Life in Spain
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Nesting and Comforts of Home
The past six years in Spain have felt like being in a holding pattern, waiting to land somewhere – anywhere. We originally came for a year long adventure, which turned into six years largely due to a series of unfortunate events that I’ll write about someday, but not yet (because I am a tease). We spent a lot of time filling out forms to renew our visas every couple of years, which we were never quite sure would be accepted. But we just got approval that we have unlocked a new achievement in this game of expat life: Permanent Resident Status. This means that we can live in Spain –…
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It’s time for a quiet November
I think after the week we’ve all been through, collectively, it’s time for a deep breath moment of calm, no? Man, the past seven days have been rough, haven’t they? No matter who you voted for, we’ve been through the ringer. Raise your hand if you spent the week consuming every news site available, hitting refresh like a hamster who gets a treat each time, and getting very little work done. It’s not just me, then? Didn’t think so. But hey, it’s a new week, right? And we’re deeply into autumn, and it feels soooo good. Stews, sweaters, apple spice candles, and Jim Brickman holiday piano music are all making…
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Spanish Lockdown Day 5: We Keep a Schedule
One thing I am realizing about this whole Forced Confinement gig is that you absolutely must keep a schedule, or you will lose all sense of time, and anything you had planned will go right out the window. You also have to get dressed, and when you live in a house with multiple people (especially children) you need breaks from each other. Living on top of each other 24 hours a day is hard, even if you’re in a large house, and you need some space and quiet time. Today we started our new schedule. The guy who owns Impact Gym in Marbella is doing daily kickboxing classes via Facebook…
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Spanish Lockdown: I go out!
Unimaginably bizarre. That’s how I’d describe the grocery store experience I had today. I was prepared for madness. I was prepared for crowds. I was prepared for empty shelves. What I got instead was silence, wariness, and everyone in gloves. Spanish people are huggers, and kissers, and generally very touchy people. They don’t do personal space very well. They’re also extremely loud. Go into any cafe at lunchtime, and you have to scream to be heard. So when I entered the Lidl here and was met with silence, it was freaky. I saw someone I knew, and instead of the customary greeting of kisses and hugs, we just smiled a…
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Spanish Quarantine Day 3: We make Inspirational Signs
We’re still on quarantine here in Andalucia, and they’re taking it pretty seriously. People at the beach on the coast are being given tickets for being out and sunbathing. A woman was fined for being in the park with her daughter. A friend posted on Facebook yesterday that he thought the restrictions weren’t going into affect until Monday, and tried to go for a bike ride, and got yelled at by three people including a police officer. He quickly rode home, shamefaced. We live out in the countryside, so it’s not as hard, but it’s still weird not having any structure to our days from external sources. There’s no school…
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Day 4 of the Spanish Lockdown: We start homeschooling
My daughter goes to a Montessori school where they do pretty granola–and-nutty kinds of things. Now that we’re off, her teacher is sending work to us each day on a special WhatsApp group chat. We respond by sharing photos of our kiddos doing the work, everyone sends smiling rainbow emoji’s, and such is the new schooling situation. One thing that really helps is creating a schedule each day with our Little One. We make up the schedule with her together first thing in the morning, and it really makes a difference for all of us to know what’s coming, what the goals are, and what we want to accomplish, so…
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The Quarantine Begins…
This past week everything took a back seat to the pandemic. That’s a weird sentence to write. I remember hearing about the 1918 Spanish Flu, and watching that Downton Abbey season where Matthew’s fiance died tragically. And as someone who is passionately into history, of course I’ve studied all the various plagues like the sweating sickness, which came on and killed in a matter of hours sometimes. But watching all of this happen in real time is so surreal. Last week the newspaper reported that there was a case of coronavirus in our town. Our daughter has always had respiratory issues since she was small, and got croup all the…
