So we’ve been here a month!  While there are pros and cons, I love it so far in Barcelona. The city is very easy to get around in, with significant Metro and bus coverage. I haven’t really learned much about the buses- only that the N4 takes us back to Gracia late Monday night.

There are beautiful little squares and plazas all over. We frequently walk Walnut to a square and just sit awhile, people watching. It’s uplifting to see people out doing things, children playing with or without toys and playground equipment, other dogs walking or playing about. The weather has been wonderful, but I suspect we arrived at the best time for that.

We’ve been going to Park Guell a lot. It’s a beautiful park designed by an eccentric Spanish architect. Walnut loves it.

I shop at small local markets most days.  We don’t keep much food on hand at any given time- this is very different from how we lived in the states.  There is a fruit and vegetable market next door to us, I buy bananas almost every day there.  The bakery down the street always has my pan de coco and I buy chorizo from the charcuteria often.  I love chorizo sandwiches!  We’ve made soup for dinner pretty often, we can make a giant pot for about €7 and eat it most of the week.  Of course, we’ve also enjoyed a lot of delicious tapas, too!

We’ve met some very nice people.  Though we’ve gone to a handful of expat meetups, it’s the Spanish people we’ve met that I keep in touch with.  It’s crazy, but we can have very poignant discussions regarding the state of the world, including America and it’s politics.  The people in Europe are incredibly well informed about America’s state of affairs and are interested in chatting about it.  It’s fascinating.  And, it’s a bit sad that it is such a struggle to evoke a similar response with Americans in the states.  I like that everything feels more communal here.  If we sit in a square or even at a table outside at a restaurant, people nearby will join conversation with us or offer advice or directions.  It seems as though random people feel ‘we are all in this together’ and act that way.  In the grocery store, I couldn’t tell the difference between liquid fabric softener and detergent so I asked a woman shopping nearby.  She couldn’t understand what I was asking, but a guy walking through the aisle said ‘no that’s fabric softener.’  Understanding then what I needed, she walked me to the end of the aisle to point out the detergent.

I am struggling with the next step in the Visa process- our residence cards.  I will be meeting with a Gestor this week to hopefully get it all figured out.