Lost in Translation: As longtime readers may recall, we had quite the time setting up internet in our apartment last September. This week we realized that Spain has a penchant for cruel irony, as our dance with Vodafone picked back up. After a long and very impressively sustained conversation, a Vodafone rep told Joni she didn't understand anything. Which, frankly, is more than a little unfair when you're explaining a process that is confusing in any language. To make a very long story short, we were left with the impression that Cat (who was our sponsor on the Vodafone contract as we had things in motion before our NIE's were finalized) would need to call to cancel the account. We asked repeatedly about scheduling a date to stop the service, and were told at least twice that no, a specific date could not be set, and that it typically took four days after a call was made for the requested change to take effect. Sidebar: This all seems overly dramatic - why isn't there just a button you press that toggles between access and denial of service? Cat was a great sport, and proactively called Vodafone on Tuesday afternoon. At which point, of course, our internet access was immediately disconnected. No big deal - we didn't need to be online our last night in Spain, as we would be out enjoying the city and company of friends. But then, returning home a little after midnight, we found that our water had been shut off. This was a little more problematic since we needed to brush our teeth and wash a couple dishes, but we still made due and eventually left without anything catching fire. Oh Spain, we will not miss some parts of you.
Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention perhaps one of the greatest cases of Lost In Translation we’ve encountered the entire year. As we stood outside our apartment building saying our final goodbyes to Charlotte, an elderly man treading behind a walker and holding a cigarette exited the bar next door. The man was moving very slowly toward us, and eventually he started to pantomime something - totally silent. He gestured toward the door of Calle de las Delicias, 21 and then took some exaggerated and swift faux-puffs from his cig while shrugging his shoulders and arching his eyebrows (as if to say “Can I come to your apartment and smoke?”). We all tried a bit of Spanish and then English to ask him what he wanted, and he didn’t seem to respond at all. Feeling very awkward we returned to our conversation, as the man proceeded to shuffle past us and half-heartedly continue to communicate his message - pausing only to laugh silently and shake his head. Looking back, it seems that he may have been trying to let us know that he was moving slowly and didn’t want to be in our way (maybe asking if we were outside to smoke?). Regardless, the memory of the pantoman is sure to remain with us for some time!
Exploring the City: Lest it get lost in our torrent of travel in other parts of Europe, let in be known that we did finally make it to the other Iberian nation that shares the peninsula with Spain. That’s right, we took in the sites of Lisbon, Portugal for three days with my parents and sister before returning to Madrid one final time. The visit started off with a familiar face in a foreign place, as we met our friend Emily Brown for gelato in the heart of the old town. Emily and a group of friends had just spent time in Lisbon and were headed to Barcelona (where we had come from prior to our arrival in Lisbon). It was great to catch up and to get some tips on the city we were ready to explore.
The first full day entailed a bus tour all over the outlying sites surrounding the southern port city. Our guide’s native language was Portuguese and while she spoke quite well Joni and I both enjoyed listening to the small grammar slip ups. The written language appears to be very similar to Spanish, but upon hearing it spoken Portuguese seems a lot closer to Russian. Fascinating! The tour itself was wonderful - featuring stops at a hill top castle (Pena Palace), a village containing regionally renowned bakeshops, a scenic cliff overlooking the ocean, the westernmost point of continental Europe, and a beach town that offered us the chance to touch the Atlantic. In just a couple days, we were able to dip our toes into the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean!
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| The family at Pena Palace |
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| Beautiful Pena Palace |
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| Our tour van |
Take note of the other castle at the top of that hill!
The streets of Sintra, a tasty bakery where we tried "pillows," and David and Aaron taking shots of cherry liqueur out of a chocolate shot glass.
The Atlantic Ocean, and the western most part of continental Europe.
David loved all of the sardines in Lisbon, so the store that sells only sardines was a fun stop for him! You can buy a tin of sardines from your birth year. This is literally the only thing they sell.
The Rua Augusta Arch, and the Time Out Market
The Jerónimos Monastery, and Jesus hailing a cab.
Padrão dos Descobrimentos
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Belém Tower
The view from Rua Augusta Arch
The oldest continuously running bookstore in the world, cool tile in the metro, and Lisbon Cathedral
Jardim Amália Rodrigues, and Alfama
The view from our apartment in LisbonMemorable Meal: Much delicious food accompanied our final week as Spaniards, but the best and most memorable was a dinner at Taberna da Rua Das Flores in Lisbon. We ordered seven dishes after being told we should not order more, and the friendly staff brought out each selection one at a time. The dishes: Zucchini florets, wasabi prawns, cod with fried potatoes, fig goat cheese, grilled veggie salad, fish and chips, and pork cutlets in a sauce. Our table was in the back, tucked away near the kitchen, and the whole atmosphere was really festive. Joni even tried some fish! She didn’t like it, but even trying something was a victory.
Final Notes: Our return from Portugal brought three final days in Madrid, the first of which happened to be the world Pride festival. We enjoyed people-watching in the stretch of streets between our apartment and David and Laurie's hotel, which was the start of the parade. Probably the most surprising sighting was a group of nudists celebrating nude pride in the most inappropriately appropriate way. Later that night, we got to take in the view of the palace over dinner at Terazza Sabatini.
Proud nudists, and a proud cow at Ale Hop
The family at Terazza Sabatini
My parents and sister left on Monday, and then we were left with saying a bevy of goodbyes. This included: our final Sunday and send off at church, a wonderful lunch with Ben & Cat (along with Ben’s dad and my visiting family), a nice evening of conversation with and pawning off much of our remaining food on Charlotte, my final basketball game with Daniel, a nice afternoon farewell with Alex, my final meetup with Maite where I tried my first bocadillo de calamares, and a wonderful goodbye dinner and ice cream outing with Teresa. We also said our goodbyes to our favorite fruit guys, Panah and Kaido, who very sweetly gave us a hefty bag of free fruit for our travels.
Now we’re headed back to the U.S. (via a rather lengthy intra-European itinerary) and we hope to post reflections on our year in Spain in the following weeks. Thanks to everyone who has followed our journey and kept us in your thoughts and prayers as we've experienced so many new and exciting things. We'll miss all that we are leaving behind, and know that we'll be back to visit soon!
Cat's amazing American flag rice krispie treats, and us with our Spain family. We will miss them a lot!
Us with Panah at the fruit stand. We'll really miss the fresh fruit from here, and our regular brief conversations with our Bangladeshi friends.
