Friday June 28th

Friday was again very busy at work, though I suspect that will be the case for the next week or so.  The big highlight at work was the barbeque.  Yes, we had a staff barbeque in the afternoon, a way of celebrating the calm before the storm, so to speak, and to say thank you for all the hard work that will be put in this next week.  We can’t do it after the 4^th of July since July is typically the month in which Spaniards use their vacation days for the year and a large portion of the staff will be leaving afterwards.  The barbeque was great, bratwursts, hamburgers, salchichas (a kind of spicy sausage hotdog), salad, and toasted bread covered with a traditional sauce made of tomato, olive oil and various seasonings.  Very good food!  It was nice to just get to spend time will all the staff, including those who work offsite.  Nikki came and joined us as well, which made it that much more enjoyable, plus she got to meet Morgan, Michelle, Umberto, and a few others with whom she wasn’t acquainted.  Then it was off to the beach!

The weather was decent, so Nikki and I decided to go for it and got to the beach a little after 5:30 where we sat for a while, ate a picnic, watched some people playing paddle ball and volleyball, and people watched.  I read a little, Nikki napped, and most importantly, Nikki got to go swimming in the Mediterranean!  Apart from the water being really cold and salty it worked out nicely.  Thankfully we still have weeks ahead of us and the water will probably get significantly warmer.  We also decided it would be our goal to have at least one day when someone comes to the beach with us so that they can watch our stuff, which would allow Nikki and me to actually go swimming together.  In all we stayed for almost two hours before heading home on account of wind.