Thursday, May 19, 2011

Journey to Santiago - Day 14, Twelfth Stage


Day 14 - San Juan de Ortega to Burgos
Distance walked today: 28.7 km (17.9 miles)
Total distance walked: 241.3 km (150.8 miles)
Total distance left: 487 km (304.4 miles)
Information on the stage traveled here.
Information about the town of Burgos.

Adal walked a whopping 18 miles today!  Yet he sounded less exhausted than yesterday.  He was tired, but feeling well.  His legs were sore but not in pain.  And he made it to Burgos!  Famous city of the Poem of the Cid.  He has earned a stay at a nice 4 star hotel for tonight, and a day as a tourist.  He says it's a larger town, more like a city, and he has finally fixed his local phone.

The last few miles of the path to Burgos were on a road and not very desirable, so Adal decided to take a detour that added 2 km to his trek but wandered amongst more favorable and safer paths.

He tells me that the Camino de Santiago has three saints along the path: Santo Domingo de la Calzada, San Juan de Ortega, and Santiago de Compostela.  He's been to two of the three already!  As for one of the questions asked before, about emergency services, he said the town of Burgos had an emergency hotline posted on large signs, and 4x4 emergency medical vehicles dedicated to helping out the Walkers of the path. He saw the 4x4s pass him twice, so it seems the town of Burgos is serious about helping those on the path.

So Adal picked up some old lady pantyhose, the kind that only goes to like your ankles or calves.  He's going to try it out because he says the pantyliners work great!  They make the perfect giant bandaid.

Today was N's spring concert in school and I took 2 hours from work to go see her.  It was a cute outside performance with the kids from nursery, reception, and year 1 dancing and singing around a Maypole.  The music teacher, Ms. Swan, played the violin.  And N has another loose tooth!  This one is going the same way as the first tooth: the adult tooth already came out right behind it while the baby tooth is still wobbly.  Better start that Orthodontic fund now...

Tomorrow is the reception year picnic in the afternoon, and I will be there.  I feel N needs the extra attention from mom because Daddy's gone.  Tomorrow we'll make it a movie night and eat popcorn.  I printed out a calendar of May and June for her to cross out the days, counting down the days to friend's birthdays, Papa coming home, and Abu coming to visit.  I think this will help her visualize better how many days are left, and help her count the days.

She's reading really well.  It seems like it was a bit slow in the beginning, and now is snowballing into a bigger and bigger vocabulary.  Today she practically read a relatively difficult book by herself,  one of her own instead of a school book with carefully planned words.  Only problem is that it takes so looong.  It took us almost an hour!  But I can definitely see a huge improvement in reading.  I was a pretty fast reader myself, but I don't think I read that well in kindergarten, or even first grade.  I hate to brag about kids, because each is unique and learn things at their own pace.  Kids that are faster aren't necessarily always rocket scientists.  And though her reading is really good, her writing is lagging behind.  And really, I don't care if she's reading at 8th grade level or kinder, that stuff just isn't an indicator of anything.  But yet, I'm really proud at how she tries so hard to push herself to sound out the "tricky" words.  And even better?  She's kinder to those around her, and more aware of how others feel, which is improving as she grows.  THAT is what's really important.

No comments: