Then and now

On June 9th, 2012, we completed one year in Spain. One year. It's amazing how quickly this year has flown by. In many ways, it feels like we arrived yesterday. And yet, in many other ways, it seems like we have always been here. I was scrolling through the archives of my blog and came upon a post I wrote 6 days after we moved into our apartment, approximately 3 weeks after we arrived in Spain.

In that blog post, I wrote several reflections on our lives and things I had noticed since we had arrived in Spain. Reading that blog post a year later made me realize how much I've changed in this past year. Things that were different to me then are now very normal. Life in the United States seems kind of blurry from over here now :) So for the sake of fun, I decided to re-post those original reflections and update how I feel now, a year later. My updated thoughts and reflections are in green...

• I am thankful that we lived in a big city for about 2 years, in Sherman Oaks, so I am at least used to living right in the middle of a downtown area of a large and bustling city. And let me just tell you that I love it! Being right in the middle of everything that is going on is so exciting. Being able to walk most places and not having to worry about parking is very convenient. And to me, somehow, the noises of the city are strangely comforting and familiar.

After living in our apartment that is located in the downtown area of León for the past year, I love it now more than ever. The sounds of this Spanish city are different; motorcycles and ambulances, for example, have different sounds. We actually go for days without using our car because we walk so many places. In concept, while it still sounds kind of strange to not use our car so much, it is very nice and I love seeing so many people on the streets.

• Cars are small here. We're renting a family size vehicle right now, which in Spain is about the size of a Honda Civic (With a slightly larger trunk space.) Any car larger than that is considered abnormally large :) Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will be picking up our abnormally large 7 passenger mini van. I cannot wait! But let's see how parallel parking goes! And driving down those narrow streets found so often here.

Cars don't seem small to me anymore. When Gus went to California in March for the Shepherds conference, he told me the thing that stood out the most was how large the cars are there. So I guess the cars here really are smaller, but this does not stand out to me anymore. Our mini van has been incredibly useful this past year for ministry; we've had numerous guests and the van's ability to accomodate so many people has been a huge blessing. For the first 9 months that we lived here, we didn't have a parking space, so we had to parallel park every day and often multiple times a day. The first few times were a little challenging, but I quickly became quite used to it and didn't even pay much attention to it. In March one of our guests was shocked at well I could parallel park while we were carrying on a conversation. And when we got out of the car, you couldn't even walk between our car and the cars behind and in front of us. I didn't realize until then how normal this had become to me and I'm glad I've learned this skill now so well.

• Driving here is an adventure. The signs, obviously, are in Spanish. Which sometimes is challenging for me because I cannot read them. It's always nice when Gus is in the car and can translate them for me! Yes, I am driving. I don't want to be overwhelmed or afraid of driving in the city, so I force myself to drive often! There are roundabouts everywhere. The one right by our house has 3 lanes and 4 lights. Inside the roundabout. Making sure you stay in the right lane while going around a curve can be interesting. And there are pedestrian walk-ways often right as you exit the roundabout, so sometimes we have to slam on our brakes to avoid hitting people as we drive out of the roundabout. There are streets and roundabouts everywhere. I'm sure in 6 months and more-so in 12 months, it will make sense to me, but the city is very large and often confusing. We did buy a GPS over here but sometimes that doesn't help. It will tell us to turn left and there are sometimes two or three left turn options. And no, it does not use street names nor beep when you're supposed to turn. Many times our GPS has hindered more than helped.

Ok this reflection made me laugh when I read it. I remember feeling nervous and a little scared when I entered that large roundabout I mentioned above, which is right by our house. I remember taking a deep breath before I entered it, psyching myself up for getting through it while still staying in the right lane. But now, driving here is so normal. And calm. I say calm because a few months ago I had to drive into "big city" Madrid to pick Gus up from the airpot. And it scared me! Driving on roads with more than 2 lanes totally freaked me out and I couldn't get over how aggressive the drivers were. I breathed such a sigh of relief when we were back in our town that doesn't have as many cars nor lanes. 

We don't use our GPS anymore, except when we take excursions to other towns or states. I can now read all the signs and we have been to most of the cities that are listed on the signs, so town names are no longer foreign either. We are used to pedestrian walkways being everywhere and anticipate them as we come out of roundabouts and turn corners; and since we walk so many places, all of those walkways are so helpful.

Looking back, I am so thankful that I "forced" myself to drive often and early on. So that now, driving here is just as comfortable and normal for me as when I drove in the States. Even though I don't drive as often here, when I do, it's without a problem and I actually look forward to it.

• Food here is so fresh. Fresca, in Espanol :) Each night that I've made dinner, either Gus or I have commented that it just tastes so much fresher. And funny to me, they use fresca to describe so many things here. It's kind of buzzword, I think. When we bought our mattress pad from the furniture lady, she said it's fresh because they used some organic material to make it. Our pillows have aloe vera written on them and are considered "fresca." Back to the cooking, I've been able to find and cook pretty much what I was used to cooking in California. Except everything from scratch. Everything. There are no shortcuts. Like baby carrots. Or frozen, sliced bell peppers. Or jars of minced garlic. Or cans of cream of mushroom soup. Or any mixes of any kind. I've been trying to cook from scratch the last year in anticipation of this but I do miss my frozen bag of bell peppers :) Everything is also organic and free-range. Produce and meat. And the ingredients on the things that are in jars or boxes are things I can read and pronounce. Dinner might take a few minutes longer while I mince my own garlic, but it's been worth it so far :)

We LOVE the food here. While I can't remember what food in the United States tastes like, I still notice how great tasting the food here is and how good quality it is. For the sake of cost, I purchase my meat from a butcher, whose meat is a higher quality and butchered the day before. Interestingly enough, I can now taste the difference when I buy meat from our grocery store, that is not as fresh. Before coming here, I definitely would not have been able to distinguish this. And cooking from scratch is totally normal and I don't even think about it. When I hosted Thanksgiving dinner, for instance, I had to cook everything from scratch and it was so good. I still think it's worth it.

• Like I mentioned above, I have pretty much been able to find most things I need to still cook my usual recipes. The stores here are clean and very nice. Food is usually cheaper, unless it's an American brand. Take cereal, for instance. There's about 1/4 of the selection. They offer both Spanish and American brands. I can buy Kellogs Frosted Flakes or Cooc Puffs. But those American brands are twice the price of the Spanish brands. Thankfully the Spanish brands are extremely good and we've been enjoying some pretty good cereal! I will have to shop at 3-4 different stores to get everything I need. For example, Mercadona, the store closest to me, has great cleaning products, dairy, and general items. But it is kind of small and doesn't offer many frozen foods or random items like tortillas. Carrefour is a huge store that is like Walmart. They sell pretty much everything except furniture. But they're more expensive and not as good quality on some of the food items. Those are just two examples of the stores I will shop at and they're not very far away-10 minutes driving, max.

When we first got here, I was very interested in finding the ingredients that I could find in the States. I went into most of the grocery stores here to know what they sold. After being here a year, I am now familiar with what products I can find in which location. And, like I predicted above, my main store that I shop at still is Mercadona. I don't actually go to Carrefour very much, unlike what I thought. And while I can find most things here, there are several things that are either seasonal or harder to get-I usually only go to Mercadona. There are few things I import from the States. But to be honest, I have learned to adjust my cooking to what I can find here and don't miss things I can't find. I'm also cooking more Spanish recipes and am really enjoying this process. A few ladies from the church have showed me some Spanish recipes-Paella and Lentils, and this fall I am looking forward to learning how to cook even more Spanish recipes. Not only do we really enjoy these dishes, but it helps me learn more cooking vocabulary and even different cooking techniques. For example, I've been told that Americans generally use their oven more while Spaniards generally use their stove top, like in cooking fish or meat. I have just begun to learn about Spanish cooking and am looking forward to learning more Spanish methods and recipes.

• The church is really great. It's about 150 people with many small families. A few ladies speak a little English and between the poco (little) Espanol I know and their broken English, I can carry on a conversation with some of the ladies. But some of the ladies don't speak any English at all. So Gus translates for me. I do feel very motivated to learn Spanish and am working on that on my own this summer until language school starts in September. This is probably the hardest aspect of living here for me, but it is exactly what I expected it to be. And already, within a few weeks my vocabulary has doubled or even tripled. During the sermon on Sundays, I write down the words I do know. It helps me pay attention and remember/ learn more words; it's been encouraging to see my progress since that first Sunday. I'm excited to see how much I'll know in 6 months from now!

It's neat to see how far I've come in both the relationships I've built with the people at our church and the Spanish I've learned. There are some really sweet ladies that I now consider good friends and thankfully my Spanish has progressed so that I am now friends with ladies who don't speak any English. I am thankful to both my husband and Google translate! And while I have so much to still learn, I am most encouraged when I look back to how far I've come and how much I've learned. Now on Sundays I take notes in Spanish and write down words I don't know. While I still am far from full comprehension, I can mostly get the gist of the sermon and, depending on the speaker, can even understand as much as 75%. It's such a blessing to be able to understand more and I am encouraged to keep working hard. I know that with time and continued effort, I will make progress; I am so thankful for the patience of my friends here who bear with my language efforts.

• Our schedule has completely changed. We usually eat breakfast around 8:30-9. Lunch at 2. And Dinner at 9. The kids go to bed around 10 and we'll go between 12-1. And we love it! Sometimes we have snacks, but the longer we are here, the more normal these mealtimes have become. Stores are closed for siesta, usually from 2-5. The small stores but not the larger stores like the mall And everything is open late. Right now it's midnight and the streets are filled with cars, music, and people. In fact, last Friday was a fiesta for the town. At 11 o'clock at night, we took the boys out and wandered around. It was soooooo busy. Tons of people. Families. Young children being pushed around in their stroller. It was crazy! We kept looking at each other and smiling that we were out at midnight with our kids! I am not a morning person. Never have been. So this new schedule is just great for me :) Love it!

We have continued in this schedule change and are still enjoying it. Our main meal is at lunch time and I enjoy eating our biggest portions in the middle of the day. During the school year, the boys go to bed at 8, which is pretty early, but if not they are SO tired by the end of the week; we normally go to bed closer to 11 or 12. But during the summer, we are definitely going to bed later and getting up later. We almost always take a break after lunch, where if we don't sleep, at least everyone has quiet time in their rooms; this is one of my favorite times of the day.

• They are seriously into yogurt! I've honestly never seen so many yogurt choices. Every grocery store has an entire aisle, top to bottom, entirely dedicated to yogurt. Even the small stores. There's not too many brands. Just a lot of different types. And many more flavors I've never heard of. But ooo is their yogurt yummy. Creamier. YUM!

I just checked in my refrigerator and guess how many types of yogurt I have? 5. Our yogurt consumption has at least doubled. I'm thankful for the wide selection I can find of different flavors, too. Chocolate yogurt is one our household favorites.

• Speaking of cereal, over half of their brands/options have chocolate in them. I thought this was funny! I'm not sure I've ever seen a ceral, besides Coco Puffs, that actually has chunks of chocolate in it. But here you can get just about every type of cereal-flakes, puffs, etc with chunks of chocolate. I just wish I liked chocolate more!

Guess what I had for breakfast this morning? Special K with chunks of 70% cacao chocolate in it. Man have I been missing out! Try it. It is GOOD.

• I think Spain is green! If you don't bring your own grocery bags, you pay 20 cents for each plastic bag they use to load your groceries. Talk about motivation to remember those grocery bags! I've only forgotten once! And in the parking lot, the grocery carts are linked together. You have to insert a Euro to unlock it. Once you put the cart back and link it back, you get your Euro back. I've yet to see any carts littering the parking lot!

I remember being aware of these differences when we first arrived, but now it is life as normal. I bring my grocery bags (And I have quite a collection now) and keep a Euro in my cup holder in the car that is strictly for grocery carts, and these things are so normal to me now that I don't even think about it. 

Well, that is the end of the comparisons on my reflections. Spain is home. I love it here. And am daily so thankful to be living here. I'm grateful for the familiarity and normality of our life here. And wonder how it will be when I return to the States for my first visit.