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. 

Julie

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

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

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

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!!

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

Discovery Trip - Day 1

And we're off!!  It's an emotional and physical rollercoaster we are riding for the next few days.  Our goal in the next oh, day and a half, is to find ourselves a place to live in the next few days.  We'll be going from our acre and a half in Attleboro with 1900 square feet to NO yard and maybe 1000 square feet if we are lucky.   So we already know this is going to be a tough job ahead of us.

We got to Logan way too  early...not quite sure why Josh had the car come at 2:30 when our flight wasn't til 6:40.  Oh well!  So we figured we'd stop at Houlihan's in the airport for a last bite of american food and a drink or two.  Not a great idea.  We really should know better since everyone knows airport food and service sucks.  Josh's soup was cold and finally came back at the end of the meal (of course, that was his meal) and my sandwich was just ok.  We didn't bother with drinks.  There was a cute english family next to us - why can't we move somewhere where my kids will come back with cute little english accents??  So we're hoping that the cold soup is the worst of what is going to happen and moving along...

We get on our plane, on time, and are excited about the journey ahead of us.  Unfortunately that luck was following us, or should I say bad stinky luck.  The guy on the other side of me had really bad B.O.  Yuck!!!  I'm nauseuous and we haven't even left yet. Thankfully we caught some really fast tailwinds and cut more than an hour off our regular 6 hr time to get to Dublin.  Dublin!!!  My first time in Europe, albeit in an airport!  I've been in many airports in my time but never one with this many hallways!!  The directions were good for everywhere you needed to go, but you took narrow hallways everywhere it seemed. 

As with all bad luck, it continues to follow... I'm thankful that these were all small issues.  But in preparation for my trip and knowing how picky of an eater I am, I put a caramello bar in my pocketbook.  Maybe the caramel part was a bad idea.  Well, all the heavy stuff in my pocketbook squished it and when I went to remove something from my purse, I thought...hmmnm....what is so sticky all over this??   Good thing we got into Ireland early because I ended up spending 20 mins in the bathroom washing all my possessions down from their caramel bath!  I suppose worse things could happen right?  Sue, you will be happy to know that we saw a starbucks while in the Dublin airport - $8 for a coffee though!!  We also saw a Burger King, so Aidan will be happy for a touch of the US when he comes.  Aww.... just like home!!  Was hoping my luck would change - I found an Irish / Euro penny on the seat next to me as we were waiting for our connection to Barcelona.

So off we go to meet our connection to Barcelona.  We were exhausted and actually slept the entire flight - very much typical of Josh but not so typical for me.  So far so good...no more problems (yet, a little foreshadowing).  Once again, the tailwinds were in our favor and we arrived safely to Barcelona, our home away from home!  First off, let me say that the view of the city from the airplane was breathtaking!  If we weren't meeting our realtor in 1/2 hr, I'd upload the photos but I haven't even downloaded them from the camera yet (actually I'm on Josh's computer so not even sure he has the software to do it).  The view was just stunning and it made me really excited about the next few days to come.  The mountains were in the background with the city nestled between that and the Mediterranean Sea - just gorgeous!! 

We made it thru customs just find and found a cab.  Using our very poor Spanish and pointing a finger at the address we wanted to go to, we were off!!!  Wow, we're in Spain!!!!  All this planning and we are actually here!  We're very excited and are looking all around at the sites as we drive.  Old mixed in with new.  Many places had what they were actually labeled as their store names - Farmacia or pharmacy - we saw the same sign in all different colors and fonts.  It was very interesting because it seems that they didn't have brand names for things like that but we're guessing that the different colors and fonts meant they were different companies.  As we are driving we go past this giant building that will forever be known to Josh and I as the penis building - you'll have to wait for the picture but the name should say it all.  I believe they are actually apartments, but it will be known as Penis building from now on!  Sue,  you will be happy to know I've seen a Starbucks here too...Lisa, I haven't found the Dunkin Donuts yet but we haven't made it to Las Ramblas which I believe is where it is located. 

So anyways, we're in the cab heading to our hotel, the Hotel Gran Silken on Ave Diagonal.  The hotel is gorgeous and very modern.  We go to check in, but wait!!!  We don't have a reservation under Marcus.  What??????  Josh's company made the reservations.  So now we are in a foreign country with no hotel.  I personally begin to panic while Josh being level headed asks, do you have any rooms available??  Ah, my common sense husband, god I love him.  But in the end, I showed him where we were supposed to be.  He looked at it and said, "well you have the right address but the wrong hotel".  So he calls up the other hotel, their sister hotel, and yup, they have us there.  The braintrusts at Vistaprint gave us the wrong address!!!  Oh well... off we go in another cab (he tried to give us directions via metro but we weren't ready to tackle the train system quite yet). 

So we make it to the correct hotel, the Gran Silken Havana.  Still a beautiful hotel but perhaps not quite as fancy - fine by us.  This one is actuallly a little more our style.  And actually, we have a cute little private veranda as well which is nice.  Not that we've really had a chance to use it.  So now that we are checked in, our first priority is to finish setting up our bank account.  We had done some of it online but the rest had to be done in person.  We take yet another cab to La Caixa, our bank.  It's not like banks here where you have a reception area with tellers and then some offices to the side.  This place had 3 cubes, not teller area and then 2 offices in the back.  There was no line, just a row of chairs.  Not knowing what to do, we just sat down.  Thankfully the guy next to us spoke English and told us we just wait our turn and it's first come, first serve.  That was great until some other guy cut us off and we couldn't tell him!  So we sat there for close to an hour.  By now it's after 1 and you need to keep in mind that in Barcelona, and most of Spain, they take their siesta very seriously and most places close down between the hours of 2 and 4/4:30.  We knew that this bank was one of them.  So hopefully they don't kick people out that have been waiting if you haven't been served by then.  Thankfully it never came to that.  It was finally our turn and we asked for our contact that we had been emailing with.  Her English was a little broken but still much better than our Spanish (which we obviously need to work on).  We got everything set up and all of our bank cards.  You actually get different pin numbers for your internet banking and your ATM banking which was interesting.  That and a card to use if you are doing transfers - they may contact you, ask for 3 numbers, then you looking for your corresponding numbers and give them the next 4 in the sequence.  It was very spy-like!!! 

After the bank we took a stroll down the road to the Vistaprint office.  It was in a very modern building right by the ocean.  Nice Josh!!  You have the life!!  Josh knew most everyone there and it was nice for me to meet some people too.  Everyone spoke English - so that was a nice change from the day!   It was a quick visit to the office because we had to meet up with Mele, our realtor.

We decided to try the metro which was rather daunting to us.  We walked the 3 blocks from vistaprint to the Metro station.  We knew we were heading for the Villa Olimpica so we knew what direction based on the map.  The tough part was the automated ticket dispenser.  We were unsure of which ticket to  buy and only wanted a one way token.  We were just about on the verge of giving up when we figured it out.  Victory!!!!  This was a huge barrier to us, taking the public transportation on our own.  It may not seem like a big deal but we could have ended up in Madrid for all we knew was going to happen!  Everything was labeled very well (in Spanish but we do know some!) and we got off at our stop with no problem.  Holding our tourist map, we tried to figure out where we were meeting Mele.  We went in the wrong direction, of course, but we had some time to kill and figured, let's head towards the water.  The Mediterranean is GORGEOUS!  It was a little cloudy out but the sea was still blue and the beach looked amazing and it stretched on forever.  There was a nice boardwalk to walk along though at that point we didn't had time because now we needed to backtrack and find Mele.  The streets are labeled ok - they are great about crosswalks and even the craziest (you thought Boston or NY was bad!) drivers would stop for a crosswalk.

Speaking of crazy driving - these drivers are insane!  The roads, even highways, are much more narrow and I don't know how more cars don't crash into each other.  Most of the roads are VERY curvy as well.  During our house hunt I actually became so nauseous that I had to lean my head out the window in fear I was going to puke (and came very close). 

So we meet Mele, and she kicks ass!  She's high energy, perfect English (she's actually from Puerto Rico and spent a lot of time in the states too) and knows her stuff.  So off and running we go!  We had 6 places to see between 4PM and 6:30... not a lot of time.

The first place was nice - right in the Villa Olimpica... there was a courtyard with a pool and play area for the kids.  They weren't thrilled about the dog thing which I thought Mele had confirmed was ok with all the places we were seeing.  It was 3 stories, kind of like a townhome and a bit on the rustic side.  But the views were great and the space inside was good although a little awkward.  The 2nd and 3rd were in the same building, far from parks which sucks, but brand new.  One furnished, the other was not.  We really need it to be furnished because we don't plan to bring anything over from the US for just 2 years and don't want to spend the $$ on furnishing a place that we won't bring back with us.  The 4th place was a 1970s kind of place with amazing view in the Sarria area.  But unfurnished and a bit dark for us.  We LOVED the rustic feel, yet updated amenities of the 5th place - if only it weren't a 3rd floor walk up.  I was winded by the time we got to the top and still not feeling so great from the cab rides.  Actually I was feeling pretty crappy from the 3rd place on - and had to stop for a quick snack because the apple I had at 10AM, just not cutting it any more.  Finally the 6th place we loved.  By the school and park, though a bit of a commute for Josh.  We'd have to negotiate some furniture in there because it supposedly comes unfurnished but we will see.  It felt the most homey of all of them and was on the 8th floor with a beautiful terrace.  By now, I'm ready to puke and can barely stand straight.  So I didn't take any pics.  But if we decide this is the one we will go back for another visit. 

Ok, we're off to see 10 more places today.  Got to jump because Josh needs the computer too.  More updates later!