The movers came on Monday morning - like before, I had everything in a pile in the garage. Out of sight, out of mind, not to mention, easier than telling the movers, take this, but don't take this! Per Vistaprint, we had an approval of 500 pounds for air shipment which by the look of it to me, was around that ballpark. You know, because I could tell just by looking at it. So the movers arrived around 9:30ish and the first words out of the movers mouth was "we're here for the 250 lb air shipment." So I of course say, "I'm sorry, you mean you are here for the 500 lb air shipment, right?" "No, 250" he says. So now I'm FREAKING out... I KNOW it's 500 lbs. And I know I have it written down somewhere. This is NOT a good start to my last week here. Fortunately I don't delete any emails and within minutes I found my email in my moving details / barcelona folder in my inbox. I printed it out and handed it to him while he was on the phone with his boss. Thankfully it was resolved in minutes...whew!!! The movers managed to compress 500 lbs (it actually came out to 495 so I guess I really did have a pretty good eye there!) of stuff into 3 large boxes. The only other freak out moment was when they weighed the first box and it came out to 210 lbs and I knew there were 2 equally large boxes left to be weighed. It all worked out though and the last of our stuff is now on it's way to Barcelona. I heard from the movers today and because of weather and backup from the holidays, the boxes haven't actually gotten on a plane yet but they will ay time now - we expect it to be there within a few days of our arrival which is fine.
The rest of our goods that shipped in November is in storage in Barcelona right now. It made it there before Josh left but did not make it thru customs before he came home. So we've scheduled it to be delivered the morning we arrive; yes we are gluttons for punishment but we might as well get it all overwith in one day...not to mention, all our bedding is on that boat!!! Josh only went with a set of sheets for everyone (no blankets) and just a pillow for himself. So we need that stuff! The movers packed us up in under 3 hours when they came to our house in November, but they insisted on being at our flat by 9AM the morning we arrive. We won't even make it into the airport until just after 10 and probably the flat by 11:30 by our estimate. Thankfully one of Josh's co-worker's wife offered to meet the movers for us - thanks so much Cristy!!
So now the majority of everything has shipped and all we have left is what will go in our suitcases. Not very much. Our house is looking pretty empty right now - just some furniture really. Everything is in the basement in storage or in/on the way to Barcelona. I'm quite honestly rather sick of this transitional phase. It's not that I'm so anxious to leave everyone or my home, but I'm sick of living half in this house and half our stuff there - I just want to get started on this new phase of our lives and start making a home for my family. So I'm actually excited about Sun so we can start on this new phase and just move on from being in limbo.
We fly out this Sun evening. On Christmas Day, there was a thwarted terrorist attack on a Northwest airlines plane that was flying into the US. Thank god it was stopped! But I need to get off the internet because I'm constantly reading these articles about more potential attacks and this whole cell in Yemen stuff. It's nerve wracking. Not to mention even stricter airline regulations which were already a bit on the strict side. I appreciate the desire for the airlines and the government to protect us but there is such a thing as going to an extreme. But you know what? I've never had to protect and airplane and it's passengers before so what do I know? I'll follow the regulations and that's fine but I heard about security patting down small kids and I'm sorry, but I draw the line there - no one is patting down my kids! Can I do anything about it, my guess is no. I'm not crazy about that helpless feeling.
Regardless of fears, we're off on Sunday and there's no looking back. This is it!!! All this preparation for the last several months is coming to fruition. We are really and truly moving to Spain!! How is this possible? It's hard to believe it's finally become a reality! I have to say, I'm starting to get excited! I know I'll cry when I leave the house but what's ahead is truly exciting.
We've said goodbye to some more great friends, but it's not goodbye as one said... it's just see you later! Don't forget that! This isn't forever - it's 2 years. And it will fly by for us all! You'll come to us, we'll come to you, you know how it goes! More to come in the next few days I'm sure!
Julie
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
The goodbyes begin...
Two days ago was Christmas. One of my favorite times of year. To me there is no holiday more steeped in tradition than Christmas. I could do without the cold weather but I also look forward to a white Christmas each year (or the hope of one). I think the traditions are some of the things we will miss the most about being home, especially this time of year. We do a lot as a family and as a neighborhood.
My family doesn't really celebrate Christmas as we were raised more Jewish than Catholic (though we didn't attend Temple or Church) but they still let me embrace this holiday without guilt :) and I appreciate that. Because to me, personally, this holiday isn't about Christ or anything religious, but it's always been about family, friends, and a time to reflect on the past year. So we don't celebrate Christmas on Christmas with my family, we usually do it whenever our schedules permit sometime between Thanksgiving and New Years. It's become a tradition itself that we just celebrate it sometme in there. We do the stereotypical chinese food to celebrate our Christmaka. Because we were still a few weeks away from our departure date, I did pretty good with my goodbyes after we opened gifts - mainly because I knew I had at least one more time to see my family before I leave. Today I saw my brother and his girlfriend when we went to drop off the kids so we can go out with friends tonight. I'm going to miss them so much and hope they will come and visit. Jay actually may need to come for work in January (he works with Josh for those that don't know) which would be great. I know that when I see my family for the last time (for a while), it's going to be heart wrenching... and I'm sure I'll have an update on that when it happens.
My dad comes over on Christmas morning to help the kids unwrap their gifts. Another tradition that I look forward to. My mom always works on Christmas and my brother doesn't really celebrate it but it's my dad's holiday having been brought up in a Lutheran home. So we do our best to include him with our celebration. It's also nice to have someone help us with those damn little ties on the boxes ;). Just kidding Dad - we love having you over!!
After we open gifts here, we head down to the Cape to Josh's family. We have traditions there as well - potato pancakes (yum!), open gifts, a nice roast for dinner and then a challenging game of trivial pursuit. The game is usually more between Aunt Ellen and Josh's dad because really, they are the ones with the most random knowledge of stuff. But we all try to participate. But as the night drew to a close, I could feel a lump in my throat starting. This was it. Josh's parents were leaving for vacation this week and this is the last time we are going to see them. With tears in my eyes, I told Aidan to make sure he hugged his Granny and Papa extra tight because it's going to be a long time before he sees them again. I could feel the tears start streaming down my cheek - Josh's parents spend a lot of time with the kids and as much as they have supported us in this new adventure, I'm sure they are sad to see us (ok, more the kids than us) go. We know they will visit but this was our first goodbye of what we know will be many in the coming week. If I'm already teary on the first one, how am I going to be on the last one? Josh may need to drag me on to that plane at this rate.
Your family will always be your family and we love them dearly so please family, don't take this next part to mean that you don't mean the world to us, because you do. We wouldn't be who we are today without you. Your love and support has made us into the people we are today, about to embark on this worldly adventure. We love you so much!!!
We celebrate Christmas as a neighborhood too - we have luminaries every year that all of our friends participate in. It's so beautiful seeing the streets in our neighborhood lit up for the holiday. 
And also seeing everyone come together to do a project like this. We make cookies with all the kids together to leave for Santa. We have chinese food on Christmas eve and the kids do a gift exchange. This neighborhood is also my family. My family that I will miss just as much as my blood family. They have become the people I call night or day if I have a sick child or need a ride somewhere or just want to chat. They are the people that I call when I have something funny to say or a sad story to share. They are the friends that in the summertime we will hang out with til the sun goes down as the kids play in the yards and the street. That we have bonfires with. That we do cookouts with. That we have girls / boys weekends with a few times a year.
They are the parents of our childrens' best friends. When I get a chance to go out, often times it's with my girls... and Josh has boys night every Thursday night in Dave's garage - I know he's going to miss that. And I know the kids will miss their friends. But I know that all of you will Skype with us too, right???
Last night we went out with these friends and we said many goodbyes. I had my tissues on me but surprisingly didn't need them because it was all about celebrating - celebrating our friendship and this adventure Josh and I are about to embark on. We had so much fun, my body hurts this morning. These are the most wonderful friends that Josh and I could have. I didn't get a chance to do a toast last night so I want to let them know some things - You were our friends when we first moved here - when it was just Josh and I...no dogs, no kids, no marriage for that matter! You were our friends when we got engaged, when we got Jake, when we got married, got Sailor and then when the kids arrived. You were the friends that I was pregnant with (both times). You've been the friends that I call when I need a quick favor, or someone to hang out with, or even just to say hi. Good news or bad news... you are who I call. You have been my support system for the last however many years. And without you, I'm scared. I know you will stand by me and be there to support me, but you won't be THERE but yet you will be here in my heart and in my thoughts, every day. I am so lucky to have friends like you and knowing I have friends like you to come back to makes this process just a little bit easier. Thank you for being you and for being my friend.
Now I must finish my packing, the movers come tomorrow to take our final shipment. My parents are on their way to pick up the kids and spend some time with them. Today may be our final goodbye with them as well - I will most definitely need tissues for that...
Til then...
Julie
My family doesn't really celebrate Christmas as we were raised more Jewish than Catholic (though we didn't attend Temple or Church) but they still let me embrace this holiday without guilt :) and I appreciate that. Because to me, personally, this holiday isn't about Christ or anything religious, but it's always been about family, friends, and a time to reflect on the past year. So we don't celebrate Christmas on Christmas with my family, we usually do it whenever our schedules permit sometime between Thanksgiving and New Years. It's become a tradition itself that we just celebrate it sometme in there. We do the stereotypical chinese food to celebrate our Christmaka. Because we were still a few weeks away from our departure date, I did pretty good with my goodbyes after we opened gifts - mainly because I knew I had at least one more time to see my family before I leave. Today I saw my brother and his girlfriend when we went to drop off the kids so we can go out with friends tonight. I'm going to miss them so much and hope they will come and visit. Jay actually may need to come for work in January (he works with Josh for those that don't know) which would be great. I know that when I see my family for the last time (for a while), it's going to be heart wrenching... and I'm sure I'll have an update on that when it happens.
My dad comes over on Christmas morning to help the kids unwrap their gifts. Another tradition that I look forward to. My mom always works on Christmas and my brother doesn't really celebrate it but it's my dad's holiday having been brought up in a Lutheran home. So we do our best to include him with our celebration. It's also nice to have someone help us with those damn little ties on the boxes ;). Just kidding Dad - we love having you over!!
After we open gifts here, we head down to the Cape to Josh's family. We have traditions there as well - potato pancakes (yum!), open gifts, a nice roast for dinner and then a challenging game of trivial pursuit. The game is usually more between Aunt Ellen and Josh's dad because really, they are the ones with the most random knowledge of stuff. But we all try to participate. But as the night drew to a close, I could feel a lump in my throat starting. This was it. Josh's parents were leaving for vacation this week and this is the last time we are going to see them. With tears in my eyes, I told Aidan to make sure he hugged his Granny and Papa extra tight because it's going to be a long time before he sees them again. I could feel the tears start streaming down my cheek - Josh's parents spend a lot of time with the kids and as much as they have supported us in this new adventure, I'm sure they are sad to see us (ok, more the kids than us) go. We know they will visit but this was our first goodbye of what we know will be many in the coming week. If I'm already teary on the first one, how am I going to be on the last one? Josh may need to drag me on to that plane at this rate.
Your family will always be your family and we love them dearly so please family, don't take this next part to mean that you don't mean the world to us, because you do. We wouldn't be who we are today without you. Your love and support has made us into the people we are today, about to embark on this worldly adventure. We love you so much!!!
And also seeing everyone come together to do a project like this. We make cookies with all the kids together to leave for Santa. We have chinese food on Christmas eve and the kids do a gift exchange. This neighborhood is also my family. My family that I will miss just as much as my blood family. They have become the people I call night or day if I have a sick child or need a ride somewhere or just want to chat. They are the people that I call when I have something funny to say or a sad story to share. They are the friends that in the summertime we will hang out with til the sun goes down as the kids play in the yards and the street. That we have bonfires with. That we do cookouts with. That we have girls / boys weekends with a few times a year.
Last night we went out with these friends and we said many goodbyes. I had my tissues on me but surprisingly didn't need them because it was all about celebrating - celebrating our friendship and this adventure Josh and I are about to embark on. We had so much fun, my body hurts this morning. These are the most wonderful friends that Josh and I could have. I didn't get a chance to do a toast last night so I want to let them know some things - You were our friends when we first moved here - when it was just Josh and I...no dogs, no kids, no marriage for that matter! You were our friends when we got engaged, when we got Jake, when we got married, got Sailor and then when the kids arrived. You were the friends that I was pregnant with (both times). You've been the friends that I call when I need a quick favor, or someone to hang out with, or even just to say hi. Good news or bad news... you are who I call. You have been my support system for the last however many years. And without you, I'm scared. I know you will stand by me and be there to support me, but you won't be THERE but yet you will be here in my heart and in my thoughts, every day. I am so lucky to have friends like you and knowing I have friends like you to come back to makes this process just a little bit easier. Thank you for being you and for being my friend.
Now I must finish my packing, the movers come tomorrow to take our final shipment. My parents are on their way to pick up the kids and spend some time with them. Today may be our final goodbye with them as well - I will most definitely need tissues for that...
Til then...
Julie
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Work hard, play hard, getting stuff done
I have been at work for two weeks. How different is Barcelona from Lexington? There is defiantly more of an office buzz or energy you might say. It reminds me of the startup days in lex - which is a good thing. I have been lucky enough to participate in growing the company from 16 employees to a little under 2000. The Lexington office is probably in the mid 400s but the BCN office seems alive with much fewer employees. It could be the environment as there is definitely the work hard play hard mentality - again back to the start up days. It's hard to leave work at night - much more than I thought it would be. Lex gets online about right after lunch here 2 or 3. From that point on the emails and meeting madness starts. By the time 6 or 7 comes around I am wondering where the day went and when I will get some time to work on some non transactional items - usually in the morning in BCN. The transition was pretty easy as I was mid was through a project when I left with the team divided between lex and BCN. It's a challenge managing remotely but totally doable if you have a clue. I am starting to get better traction on some other work items but that will come shortly into the new year - when everyone gets back to the office. It also seems a lot of the work I put into a project to determine how my department could scale globally got a good response - a fun side project. It will be fun and challenging realizing that vision. Enough about work what about play....
Casinos are really different here and small. I went to go play some black jack before a dinner but I forgot my passport and I refused to pay an entry fee to lose money. I learned you needed to get coupons for the casino to skip the entry fee so I went back. The top half which was really really small was free and only had a few machine games like slots and the like. The tables were down stairs so that is where I went -with coupon in hand. There were maybe 4 or so black jack tables and under 10 poker tables from what I could tell. There were a few other tables but overall very small. I had 200 Euros and headed off to black jack. I quickly noticed most folks at the table or casino for that matter had no clue how to play. I saw several people go through somewhere between 500 -1000 Euros in 15 minutes at a 10 euro black jack table. They would bet 50 and lose, bet 250 and lose and kept at it until their money was gone. One of these people was a totally hot prostitute (I think ) that sat beside me for the first hour. She either chose to ignore me or spoke no English - she knew a lot of the dealers and help. Later I watched her go through another 600 Euro or so. My first 120 or so lasted a little over an hour, not bad. I also learned drinks are not free as my one jack and coke cost me 14 Euros- highway robbery. I took a break and walked around. I learned the drinks from the free section up stair were about half the price - why rob your best customers? After a break and reassessing the crews at the table I sat down and got up about 200 Euros after another few hours. I took my starting pot put it in my jacket with another 50 or so Euros and played the night out with the remaining money until I only had a small amount at the table. I got up and left up for the night which included paying for some very expensive jack and cokes but it was a good night - Wednesday night poker.
Have I mentioned the seafood here is fabulous! I have now been to a few places where you pick out the raw ingredients like at a fish market and then they take it back to cook it. I have even found a place for lunch that does this with an all you can eat buffet. You pick the seafood and veggies and pile it high then put it in line to get cooked. Then you head over to the sushi section for your apps while it cooks. If you are lucky you can finish the sushi before the rest of the meal is cooked so you don't have too many plates of food at the table. I have been averaging about one meal a day given the portions and generally cheap pricing.
The cheapest lunch has been Chinese so far at 6.5 Euros for three courses. There is usually a fixed lunch menu with an assortment of apps, main course and dessert to choose from for one price at most places. I usually know the main ingredient in any dish such as meat or chicken but I really have no clue about anything else on the dish when I look at the menu - still working on my Spanish. Sometimes even if you know your Spanish you still might not have a clue on what exactly will show up for you to eat. The Chinese food restaurant had several chicken or steak entries with deliciousness listed as part of the dish. You have no clue nor does anyone with what deliciousness will come with your dish. In this case it was various vegetables though that might change tomorrow. This will drive Julie nuts....picky eater.
We went to Alcampo in the Diagonal Mar mall to get Yankee swap gifts for the office. Alcampo is best described as a somewhat rundown super wall mart. If wall mart could get a location in BCN they would clean up. I first noticed this would be different when I saw lockers for personal items right outside the store - hmmm what's that for. Then I saw people enclosing their bags or other like items into another plastic bad and then heat sealing it. For some reason women did not have to heat seal purses into another plastic bags but any other bag, backpack, etc needed to be heat sealed. Obviously, if you did not want to heat seal your items you could rent a locker. Please note the pure electronic stores here do not have this security - they have much smaller and costly goods but a somewhat rundown super wall mart did. I knew we were in trouble at this point as one of guys had a big bag with a big box that would not fit in a locker or the heat sealed plastic bag. As he tried to make his items fit in the heat sealed plastic bags security started watching us. After few minutes of attempting this security came over. They were nice and agreed to put his box in their little area. The conversation took a bit longer then I expected but he knew Spanish well - not sure how I would've faired. So now we were ready to enter the store and go through the electric screening. Of course the alarms go off, we turn around and meet our security friends again. We walk through one at a time until the person setting it off was identified. The hand held wand came out and his jeans were the culprit. Security started to drag him off somewhere - luckily the one guy that really knew Spanish stepped in. Security was trying to bring him to a room where he could take off his jeans to find the offending tag. He did not want to go but this confused security - does this happen all the time. He wanted to stay outside the store and wait for us to get the items we needed -again confusion with the guards. Finally, they just escorted us through the electronic screening and waved us on. None of us quite knew what when down but we were finally in the store.
We decided to go see Avatar on opening weekend and then head out for paella. There is an original version ( VO ) theater so we could see it in English. Luckily, one of the guys ordered online and noticed limited seating was left. I jumped on and was surprised you needed to pick your seat - cool and a nice surprise. I arrived about 15 minutes early and then got the calls that everyone was getting there at 8 - right when it started. It took me a little bit to find the theater in the mall - different mall then before. Malls have odd layouts over here with no rhyme or reason. It's hard to find the mall maps, usually the maps are just limited to the floor you are on and they lack a you are here marking. I found the theater after 5 minutes and luckily there was an Irish bar right there - 10 minutes to wait. I grab my tickets and then a Guinness. I could buy 3 Guinness for the price of my one jack and coke at the casino, they were still a little pricy. Everyone arrives 5 minutes after the movie is suppose to start and we should still be fine but upon entering we realized the movie started 5 minutes ago and they don't do previews - lesson learned. It took a little while to get use to the 3D. Not sure why as I had no problem with other 3D movies but settled on the fact the Spanish subtitles projecting out at you in 3D was probably the cause. The movie was in English but apparently that means you get Spanish subtitles throughout. The movie was great and like all movies these days the good guy lived instead of dying. Why do you always need the happy ending....We head off for paella in the marina after the movie and got there about 11 PM. The place and the marina in general was hoping even though it was close to freezing - on our walk back to the metro after dinner the fountains were frozen. We sat down and on the other side of us through a pair of blinds that acted as a wall was a futball team doing awards. They even had a mega phone - please note this place is pretty decent and pricy for paella. It was noisy but fun - even got some second hand smoke from the hash the futball team was smoking - yes in the restaurant. The place was pretty rockin and included a bachelorette party kickin back the tequila, a group with santa gear on, etc. Did I mention there were also kids in there, perhaps as young as 3 up to 12 - some things are just so different over here. This was my second time to this place, very different on the weekend then the weekday. One of the best apps I have had over here that we got is fried green peppers with smoked sea salt. I could eat those all day. At the end of the meal two free bottles of hard booze was dropped off at the table. The labels and what was inside clearly did not match up. One bottle had clear liquor and the other bottle chocolate. Neither was good but the clear one was horrible - you have to at least try it. On the way back to the metro we walked past the night clubs in the marina and they were hopping. We found the one that tried to recruit us in the restaurant. They were guys that came in dressed as doctors with no top under their doctor gear trying to give us passes and candy - something else was probably in the candy. We saw the bachelorette being wheeled into the night club on a gurney. About half the nightclubs had women in scantily clad clothing on stage or some cage like contraption. We all agreed the summer must be nuts down in the marina. We had a great time that night even through it was low key.
When I have not been out playing or working at the office I have managed to get the house pretty much set up for when the family arrives. Checkmarks: phone, cells, cable, internet, house is generally livable, grandma cart to put groceries in that you tote around, etc. The guy that came to install the phone/cable/internet package was not the brightest bulb even though he only spoke Spanish and I did not understand anything he was saying. It took him almost 3 hours to get everything set up with about a dozen calls back to the main office for assistance. I have yet to successfully get voicemail set up on any phone as it's all in Spanish - simple things can just be hard.
I found a big farmers market in the area that has pretty much everything you would expect to find from an episode of Bizarre foods. I think I will try pigeon soon, you can even buy live ones to bring home to execute yourself - have to make sure it's fresh. Some of the seafood was alive and half the meats I could not indentify on first glance. I caught a glimpse of some octopi trying to escape the counter. Just about every native fowl was available and hanging from the ceiling. It was interesting and I found some great exotic food.
Casinos are really different here and small. I went to go play some black jack before a dinner but I forgot my passport and I refused to pay an entry fee to lose money. I learned you needed to get coupons for the casino to skip the entry fee so I went back. The top half which was really really small was free and only had a few machine games like slots and the like. The tables were down stairs so that is where I went -with coupon in hand. There were maybe 4 or so black jack tables and under 10 poker tables from what I could tell. There were a few other tables but overall very small. I had 200 Euros and headed off to black jack. I quickly noticed most folks at the table or casino for that matter had no clue how to play. I saw several people go through somewhere between 500 -1000 Euros in 15 minutes at a 10 euro black jack table. They would bet 50 and lose, bet 250 and lose and kept at it until their money was gone. One of these people was a totally hot prostitute (I think ) that sat beside me for the first hour. She either chose to ignore me or spoke no English - she knew a lot of the dealers and help. Later I watched her go through another 600 Euro or so. My first 120 or so lasted a little over an hour, not bad. I also learned drinks are not free as my one jack and coke cost me 14 Euros- highway robbery. I took a break and walked around. I learned the drinks from the free section up stair were about half the price - why rob your best customers? After a break and reassessing the crews at the table I sat down and got up about 200 Euros after another few hours. I took my starting pot put it in my jacket with another 50 or so Euros and played the night out with the remaining money until I only had a small amount at the table. I got up and left up for the night which included paying for some very expensive jack and cokes but it was a good night - Wednesday night poker.
Have I mentioned the seafood here is fabulous! I have now been to a few places where you pick out the raw ingredients like at a fish market and then they take it back to cook it. I have even found a place for lunch that does this with an all you can eat buffet. You pick the seafood and veggies and pile it high then put it in line to get cooked. Then you head over to the sushi section for your apps while it cooks. If you are lucky you can finish the sushi before the rest of the meal is cooked so you don't have too many plates of food at the table. I have been averaging about one meal a day given the portions and generally cheap pricing.
The cheapest lunch has been Chinese so far at 6.5 Euros for three courses. There is usually a fixed lunch menu with an assortment of apps, main course and dessert to choose from for one price at most places. I usually know the main ingredient in any dish such as meat or chicken but I really have no clue about anything else on the dish when I look at the menu - still working on my Spanish. Sometimes even if you know your Spanish you still might not have a clue on what exactly will show up for you to eat. The Chinese food restaurant had several chicken or steak entries with deliciousness listed as part of the dish. You have no clue nor does anyone with what deliciousness will come with your dish. In this case it was various vegetables though that might change tomorrow. This will drive Julie nuts....picky eater.
We went to Alcampo in the Diagonal Mar mall to get Yankee swap gifts for the office. Alcampo is best described as a somewhat rundown super wall mart. If wall mart could get a location in BCN they would clean up. I first noticed this would be different when I saw lockers for personal items right outside the store - hmmm what's that for. Then I saw people enclosing their bags or other like items into another plastic bad and then heat sealing it. For some reason women did not have to heat seal purses into another plastic bags but any other bag, backpack, etc needed to be heat sealed. Obviously, if you did not want to heat seal your items you could rent a locker. Please note the pure electronic stores here do not have this security - they have much smaller and costly goods but a somewhat rundown super wall mart did. I knew we were in trouble at this point as one of guys had a big bag with a big box that would not fit in a locker or the heat sealed plastic bag. As he tried to make his items fit in the heat sealed plastic bags security started watching us. After few minutes of attempting this security came over. They were nice and agreed to put his box in their little area. The conversation took a bit longer then I expected but he knew Spanish well - not sure how I would've faired. So now we were ready to enter the store and go through the electric screening. Of course the alarms go off, we turn around and meet our security friends again. We walk through one at a time until the person setting it off was identified. The hand held wand came out and his jeans were the culprit. Security started to drag him off somewhere - luckily the one guy that really knew Spanish stepped in. Security was trying to bring him to a room where he could take off his jeans to find the offending tag. He did not want to go but this confused security - does this happen all the time. He wanted to stay outside the store and wait for us to get the items we needed -again confusion with the guards. Finally, they just escorted us through the electronic screening and waved us on. None of us quite knew what when down but we were finally in the store.
We decided to go see Avatar on opening weekend and then head out for paella. There is an original version ( VO ) theater so we could see it in English. Luckily, one of the guys ordered online and noticed limited seating was left. I jumped on and was surprised you needed to pick your seat - cool and a nice surprise. I arrived about 15 minutes early and then got the calls that everyone was getting there at 8 - right when it started. It took me a little bit to find the theater in the mall - different mall then before. Malls have odd layouts over here with no rhyme or reason. It's hard to find the mall maps, usually the maps are just limited to the floor you are on and they lack a you are here marking. I found the theater after 5 minutes and luckily there was an Irish bar right there - 10 minutes to wait. I grab my tickets and then a Guinness. I could buy 3 Guinness for the price of my one jack and coke at the casino, they were still a little pricy. Everyone arrives 5 minutes after the movie is suppose to start and we should still be fine but upon entering we realized the movie started 5 minutes ago and they don't do previews - lesson learned. It took a little while to get use to the 3D. Not sure why as I had no problem with other 3D movies but settled on the fact the Spanish subtitles projecting out at you in 3D was probably the cause. The movie was in English but apparently that means you get Spanish subtitles throughout. The movie was great and like all movies these days the good guy lived instead of dying. Why do you always need the happy ending....We head off for paella in the marina after the movie and got there about 11 PM. The place and the marina in general was hoping even though it was close to freezing - on our walk back to the metro after dinner the fountains were frozen. We sat down and on the other side of us through a pair of blinds that acted as a wall was a futball team doing awards. They even had a mega phone - please note this place is pretty decent and pricy for paella. It was noisy but fun - even got some second hand smoke from the hash the futball team was smoking - yes in the restaurant. The place was pretty rockin and included a bachelorette party kickin back the tequila, a group with santa gear on, etc. Did I mention there were also kids in there, perhaps as young as 3 up to 12 - some things are just so different over here. This was my second time to this place, very different on the weekend then the weekday. One of the best apps I have had over here that we got is fried green peppers with smoked sea salt. I could eat those all day. At the end of the meal two free bottles of hard booze was dropped off at the table. The labels and what was inside clearly did not match up. One bottle had clear liquor and the other bottle chocolate. Neither was good but the clear one was horrible - you have to at least try it. On the way back to the metro we walked past the night clubs in the marina and they were hopping. We found the one that tried to recruit us in the restaurant. They were guys that came in dressed as doctors with no top under their doctor gear trying to give us passes and candy - something else was probably in the candy. We saw the bachelorette being wheeled into the night club on a gurney. About half the nightclubs had women in scantily clad clothing on stage or some cage like contraption. We all agreed the summer must be nuts down in the marina. We had a great time that night even through it was low key.
When I have not been out playing or working at the office I have managed to get the house pretty much set up for when the family arrives. Checkmarks: phone, cells, cable, internet, house is generally livable, grandma cart to put groceries in that you tote around, etc. The guy that came to install the phone/cable/internet package was not the brightest bulb even though he only spoke Spanish and I did not understand anything he was saying. It took him almost 3 hours to get everything set up with about a dozen calls back to the main office for assistance. I have yet to successfully get voicemail set up on any phone as it's all in Spanish - simple things can just be hard.
I found a big farmers market in the area that has pretty much everything you would expect to find from an episode of Bizarre foods. I think I will try pigeon soon, you can even buy live ones to bring home to execute yourself - have to make sure it's fresh. Some of the seafood was alive and half the meats I could not indentify on first glance. I caught a glimpse of some octopi trying to escape the counter. Just about every native fowl was available and hanging from the ceiling. It was interesting and I found some great exotic food.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The (Mis)Adventures of Julie - week 1 without Josh
If you asked me a week ago if it was going to be a big deal to not have Josh around for 3 weeks, I would have told you no, it's not. He's not really here I would have said. He leaves before the kids go to school and gets home a half hour before bedtime. The day to day routine falls to me. Where I figured I would notice his absence the most was on the weekends when he is here all the time and spending quality family time with the kids and myself. Well, I was wrong. Who knew that someone who isn't here very much could have such a great impact on our day to day lives without us even realizing it? Sure, we've talked several times a day, and I have to say, I'm so proud for how he's taken the challenges in Barcelona by the horns and just gotten stuff done. He's not letting anything get in the way and he's helping me to feel that I will be able to handle it as well.
So while Josh has been gone, I thought everything would be rather ho-hum in the Marcus household. We would continue to work on packing things away and getting ready for the final move in a few weeks. I would have some good quality time with the kids and our friends. Sure, I've done that, but I've also had a few misadventures and it's only been a week... I can't imagine what the next 2 will bring at this rate.
Thurs Dec 3 - Josh leaves for work and then from work, to Spain. Not much happened today. Liam was with me all day and we just kind of hung out.
Fri Dec 4 - Both boys are in school today. When I was drying my hair this morning (with my head upside down), I noticed how horribly disgusting under my bed was - tons of dog hair and dust! That needs to be vaccuumed! So I took my handy dandy Dyson and grabbed the hose and started to reach under the bed to clean it. I must have pulled too hard on the hose and the vacuum came tumbling over...on to my head. Swearing a bit, I rubbed my head feeling for a bump. When I pulled my hand away I noticed immediately that it was covered in blood! Ok, so day 2 here and I've already gotten a head injury! I rushed across the street to Rich since I knew he was home and just said, I've hit my head with the vacuum (I'm sure he was trying to figure out how I did that) and I'm bleeding badly - can you look at it. He had a bit of a panicked look on his face after he looked at it but told me to go home, wash it down and ice it. Doing as I was told I sat on the couch for an hour waiting for the bleeding to stop and icing it down. The rest of the day was, thankfully, uneventful - horseback riding lessons and hanging out with the kids.
Sat Dec 5 - Aidan had his tennis lesson this morning. It was raining out (again) and we came home, played the wii (Super Mario Wii ROCKS) for a little bit and then Aidan ended up going over to Max's house for a few hours. It was a nice mellow afternoon for me, spent doing some packing, some reading and then when Liam got up, playing with him. Again, relatively uneventful.
Sun Dec 6 - It's snowing!!!! Ok, we got maybe an inch of snow but it was enough to get the kids outside, get them on their sleds and for me to break out the shovel for at least the walkway and stairs. We took a walk down to the Fasoldts house and Aidan ended up spending the afternoon over there. God, I love playdates!!!
Mon Dec 7 - The snow is pretty much gone and what I thought would be an uneventful day was not. Both kids were either with my mother-in-law or at school. I was supposed to have lunch with a friend but it got rescheduled. So I now have the day to myself and some extra time that I hadn't anticipated. So what should I do? Work??? Nah... overrated! And slow lately... Shop!!! Yes shop! I had just gotten to DSW to do some schmoozing when my sister-in-law called. She was in Seekonk and not feeling well - can I come get her. Of course my answer is yes and I don't hesitate... I grab my Bertucci's pizza that by that time I was waiting for and go get her. I love my sister-in-law and felt badly she wasn't feeling well and wish it had been different circumstances because I would have loved some one on one time with her without the kids - whenever I talk to her I'm pulled in multiple directions by the kids at the same time. Typical! Anyways, turns out she had a case of the stomach bug which we found out later. My in laws met us in Seekonk later that day to do a Liam/Becky exchange and get her car home.
It's dinner time and we're in Seekonk so I decided to take the kids to Vinny T's... I haven't been there in YEARS. Thank god no one was around me after all that garlic. It was the most fabulous dinner I think I have ever had with the kids - we were mellow, we chatted, we weren't rushed - there wasn't that moment of hurry up, child x is going to have a meltdown any moment, kind of feeling. It was just a genuinely nice time. I wish they could all be like that!!
Tues Dec 8 - The kids know how to make up for being good by being not so good. Liam was super whiny today. And on the way home from the bus stop, Aidan decided to open the door to the car while the car was still in motion... into the garage door. Not a wise choice I must say. And it was met with the wrath of mommy. He's lucky I didn't tell daddy...(ooops guess I'm telling you now Josh...don't worry, it's just a scratch). Not a pretty sight... Tues night continued while I was watching tv. I heard what sounded to be a rattling, kind of like if you have an item with a zipper in the dryer... only I didn't have anything in the dryer. I muted the tv, slowly edged my way into the kitchen where the noise sounded like it was emmenating from... and listened. There it was again! And it's coming from my oven! Or more specifically... the drawer below my oven! You've got to be kidding me... I've GOT A MOUSE!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Fearful to open the drawer because it sounds like an entire family in there, I call across the street. Rich is putting the kids to bed and will be over in a while. A while???? Ahhhh... I go on my FB and IM with Lisa W. She offers her Rent-A-Husband who somehow takes that same while to come over. He arrives and of course, it's not been close to a half hour since I first heard the sound and for the last 5 mins I've heard nothing. And so he pulls the drawer out and I'm ready... I've put on shoes in case it escapes!! And.... NOTHING. But we did find mouse droppings there (and no where else in my kitchen thankfully). So at least I was right and he was there. But where did he go? There was no hole anywhere to be seen. Rich comes over too and we all get a laugh out of it... sort of... I'm sure they think I'm a bit neurotic. Bill goes home and grabs some traps for me and puts one in the drawer and one in the garage. I go to bed praying it doesn't make it's way upstairs.
Wed Dec 9 - The day starts off fine. Nothing big going on. Then part way thru my morning I hear that rattling again. You little f**ker... I will get you!!!!! So knowing Bill and Rich are at work, I call Dave...no answer. I call Bill F. No answer. Shit shit shit! I'm afraid to open the drawer - it could jump out at me and be a total attack killer mouse! You know you are thinking the same thing! I finally get a hold of Bill F. Meanwhile I've been IMing with Josh in Spain this whole time freaking out about the mouse. Bill gets here and of course, the mouse is gone. But there are droppings and mouse hair on the trap... little bugger managed to escape. Time to bring in the big guns and get some good traps. Went to Target and bought some - not the head decaptiating kind but the kind where they go into the trap and can't get out. Haven't caught him yet. But I will!!!
Thurs Dec 10 - Well it's been a full week now since Josh left. I've had my ups and downs, the kids are still alive, I've cut my head open, found a mouse and scratched Josh's car (well Aidan did that). So what's next? A bird of course!!! This morning I went to take some trash out to the garage and when opening the door to the house to the garage, something flew over my head. A bird. I, of course, screamed, which in turn freaked the kids. The bird must have gotten trapped in the garage overnight and when I opened the door he thought it was his way out. WRONG!!! So I've now got a mouse and a bird... it's a freaking menagerie over here! I open all the doors to the house to hope that he will find his way out. For those who haven't seen my house, I have a large picture window in my entry way (it's a 2 story entry) and so he flew up the entry to the house and kept slamming himself against the window, even though the front door just below was wide open. He finally gave up on that after about 10 mins and flew into my living room where the kids where hanging out, oblivious. You would think it would have interested them more, but alas, Spongebob has a bigger draw apparently. So the bird makes itself at home on a curtain rod next to the Christmas tree - I'm surprised he didn't go in the tree but it's not real and maybe he sensed that too... who knows. I call next door but Dennis left for work early. I call Bill F again... hey, got a chuckle for ya. I haven't caught that mouse yet but now do you want to help me catch a bird? BTW, it's not even 8AM when I called there. He laughs hysterically for a moment and says he'll be over in a few. In the meantime, I grab the broom, tell the kids to go upstairs because I don't want this thing to swoop and then take their eyes out (because he's a super vicous tiny bird right?). I wave to him (because I'm an idiot) and tell him, over here little birdie, over here...the door is open over here. You know, because he understands English... right? Yeah not so much. He flies over to my entry way again and at this moment Rich pulls up in his driveway and sees me in the doorway with a broom. I said to him... it's a bird now. He also laughs. Hey thanks guys!!! The bird swoops over me, I scream and Rich yells to me from across the street...he's out! I take my hands off my head where they were protecting me from this vicious monster and say thank god he's gone!!! What a way to start the day.
How do you think the second week alone will go?????
Julie
So while Josh has been gone, I thought everything would be rather ho-hum in the Marcus household. We would continue to work on packing things away and getting ready for the final move in a few weeks. I would have some good quality time with the kids and our friends. Sure, I've done that, but I've also had a few misadventures and it's only been a week... I can't imagine what the next 2 will bring at this rate.
Thurs Dec 3 - Josh leaves for work and then from work, to Spain. Not much happened today. Liam was with me all day and we just kind of hung out.
Fri Dec 4 - Both boys are in school today. When I was drying my hair this morning (with my head upside down), I noticed how horribly disgusting under my bed was - tons of dog hair and dust! That needs to be vaccuumed! So I took my handy dandy Dyson and grabbed the hose and started to reach under the bed to clean it. I must have pulled too hard on the hose and the vacuum came tumbling over...on to my head. Swearing a bit, I rubbed my head feeling for a bump. When I pulled my hand away I noticed immediately that it was covered in blood! Ok, so day 2 here and I've already gotten a head injury! I rushed across the street to Rich since I knew he was home and just said, I've hit my head with the vacuum (I'm sure he was trying to figure out how I did that) and I'm bleeding badly - can you look at it. He had a bit of a panicked look on his face after he looked at it but told me to go home, wash it down and ice it. Doing as I was told I sat on the couch for an hour waiting for the bleeding to stop and icing it down. The rest of the day was, thankfully, uneventful - horseback riding lessons and hanging out with the kids.
Sat Dec 5 - Aidan had his tennis lesson this morning. It was raining out (again) and we came home, played the wii (Super Mario Wii ROCKS) for a little bit and then Aidan ended up going over to Max's house for a few hours. It was a nice mellow afternoon for me, spent doing some packing, some reading and then when Liam got up, playing with him. Again, relatively uneventful.
Sun Dec 6 - It's snowing!!!! Ok, we got maybe an inch of snow but it was enough to get the kids outside, get them on their sleds and for me to break out the shovel for at least the walkway and stairs. We took a walk down to the Fasoldts house and Aidan ended up spending the afternoon over there. God, I love playdates!!!
Mon Dec 7 - The snow is pretty much gone and what I thought would be an uneventful day was not. Both kids were either with my mother-in-law or at school. I was supposed to have lunch with a friend but it got rescheduled. So I now have the day to myself and some extra time that I hadn't anticipated. So what should I do? Work??? Nah... overrated! And slow lately... Shop!!! Yes shop! I had just gotten to DSW to do some schmoozing when my sister-in-law called. She was in Seekonk and not feeling well - can I come get her. Of course my answer is yes and I don't hesitate... I grab my Bertucci's pizza that by that time I was waiting for and go get her. I love my sister-in-law and felt badly she wasn't feeling well and wish it had been different circumstances because I would have loved some one on one time with her without the kids - whenever I talk to her I'm pulled in multiple directions by the kids at the same time. Typical! Anyways, turns out she had a case of the stomach bug which we found out later. My in laws met us in Seekonk later that day to do a Liam/Becky exchange and get her car home.
It's dinner time and we're in Seekonk so I decided to take the kids to Vinny T's... I haven't been there in YEARS. Thank god no one was around me after all that garlic. It was the most fabulous dinner I think I have ever had with the kids - we were mellow, we chatted, we weren't rushed - there wasn't that moment of hurry up, child x is going to have a meltdown any moment, kind of feeling. It was just a genuinely nice time. I wish they could all be like that!!
Tues Dec 8 - The kids know how to make up for being good by being not so good. Liam was super whiny today. And on the way home from the bus stop, Aidan decided to open the door to the car while the car was still in motion... into the garage door. Not a wise choice I must say. And it was met with the wrath of mommy. He's lucky I didn't tell daddy...(ooops guess I'm telling you now Josh...don't worry, it's just a scratch). Not a pretty sight... Tues night continued while I was watching tv. I heard what sounded to be a rattling, kind of like if you have an item with a zipper in the dryer... only I didn't have anything in the dryer. I muted the tv, slowly edged my way into the kitchen where the noise sounded like it was emmenating from... and listened. There it was again! And it's coming from my oven! Or more specifically... the drawer below my oven! You've got to be kidding me... I've GOT A MOUSE!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Fearful to open the drawer because it sounds like an entire family in there, I call across the street. Rich is putting the kids to bed and will be over in a while. A while???? Ahhhh... I go on my FB and IM with Lisa W. She offers her Rent-A-Husband who somehow takes that same while to come over. He arrives and of course, it's not been close to a half hour since I first heard the sound and for the last 5 mins I've heard nothing. And so he pulls the drawer out and I'm ready... I've put on shoes in case it escapes!! And.... NOTHING. But we did find mouse droppings there (and no where else in my kitchen thankfully). So at least I was right and he was there. But where did he go? There was no hole anywhere to be seen. Rich comes over too and we all get a laugh out of it... sort of... I'm sure they think I'm a bit neurotic. Bill goes home and grabs some traps for me and puts one in the drawer and one in the garage. I go to bed praying it doesn't make it's way upstairs.
Wed Dec 9 - The day starts off fine. Nothing big going on. Then part way thru my morning I hear that rattling again. You little f**ker... I will get you!!!!! So knowing Bill and Rich are at work, I call Dave...no answer. I call Bill F. No answer. Shit shit shit! I'm afraid to open the drawer - it could jump out at me and be a total attack killer mouse! You know you are thinking the same thing! I finally get a hold of Bill F. Meanwhile I've been IMing with Josh in Spain this whole time freaking out about the mouse. Bill gets here and of course, the mouse is gone. But there are droppings and mouse hair on the trap... little bugger managed to escape. Time to bring in the big guns and get some good traps. Went to Target and bought some - not the head decaptiating kind but the kind where they go into the trap and can't get out. Haven't caught him yet. But I will!!!
Thurs Dec 10 - Well it's been a full week now since Josh left. I've had my ups and downs, the kids are still alive, I've cut my head open, found a mouse and scratched Josh's car (well Aidan did that). So what's next? A bird of course!!! This morning I went to take some trash out to the garage and when opening the door to the house to the garage, something flew over my head. A bird. I, of course, screamed, which in turn freaked the kids. The bird must have gotten trapped in the garage overnight and when I opened the door he thought it was his way out. WRONG!!! So I've now got a mouse and a bird... it's a freaking menagerie over here! I open all the doors to the house to hope that he will find his way out. For those who haven't seen my house, I have a large picture window in my entry way (it's a 2 story entry) and so he flew up the entry to the house and kept slamming himself against the window, even though the front door just below was wide open. He finally gave up on that after about 10 mins and flew into my living room where the kids where hanging out, oblivious. You would think it would have interested them more, but alas, Spongebob has a bigger draw apparently. So the bird makes itself at home on a curtain rod next to the Christmas tree - I'm surprised he didn't go in the tree but it's not real and maybe he sensed that too... who knows. I call next door but Dennis left for work early. I call Bill F again... hey, got a chuckle for ya. I haven't caught that mouse yet but now do you want to help me catch a bird? BTW, it's not even 8AM when I called there. He laughs hysterically for a moment and says he'll be over in a few. In the meantime, I grab the broom, tell the kids to go upstairs because I don't want this thing to swoop and then take their eyes out (because he's a super vicous tiny bird right?). I wave to him (because I'm an idiot) and tell him, over here little birdie, over here...the door is open over here. You know, because he understands English... right? Yeah not so much. He flies over to my entry way again and at this moment Rich pulls up in his driveway and sees me in the doorway with a broom. I said to him... it's a bird now. He also laughs. Hey thanks guys!!! The bird swoops over me, I scream and Rich yells to me from across the street...he's out! I take my hands off my head where they were protecting me from this vicious monster and say thank god he's gone!!! What a way to start the day.
How do you think the second week alone will go?????
Julie
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The next few days
I was having my TV & DVD player installed on Saturday with a 4 hour window 11-3. Early in the morning I went out to explore the neighborhood again. It was a nice hour walk and I found a store that had a lot of household odd and ends. I ended up filling up two bags of items then back to the apartment to wait for the TV & DVD delivery. Two hours passed and I was getting a bit nervous - did they not get the address right or are they trying to screw me. After another hour they finally showed up. Between broken English and Spanish conversations everything was all set. However, I realized the DVD player was not a multi region one like the clerk said in the store. It played a few of my burned movies even though it was set up to only support EU region DVDs. I knew getting the DVD player to accept all regions would be a straight forward hack. I jump on the internet and realize the apartment complex router (shared between all apartments) was not connecting to the internet - it was barely working for the next few days so I was cut off from my research.
I love my black out metal shades in my bedroom - complete darkness. Jet lag must of caught up to me on Sunday along with complete darkness allowing me to sleep until 11 AM. I was shocked I had not slept that late since we had children - going on 6 years. It felt great. I took a short morning walk and then some lunch. After lunch I looked at the Mediterranean in the distant and just started walking to it. I did not make it all the way but it was a nice long walk. Of course with the sea on one side the mountains on the other meant the walk back was a slow incline all the way.
I tried off and on to get onto the internet from my apartment with limited success trying to find the hack for my DVD player. I have such luck, instead of a simple combination of secret key strokes on the DVD remote I need to download a file and burn it on a CD - this would be as simple as apple pie if the internet connection was not constantly going down. I finally was able to download the small files I needed to burn on a CD after a few days of trying. It worked like a charm.
I went to go get my foreign id Monday morning with some help from Vistaprint HR. The foreign id is the Spain equivalent of a social security number. We arrived at 8:45 with the single form and my passport. Apparently, there is only one location in Barcelona to get your foreign id and we were lucky there was no long line. We got in and took a number, just like at the deli. Once my number was called we went to the desk and handed the guy our form and passport. A few minutes later that step was done. We then had to go to the bank to pay the government. I am not quite sure why you can't just hand them 10 Euros at the office. We went to the bank and processed the payment which returned a receipt that we had to go back and give to the foreign id people. There was another line for this step and luckily we were first in line. Overall, it was a very simple process. It probably keeps a dozen or so people employed as for some short money the whole process could be moved online.
The metro is very nice over here. It much cleaner and simpler then Boston. However, I think a scooter maybe in my future. It maybe took me 45 or an hour to get to work from the foreign id office and it takes less than half an hour by scooter.
I hope to finish my to do list for the family soon so I can get in some more sightseeing.
I love my black out metal shades in my bedroom - complete darkness. Jet lag must of caught up to me on Sunday along with complete darkness allowing me to sleep until 11 AM. I was shocked I had not slept that late since we had children - going on 6 years. It felt great. I took a short morning walk and then some lunch. After lunch I looked at the Mediterranean in the distant and just started walking to it. I did not make it all the way but it was a nice long walk. Of course with the sea on one side the mountains on the other meant the walk back was a slow incline all the way.
I tried off and on to get onto the internet from my apartment with limited success trying to find the hack for my DVD player. I have such luck, instead of a simple combination of secret key strokes on the DVD remote I need to download a file and burn it on a CD - this would be as simple as apple pie if the internet connection was not constantly going down. I finally was able to download the small files I needed to burn on a CD after a few days of trying. It worked like a charm.
I went to go get my foreign id Monday morning with some help from Vistaprint HR. The foreign id is the Spain equivalent of a social security number. We arrived at 8:45 with the single form and my passport. Apparently, there is only one location in Barcelona to get your foreign id and we were lucky there was no long line. We got in and took a number, just like at the deli. Once my number was called we went to the desk and handed the guy our form and passport. A few minutes later that step was done. We then had to go to the bank to pay the government. I am not quite sure why you can't just hand them 10 Euros at the office. We went to the bank and processed the payment which returned a receipt that we had to go back and give to the foreign id people. There was another line for this step and luckily we were first in line. Overall, it was a very simple process. It probably keeps a dozen or so people employed as for some short money the whole process could be moved online.
The metro is very nice over here. It much cleaner and simpler then Boston. However, I think a scooter maybe in my future. It maybe took me 45 or an hour to get to work from the foreign id office and it takes less than half an hour by scooter.
I hope to finish my to do list for the family soon so I can get in some more sightseeing.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Josh's first day in Barcelona
Two days ago I headed out of Boston to Barcelona. I will be working here for the next 3 weeks with the rest of the family still in Attleboro. Besides work, my mission is to get the apartment ready for the family so they can just move in.
It took awhile to make it out of Logan. It all started when I arrived as one of my two suitcases was 3 pounds overweight. I had to purchase another bag, repack and pay a fine. The plane pulled out of the gate and I thought we were all set - wrong. We returned to the gate to pick up two people that had missed the flight. So a few hundred were delayed for 2 people - nice cost benefit analysis by northwest.
The flight was pretty uneventful. I watched a few movies, read and slept only a few hours. About 12 hours later I was in Barcelona.
I meet Mele our realtor and picked up my keys. We had to do an inventory with the owner and with some time to kill we went for a coffee. The owner was suppose to meet us at 1:30 but did not arrive until around 2 - she was at court. The owner was very nice and the walk through was quick. The apartment is mostly furnished but to my surprise came with a hair dryer, toaster and iron - check 3 items off my to do list. Also since the other 2 apartments are short term rental I can use the maid's vacuum - check another item off my list. I was also able to get the owner to purchase and install a dryer for us, of course we are going to pay for it. My to do list is getting shorter by the minute and I have only been here a few hours. The apartment comes with wireless internet but is really slow. On the flip side I would be going crazy without it.
After everyone left it was pretty quite. I throw in some snoop, nwa and dre to get the blood going after being up for over 36 hours. After a little light up packing I went out to see the hood.
I must admit I was very impressed by the hood. We have pretty much everything in walking distance. The deli has legs of ham hanging from the ceiling -hmmm, the fish market is pretty stocked including some nice whole fish and the grocery store sells Old No.7 - that's Jack to you rookies. There is probably everything we need within a 3 block radius - still looking for the Irish bar nearby.
The grocery store was an interesting expedition. They do have most items from the US but very little choice. Then there are the little things that are missing like paper towels and cold milk. I bought a box of some milk like substance - I went with the one that had the best cow picture. I still have not tried the milk - perhaps today. I did find cheesy hot dogs but no dice on cheesy sausage. There was thin spaghetti and sauce for Julie.
After food shopping I took another trip around the block. I stopped for some late tapas and ordered some kind of white fish. It tasted fine - like scrod/cod. As I continued exploring I found many more bars, hair solons and the like. I am not sure why but there is at least 2 hair salons on each block. I ran across an electronic store. I wanted to buy a TV and DVD. It was easy picking out which ones I wanted then it was time to order and the fun started. It took 3 clerks to find the one that somewhat spoke broken english. I was trying to get the items delivered the next day. It came down to simplifying what I wanted to two words - mañana inicio. KISS works again. Then the paperwork started, we made it up as we went along. I don't have a local Spanish phone number or foreign id so their computer software was complaining. We worked around it as I showed them how to enter all 0s or 1s in those fields - they laughed.
I got home and tried some 3 euro red wine I got at the store while spinning up GI Joe on the computer. I feel asleep shortly after the intro. When I got up it was about 11 pm and the place was cold. I borrowed a quilt from the maid closet and got the heat to work in the room. It took awhile to figure out the heat but I got it and the day was done....
Josh
It took awhile to make it out of Logan. It all started when I arrived as one of my two suitcases was 3 pounds overweight. I had to purchase another bag, repack and pay a fine. The plane pulled out of the gate and I thought we were all set - wrong. We returned to the gate to pick up two people that had missed the flight. So a few hundred were delayed for 2 people - nice cost benefit analysis by northwest.
The flight was pretty uneventful. I watched a few movies, read and slept only a few hours. About 12 hours later I was in Barcelona.
I meet Mele our realtor and picked up my keys. We had to do an inventory with the owner and with some time to kill we went for a coffee. The owner was suppose to meet us at 1:30 but did not arrive until around 2 - she was at court. The owner was very nice and the walk through was quick. The apartment is mostly furnished but to my surprise came with a hair dryer, toaster and iron - check 3 items off my to do list. Also since the other 2 apartments are short term rental I can use the maid's vacuum - check another item off my list. I was also able to get the owner to purchase and install a dryer for us, of course we are going to pay for it. My to do list is getting shorter by the minute and I have only been here a few hours. The apartment comes with wireless internet but is really slow. On the flip side I would be going crazy without it.
After everyone left it was pretty quite. I throw in some snoop, nwa and dre to get the blood going after being up for over 36 hours. After a little light up packing I went out to see the hood.
I must admit I was very impressed by the hood. We have pretty much everything in walking distance. The deli has legs of ham hanging from the ceiling -hmmm, the fish market is pretty stocked including some nice whole fish and the grocery store sells Old No.7 - that's Jack to you rookies. There is probably everything we need within a 3 block radius - still looking for the Irish bar nearby.
The grocery store was an interesting expedition. They do have most items from the US but very little choice. Then there are the little things that are missing like paper towels and cold milk. I bought a box of some milk like substance - I went with the one that had the best cow picture. I still have not tried the milk - perhaps today. I did find cheesy hot dogs but no dice on cheesy sausage. There was thin spaghetti and sauce for Julie.
After food shopping I took another trip around the block. I stopped for some late tapas and ordered some kind of white fish. It tasted fine - like scrod/cod. As I continued exploring I found many more bars, hair solons and the like. I am not sure why but there is at least 2 hair salons on each block. I ran across an electronic store. I wanted to buy a TV and DVD. It was easy picking out which ones I wanted then it was time to order and the fun started. It took 3 clerks to find the one that somewhat spoke broken english. I was trying to get the items delivered the next day. It came down to simplifying what I wanted to two words - mañana inicio. KISS works again. Then the paperwork started, we made it up as we went along. I don't have a local Spanish phone number or foreign id so their computer software was complaining. We worked around it as I showed them how to enter all 0s or 1s in those fields - they laughed.
I got home and tried some 3 euro red wine I got at the store while spinning up GI Joe on the computer. I feel asleep shortly after the intro. When I got up it was about 11 pm and the place was cold. I borrowed a quilt from the maid closet and got the heat to work in the room. It took awhile to figure out the heat but I got it and the day was done....
Josh
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Josh flys over the "drink"...
Josh is off and running tonight! His flight took off around 7:30 tonight though he went to work today so as far as I'm concerned, he left this morning. Now, he comes home late from work all the time, goes out at night, has boys weekend...and yet, it's never that big of a deal for me to be with the kids on my own. But something just feels weird about this. Maybe it's because I know it's for 3 weeks and not just a night or two? The house just seems empty without him here and we all miss him already. And I feel like he's going to miss out on the festivities of the holidays which are always such a big deal in our house - not about the gifts but about the time with family.
I think that this day also marks one more day closer to us all leaving. It's exciting and scary all at the same time. I know I've mentioned that before but it's true. I've been facing constant ambivilance for the longest time now and we're beyond the point of no return. Part of me is relieved about that because I can't say, nah, I changed my mind...forcing me out of my comfort zone which I know is what I need to do. But part of me is in a panic knowing that just one month from today, we will be on a plane (with 2 small children, god help me!!) to Spain!! The countdown is on! That this isn't just going for a week vacation or even a month, but for 2 years. 2 years in our lives is really just a blip on the screen but you know what? It's still 2 years! 2 years of trying to communicate in a language I'm not fluent in; 2 years of not driving except when we go on vacation; 2 years of eating food I'm not familiar with (maybe I'll expand my tastes!); 2 years of living in cramped quarters.
I feel like such a complainer and I don't mean to be. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I plan to embrace it with all that I can. I think there is just anxiety of the unknown. And now that Josh is on a plane on his way, I know that it is coming and it's coming fast! This is a long time in the making and now it's becoming a reality. I find it interesting how much more planning seemed to be involved and I think it was related to it being a non-English speaking country. Josh printed out maps last night before he left so he would know where the stores were that he has to go to. If we were moving to England, would he have printed out maps here or would he just ask someone how to get there? Probably the latter, right? I feel like the language barrier is really what scares me the most. That terrifies me actually! But we will both get past it. I think that Josh's 3 weeks will be a good trial for not just him, but for me as well. Hearing his successes (and hopefully not many) and failures can only help to make it not so much the unknown for me. I'll have a better idea of, hey, stay away from that store... or, this is a really good place to get fruits and vegetables. I know he'll be working full time (he starts on Mon, no rest for the weary!) but he'll still have some time to do some exploring. And for now, I'll live vicariously thru him. I'm sure I'll be posting some of his adventures (or maybe he'll do some posting...hint hint Joshy!).
Julie
I think that this day also marks one more day closer to us all leaving. It's exciting and scary all at the same time. I know I've mentioned that before but it's true. I've been facing constant ambivilance for the longest time now and we're beyond the point of no return. Part of me is relieved about that because I can't say, nah, I changed my mind...forcing me out of my comfort zone which I know is what I need to do. But part of me is in a panic knowing that just one month from today, we will be on a plane (with 2 small children, god help me!!) to Spain!! The countdown is on! That this isn't just going for a week vacation or even a month, but for 2 years. 2 years in our lives is really just a blip on the screen but you know what? It's still 2 years! 2 years of trying to communicate in a language I'm not fluent in; 2 years of not driving except when we go on vacation; 2 years of eating food I'm not familiar with (maybe I'll expand my tastes!); 2 years of living in cramped quarters.
I feel like such a complainer and I don't mean to be. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I plan to embrace it with all that I can. I think there is just anxiety of the unknown. And now that Josh is on a plane on his way, I know that it is coming and it's coming fast! This is a long time in the making and now it's becoming a reality. I find it interesting how much more planning seemed to be involved and I think it was related to it being a non-English speaking country. Josh printed out maps last night before he left so he would know where the stores were that he has to go to. If we were moving to England, would he have printed out maps here or would he just ask someone how to get there? Probably the latter, right? I feel like the language barrier is really what scares me the most. That terrifies me actually! But we will both get past it. I think that Josh's 3 weeks will be a good trial for not just him, but for me as well. Hearing his successes (and hopefully not many) and failures can only help to make it not so much the unknown for me. I'll have a better idea of, hey, stay away from that store... or, this is a really good place to get fruits and vegetables. I know he'll be working full time (he starts on Mon, no rest for the weary!) but he'll still have some time to do some exploring. And for now, I'll live vicariously thru him. I'm sure I'll be posting some of his adventures (or maybe he'll do some posting...hint hint Joshy!).
Julie
Friday, November 20, 2009
Moving Day!
Today was the day we have been waiting for now for months. Moving Day! All this preparation, purging, packing, purging more and packing some more has now been for a goal that we can actually see. It's exciting and sad to see our things go. Exciting because we've been waiting so long for this point and quite honestly I'm sick of packing and purging and would like this part of the process to be done. Sad, because it means that our time here is short and that we will be moving along to Spain in just a matter of weeks. Josh actually leaves in just under 2 weeks now with the rest of us following around the 4th of January - about 6 weeks from now. The movers were a little late in getting here but nice guys. They only broke one thing and were very apologetic about it - oh well... at least it was just a frame and I ran out to Target and bought a new one. Let's just chalk it up to one more thing to do before we leave. I was thankful that most of the goods were in the garage though - the big guy had really really bad BO. I feel bad for the other two that had to ride to and from with him to Acton!
As I mentioned in my last post, the last few weeks have been extremely emotional. I can say that I was depressed - no doubt about it. I'm feeling a lot better now and am coming to terms with everything but the two weeks after we got back from our Discovery Trip, I really didn't want to talk to anyone, felt angry at the world, and cried - a lot. Seeing our backyard and thinking that the kids wouldn't have one in Spain brought me to tears several times, packing away my kids clothes to ship, packing up half my clothes to stay and half to go - just the reality of it all set in. The last several months have been about purging out the junk, making donations, etc. This was the time to actually pack it all up. It's amazing that we were able to take all of our personal possessions that we will need for the next 2 years and put it on one side of our garage - and that includes the furniture we got from IKEA too. Some is in our basement - a lot was donated. When we leave in a few weeks, Jonathan will have furniture, electronics and small appliances here and that will be about it. It is all moving along. Finally...
Friends of mine said that packing up our goods was going to be hard emotionally and it was. They said having the movers pack it up (correctly) and take it away would be harder. Perhaps that will settle in later because I actually almost felt some relief. Now maybe, at least temporarily, my life, our lives, can go back to normal. I don't remember the last time I had a full, focused work day. I'd love to have one of those again. To any of my clients that read this - I'm sorry I've been out of it for the last few months. Hopefully we are nearing the light at the end of the tunnel here. I'm determined to get our lives back to normal as quick as possible over there but yet other friends are saying to me that that is when the hard work begins.... so what you are telling me is that this gut wrenching process that was the move is not the hard work? That it's only just beginning? I think that is where the depression was coming in the last 2 weeks - I think deep down I knew this was the easy part. The move - packing it all away to arrive in Spain... that part is the easy part. Our goods are scheduled to arrive in Barcelona on Dec 17. Josh leaves to come back on Dec 22, so the odds of the container getting to Josh before he leaves for the US is slim to none, I'm thinking. So when we arrive in Spain in early January, we will still have to arrange to have the movers come to our apartment and will need to move in. Josh is bringing VERY little with him in a few weeks - clothes, a set of sheets and I think that's about it. Amazing how little guys can live on!!! We may have to have a slumber party with the kids since I just realized I sent all the sheets with the movers - ooops!!! My hope is it will just be for one night and we'll arrange in advance for the movers to come the day after we arrive ... that's my hope. Reality may be a totally different thing.
BEFORE AFTER (can't wait to see the kids' reaction)
Next will come the adjustment to a new culture, new people, new home, new school, new surroundings, and most of all, new language. I've been a slacker on my Spanish the last few weeks - now that the moving part is done, I need to pick back up on that too. I'm determined to do more than just get by as I hear so many people tell me they can do over there. I don't want to just get by. But I'm also terrified of being "alone" in a sense and not being able to communicate well over there. I suppose time heals all things and that will hopefully be one of them!
As the movers take away our belongings, I look at my now empty garage and think of the next stage of our lives ahead of us. I feel like I'm in a good place right now and am looking forward to the adventure, though with absolutely apprehensive feelings. But I'm good. And together, as a family, we'll make this work.
As I mentioned in my last post, the last few weeks have been extremely emotional. I can say that I was depressed - no doubt about it. I'm feeling a lot better now and am coming to terms with everything but the two weeks after we got back from our Discovery Trip, I really didn't want to talk to anyone, felt angry at the world, and cried - a lot. Seeing our backyard and thinking that the kids wouldn't have one in Spain brought me to tears several times, packing away my kids clothes to ship, packing up half my clothes to stay and half to go - just the reality of it all set in. The last several months have been about purging out the junk, making donations, etc. This was the time to actually pack it all up. It's amazing that we were able to take all of our personal possessions that we will need for the next 2 years and put it on one side of our garage - and that includes the furniture we got from IKEA too. Some is in our basement - a lot was donated. When we leave in a few weeks, Jonathan will have furniture, electronics and small appliances here and that will be about it. It is all moving along. Finally...
Friends of mine said that packing up our goods was going to be hard emotionally and it was. They said having the movers pack it up (correctly) and take it away would be harder. Perhaps that will settle in later because I actually almost felt some relief. Now maybe, at least temporarily, my life, our lives, can go back to normal. I don't remember the last time I had a full, focused work day. I'd love to have one of those again. To any of my clients that read this - I'm sorry I've been out of it for the last few months. Hopefully we are nearing the light at the end of the tunnel here. I'm determined to get our lives back to normal as quick as possible over there but yet other friends are saying to me that that is when the hard work begins.... so what you are telling me is that this gut wrenching process that was the move is not the hard work? That it's only just beginning? I think that is where the depression was coming in the last 2 weeks - I think deep down I knew this was the easy part. The move - packing it all away to arrive in Spain... that part is the easy part. Our goods are scheduled to arrive in Barcelona on Dec 17. Josh leaves to come back on Dec 22, so the odds of the container getting to Josh before he leaves for the US is slim to none, I'm thinking. So when we arrive in Spain in early January, we will still have to arrange to have the movers come to our apartment and will need to move in. Josh is bringing VERY little with him in a few weeks - clothes, a set of sheets and I think that's about it. Amazing how little guys can live on!!! We may have to have a slumber party with the kids since I just realized I sent all the sheets with the movers - ooops!!! My hope is it will just be for one night and we'll arrange in advance for the movers to come the day after we arrive ... that's my hope. Reality may be a totally different thing.
Next will come the adjustment to a new culture, new people, new home, new school, new surroundings, and most of all, new language. I've been a slacker on my Spanish the last few weeks - now that the moving part is done, I need to pick back up on that too. I'm determined to do more than just get by as I hear so many people tell me they can do over there. I don't want to just get by. But I'm also terrified of being "alone" in a sense and not being able to communicate well over there. I suppose time heals all things and that will hopefully be one of them!
As the movers take away our belongings, I look at my now empty garage and think of the next stage of our lives ahead of us. I feel like I'm in a good place right now and am looking forward to the adventure, though with absolutely apprehensive feelings. But I'm good. And together, as a family, we'll make this work.
Julie
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Day 4 - Discovery Trip... the long road back home
We're on the plane back to Boston. Finally... It's been such a long week and yet, it's really only been 4 days if you count our day of travel to get here. We've just barely adjusted to our new time difference and now it's time to change things up again and head back home. I miss the kids terribly. I miss our friends too. And of course, our family. And right now, I already miss the Barcelona weather of 70 degrees because I hear there may be snow in Boston when we arrive!! Grrrr.....
I'm handwriting this all in a notebook as I'm on the plane. Josh thinks I'm crazy that I'm writing my blog out in my notebook before putting it online. But since I don't have a computer handy at the moment, this is my only way to do it while it's all fresh on my mind.
So anyways, as I sit here on the second leg of our trip from Dublin to Boston - the much longer leg of the trip, I realize how much this back and forth to Spain is going to suck and it's going to suck even more with kids, though maybe it will go by faster since I will need to entertain them. It's not exactly a short trip. Though to my friends who want to visit, I say, hey, it's super fast...don't let the plane ride deter you from coming!!
Communicating with home this week was a bit of a challenge but I think it will be much easier once we are established in Spain and have a routine going. The internet connection was terrible at the hotel and I was using web based email instead of my outlook which seems to work faster. And since we were constantly on the go we didn't get to check the time much to see if it was ok to call home at that point or not. I think it's going to be relatively easy to stay in touch with our friends and families thru email, facebook and the phone. The challenge is going to be Aidan and his friends. 5 days a week he's in school 8:30-4 and when he gets home from school, his friends will be in school. And they won't be home from school until 10PM our time and obviously he will be in bed by then. So he won't be able to call them most likely except for the weekends. I feel badly for that since I know it's important that he stay in touch with everyone regularly. I hope all of your kids will send him letters (I'll send the address before we leave) and we'll set up an email address for him or else you can use ours. I know he'll send letters back home too. It's especially important that he stay in touch since he will be coming back home in 2 years to the same neighborhood, so it's not like he's moving away for ever.
So anyways, the flight from Barcelona to Dublin was uneventful though thought provoking. This week has understandably been an emotional rollercoaster. Everything is starting to come to a head and is happening very fast. We've been preparing for this day for well over a year when the opportunity was first presented to us. We've been purging and packing for 6 months (yet my house looks no different and I still have a way to go - says a lot for the crap we had here). And yet, suddenly this is all so real and quite honestly, it's scary. Very scary. I'm terrified for that matter. This week just reinforced that. I am going to be living in a foreign country, where let's be honest, I can barely speak the language at this point, no matter how much I've been studying. And I'm not doing this by myself but with my family - with my two young kids who will be just as scared and confused as I am and I'm going to have to set that fear aside in order to be strong for them and enable them to survive. 99% of the time it will be up to me to communicate - Josh will be at work all day in an English speaking workplace. I find myself near tears a lot lately (and to be honest cry as I write this but only for a moment - it felt good to get it out). Have we made the right decision? I feel like we have and yet I think understandably, I have doubts. To stay would no doubt be the easier option. To go is most definitely an opportunity and a challenge that we are embracing. So don't get me wrong, we will go, but I'm scared. Neither Josh nor I have ever lived outside Massachusetts, much less the country! There are going to be some significant changes to our lifestyle. I think we will grow from the experience, I keep telling myself that and will find a way to convince myself. Regardless, this is happening at this point - there is no turning back no matter how much of a basketcase I've become. I'm snappish and angry a lot - and my poor kids have had to suffer the brunt of that which is unfair. I know it's just my emotions getting the best of me and it's not their fault. I keep telling myself that it will be a lot easier once we are there, unpacked and back to our so-called regular life. Only it won't really be our regular life any more. It will become our regular life though. Just the idea of how to get Aidan to the bus stop in the morning seems like a daunting task to me. Because it's not a traditional school, they don't have bright yellow school buses. It's a regular city bus that is chartered for the school. How am I going to know exactly which bus is his and what if I'm on the wrong corner of the street and they go by?? I know this all sounds minute and silly but it's stuff like this that stresses me. Josh doesn't get it but I think it's because it's not his problem is it? What if I'm a minute late for the bus? Or what if they come early? It's not like the bus can sit on a busy city street and wait right? The unknown does and always has put the fear of god in me.
Things like this are the stupid shit that take over my mind at night when I can't think of anything but the giant list ahead of me, the daunting task of packing, forms, kids, work etc etc. Yes, people move every day but I think it would have been easier to just sell both houses and go. I think that it's deciding what stays, what goes, what gets donated, renting the houses, moving mail, contracts, etc etc that is making this process all the more complex. Do I regret not selling it all to go to Spain? No, absolutely not. We love our home and our friends. I'm just saying it would have been much much easier (that's how much we love you guys!).
Ok, enough about how I feel. I'm feeling like I'm being a spoiled brat since most people would jump at an opportunity like this. And don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled at the opportunity we've been presented with and excited about the new adventures that we are going to have. I just wanted to touch upon the fact that while I am excited about it, I'm also quite scared. I think the best way to deal with it is that I keep saying, it's just 2 years... it's just 2 years. Yeah, we'll 2 years isn't exactly 2 months. It's still a long time. But it's not a lifetime and that's what I need to get my arms around, and I will. It will just take some time.
On a more positive note, I found that after just a few days in Barcelona that I was adjusting a little bit to the language. It's a bit exhausting when you have to focus so much more on what people are saying to try to interpret it unlike here where it's just a part of your natural functions during the day. It's not tiring to listen in your own native tongue. But when you have to actually sit there and try to translate it in your head as you are listening, it can get exhausting after a while. But the good news is, I was picking up on bits and pieces of conversation and understanding them, or at least the big picture of what people were saying. Could I communicate back? Absolutely not! I still have a long way to go. But it gave me a glimmer of hope that after just 2 days, I was comfortable using the few words that I knew, saying Perdone instead of Excuse Me when I needed someone's attention. Saying Gracias instead of Thank you. It just started coming naturally. I know it's just a few words, but the fact that I was instinctually saying them instead of having to think first, hey, I need to remember to say them in Spanish... to me that was an accomplishment in and of itself. Apparently I need to do some fast tracking on my Rosetta Stone in my "free time".
So far people have been really patient with the whole English/Spanish thing but I've really only communicated with the hotel staff (who work at an international hotel so it's their job to be multi-lingual) and cab drivers (and all they need is for me to point out an address on a piece of paper), and at the kid's school where the primary language is English so it wasn't an issue. So it will be interesting to see how people are once I actually get out there and need to talk to someone.
I know the kids are flexible and resiliant but now that I've had just a few days to try to communicate with people and have experienced the frustration of not being able to get my point across to someone, I can't help but wonder how this is going to affect the boys and their self esteem. Especially for Aidan. Will they jump right in and absorb it like sponges or will they shy away and pull into themselves in fear of the unknown? My hope is that it is the former but I guess we won't know til we get there.
My other concern, unrelated to the language is the flight. I know kids fly every day and fly long distances (like Colin & Tatum!) but as I write this I'm something like 6 hours into flying today and that doesn't count all the waiting at the airport and you know what? I'm fucking exhausted!!! I can't even imagine doing this with both kids? But like I said before, maybe because I will need to entertain them, it will make the flight go by faster. Let's hope! Though have you met Liam??? I've already told Josh, he's all his for the flight. The kid could bring a plane to its knees with one of his tantrums as well as with all his energy! I may need Benadryl! It may actually come to that!
My mom always told me that if you could build a house with someone, you had a pretty good, stable relationship. And while this upcoming move has not been all peaches and cream for Josh and I, we have not killed each other yet and actually made it thru these 3 highly stressful and emotional days without one argument. Now that could be because we were just too exhausted to fight. But I'd like to think that it speaks to our strength as a couple, as a team. And while I have not necessarily felt like a team thru this process til now (though talk to me in a few days as I actually write this), I see the pieces all coming together. We are like a well oiled machine, a flawlessly choreographed ballet. We know and predict each other's moves before they happen. And it is this bond that is going to make this trip a success. I'm sure there will be a pissed off word here and there but not every day can be all roses can it?
Julie
I'm handwriting this all in a notebook as I'm on the plane. Josh thinks I'm crazy that I'm writing my blog out in my notebook before putting it online. But since I don't have a computer handy at the moment, this is my only way to do it while it's all fresh on my mind.
So anyways, as I sit here on the second leg of our trip from Dublin to Boston - the much longer leg of the trip, I realize how much this back and forth to Spain is going to suck and it's going to suck even more with kids, though maybe it will go by faster since I will need to entertain them. It's not exactly a short trip. Though to my friends who want to visit, I say, hey, it's super fast...don't let the plane ride deter you from coming!!
Communicating with home this week was a bit of a challenge but I think it will be much easier once we are established in Spain and have a routine going. The internet connection was terrible at the hotel and I was using web based email instead of my outlook which seems to work faster. And since we were constantly on the go we didn't get to check the time much to see if it was ok to call home at that point or not. I think it's going to be relatively easy to stay in touch with our friends and families thru email, facebook and the phone. The challenge is going to be Aidan and his friends. 5 days a week he's in school 8:30-4 and when he gets home from school, his friends will be in school. And they won't be home from school until 10PM our time and obviously he will be in bed by then. So he won't be able to call them most likely except for the weekends. I feel badly for that since I know it's important that he stay in touch with everyone regularly. I hope all of your kids will send him letters (I'll send the address before we leave) and we'll set up an email address for him or else you can use ours. I know he'll send letters back home too. It's especially important that he stay in touch since he will be coming back home in 2 years to the same neighborhood, so it's not like he's moving away for ever.
So anyways, the flight from Barcelona to Dublin was uneventful though thought provoking. This week has understandably been an emotional rollercoaster. Everything is starting to come to a head and is happening very fast. We've been preparing for this day for well over a year when the opportunity was first presented to us. We've been purging and packing for 6 months (yet my house looks no different and I still have a way to go - says a lot for the crap we had here). And yet, suddenly this is all so real and quite honestly, it's scary. Very scary. I'm terrified for that matter. This week just reinforced that. I am going to be living in a foreign country, where let's be honest, I can barely speak the language at this point, no matter how much I've been studying. And I'm not doing this by myself but with my family - with my two young kids who will be just as scared and confused as I am and I'm going to have to set that fear aside in order to be strong for them and enable them to survive. 99% of the time it will be up to me to communicate - Josh will be at work all day in an English speaking workplace. I find myself near tears a lot lately (and to be honest cry as I write this but only for a moment - it felt good to get it out). Have we made the right decision? I feel like we have and yet I think understandably, I have doubts. To stay would no doubt be the easier option. To go is most definitely an opportunity and a challenge that we are embracing. So don't get me wrong, we will go, but I'm scared. Neither Josh nor I have ever lived outside Massachusetts, much less the country! There are going to be some significant changes to our lifestyle. I think we will grow from the experience, I keep telling myself that and will find a way to convince myself. Regardless, this is happening at this point - there is no turning back no matter how much of a basketcase I've become. I'm snappish and angry a lot - and my poor kids have had to suffer the brunt of that which is unfair. I know it's just my emotions getting the best of me and it's not their fault. I keep telling myself that it will be a lot easier once we are there, unpacked and back to our so-called regular life. Only it won't really be our regular life any more. It will become our regular life though. Just the idea of how to get Aidan to the bus stop in the morning seems like a daunting task to me. Because it's not a traditional school, they don't have bright yellow school buses. It's a regular city bus that is chartered for the school. How am I going to know exactly which bus is his and what if I'm on the wrong corner of the street and they go by?? I know this all sounds minute and silly but it's stuff like this that stresses me. Josh doesn't get it but I think it's because it's not his problem is it? What if I'm a minute late for the bus? Or what if they come early? It's not like the bus can sit on a busy city street and wait right? The unknown does and always has put the fear of god in me.
Things like this are the stupid shit that take over my mind at night when I can't think of anything but the giant list ahead of me, the daunting task of packing, forms, kids, work etc etc. Yes, people move every day but I think it would have been easier to just sell both houses and go. I think that it's deciding what stays, what goes, what gets donated, renting the houses, moving mail, contracts, etc etc that is making this process all the more complex. Do I regret not selling it all to go to Spain? No, absolutely not. We love our home and our friends. I'm just saying it would have been much much easier (that's how much we love you guys!).
Ok, enough about how I feel. I'm feeling like I'm being a spoiled brat since most people would jump at an opportunity like this. And don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled at the opportunity we've been presented with and excited about the new adventures that we are going to have. I just wanted to touch upon the fact that while I am excited about it, I'm also quite scared. I think the best way to deal with it is that I keep saying, it's just 2 years... it's just 2 years. Yeah, we'll 2 years isn't exactly 2 months. It's still a long time. But it's not a lifetime and that's what I need to get my arms around, and I will. It will just take some time.
On a more positive note, I found that after just a few days in Barcelona that I was adjusting a little bit to the language. It's a bit exhausting when you have to focus so much more on what people are saying to try to interpret it unlike here where it's just a part of your natural functions during the day. It's not tiring to listen in your own native tongue. But when you have to actually sit there and try to translate it in your head as you are listening, it can get exhausting after a while. But the good news is, I was picking up on bits and pieces of conversation and understanding them, or at least the big picture of what people were saying. Could I communicate back? Absolutely not! I still have a long way to go. But it gave me a glimmer of hope that after just 2 days, I was comfortable using the few words that I knew, saying Perdone instead of Excuse Me when I needed someone's attention. Saying Gracias instead of Thank you. It just started coming naturally. I know it's just a few words, but the fact that I was instinctually saying them instead of having to think first, hey, I need to remember to say them in Spanish... to me that was an accomplishment in and of itself. Apparently I need to do some fast tracking on my Rosetta Stone in my "free time".
So far people have been really patient with the whole English/Spanish thing but I've really only communicated with the hotel staff (who work at an international hotel so it's their job to be multi-lingual) and cab drivers (and all they need is for me to point out an address on a piece of paper), and at the kid's school where the primary language is English so it wasn't an issue. So it will be interesting to see how people are once I actually get out there and need to talk to someone.
I know the kids are flexible and resiliant but now that I've had just a few days to try to communicate with people and have experienced the frustration of not being able to get my point across to someone, I can't help but wonder how this is going to affect the boys and their self esteem. Especially for Aidan. Will they jump right in and absorb it like sponges or will they shy away and pull into themselves in fear of the unknown? My hope is that it is the former but I guess we won't know til we get there.
My other concern, unrelated to the language is the flight. I know kids fly every day and fly long distances (like Colin & Tatum!) but as I write this I'm something like 6 hours into flying today and that doesn't count all the waiting at the airport and you know what? I'm fucking exhausted!!! I can't even imagine doing this with both kids? But like I said before, maybe because I will need to entertain them, it will make the flight go by faster. Let's hope! Though have you met Liam??? I've already told Josh, he's all his for the flight. The kid could bring a plane to its knees with one of his tantrums as well as with all his energy! I may need Benadryl! It may actually come to that!
My mom always told me that if you could build a house with someone, you had a pretty good, stable relationship. And while this upcoming move has not been all peaches and cream for Josh and I, we have not killed each other yet and actually made it thru these 3 highly stressful and emotional days without one argument. Now that could be because we were just too exhausted to fight. But I'd like to think that it speaks to our strength as a couple, as a team. And while I have not necessarily felt like a team thru this process til now (though talk to me in a few days as I actually write this), I see the pieces all coming together. We are like a well oiled machine, a flawlessly choreographed ballet. We know and predict each other's moves before they happen. And it is this bond that is going to make this trip a success. I'm sure there will be a pissed off word here and there but not every day can be all roses can it?
Julie
Friday, November 6, 2009
Discovery Trip - Day 3
Is it seriously Day 3 already? The days are starting to blur into one another. Once again we hit the ground running first thing this morning. While 10AM is late for us, it's relatively early in Spain. However, Josh and I had work to catch up on so we spent the earlier part of the morning trying in vain to make the internet work fast at our hotel so we could check email. What normally takes 15 mins took an hour. Quite honestly it was painful and I hope it's not how the internet over here works all the time... I just hope we were away from the central hub in the hotel since it was wireless.
Today we are off to hopefully sign a contract on our new place today. We're very excited about it though of course going back and forth hoping we made the right decision. Before meeting up with Mele, I decided to run down to grab some breakfast in the hotel restaurant while Josh was doing some of his work. Thus far, neither of us have really used any Spanish. Our contact at the bank spoke broken English, we stopped at Vistaprint where everyone speaks English and Mele speaks English and Spanish so she communicates with the other realtors. Oh and at the hotel they speak English. But I know that we can't count on this always happening and I really feel the need to just jump in and say something just to do it. Kind of when I ran my first (and only) 5k - I just needed to do it.
So anyways, I go down to the lobby and enter the restaurant. I knew they would need my room number so before she could ask me, I said uno y veinteuno. She said, "Marcus". I said, "si!". Turns out it should have been ciento y veinteuno but hey, she got it right? Then the waiter asked me, if I wanted coffee/cafe. I said, "No, zumo (juice) por favor". Baby steps, right? I can handle phrases. It's complete sentences that scare me. I was so proud of myself for just making the step to attempt to speak their language. Then on my way out, I asked "donde esta el cuarto de bano?" (where is the bathroom). I didn't understand a word she said but she pointed and I made it there without peeing my pants. So I'm going to call it a success!!!
Off we go with Mele to meet with the other realtor to sign our contract (hopefully). We walked from the rental place to our new apartment - Mele wanted us to get a feel for the neighborhood. We took a lot more pics at the house (all the ones posted from yesterday actually were from today) and took some measurements. Storage is DEFINITELY going to be an issue. We will be hitting IKEA this weekend. Not far from our 'hood is this beautiful Gaudi Church (I forget the name and if I have time later I will google it). It's been under construction for no joke, more than 100 years. The guy died in the early 1900s and it's still under construction.
This other realtor usually deals with short term rentals (over there considered 1-11 months, long term is 1-5 years). This particular place they were looking to do for 2 years so it's not their standard contract. Similar to the US, often an owner will ask for a security deposit. However, here in Spain they can ask for up to a year security and it can only be used as security - it doesn't go towards rent or anything if you don't pay. We really lucked out and they told us it would be 2 months of security plus one month rent in advance plus 16% VAT (value added tax - also considered a commission there) on one month rent. Plus we needed a letter from Vistaprint stating Josh's salary and that he has a position here for 2 years. We will eventually need to supply them with our NIE number (like a social security here but we won't get it til we get there). Not too shabby and could have been significantly more expensive - our luck is finally changing. So how do we pay? Apparently some places will deal in cash. Sorry Charlie, I don't play that cash game. No receipt, no proof that we paid...uh uh. Bank check? Yup, an option. The other option was a wire transfer which over there seems to work much faster than here. So they gave us the amount to transfer and we promised (they are very trusting over there compared to here) that we would transfer the funds that afternoon. Because we use the same bank as them it would likely go thru the same day.
Now on to the contract. We signed a pre-contract - basically saying that we had paid the deposit and VAT and that they would be drawing up an actual contract that would need to be signed by Nov 15. They will send that to our realtor who will interpret it for us, we'll print it, sign it and scan and email back and be done. Josh will pick up the keys when he goes the first week of Dec. We're hoping the contract goes smoothly and that we will have that early next week.
In Spain (not sure of all of Europe), the law actually protects the tenant more than the landlord. We could trash this place and the landlord CANNOT kick us out. He can only use the law against us if we leave prior to one year. All long term contracts are for up to 5 years. So technically we could stay on for 5 years and if he wanted to sell at 2, tough noogies to him. We wouldn't do that of course, but just to give you an idea of the way it works. This guy wants us out at 2 and 2 works for us. So that will be in our contract.
Once again I feel the need to point out the driving in Barcelona. It is 100x worse than Boston or NY. It's downright scary!! I'd also like to point out that I have seen, no joke, 3 American cars. I'm not talking 3 brands...literally 3 American cars. Lots of Audi, BMW, Peugeot, Rineault, etc. So we decided to take the metro back to our hotel and then walk from the stop to the hotel. We didn't follow Mele's directions very well though. We took the metro just fine. It was the walking that was an issue! We apparently went north when we should have gone east or something like that. We ended up in Las Ramblas which is a big touristy area (with lots of pickpockets - beware if you visit). Being somewhat pressed for time because we needed to do our wire transfer and then head out to see the kids' school, we grabbed a cab, again... so success on the metro. Not so successful finding the hotel. All in good time I guess. I find this frustrating because I consider myself to have a good sense of direction and I feel very displaced here at the moment. I really need to sit down and study a map.
We stopped quickly at the hotel, did our wire transfer, stopped for a VERY quick bite to eat. The guy was annoyed when 20 mins into the whole meal we asked for our check. Everything is very leisurely here and people will take offense if you don't act the same. But we had places to be. We went to visit the Benjamin Franklin International School (BFIS) where the boys will be attending. We LOVED the school. And the people we met. The school's primary language is English but there are children from 40 different countries represented in it's 500 students (grades K-12). So it's a small, close knit school. Aidan will do about an hour a day in kindergarten of Spanish. Art is a VERY big focus here and you saw it everywhere you walked. The kids are taught independence which I personally really like. And each class has 2 teachers so while Aidan is in a class of 18, the teachers will often separate them into groups of 9 which will give a lot of individual attention, which we also very much liked. I also though the school itself was pretty - it's an old old building that they have added on to and made into a very small campus. They have a building (2 small floors) of just K-5. I didn't get any pics of that, actually I only managed to take 2 pics because I was so busy chatting with my contact there. And it seems that they incorporate the indoors with the outdoors a lot which is probably the norm in their climate, whereas you could never do that in Boston! Oh and before I forget, I swear that I saw Ricky Schroeder driving by the school in a minivan! Turns out I may very well have seen him - I just did a google search for him. http://www.hollywood.com/news/Schroder_swapping_Hollywood_for_Spain/5721428
So after our very long day so far, we're in for another late night. We get back to the hotel around 5:30/6 to freshen up. Tonight we are going out with some of Josh's co-workers in the BCN office. We thought it would just be the 5 or 6 people from CapDev that we ran into in the hallway yesterday. Turns out to be 25 of his co-workers. And being excited to try some Spanish food, we were off...only to find out we were going to the same place we went to last night with Nick & Brenda. El Greco. Good thing I liked the food there!! But a bummer that we didn't get to try a traditional Spanish restaurant. I suppose we have 2 years to do that. Aaron, the guy who organized the dinner, mixed things up and everyone drew a card with a number and that's where you sat. So not that I rely on Josh to help me with my conversation but we weren't even at at the same table. I had considered not going to dinner that night because I was just exhausted but Josh convinced me I should. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I did - I met some really nice people. But given that it wasn't as intimate a group as we thought and we didn't even sit together, I probably could have gotten out of it. Oh well! Best to enjoy our time out while we can since we don't yet have a sitter and who knows when we will find one!
Will do the final update on our trip tonight!!
Julie
Today we are off to hopefully sign a contract on our new place today. We're very excited about it though of course going back and forth hoping we made the right decision. Before meeting up with Mele, I decided to run down to grab some breakfast in the hotel restaurant while Josh was doing some of his work. Thus far, neither of us have really used any Spanish. Our contact at the bank spoke broken English, we stopped at Vistaprint where everyone speaks English and Mele speaks English and Spanish so she communicates with the other realtors. Oh and at the hotel they speak English. But I know that we can't count on this always happening and I really feel the need to just jump in and say something just to do it. Kind of when I ran my first (and only) 5k - I just needed to do it.
So anyways, I go down to the lobby and enter the restaurant. I knew they would need my room number so before she could ask me, I said uno y veinteuno. She said, "Marcus". I said, "si!". Turns out it should have been ciento y veinteuno but hey, she got it right? Then the waiter asked me, if I wanted coffee/cafe. I said, "No, zumo (juice) por favor". Baby steps, right? I can handle phrases. It's complete sentences that scare me. I was so proud of myself for just making the step to attempt to speak their language. Then on my way out, I asked "donde esta el cuarto de bano?" (where is the bathroom). I didn't understand a word she said but she pointed and I made it there without peeing my pants. So I'm going to call it a success!!!
Off we go with Mele to meet with the other realtor to sign our contract (hopefully). We walked from the rental place to our new apartment - Mele wanted us to get a feel for the neighborhood. We took a lot more pics at the house (all the ones posted from yesterday actually were from today) and took some measurements. Storage is DEFINITELY going to be an issue. We will be hitting IKEA this weekend. Not far from our 'hood is this beautiful Gaudi Church (I forget the name and if I have time later I will google it). It's been under construction for no joke, more than 100 years. The guy died in the early 1900s and it's still under construction.
This other realtor usually deals with short term rentals (over there considered 1-11 months, long term is 1-5 years). This particular place they were looking to do for 2 years so it's not their standard contract. Similar to the US, often an owner will ask for a security deposit. However, here in Spain they can ask for up to a year security and it can only be used as security - it doesn't go towards rent or anything if you don't pay. We really lucked out and they told us it would be 2 months of security plus one month rent in advance plus 16% VAT (value added tax - also considered a commission there) on one month rent. Plus we needed a letter from Vistaprint stating Josh's salary and that he has a position here for 2 years. We will eventually need to supply them with our NIE number (like a social security here but we won't get it til we get there). Not too shabby and could have been significantly more expensive - our luck is finally changing. So how do we pay? Apparently some places will deal in cash. Sorry Charlie, I don't play that cash game. No receipt, no proof that we paid...uh uh. Bank check? Yup, an option. The other option was a wire transfer which over there seems to work much faster than here. So they gave us the amount to transfer and we promised (they are very trusting over there compared to here) that we would transfer the funds that afternoon. Because we use the same bank as them it would likely go thru the same day.
Now on to the contract. We signed a pre-contract - basically saying that we had paid the deposit and VAT and that they would be drawing up an actual contract that would need to be signed by Nov 15. They will send that to our realtor who will interpret it for us, we'll print it, sign it and scan and email back and be done. Josh will pick up the keys when he goes the first week of Dec. We're hoping the contract goes smoothly and that we will have that early next week.
In Spain (not sure of all of Europe), the law actually protects the tenant more than the landlord. We could trash this place and the landlord CANNOT kick us out. He can only use the law against us if we leave prior to one year. All long term contracts are for up to 5 years. So technically we could stay on for 5 years and if he wanted to sell at 2, tough noogies to him. We wouldn't do that of course, but just to give you an idea of the way it works. This guy wants us out at 2 and 2 works for us. So that will be in our contract.
Once again I feel the need to point out the driving in Barcelona. It is 100x worse than Boston or NY. It's downright scary!! I'd also like to point out that I have seen, no joke, 3 American cars. I'm not talking 3 brands...literally 3 American cars. Lots of Audi, BMW, Peugeot, Rineault, etc. So we decided to take the metro back to our hotel and then walk from the stop to the hotel. We didn't follow Mele's directions very well though. We took the metro just fine. It was the walking that was an issue! We apparently went north when we should have gone east or something like that. We ended up in Las Ramblas which is a big touristy area (with lots of pickpockets - beware if you visit). Being somewhat pressed for time because we needed to do our wire transfer and then head out to see the kids' school, we grabbed a cab, again... so success on the metro. Not so successful finding the hotel. All in good time I guess. I find this frustrating because I consider myself to have a good sense of direction and I feel very displaced here at the moment. I really need to sit down and study a map.
We stopped quickly at the hotel, did our wire transfer, stopped for a VERY quick bite to eat. The guy was annoyed when 20 mins into the whole meal we asked for our check. Everything is very leisurely here and people will take offense if you don't act the same. But we had places to be. We went to visit the Benjamin Franklin International School (BFIS) where the boys will be attending. We LOVED the school. And the people we met. The school's primary language is English but there are children from 40 different countries represented in it's 500 students (grades K-12). So it's a small, close knit school. Aidan will do about an hour a day in kindergarten of Spanish. Art is a VERY big focus here and you saw it everywhere you walked. The kids are taught independence which I personally really like. And each class has 2 teachers so while Aidan is in a class of 18, the teachers will often separate them into groups of 9 which will give a lot of individual attention, which we also very much liked. I also though the school itself was pretty - it's an old old building that they have added on to and made into a very small campus. They have a building (2 small floors) of just K-5. I didn't get any pics of that, actually I only managed to take 2 pics because I was so busy chatting with my contact there. And it seems that they incorporate the indoors with the outdoors a lot which is probably the norm in their climate, whereas you could never do that in Boston! Oh and before I forget, I swear that I saw Ricky Schroeder driving by the school in a minivan! Turns out I may very well have seen him - I just did a google search for him. http://www.hollywood.com/news/Schroder_swapping_Hollywood_for_Spain/5721428
So after our very long day so far, we're in for another late night. We get back to the hotel around 5:30/6 to freshen up. Tonight we are going out with some of Josh's co-workers in the BCN office. We thought it would just be the 5 or 6 people from CapDev that we ran into in the hallway yesterday. Turns out to be 25 of his co-workers. And being excited to try some Spanish food, we were off...only to find out we were going to the same place we went to last night with Nick & Brenda. El Greco. Good thing I liked the food there!! But a bummer that we didn't get to try a traditional Spanish restaurant. I suppose we have 2 years to do that. Aaron, the guy who organized the dinner, mixed things up and everyone drew a card with a number and that's where you sat. So not that I rely on Josh to help me with my conversation but we weren't even at at the same table. I had considered not going to dinner that night because I was just exhausted but Josh convinced me I should. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I did - I met some really nice people. But given that it wasn't as intimate a group as we thought and we didn't even sit together, I probably could have gotten out of it. Oh well! Best to enjoy our time out while we can since we don't yet have a sitter and who knows when we will find one!
Will do the final update on our trip tonight!!
Julie
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Moving the Dogs Abroad
I almost forgot to add this post about the dogs. The dogs were our first babies and while Josh and I disagree a little bit on this and I don't think he wants to leave them in the US, he's more flexible about the possibility than I am. They are our family and like the say in Lilo & Stitch "Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind". I agree 100%. If we make this move, Jake & Sailor come too and by no means do I expect it to be easy to have 2 dogs in the city. But I didn't sign up to be their "mom" to just say when the going gets tough, let's have someone else take them. So I'll take this one (along with everything else) and find a way to get them to Spain and keep them happy.
I know that part of the reason we took the townhome was the ease with the dogs. Right now we let them out the slider and they do their thing in the yard and they come back. No muss, no fuss. In Spain we were anticipating having to actually walk them outside to do their business. Sounds even more like fun if you are on the 8th floor and need to wait for a miniscule elevator, doesn't it? BTW, these elevators are like 1/2 the size of the ones in the US -it's crowded with 2 people!! Good luck trying an adult, 2 kids and 2 dogs! Anyways, this place is on the first floor with a huge patio area - perfect for the dogs and the kids!!
So once again I digress, a bad habit of mine I know. Well, so we knew that we had to go thru some vet things and get sign offs from the USDA to have them transported to Spain. What we didn't know was the cost associated with doing all of this. Last Monday I had a call from our relocation people who for the most part seem to have their shit together. Bob is super nice and I liked him right off the bat. He asked me some questions about the dogs, age, size, breed, etc. Anyways, late that day he sends me this email - it's a quote to have the dogs shipped to Spain. It's $5000 per dog. No, I didn't accidentally put in too many zeros. It's five THOUSAND. Yes, I almost cried too. Wouldn't you? This just didn't seem realistic - too many people fly with their pets for it to be this cost prohibitive. So how do I respond? I put a post on Facebook - of course! Thankfully my new friend Paul who lives in Switzerland and knows lots of ex-pats emailed a friend of his who said she brought her dog to Switzerland from Canada and paid about the same but that it's for a FULL SERVICE rather than just the flight. These people take care of last minute vaccinations, forms, crates, pick up and drop off, etc. Whew!!! Of course a full day went by of me having a heart attack before I found out this info. In the meantime Josh found out we can fly them Continental for around $1500 each - still expensive but significantly less, wouldn't you agree? We're still trying to figure out which way we are going to go because of the timing of the vaccinations and forms and appointments and we got a few more quotes, one of which was closer to $4500 for both dogs, so about $1500 more than Continental but covers all those other items which would help. Only then she added in that it could cost up to $1500 per dog for the entry fee into Spain. If only there was some clear way to know the exact costs in doing this it would be so much easier! So when I get back home this week, my latest addition to my to do list is to find out exactly how much it will cost, what is involved as far as forms and appointments and when I need to do them.
Right now what I know is that the dogs need to be microchipped...check!! We have those already. Are they compatible with Spain's? Yup, checked that too after an hour on the Home Again website. Ok, one item down. They need to be up to date on their regular vaccinations - ok, we're due for physicals Dec 1 - need to move that closer to mid Nov as they need to be done no less than 4 weeks before flight and that's cutting it close. Check... appt set. Now the timing issuue - I need to figure out when to make the appt with the USDA vet and they need forms completed no more than 10-15 days before our flight. Not having our flight booked, I'm at a bit of an impasse here. But it's all on my list... my ever growing, super long list. Did I mention I still work??? And still plan to work? I'll just give up my sleep...sleep is for wimps anyways ;)
Do yourself a favor, before you move abroad, talk to me... I can tell you every snafu you will run into, trust me...
Got to get ready for dinner and will try to add Day 3 later...
Julie
I know that part of the reason we took the townhome was the ease with the dogs. Right now we let them out the slider and they do their thing in the yard and they come back. No muss, no fuss. In Spain we were anticipating having to actually walk them outside to do their business. Sounds even more like fun if you are on the 8th floor and need to wait for a miniscule elevator, doesn't it? BTW, these elevators are like 1/2 the size of the ones in the US -it's crowded with 2 people!! Good luck trying an adult, 2 kids and 2 dogs! Anyways, this place is on the first floor with a huge patio area - perfect for the dogs and the kids!!
So once again I digress, a bad habit of mine I know. Well, so we knew that we had to go thru some vet things and get sign offs from the USDA to have them transported to Spain. What we didn't know was the cost associated with doing all of this. Last Monday I had a call from our relocation people who for the most part seem to have their shit together. Bob is super nice and I liked him right off the bat. He asked me some questions about the dogs, age, size, breed, etc. Anyways, late that day he sends me this email - it's a quote to have the dogs shipped to Spain. It's $5000 per dog. No, I didn't accidentally put in too many zeros. It's five THOUSAND. Yes, I almost cried too. Wouldn't you? This just didn't seem realistic - too many people fly with their pets for it to be this cost prohibitive. So how do I respond? I put a post on Facebook - of course! Thankfully my new friend Paul who lives in Switzerland and knows lots of ex-pats emailed a friend of his who said she brought her dog to Switzerland from Canada and paid about the same but that it's for a FULL SERVICE rather than just the flight. These people take care of last minute vaccinations, forms, crates, pick up and drop off, etc. Whew!!! Of course a full day went by of me having a heart attack before I found out this info. In the meantime Josh found out we can fly them Continental for around $1500 each - still expensive but significantly less, wouldn't you agree? We're still trying to figure out which way we are going to go because of the timing of the vaccinations and forms and appointments and we got a few more quotes, one of which was closer to $4500 for both dogs, so about $1500 more than Continental but covers all those other items which would help. Only then she added in that it could cost up to $1500 per dog for the entry fee into Spain. If only there was some clear way to know the exact costs in doing this it would be so much easier! So when I get back home this week, my latest addition to my to do list is to find out exactly how much it will cost, what is involved as far as forms and appointments and when I need to do them.
Right now what I know is that the dogs need to be microchipped...check!! We have those already. Are they compatible with Spain's? Yup, checked that too after an hour on the Home Again website. Ok, one item down. They need to be up to date on their regular vaccinations - ok, we're due for physicals Dec 1 - need to move that closer to mid Nov as they need to be done no less than 4 weeks before flight and that's cutting it close. Check... appt set. Now the timing issuue - I need to figure out when to make the appt with the USDA vet and they need forms completed no more than 10-15 days before our flight. Not having our flight booked, I'm at a bit of an impasse here. But it's all on my list... my ever growing, super long list. Did I mention I still work??? And still plan to work? I'll just give up my sleep...sleep is for wimps anyways ;)
Do yourself a favor, before you move abroad, talk to me... I can tell you every snafu you will run into, trust me...
Got to get ready for dinner and will try to add Day 3 later...
Julie
Discovery trip - day 2
Well you know how day 1 ended, with me almost puking my guts out the window of the cab. Thankfully day 2 went quite a bit smoother!! While I woke up after 12 hrs of sleeping still with that hangover type feeling I definitely felt significantly better than I did on Mon.
We met up with Mele around 10AM to start the viewing of the next 10 apartments. I'll upload pics probably when we get back because for some reason I can't get the photo upload on Facebook to work and this program only allows me to upload one image at a time and it takes a good 10 mins per image - I just don't have that kind of patience at the moment!
Anyways, we have been pleasantly surprised so far with what we have seen. We had looked online at many apartments and they were just ok. Maybe their photos weren't doing them justice but I have to say, and I think Josh agrees, that every single apartment except for 1 had the potential to be a winner. They all met just about all of our criteria which I have to give kudos to our realtor, Mele, she really knew us well!! Thanks Mele!!
I'd love to describe the ones that we saw to everyone but you know what, you'd probably be bored out of your mind by the third one. The general gist of it is, we looked close to the water which is also by Josh's work (means an hr commute to school for Aidan across the city) and we looked close to Aidan's school (again, an hr commute but this time for Josh). And we also looked in the middle of the city. We finally went with the one that was our 4th one of the day. There was just something about it...ok it was the outdoor space. As you can imagine in a city, outdoor space comes at a premium. Every place we saw had a balcony or terrace - it was a requirement of ours. We're going from an acre and a half, dammit, we need to be able to at least have a little table or something outside to eat on! So anyways, all had some small outdoor space, and I want to reiterate...small. I think the balconies here are probably comparable to the ones in the US that you would see in a city - enough to put a small table and that's about it. Maybe a little more. So this place that we went with had all we wanted - it's right in the middle of Josh and Aidan's destinations. It's close to shopping (as in grocery, you all know I will be devastated by lack of target, gap and toys r us!) which is essential since I won't have a car (I'll tell you about the driving in a bit). There is a park and dog park nearby. And honestly, while we saw places in much nicer areas, this place gave us the best feel for city life - we are on a side street so it's not loud by any means but we are truly in the center of the city. What is the point of moving to the city unless we are going to be near the hubbub of city life right?? Though I have to say, it was hard to pass up the 8th floor huge apartment with 2 balconies overseeing the Mediterranean (you'll see those pics once I upload) but again, must think of family... that was a tough one to give up though!!! So back to the apartment, it's more of a townhome since it's 2 floors. It's newly renovated so everything is new. But like I mentioned before, everything is MUCH smaller here in Europe. We will have approximately 115 square meters, which is something we anticipated (though we saw some closer to 135 sq meters) but equates to approx 1200 square feet. Our house now is close to 1900 sq feet plus a finished basement so we are losing A LOT of space. But the plus to this place beyond all these other features that met our criteria - it has an outdoor space of approximately 60 sq meters - almost 650 square feet! Now it's all concrete and stone but I'll put some pics up of what a normal terrace looks like and what this one is like and you'll see a BIG difference. A HUGE difference. This space was worth the sacrifice of space inside. We won't have to walk the dogs to go to the bathroom (obviously will need to improve on our poop pickup though since we kind of slack in that area), we can just let them out. The kids will have an area that's contained and private that they can play in (wish there was grass but beggars can't be choosers) which is a huge relief as well. Not that I wasn't looking forward to the park but it's nice to know there is another alternative if I don't want to hit the park every day (which I don't). So anyways, after much back and forth (and there was a lot of back and forth making a decision), we chose this one. Oh and it's in the neighborhood called Eixample (pronounced E champ le which is nice sounding. Almost sounds french to me). Just to give a price comparison - these spaces we saw were all in the city borders of Barcelona though some were closer to the outskirts than others. They were all in the range of 100 - 150 square meters. And their prices ranged from 1600 - 2000 euros per month. With the exchange rate for dollars, this equates to $2300 to $2900 USD per month. A big chunk of change for a small place. I'm not sure how Boston proper compares, but my guess is it's probably relatively close???
So we made our decision last night around 6ish - after we saw our last apartment with Mele. She knew we had it narrowed down to 2 but we made our decision and sent her an email to find out what is next. We had a vague idea. She emailed us that we would meet at 10AM the next day and to get some rest. Hopefully at the end of day 3 we would have a place to live!!
So that night we went to dinner with Josh's co-worker, Nick and his wife Brenda at a fabulous restaurant called El Greco. Best Italian food (josh disagrees). It was to me what European life is all about. It was a family owned restaurant, everything made fresh on the premises. And at the end of the night we walked out and the family and head chef (obviously part of the family) were all sitting down to their own dinner together at the front table in the restaurant. Very cool experience. What is interesting about dining in Spain (I can't say if the rest of europe is like this or not because I haven't been) but restaurants here don't open until 8 for the most part and they only have one seating per table - so there is relatively no turnover in a good restaurant. If you book that table, it is yours for the night. I have no idea how these people make money. They do not push you to order and you actually have to ask for the check at the end of the night. It was a wonderful experience and one I look forward to having again. Got in from dinner around 11:30 BCN time - LONG day.
In addition to going to dinner, it was great seeing Nick and Brenda. Brenda and I have been emailing for months yet had never met in person. She's been my inside guide to BCN since she's been here a year now. Their kids (4 of them) are ages 10-14 and all attend the same school that Aidan will be going to in January. They live just outside the city so they have a car unlike us - it was kind of fun to watch Nick drive in the city.
Driving in Barcelona is like NOTHING I have ever seen in my entire life. I LOVE to drive as you know. And rarely am I intimidated by anything related to a vehicle. But man, I will NEVER drive in Barcelona - I can promise you that! First of all the lanes here are significantly more narrow than lanes anywhere else I've been. I've heard that is typical of Europe but again I have personally nothing to compare against. These people drive within centimeters of each other and drive fast - yes Michele, Tracie and Deb - faster than me. I don't think I've ever seen anyone drive this fast on inner city streets and not constantly slam the breaks. To use a comparison of Josh's they were like a bead of water just flowing along a river and moving around the rocks (other cars) with ease. I am amazed there are not more accidents. I kid you not, we were going 50 at times. Can you imagine driving 50 down Newbury Street or Atlantic Ave? With the traffic lights and cross walks? These people can do it! And you have to add in the scooters. Never in my life have I seen this many scooters - I have a pic or two of that as well. Mele told us that Barcelona actually has the highest percent of scooters compared to any city in the world, even more than Rome (I wasn't aware of Rome's population of scooters so I will take her word on this one). And the scooters drive like absolute manics weaving and bobbing in between the cars.
But interestingly, it seems that both cars and scooters are very respectful of pedestrians unlike many cities. The crosswalks are all automated and you would have major guts to try to cross when there is a red little man there - wait for the green man, trust me. Mele also said it is a sign of respect to use the crosswalks and they are everywhere so we really had no need to jaywalk like we normally would. But she did advise to still look twice because the occassional scooter will still try to fly thru a crosswalk. Good to know!!!
A few more Barcelona / Spain traditions and then I'm done with Day 2 recap! First of all, they take their siestas very seriously here still. The majority of places, especially the mom and pop shops, close down between 2 and 4 (some even 4:30) every day. Their hours are extended at the end of the day til around 7. But it's very odd to walk along the streets and see all of these metal doors that close off the store fronts (like you would see in any city but usually it means the place is out of business) in the middle of the day. I keep thinking wow, these must all be out of business, but nope, just closed for siesta. Apparently they all go home for their big meal of the day, must be how they all stay skinny because they are eating big meals early. Mele said there are very few fat people in barcelona, they are very concerned with their appearances and that many will have plastic surgery and tummy tucks because they are so concerned with their weight! Anyways, I digress... back to traditions. Get all your errands done during the week because most stores close on Saturday by noon or so. And they aren't closed on Sunday. I'm not sure about the big congolomorates on some of these things and some of them stay open during siesta but I'm pretty sure they close early Sat and all day Sun too. It is supposed to truly be a day of relaxation here! I look forward to one of those someday soon!!!
Julie
We met up with Mele around 10AM to start the viewing of the next 10 apartments. I'll upload pics probably when we get back because for some reason I can't get the photo upload on Facebook to work and this program only allows me to upload one image at a time and it takes a good 10 mins per image - I just don't have that kind of patience at the moment!
Anyways, we have been pleasantly surprised so far with what we have seen. We had looked online at many apartments and they were just ok. Maybe their photos weren't doing them justice but I have to say, and I think Josh agrees, that every single apartment except for 1 had the potential to be a winner. They all met just about all of our criteria which I have to give kudos to our realtor, Mele, she really knew us well!! Thanks Mele!!
I'd love to describe the ones that we saw to everyone but you know what, you'd probably be bored out of your mind by the third one. The general gist of it is, we looked close to the water which is also by Josh's work (means an hr commute to school for Aidan across the city) and we looked close to Aidan's school (again, an hr commute but this time for Josh). And we also looked in the middle of the city. We finally went with the one that was our 4th one of the day. There was just something about it...ok it was the outdoor space. As you can imagine in a city, outdoor space comes at a premium. Every place we saw had a balcony or terrace - it was a requirement of ours. We're going from an acre and a half, dammit, we need to be able to at least have a little table or something outside to eat on! So anyways, all had some small outdoor space, and I want to reiterate...small. I think the balconies here are probably comparable to the ones in the US that you would see in a city - enough to put a small table and that's about it. Maybe a little more. So this place that we went with had all we wanted - it's right in the middle of Josh and Aidan's destinations. It's close to shopping (as in grocery, you all know I will be devastated by lack of target, gap and toys r us!) which is essential since I won't have a car (I'll tell you about the driving in a bit). There is a park and dog park nearby. And honestly, while we saw places in much nicer areas, this place gave us the best feel for city life - we are on a side street so it's not loud by any means but we are truly in the center of the city. What is the point of moving to the city unless we are going to be near the hubbub of city life right?? Though I have to say, it was hard to pass up the 8th floor huge apartment with 2 balconies overseeing the Mediterranean (you'll see those pics once I upload) but again, must think of family... that was a tough one to give up though!!! So back to the apartment, it's more of a townhome since it's 2 floors. It's newly renovated so everything is new. But like I mentioned before, everything is MUCH smaller here in Europe. We will have approximately 115 square meters, which is something we anticipated (though we saw some closer to 135 sq meters) but equates to approx 1200 square feet. Our house now is close to 1900 sq feet plus a finished basement so we are losing A LOT of space. But the plus to this place beyond all these other features that met our criteria - it has an outdoor space of approximately 60 sq meters - almost 650 square feet! Now it's all concrete and stone but I'll put some pics up of what a normal terrace looks like and what this one is like and you'll see a BIG difference. A HUGE difference. This space was worth the sacrifice of space inside. We won't have to walk the dogs to go to the bathroom (obviously will need to improve on our poop pickup though since we kind of slack in that area), we can just let them out. The kids will have an area that's contained and private that they can play in (wish there was grass but beggars can't be choosers) which is a huge relief as well. Not that I wasn't looking forward to the park but it's nice to know there is another alternative if I don't want to hit the park every day (which I don't). So anyways, after much back and forth (and there was a lot of back and forth making a decision), we chose this one. Oh and it's in the neighborhood called Eixample (pronounced E champ le which is nice sounding. Almost sounds french to me). Just to give a price comparison - these spaces we saw were all in the city borders of Barcelona though some were closer to the outskirts than others. They were all in the range of 100 - 150 square meters. And their prices ranged from 1600 - 2000 euros per month. With the exchange rate for dollars, this equates to $2300 to $2900 USD per month. A big chunk of change for a small place. I'm not sure how Boston proper compares, but my guess is it's probably relatively close???
So we made our decision last night around 6ish - after we saw our last apartment with Mele. She knew we had it narrowed down to 2 but we made our decision and sent her an email to find out what is next. We had a vague idea. She emailed us that we would meet at 10AM the next day and to get some rest. Hopefully at the end of day 3 we would have a place to live!!
The outside of our building
Kitchen view #1 - that is pretty much my one lonely cabinet at the top.
Kitchen view #2 - that is my washing machine that holds about 3 shirts. Above that is not a cabinet but a door that hides the hot water heater.
Patio view #1 (notice my dryer on the left...insert sarcasm here)
Patio view #2
Family room / dining room (most of this furniture is going)
Upstairs bath (there is one downstairs too but this one is nicer)
Aidan and Josh are very excited about the bidet!
View of our street. It's a small side street with pretty much no traffic or noise. There are pics of the bedrooms but they were kind of messy when we were there. I'll add them once I've added my own touch!
So that night we went to dinner with Josh's co-worker, Nick and his wife Brenda at a fabulous restaurant called El Greco. Best Italian food (josh disagrees). It was to me what European life is all about. It was a family owned restaurant, everything made fresh on the premises. And at the end of the night we walked out and the family and head chef (obviously part of the family) were all sitting down to their own dinner together at the front table in the restaurant. Very cool experience. What is interesting about dining in Spain (I can't say if the rest of europe is like this or not because I haven't been) but restaurants here don't open until 8 for the most part and they only have one seating per table - so there is relatively no turnover in a good restaurant. If you book that table, it is yours for the night. I have no idea how these people make money. They do not push you to order and you actually have to ask for the check at the end of the night. It was a wonderful experience and one I look forward to having again. Got in from dinner around 11:30 BCN time - LONG day.
In addition to going to dinner, it was great seeing Nick and Brenda. Brenda and I have been emailing for months yet had never met in person. She's been my inside guide to BCN since she's been here a year now. Their kids (4 of them) are ages 10-14 and all attend the same school that Aidan will be going to in January. They live just outside the city so they have a car unlike us - it was kind of fun to watch Nick drive in the city.
Driving in Barcelona is like NOTHING I have ever seen in my entire life. I LOVE to drive as you know. And rarely am I intimidated by anything related to a vehicle. But man, I will NEVER drive in Barcelona - I can promise you that! First of all the lanes here are significantly more narrow than lanes anywhere else I've been. I've heard that is typical of Europe but again I have personally nothing to compare against. These people drive within centimeters of each other and drive fast - yes Michele, Tracie and Deb - faster than me. I don't think I've ever seen anyone drive this fast on inner city streets and not constantly slam the breaks. To use a comparison of Josh's they were like a bead of water just flowing along a river and moving around the rocks (other cars) with ease. I am amazed there are not more accidents. I kid you not, we were going 50 at times. Can you imagine driving 50 down Newbury Street or Atlantic Ave? With the traffic lights and cross walks? These people can do it! And you have to add in the scooters. Never in my life have I seen this many scooters - I have a pic or two of that as well. Mele told us that Barcelona actually has the highest percent of scooters compared to any city in the world, even more than Rome (I wasn't aware of Rome's population of scooters so I will take her word on this one). And the scooters drive like absolute manics weaving and bobbing in between the cars.
But interestingly, it seems that both cars and scooters are very respectful of pedestrians unlike many cities. The crosswalks are all automated and you would have major guts to try to cross when there is a red little man there - wait for the green man, trust me. Mele also said it is a sign of respect to use the crosswalks and they are everywhere so we really had no need to jaywalk like we normally would. But she did advise to still look twice because the occassional scooter will still try to fly thru a crosswalk. Good to know!!!
A few more Barcelona / Spain traditions and then I'm done with Day 2 recap! First of all, they take their siestas very seriously here still. The majority of places, especially the mom and pop shops, close down between 2 and 4 (some even 4:30) every day. Their hours are extended at the end of the day til around 7. But it's very odd to walk along the streets and see all of these metal doors that close off the store fronts (like you would see in any city but usually it means the place is out of business) in the middle of the day. I keep thinking wow, these must all be out of business, but nope, just closed for siesta. Apparently they all go home for their big meal of the day, must be how they all stay skinny because they are eating big meals early. Mele said there are very few fat people in barcelona, they are very concerned with their appearances and that many will have plastic surgery and tummy tucks because they are so concerned with their weight! Anyways, I digress... back to traditions. Get all your errands done during the week because most stores close on Saturday by noon or so. And they aren't closed on Sunday. I'm not sure about the big congolomorates on some of these things and some of them stay open during siesta but I'm pretty sure they close early Sat and all day Sun too. It is supposed to truly be a day of relaxation here! I look forward to one of those someday soon!!!
Julie
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