January

 Sunday evening, Ro is with friends, North and Tal are playing ping-pong as we await our Grab order from Arabica Restaurant (kebabs, hummus, shawarma, etc.) to arrive. Just read over my daily dose of Letters from an American which is mostly where my US news comes from (and some news that North listens to). Next weekend is International Day at school and we are supposed to put together a booth or do a performance to represent our country; a group of Americans have decided that we are going to wear black and sing "This Land is Your Land" as our way of acknowledging what is happening and our feelings about it while still being appropriate for an international school event.  

The last month has been full: a few final runs with Yarrow and Oak, a rainy hike to Kanching Falls (ask Talus about the leach-see bite below- and Rowan about the monkeys and delicious tea), and our first Selangor FC match and then they were off. We had about a week before school returned, I had a nasty sinus infection but we read and swam and found a decent Mexican restaurant (definitely something we've been missing) and then we dove back into school on the 12th. 

    

First semester grade reports came out last week and we are back in the full swing of football 5 days a week, track and field-coaching and running (Talus and I have the first elementary school meet on the 3rd, he is participating in 5 events and I will not be surprised if he gets some medals...he is a fast one. Rowan is doing track and field but not competing in meets.), North's coaching the U11 girls football, Book Club reading (highly recommend There are Rivers in the Sky) and North and I have made some personal commitments to push-ups & pull-ups each day. Talus is busy on the recorder-improvising and learning rock songs like 7 Nation Army. North's seniors are busy getting into universities which is exciting for him to hear about as he begins his presentations to the 11th graders about what the application process looks like. Rowan is in and out of the house, over to friend's, practicing a dance for International Day (Waka Waka Dance), headphones on when he's inside with us, eating all the sugar he can find...

We've managed to get in another Selangor FC match, a visit to a new part of KL (Putrajaya Wetland Park, the largest manmade wetland in SE Asia) this weekend to support a coworker trying to run a 200k. Unfortunately he did not achieve his goal but North and Rowan ran with him a bit and it was cool to see a community of teachers turn out to support him (he's in our new teacher cohort and brings a tremendous positive energy to our world). This afternoon Talus and I discovered a new friend sleeping our our balcony (Talus said that if he put his ear to the glass he could hear him snore, see picture below...). 

  

Kitty friend on our balcony

 

In a week Grandma Bell (aka Marcia) arrives and in two weeks we will have a break for Lunar New Year. The pool officially opens here next weekend and everyone keeps telling us that we haven't really experienced living in Valencia until we experience pool life...Never imagined living on a golf course with a pool but I'm not sad about it. 

Rowan's match this morning, North and I ran 5K before his game because it was early. 

Sending our hugs to everyone across the ocean and our solidarity to friends in Minneapolis (and other states)-holding y'all close, keep up the ruckus.