Mopping and the Art of Recycling

Mop & recycling bins in kitchen

Okay, these two things have nothing to do with each other, other than the fact that these are two living adjustments that I am making here in Barcelona.  First, let's talk about mopping.  Mopping was never a big part of my housecleaning life in the U.S.  In the places I've lived in, it was relegated to just the kitchen, since the rest of the house had carpeting in most rooms, either wall-to-wall or carpets that covered most of the wooden floors.  In my last home, even the kitchen floor was made of wood so I didn't even own a mop.

Here is Barcelona, however, a mop is an essential cleaning tool.  Most homes have either ceramic tile or parquet floors with very little carpeting.  Also, the windows here do not have screens on them and the windows are usually open day and night so the house and the floor gets dusty very quickly.  This is where the mop comes in very handy.  I pretty much use it throughout the house, from the loft to the kitchen with great results!



The Art of Recycling

Barcelona has an extensive recycling system.  On every block there are bins for regular trash and for

recycled trash.  Unlike the recycling that we had to do in Alexandria, VA, where all recycled materials go in one container, the city of Barcelona requires you to separate the different materials yourself.  Basically, you end up with 5 containers in your home, one for: glass (green), plastics and tins (yellow), paper (blue), organics (brown) and a container for whatever is leftover (gray)

.  The good news is that you can take your trash downstairs to the city bins anytime.  The bad news is that you need to set up a system to separate these materials in your house yourself.  Since space is a premium, especially in my place, it takes the right type of bins to fit well in the house.

Trying to find the right bins drove me crazy, and as a consequence, I think it drove Chris crazy too a little bit.  But finally at Ikea we found some bins that could work.  What I found out about myself is that until I had my recycled and trash system set up, I really wasn't able to do any real cooking or food preparation in the kitchen.  It sounds weird but once that happened, I felt the freedom to prepare my meals in my home.

More Furniture

Last week I received most of the furniture that I was waiting for.  At Ikea I got a nice desk, a filing cabinet and a beautiful coffee table.  A Murphy-style bed was installed in the second bedroom.  I found a little TV stand that fits perfectly in the loft for my meditation area.  On Friday I got a replica of the Eames chair.  I am now waiting on the furniture that will go under the TV.

With the bookcases, desk, filing cabinet and meditation space set up in the loft, I feel like I've created my own little man cave, except that it is open to the living room below.  It does get warm up there sometimes and so I got a small fan that helps make it a little

more comfortable.

So now I'm starting to look at furniture and kitchen accessories.  Coasters, wine cork opener (I should have had this one earlier!), kitchen timer, trivet, etc.  I also need a place to put on display some of the art objects that I shipped over, including some Native American art, and art from South American countries.

Medical News

Having moved to my permanent residence and having received my new residency card that reflects that address, my friend Jordi and I went to the medical offices in my neighborhood to see if I would be able to use the public health care system here.  The woman we talked to said I needed to make an appointment with the Spanish Social Security system, which also administers the public health system.  That happened last week.  It was short and sweet.  Basically, Spain changed the law so that immigrants that come after 2012 and do not contribute to the system through payroll tax cannot access the public health system.  Prior to 2012, being a legal resident also entitled you to the health care system.  So, that puts to bed the question of having access to the public health care system.  I initially didn't think I did, but friends here thought my legal residency allowed me health care access as well.

I recently found an American doctor in Barcelona.  I set up an appointment to see her this Wednesday.

Beach Culture and Social Events

I know this sounds like a big "duh", but I am finding that many friends go to the beach on the weekends since it is so close and so accessible.  Just this weekend I spent the entire day with friends on the beach.  Although there are beaches right in Barcelona, some don't consider the water as clean enough to bathe in as well as the fact that they are very crowded.  So many will go either south or north of Barcelona by train to the many clothing optional beaches all up and down the coast.  One weekend I went with Chris to Sitges, which is south of the city.  Then with two different groups of friends I went to two northern beaches, Sant Pol and Caldes D'Estrac.  The beach scene is usually a mix of gay and straight, families and singles, young and old.  At Caldes D'Estrac, there is a beach bar sitting right on the beach (chiringuito), which makes it both convenient and an occasional refuge from the sun.  I also invested in a beach umbrella, which makes being on the beach more enjoyable for me.  Going with friends to the beach seems to have taken the place of the hikes, which have died down because of the warmer weather.  I find these too are great opportunities to meet some new friends, practice my Spanish and learn new things.  I'm sure the hikes will start up again in the fall.

On Thursday a group of friends got together for drinks and tapas and a few of us ended up having dinner together.  All this was in my neighborhood, so I got to know some new places to hang out.  On Saturday I had a wonderful rooftop dinner at a friend's home with 8 other friends.  We arrived at 9:30 pm and left about 2:30 am, eating, drinking and lots of conversation (it was a warm evening, so some had their shirts off).

Home At Last

First, I want to apologize for the month-long hiatus in updating my blog site.  I'm experiencing the same phenomena that most people have after dropping their exercise or diet routine for a period of time.  It is sooooo difficult to come back to this, albeit for different reasons.  In the case of writing this blog article, so much has happened that I have no idea where to begin.  What I won't do, for your sake, is to write a long diatribe of the last four weeks.  I do hope I can capture the highlights, catch you up on things, and get back to my weekly articles.  Here goes!

Making The House A Home

I'm sitting at my dining room table, listening to background music, looking out my window at the tree tops and writing this article to you.  This may seem ordinary to you but to me it feels like a miracle.  After four months of living in two temporary locations and then enduring the dust, the paint smell and the daily routine of waking up early and getting out of the house so that the workers can do their work, it's only been toward the end of last week that I could breath again, relax and truly begin to enjoy my home.

As anyone who has gone through home renovations, it always takes longer than expected.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) I had never really gone through one this extensively.  The dust has finally cleared, most of the major pieces of furniture have been purchased and installed (I still have the second bed - it's a Murphy bed -  coming on Monday, a living room seat with foot stool coming next week, and the TV table coming at the end of the month).  In Spain it's important to get your furniture delivered before August because everything (except Ikea) shuts down in August - the factories as well as the stores that sell the furniture.

Speaking of Ikea, I have a love-hate relationship with this store.  They have many inexpensive and well-built

home products and they're relatively convenient to me (a 15-20 minute direct bus ride).  But it's frustrating when you see a product on their website or displayed in their store only to find that they're out of stock, they don't know when they're going to get another shipment, or that the product is going out of line.  It's happened more than once and makes it difficult to plan one's furniture.  In fact, tomorrow morning I'll be on the 9:30 am bus to get there when it opens at 10 am and order four pieces (desk, desk chair, filing cabinet and coffee table).  There's only 4 units left on one of these according to the website.  They're closed on Sundays, like most stores in Barcelona, so I'm sure they'll have it in stock Monday morning.  I'll have them deliver it on Tuesday.  Then I'll have to rush back to to receive the bed furniture (from another store) which is coming sometime after 11 am.  I know, I'm cutting it close, but it should work.

When everything is furnished I'll take lots of pictures of the place (probably in September)!

Time With Chris

It was more than wonderful to have Chris here to visit me for 3 1/2 weeks.  I was a bit nervous since we had  not seen each other in four months.  He was visiting Europe and Spain for the first time.  He was also going to interview with a couple of schools while he was here.  There were a number of unknowns, but as each of those became known, they only deepened and enriched our relationship.  I feel that life has prepared me for Chris.  I am very grateful for my past relationships, and Chris tops the cake.  I really don't know why or how, but I humbly accept this amazing gift and I truly hope I will be a worthy companion and never take for granted how special this love and this relationship is.

I wish I was further along with the house when Chris came.  But he was a real trooper, rolled up his sleeves and helped me to create order out of chaos. After a week of living in the dust and the paint smells, we took the fast train to Madrid for 5 days where we could relax, enjoy Gay Pride and discover the many beautiful parts of the city.  We returned to Barcelona, expecting the house to be almost finished, but found it still to be quite a mess.  But slowly we could begin to see the end in sight.  Unfortunately, we never really got to cook a real meal in the house while he was here.

Chris got along very well with all my friends here.  Although he knew very little Spanish, his extrovert character helped him to interact with everyone and he now has a whole new group of Barcelonian friends to catch up with when he returns.

With my best friend Jordi at Alella, Catalunya Spain

Chris had two interviews.  They both went very well.  However, there were no open positions.  Both directors were very interested in Chris' teaching experience and wanted to interview him so that if a teacher decides to not come back this Fall, they could pick up the phone and call Chris.  But it does leave him up in the air.  Chris is still planning on teaching next year at Alexandria school system unless he does get a call in the month of August.  If he doesn't get an offer, he will be back to visit during Thanksgiving week.  I plan to go back to the States in December, so after another four months, we'll have lots of time together again.  As you can see, our future life together is still filled with unknowns.  But we are sure of the deep love we have for each other.

August

I have two trips planned for August.  I'll be spending 6 days with my long-time friend Carlos and with his partner at a small fishing village in Northwest Spain (Galicia) called Porto do Son.  Carlos and I became good friends when I lived in Valladolid from 1978-81.  He is one of the reasons why I am here in this country today and I consider him as my brother.  We haven't seen each other for a few years and so it will be good to reconnect, meet his partner Maria, enjoy the Galician sun and  the delicious Galician food.

After being back for six days, I'll be going to a seven day meditation retreat in France at Shambhala's land center, Dechen Choling. It will be with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who heads up the Shambhala world-wide community.  I have read his books and have heard him speak on a few occasions and I find that his teachings always resonate with me.  I am looking forward to spending longer times in meditation practice and to participate in this particular retreat called Life is Ceremony.

Pause on Blog Articles

Dear friends.  Some of you must  be wondering what is going on with my blog site.  Since before I moved to Spain I've been posting weekly.  But the convergence of purchasing my home, having work being done on it, moving into the place before the work has been completed, and Chris coming to visit me and has put my blogging life temporarily on hold.  Not that things aren't going on over here.  On the contrary - too many things are taking place at once and throughout this time I have not had any place in my home that is not dust free where I could set up my computer and ruminate for a couple of hours to write my articles.

This Thursday, Chris and I will be going to Madrid for about four days.  We'll be taking the high speed train and during that trip, I should be able to work on my next article, which will replace this one.

Thanks for your patience and I hope to be back on track later this week.