How we met 

Jessica was learning Spanish, Rober was learning English. We connected through italki.com and started meeting on skype a few times a week. 

Blog Beginnings

Jessica was moving back to her hometown of Missoula, Montana and wanted to take a deep dive into practicing Spanish. Once Rober was on board, all of the pieces quickly fell into place. We started by doing the same activities in our respective cities, things like touring urban art, signing up for local races, or seeing comedy shows. 

Visits 

The first night Jacob and Jessica spent in Spain–the first time we had all met in person–we stayed up late in Diana and Rober’s dining room, reading from a cowboy sayings book over wine and the remnants of our first dinner together. Just six months later, Rober and Diana visited the U.S. We all met in San Francisco and then flew together to Montana. From both trips, some of our favorite moments surrounded a good meal with new friends and family. 

Language

Our friendship grew out of a language exchange and it’s part of what has made this experience so much fun. When the four of us are together, we default to the language of the place we’re in, but we tend to speak a mix of English and Spanish, leading to often hilarious connections and more of an appreciation for both languages and how they are constructed. 

Cooking 

One thing we’ve realized throughout the course of our conversations and visits is how much we love eating, talking about food, and trying new cuisines. Our cooking blog represents a new format for Día a Day, one that we hope will reflect a mixture of our styles and languages. 

Jessica

Jessica doesn’t like being put in a box, and if you ask her which state she likes most of the places she’s lived, she might balk at the mere thought of having to choose! While she does eat meat now, Jessica was a vegetarian for a long time, and many of the things she cooks center on seasonal vegetables and beans. 

Rober

Rober loves a good English expression, and is admirably courageous about trying new ones. Just don’t worry if he says “I’m going to hit you,” when holding a bottle of champagne. He just wants to pour you a drink, friend!  He and Diana are the masters of quick and delicious dinners, which they whipped up in the blink of an eye every night we stayed with them in Requena.  

It’s always time for a swim

Rober once stated, “If someone else swims, I can’t resist going in.” Jessica agreed that this, too, was her weakness. On the coldest day of our trip, as we were hiking toward a waterfall in the rain, Jacob said, “It’s almost worth it for me to go in right now, because if I did, I’d get both of you.” And now you can imagine how we ended up swimming 3 times the week before the first hard freeze in Montana.