Looking through the Tunnel

I swear some weeks fly by and others just creep.  This was a strange one for sure.  We’re not yet settled, but we’re not new to Madrid.  We have been here long enough that it’s embarrassing to say “no hablo espanol” but many aspects of the city and living still seem mysteries.

It was a rough 40 hours or so from Sunday night through Tuesday morning at 1:30am when our building’s water was shut off.  This summer we have had more water issues than I can remember ever having.  It started in Chicago where we lost water to our condo for the better part of a week.  It was incredibly frustrating and as close as I have seen to a riot in some time.  With hundreds of people living together and no water things got very tense very quickly. 

Dorothy has been battling a nasty cold since Thursday night.  She’s been a trooper with it but we don’t yet have a permanent doctor here so we are very anxious to see her get better.  Even though we have found lists of English-speaking doctors, when calling their offices are not as English-friendly thus far.  Dorothy’s new nanny starts on Monday so hoping we don’t have to go to the doctor before that time and we can go with someone who speaks some Spanish (although little English).

We have our new apartment.  Things got signed on Thursday night.  It is quite exciting if still a bit surreal.  The only things that occupy this apartment until our shipment from the U.S. arrives next week are a few random bottles of water and a nearly finished room for the new nanny.  Since she’ll be living with us we had to get everything set for her even if we aren’t there full-time yet.  Closing on the apartment was significantly more stressful than either of the homes we have owned previously but I think I’ll leave that for another post.

I have a call with my brothers in a few hours.  Will be good to catch up with them.  We started doing three-way calls which is kind of fun.  Seems to be a lot more like we are all together than when just talking one-on-one.

So, lots of adventures this week.  Several marathons I could have cared to do without but all and all still a good week.  I think we see the light at the end of the tunnel that is flashing “settled” and I hope we make it there soon.  Vagabond life can be exhausting.  

I Almost Paid $20 for Betty Crocker

It’s a strange thing the price we will pay for something.  A bottle of water is the physically identical whether it’s sitting in at a store in Minnesota or the Sahara, but I am pretty sure where I’d be willing to pay more for it.

Being abroad makes one reconsider significantly what tastes and media are essential and will be bought at almost whatever price to satisfy a short or long-term need.  It can feel a little absurd sometimes – how much abundance we have of local fair – and yet we all know how cravings work and the mad abilities they have to drive our minds.  When I was in Chicago, surrounded by pizza, I would crave Rudy’s pizza so badly sometimes.  In Hong Kong, it was Mexican food and we would seek it out in the most obscure locations and cook it at home on our little burner.  In HK, we indulged in a weekly People magazine fix.  Brought over to a few special locations it could be found for about $12-15 if I remember correctly.

Sunday, we were running late with some things and realized that all the stores had closed and we were planning to make a cake for Dorothy’s nanny’s birthday. In addition to cake needs, the water in our building was out (and remains so).  So, with few other options, I went down to VIPS.  VIPS is a strange store. I’ll try to summarize with a few simplified references and likenesses for different people in our lives:

• For all our Kansas friends   VIPS = Hastings + Kwik Shop + Hannover’s House of Pancakes 
• For our Chicago friends   VIPS = 7-11 + Borders + Lou Mitchell’s
• For everyone else   VIPS = convenience store + small book store + lunch counter

VIPS had all that I needed and was a block away.  But with the footprint of British colonialism still underlying most of the distribution channels for English-language media and food, I was faced with many more options for sweets and baking things from the U.K. than from the U.S.  Biscuits and Cadbury’s abounded.  But I wanted cake or brownies.  One row of Betty Crocker met my gaze and I immediately grabbed.  It looked perfect.  The brownie mix that I can pick out of a line-up blindfolded.  I only in passing even bothered looked at the price, as this was something I NEEDED.

         15.99€

I stopped cold.  Apparently $20 was my limit for brownies.  I couldn’t do it.  Knowing that I didn’t have vegetable oil and that substituted olive oil was already questionable, knowing that I had no milk to accompany the brownies, and knowing that I still had to bake them, I passed the Betty Crocker by.  Instead I settled on a British brand, surely inferior, but at 7€ and requiring only butter, it seemed a safer bet.

Box in hand, I return to the rental apartment feeling partially victorious, that is until Eric asks, “what are you going to bake those in?”

A Few Things I Love…

Less than a month in, here are a few things which I’ve found different – and thankfully so!

• Spanish almonds. Um…hello!  I am not sure I can ever go back to California almonds!  So similar and yet so different!
• Leisure. There is no doubt the Spaniards know a thing or two about lounging.  It’s a weak point for me but I already feel as if I can actually just sit around on the weekend and do nothing and be totally content. I am not even sure lounging is the right word because that would imply intent to relax while I think they just stay relaxed. 
• Bank service. We have a personal banker who I go in and see daily.  Hopefully that will slow down soon, but for now it’s my morning ritual.
• A seatbelt sign that turns off. The Spanish airlines do not keep the fasten seatbelt sign on for any longer than absolutely necessary – finally! 
• Restaurants that care about the food. While I don’t love all the Spanish food I’ve had thus far, I do love that the places that I’ve been scant with my consumption seem genuinely concerned. 

From Formula to Film...A Few Things I Miss

I know I am spoiled.  I get it.  I am American and I’ll never totally understand all the ways in which this privilege plays its way out everyday of my life.  But I really miss some of the things I took for granted in everyday life back in Chicago – what I considered little things are apparently luxuries.

• Instant baby formula.  Who knew that only in the U.S. could you get baby formula that doesn’t require you to boil the water?  Our search in Spain has come up empty so far so yesterday Dorothy transitioned to her new Spanish formula and we are now starting the kettle several times a day.  D grew well on the instant mix! 
• Movies and TV. If I were consuming Spanish language films and TV, I’d be in heaven, but sadly I am nowhere near that state. And apparently every popular website for content viewing in the U.S. is protected so only certain IP addresses can access – screening you out if coming from outside the U.S.  IT is advancing, as this wasn’t the case when we lived in HK only 5 years ago.
• Dry cleaners. Definitely wouldn’t have predicted how hard it’s been to find a dry cleaner.  Madridians are crazy fashionable and everything is pressed.  I think they must iron at home all the time.  It’s insane.  And the dry cleaners we’ve found are insanely expense – more than $5/shirt.  

It goes without saying…friends, family, and all our loved ones back home – we miss you the most!  These are all minor material things or conveniences, which makes it funny.

On Holiday?

It was Labor Day in the U.S. which means absolutely nothing here in Spain.  It is the first of many disconnected holidays that will without a doubt leave us somewhat mismatched with downtime in comparison to our American friends.  But when you are already 7 hours away, a missing holiday or an extra holiday is hardly noticed.  Lucky for us, most of the holidays appear to favor Spain.  Eric has a calendar for work that has many fun surprises for two Americans who aren’t expecting a four-day weekend in October – it’s like Dorothy is already in school and we’ll be having a parent-teacher conference.

Over the weekend we took our first day trip of what I hope will be many.  To Segovia we went, an hour away by drive.  Through the mountains we went, Dorothy napping away in route and waking cheerfully on arrival. Segovia is known for its spectacular stretch of Roman aqueducts and they did not disappoint.  Hard to believe their incredible practicality at the time they were built, and I am sure the Romans could never have imagined the scene that would unfold around the aqueducts over the years.  In addition to the architecture, we saw several impressive cathedrals and a palace – the example from which Walt Disney drew inspiration for his California Kingdom many years ago.  The food was not that impressive except for a few sweet treats that did not disappoint.  Specifically, my favorites were the macaroons (French version).  We had a strawberry-flavored one that was the most amazing macaroons I have ever tasted, gushing with soft flavorful frosting.

ID Card Material

I've been incredibly neglectful of photos but we are truly still getting settled and I have no idea where the camera's computer connection cord is.  So I thought I'd share one of Dorothy's ID photos, taken on Thursday (9 and 1/2 months).  Pretty soon she will have two forms of picture ID - her passport and a Spanish NEI card (identity card).  This shot was for the NEI.  It turned out really cute but will forever enshrine one of our temporary attempts at new hairdos, some of which are more evenly spaced than this one!  I actually kind of like the differently sized poofs.

This is the second time we have taken Dorothy in for a passport-like photo where the technician has delivered the photos to us and voluntarily printed out a bigger photo for us to take home.  It's very been very sweet!  But the technician in Chicago did freak me out when I went (without Dorothy) several weeks after Dorothy got her passport photo to Walgreens to pick up some other photos and she had printed out this free copy.  The fact that she had seen enough of our printed photos to remember D was my daughter and knew where her passport photo was stored in Walgreens's big computer system was enough to stir some privacy concerns for me.  If she hadn't been handing me photos of our cutie, I would have been creeped out.

Gaga for Real Madrid

We are interviewing nannies for Dorothy.  It’s been one of the three continuing stresses in our relocation – 1) finding a good nanny for D, 2) finding a good place to live, and 3) making sure we had all our money in the right country at the right time to allow for #1 and #2.  Our new nanny will actually live with us, which adds a new level of pressure to an already guilt-laden decision.  After some networking with people from Eric’s work and reading up on the subject we decided we had to use a nanny service and were pleased to interview our first two candidates last night.


I wish we had a nanny cam installed in our apartment as the interviews themselves I suspect would have been highly entertaining YouTube material.  While productive, let’s just say I don’t think Eric or I felt exactly the most professional in our interviews.  Both candidates had some professed level of English language capability, but their abilities were much closer to my current level of Spanish ability than any actual dialogue proficiency.  Thus, daughter in tow, we proceeded down the windy question and answer path trying to gather details on perspectives, plans, and logistics while not being offensive in our attempted translations of big picture topics and constant jumping back and forth from English to Spanish, Eric to E.J. (Eric to translate for E.J.), and so on.

As an example, consider what I think was a fairly typical question from when we interviewed for nannies in Chicago.  “Please describe your ideal family or situation.”  Well, it became quite clear than in translation this question was coming across as what type of family they would like to have in an ideal world.  Needless to say, both candidates interviewed had large eyes and somewhat puzzled looks until we hastily added “por su trabaje”, our probably incorrect attempt at saying “in your job.”

It’s hard to know what experiences to count the most.  On the job training, formal education, a high level of shown organization, or ability to be creative and flexible. One of the candidate’s most recent experience was working for a player on the Real Madrid (pronounced royal) soccer team.  This wasn’t something which was of particular interest for us other than the experience gained but we have a feeling she will be hired quickly as the team and its players are so loved in the city.

In reality, it was probably a pretty good interview as someone working with you in your home often sees you in your less polished times.  We were left with very good impressions of both candidates and continue to debate our next steps.  Language is no doubt going to be an early issue, but we will both be taking some form of intensive Spanish training and we want Dorothy to learn both English and Spanish over the next few years.  So we'll see after the weekend how our decisions go.  It's a relief to finally meet some candidates if nothing else and hopefully with any luck we'll find someone who fits well.

All of Madrid has Returned

I was a little bit of a sceptic on this notion that Europe takes August off but after our first few weeks here I can confirm August is vacation month.  On our arrival we found at least half of the stores on the street with signs of temporary closure.  Eric has been trying to contact people with advertisements to rent an apartment and to date only one agency has actually responded (out of more than 10).  Everywhere we have gone things are tempered with the fact that it's August...so...you know...no one is here to do that.  Even the Starbucks I have started to frequent which is close to our current rental was near empty at all times of day...

...until now.  Last night, the last night of August, everyone seemed to come back.  Our street became packed and our avenue which seemed like such a quiet change from Chicago shared the many sounds of its people well into the night.  The return of normalcy and business should be good for us and allow the completion of important tasks like setting up a bank account, getting a permanent rental, and finding a new nanny.  So now, we have no more excuse of it being August - it's time to get fully settled.