Surprise, I'm back

I can't think of a way to summarize the last few months. I can't even explain the last couple weeks. Suffice it to say life keeps changing. I'm looking for some stability, I'm not sure it exists.

Surprises:
•Being excited about a new city and suffering culture shock again when I got here.
•I've eaten pulpo (octopus) after all and it wasn't bad. And grilled sepia, a cousin of squid, and itty bitty squid whole, and tuna empanadas. Probably some other things that I'm not thinking of... baby shrimp whole, that was today with my chinese food.
•Losing the bracelet Dar got me last year, and finding it after I moved away from where I lost it.
•Not being really messed up at not being home for Christmas. And Christmas lasting until Jan. 6. Sales not starting until after that.
•Giving a little testimony in Spanish to the ladies at church, even though my Spanish is rough.
•Understanding people's accents better in Madrid.
•How many times I have to look up the same Spanish word; and how many English words I can't find when I need them.
•Getting a phone line within a week of moving in (granted we asked for it 4 weeks before that).
•How much French I remembered when we crossed the border. It really messed up my pronunciation of Spanish and I got marked down on the final at language school
•Having house guests last weekend with less than 24 hours notice. Had to find a box that had the sheets for the spare bed in them.
•Not being able to find the right temperature in the shower. (I won't open the too hot or too cold discussion again, but those are my options).
•How tall my American matteress is.
•How big my house is (compared to mine in KC). I'm not sure, but I think we might have accidentally moved into the Leawood of Alcala de Henares. I find that disturbing.
•How hard it is to get back into blogging. I want to but there's so many things that still need attention in the house and I get so tired.
•That the can-you-be-the-secretary-and-bring-the-pie-attitude prevails in a "business" environment in the 21st Century. Oh yeah, I forgot it has to do with a church.
•How little God can use to do things. And how you don't have to have all the answers to go forward for God.

It's the weather

When we were in Belgium, there was a funny commercial. It was for cookies (biscuits) and the chefs were saying wis a franch accent - how zey mek de biscuits and how zey are perfect. The weather on the other hand (picture of storms), sorry about zey weader. For some reason, it struck us funny and "sorry about zey weader" stuck in our vernacular.

So the last six weeks or so here, we'll have these gloriously warm afternoons of 70F even 80F with cool mornings. Then just for mixing things up we'd have one or two days of very chilly rain - say a high of 55F. Everyone has said this fall is unusual and it's been too warm, but we don't know the difference, right?

So first I had stopped up ears. I got them cleaned out at a the only doctors office around that I knew of. He cleaned them out with a caulk gun shaped object, water out of hot pot on the floor and water out of the faucet. Yikes! When all the water didn't come out of one ear, he crammed paper towels down there with tweezers. Not what I'm accustomed to, but in the end I could hear.

Shortly hereafter my next medical journey began. I got a raging ear infection. I suffered through an incredibly painful weekend and went to the same doctor's office on Monday. No they couldn't take me. Next stop the emergency room. A first for me ever. But it was more like walk-in urgent care, just all in Spanish. After a Spanish lady doctor confirmed my intense pain through probing, I got prescriptions for pain, swelling, and antiibioticos. The antibiotics were slow to work and while the pain left, I still couldn't hear properly. (Try learning Spanish from the fog of pain pills and not being able to hear out of one side of your head, a real treat.)

As the antibiotics ran out, I came down with a head cold that the missionaries are passing around. Our bosses here wanted to check around about my ear situation. Turns out the doctor I went to is a quack and the pharmacist was horrified I went to him. Great. So they found a new ear doctor and took me in. I still had infection in both ears. Nunca, nunca, nunca, agua in tus oidos. Never, never, never water in your ears. Which is what my old doctor at home always said. I got ear drops for three times a day. What about my swollen tonsils I try to ask? Oh, it's the weather, drink more fluids.

That weekend I lose my voice and feel like I have razor blades in place of tonsils. Of course like any good hypochondriac I'm sure I'm dying. I'm going to end up in the emergency room again and they're going to tell me it's the weather. I had to go by the rental office for our apartment, I can barely make myself heard. They say, what else? Oh, it's the weather. Amazingly, Monday my throat started to feel better and I realized I would indeed live.

A few days later, the rental lady brought our heaters. Perhaps it was my froggy voice that made her recall that we don't have heat in our apartment or perhaps it was the imminent weather change I didn't know was coming but the heaters were a welcome sight. Two electric radiators that if you stand near them you can feel them emanating a little heat. Better than nothing! Now we know what all the doors are on the living room and kitchen. Trap that waft of heat.

Now that I'm on the mend, the weather seems to have turned permanently cool. I'm wishing for more of my sweaters and bigger heaters, but I'm happy to feel better. I'm bummed I missed out on enjoying the nice days while I was so sick, but that's life...sorry about zey weader.

Parking by braile

Someone over here used the phrase parking by braile. It's more true than I first knew. Parking, of course, on a long populated, donkey-paths-turned-roads continent is a challenge. The spaces are small to non-existent. When you find one, then you have the challenge of wedging your vehicle into it.

I'm not as good at the car shoehorn routine as is Dar. Plus I'm driving a car that I can't see out of as well as I'd like. I'm hoping the one we picked out from STL will offer me better sites. So anyway...at the parking garage this weekend I simply chose to go to the lower level where there would be more than say five feet in order to park the car. This is the cowards way perhaps but this is my way.

When I parallel or have to get into a tight spot, it is not unusual for me to get out of the car, see the position and realize I need to correct. So I get back in and try to center it. Here again, I'm hoping once we have our own vehicle and I drive it more and can see better that I'll be able to do this better. Parallel for many people here is a matter of bumping the car behind slightly and the car ahead slightly until finally the car fits- thus braile.

Today, we visited a monastery/tourist attraction site. Yikes, the crowds. There's all saints day holiday this week and perhaps that got everyone in the mood to visit their favorite black madonna, patron of the region. Did I mention this was on a mountain?

People were parked on the two lane highway for ages before we got to the ticket booth that let you "park" at the monastery. We took a ticket and crawled in a line of traffic. People were parked in ditches and on every spare inch of asphalt. Cars seemed to be coming down the mountain so I kept thinking they were people leaving, so we'd find parking. Actually no, you drive up to the monastery where there is a turn around and you drive back down to the ticket taker machine - with no parking or a parking attendant who could direct traffic. Dar cuddled the car up to a guard rail on the highway. I climbed out on his side and we walked back up the mountain. It was amazing and certainly not the last time we'll have a challenge finding parking.

Church bells and underpants

We paid 2 Euros to go through the old city wall museum area. It's not really a museum, you just get to walk on top of the city wall in Tarragona. (I'd post a picture but I don't have the camera with me.)

The rocks at the bottom of the wall are pre-Roman. The rest is when the Romans conquered this part of the world. The old part of town is tucked inside the walls and is the most picturesque place around.

So we walked on the wall admiring the roof lines of old buildings and "newer" ones (only a few hundred years old) that have been wedged into the old town or sometimes even into the wall itself. (In places 12 meters high and 6 meters wide but mostly 9 high and 4 wide.)

Anwyay, a very pretty afternoon. The cathedral bells are tolling, what a moment. A building pushed its way up only a few feet from where we were on the wall. It was apparently a residence as there was a string of laundry even with us on the wall. Several pair of white underpants were swaying in the breeze. That's so Europe it may be really pretty and old and charming, but it's also everyday living too. It was a good day.

Then there was the day I found out we weren't going to be able to get a phone or computer service. Not a happy camper day. They just aren't going to be able to get around to it in our community or something. So alas, I still won't be commenting very often. Dar seems to eek out more time for online stuff and he's faster at it than I am...so I'll try but I'm afraid I won't be around as much as I'd like. I miss everyone and reading what's going on in your lives. It's the everyday stuff you miss so much, so blogs are perfect for soothing that.

A lot of roads run to it and through it

We took a little drive yesterday. We were trying to go buy a computer monitor and some odds and ends for the new apartment in Barcelona. We went via Mount Tibidabo. This is when our new friends here die laughing, because the fact is we were lost. Very pleasantly and interestingly so, but lost all the same. Let's put it this way...there was another Mount on the map and it was in the lower left of the map and that's where we thought we were. Actually we were in the upper right quadrant of the map.

After a conversation with a Spanish family on the street and a Mr. Toad style wild drive through nearly every bario in Barcelona we found a road that would lead us to where we needed to be. The Spanish family actually led us in their car across town, God bless them!

So for every surly store clerk who actually cannot help us and for every product we cannot buy because that is only on the shelf not actually for sale -- there are Spanish people on the other side of the coin who go out of the way to help us. It's a strange and interesting phenomena.

We made our purchases and made it home with no detours. The good and the bad of that is: we have our own place (the good), we don't have phone or dsl service (the bad). The good: we can unpack. The bad: no email or blogging for the next few weeks. I'll be able to check in briefly on Tuesday, but after that only the guardians of phone service in Spain can tell.

No lights, fiestas, and such

Friday night I was already dressed for the Fiesta de Mujeres so I didn't want to exercise and get sweaty, but I wanted to do something. We weren't even leaving for the fiesta until 9:15pm, so I had to fill my evening. I strolled down the highway on ramp that leads from our current apartment to the little town area. A little supermercado down there seemed like a good destination. I'd never been there before so I was poking around looking at the various pastas and flours...when the lights went out. There was the universal, "ahhh" from people in the store. I watched the front of the store from my dark aisle and curiously they seemed to continue doing business. I got my vegetables and pastries and cautiously approached the front. I'm not sure how this works but despite there being no electricity in the rests of the store the cash registers were functioning. Made my purchases and walked home.

At the fiesta de mujeres I discovered that my language skills seem to have atrophied. I've learned many more words and verbs, but I'm paralyzed when it is time to use them other than to order in a restaurant. I'm assured this too will pass. I tried one of the boiled shrimp with the heads on. I pulled off the top third not really sure where the breaking point would be, peeled off the shell and ate the shrimp/tail bit I'm used to - not bad, no sauce though. Ate a piece of cold fried eggplant, some chow mein looking stuff that had something sweet in the veggies, maybe mandarins, ham pizza (lots of that here), crusty bread with tomato rubbed into the soft bits with olive oil and dried sausage slices on top, and tuna empanada - a kind of pot pie crust with something or other usually tuna in it. An American lady brought brownies which were snarfed up very quickly by the dessert deprived Spaniards. I didn't get one. I did understand more of the sermonette. Something about Mary and Jesus feet and having God be part of our entire lives not just part of it. I also had to pray in Spanish with a lady, I couldn't remember her name and butchered it badly in prayer.

Tonight was the last the English outreach services. We ate pizza afterwards...Regina for me (ham, championes, and acietuna-olives, for Dar tuna, acietuna, and red peppers. Got home and discovered a fiesta on the patio next to our apartment. Dar made me look out a window then flipped the lights on so everyone could see me spying on them. I chased him down the hallway calling him names alternately hitting and tickling him. And my weekend isn't even over...

Site unseen

We picked out an apartment last week. The same day the container rush broke loose. Over here there don't seem to be any "for rent" signs and no apartment finders. There are fincas - realtor agencies that will help you, but for a fee of a months rent. Since we are in this for the short haul, the missionaries were trying to help us avoid the extra fee.

One little area has apartments and someone knows the lady etc. They showed us one apartment on our first visit. It was on the first floor and hadn't been cleaned yet from the last occupants. It seemed a little dingy and dreary, but after more searching nothing else turned up. We're only looking at a few months, but when we went back to talk to her some more it turns out there are other apartments. The beauties of communicating in a language not your own - even with someone fluent with you! We were able to see a 2-bedroom instead of a 3 in a different building. Liked it much better, but that one wasn't available it was only an example. Much lighter and brighter and cleaner. A cheery place all around. It would be another week before we could see the other ones she had coming available. People rent these by the week in the summer to stay by the beach.

A young man who turns out to be the estate agents nephew took us and pointed at the apartment he thought was the one coming available. It was on an upper story which we liked and seemed like it would have a nice view.Not that that is all important but it would get us up out of the danker atmosphere of the bottom floor. This one was on what is called the second floor here but the third floor by US standards. Ground floor is zero. The young man, Juan, is learning English and we are learning Spanish, so this works out well. We have established the words for closet (amario) and swimming pool (piscina) several times between us.

Rather than wait until only days before our move date, we decided to take the apartment without ever looking at it. Crazy? Perhaps. It just seemed like the right gamble. So for several days we had an apartment reserved we had never seen with a move in date of Aug. 30 or Sept. 1. The missionary lady helping us thought we were crazy.
The day we took our deposit by (in cash - they don't do checks here only bank account drafts), they said it happened to be empty. We approached the door marked L on the second floor with some trepidation. Turns out to be clean and bright. The furniture didn't gross us out, some of it was cute with blue plaid slipcovers. Extra beds for guests in tiny guest rooms and dishes in the kitchen, along with the washing machine. The balcony has a partial view of the sea and a big table for eating outside. The "dryer" is on the balcony - a big rack where you hang your clothes to dry.

In the winter, they drop off two space heaters that will be our source of heat. Should be interesting.

We gambled and won it looks like. It will be a relief in some ways to get in our "own" place and unpack a bit more than we have. Though there are some major challenges too such as setting up dsl, buying appliances that thus far were already in the house (an iron, a computer monitor, toaster, etc.) As of today, we are also the proud owners of a Spanish bank account in order to participate in things like telephone service etc. The man who helped us spoke "a bit" of English that was a lot more than our Spanish.

Everyday is an adventure still.

Back to school

Tomorrow we go back to school after two weeks of working at home. I worked on average six hours a day on the homework that we were assigned, so it wasn't bum around time in all respects. The thing I've really enjoyed is rolling out of bed and throwing on shorts and tank top. I dread having to get dressed everyday like a real person again.

I haven't seen any woman, who was not at the beach, and who is over say 10 years old wearing shorts out and around. They aren't necessarily what we think of as dressy over here but it's not shorts. So for school and in case we go somewhere afterwards I feel like I should wear real clothes.

Part of the problem is that for five years I worked solo in someone's home. My work uniform: shorts, t-shirts, jeans, and sweaters in winter. Then I was unemployed for five months, still jeans and shorts. Then itineration. That was shorts, sweats, jeans, except for Sundays and Wednesdays when I had to have serious paybacks for the easy days. I had to truly dress up for those services not knowing what type of environment I might enounter. Dressing up once or twice a week isn't so bad.

Thankfully, I don't have to be that "dressy" here, but still it's not the slouch wear I am most happy to throw on in the morning. I also feel compelled to fix my hair and wear makeup... not that I mind those things, but everyday?? The challenges of being a girl.

Adventures in cooking

I was in the mood for Mexican. My favorite. I hunted the strange grocery store for all the ingredients. Even found the cilantro, was very pleased with that.

I chopped tomatoes and made black bean corn salsa, okay so there were no black beans, but kidney beans were a good substitute. Couldn't find any hot peppers, so I bought a can of verde sauce that had hot peppers in it and sprinkled some of that in the salsa. Not quite the zest of fresh summer peppers but it worked okay.

Zapped a can of beans in the food processor to turn them into refried beans (that was a suggestion I got from Doc a long time ago). I spiced them up with garlic, onions, more verde sauce. Pretty good.

I made my favorite homemade cooked sauce. I couldn't get the salt right. It seems like the sea salt I'm working with isn't as salty or something. It was a pretty close proximity to what I was after though.

I didn't have a shred feature on the food processor so I hit the white cheddar cheese from England with the regular blade. It turned the cheese into tiny clumps but it would crumble apart. When I go to buy my own food processor, I will check for a cheese shredder option.

We sat down to eat this burrito/mexican concoction with fresh tortillas made in Espana. About $5 for a dozen or so! And a bag of tortilla cheese chips. The chips were okay, the cheese flavoring didn't really have anything but color to it. I prefer plain chips for a meal like this anyway. They weren't very salty either, but they tasted crunchy with the sauce. The tortillas sadly leave something to be desired. Stiff and papery and not really much of a flavor to them. After all I'd put into the meal, the tortillas just weren't up to snuff. We still enjoyed our dinner though and have left overs for tomorrow. Especially lots of tortillas.

Estereotipos o stereotypes in English

The last week we have had to do self study at home by ourselves as Profesora G is on vacation. Can I just say that learning a foreign language single handedly with books stinks? Not my forte. I am learning; I understand the two units but there's a lacking sensation in my learning. One week left to go.

So for one of the exercises (ejercicios) I had to read an article about stereotypes of espanoles, Spanish people. They say they have a reputation for being passionate, lazy, a bit disorganized, friendly, and talkative, a bit dramatic. Also noisy, sensual, vitalistic (I'm not sure what that means really and that WAS the English word), and they don't have a capacity to listen for very long. Some of this I can see from being here a month and some I don't know yet. (Has it only been a month?!)

I had to write a tiny essay version for our country. I couldn't think of what our stereotypes would be much. I said, loud, self indulgent, and informal. I said these because in northern Europe you could hear the US visitors a mile away talking loud and demanding something like ice in their drinks and complaining. You don't notice that as much here, not as many US folk or everyone else is loud, I don't know. Informal I said because we don't dress up. That's sort of an outsider look at "us." What are your stereotypes for estadounidenses (US Citizens)? (You're not suppose to say americano/a because that technically covers all of North and South America.)