Tag: spain

Answering Your Questions About Living In Spain | Q&A Part 1 |

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I have to say a quick thank you to so many of you that took the time to ask write out questions. There were so many really wonderful and thought provoking questions. I realized very quickly after reading them that there would be no way to answer them all in one post. So, I will be breaking this up into a few parts and intermittently posting them. Now without any more rambling from me, here is part one!

Question 1: Has the signage at grocery stores gotten easier for you?

I vividly remember when we first moved here I walked into the grocery store and just stood there with a blank stare. I wanted to buy something as basic as flour and I didn’t know the word for it, or where in the world it would be located in the massive store. I was so used to having a baking section in the U.S. stores, but in Spain that is just simply not the case. I even google translated “baking” on my phone and frantically looked for the aisle labeled “horneando”, which didn’t exist. Finally I found the flour, or harina, tucking neatly between the vinegar and the condiments. It makes no sense to me why it would be there, but for some reason that is where it exists. Another time I was trying to find active dry yeast to make some bread, and searched for 20 minutes with no luck. I finally did have to ask an employee to help me with that one. Let’s just say the exchange of my non Spanish to his non English is far too embarrassing of a story to share…but you can use your imagination and it’s probably accurate. Now after living in Spain well over a year I consider the grocery store words my most comfortable form of Spanish. Even though I joke at the fact I can speak pretty good “grocery store Spanish”, it is very true and doesn’t go far beyond that. Often times when writing out my store list I will accidentally write things in the Spanish word because in the back of my mind I guess I know that’s the word I need to be looking for on the shelf. So to answer the question, yes, thankfully!

Question 2: What do you feel has been the most positive impact on you and your family by being immersed in another culture?

My husband and I have always taught our kids that the world does not revolve around them, and that there is a whole world outside of their own in which people look, speak, and live completely differently. We have always shared with them that people from different places have different customs and traditions within their cultures. Those are wonderful things to teach children and to know as an adult, but getting to live in a country in which your way of thinking, your customs, and your food is not the norm, is truly a beautiful experience. Myself, Trenton, and our kids have grown in our appreciation for the way others think and act. We have learned so many times over that the way we do certain things isn’t as big of a deal as we always thought it was. We learned the way we worship doesn’t need to look the way it always has for us in the past. We learned that our comfort zones need to be flexible and in fact are still constantly expanding. Our kids just see their friends as their friends and they like them simply because they have common interests. Their friend group spans from many continents, languages, and faiths. I love to hear the kids talk about where their friends are from and hear the names of Iraq, Russia, Albania, South Korea, Kuwait, England and so many more. We went into this experience knowing our worldview would change, but I don’t think we quite realized how much our hearts would grow in such a life changing way.

Question 3: Have you found peanut butter or sour cream?

Truth be told there are a lot of foods that we simply cannot find here in Spain, but our pallets have expanded and we don’t miss a lot of foods like we used to in the beginnings. That being said, sour cream is just nowhere to be found. We do have cream fresh in the grocery stores here and to us it tastes pretty much spot on. In the states sometimes I would sub out sour cream for greek yogurt, and I do that here from time to time too. As for peanut butter, it is easy to find. The Spanish grocery stores will sometimes carry their version of it, but its not the same. For the real deal, one must make the pilgrimage to Costco to get the giant jars of Skippy which retails for a whopping eight euros. I had never in my life purchased Skippy brand peanut butter until moving here. I was a loyal Great Value girl. However, since Jane is faithful in her love of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and beggars can’t be choosers, I voyage to Costco and buy the peanut butter with all the other Americans in Madrid.

Question 4: What do you miss about the US?

I could list off some silly things I miss, personal preference stuff. Like Target or Chipotle. I can list a few convenience items like parking lots, and set business hours. But in all honestly, I don’t deeply miss those things. They actually don’t make a huge difference to me. In all honesty, we don’t miss living in the US. This is home to us, as foreign as that sounds. In my brain before we moved I had mentally prepared myself to be sad and have to deal with being homesick, but that just hasn’t been the case for Trenton and I or our kids, which I have been shocked by. With that being said, we do miss our family and our friends. It is sad celebrating things like the birth of your best friends baby from far away, or not getting to see your mom on Thanksgiving. I miss seeing my grandma deeply, and I would do just about anything right now to hug her and bring her a milkshake. It’s the relationships with those you love that matter most. Thankfully technology helps us not miss everyone so much. We text pictures and laugh about things. We still share our daily life things and our frustrations with stuff. The people we love are still a priority to us, we just aren’t a car ride away anymore. We are very much looking forward to the day when things go back to “normal” and when travel restrictions are lifted. We have many people who want to visit us here, and we are looking forward to being able to enter the US next time under more relaxed circumstances.

Trenton and I really enjoyed reading through all the questions you all sent in. Many of them were so thought provoking for us and led to some really interesting conversations between us in the evening. I am looking forward to getting to other questions in some follow up Q&A posts.

Experiencing A Pandemic Lockdown While Living Abroad

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Nobody was prepared for the dumpster fire that 2020 has been. I especially wasn’t ready to experience a pandemic while living in a foreign country. And to top it off, being in one that just happened to have some of the strictest lockdown measures in the world.  I can best sum up my experience like this, “I don’t know if it was all a dream or not.” It all seemed so surreal that its a bit hard to wrap my mind around. I am certain that all of the “social distancing” and lockdown measures have been difficult for us all, no matter where you live. This hasn’t been easy on anyone, anywhere in the world. But just for a moment, let me transport you into my world. How it was for me, in Madrid Spain:  

Let me start by saying that I am NOT a person who lives in fear, or gets scared or spooked easily. But, this experience was a bit scary at times. When they announced “Spain is locking down” they meant it. There was no ability to do anything. Literally ANYTHING. No sneaking past any rules. No wiggle room to do what you please. We were essentially locked in our house, for 3 months straight, the ability to go on a walk in our neighborhood was considered a criminal offense. I have never been so thankful for a yard in my life, it was the biggest blessing. We recognize that we had it so much better than most in Madrid. The large majority of people here live in apartments with their entire family, children included. The 4 walls of their apartment were it for them. Can you even imagine? 

At the time when we went into complete lockdown in March of 2020, the Covid-19 virus had a lot of mystery and unknowns surrounding it (in some ways it still does). This fact along with many others made for an ultra strict lockdown in Spain. Police were patrolling even my rural Madrid neighborhood. They were announcing things in Spanish over the speakers, that I didn’t understand, to make sure nobody stepped a toe out of line. That was unnerving for us all. We were not able to understand what was being announced and were not getting all of the news updates because only a few got translated into English. During that time we were beyond thankful for friends who were fluent in Spanish and were able to give us updates and help us better understand what was going on around us. That was so huge for us, without that help it would have made things ten times harder. 

The rules that the police were heavily enforcing were no joke. Everything you did had to be meticulously calculated as to stay within the lockdown measures. Only one person was permitted in a car. You were not allowed to go anywhere with anyone for any reason. The only places you were allowed to go were the following: grocery store, pharmacy, hospital, and tobacco store. Gas stations were also open as well as dry cleaners for some reason, though I never figured out why since all office buildings were closed. When I would venture out to buy food about every two weeks, I would get stopped by the police who would ask to see my ID to verify I was going to the grocery store closest to my home. Then, while returning home, I would have to show receipt proof of where I went and my ID once more. At the grocery store, police stood at every entrance making sure everyone was in masks and gloves. Inside the store any aisles not containing food related items were taped off with caution tape.  The only exceptions being the personal hygiene and pet care areas of the store. If it was your kids birthday, too bad. You couldn’t sneak past the caution tape to buy them any gifts. 

Once I got home with my haul there was a certain routine to bring everything into the house. I would carry everything in via the kitchen door. Next I would Clorox wipe everything down and then wipe down the counter where everything had been setting. Looking back, I can see how over the top this extra precaution was. However, to be fair, where I was living and what I was experiencing was a little over the top also. The times in which we were living in and in some ways are still living in, are unknown. None of us have ever experienced anything like this before in our lifetime, and hopefully we never will again. If there is one takeaway I hope to drive home to everyone it is this: show others grace. Whether it’s those you love or those you live around while navigating this season of life, pour out grace. Pour out understanding and patience. People who live with anxiety in normal circumstances are probably on overload right now. People who have kids with special health concerns (like my Jane), are trying our best to not instill a fear of illness into them, and into ourselves. If someone you want to spend time with kindly asks you to wear a mask around them to make them feel more comfortable, do it. Love and care for others selflessly. Even if you don’t care that people wear a mask around you, think of others needs before you think of your own. Thats the lesson I hope we can all take from 2020. Maybe a small inconvenience to me means that somebody I care about will have a little extra peace of mind today. 

This year has not gone the way any of us would have wanted. I remember at the start of the year Trenton and I were hyped up for all the things God was going to do in 2020. We had envisioned a resurgence of the “roaring twenties”, we wanted to take the year on with 20/20 vision for the future. This year did roar in, though in a different way than we expected. This season of life did give us 20/20 vision for our future,  many of the ways have been surprising to us. We have learned to be thankful for the little things in life. We have gotten to spend so much quality time together as a family and we we beyond grateful for that. So take a step back, try to look beyond the hard and disappointment this year has been. Find some things to be thankful for, I know you will find them!

Living Abroad: My Experience Being And American In Spain

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 For the past year, my husband Trenton, our son Owen, our daughter Jane, and I have lived in Madrid, Spain. We still can’t really speak Spanish. My husband takes lessons but has a severe hearing loss which makes it more challenging for him. I speak decent “grocery store” Spanish which is just a nice way of saying I know how to look for the food I need from the market. Owen, on the other hand, can speak a fair amount but is too shy to ever speak in front of us. And Jane knows she can’t speak Spanish but just goes about her normal social butterfly business anyway. In the year I have lived abroad I have learned more about myself and the the world than I ever realized I would. My perspective of things has taken a shift in such a beautiful way. This experience is something that I honestly have a hard time putting into words. But I think if I can try to wrap my head around how I feel, its worth trying to. Enjoy my feeble attempt at putting this into writing! 

This place is completely different from anything I had ever known and yet it is still exactly the same. Different language, different food, different holidays, customs, clothes, and places, but life is the same. Everyday I wake up and drink my coffee, and get my kids ready for school. The same as all the Spanish moms. I go to the grocery store to buy food for my family and so are the other parents. Sometimes I will see a grandpa picking his granddaughter up from school, and watch with a smile as the little girl runs up to him for a big hug, the same as my little Jane does with her grandpa. I see people going out to the park, riding bikes, and taking their dog for a walk. People are living their lives. It looks different here but it’s the same at the core. This experience has taught me in such a deep way how we are all the same. We all have needs, we all have dreams, and we all have families and friends. Nobody is exempt from these things. This experience has grounded me in such a profound way. No longer do I think of people who are completely unfamiliar to me as different, I think of them as the same, no matter how big the difference may be. 

Life is normal for me here. If you only saw my social media posts, you might think my life looks amazing.  To be fair, IT IS AMAZING! We have had many opportunities to travel, tour old Spanish towns on the weekend and so much more.  However, on any typical day, life is still just like any other normal day. Trenton goes to work. The kids go to school. Owen has basketball games on Saturday’s.  I go to dinner with friends. We just happen to be living our life in an amazing place where we can take advantage of so many memorable adventures. But again, the ins and out of my life is still a lot like yours. I stil get sad. I still get behind on laundry.  I make cookies for my kids after school. I go on dates with my husband. The only difference is I’m doing it in Spain. Also, on a quick side note, I don’t have a dryer, so I am jealous of all y’all for that one!

The deep love we have for travel will now shape the rest of our lives. I find so much beauty in getting to go somewhere I’ve never been, eat food I have never eaten, or hear a language completely foreign to my ears. Before moving here my “must travel to list” was VERY simple. It went something like “Paris, London, Turkey” and 2/3 I have done now, it would have been 3/3 but COVID. The longer we’ve lived in Europe, the longer our travel list is becoming.We long to go explore places off the beaten path. The places that are on the road less traveled. In a just a short time and with only seeing a small part, Trenton and I want to spend the rest of our lives getting to see the beauty the world has to offer.  It has become a big goal for us now. We have such a deep desire to spread light and love throughout the world.

There is so much beauty in being out of place. As I already mentioned, we can’t speak Spanish, and unlike most other European countries,  a large majority of Spaniards don’t speak English. And you know what, I like it. As much as I wish I was able to communicate better, I love that I am constantly reminded just how diverse and unique every corner of the world is.  There was a learning curve when we moved to Europe, for sure. A steep one at times! I remember vividly being shocked that I would be required to street park most places I went. In fact, parking lots would be considered a luxury here. But I found my groove. I found my way. I have a whole pocket of knowledge in my brain about how to do life in Spain. A whole bunch of information that to anybody else would be rendered useless, but for me it’s essential information. I know that most shops will be closed from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. for lunch break. (Despite what Google might tell you…) And that if you want to buy cranberries for Thanksgiving you need to rush to Costco as soon as it’s November. 

We do not take this for granted. Let me be clear, at times, it may seem like I diminish what a gift we have to be able to live in Europe, because, for me, it’s just my normal now. But hear me when I say, we know just how huge of a thing this is. Especially being brought up in a very rural part of America, where many people we know dream of being able to visit Europe once in their lifetime. I hope you hear my heart when I say that, while it will be sad if and when this adventure ends, we will return to the US full of thankfulness for the time we had.  In the end, we know we will return as different people, because living abroad changes you in a lot of ways, most of which you don’t anticipate. We have grown so much as individuals, and within our marriage. Our children have been given an opportunity to go to a very diverse school. They have learned about their friends background, culture, and faith while still being proud of their own. We have learned that the way people live their life can look many different ways and that the world would be such a boring place if they didn’t. 

P.S.  The most beautiful place in the world to me is the view from my grandparents cliff overlooking the mountains in West Virginia. I am confident that will never change.