Jumping over the hurdles...

I have to say that in all of my talk about success and failure if I had to pick one this week, I would have to go with success. I attempted several things I had not done before and while not all came out as my goal intended, the fact that I tried made them a triumph to me. It’s days like these I need to remember to reflect back on during those times when I feel like I’m just floundering. And those times of despair will happen again – I just need to remember that there are more pros than cons to being here.

So my week hasn’t been super eventful but it’s been good. For those that know me, you know that the food here was and has been a little bit of a challenge for me. That doesn’t mean that I’m not eating – most definitely I am. But I’m eating the same things over and over again essentially. However I’ve actually tried a number of new foods and enjoyed them. That’s a big step for me! But when I go to the grocery store, while I’m able to walk thru a lot faster now because I’m becoming familiar with the brands, many are not the brands (ok the majority) that I’m accustomed to. And I’m the kind of girl that when it comes to my food, am very brand conscious. I do think Skippy tastes different than Jif and I dare anyone to tell me otherwise! By the way, they have neither here so at some point I may need to try the Spanish brand. Thank god I shipped 5 large jars of peanut butter here – at least that will last me a while! Anyways, so I decided at the end of last week that I would start attempting to cook. Yes, you read it here… Julie Marcus is going to cook.
Many of you know all about my culinary skills. Though I should point out, the lack of culinary skills. My specialty – lasagna or spaghetti. Purdue chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, baked chicken with Italian seasoning on it… umm….ummm… I think that may be it. Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Poor Josh enjoys cooking and just isn’t here enough to do it and I’m just a mess in the kitchen. For 15 years he’s been telling me we have this thing called a timer in our kitchen and I should consider using it. Eh…what for???

So I put together my list of ingredients and their Spanish equivalent when I went to the store at the end of last week. My goal this week is 2 things – pancakes from scratch (and I don’t mean Bisquick as I’ve already used my Bisquick mix that I shipped!) and my own spaghetti sauce. So right from the first moment, I’m at an impasse. Not all of my ingredients are readily available here. Now, I may not be a cook but I do know that when cooking, unlike baking, there is some wiggle room as far as the type of ingredients and their quantity. I just figure I’ll wing this. I’ll follow the instructions as best I can and let’s just hope for something edible.
First on my list – pancakes. I know, I know… this isn’t brain surgery right? I follow the instructions to a T. Ok, I missed the vanilla but how necessary can ½ teaspoon be right? Apparently important because they came out a little rubbery and tasteless. Josh said they just needed more sugar. I think I need to find a different recipe for pancakes – feel free to send one along if you have it.

Second on my list – tomato sauce. I’m a pasta addict. But I’m very particular about my sauce. I by no means make my sauce at home. I take it from the jar and that’s just fine with me. It’s easy, it tastes good…it works for me. Unfortunately I’m not very impressed with the jar stuff here. So I asked my friend Sue for her

recipe since I’ve had her sauce and liked it. Took one look at it and moved it to the bottom of the pile (sorry Sue) – looks too complex for a first timer. I need to work up to that one.  
So I went on to foodnetwork.com and found myself a nice, simple recipe. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/easy-tomato-sauce-recipe/index.html Looks easy to me. Off I go to the grocery store to collect my ingredients. Oh oh…no tomato paste. Hmmm…not at this store either. Ok, looks like in addition to vanilla, tomato paste will also be something hard to find here. Knowing that it gives the sauce a bit more flavor I figure I probably should have it but I can probably do without. I’ll just sub with a can of pure tomato sauce instead. Yeah…that didn’t work. It definitely affected the consistency. It doesn’t taste bad, it’s actually somewhat better than the jar stuff…but it’s a bit (ok a lot) on the thin side. I also found it strange that my yellow onion was actually a red onion on the inside??? Not sure why that was. So I’ll try it again next week. Oh and I tried to add pepper only the pepper that Josh bought is peppercorns, which is fine in the US because to my knowledge if you buy most peppercorns in the US, they come in their own pepper mill. Yeah not so much here. So I have peppercorns and no mill. Which means no pepper in my sauce either. 

0-2 now in the cooking department. I have a few on my list for next week – I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. And I may attempt the sauce thing again too. I’m thinking pizza dough and perhaps mac n cheese. I also saw this really yummy looking pear appetizer (that I could then translate into a tapas) that required blue cheese (I’ve seen that here) but also requires apple cider (which I have not seen) so we’ll see if I can get all the ingredients for that.

That was Monday. Again, adventurous in the kitchen (for me) but not so adventurous outside. I am learning that if I need to go to the store and I don’t know what it’s called in Spanish it’s good to write the translation next to the item on the list. Josh brought home vanilla sugar one day thinking it was salt. I probably would have made the same mistake. I’ll need to find a use for that vanilla sugar at some point too…
Tuesday I decided to make another attempt at making my blackberry work here. I think it might just be a Spain thing that it doesn’t work all the time. I can get calls… I can get emails (most of the time but at least once a day need to turn the phone on and off to reset the email)…. I can get texts. But for some reason I can very rarely get on the internet and I can’t get any downloaded programs, like my translator (essential) to work. The Bright Store which is an English speaking cell store once again couldn’t really help me…you know, unless I wanted to spend 300€ on a Spanish blackberry (I’m using Josh’s blackberry from the US with a Spanish SIM card – mine was not an international one). Um…not really.

Feeling a little put down from the lack of success at the cell store, though I found it quite easily which was good, I decided to take a walk and see if we could find the Godiva which I knew shouldn’t be too far from where Liam and I were. So we walked til we found it. However, was slightly disappointed that they don’t carry the same selection and seem to have an extraordinary amount of praline flavored chocolate. Praline not being my favorite. In her broken English (much better than my very broken Spanish) she explained that the US has different production that Europe. Makes sense. I bought some chocolate just the same and am a happy camper.

Since I managed to pull off getting chocolate I was feeling pretty confident now and decided to walk down towards Placa de Catalunya to El Cortes Ingles (never ended up making it to the store). This place is supposed to be like Macy’s (only not as nice) but is something like 7 floors. And supposedly they carry American/English items. I’m there. But I had to stop for lunch on my way with Liam. I’ll be honest, I’m getting sick of croissants and didn’t want to stop at a pastry shop to get him one. But most restaurants don’t open for lunch until after 1 or 2 here. I did go into a Haagen Daaz like none other I’d been into in order to get Liam a water. It had comfortable booth seating and they had a sign for this chocolate fondue that looked like it was to die for. From what I could gather from the picture (because that’s how I read these days – it’s like being in preschool), they give you mini balls of ice cream that you dip in the fondue. Yeah, I’ll be going back there to do that one night!

Since I really wanted a meal for Liam we continued on down the street til I saw this place advertising frankfurts (hot dogs) and churros con chocolate. Cristy had mentioned I should go in anywhere that advertises these churros with chocolate because I must try them. Ok, so let’s try that. The place was called Happy Bar and Restaurant. Yes, that is the Spanish name – can you tell they cater to tourists? It appears to be like the TGI Fridays of Spain…quality stuff. They had both an English and Spanish menu which was helpful. What wasn’t helpful was the waitress who hated us from the moment we walked in. Keep in mind this is the FIRST time I have gone into a restaurant on my own without another adult – other than a pastry shop where I can just point to what I want and hand over my money. As I’ve mentioned before restaurants here are not like those at home. This is a leisurely process. However, this was a little too leisurely for me. Upon our seating (ourselves because that’s what it looked like to me), I immediately asked for a leche frio (cold milk… most milk here is room temp or else for small children they heat it). 20 mins later, still waiting for my cold milk for Liam. Another 10 or so go by and I think, this isn’t so much leisurely as she hates us. She finally comes over and I order a pizza and a salad and a water for me. But wait it gets better. I can’t open the water. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s a glass bottle so my thought is one of two things – twist cap or bottle opener. I try and try in vain to twist the cap. Nothing. Ok, I’ve got a college education… I can beat this bottle of water and become victorious. At home, I may even joke with the waiter and say, hey, how do I open this??? Here, I have absolutely no idea how to joke with her much less ask how do I open this? I know abrir is to open but I don’t know how to ask How do you open? If I just say abre, I feel like I’m being demanding and saying…Open this. So I sit there thirsty…

Our food finally comes and Liam’s not thrilled with the pizza. To be honest, it’s just ok. Not horrible…I’ve had worse. But ok. I eat my salad and try to convince him to eat his pizza. When Liam is lying on his side of the booth with his feet on the table I take this as a signal that he is now done with this meal and wants to

move on. Another 10 mins and I finally spot our waitress and ask for the check. All in all, I thought it went pretty well. We were fed and no one suffered any major trauma. Oh and I brought the water back to the flat and when Cristy came by I asked her… how do you open this. Turns out it’s a pull tab – kind of like you would have on a plastic sports bottle type of water. Whoever heard of a pull tab on a glass bottle? Yeah I felt foolish. But at least it was in the comfort of my own home that I felt that way!

I’m going to call Tuesday my best day here yet just because I tried new things on my own that I wasn’t comfortable with. It was a rush to go in somewhere and while not feeling comfortable per se, felt that I could get the job done somehow. I also met Jami (Sven’s wife) and Sidney (Tristan’s wife) on Tuesday afternoon. So I’m slowly making more friends here.

I had actually been emailing with Jami for the last week and so it was nice to meet her on Tuesday before I was actually supposed to meet her on Wednesday. Weds Liam and I met up with Jami and Gina (another Vistaprint wife) who have both been here for 2 years. They were both incredibly nice and we had nice easy conversation which was great. We went up to Parc Guell which is just north of here… like uphill. Yeah, my tush is going to be in great shape when I get home. Pushing Liam (who’s 30 lbs) in his stroller straight uphill. I’m sore today to say the least! Parc Guell isn’t your traditional park though it has some of what you might consider walking trails. There is lots to see like a few buildings that were designed by Gaudi and one that he lived in. It was a beautiful place and Liam enjoyed running around. The challenge being that there were no barriers and as we continued to go up and up, the drop became higher and higher and it wasn’t like it was a hill you would roll down if you fell – these were just drops. Like 20+ foot drops. Some onto rocks. Try keeping a 2 year old away from the edge. Yeah right! But it was absolutely beautiful!

 

Entrance to the park                   What you see when you enter               Gaudi's house

The view of Tibidabo from Parc Guell                           Jami and Liam walking up to the best view area

                                                                                         (notice no railings)

View from the top - gorgeous!                                       Liam and I at the top - 20 ft drop behind him

  

 Jami & Liam at the top              Not sure what this is but it's cool           Jami & Liam beating up the  

                                                                                                                 "monsters" he "found"

   

Liam & I at the bottom of the stairs... watch out for the dragon!

After Parc Guell it was time to start heading back to get Aidan. I had told Jami about my fear of the
commuter rail (called the FGC here) and the bus. Mainly because I hadn’t taken them and was unsure of the process compared to the metro which I feel pretty comfy on by now. She had kindly offered to take me as close to the school before she had head off on her own. Only she and Gina forgot what it was like to have a 2 year old in tow with his stroller. So when we are in the grocery store (an unexpected but pleasant stop since it’s near me and about 3x larger than the store I now go to) and I said, you know, I’ve got to be at the school in a ½ hour, are we good on time? And she said yes… well I trusted her. And why shouldn’t I? I’d do it again. And if we didn’t have Liam with us, we may have made it. So we managed to get on the FGC and I asked Gina the time – 3:35. Shit, Aidan gets out of school at 3:45 and I still need to get to the FGC to the bus and then walk two blocks after that. So I told them, you know, you helped me conquer the FGC, let’s just find me a cab when we get off because I don’t have time to figure out the bus and then walk because I’m already late. Thankfully, I got there right when other parents were doing their pick ups too.
Wednesday was probably my busiest day I have had here so far.

Because after our trip to Parc Guell and then to pick up Aidan, we had our first playdate here. How fantastic! This little girl, Isa, is in Aidan’s class. She reminds me a lot of Lindsey who lives across the street from us at home. And the two of them just hit it off on the first day of school and the mom was the one that totally took me under her wing that first day (go back to the entry about the café after the first day of school). I met up with the au pair at BFIS when picking up Aidan. She’s a lovely girl here for 9 months before she gets married and starts grad school. And you could see how excited Aidan was to go to Isa’s. The best part for me?? We had to take the bus. Now not only did I take the FGC on Wed, I took the bus too. The best part for Aidan? A playdate with a new friend.

The playdate was a little different from home because they have an au pair and it was expected that she would watch all the kids, including Liam and the adults (there was another mom with her son) were in the formal library (which I think was almost as big as my whole flat) where drinks and cookies were served. We had great conversation and laughed a lot. But the atmosphere overall was very different from what I am used to at home. Not good or bad, just different. I didn’t realize where the time was going and before you know it, it was almost 7 and my kids haven’t had dinner yet. I don’t know that Aidan and Liam will ever make it late enough for a Spanish dinner…perhaps in the summer when it’s light out later. But normally they are in bed by 7:30 / 8. We didn’t even get home til 7:40. Oh and it was my date night that I was looking forward to. Only now I’m exhausted and still need to feed the kids, get them ready for bed and fix myself up. The last didn’t really happen. But thanks to Cristy and Shawn (thanks guys!) Josh and I got to go out last night which was fabulous. However, we are old and pathetic and were home by around 10:30. Meanwhile we didn’t leave here til almost 8:30. Every restaurant I’ve been to has been leisurely…except the one we went to last night. It doesn’t matter. We had a few great hours of non kid related conversation and that was worth it! We really need to find a regular sitter here so we can do that more often. It’s on my list of things to do. We hung out with Shawn and Cristy for another hour or so when we got back and it was so nice just relaxing with other adults.

And before I sign off for now, I also found out while we were chatting with Shawn and Cristy last night that yes, in fact, Ricky Schroeder’s kids go to Aidan’s school. See I was right…that was Ricky Schroeder I saw back in November (if you don’t know what I’m talking about go to my Nov entry regarding our discovery trip). Well.. I’m feeling a bit on the crappy side today and must save my energy for girls night today. Will update in the next few days to let you know about any more mis-adventures going on here.

Julie

Weekend update

The weekend was a good one overall. Friday Aidan brought home Chester, the raccoon, from school for having good behavior and one of our jobs was to take pictures thru the weekend of Aidan teaching Chester things. We then had to write a sentence and add it to the class book about what Aidan taught Chester. We decided to teach Chester to share. A good lesson to be learned when one has a sibling. Ahhh… if only it would work with his sibling. One can dream perhaps.

Josh had his company holiday party (to which spouses unfairly were not invited this year) on Friday night so I had the night to myself. I’m sure you read the blog update from then. I had a relaxing evening watching my slingbox and my DVR’d Greys and Private Practice. Doesn’t get much better than that!

Saturday was a nice day here – mid 50s perhaps. I would have loved to have gone to the beach with the kids and take them bike riding down there. But the mall won out and so we hopped on the metro to head down to Poblenou (another neighborhood) – which is also the area where Josh works. The kids hadn’t seen Josh’s building. I would say the funniest part of the day was when I pointed to the right as we were crossing the street and told Aidan at the end of the street was the Mediterranean Sea. Josh said, no it’s to the left. And I said…ummm…those are mountains to your left. Don’t you work here and have a view from your office? Apparently Josh is still trying to get his bearings here ;)

So we went down to Diagonal Mar – one of the larger malls here. Malls are still a relatively new thing in Barcelona. Interestingly, I saw several people with dogs walking in the mall – I didn’t see any in the stores, but the fact that they were allowed in the mall itself was a new experience! I’m sure Jake and Sailor would just love to go shopping!!! We spotted a Toys R Us (though Josh says it’s not so great – must work on that Gena!) and one other toy store. Not so impressive. There were tons of cafes there and some nice looking stores. Toting the kids along, I honestly didn’t go into any stores…we just kind of schmoozed along. We grabbed lunch at a small café that seemed to specialize in hot dogs and hamburger types of meals. It was all that was open other than McDonalds at 1PM. Yes, 1PM and that’s pretty much it. Lunch starts later here. Anyways, I actually did the ordering at the café. It was I’m sure rather hilarious to watch. Hamburguesa sin (without) and then waving my hands back and forth to say nothing since I have no idea how to actually order that. Then hamburgesa con queso – hamburger with cheese. Ordered water as well. All and all a success. Josh ordered Liam’s hot dog and I have no recollection of how you say that so go Josh!! The kids devoured their food but when my hamburger came we realized it was a bit pinkish. Turns out we think it was pork and not regular cow-hamburger. Everything here is pork. You would think that a hamburger is a hamburger. Apparently not. Aidan, however, loved his and devoured the entire thing! And Liam enjoyed his hot dog (they are super size here).

Now we’ve got to be on our way because I’m meeting Cristy for a tapas crawl. She found out about it thru a group called Meet Up that I need to join (apparently Josh has already joined, unbeknownst to me). This was a group of all women and the organizer took us on a tapas tour as well as a bit of the city. So it was fun and informative. We got to meet some very nice women – there were 8 of us in the group. Three of them are from the US but currently living in London. There was our team leader and her partner and then Donna. Oh Donna… she latched on to Cristy and I and was a bit of a downer. I can’t say we were sad to see her leave early.

Anyways, we tried several tapas places – some more traditional than others. The first place we went to had pinchos. Pinchos are tapas that have toothpicks in them. It’s a self service bar where you pick what you want and bring it back to your table. And then you pay by the honor system (imagine that!) based on how many toothpicks you have at the end of your meal. I have to say, I wasn’t thrilled with the ones I choose, but then I’m picky. I did enjoy the house wine though!

After the first tapas place we walked around the Born and Barria Gotica (both neighborhoods) and saw some absolutely beautiful architecture. Marina, a local who has also lived in London for some time, was very informative. Though I have to say, while some of what she told me will stick, it’s the information I gathered from Cristy and another woman from the group. This being regarding nudity in Barcelona. Yes, you’ve all heard of the nude beaches here. However, did you know that public nudity is legal here? You do need to get a permit (where you would carry it, I don’t know) and you can’t just go to city hall and say, I’d like to be nude. Doesn’t fly that way. You need to tell them something like you are expressing your artistic self or that you are fighting the establishment – you know, that kind of thing. So once you get your permit, you can be naked ANYWHERE!! Apparently from what they told me, there is a body building couple that rides bikes around the city naked and a guy that has his nether regions completely tattooed. All should make for some interesting conversation with the kids once the warmer weather arrives and we see random naked people!!!

Sorry to have digressed, but that was a very interesting point that we were discussing there! After our tour which included Santa Maria del Mar – a breathtakingly beautiful church (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_del_Mar,_Barcelona), we headed over to Bubo, a chocolate company! YES!!! I had no idea this was one of the stops! We had an English speaking woman give us a tour and tell us all about their chocolate. It was very frou frou chocolate – not like Lindt or Godiva (and no I don’t consider Godiva frou frou) – it was very artistic looking. Supposedly, the owners are very well known and the chocolate is supposed to be amazing. http://www.bubo.ws/. Honestly, being a bit of a chocolate connoisseur myself since I can't go a day without ;) I was impressed by the artistry in the chocolate but the taste wasn’t anything to write home about (and yet, here I am writing home). Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but I bought some chocolate to take home with me and it was pricey - 1€ for a small bon bon (I bought 6!), 1€ for a macaroon (they were adorable) and 3.5€ for these tiny little cakes. I bought 2 cakes and I’m eating the chocolate moose right now. I’ve definitely have better and won’t pay that much again for it – it’s good but not THAT good.

Now that the chocolate tour is done, it’s now 5PM (or 1600 as they say here) and so we have a 2 hour break before our next 2 stops. Since we were in Cristy’s neighborhood we stopped at her flat and I finally got to meet Shawn who I think may be Josh’s twin. Her flat was completely different than mine (as is her neighborhood) but absolutely fits them perfectly! And what I loved about it was that it actually looked very Spanish and it had history to it. I wish I had taken some pictures. The best part was their rooftop balcony that was a part of their flat and they don’t have to share it with anyone. They had a beautiful view from it too! Don’t get me wrong, our flat is perfect for us, but it’s very contemporary (not necessarily a bad thing) and has absolutely nothing that screams that it’s Spanish other than the European appliances and plugs. Oh and the lack of closets!

After shooting the shit with Shawn for 2 hrs we headed back towards Bubo to meet up with our group for our next stop. This next tapas bar, Inopia was very different from the first and served much more traditional tapas food. What was interesting about this place was that there was only one, yes one, table in the whole place. It was mainly a tapas bar. And the food was fantastic! I think we were there for a good 2 hours just chatting away and enjoying the food. From there we went to our final destination which interestingly had Celtic roots and was very much focused on seafood tapas, they called it Galician tapas. I had the most amazing mussels ever and I don’t think they had anything on them – they were just steamed and that was it – they didn’t need anything else. They also had those fabulous peppers from the other night with the sea salt – yum!!!

From there we all headed home – a fabulous night had by all. And I will definitely be joining Meet Up and hopefully over time will get to know some familiar faces in these groups. It was a great way to meet some new and interesting people. Honestly other than Marina and Hillel who also helped organize, I doubt we’ll see the others again but that’s ok – they were great to talk to for an evening and get to know where they came from, why they were here, etc etc.

Today, Sunday…not the best day. Aidan’s having a rough time adjusting I think. He’s been having a lot of meltdowns lately and while he is a very high strung child at times, there seem to be a lot more of them happening. Today was one of the worst ones (though we had one worse since we’ve been here but it was in the comfort of our home). He just started falling apart on the way to the park. Now in all fairness, he said he didn’t want to go to the park but we thought it would be nice to go as a family and enjoy ourselves. In hindsight, we should not have vetoed his opinion and listened to what he had to say – and we need to be better about that. So on the way to the park, he just started freaking and I told him that he and I needed to go home. So he freaked out more. To the point where I was trying to pick him up to carry him home (Josh was going to continue on with Liam) and he kept running away from me. No joke, people were stopped on the sidewalk watching us. It was all rather mortifying. He finally headed home but twice intentionally ran out of my line of vision which is a huge no no. And then I saw the police heading down our way and thought, OMG, what if one of those people called the police and thought we were trying to take this kid??? Thankfully that was just my overactive imagination! And so that was our day – Aidan was in desperate need of a nap and so we just laid low. It really wasn’t so bad but I think Josh and I were disappointed because we really just wanted to do something fun outside the house with them. There will be other weekends I’m sure to do that, but a bummer since Aidan gets home at 5 during the week and Josh at 7:30 so there is no time to spend with the 2 of them outside really during the week.  For those of you not on Skype I ask you to please get on.  Aidan has only had one friend contact him so far and he really missed everyone.  Josh and I can stay in touch via email but Aidan really needs to see and talk to his friends to connect.  We ended the day on a positive note with everyone in a much better mood and another short trip to the park (well another for Liam but Aidan missed the first trip) but Josh and I both really need to listen better to what the kids tell us and act accordingly (and vice versa!). 

Anyways, that was our weekend in a nutshell. We’re adjusting more and more each day to our surroundings and making new discoveries. Every day is a new adventure to be had. On the agenda this week – date night!! Cristy and Shawn were very kind and have offered to watch the kids on Wednesday night for us so we can go out. We have yet to go out as a couple in our 20 days here and so I think we are really missing out on an opportunity to spend some quality time exploring the city just the two of us without the kids trying to get our attention at every moment. So very much looking forward to that. Josh has Spanish class Mon and Wed. Mon I have a ton of work to get done (that’s a good thing), Tues I’m going out with Brenda and Cristy during the day. And Thurs night will be girls night this week. All things to look forward too!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Miss you all!

Julie

Week in review - making progress...

As I’ve mentioned before, the process of moving to a foreign country and adjusting is going to be in baby steps. And it has been. So far I’ve had my ups (mostly ups thankfully) and some downs. But in order to take control of my life here, I need to make adjustments to my life. It’s not the same life I had in the US and I need to come to terms with that. My life here is completely different save for my work – and even with my work, instead of working mornings, I’m now working evenings – so even that has changed!

I’ve decided that every day, at least for now, I need to have a to do list. Now, I always had a to do list by my side at home and it always felt good to accomplish something on it. But here I feel like that to do list is going to take on a new life of its own. Things as simple as picking up the dry cleaning. Or today, I had to make a decision on my cell phone from home – do I reduce my plan or do I transfer the number to vonage. I’ve been putting off the research and just decided to get it done. Not a huge milestone, but something I can now check off my list. Well, maybe not check off – I made the decision but I still have to perform the action!

I’ve also decided that every day I will walk a minimum of a mile. I really don’t think that will be hard to do on a daily basis but given that my first 2+ weeks here have had at least one of those weeks full of rain, sometimes it’s hard to motivate to leave the house. I’m actually becoming familiar with my “regular” route that I take – usually out the door, down to the end of the street and to the right – that takes me to the metro, to Aidan’s bus stop and to the market. I never go left. The other day, I went left, if only for a little bit. And tomorrow – I’ll go left again because there is a lot to check out down that way too. Baby steps I tell you. Baby steps. And every time I set foot out the door, I see something I didn’t see before, even on my regular route. Stores who’s names I now understand – like the dry cleaner that we spent forever looking for. Now that I know it’s a tintoreria – I’ve found another 3 since then.

I finally set up a playdate for Aidan. I don’t know why I was hesitating. Yes, I do… the mother speaks English, though not as her first language, but I don’t speak Spanish and I feel badly calling her when she is from here and me not speaking the language. Her daughter is in Aidan’s class and she is the one that helped me at the café on the first day of school when I needed to change Liam. So we are meeting after school next Wed for a playdate. Now the question is – what does a playdate consist of here in Spain?

I’ve got to remember to look back at my blog for these good days – the ones where even the littlest item is an accomplishment. Thursday I decided to do something “different” with Liam. By different I mean, not walking aimlessly around town and having him be stroller bound. So today, today we went to the beach! Yes to the beach.
One of the things I do love about Barcelona that I have not had the opportunity to do yet, is to explore the beachfront. They have this amazing bike / walking path right along the Mediterranean and the beaches stretch forever. Liam and I hopped on the metro with his little motorcycle (motorcar as he calls it) – I would have taken a picture of him sitting on it in the metro but I couldn’t hold my foot under his wheel grab my camera and then angle in for a good one. But he was funny. We rode his motorcar down to the water and along the boardwalk for a bit. We stopped for a snack by the boats which he loved looking at. And we even had some lunch. I managed to get him ham and cheese and myself a crepe with chocolate. I was all set until I was waiting for my crepe (the rest was on my tray) and the girl at the counter seemed annoyed that I was waiting and told me in English to go sit. Again with the protocol – I figured that it was a seat yourself place which it is, with no wait staff, only counter help… so wouldn’t you wait for your food? Oh well… I got us the food right? Then we meandered down to the beach area. We saw our first nude sunbather – it wasn’t pretty… I’m only sorry that Aidan and Josh missed it because they would have gotten a kick out of it. I thought of taking a picture just for the fact that it’s something I haven’t seen, but then realized that might be a bit invasive to the sunbather. Liam had a blast just dancing on the beach and throwing sand around. He wasn’t thrilled at having to come home to take a nap (and for me to work!). I do love that we were home by 1, I had him down for a nap by 1:30 and was on my computer before 2 and it wasn’t even 8AM at home so it’s not like I missed any of my work day per se.

Liam when we first got to the beach - so psyched!!                 Montjuic in the distance

 

Marina with the mountains in the background                 Mmmmm....chocolate crepes!

Liam attempted jamon y queso (ham n cheese)                 Little area of restaurants by the beach

Liam touches his first palm tree                                        Pushing his motorcycle down the ramp

Doing a little dance                                                           Swimming in the sand.  Look it's the Med!!

Thursday night I headed out on the town with Cristy. We went to Ciudad Condal. It looks like a tiny little place on Placa de Catalunya. But it turns out that looks are deceiving. And the place is huge, especially by Spanish standards that I’ve seen so far. And they had great sangria too! Awesome conversation, easy conversation and just a relaxing evening. And I tried some new foods as well, which for those that know me, know that’s a BIG step! I have to say they have these tiny sautéed green peppers that are covered in sea salt (Spaniards love salt) – seriously I could eat them all day. I also had calcots – which are these long green onions that are grilled. You peel back the skin, then they have this Romanesque sauce you dip them in, tip back your head and suck it down. Messy but delicious. As a matter of fact, I had seen them on Anthony Bordain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel a while back which made it even cooler to try them out. To watch the episode you can go to: http://www.fancast.com/tv/Anthony-Bourdain%3A-No-Reservations/97436/1353305793/Spain/videos but you have to login to your Comcast acct to watch it. I could definitely get used to this tapas thing – lots of things to try and you fill up quicker than if you had a big meal. Dining out here is definitely a different experience than at home. I’m almost even getting used to going out to eat at 8 rather than being home at 8!

Today was Friday and the big NIE day. I’ve been stressing about this day for a while now. Going to a government office where I cannot for the life of me speak Spanish. Originally I was going to be on my own to do this since Vistaprint’s HR wasn’t going to go with me. But in the end, there were a few new families arriving and I have to say thank god Elise was with me! She actually told me the woman that I dealt with was rather rude – honestly I wouldn’t have had any idea. The process in and of itself it a bit of a pain but not complicated. The paperwork is literally one page plus a copy of my passport. Simple stuff. I was told thru Vistaprint HR that the kids should get NIE numbers (because Brenda happened to mention it so I asked) and did they both need to be present or could Aidan go to school. HR said that after consulting their legal dept, that Aidan did not need to be present. Well… unfortunately legal counsel was wrong. Honestly I can’t be annoyed by it because it’s a government thing – I’m sure if legal counsel checked with 5 different people, those people would have given 5 different answers. Similar to being in the US… finally a similarity! So anyways, we get there and guess what??? Aidan needs to be there. So we were able to get mine and Liam’s taken care of (Josh did his in Dec) but now I will have to go back to take care of Aidan’s. Now what’s involved in getting an NIE number? It’s just a sheet of paper that says where we live, where we are from, what is our country of nationality and how long are we here for. Easy stuff. Then you take this piece of paper and a copy of your passport down to the NIE office where you sit down and they type a bunch of things up and then hand you a piece of paper that you then need to take to a bank down the street where you pay a 10€ fee only to then return back to the office to show that you have paid the fee and they give you back your certificate with your number. You ask – “why can’t they just accept payment when you are there the first time?” Good question! My answer – “because it’s Spain!”. There is no rational answer and guess what, I get the honor and privilege to go do it again!

I will say that despite my really good week so far here, I felt a little defeated after the NIE problem. But it was short lived. While I did have some plans today, nothing was formal and so when I had an opportunity to make a new friend I chose that rather than fix my cell phone (yes, again). Mim is a co-worker of Josh’s wife and they just arrived from the UK. She’s got two little boys – her oldest being a little older than Liam. But we got along great (they just arrived this week) and had an impromptu playdate for the boys. Although Liam was a little grumpy today I think he was excited to have the opportunity to play with someone other than me (and that makes me happy). I see lots of playdates in the future.  AND we went into a cafe - I finally went into a cafe.  And guess what?  Same as going into a cafe at home - you order at the counter and then you sit down and enjoy your food/beverage.  Why did I not do this sooner???  I feel foolish now!

So all in all, I have to say this has been a good week. I know they won’t all be like this, but if this is a sign of things to come, I feel like I’m going to be ok. And that’s a big jump for me this week. We can make this work. I can make this work.

Julie

Take that Spain!!!!

With all valleys come peaks... with all ups some downs... anyways, you get the point.  So far I'm finding that there are most definitely going to be good days and there are going to be some not so good days.  You saw my not so good day over the weekend.  But progressively, things are getting better.  That doesn't mean that things aren't challenging or that every hurdle is an easy one, but while I may knock over some of those hurdles and even possibly jump over a few, I'm at least running in the race.

Overall the last few days have been uneventful.  I think mainly that is because it's been raining...again.  Monday my dryer was installed though I didn't get to use it til today.  That's because it's installed outside and while it has a granite casing above and next to it... I just feel that water (from the rain) and electricity (from the dryer) probably shouldn't mix.  Though when I used it today it was an awesome feeling.  I've never ever been so excited to have dry clothes!  I may use it again tomorrow ;)  I thought they were coming to fix the heat in the kids' room on Monday as well, but getting used to the way Spain runs and nothing is ever an emergency here.  My landlord assures me it will get taken care of soon.  I wonder if I held back my rent if that would help???  Probably not... And they've been very very nice to us.  However, my kids still have a space heater in a room with no fire alarms.  By the time it's fixed, it will be warm out...

Anyways, so that was Monday.  Non eventful.  But that's ok.  I got some work done which was a good thing - a necessary thing.  Because not only do I need to work, but I actually enjoy my work.  So it felt good to get semi-back on track this week.  I proactively asked clients for business this week which is a step in the right direction - if I'm asking for work, then I'm ready to do some work to get that business.  All good there.  And so far, the time difference has not affected me getting my job done - if anything, I have a bunch of work done before anyone is even out of bed in the US! 

Tuesday, again relatively non eventful.  Rain, rain, go away.  It was probably my most productive work day since we've been here and we've covered now how that's a great motivator for me.  I felt ready to take on the world.  And was excited to go out with Cristy in the evening... until unfortunately she had to cancel.  I can't blame her - she was in breakdown mode.  Not to take advantage of her emotional state, but it made me feel good to know that I'm not the only one this is happening too.  And on the flip side, I was saddened by the fact that she too was struggling.  No one wants to see a friend have a tough time.  But I think it helps to put things in perspective too when you see that you aren't the only one that cries when you can't order in a restaurant or that doesn't want to leave the house for fear of the unknown.  Mind you, that's fear of the unknown, not fear of the actual surroundings - I just want to emphasize that I feel perfectly safe where we live.  So anyways, I was all excited for an evening out that didn't happen so instead of letting myself be brought down by this event (ok, I had a few mins of self pity there), I took advantage and used the time to estudiando.... and I need to study badly!!

But honestly the reason I put this blog update in is because today is the day that I kicked Spain's ass.  At least for now.  Because at some point, Spain is going to kick my ass again too.  It's going to be a fight to the end...an ongoing battle.  You never know when it's going to hit back so have your back to the wall and be prepared to come out fighting! 

Did I do anything huge?  By absolutely no means.  At home, the things I accomplished would have been a blip if even that!  But today, I made it to Aidan's school (via cab again - come on, I can't do it ALL in one day) for our new parent orientation.  I met some of theparents of the PTA as well as new families.  Everyone was lovely and I'm sure I'll get to know them all much better as time goes on.  After our orientation I decided to take a walk back home since the sun was (sort of) out and the temps in the 50s - I've done it before (sort of) and decided I could do it again.  This time I took a look at the map BEFORE I set out from the school.  The good thing is that in just one more week since the last time I tried to take this journey, I've learned a lot more of the street names and how they relate to where we live.  So I found 2 main roads near the school that I was familiar with and set off.  But no, I can't stop there with just walking home.  I call Josh because something is wrong with my cell phone and I can't get any emails on it suddenly.  I asked him where the Bright Store was on Lincoln (yes Lincoln, sounds very spanish doesn't it?) since according to my map I was going to go by it.  And yes, I found that too.  Two victories in one day!!  How awesome!!!  So I got my phone, semi-fixed... I may need to go back again, but now I know where it is.  AND I found my way home without having to rely on taking a cab.  Oh and I used my dryer... so almost 3 victories... hello, doesn't get much better than that!! 

On the agenda for later this week....
Thurs - girls night that was rescheduled from Tues.  Can't wait!!!  Spent this afternoon with Cristy and we've totally bonded and am looking forward to an evening of good food, some sangria (but not too much) and great conversation.

Fri - finally tackling the NIE number.  My foreign ID #.  Josh's HR person is taking 2 other families and offered for me to come along as well.  So Thurs I'll be tackling the paperwork to get that done.

Sat - possible birthday party - yes birthday party - Aidan had an invite in his bag yesterday.  Apparently they do combo parties here even if the kids aren't related if their birthdays fall around the same time.  So this one is for 3 students, 2 of which are in Aidan's class and the other is in the other Kindergarten class.  I'm not sure if we are going to do this or not.  As Cristy pointed out to me today when I tried to say, well we don't know anyone and we don't know how to get there... she said - everything will always be new here... ok.  Good point.  So I'll talk it over with Josh and go from there.  Though it means 3 gifts for kids that I don't even know and I don't think Aidan really knows but it will be a good opportunity to get to know some people which would be great, not to mention for the kids to play with other kids. 

So I'm excited that on this hump day, the peak of the week...to say that I'm on top of the world myself. I will take the bull by the horns and I will find a way to make this work. One day at a time.

Julie

Our flat... our home away from home.

Just a quick note, I'm feeling a lot better since yesterday and thank you all who emailed me with their concerns.  I will be fine and it's going to take time to adjust but I will adjust.  I haven't been anywhere today beyond the grocery store but it's raining out (again) and I had my dryer installed today so I was homebound regardless. 

So now we are all moved in and I thought I would share some pics of our new flat with you.  Some of you probably saw the pics we posted back in November when we found this place but obviously we brought some furniture with us, added all our possessions and wham, it's our home away from home!!  Below please find some pics for your enjoyment :)

Our outdoor space as seen from the kitchen / living room areas.  Yes, it's all cement and stone but it's all ours in the center of the city.  Good luck finding that in Boston!

Let's start with the funniest of pictures for today.  Good to start with a laugh.  So sadly, I just noticed this in my kitchen the other day.  The landlord put it here.  But what is funnier still is that Cristy, my friend who was here when the movers arrive - well, she thought it was funny because she thought Josh brought it with his two bags of possessions in Dec because what landlord would leave a picture like this up???  The fact that Josh treasured this picture so much that he sacrified clothing and other worldly possessions to bring his 1950s picture of pot with him.  Sadly, he did not bring it - this was here when we got here.  But it made for a very funny story.

The other picture in our kitchen.  I hope you are reading the captions that are actually on the pictures.

1/2 of my kitchen.  There is a door to the patio on the left.  The tall cabinet looking thing is actually my dishwasher (took me at least 1/2 hr before I could work it).  The upper cabinet is the only cabinet for dishes and glasses.  The big drawer on the right is where my pots and pans live.

The other side of the kitchen.  Tiny washing machine (you've seen what I can fit in here), our fridge/freezer.  The cabinet above the washer is actually our hot water heater so unusable space.  The shelves on the left and the cabinet next to the washer are the only places for food other than the fridge.

Front view of kitchen when you walk in

My new dryer!!!  Just installed today and yes, it is outside (which is why there is a marble casing around it) - it was the only place it would fit.  We paid for it and told the landlord we would leave it here when we go in 2 years which made them happy so they arranged (and we paid for) installation.

Our living room / dining room.  This is the view when you first walk in.  There is a nice slider (no screens here) that opens on both sides.  Yes there is one couch for the 4 of us.

We have a nice 40" flat screen tv and yet my kitchen table chairs are $15 each and from IKEA.  Hmmmm... doesn't feel right to me.  Though I do enjoy the tv.

Our absolutely stuffed bookcases and tiny little kitchen table.  The table works for now - we figure in another month or two we'll be eating outside more often than not. 

Hallway to my office / playroom / eventual guest room (once we get a futon)

Another view of the office / playroom / guest room - futon to go where legos are currently living.  Will need new place for legos I guess.

Making use of space - this bookshelf is also a part of my desk.  Comes in handy for work and art supplies.

Yes, this is where I'm running my company from... and yet, I'm making it work.  It's cramped but everything I need is there.

Playspace part of the office.  Yes, we brought the storage unit from home.  It was the one piece of furniture I insisted on bringing.  And I'm glad we did!

These are the stairs that I fully anticipate will be the cause of at least one ER trip during the course of our stay here.  They are marble and slippery and have NO handrails.

Now we move upstairs.  Right when you get the to top of the stairs, there is a little alcove and that is where the kids clothes live and these 2 storage bins with clothes for the kids that wouldn't fit under their beds or in the closet.  Just as a side note, under all of our beds are completely filled with space bags of clothes, shoe organizers and empty duffle bags/suitcases.  There are NO physical closets in our flat - only 3 wardrobes - one for the kids, one for me and one for Josh.  That's it.

Aidan gets the top, Liam gets the bottom.  I cannot put one more thing on Liam's bar.  It's going to be tough when we hit that in between long sleeve/short sleeve season.

The boys' bedroom.  This is pretty much it.  There is a tiny alcove in here that has a dresser that they share.  At home their dressers are each completely full.  Again though, they've got under their beds completely stacked with space bags with the rest.

Our room - this is pretty much it.  You'll see there are 2 wardrobes on the other side and you can see some of the clothes bags sticking out from underneath.  The beds here really don't go bigger than a double and yes, that is what we are sharing, a double.  The mattresses aren't good either so we actually shipped a double mattress that we placed on top of the mattress that was already here.  The bed is tall but probably much more comfy that way.

View of the other side of our room.  I think this room is almost half the size of our roon at home.  Josh's closet near the head of the bed, my slightly larger one by the foot of the bed.

Have you noticed we have no dresser?  We don't.  My clothes either fit in this wardrobe (which has two small drawers on the bottom) or they have to go in a storage bag under my bed.

Again, making use of space.  Being the infomercial queen that I am, we went from Space Bags to Wonder Hangers.  Notice that all my clothes go down 5 layers on each hanger.  Yup, all those hangers actually have 5 hangers on them.  That's a lot of clothes in that tiny space.  I'm hoping the hanger rod can take it.

Because I feel the need to share with you just how much I put in this little wardrobe, I wanted to show you how high I've stacked my pants and shorts under the layers of shirts.  There are 4 stacks of pants that go this high.  I think perhaps I brought too many clothes.

On that note my friends, the tour of our flat is complete.  Hope you enjoyed it and will come visit us!!

Julie