E for English

Here we are outside the Academy - E for English... Ribadeo has 3 English schools and we are part of the newest one. The owner Sara held on, only delivering her baby 2 days after we arrived and took over her classes. A good way to make contacts and so far all our students have passed their exams.

Good Morning Ribadeo

Good morning Ribadeo - and here we woke for the first time in our new flat - the view from the bed is encouraging and a real incentive to rise and go to work. Then time to face those boxes...

We are in!

We are in - at last!!

After 5 years of heading this way and after 85 different beds along the way we finally moved into our Ribadeo flat this week. We hope this will be for a long time. In reality it will be only 11 months until the family want it back for their holidays but we are getting so good at packing and unpacking that maybe we can do this every August, let's face it students do it every year. Both Andrew and Donald also moved this month - what a tribe of gypsies we have become!

Desperately seeking someone.

Had a wee sail today and noticed the rescue helicopter hovering and the police launch following. It got pretty rough so we came back into port to be asked (All in Spanish of course) if they had found the boat or the body. We had to admit we had seen nothing but the continued search went on all afternoon, and we understand from the press it has resumed today. Quite chilling to be in the midst of such drama and feel so unable to help. They are looking for a 23 year old who was to taking part in a kayak regatta. So many youngsters race canoes here but this guy did not finish. We hope they find him alive even if they find him at a friends playing computer games unaware of the drama 

Music from home..

I know you are bored of us saying whenever the Cowans come to town there is a party, but today in the village of Porcia (with less than 80 inhabitants) there was a massive celtic music festival. Top of the bill were the Tannahill Weavers. I had heard them in Orkney and spoke to them in the next village (the only cafe in the district.) We live on the very edge of the field where they had been errecting the stage so in truth we could hear them just as well from the comfort of our bed, but wishing to show support we turned up and heuched with the rest of them. The bagpipes were very popular and we could tell what the audience really needed was a class in ceilidh dancing - looks like we are in the right place then!

Take me to the river...

Great day on Sunday, first baptisms from Ribadeo standing here with Sagrid (centre) and Alfreddo (right) some people we have enjoyed getting to know. We got to know them even better at the picnic on the river bank! Paella, Tortilla & Jamon. These were the candidates before the ducking!

Weekend with the Jetset

 Had a busy weekend with trips east and west from 6am on Saurday until 11pm Sunday - life with the jetset. There were 4 or 5 jets trailing their tails over the road east to Santander as they all headed South in formation with the sun rising behind them. This was us both heading to a leadership team meeting which lasted just over 9 hours. By Sunday evening we sneaked off to the boat and anchored in a secluded cove.. spying a saltire on a boat nearby we met Petra and Andrew who had apparently followed us out from Scotland and are spending the summer exploring the coast of Spain. As a result of all the chat we were 45 minutes late for church, but heh, this is Spain - more folk came in after us than were there before us, oops!