We're Back!

Goodbye Barcelona, hello Singapore! The Pattiselannos are back on home turf once again. It's been about 2 days or so and we're not even close to feeling normal. We're still sleeping at odd hours and feel like penguins who got lost and found themselves in the tropics.

We have been trying to keep busy to readjust our sleep cycles to local time. We've spent most of our waking time clearing out our room in my parents' place and doing a little rearrangement so Zac gets his own little room. I'm hoping to ride on the jetlag and ease him into sleeping on his own. We'll see how this progresses as the days wear on and the jetlag wears off.

Just this afternoon, Zac decided to make his transition that much more difficult by throwing (albeit by accident) his pacifier out the open bedroom window. Tonight is going to be an interesting experience for all of us.

Wish us luck!

The Pattis have landed!

Thank you everyone who came to the airport to send us off! It was so wonderful to know that so many people cared.

It's 3pm local time in Barcelona right now. We arrived around 9 plus this morning, hopped onto our pre-arranged transfer to Hotel Costanza where we'll be staying for 2 nights before moving into our new home.

The flight went alright. No horribly long delays but for the long haul flight, Len and I sat apart. I got the row for bassinets and Len sat directly behind me. It was a tiring 12 hours but thankfully, Zac managed to sleep a little and even had some time to make friends with a little girl whose parents only spoke Dutch. Still, the universal language that parents of young babies seem to share prevailed. We even shared snacks and toys!

Zac's cold and cough haven't let up so the short leg of the journey from Amsterdam to Barcelona was no fun. Her was screaming when we took off and when we landed. Poor guy. There's nothing like watching your baby cry in pain and not be able to do much to help.

I'm feeling a little under the weather too and it seems that I might be coming down with a cold. It's either that or I'm just so tired from the flight that my body's still trying to catch up. Zac and I fell asleep while Len was trying to get the webcam up and running. It was nice to speak to mum and dad for a bit before passing out. I think all this busyness is taking its toll on the baby boy. He woke from his nap crying hysterically and nothing seemed to comfort him. It was scary cos it was as though someone had stabbed him or something! Thankfully, I managed to get him into the sling and calmed him down. He's still fast asleep as I type. Have to wake him soon or face yet another sleepless night!

The Big Move: We're Leaving On A Jet Plane

Visa Woes

It's been a pretty busy last couple of days in Singapore. Len and I got our visas last week but were horrified to find out that Zac's wasn't ready! It was showing up as having been approved on the Spanish consulate's computer system but for some reason the slip of paper that was to be pasted in the passport was no where in sight. GREAT. Needless to say, a thousand and one things ran through our minds as we tried to figure out our contingency plan/s should Zac not have the necessary documents for travel. Thank the Lord, the consulate was able to get their act together and we picked up his visa on Monday! PHEW.

Ship Ahoy!

Relocating a family of 3 for however long or short a period of time is nothing short of a military-type exercise. Lots of logistics, planning and precision execution - these things are by no means simple when you travel with a baby! We ended up with 6 boxes for shipping in total which is not bad considering how much stuff we had to begin with. Spain doesn't have surface mail (weird) so we had to shell out muchos dineros for airmail. Good thing SingPost (Speedpost?) has this SuperSaver scheme which saved us some money. It's door-to-door and we'll get our boxes in 2-4 days! Hopefully, the Spanish mail system is more efficient than I think it is.

Taking Flight

We're praying hard that the bags we're bringing on the flight will pass the weight limit! KLM's sad-excuse-for-luggage-allowance isn't giving us much (20 kg for Economy and 10kg for a baby). I'm not going to take my chances with the airline and be caught off-guard with no food for Zac so I've packed wet and dry foods for consumption on the airplane. We're bringing our full-sized pillow like we did last time and even threw in Lionel for good measure. Right now, what Len and I need the most are really prayers...

Prayer Concerns
For those of you who have been praying along with us, here are some of the things we're committing to our Father who makes all that we have possible:

• Zac's recovery from the cough and cold he's battling. Thankfully, there isn't a fever. Just a lot of coughing and a runny nose which might be a problem when we fly. We pray he'll be comfortable and be able to sleep well.
• Patti parents' health cos we both need to hit the ground running and get our apartment in living shape.
• Wisdom so we'll make the right choices while we're there and rest when we really need it.
• Continued journey mercies which God has always granted us even when there are bumps in the road.
• Peace and God's protection on the family we're leaving behind.

We're looking forward to starting a new chapter in our life!

The Big Move: Boxes, boxes and more boxes

Since we are flying by KLM, we get a pathetic 20kg luggage allowance per person. Zac gets only 10kg which is barely enough to cover all the really necessary things we need for him! Hence, we have had to ship stuff by air (Spain doesn't have surface mail) which will take 2 weeks (if the Spanish side surprises us by being efficient, otherwise, add 2-3 weeks more) in multiple boxes (cos Spain requires that all boxes weigh no more than 10 kgs each!). This is going to cost quite a gargantuan sum of money but the alternative is to do without or spend Euros to buy stuff over there! While the idea of a whole new wardrobe is appealing, it just wouldn't be practical. PLUS, it's cheaper to ship than to shop - at least I suspect it to be so.

In addition to our shipping woes, Len's suddenly recalled that the only bed we have in the apartment is a double (somewhere between a queen and a single) which is barely going to contain both of us! Looks like we're going to have to get a crib or another mattress for Zac when we get to Spain. We're staying in a hotel for 2 days until we get the apartment up and running. It's got about 1 1/2 months worth of dirt accumulated so we have A LOT of cleaning up to get done. They've had to do repairs in one of the rooms because it sustained water damage due to heavy rain but I believe they've gotten everything fixed up already. I pray that there is no repeat of the leaking!!

On a separate note, Zac's just turned 11 months and we're making great progress with his mobility! He's pulling himself up like a pro and has even stood without support a handful of times. Since he's so efficient on all fours, I'm expecting that he'll walk later but he surprises me all the time! He seems to enjoy music and bops his bum when his favourite tunes come on. My mom says I did the same thing when I was around his age.

His first birthday is just around the corner and I've been feeling bluesy because we won't be here in Singapore to celebrate with family and friends. I wanted to make his birthday special and to have a big party but it looks like it'll just be the three Pattiselannos in Barcelona. I guess I'll have to think up something fun. Hopefully, Len will be around to celebrate. He's supposed to have an OBS-style orientation which will take him out of the city for a few days. I'm not sure what the dates are yet but I do hope that it doesn't clash. We shall see.

The Big Move: Updates

Len took off for Spain on the 9th of July and has safely touched down in Barcelona for his recce/apartment hunting trip. He wasn't really looking fwd to this since he'll be travelling without me and Zac. Still, this trip is necessary and important since we're told that if we waited till the 1st week of August to go apartment hunting, we would be sorely disappointed. Everything apparently closes those 2 weeks and even if it's open for business, it's tough to get much assistance.

We're so grateful that ESADE has a tie-up with a housing agency that specialises in getting expat MBA students settled in. When Len landed yesterday, they already had 7 viewings lined up for him all in one day! After seeing all the apartments up for grabs, Len called me to tell me that he had found the "equivalent of our Toh Yi flat" but equivalent in this case meant on a much smaller scale of course. Still, by the sounds of it, it was pretty great (good location near Passeig de Gracia, really near the metro, overlooks a swimming pool, has a terrace, and an elevator!!)!

On the home front, before Len left for Spain, we managed to rent out our Toh Yi flat (FINALLY) to a nice Singaporean family. The thought of having kids in my lovely flat was making me anxious but the couple looks sincere and responsible. I hope that they don't let us down. Len's also managed to sell his car after putting it up for auction with this online car company middleman (?) which will come down to your house to take pictures of the car, evaluate it and put it up for auction on their website. The price he got was decent and we're both relieved and happy we can cross those 2 items off our list!

While Len's out of town, I'm planning to get some packing and cleaning up done in an effort to minimise how much my parents have to maintain in my room while we're gone. I usually don't mind all this neatening business but it's tough to de-clutter years of pile up! We have a lot of work to do...