I feel like the pregnant woman who’s not really enjoying her pregnancy. My big belly is out there for all to see, it’s suppose to be a magical, wonderful time and people expect you to say “of course!”, “wonderful!” when they ask you how you’re doing; but it’s really not.
I have posted very nice photos; the castle is amazing, the mountains surrounding us are amazing as well, the town is also nice and larger than I expected. The girls are doing well with school – although I’m not sure if they are so hyper when I pick them up because they have been inside all day or because they are imitating the behaviors surrounding them. And the idea of living oversea’s is great, but the logistical nature of living where you don’t speak the language is beyond frustrating. I’m not a gregarious, outgoing person so it’s unlike me to strike up a conversation with a stranger in the first place but add in that I don’t speak the language and even if they do they won’t speak English in front of me or their friends because they are embarrassed about how they sound (the gentleman that spoke English at the Guardia Civil was laughed at the entire time by his colleagues as he was helping me). It lends itself to a very lonely day. I’m trying to learn the language as fast as I can. Using Duolingo when I can get online, listening to Learn to Speak Spanish in your Car (which we started on our return road trip) as well as a few podcasts on iTunes. Everything seems to be an adventure in frustration. We still don’t have internet. I thought I had it all lined up but when they called back to go over the contract (details??) they told me we had to have a Spanish bank account; even if we were going to pay monthly at the post office. Argh! I tried changing my money at three different banks here in town; not one spoke English. So I can only imagine how opening an account and closing it 9 months later will go! Argh! I finally got my cell phone working — although I have no idea the phone number right now — by having it unlocked by At&t. We just ended up buying Jeff a new cell phone as we couldn’t get either one to work! Now, before you say didn’t you know it needed to be unlocked? NO! Our At&t phones are not contract phones, they are go phones, I bought mine at Target without a sim card in it! And now that I have a cell phone, I tried calling another internet company but the menu is all in Spanish and randomly pressing buttons was getting me nowhere except hung up on. I decided that making chocolate chip cookies would make things all better. But, after finally finding the baking powder and flour, I realized I needed some vanilla. There is no vanilla extract here – only a pod of vanilla. We made our own vanilla extract by cooking the vanilla bean and pod in vodka. There are no chocolate chips either, so we just cut up some candy bars. We also have no measuring utensils so we just tried to use a drinking glass and get the ratios correct. We did end up with what resembled chocolate chip cookies and with some tweeking could be good. Lastly, (I use this term loosely) I am trying to get a prescription filled here but that again has it’s challenges! The equivalent version according to the Spanish pharmacist is at a much different dosage. So not wanting to turn into she-wolf, I tried contacting my doctor to see if she had any insight. I got an email reply that said my doctor no longer worked for the office and I should consult a Spanish doctor. Argh! I refrained from replying with a one-fingered email salute.
And of course as karma(?) or maybe coincidence goes, every facebook post I saw this morning had some sort of reference to changing one’s point of view will change one’s life or don’t forget how blessed I am or refocus on what’s important or it’s my perspective that needs to change not the problems around me. Bite me. *sigh* Okay, okay I’ll go have a glass of wine and try to change my perspective.
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