Our first two weeks of life changing experience

The four of us left Prague on Sunday the 8th of October. We arrived very late night at marina in Cádiz, Spain, where our boat was left by Michal.

Marina in Cadiz is very industrial, about 2 km from town and with zero services. 

The next day was Monday and we wanted to keep the schooling days same to our normal life. So we were supposed to start with home schooling. Of course this did not happen :)

The boat was left 2 months in the port while before it was only men crew sailing from La Rochelle to Cadiz. Not that they did not try to tidy up. But the boat needed to be cleaned from inside and outside seriously. 

The fridge was switched off but closed so there was mould. There were potatoes, onions and garlic left in one shelf that were rotten. It was necessary to wash all the bed linen, clean the floors, bathrooms, clean all the lockers (storages in the ground of the boat) and unpack.

On the outside the boat was covered in salt and sand. So we needed to wash it carefully too.

First day I took kids and we went half and hour to the nearest shop to buy some basic grocery so we have something to eat.

There was so much work that I cried the first night. This is how a dream looks like? I was tired and stressed.

After three days I was finally able to sit and start doing the school with kids. We tried to have classes of the same subject together. This relatively worked for Czech and Math. For English I realised it was not working that well. For the Czech and Math classes we were able to more less keep the pace of the class in Prague and followed weekly plans. For English we went back and were reviewing previous materials so I get familiar with what do kids know, understand and where they are weak.

One thing I realised is that it took us double the time to go through half of the subjects we should be doing. For the moment I completely skipped ECP (PRVOUKA) and music. If I would like to do it, we would be having classes whole day!

We have had about 2 weeks of school in this testing regime. We still work on the system and discipline. English is the biggest challenge for me. I try to be patient and balance parent-teacher role so I am not helping too much or I am not too strict or critical. It will definitely take time.

But I have to say so far kids are doing great. They want to be taught. They work themselves on the assignments. So if I can keep the discipline we can do it. 

I knew the first weeks will be challenging. In reality I have more house work than I had in Prague. At home our family was used to have a great nanny who was helping us with all (picking up kids, cleaning, washing, ironing, cooking). Kids were attending school and after school activities. I had my mum and grandma living over the street so anytime we wanted to go out with Michal it was super easy to give them kids and go. Last three years I was not physically shopping in supermarket. I was shopping grocery online, so it arrived with little effort at the door step. And if I did not want to cook we got food delivery. So easy life :)

Luckily it is balanced by travelling, exploring cultures and the sun and sand.

We also met first regatta participants in the marina. Majority of the boats are catamarans and have French teams. There is one catamaran with boy of the age of our kids. Luckily at least one! Kids immediately fall in love with each other. The boy speaks 3 languages! Very big motivation for our kids to speak at least English!

Throughout the week we tried to have school in the mornings until late lunch and keep afternoons free for various activities from cleaning the boat, washing, provisioning, repairs, sports and of course visiting Cadiz and its surroundings.

We managed to visit 2 cities. Cadiz, of course. And we rented a car and went to see Sevilla for one day.

Cadiz is said to be one of the oldest towns in the world. It is definitely nice historical town paved by stone with main square, cathedral, parks, fountains, nice promenade along the coast and public beach. 

But it was Sevilla that took our hearts. Our first place to see was the biggest corrida in Spain (and probably in the world) Plaza de Torros. Unfortunately bull fights that are taking place here finished end of September, so we could not see it on our own eyes. But at least we did a tour through the stadium and watched few videos. Over the tour you can go inside on the playground. When you stand there opposite to the door with bull head above and imagine the toreadore is waiting here for the bull, it is quite scary.

We then went through the two main quarters el Arenal and Santa Cruz. Huge queues in front of Royal Palace and Cathedral stopped us from going inside.

But instead we visited Toro de Ora, Hospital de la Vulnerables and strolled in the narrow streets on Santa Cruz quarter.

What kept us long in Cádiz was 7 parcels we sent from Prague here. We put there all the things from books, board games, confectionary creative box, few things for kitchen, another fisherman gear, etc.

It took the Fed Ex 13 days to deliver :/ Due to the delay we were to able to go to Sevilla for the first rendezvous our regatta organised. We had to wait for the delivery. 

Michal was calling them several times everyday. In short time, they already know him when he was calling. I cannot imagine if he would not be pushing them every day several times, when it would arrive. It was not sooner than on the 20th late afternoon when we finally saw delivery car on our pier. We throw the boxes into the boat and set the sails for Canary Islands.