First week in Gibraltar
Rubicon
Sun 31 May 2015 11:40
Have spent a week in Gibraltar recovering and hanging out. It is an interesting mix of British and Spanish influence. It is a British colony and in EU but is duty free. I quite like it, it has a laid back vibe. And it certainly works on "island time" even though it isn't an island. Gib is a peninsula, mostly a huge chunk of limestone about 430m high. This is the "rock" part. There is a relatively small town, of 30,000 inhabitants, with some areas reclaimed from the sea. The people have been friendly and are clearly proud of their home.
Up on the Rock is where the monkeys live, the only monkeys living wild in Europe. At this time of year, they are having their babies, so we were lucky enough to see some newborns, and that was a thrill for the kids. The kids and I did a guided tour, and saw St. Michael's cave, a huge natural cave, that seemed like the inside of a gothic cathedral. We also saw the tunnels on the north side which formed an important defence of Gib from the Spaniards in the early 1700's. The Moors were here as well, and you can even see the dark stains on the Moorish castle below the window where they poured boiling oil out of the window to defend the building during another conflict.
We went to the Eastern Beach, and had a grand time in the waves of the Med. There is an event on the waterfront this weekend and special events have been set up including Lazar Tag, which the kids adore. We have taken the bus, walked all over the place, and will be spending more time in the parks all over Gib.
We had planned to leave today, but an issue with one of the windows has delayed us. So will just keep enjoying Gib in the meantime and catching up on school.
You may be wondering how that is working out. So far so good. Catherine is working on her math book from school and that is almost complete. She has been reading a lot, and now I am working with her on her spelling and writing. She has done a great job summarizing stories that she has read. Pavel just wants to play of course, but we have been working on phonics, and it is all suddenly coming together with him re reading. Working on sight words for grade 1. His printing is much better. I got a great math app for him, and he is doing grade 1 addition and subtraction with no problems. We do school first thing in the am, and they have to finish before they do other things. Occasionally it is frustrating when they don't want to participate, but I don't mind the teaching.