Getting Settled

We arrived in Spain on October 29th, it is now November 16th, and I'm just now beginning to feel more settled in my environment. Notice I didn't say I'm completely settled. It might take me a good while to feel completely settled. Mike on the other hand seems fine, except he doesn't want to take the train anywhere because he's not familiar with how the system works. I keep telling him the only way we're going to get familiar with it is by actually going on it. The train (like a subway) and the metro (buses) is our only way of transportation to places we can't walk to besides taking a taxi, and taxis are very expensive. So, we kind of have to get accustomed to taking the train and metro. Anyways, so yeah it will take me a while to feel completely settled in and comfortable in my surroundings. I probably won't feel comfortable until I can hold a basic conversation with someone here. It's been kind of difficult for me. In Las Vegas or San Diego, I was so used to being able to get whatever it is I needed on my own. I could drive wherever I needed to go and I knew exactly where I was at all times. In Sant Cugat, where we are (the outskirts of Barcelona), I don't have that sense of knowing where I am. I know where the hotel is, I know where the gym is, and I know where the mall is, and that's it. If I needed to go to my bank here, I've got no clue where it is and how to get there via train/metro. If I wanted to go to a laundromat, I've been there once before and I have no idea how to get there again. If I wanted to get my nails done or get my hair cut, you guessed it, I've got no idea. Plus, I'd then have to proceed to tell the people what I want done, and I have a feeling that won't turn out too well. The post office? Nope, got no clue. The hotel, gym, and mall is all I know. Which is all I really need for now, but still it'd be nice to know those things. Anyways, it's story time guys! Alright so, I was at the gym on Friday and to enter to the gym you have to hold a bracelet they give you up to a sensor and then press your finger on to the scanner and it'll let you passed the gate. For some reason mine wasn't working. I tried all 3 gates several different times, and it just wasn't working. I stood there confused, looking at everybody else get passed the gates. I looked to the front desk to see if Naomi (the only lady who speaks just enough English to understand her) was there, she wasn't. In desperation I tried my bracelet one more time on each gate to see if it would work so I wouldn't have to go to the front desk, it didn't. So I reluctantly went to the front desk, said "Hola......it's...not...working", and handed the woman my bracelet. She spoke to me in Spanish, luckily I understood enough to realize she was asking for my phone number. I said "Seven, zero, two...", and (pardon my language) she looked at me like I was a fucking moron. I proceeded to tell her my phone number in Spanish, she typed it into the computer (still looking disgruntled) and then said "Okay Amanda, you go now". I said "Gracias", and walked back towards the gates. I tried the first gate, didn't work. Second gate, didn't work. Third gate, didn't work. Tried them all over again, nothing. I'm not going to lie, I felt like crying. I was just so frustrated. The gates weren't working for me and I couldn't communicate properly with the front desk. I felt helpless all because of some stupid gates and a bracelet. I stood there for maybe 20 seconds or so and then decided to try again. The first gate didn't work. The second didn't work. I tried the third gate, it didn't work. I tried the third again, nothing. I tried it one last time and it FINALLY worked! Ohmygawd, I don't think I've ever been so happy to get into a gym before in my life. After all that mess everything was fine, I worked out, left the gym, and then carried on with the rest of my day. That was one of my more embarrassing moments here, hopefully sooner or later speaking and understanding Spanish becomes easier. Mike's team has set up Spanish lessons online for us, that hasn't started yet, but that should start up in a week or so. Everything is pretty great. I find Mike to be hilarious, sometimes when we have lunch or dinner and one of the waitresses says something to him in Spanish he just answers with "Si". I'll ask him if he knew what they were saying and he'll tell me he didn't have any clue. I'm not saying I'm fluent or anything, but I did take Spanish in high school for 3 years, it was absolutely useless, but because of those 3 long years I can hold basic conversations and understand bits and pieces of what people are saying. Once a waitress had asked us what our room number was and he just said "Si." In my head I said to myself  "Omg babe, no." So I answered saying "304", she smiled and walked away. I said to Mike that he can't just say "Si" to anything he hears, he brushed my remarks, but he'll learn one of these days though lol. In other news I learned that Mike was talking with one of the waitresses one night. Mike had asked her why all the staff seems kind of mean towards us (which they aren't). She told him that some of the staff found us to be an evil couple (HAHA, she meant bad or weird she just couldn't find the right words) the rest of them are just shy because they don't know any English at all, so they're embarrassed to speak with us. Mike was laughing and asked her why some thought we were a bad couple, she told him that it's because we're not all over each other in public, like kissing and all that, so everyone thought we were always mad at each other . She said here it's normal for couples to be like that in public, he was surprised by that and explained to her that he didn't know it was like that here. He said to her, "We didn't know that's just a normal thing here, we just didn't want to disrespect anyone here." She understood and smiled and I guess she told the rest of the staff everything Mike said to her and everybody seemed more comfortable with us at that point. I thought it was hilarious because she used the word evil, as if we partake in witchcraft and are plotting everyone's imminent death at the hotel. Its been an interesting past few days. I just remembered I have to take pictures of all the weird machines they have at the gym. That will be for the next blog then. Until then muchachos! 

xx - Amanda!