ICR, CDC, etc.

Every service member, civilian contractor, government employee and dependent family member that arrives at NAVSTA Rota is required to participate in a four day course called ICRCOC (Intercultural Relations and Community Orientation). It is a welcome orientation where all information pertinent to checking in to a new command, getting oriented with the local town and culture, and finding answers to common questions is presented. It’s an intense few days but we sure learned a lot!

The week started with a welcome from the base CO, XO, and CMC. These are the leadership of the American base: the Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, and Commanding Master Chief. The Navy is full of acronyms! It’s like a different language. All week long the presenters were spitting off acronyms and the service people were all nodding and completely understanding everything. Myself and the other spouses in the room were looking around at one another with blank stares, completely lost! This is our first duty station and I have a feeling it’s going to be a steep learning curve figuring out this new language.

Topics covered included everything from how to get base access, registering your vehicle, emergency management, chaplain services, housing, legal issues, hospital services and insurance, safety, voting, veterinary services, recycling, shopping on base, utilities, emergency leave, banking… There were presenters every 20 minutes continuously for almost three whole days. Even though the Rota base is small, there are so many services offered and I was quite surprised with all of the access and help available for just about everything and anything that might come up while we live here. It definitely gave me a sense of community and support.

ICR also covered a lot of information about Spain! The instructor was a very patriotic Spanish man in his sixties with a wealth of knowledge and advice to share about Spanish language, culture, tradition, laws, food and more. The American presence in Spain is at the grace of the Kingdom of Spain. No American flags are flown on the military base and the USA military actually rent space from the Spaniards. We took a tour of the Spanish areas which include everything you’d expect– housing, services like a bank, restaurant, stores, training facilities, lots of military equipment and more. This was something I wasn’t expecting at all. The relationship between the Spanish and Americans is very good here; it’s inspiring to be called an American ambassador. We were reminded of this several times throughout the week. The Spanish Marines man the gates entering the base while the American sailors do the exit security.

One day we got to take a bus out in to Rota to do some sightseeing. We stopped at a gypsy market which reminded me a lot of the flea markets in San Diego – tons of local vendors selling clothes, fabric, candy, and OLIVES galore! It was a total frenzy and we only had a few minutes but it was so fun! Did I mention how I’ve been on a shopping hiatus for months thanks to house purging pre-move, packing, living out of suitcases and being homeless?? So you can bet I was so happy to shop, even if we only had 25 minutes! In fact, I think Brandon and I were the only ones who bought anything. We were having so much fun they had to send someone to come find us because we were taking too long! Ha! We also toured Rota’s castillo, a few shops along the marina, a fresh fish market and ended the day with lunch at a local restaurant featuring traditional Spanish vino, tapas, paella and dessert. It was a lot of fun to get out and meet some of the other people who just arrived.

While we were in classes all day, the kids went to the childcare facility, the CDC. Wow! It was our first experience with full-time childcare and it was an educational experience! To begin with, there was so much paperwork! Of course the center is set up to the full-time care provider for military children while their parents are at work and so we can appreciate the thoroughness of the process. But for our four day temporary care and with no intention to use the center regularly (maybe for occasional hourly care and parent’s night out), it seemed intense! I had to get special permission for Blake to be in the infant area. Technically he was supposed to be with “pre-toddlers” but since he is over one year old and still breastfeed and not drinking whole milk or formula, his feeding needed to be regulated. The center offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks to the kids and it is mandated by some health regulations. Anyways, because he was still eating “on demand” he needed to stay with the younger babies with less regimented schedules. Ashtyn also had to stay with younger kids because she hadn’t completed kindergarten yet like some kids her age.

Evan got to go to the school age care center which was awesome. Like most of the facilities here, it is almost brand new and totally decked out! They had all kinds of fun games, art projects, a Wii, great counselors and lots of activities planned. He got to take a field trip to the movie theater and the swimming pool and met lots of friends. He was all smiles at the end of the day which definitely made us happy.

For the most part, the kids enjoyed their time. There was lots of structure and developmentally appropriate learning activities. I think they were just happy to see some other kids their ages! Avery has not napped for probably close to a year so the mandatory nap time was not a happy thing for her. In fact, by the third day she was in tears from the moment she woke up because she didn’t want to go. It took me almost an hour to drop her and Blake off because they were both inconsolable with separation anxiety. Every time I came back to feed Blake during the day he would scream and cry when I left. It absolutely broke my heart! The transition has been rough on the kids and the lack of schedule has been the icing on the cake. So leaving them for four days was hard!


Actually, I lied. The icing on the cake was on Thursday night, after the last day of ICR, Brandon had a pretty itchy head. Upon investigation, he discovered he had head lice! He checked me and I had it too. And Blake couldn’t stop itching his head all day. Nasty! We think Blake likely brought it home and gave it to us (yes, he still shares the bed with us!). So Friday Brandon got to use his newly acquired prescription privileges to get us some special shampoo and we all got treated as part of family movie night!