Day 185: 6 Months in Spain
Our feet touched Valencia, Spain, for the first time on August 21, 2022. 6 months (or 6 months and 1 day according to timeanddate.com) of experiencing, exploring, and adapting to a new way of living seem to have passed in the blink of an eye.
I feel at home here.
Today I woke up in La Malvarrosa, because that’s where we live.
I ate breakfast and settled into my morning of work. I took a break and headed out to our terrace to fold the sheets I’d put out to dry the day before, because that’s how laundry works here.
It was about 10:30 when I heard from a friend via whatsapp, because that’s how we communicate now, inviting me to come and hang out. I got dressed in pants, a tank top, and a sweater, because that’s normal for the weather here.
I headed out to our bus stop, along the way waving at the restauranteur we’ve gotten to know, because public transit is how I get around here.
While waiting for the bus I joined in with the other folks waiting in being excited about the installation of lights for Fallas, because everything is about Fallas right now.
When the bus pulled up I was one of the people who put on a mask even though they’re optional on public transit now, because Covid is still Covid, even in Spain, and I never want to do THAT again.
I used my monthly pass, the one with my picture on it, to pay for the bus and took the time to greet the driver with a friendly “hola”, because that’s what bus riders do here.
I lucked out and got a seat and knew to avoid the green ones because those are reserved for the folks who need the seats the most, and when a mom with a pre-schooler got on a few stops later I gave the pair my seat, because that’s how we do here.
I got off at the right stop without looking at the app because I’ve visited my friend before and knew where I was.
On my way home later I got chided by an abuela for standing in the way of the door, and I moved because you listen to the abuelas here.
When I got home we ate lunch on the terrace because it was a beautiful day and it was time to get back into that routine after putting it on hold for December and January.
When our work days were done we walked two blocks to a cafetería we’ve been to often enough for it to be familiar to us but not (yet) often enough for them to know us there because we wanted to mark our 6-months in this wonderful place.
Today showed me how much I’ve learned and adapted to since we arrived 6 months ago. I’m also aware that we’ve now gone 6 months without hugging our friends and kids. We’ve gone 6 months without visiting our favorite Evanston and Chicago haunts. It’s not all sunshine and roses (though there really *is* a lot of sunshine here).
And yet…again…I feel at home here.
I don’t know what the next 6 months has in store for us, or the years beyond that. I *do* know that I’m so grateful and glad that we made the leap and get to call Valencia home.
