40 Hours/Week? Life is (not so) tough.

A quick update on life in Linares …

I am filling in for the Queen Nanc-y today as she is off gallivanting around Spain with the wonderful, newly married Beth Banta, er, Moneyhan and the always lovely (sometimes critical of my new haircuts) Alexis Snell.  Two of Nancy’s “besties” are visiting and I am sure they are sipping red wine and eating at a tapas bar at this very moment.

 Beth, Nancy and Alexis.  Beth and Alexis got off their flight 
looking like this -- pretty amazing.

I just got back from a run and was amazed how full of activity our small town can be, when only a 45 minutes before, the mood would best be described as ‘idle’.  I left our piso around 5:00pm and the town would just be ‘waking up’ from its siesta.  Allegedly, after confirming with many locals, not too many people actually sleep during the ‘siesta’ -- Nancy and I are choosing to ignore that piece of information – only during the summer do they actually take naps, because they normally aren’t able to sleep very well at night due to the heat.  Not sleeping well for an entire season … sounds pretty brutal.

One of the paths we have been known to jog ... on occasion.

Taking into account our travel, we’ve technically only been living in Linares for a little over two months.  I think things have finally started to slow down for us enough to feel like we are ‘living’ in Spain.  Before, it was one new experience after another, which was amazing.  But, it also didn’t feel like real life.  Now, Nancy and I have settled into somewhat of a routine.   Combining both of our official work hours, we work 24 hours a week in school – however, I’d like to add that, taking into account travel time and break time where we are stuck in the neighboring town of Bailen, it’s probably closer to 34 hours.   I guess that doesn’t deserve any sympathy either.  Nancy works Monday – Thursday and I have classes Tuesday – Thursday.  Between the two us, we have developed several private English conversation classes.  These classes are in the evenings, after we’ve finished our long day of work at school and had lunch.  I try to remember to appreciate the little things like having lunch together, because I can’t think of too many other scenarios where I will get to eat lunch with Nancy almost every day.  However, the point is … adding in our private English classes … we arrive at the magic number of 40 hours/week, just like all of you (even if it is between the two of us). So, you see, we aren’t that different, after all.

Feeling more settled has been great.  Here are some of our observations so far:

• We love living in the Comunidad Autonima (similar to what we call a ‘state’) of Andalucia.  What it may lack in infrastructure and income levels it more than makes up for in its strong cultural identity, rich history and the origin of several distinctive Spanish ideals, such as flamenco dancing and bullfighting. 

• There’s no better way to feel connected to the Spanish lifestyle than going for a walk in the streets.  “Vivimos en la calle” (We live in the street) – their self-proclaimed national slogan is very true.  We love late dinners and seeing crowded streets well into the night.

• Living in a town surrounded by olive trees will never get old.

• Likewise, I have eaten more olives in the last two months than in my entire life combined.

 

The olives are harvested in December.  These are about ready, and will eventually turn green.

•  It was a wee bit colder than we expected here in Linares.  It misses some of the coastal warm air, since we are more in the mountains than by the coast.  However, we love the lack of humidity.  Linares is located in the more mountainous region of Andalucia so it doesn’t receive any humidity from the coast.  The nights can be a bit chilly.

• Andalucian Spanish is a little bit more difficult than anticipated.

• We are pretty sure home-insulation doesn’t exist in Linares.  Who wants to start a business in Spain?

• Since the day we have arrived, we have yet to see a single cup of ‘to go’ coffee.  The idea doesn’t exist here.  Why would someone take it to go, when you can sit and enjoy it.  No one here is ever in a hurry.

• As great as my schedule is, I have to wake up way earlier here (7:00am), than I ever did in the US (at least on the three days I work).  Yes, it’s worth complaining about.  I don’t understand how teachers do it – or everyone else for that matter.

• I haven’t watched a single TV program in 3 months.   Likewise, I haven’t had a haircut in 3 months.  I’m not sure if the two are related.

• Nancy and I love Spanish food, tapas, paella, etc. but sometimes you just want a McDonald’s hamburger – well, let’s be honest … A Big Mac.  At first, it was difficult to get used to the Spanish diet because we didn’t exactly know to prepare their big meals and we ended up eating lots of ‘tapas’ which are more like heavy snacks, sometimes not as filling as you want.

• We love Spanish coffee.  They laugh at American coffee, “oh, that stuff is like water”.  There coffee is essentially what we call an ‘expresso’, however, there is about 20 different ways to order.  We are still learning.

• We love living in city where we don’t need a car and we can walk everywhere – except on days when we have to buy groceries.

• Every interaction in a large institution is an adventure (banks, post office, etc.).  Apparently, there is unspoken and unwritten etiquette that we have no idea how to follow.

• No matter how many or few hours you put in at a job, it will always feel like ‘work’ unless you want to be there.

• We miss burritos.