Education in Spain

I love the school my children attend, especially the interaction between the parents and the school. Obviously big involvement is not for everyone and not everyone has the time, but I am so pleased that our headmaster encourages parental involvement and if we feel the need we can ( with a days notice) go in to the canteen to check out the standards of the school dinners and eat with the children.

At the beginning of the school year the parents are all invited to meet the new teacher and listen to his/her ideas for the year, the excursions they are hoping to set up and the help that they require. I have found these meetings helpful and hopefully I have left them with more of an idea on how to help my child with background data. In this era where the curriculum are so full the teachers are begging parents to help where ever they can. Thanks to the web this is not impossible. Last week my son and I made salt crystals. It was so easy and satisfied his 5 minute concentration span. It didn't work first time so we checked another web page and tried a slightly different method with excellent results. Not only was the experiment fun but he had to read all the instructions and set out the utensils. Great team work!

http://chemistry.about.com/od/growingcrystals/ht/saltcrystals.htm.

When my husband was 13 he was asked if he enjoyed school and when he said he was bored he was taken out and sent to work to bring in money for the family. ( hat a shame he wasn't means tested!). He had worked for two years before he was given a pay rise, which he did not report back to his mother and so he was finally able to have his own money.

I am glad that times have changed but often wonder if maybe we have gone too far and that children are now not expected to contribute anything to the household, not even to make their beds or take their plates to the sink. When my husband was pre-school age he went out into the cotton fields with his mother  and helped her as best he could.  When my husband's sisters had their children, doing simple household chores was part of their daily routine. I am obviously not talking about exploiting children but asking a child to make its bed, flop a duster around the room along side  mum or putting clothes away is part of life training and can only benefit for the future.

What no worms? - Vermicomposting.

Its free, its eco friendly and productive. Such a process is worth its weight in gold yet very few people have a "wormery" in their homes. To me this is a big mystery as my wormery is one of the corner stones in my meagre attempt to run a greener house. All our coffee grinds, tea bags, salad and vegetable peels, junk mail, old newspapers and cardboard egg cartons are turned into potting earth and very rich fertilizer. Not only is this an ideal recycling process but cost saving as well as here in Spain earth is expensive.

This may seem like a horrendous idea to many people, but if run correctly the process is completely odourless and can be kept indoors and you need hardly see them.

I spent a long time trying to find a wormary in Spain and eventually found a company in Barcelona  (www.compostadores.com) which had a"Can-o-Worms" type of wormary, however, in the end I went for the "worm-works" model from www.originalorganics.co.uk, which they kindly delivered to my door.

The principle is the same in both makes; you have a tray in which you place your waste and the worms eat the waste and produce "castings" which can be added to your garden or into you soil or used directly for pot plants. It is often called "Black Gold". A liquid is also produced and both the can-o-worms and worm-works have a lower tray with a tap which is used to siphon off the liquid which is used on a 10:1 ratio ( 10 litres of water to one litre liquid) to fertilise all your plants.

There are many videos and web pages that show you how to make your own wormery and as I expand I will be experimenting with these ideas, but as a real beginner in this I felt I needed the support and experience of the sellers. My wormery has run for over a year and survived the the big rain and a very hot summer and I think they are all great.

Declutter and Recycle.

When I was working in the real estate business I often heard complaints about lack of storage, well the truth is that the Spanish do not need as much storage as they rarely have any CLUTTER. They have a few ornaments and of course lots of photos but unless it is useful- out it goes! Even with clothes I have often heard them say I have one coat and do not need any more. The result is amazing, a home that is easy to clean, easy to move about in and a very fresh atmosphere. Feng Shui or Traditional Spain?

I find this very hard as I am a hoarder and so I have tried to make a few simple rules that I can work by to help me out. I have often heard "If you have not worn it in 6 months get rid of it", well I have to say 18 months as of course we have to have a summer and a winter wardrobe here and the big change overs; as the beach gear re appears or is put away again, are excellent times to move some of those old items out and an excellent time to recycle.

Once I declared war on clutter it was tempting to run out and buy storage boxes and files etc but I have found that these are rarely used and in the end a waste of money. I usually come across something that will do the job perfectly well in the house.

I did try the big bang and throw everything in the middle of the room but then ran out of time and energy, so by starting small I have been able to go through the house and appreciate the space as it develops. There is a sence of axuillerating pride when you look at the work which inspires for the next decluttering project.

In this time of crisis many charities are desperate for items, The Lion's Club, Cudecca, and Age Concern all have shops along the coast. Another charity is run by our local Catholic Church which uses every item of clothing either by passing onto other families or as scrap material which is purchased from them. Another option which I have yet to try is go to a "rastro" / car booty. Coin,  Fuengirola and Benalmadena ( Tivoli world) all have regular rastros and a new car boot fair is now running at the Hippodrome Mijas Costa on Sunday mornings.

Preparing Olives

EEk. I forgot my sister in law's birthday- a big no no, however I was forgiven and the typical family gathering took place and as usual the children took centre stage- wonderful.

As we left I was asked if I had enjoyed the last batch of olives as they had prepared them themselves. Looking very interested I was rushed off to the kitchen to look at the next batch in preparation. The green olives had been collected from trees near by and then one by one smashed between two rocks. Not smashed to a pulp but enough to split them. Apparently you can now buy a small device for 30-40€ which will split them. I imagine this is similar to a nut cracker or garlic crusher type rather than electric machine. The rocks worked well in the past and appear to still work.

Next the olives were placed in cold water for a week changing the water daily and then every other day.

At this point a lot of rules were thrown at me so as far as I can list...

Do not put them in a metal container ,plastic ( such as seen in the markets with a lid ) or glass.

Do not touch with your hands as this will contaminate and ruin the whole batch.

Do not mix olive types.

Do not tend to a batch if it is your time of the month ( this was very serious).

After 5-7 days the water was drained and four fingers of water added to the plastic bucket and then salt added.
A uncooked egg was also added which dropped to the bottom, when enough salt had been added the egg rose to the top.
The egg was removed and a head of garlic, laurel and rosemary were added ( other herbs and spices can also be used but these were the ingredients at hand at the time. )
The lid was replaced and the solution was left for another three days. After this taste tests would tell when the olives were ready but remember still not to touch with hands or a metal spoon.