Day 17 - Guest Post from Trevor

Hola, ¿qué tal? Time for a guest entry from me.

Woke up this morning per the usual schedule – sometime between. Went back to sleep a few times only to find myself rolling out of bed at about. Kierstin was already awake of course (after three years of marriage, it’s safe to say we know that she needs less sleep than I do), working on changing some of the blog formatting. You know what I love about Spain? We can go to a cafe at and people still say ¡Buenos Días! It makes me feel like one of those morning people. Like I still got a head start on the day despite not setting foot outside our apartment until after the midday solstice. I think I’ll fit in nicely here.

The food was unique but very tasty. I tried a Spanish “tortilla” for the first time and it was delicious. It was wedged in a baguette, sort of an egg and potato patty drizzled with olive oil. Very, very good. I love how relaxed and laid back most Spaniards seem to be. I ordered for us both in my broken, grammatically incorrect Spanish and the waiter didn’t seem to mind. Like most Spaniards we have encountered, he at least seemed to appreciate that I was trying. That is encouraging, especially since most days I feel as though I’m never going to be fluent enough to have a real conversation in the language. And I would really like to. It’s a beautiful language.

We spent the afternoon in the Prado Museum. Interesting fact: Picasso was the curator of the museum for a few years. Several of his paintings on loan from a museum in Switzerland were on display. He is still one of my favorite artists. Reading the descriptions of many of the museums more permanent paintings made me wish I knew more about the history of Spain, so much so that shortly after we arrived back at home I performed a quick Amazon search for The Spanish Inquisition, the Spanish Civil War, and books about Spain in general. You know what I am most interested in? Where did this culture come from? Everyone here has been exceptionally helpful. Everyone here has been pleasant. It just seems like Spaniards know who they are, what they stand for, and they are totally comfortable being themselves. It’s a far cry from the United States, where everyone seems to know who they are, but are not satisfied, not comfortable in their own skin. Americans know where they are but also where they would rather be, and they are desperately trying to get there. Maybe it’s the media; movies and TV shows which constantly portray images that the general public desperately tries to mimic. Maybe it’s the keeping up with the Jones’ culture, where everyone is enamored with the thought of outdoing one another, and acquiring more material goods, better cars, houses, clothes, jobs, better schools for their children and better more eloquent sounding titles and resumes. You know how many movie theaters I have seen here in Madrid? Zero. Out apartment isn’t even furnished with a TV. You know how many billboards there are for cars, home loans, credit card companies? None.

I like it here.

Day 16... I think.

I have not posted for the past week, because apparently setting up WiFi takes a long time, two weeks to be exact. We finally got our hands on a hot-spot so Trevor can do his homework with out having to walk to the school and now we can talk to the family back in the states.
P.S. Just so you know I had just written a whole post and of course the internet went out again... and I lost it all. Sad day... I guess I will begin again.

I lost count of days we have been here now. We have been in our new flat just over a week and I can't believe how nice it is to officially have our own place. Madrid feels a little different now. It doesn't feel like another country any more,and even the plugs don't seem odd these days. It is still big city which I am not used too but it almost feels like home. With everything slowly coming together we have less and less stuff to do every day and our to-do list is now very short. It feels fabulous. We are now exploring the city more and more. I have never been a city girl and I always thought I would absolutely hate living in a city but I find I am adjusting quite well.

Let me just say the public transportation is awesome. I know some people prefer to drive themselves around but I am actually a terrible driver. I am a bit to spacey for it, and I really dislike the fact that nearly every U.S. city is mapped around the use of cars. But about a week before we moved to Spain I nearly killed me and my dog while going 80 mph through Wyoming. After that experience I was more eager than ever to give up my car, and I have found not driving suits me extremely well. I would never go back if it were possible. Truthfully as I stand now can only really see only two big downsides to the city.

1. Total lack of Nature- We moved into our apartment because we really liked the area. After further reflection into why we like the area so much we discovered that it is because there are trees on our street. It gives us sense of homeyness and privacy that on a whole Madrid is really missing. I find man made architecture fabulous and it can be very beautiful, but it really, in my personal opinion, is nothing compared to what can be found in nature. And aside from the trees there really is no other sort of greenery outside of the city parks.
2. Dirty Streets- Dog poop is everywhere on the side walk. Now I would never claim myself as a clean freak. I like a clean home and I wash my hands. But I rarely use hand sanitizer (only in dire circumstances such as port-a-potty use) and am not a stickler about wiping off the kitchen counters all of the time. I do, though, have to to draw the line at poop germs being dragged into my house on the bottom of shoes. I shudder at the thought of the floor in my bedroom being covered in them. Gross.

Well even though I could say a lot more and there has a lot that happened between now and my last post (including the discovery of deception about taxi cab fares and lugging our bags a cross the city and back during our move) I will keep things short. I know that reading an epic novel posing a blog post feels like a chore so I will close now.
Tomorrow we visit the art museum. I will give a report tomorrow.

My sister captured my
reaction to finding out
about the bull fights

On our hunt for apartments to day we visited Plaza de Torros. I also found out that they stabbed to bulls with swords when they fight them. Apparently the bulls die a slow painful death... Call me naive but I had no idea. I was considering going to a bull fighting match but I admittedly am not sure how much I would actually enjoy it.

Today was officially the last of our apartment hunt and we decided on an flat. We chose the Option Two. The landlord so nice and nothing seemed to go right with any of the other places. The landlord also was very willing to work with us even through the complications that come with being expats. We are very happy with our choice. I think once we can settle in there and make it home we will be very happy. We move in tomorrow, but have to figure out how to store our luggage between 13.00 (our check out time) and 19.00 (our move in time). I have a feeling we are going to have to make a few treks to the bus station for the big lockers there. That includes quite a bit of walking. I sure hope a few pounds are shed while I am here. We are sure walking much more than we ever did in the states. Well that is it for the day.

Oh one last quick note to self: Bunk beds are fun in theory or maybe as a child but are a death trap as an adult. Our current short term flat has one and every time I try to get out of bed to visit the restroom in the night I almost die. Never consider getting one later in life.

Day 4 & 5- Help. Picking flats in Madrid can be tough.

As I said the days are starting to blur together. We wake up in the morning meet our appointments to view apartments and then we go back to bed. In between I also try, but am not always successful, keeping Trevor fed for both of our sanity. Good new though- no we haven't found an apartment yet, but the official decision is made tomorrow night. No the good new is I slept through the whole night, and I did not take even a short doze today. I am really kicking the jet-lag's butt. It only took me a whole week :/
Okay back to the apartment predicament. I need opinions if anyone is willing to give them.

Option Number One-  (I tried my hand and links. Did it work?)
Pros- Awesome price, saves us some money
         Clean
         Good Flooring
         Plenty of storage
         Good area
Cons- 5 floors up with no elevator
           Pretty small but doable
           We smelt pot on our way up (not that I don't love the smell of skunk in the morning but I thought I got away from that when I moved from Colorado)

Option Number Two-
Pros- Love the area
         The owner we would be renting from is the nicest man ever and really has gone out of his way to help us. Every time I talk to him I can't help but just want to sign the lease papers then and there.
         Good size
         Trundle bed
         Has all of the kitchen utensils and he said if we need anything at all including furniture for the apartment he will buy it for us. (I told you he was the sweetest)
Cons- Most expensive
           Less storage

Option Number Three-
Pros- Has everything we need kitchen utensils and furniture
         We can get into the apartment almost immediately
          Not too expensive considering water is covered
          Right across the grocery store
          Quick and nearly painless process to sign leasing agreement
          For some reason I really just like it
Cons- We cannot see the place before we book it because of the type of agency we go through (They usually have video tours but not yet with this one)
           We don't know the area as well, but have walked through it a little bit. It is really close to a bull fighting arena which might mean noise.
            Smallish and we are not sure how tall the ceilings are. Trevor is 6'4" and we are not sure if he will hit is head... my guess is no though.

         
Okay so any opinions? We really could use the help. We are seeing a few more tomorrow, but unless anything wows us these are our options. Until tomorrow. I will let you know what we choose. Maybe some pictures too...
         

Day 3- Spanish makes me sleepy

We made it to church, but it was of course in Spanish. We were too nervous to talk to anyone, because our accent and lack of vocabulary so we snuck out right after sacrament meeting. I truly can't wait to learn Spanish to the point of fluency. I really, really want to be able to talk to people, or at least understand what is going on around me. Trevor and I were talking about how there are two types of Spanish. The first is what you know when you are writing or you have a moment to think about what is being said. The second is what we like to refer to as "Panic Spanish". This is the Spanish that you know when someone actually speaks to you, and trust me it is about 1/30th of the Spanish you thought you knew. My "panic Spanish" includes the phases a one year old child can say. Trevor can say and understand a bit more than me, which really has been our saving grace these past few days. Any time someone says anything to me I put my deer in head-lights look on and turn to Trevor to see if he understood.
I suppose we will get there. I just need to keep learning and trying, but I get so darn tired. Between the jet-lag and trying to decipher a different language around 11 AM I am ready for a nap. Well at least have started to view apartments in person. We have found a couple we really like and hopefully we will be able to get into one soon.

The people of Madrid sure do know how to party. We went to bed around 1 AM on Friday night and woke up to our neighbors around 7 AM blasting music when they got home from the clubs. This continued for about two hours until I guess they finally went to bed. I don't mean to complain, but this was not cool. I nodded off a few times while the music was playing and all I dreamed about was learning Spanish so I could ask them to turn down the music.
I can't wait till we find our own place. Where we are staying now the stove top does not seem to have gas and the showers, along with the bedding, is child sized. I think we will feel less stressed once we have our permanent housing. We walked around Tetuan today and Salamanca. Aside from Charmatin these are the areas that are closest to IE and where we have to be looking for housing. Although Tetuan was fun to visit we do not want to live there. It is the apparently business district and very crowded. The RealMadrid stadium is on the south side where we were and a game just let out as we were walking around... that was a lot of people. Salamanca was nice, very clean but also very loud and busy. The streets are wider there causing much more street noise. I thought Salamanca looked lovely but I seem to be slightly attached to where we are now. The streets are smaller and people are always waking around. Families seem to be living here, and it appears to be more like a neighborhood vs fast busy life. We will see we are scheduled to see an apartment just north on a street we walked through and really liked. We also go to Church tomorrow, maybe someone there is willing to help us with finding an apartment, we sure will need that help when it comes to reading the leasing contract. I am worried about not understanding the contract and signing something that is unfair. We will see what tomorrow brings I suppose.
Hope I didn't sound whinny today, I am blaming it on the jet-lag. I really think we will love it here once we can speak more Spanish and have a home.

Day 1

We froze during the night. I am not entirely sure if small amounts of bedding is normal for this country but the place we stayed was seriously lacking. We had sheets and two child size blankets, and if you have ever seen my husband he is definitely not child sized. I woke up promptly at 5 AM ready for the day begin. I assume because of jet lag but it doesn't make much sense considering 5 AM here is like noon back home, but after tossing and turning for about an hour and a half later and slept till 11 AM. Oops, but I blame it on Trevor, he was supposed to get up too... After getting ready and causing my blow-dryer to nearly explode (apparently the one appliance that surely cannot handle the voltage change is the humble blow-dryer) We went out walking around the area we are staying Charmatin, grabbed some toastadas (which here literally means toast with stuff on top, in our case pureed tomatoes), went to the grocery store for supplies and then went home at 2. Trevor took some tests, while I looked for apartments online. After that we went all the way out to outskirts of Madrid to Ikea for bedding and a blow-dryer - no more freezing for us, and came back home. I know it does not sound that exciting but we did learn some on our first day.
1. We should have worked harder on our Spanish. People hear barely speak any English if any. Good and bad for us. We really want to become fluent in Spanish, but our first couple of months just go that much harder.
2. Everything at Ikea is fantastically cheaper here. Unfortunately the food is about the same as the US though, except for the orange juice, it all seems to be freshly squeezed here. I love it.
3.The rush hour on the Metro is not 5:30 PM it is in fact 9:30 PM, or it is at least on a Friday.
4. They are much more serious about hair-dryer warranties. This transaction was by far the hardest, because we had no clue what she was trying to tell us at first.

Hola from Madrid

Hola from Madrid. We arrived around 12:30 AM Madrid time. The woman who picked us up from the airport also was our host for our Airbnb apartment. She is a Madrid native, very friendly and very chatty. She spoke "Spainglish"- speaking English at times and then randomly switching to rapid fire Spanish. She learned her English in the UK, but has not been back for 20+ years. It was hard to understand what entirely was going on all of the time, but all I know for sure is that she did pick up on how to use the F-word in England. She had many opinions about where we should live and with who we should be associating. We were very grateful for the guidance but may not take all of her suggestions... some were slightly prejudice. After trying our keys in wrong apartment door for a couple of minutes we finally arrived at our place around 1:30 AM. We will be here until Monday, after that we hope to have found a permanent place of our own.

A round of Applause for Turkish Airlines

Dear Turkish Airlines,

I have recently discovered that there happens to be a slight negative opinion of you solely based on that fact your headquartered out of a country that has a very large Muslim population. I will not claim to know much of anything about Turkey itself, other than I felt like the biggest outsider at the airport in Istanbul, but let me set the record straight about you as an airline.
The moment I entered your transcontinental airliner I was impressed. It was spacious and clean. I found my seat easily with flight attendant's guidance. Once I arrived at my seat I find waiting for me a little pile of amenities. The pillow and blanket were pretty standard but the headphones and slippers was a  very appreciated extra touch. You didn't stop there though. You gave me Turkish delights to start, then a warm towel, a care package including socks, ear plugs, tooth brush, toothpaste, lip balm and a sleeping mask. If that was not enough to blow me away all drinks (including alcohol- even though I don't drink) and two solid meals plus dessert were free. Have you ever heard of such a thing now a days? I was shocked, and elated. After I put on, ate, and used every cool thing they gave me I scrolled through all of the newly released block buster hits on my personal TV, I played the annoying roll of the American giggle and jabbering on about how awesome the flight and service was- everyone else seemed to expect it already.
After we landed we had to take a connecting flight from Istanbul to Madrid. Although the flight was shorter and the plane was far less taken care of and clean I still received my Turkish delights, free meal, drinks and a movie to watch.
I have flown a couple time on major airlines to countries far away but must I say I have never yet before before enjoyed my flight quite that much. Thank you for making an excruciatingly long trip tolerable. Keep doing what your doing, because at this point I would go out of my way to fly with you again.

Respectfully,

Kierstin