for Scale">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704955774_4fd2b542c1.jpg" alt="Tamarind - Quarter for Scale"/>
</a>

They're a lot bigger than peanuts. The pea is also clearly a relative.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704820992_cc962f22b8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tamarind">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704820992_168a0c1cfa.jpg" alt="Tamarind"/>
</a>

The shell is quite thin and brittle.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704821546_4e4fd8611f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tamarind">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704821546_19d39e1774.jpg" alt="Tamarind"/>
</a>

The vine-looking part is also discarded, and you bite off each pulp-covered seed and use your olive-eating skills to clean all the pulp off the seed in your mouth.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704822082_753cd9e5c4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tamarind">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2013-05-03-tamarind-adventures-in-african-pod-fruit/8704822082_d5934ee0f4.jpg" alt="Tamarind"/>
</a>

I love trying new things and learning about new cuisines. I'm not a huge fan of dates, as they're too sweet for my taste – plus, I could never get one! \[_rimshot_\] – so I don't think I'd buy tamarinds for personal consumption, even if I could find them, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for restaurant dishes with them.


8 posts from May, 2013