It's Only Getting Better - Chris in Barcelona

This morning Chris left to go back to the U.S. after five wonderful weeks of having him here in Barcelona and a taking a trip together to Bilbao.  Things didn't turn out exactly as we had planned but they were exactly as they were meant to be.

Changed Plans

One of the things that was planned was for Chris to attend an intensive Spanish class for four weeks.  What was unknown was how fast the pace would be and how the teachers seemed to gear their lessons toward those who already had some basics of the Spanish language under their belt, even though it was a level 1 class.  I was at a retreat during the first week that Chris was in class, but when I got back I quickly understood his situation and how Chris was feeling that with each passing day, he was getting further and further behind.  Although we worked on some of his homework together and in spite of Chris spending 2-3 hours after class studying (that after 4 hours of class each day, every day), Chris decided to drop the class after 2 1/2 weeks.  He also had to take care of his visa for Ukraine and other essential matters during this time.  I supported Chris' decision in this and his plan to spend some of his newly found free time to review the materials that he had received from the class in the weeks remaining in Barcelona.  Chris will also be taking a Spanish class once he gets settled in Kiev.

Another plan we had was to spend a half day on a Saturday in the country about an hour outside of

Barcelona with the Shambhala meditation group  for group meditation.  Well, we never quite made it.  I haven't figured out yet how to ensure that I actually board the correct train when riding the regional trains (these are called Rodalies in Catalunya or Cercanías in the rest of Spain).   You see, there are many different trains that use the same tracks and come within minutes apart.  Although they may have a name (like R1 or R3 or R4, etc), depending on their final destination, they may take different routes or they may not stop at certain towns.  So you really need to know your geography of Catalunya, know your train schedule, and know that the town that you want to go to is on the route of the train that is displaying its final destination.

To me it's very confusing.  I study it beforehand, but in the moment, I can sometimes board the wrong train. That's what happened that Saturday.   We got on an R4, which was going in the right direction, but not exactly the same route as the train we should have been on.  However, since there is no graphical display of all the stops of these trains (like on the Barcelona metro), we didn't realize this until we had spent over an hour on this train.  We got off at the next train stop, waited 40 minutes and took the next train back to our starting point. We lost four hours and lost the opportunity to do group meditation.  But Chris and I did spend a little meditation time together at home afterwards.

New Plans!

Since Chris had the final few weeks without class obligations, we decided to take a short trip to the north of Spain - to Bilbao in the Basque country.  It's only an hour trip by plane.  I bought the tickets for the both of us.  A few days later, before we were going to Bilbao, Chris went to the Ukranian Consulate in Barcelona with all his paperwork to obtain his work visa.  They told him that that they needed to keep his passport and he would get it back in a week's time.  As we were going back home, I got the sneaky feeling that we might have a problem going to Bilbao, which was before Chris would be able to have his passport returned.  As I investigated this, I found out that no other ID for Chris was sufficient for air travel - not his American driver's license, not even his passport card (this is relatively new - the U.S. gives out a passport card for North American travel at the same time it issues a new passport).  The only way to fly to Bilbao was for Chris to get his passport back or we would lose our money with our airline tickets.

On Monday, Chris returned to the consulate with his airline tickets.  He explained the issue and had to wait most of the morning as the consulate talked with the embassy in Madrid before he was told that they would return his passport at that time and that they would still process his visa the Monday after he got back from his trip.  Whew!  That was a close call!

Bilbao was great!!  It's a very nice city, we had excellent weather, we ate very, very well, and we got to see the Guggenheim Museum with temporary expositions of Jeff Koons and Jean Michel Basquiat as well as the Museum of Fine Arts.  To top it all off, as we were posting some Facebook photos, a friend that I met in Barcelona contacted me.  I didn't realize that he lived close to Bilbao and he and his partner invited us to the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, about an hour bus ride from Bilbao for the next day to have lunch with them and their family and to visit the ancient cathedral there, which is in the midst of a major renovation.  It was fun to spend time with them and their family and visit the cathedral.  In the late afternoon, they drove us back to Bilbao and we spent some time in the old city center having a drink and enjoying each other's company.

Reflection

More than just doing activities together, Chris and I got to be with each other, share more about our lives, deepen the love that already has a solid base, and even practice Spanish together!  It has been an amazing five weeks.

Next Up!

Chris will be in the U.S. soon for a whirlwind trip to attend his nephew's wedding in Kentucky.  He'll be doing his final packing for Kiev and will arrive there on Aug 4, where he will be welcomed by the school, given a tour of the city and given the keys to his furnished apartment.  I'll be arriving on Aug 6 and together we'll get to explore Kiev together until I go back to Barcelona on Aug 15.  Chris starts work on Aug 17 with a week of teacher preparations.  He has a three day weekend before class starts and we'll be meeting each other in Amsterdam from Aug 21-24.  He will meet his students on Aug 25.