In February of this year we dared to take the step. We as a family of 5, with no experience with community what so ever, drove over 1600 km to stay for a week in a real community.

Well, with real community you might think of a place where many people live together, where everyone has his or her task and where expectations for each other are high. If that’s the case, then we maybe didn’t go to a real community.

FamiliaFeliz is an un-intentional community. And this fact, the no intention part, does not necessarily make it easier for a dummy. Maybe even the opposite. If you know what is expected of you, you know what the intention is, than you can do it and you don’t have to think about anything. But then, here in FamiliaFeliz, that is just not the case. So we dummies came here to figure out how things are done here.

This week at FamiliaFeliz was amazing and also a bit overwhelming. We talked to a lot of people, considered a lot of options and most interesting we fell head over heels in love with the town. With a head bursting of information and with a lot of questions about “what now” we went back home.

In May we made the same trip again. This time, due to circumstances, we did not stay at CASAdelDRAGON, which gave us the space to view the area around in a different way.

Now it is July and we are here for the 3rd time. This time we will stay in CASAdelDRAGON for 6 weeks and really immerse ourselves in what life would be like if we want to move here. Because that is our idea.

For anyone who is interested in FamiliaFeliz, community life, emigrating with children, or just wants to follow our journey. I’m going to try to document these 6 weeks for you. The ups and the downs. The honest story.

I am writing this blog on the 3rd day we are there.
The children found the swimming pool. They are 13, 10 and 8 years old and can easily go to the pool on their own. Cervera del Maestre is a charming, small and well-organized village. With peace of mind I can let the children do their own thing here. For now they are having a great time. They enjoy getting their groceries in the supermarket or the bakery. We don’t speak Spanish very well yet, but luckily they don’t let that stop them.

Ben, my husband is still working remotely for the first 3 weeks. It takes some time to figure out how and where he can best do his work. If all goes well, from tomorrow he will have a place outside the house so that we don’t have to get in each other’s way as much.

And for me. The first day was arrival day and settle down day. Plenty to do and little to think about. Yesterday things got interesting. The kids did their thing. I didn’t necessarily have to do anything. And so I walked around a bit like a headless chicken. Fighting that feeling that I needed to do something. Looking for a mode that worked. I read a bit in the Spanish sun, but I didn’t get much more out of it. In the evening we enjoyed each other’s company with a BBQ on the roof terrace. Today was already better. I got behind the laptop to do some work and wrote this blog. I enjoy being creative and this can be done in different ways. There are a number of plans for the coming week to express this. But life can also be slow here, if you want. And I think this suits us to.

In the community now there are 9 of us in CASAdelDRAGON. 5 adults and 4 children between 14 and 8. Some speak English some speak Spanish but not everyone can speak both which makes for funny situations but also for a great learning opportunity. This composition will not be the same for the entire 6 weeks, some will stay, some will leave, others will join, some will come back. Since last week, 3 people have also been living in the garden of FamiliaFeliz. We will certainly meet them these days, but yesterday’s thunderstorm threw a spanner in the works.

My husband and I walked through the village yesterday evening. Every time we do that our heart beats faster. We both agreed that before we went, 6 weeks seemed like a long time, but now that we’re here it feels like 6 weeks isn’t going to be long enough. Whether that is really the case, you can read along with us here in the coming weeks.

Thanks for joining
Gwen