Visitantes

Over the past month, we've had a lot of visitors, and it's been so much fun! Matt and I have loved seeing our family and friends and getting to show them where we live. It's really helped this last part of the year go by fast. Here is a summary of the last month.

First, the whole Robertson family came to visit!

In Madrid in front of the Royal Palace

We went to Madrid for two days, got to see a Real Madrid futbol game, Salamanca for one day, ate at Cuatro Postes (the Hotel here in Avila where Matt eats all his meals with the team and where Matt and I lived for the first 3 weeks we were here), walked on top of the wall in Avila, went to Matt's basketball game, and just enjoyed hanging out together. 

Here are a few pictures from their trip:

at the Real Madrid game

The Cathedral across from the Royal Palace in Madrid

A Cathedral and statue in Salamanca

Brothers at the train station

On top of the wall in Avila with the Cathedral in the background

The next week, my mom came for a visit. On the day she flew into Madrid, there was an organized general strike in all of Spain - crazy! The trains weren't running because of the strike, so we had to wait until 4 pm to catch a bus back to Avila. We saw some of Madrid with her suitcase in tote, got some tapas, and crashed that night. We went back to Madrid for 2 days later in her visit, got to do the tour of the inside of the Royal Palace (my favorite thing!), went to Salamanca for a day, ate at Cuatro Postes, walked on top of the wall and went in the Cathedrals in Avila. 

Tapas in Madrid near Plaza Mayor 

Plaza Mayor

Hot chocolate and pastries in Avila

On top of the Wall in Avila looking down at a Cathedral

On top of the wall in Avila, different Cathedral in background

A city building that used to be a palace in Madrid

In front of the Royal Palace in Madrid

The Royal Gardens

Eating lunch with some of my English teacher friends, Carol, Diana, and Sylvia

My mom was here doing Santa Semana, or Holy Week, leading up to Easter. In Avila there are processions every day with a band and people carrying floats with statues representing different things about the Holy Week. We got to see several of these, and they were pretty cool to watch. It was strange though because the costumes everyone in the parade wears are basically the same hats that were worn by the Ku Klux Klan, which is freaky, but they have no relation to each other. Here, these hats and robes are worn in all different colors and are associated with the Holy Week celebrations. 

A week after my mom left, our friends Heidi and Ian came to visit for a couple days. They came to Madrid for a few days, then Avila to see us, then went to Barcelona for the rest of the week. We were so excited to see them! I can't believe you guys made it to Spain to see us. Unfortunately the weather was awful, rainy and windy and cold, I hope it was better in Barcelona! This is the only picture I have from their visit, I guess we took all the pictures with their camera.

Heidi and me at a coffee shop

Thanks so much to everyone who made a trip to come visit! Matt and I have missed family and friends a lot this year, so it was great to see all of you! Who wants to come visit next year? Who knows what country or city we will be in - start saving now! :)

Home is where the Heart is

{I found this on Pinterest}

I remember the first time I accidentally said "I'm going home!" and I was referring to my freshman dorm at Alabama, not to my family's house. I felt so weird saying that. Since then, it doesn't seem as big of a deal...home is Tutwiler, the Alpha Chi house, Matt's house in Birmingham, my family's house in Birmingham, our apartment in Orlando... and now Spain, kind of. But not really. In college, "home" was where ever my stuff was, but now it has become the opposite - where ever my stuff isn't - and where ever Matt is.

Matt loves Florida, and the whole time we lived in Orlando, I liked it, but I really loved Birmingham, and the idea of living in the south (as in, southern culture, which Florida is not really part of). I kept telling him that once we left I would probably love it and miss it. Well....since living in Spain, I always think of my true home as our apartment in Orlando. I guess mostly because it's the only place Matt and I have ever lived together, so it feels like our home. It's hard for me to realize that apartment doesn't exist anymore, someone else is probably living there now, with different furniture and everything. But I still picture it as home.

Matt and I both whole heartedly want to pursue this basketball thing, however long that lasts and wherever it takes us. I realize this will probably leave us "homeless" for awhile. All of our possessions are in storage, except for our clothes that are with us (I am struggling to learn to "pack light"). We will have an apartment in a foreign country from August - May, then come back to Birmingham (at least for this summer) and live with our families or rent somewhere to live. I think there are some amazing positives, but also some negatives, to being "homeless". I think one of the main positives for me personally is trying to realize that stuff doesn't really matter, who you are with matters. I could not do this by myself. I took a one week mission trip to Romania my senior year of high school and got homesick. I hated my freshman year of college and came home all the time. But with Matt, I'm home. In Orlando I never got homesick, and here I miss home, but really I'm great because my best friend is with me.

This summer I went with Matt to one of his shooting (basketball shooting, not gun shooting...obviously, but just in case :)) lessons. I was sitting there watching him work and Ephesians 3:20 came into my mind:

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations...".

I was just thinking that God has given me so much more than I even know to ask for. I always thought I would meet some guy in college who was pretty great, and we would get married a little while after that, he would have an 8-5 office job, I would work until we have kids, then I would be a soccer mom, and we would live in Birmingham, or maybe move away for awhile and then move back. That sounds like a great life.... But instead, I got to marry someone that my family already knew, I already knew his family, we have a few pictures together from when we were younger, and we got to fall in love while we were both still in college. We got to be different and get married while he was still in college. Then he took me to Orlando, Florida. Now he is taking me who knows where all over the world while he plays professional basketball, which is way more fun than an office job. He is so amazing and such a wonderful husband, best friend, everything. I don't know how I ever had fun in life without him. And he loves the Lord so much. God has given me way more than I could ever ask for.

This year, starting with this past summer, when crazy things happen, or when nothing happens and we have to wait, Matt and I both are learning to trust God. When I struggle to trust that His plan is perfect, I only need to look back and see that he has been faithful, and that he has given me more already than I ever would have dreamed on my own. So maybe if my prayers don't get answered the way I planned, maybe I should trust that he has something different, and better, in store.

Salamanca

A little while ago Matt and I got a chance to visit Salamanca, Spain. It's about an hour and a half away from where we are in Avila, and everyone says its a great place to go visit. When we found out that the bus trip only cost 12 Euros round trip per person, we decided to make it happen!

The bus ride was pretty short, and once we reached Salamanca we went in a tourist shop and asked directions to the Plaza Mayor, which we had heard was the middle of the tourist area of the city. It was so beautiful!

We walked around the Plaza for awhile, it was such a beautiful day and there were so many people walking around and sitting in the sun. There were a lot of shops and restaurants, and while we were tempted just to eat at McDonalds, we took a chance on a pasta place that ended up being great! It looked like a small bar, but an upstairs nice seating area and the food was great and not too expensive. 

Matt wouldn't smile for me.

An archaic looking McDonalds.

There was small parade in the square for Carnival, which I think is about equivalent to Mardi Gras. The people in the parade were from Bolivia, and there were cars driving blaring music with dancers in costumes behind them, it was cool to see but only lasted a few minutes.

We went into a few shops and each bought a shirt, then we got some hot chocolate. As we were leaving we saw a church door that was open and got to go inside. The city had a lot of beautiful churches, but some were closed. It has one main older cathedral that looked beautiful, we didn't get to see it, but as we left on the bus we realized we were closer to it than we thought. Here are some of the churches and buildings we saw:

It was a great day, and we definitely plan to go back again!

P.S. Today I posted over HERE at the Gleim Blog about my first week of studying for the CPA exam. 

Packing

Last Tuesday I turned in my two weeks notice at work, and my last day is this Friday, September 23. I plan to fly out of Orlando to Madrid on Saturday the 24. Not much time in between! Luckily I've already been packing, my mom is coming down to help me pack, and Matt's parents are coming next weekend also. I only have a week left and I'm already tired of packing! I've just gotten to a point where I'm not sure what to pack next, so I'm sure having my mom down here will help a lot! I just need someone else around to make me get it done. I would rather be shopping for fun new clothes to bring to Spain...but maybe if we get a lot done we can go shopping toward the end of the week.

It feels weird that it is my last week at work! This is the first job I've ever had, and I'm not really sure what I'm going to do when I get to Spain, so I'm trying to enjoy this last week of getting up early and being at a desk all day. I would like to have a job in Spain just to fill my time. Other wives of basketball players in Europe have told me I'm going to be really bored, but I'm looking forward to it! My mom is giving me a Nook for my birthday (I can't wait to go pick it up!) which is the perfect gift, so I will get to read a lot. I plan to work on my cooking/baking...I figure I can learn to cook some Spanish food, and also if Matt and I miss some American comfort food, they are bound to have the same basic ingredients over there right? So maybe I will learn to make some things from scratch. I would love to be a great baker, also. And I figure I can go for a run every day, spend time with God every day, all the things I want to do now but always seem too busy to find the time every day. I've heard that in Spain (and really in Europe), everyone takes life slower and really enjoys things - like the taste of food (not just eating to be full), and nature, and meeting new people (not just quick awkward small talk). I didn't make it all the way through the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" but I got the gist of it. I'm really looking forward to living in Europe and I hope I can learn to slow down and not always have to be entertained by something the way we are here in America. All the other basketball wives we know suggested I think of things like these to fill my time while Matt is busy or traveling.

I hope I'll be able to get a fun job too, to fill my time. I would love to be a nanny to just one or two kids, I would love to work in a cute clothing store, or maybe tutor someone in English. The problem is that I don't speak much any Spanish...but hopefully I'll pick it up fast once I get over there! I'm trying to learn some now, but I don't have anyone to practice speaking with.

I'm so excited to finally see Matt again and to see the cities of Avila and Madrid! Matt's team is supposed to book my flight, so I gave them the information for a flight on Saturday, but we think they may book it at a later date if they haven't found us an apartment yet. I'm not expecting to know when I'm flying out until maybe the day before! That has been the trend in the past, so I don't know why I should expect anything different now :). The earliest I would go is Saturday though, so I'm just going to be prepared for that.

On a side note, Matt had another pre-season game the other night and scored 17 points which made him the highest scorer on both teams!

Two Weeks

Matt has now been in Spain for two weeks and two days. I miss him so much! It really hit me over the weekend how much I missed him. I think the hardest thing is not having a day to look forward to when I will see him again. Hopefully I can book the flight soon, though!

Tonight while I was on Skype with Matt, FJ called. Basically, it sounds like FJ is meeting with some of the Fuenlabrada GM's tomorrow and may even have the contract for Matt to sign at the game tomorrow night! It sounds like they added some things to the contract, like Internet, our flights, meals for Matt and possibly me, and of course the apartment. It's not anything luxurious, but as long as it is enough for us to live on that is all we need this first year to be happy with the contract. The awesome thing is it sounds like there is a clause that says the contract is renegotiable in 3 months, which gives Matt a chance to earn more if he does well. Now we just have to pray he gets a chance to do well; I know if he gets a fair chance (reps in practice and a decent amount of playing time) that he will do great. He's such a hard worker, I've never doubted his ability to do what ever he wants because I know he will work as hard as he needs to in order to accomplish it.

Avila had a pre-season game on Saturday and they started Matt! He said everyone got to play an equal number of minutes, so it was about 18 min a person, but he said he played well and he scored 10 points, 5 rebounds and a steal and a couple assists. Sounds good to me! :)

I've been working a ton with the September 15 deadline coming up (corporate extensions are due). Every night I'm working late I just can't wait to turn in my notice! I am actually going to turn it in tomorrow morning though! (I can write this because no one knows about my blog yet...so no one will hear the news until later.) I cannot wait.

Cool God story below - sorry - kind of long:
It was really neat how I felt like God has been with me in deciding when to turn my two weeks' notice in. Last week, we thought I should turn in my notice on Thursday when Avila seemed to be negotiating Matt's contract. For some reason I just had a bad and worried feeling about it and did not want to turn it in. We tried calling Emilio to ask his opinion, and he didn't answer. Later that night, I was just sitting listening to some worship music and praying, and while I was still praying, God answered me! Emilio called me back and gave the perfect answer - he told me to wait to turn in my notice, and that the contract would be final in the next day or two, so I wouldn't have to wait long. I felt so good about that answer and about waiting, and I felt like God just gave me His peace about the whole situation. He built my faith that He hears our prayers by answering mine so quickly.

Well, then it was a rough weekend. I really missed Matt and was in a bad mood because of just being frustrated with not having a contract yet and Matt being gone and work. So there was more and more talk about the contract, but nothing final yet. Matt and I really miss each other, and decided Sunday night that I should turn in my notice today, Monday. Mostly just cause we want to get the two week clock started so we can be together sooner. We agreed I would wait til the end of the day today because the partner I want to inform first about all this was out of town until Tuesday. So I went to the HR office, and the lady had left early today! As I was walking toward her office, I was wondering if I was disobeying what I felt like God had told me last week. I just wasn't sure what I felt and where it was coming from, me or Him. So I felt like He protected me from disobeying him by the fact that she wasn't even there, so I could not even turn in my notice today if I wanted to! Then tonight on Skype, FJ called and gave us all that information, and I feel perfectly great about turning in my notice in the morning! The partner will be back in town, the HR lady will be in tomorrow, I feel the "go-ahead" from the Lord, Matt should finalize his contract tomorrow. It all worked out in God's perfect timing. I don't understand why this couldn't have happened a month ago like we thought...but He has been with us all summer in every decision, and I have to keep trusting Him, even though I failed today, but luckily He saved me. I just know if I had turned my notice in today, I would have wondered if I should have waited and if it was disobedient, and I wouldn't have felt right about it. But I feel great and excited and not worried about turning it in tomorrow.

God really has been with us all summer, teaching both me and Matt faith and trust, this is just one small example. I need to write down all the ways He has shown Himself and answered our prayers so I won't forget.

Hopefully I'll have definite news tomorrow!

One Week

Matt has now been in Spain for one week and a day. I miss him! He had a rough time for the first several days with traveler's sickness, just a combination of jet lag, different water, no sleep, and altitude sickness made him not feel so great. Normally not a big deal, but throw in two a day killer work outs and conditioning and he wasn't feeling well. It made me sad that he was by himself in a foreign country and he was sick! I wish I could've been there for him. But he's tough, he made it through, and he's feeling all the way better now.

A little background...this is pretty much all I know.... The first division in Spain is called the ACB, then there is LEB Silver and LEB Gold, then some other divisions below that I haven't learned yet. Divisions in Europe are different that college Division 1, 2 and 3 here. They are all professional teams, and they are all pretty good from what I hear.

Matt was with Fuenlabrada, an ACB team, the first 3 days he was in Spain. They did heavy two a day work outs with lots and lots of running and conditioning. Fuenlabrada is the name of a city right outside of Madrid, and that is also the name of their basketball team. This team has already signed the amount of foreign players (2 or 3) they can have on the team, but they took a look at Matt which could be for something in the future. Also, Avila, an LEB Gold team where Matt is playing now, is related to Fuenlabrada (Same GM maybe? and players can practice and play with both teams, regardless of which team they are actually signed to?).

On Wednesday night Matt went to Avila (again, name of a city about an hour outside of Madrid, and also the name of the team) which is an LEB Gold team. He's been practicing with them ever since Thursday and finally got a day of rest on Sunday. He feels like he's been playing really well, and we are hoping for a contract maybe sometime this week.

I got Matt to give me a virtual tour of his apartment via Skype, and it looked pretty nice. The buildings outside looked really pretty too. He says Avila is a beautiful city and that I would love it. He also really likes the coach and his teammates, so hopefully this will be where we end up!

Matt didn't have Internet for a few days this week while moving from Fuenlabrada to Avila, so we went without communication for a few days. He found a way each day to let me and his family know he was okay, but it was hard! I took for granted the fact that I could Skype with him every day at first. Now he has Internet again, so I'm trying to not take for granted every time I get to talk to him! We are waiting for him to officially sign a contract, and then I will turn in my two weeks notice at work. It's so weird because this is my first job, it feels strange to think about leaving it. At least I would be leaving because I would be moving to Spain instead of leaving to work somewhere else.

My sister came down this weekend to visit me, and I was so glad not to be alone! We went to Jacksonville and saw our cousins, aunt and uncle, then came back to Orlando and went shopping which was really fun. It was fun to have her around, especially after being alone for a week in my apartment! Also, we went to the library and found a DVD that teaches Spanish - it is awesome! I've already learned a lot, so I'm really excited to have something to do and work on while I wait to go meet up with Matt.

 I definitely miss Matt a lot! Right before he left, it hit me that if he were here while we were moving, he would be the one to get the U-haul, hook it up to his car, and figure out what should go in the U-haul first, and make sure the power got cut off on the right day... and I'll have to do all that without him. It just made me realize how connected we have gotten in only two years of marriage. There are so many ways that we are joined together, we just do life together. He has certain things he does, and I do other things, and together we have our life. And we love it, and it works well. So that said, I am missing him for everything he does, but also just having him around. He loves me and treats me so well, I miss coming home from work to him waiting for me. But hopefully all that will change and soon I'll get to join him in Spain!

I think this has been long enough. Hopefully I will update again soon if we get a contract!

24 Hours

For anyone who doesn't know, this summer Matt has been pursuing the opportunity to play professional basketball as his career. We signed with an agent (Emilio) in June, and Matt has been working hard on his game all summer and gotten some pretty cool opportunities to play with some NBA players through the Pro-Am tournament. Matt went to the National NBA Developmental League try out in July and was recently offered a contract with the D-League. We considered the contract, but we felt like an opportunity to play in Europe might be a better path to take. Emilio felt like he could get Matt a contract, probably in Spain. He's been in contact with us all summer, keeping us updated on his efforts, but basically because of the NBA lockout this summer and because of the economic crisis in Europe, things have been moving really slow this year.

This past Friday morning Emilio called Matt and said "I know this is crazy, but how do you feel about being on a plane to Madrid tomorrow?" Emilio had gotten Matt a tryout with two teams right outside of Madrid, one of them a top team in the ACB (top division) in Spain. He felt pretty confident that if Matt could go over there and they could see him play that he would get a contract.

Matt called me at work and we discussed it, and felt like we should take the chance. After talking to his family, we booked the flight. I came home for lunch, but then had to go back to work while Matt ran some errands. We were both so excited, nervous, worried, anxious, happy, surprised...all at the same time. My stomach was in knots all day, and it was hard to focus at work. We've been waiting for this call all summer, and now it was here! After work, we went to the Rollins soccer game where some of Matt's teammates were so he could say bye to them. Then we went to Verizon to take care of phones, and to the Nike outlet to get him some things he needed. It was so much fun, Matt doesn't spend a lot on himself, so I made him buy a couple pairs of Jordan shorts, a dry fit work out shirt and some other fun stuff. I told him when he got to Spain he could see all the nicely folded new clothes in his suitcase and think of me :). Then we came home and a couple of Matt's Rollins teammates came over to say bye, which was so nice of them. They hung out for awhile and helped us pack, which actually didn't take too long. We didn't know how long he was leaving for...if he gets a contract this could be him moving over there, so we packed a lot. We managed to fit it all in a big black rolling suitcase and a big duffel bag, and also a carry on. By the time we finished packing everything we were so exhausted from being so nervous and excited all day that we were able to fall asleep pretty easily. We woke up the next morning, finished packing some last minute things, made copies of important documents, and then I drove him to the airport.

I was so excited that this opportunity was here that I didn't even realized he would be leaving. I didn't have time to be sad until after I left him. It was weird dropping Matt off at the airport having no idea when or where I would see him again! It could be when he comes back, or it could be when I go to Spain and meet up with him!

So that was our crazy 24 hours, but we are so grateful for this opportunity and so excited! Hopefully it will work out!

On the way to the airport

My handsome man (doesn't his new haircut look great?)

At the airport (notice the new shorts) :)