Week 2 Recap

By all measures, our second week has been a success. The kids are registered for their after school activities: swim for Zoe and soccer for JT.  We have access to our Spanish bank account. JT has books for all his subjects -and they were free. The school determined that the kids would benefit from working with a Spanish tutor, so they’re meeting with her once a week. Zoe befriended a girl from Granada. JT started speaking in class. (I guess he must have been pretty quiet the first week, because he told me one of the kids looked at him in surprise and said “You can speak Spanish!? 

When living in a country with a language in which one isn’t fluent, one takes great pride in accomplishing life’s most mundane tasks. Zoe started swim team this week. This required several rounds of emails and phone conversations as we tried to find a team that practiced at the pool closest to the apartment. A normal phone conversation does not require a script, a dictionary or an anxiety attack, but these are not normal conversations. One cannot fall back on hand gestures, pantomimes or internet pictures on one’s phone. There is no body language to smooth the transaction. Just words. So having a couple of successful phone conversations can really make your day.

JT is also registered for soccer. This required a bus ride (another success) to the central sports office which services the entire city, population 250,000. Ten minutes after the place opened, I arrive and take #34; they are serving #15.  Despite having 10 desks staffed, it takes nearly 45 minutes to work through the line. While I wait, I practice what I am going to say in my head. I see people with folders and wonder if I have all the right paperwork. After only being here for 2 weeks I understand that the Soup Nazi was probably modeled after a Spanish bureaucrat. No [fill in the blank] for you! I look at all the bureaucrats, most of whom appear jaded, and hope for someone who is patient. Thankfully, I hit the jackpot and am helped by a delightful, friendly woman. She lets me look at her screen. She deletes the second account I accidently set up for Zoe because I couldn’t remember the user name she’d been randomly assigned. She complements my Spanish.  I leave with everything accomplished. She makes my day.

Nearly every time we do something, it’s a learning experience. When we are lucky, it’s an experience that we can benefit from. Sometimes it isn’t.  Our dealings with the bank are a perfect example. Armed with the right passport, we return to the same branch customer service rep about our account. She compares Tom’s old passport with his new one, calls the branch office in Palma de Mallorca where we opened our account and decides we’re legit. She asks if we want to close our account and take out our money. I explain that we lost our ATM card and we’d like a new one. She literally rolls her eyes and says---why didn’t you tell me that in the first place. This after we spent a ridiculous sum of money to have the passport express mailed to Spain.

Thankfully, the majority of the time we have a misstep, we learn something. We look forward to the next time when we can do it better. We appreciate the small things, and try not to take them for granted. We really appreciate small business owners who are friendly and patient. We reward them with our business. Celebrating our successes, however small, is key. This week we are celebrating, just a little.