Maintaining the House and Body in BCN

All homeowners know about home maintenance and the eventual replacement of small and large appliances.  Well, this one struck early and the heat pump that heated and cooled the house gave up the ghost.

Before going on, let me give you some background information about heating and cooling in

Typical Heating/cooling units in Barcelona

Barcelona.  Barcelona has a mild climate, especially during the winter (they hardly ever have snow and most evenings during the winter are well above freezing).  That fact has hit home for me just recently hearing about the winter snowstorm in Washington DC and the very cold and snowy weather that Chris is enduring in Kiev.  Summers are a different story and although tempuratures rarely go higher than 28º C(or 86ºF), the humidity is so high (higher than DC) that it feels like 100ªF at times.  Living on the top level of my building, it's especially important to have good air conditioning.  Now, most homes do not have heat pumps with a central forced air heating/air conditioning system.  Some, like my friend Jordi, have no heating or air conditioning system in their homes.  Others have radiators or individual units to heat the home during the winter. During the summer, some have a wall unit that will cool one part of the house.

But what is also interesting to note is that the expectations of staying comfortable indoors for Catalans & Spaniards are different than for most Americans.  Possibly due to the relatively cheap energy in the U.S. (compared to Europe), we have been spoiled in having our heating/cooling system on most of the time, except on those spectacular days during the Spring and Fall when the weather is perfectly comfortable (California is a different story - for example, my brother lives in San Luis Obispo and does not need cooling system and rarely turns on his heat because of the ideal weather there).  The opposite is true in Barcelona.  Unless it is absolutely unbearable, most Barcelonians will not put their heat on and only when they can't sleep at night will they have their air conditioning on during the summer.  In winter they are satified with wearing triple layers of clothing inside to stay warm and during the summer they endure the heat and humidity much more so than Americans do.

Heat Pump and Ceiling Unit for our home

So, most people here do not have central air and I was fortunate to have found a home that had it installed (I believe most heat pump units are more used in businesses or if used in homes, they are for a specific part of the house, since most homes do not have a duct system throughout the home). But the prior owner did not maintain the unit as he should have and after around 15 years, it died.  The cost to replace it here is about the same as it would be to replace one in the U.S.  But to a typical Barcelonian, that seems outrageous.  Be that as it may, I decided to bite the bullet and they started the installation on Friday and will finish it on Monday.  The rest of my winter days & nights will be toasty warm and summers here with Chris will be cool and comfortable.

Building Issues (Continued)

A couple of articles ago I talked about the water issue that my neighbor below me has and the mystery about the source of that leak, which only occurs during heavy rainfall, which is rare here in Barcelona.  I also checked with my homeowner's insurance company but they do not cover problems caused by possible faulty construction in the home.  To move forward with this, I agreed to allow the contractor of the building to break through a large tile in the bathroom near the toilet and to pick away at the cement that was covering the drain pipe (burying pipes in concrete is common here).  They think they discovered the source of the problem, but it's difficult to prove.  They found a couple of cracks in the building's Y connector that takes waste water from my home to the building's drain pipe.  Hopefully they will conclude that this is a building issue and it will be fixed and paid for by the condo association.

Health of the Body

My knee is coming along nicely.  I've finished physical therapy and I'm no longer seeing my surgeon.  Now is the slow process of recovery.  I'm walking just fine and can do that for some distance, but I am still not able to run or do hiking excursions.  That will come in time.

I've depended on my Federal insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield. for my medical needs.  It's worked, but I have to pay most things up front and then get reimbursed a month later.  The only time I didn't do that was for the knee surgery but I had to constantly be on top of it, communicating to BCBS, the provider, who knows nothing about our medical insurance system and has to trust me that the process will work.  I have seen doctors here, but they tend to be for special things.  I have not had a good physical check-up since I've arrived. Then there are the copays, which are not insignificant.  It works, but it takes time and money.

So I've been thinking about possibly buying private health insurance here.  There are some plans that

have no co-pays and have a network of many physicians, clinics and hospitals.  I would keep my American insurance but only use it here for medication and for special needs.  I calculated that my premiums here would have equaled the co-pays that I spent last year.  So it seems logical to go through with this idea.  It would just a matter of choosing the best network and taking the leap.  We'll see.

Politics and the Holidays

Big things have been going on politically here in Barcelona and in Spain.  The first big change was

the Sept 27 regional elections in Catalonia.  The result is that the two parties that are in favor of becoming an independent nation and separating from Spain together received the majority of seats in the Catalan Parliament, even though they received less than 50% of the popular vote (which is not uncommon here).  These parties have announced for months beforehand that if they received the majority of seats, they would pave a path for independence.  This they started on Nov 9, when a resolution was passed to begin the process toward the creation of an independent Catalan state in the form of a republic.  Currently, however, they are at an impasse because the smaller of these two parties will not support the prior president of the Parliament, Artur Mas, to continue in that post.  Some news reports stated that by law the Catalan parliament had two months from the elections to elect a president, which has long passed and they are still debating.  Other reports stated that after the second vote held on Nov 12, which Mas failed to obtain a majority, two months are now open for new debates.  If after those two months, a president is still not elected, then elections will be repeated early in 2016.  I just heard from a friend that Jan 10th is the deadline.  Sometimes I get the feeling they are making this up as they go along, but I digress.

The other big news is that on Dec 20 Spain had its national elections.  Unlike the national elections of four years ago, this time no one party received the absolute majority in Parliament, although the conservative party, Partido Popular (PP), received the highest number of seats.  But in order to form a government, a candidate has to be elected among the representatives to be President (or prime minister).  This year, it requires at least two or more parties to form alliances, a difficult task at best, as the parties that have more in common still would not have the sufficient number of seats to form a majority and would have to join with parties that are idealogically very different.  If a solution is not found in early 2016, new elections will occur in May.

Personal Thoughts

I am still very new to the politics of Spain and Catalonia, so my opinions are still forming.  The path to independence for Catalonia, if it moves forward, will be fraught with pitfalls and obstacles, I believe.  It won't occur in the near future.  It is much too complicated and Spain is diametrically opposed to an independent Catalonia.  Although those in favor of independence believe the new state would be more prosperous after separation, I believe Catalonia would experience very hard economic times that would continue for a while before finding its economic balance and begin to prosper again, as I'm sure it will.

The recent Spanish elections show a very divided electorate still reeling from the economic crisis that has not ended, and a profound disgust for the high level of corruption that has infected all levels of government, to some degree or another.  They are also very concerned with the very real possibility of Catalonia attempting to separate, which would have a devastating affect on Spain. Whatever government eventually is elected to govern Spain, it will most likely be weak and ineffective to move its agenda forward.

The Holidays

This year I decided to stay in Spain for the Holidays (last year was my first and only visit back to the

My favorite pastry place!

States). Holiday lights were turned on Dec 1 throughout the city.  Around Dec 19 four blocks of wooden/steel booths were set up on the Gran Via on both sides of the street, just two blocks from my home, filled with all types of small stores, from candy to children's toys, to jewelry and artesan products of every kind.  On almost every corner there is a Churreria, where they make fried dough that is in the shape of a long, thin tube, sprinkled with suger and can also be dipped in hot chocolate. This will stay up until Three King's Day (Dia de los Tres Reyes - see below).

In Catalonia, families gather on Christmas Eve evening and/or on Christmas Day to exchange presents and have their Christmas dinner.  They also have the following day, Dec 26, St. Stephen's Day,as a holiday, with a big meal that includes canalons, where the leftover meat from the previous day are ground and stuffed in a pasta roll and covered in a bechamel sauce.

A friend who I've known for a few years and who lives in Madrid invited me to spend Christmas with him and his brother and niece in the northeastern coast of Spain in the city of San Sebastian, which is the Basque region of Spain.  I took the train up and back, long but relaxing.  It was a great time.  I've only been to San Sebastian once for less than a day, so it was a real treat to be there with a friend that was born in that area.  The city is beautiful on the Cantabrian Sea (or the Bay of Biscay).  It's also well-known for its amazing cuisine and delicious tapas called pintxos.  Besides San Sebastian (or Donostia in Basque), we also visited the picturesque town of Hondarribia which is on the sea and borders France, as well as a small and historic town called Oñati, where we visited some friends of mine who live there.

Chris is crooning away at our New Years Eve party

Of course New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated here, with the Spanish tradition of eating 12 grapes when the clock strikes 12 midnight, eating one grape with every chime.  You generally stuff your face with grapes in order to eat all 12 within a minute.  Chris arrived on New Year's Eve after visiting his family in the U.S. and we celebrated New Year's Eve at the home of one of our friends.  One of the guests brought the latest version of a kareoke machine (all contained within the microphone and connected to a flat screen TV).  We had a lot of fun singing Spanish, South American, American and English songs.

The last holiday of the season is Three King's Day, which is the same day as Epiphany, this year falling on Jan 6.  This is the traditional day when children receive their presents, although many receive presents earlier so that they can enjoy them before going back to school the day after Three Kings.  Here in Barcelona, the "three kings" arrive by ship to the Barcelona port the day before, where they are greeted by the city mayor.  A parade is formed and traverses throughout the city.  We are planning on seeing the parade at our friend Jordi's home, where his balcony overlooks the parade that passes on his street.