First month

We have been here for a month today!

Things are well and we are certainly enjoying many moments, but there are many challenges as well.

I remember the words of my friend Clara when she moved to Brazil a few years ago after living in Germany and then in the United States for about 10 years: "The first three months were terrible but then we got used to the rhythm and we loved it." I should not quote her because I am trusting my memory, but that was the message.

Clara is now back in the United States (State College, PA, of all places) and she keeps sharing great memories of her two years in Sao Paulo. If my friend's words can be applied to us here, we should to be patient for two more months.

Here some photos of the pluses and minuses.

This is our closet. Booo...
We need to do some reforms so that we can hang some clothes.
Neither of us actually own a big amount of clothing and we are clearly not fashion oriented people, so not the end of the world but certainly room for improvement!

This is the main room of the house and the most beautiful one.
We decided to move from there to have it as a family/reading/play room. We dream to put a nice couch and light up the fireplace in the winter!
Our friend and neighbor Nora came to help the first weekend to move things around.

Here, Zach, Nora and her hubby Vernon are putting together the bunk beds for Mora and Luci.

This is the great view!!
This is our home from the back of the backyard. The trees are gorgeous!! I love them!!

Inside, the living and dinning room.
There are great windows and lots of light. The floor is old and stained but we might be able to make it look nicer with some treatment. 

Nora and Vernon have been helping us a lot move things and let us borrowed a fridge and a mattress until we get organized and buy our own.
I have known Nora Castagnino since my childhood. Indeed, this house in the past belonged to her sister Paula. The Castagninos have been around Manzanares for the longest time, just like we did. My mom is friend with their mom, and their younger brother, Juan, just moved to Manzanares in December and Nico and Luci have been playing with Juan's kids since we arrived. It is crazy to think they are the third generations of friends for these families. Nora is also an architect and she designed our little one room house we built three years ago.