One Year Anniversary - Reflections

A year ago on March 11, 2014, I arrived to Barcelona having prepared myself to settle in this beautiful city as my new home and as a newly retired American.  I was fortunate enough to be able to retire at age 60.  And it has always been my dream to live in Spain, and then later decided to crystallize that dream in the city of Barcelona.

Now, after a year, I'd like to reflect on how my time here has been....

Excellent Resources

I have been fortunate in many respects.  I came with having a base of friends here that I had met on previous trips with the key person who introduced me to so many others being my friend Jordi.  They welcomed me with open arms.  I came with the proceeds of selling my portion of my house in Alexandria, VA to my ex-partner, so I had the means to purchase property here.  And I retired from the federal government which provided me with three essential benefits:  a decent pension, a tax-deferred retirement savings, and an international health care plan.  These three pieces have been critical to obtaining a residency permit which I just recently renewed for another two years.  I just didn't realize how easy it was going to be.

Affordability 

Although Barcelona is one of the most expensive cities in Spain, it is one of the least expensive cities in Europe and is definitely less expensive than living in Washington DC.  I remember a friend here telling me that many of today's salaries in Barcelona are between 1,000 - 1,500 euros a month.  They had cut back salaries in recent years due to the economic crisis.  He told me that since my pension is above that I have no need to worry, which I had some concern about expenses early on when I first got here.  I also am fortunate to not have a mortgage or rent since I have purchased my place in cash.  I find that the other routine expenses here are either equivalent or significantly less than in the U.S.  And it's been a recent bonus to have the dollar so strong compared to the euro.

Social Life

My life has been much more sociable here than it was in the U.S.  In the States, many friendships

seem to revolve around projects and joint endeavors.  Although friendships can begin that way here as well, making friends seem to be much more spontaneous and many times endures beyond and outside of the projects that brought two people together.  Here social gatherings seem to take place more in groups than one-on-one and they often meet outside of the home and rarely in people's homes (although I have seen some notable exceptions).  Contrary to popular belief, people here tend to be  very punctual.  There just isn't an end time.  It's difficult  to schedule two social events in the same afternoon.  And it makes people nervous to schedule a gathering too far out in advance. A week out is max in general and many times just a couple of days before.

Language

It's funny that in my own native tongue I found myself many times doubting my ability to truly

express myself clearly and effectively.  And yet now I am learning how to re-express myself in Spanish.  But I find that language learning is slow.  The Spanish classes I'm taking are helping (although I will save my opinion about this semester's Spanish class for another time), But what I am finding to be most difficult is to express my deeper emotions and feelings as well as understanding the emotionally laden words that some friends may share with me about a difficult situation that they are going through or conflictive feelings that they are having.  This creates an emotional gap in me that is difficult to fill. I think over time this gap will slowly disappear.

Food and Culture

I have always been of the opinion that if I am going to live in another country, I need to adapt myself to their customs, culture and food.  That had been my attitude from the get go - to remain totally open to trying new things and adapting many of them into my lifestyle.  I feel like I have honored that principle and as a result I have experienced many new and delicious foods, participated in many local festivals, and have adjusted both my schedule and my expectations with good results.  Also, given that one cannot truly separate culture from language, I believe that knowing more Catalan in this next year will continue to allow me to integrate myself more.

Health

Overall my health has been very good this year.  I had issues with numbness in my left toe and higher than normal uric acid level.  I have found that my Blue Cross Blue Shield Overseas benefits work very well here.  I have to pay for my services up front, but within 3 weeks I am reimbursed minus the co-pay.  BCBS makes it easy to submit my claims electronically (a scanner is essential) and directly deposits my reimbursements into my US bank account.  Also, my Federal vision plan works well here.  My only disappointment was with my federal dental plan.  I had to get a root canal and crown.  They covered it, but the process was long and drawn-out.  I had to translate each document, figure out the exchange rate, and get pre-approval.  My BCBS covers routine cleanings, so the only purpose to have my dental plan is for extraordinary dental issues.  I can get dental coverage within Spain for one third of the premium costs that I am paying now.  I'll be switching next October.

Taxes

This topic is still very incomplete.  I just did my U.S. taxes, which turned out well.  But I have not

yet completed my Spanish taxes, which won't occur until the end of June.  I think this year I'll be paying more taxes due to the income that I received in January/February before I arrived to Spain and because of the issues I had with making myself a non-resident of the state of Virginia.  However, I believe that in 2015, my overall tax percentage will probably be about the same as my former combined federal and state tax rate was.  I'll know more after June.

Love Life

Although I list this last, I see my love life with Chris as becoming the most important area of my life and has been the biggest surprise for me this year.  In spite of our geographical separation, we have grown closer to each other over this last year and our love for each other continues to deepen.  Although Chris' move to Kiev is not ideal, I know it is a good career move for him and it will allow our visits to be much more frequent, about once or twice a month.  He is an amazing, incredible and wonderful man and I am so lucky and happy to be in his life and for him to be in mine.

Looking Forward

Who knows what is in store for this year, but I know it will be another year of adventure and learning.  With Chris in Kiev, I am sure we will be doing more traveling to many places in Europe. I foresee learning more Catalan.  I also see my involvement and contribution to the Shambhala Meditation group growing as my language skills increase and as I get more leadership training within Shambhala.  I feel very fortunate indeed!!

In-Depth Info on the Medical Systems Here

As you have probably noticed, I have slowed down a little bit on posting over the last few weeks.  I think this will be the new rhythm - about every two weeks.  That will give me more time to ruminate on what it is I want to blog about with more possible topics to choose from.

Expanded Understanding of  Spain's Medical Systems

The other week I got to speak to an orthopedic surgeon, who is a good friend of my friend Gerardo.  I pumped him with lots of questions about the medical system here.  Here is what I learned.  There are basically three types of medical systems in Spain.  First, there is what is called here social security (La Seguridad Social).  This is much larger than the U.S. Social Security system, as it covers universal health care, worker's compensation, disability, unemployment benefits and retirement.

Social Security health care covers all national residents of Spain, and up until 2012, also covered legal foreign residents.  However, they changed the law at that time and now only foreign residents who are paying into the system through their payroll taxes can access the public health care system unless they are citizens within the European Union.  This system seems to operate very well and is especially good when you have major health issues that need to be addressed.  In times of health crisis or emergency they respond quickly and effectively.  This service is free to all who are covered by the system. There is no co-pay for services but there is a co-pay for pharmaceutical drugs.  However, this system does not tend to be as responsive to minor health issues that do not require immediate attention.

As a foreign retiree who emigrated to Spain after 2012, I am not automatically covered by the public health care system.  However, in Catalunya, if you have registered and lived here for a minimum of one year, you could begin to pay into the public health care system for 60 euros or more a month if you are under 65 and 157 euros or more a month if you are over 65.  At this point in time, I am NOT considering participating in the public system.

Some Spanish citizens also purchase private plans.  This is the second type of medical system here.  About 15% of the Spanish population are covered under a private plan as of 2013.  Citizens will use these plans for routine or preventative medical visits.  They tend to be designed to complement the public health care system, rather than replace it.

The third type of medical plan are those offered by private companies for their employees.  Although I know these exist, I know little else, as far as whether there is an employee premium, etc. I don't believe that many employees have access to this type of medical insurance, but that is based only on my anecdotal experience.

BTW - being a federal retiree, I have access to my federal health plans.  A few of these plans cover federal employees and retirees overseas.  This has worked very well for me over the last year.

HIV and Access to the Public Health System

I did some research for a friend who is HIV positive and is planning on moving to Spain from the U.S.  He found that private health plans are very expensive here and would even be more expensive having HIV as a pre-existing illness, if that would be covered at all.  Luckily a friend of mine at the Barcelona Shambhala group has worked in this area and her brother is employed by an organization that is dedicated to helping those living with HIV.

Through him I found out that for those living with HIV who live in Catalunya (the autonomous community of which Barcelona is a part), regardless of whether they have general access to the public health care system, have free access to be treated for HIV if they have been registered in their town or city for a minimum of three months.  This should also be true of all other autonomous communities in Spain (you can consider these communities to be regions in Spain).  However, the law may be implemented differently depending on the region.

Coordinator of a Shambhala Weekend Course

This weekend I just finished being a coordinator of a Shambhala weekend course for the Barcelona group.  There were 20 of us, including the teacher and staff.  I have coordinated many weekend programs for Shambhala in D.C. but this by far was the smoothest and most enjoyable.  I think it has to do with general attitude of the participants and the desire by everyone in the group to help pitch in.  I was both attentive and relaxed.  I was actually fascinated that I could maintain a good balance throughout the weekend of these two states of mind.  Also, as a coordinator, I had to depend on my growing skill level of Spanish in this multi-lingual environment (Spanish, Catalan and English).  It wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be.  The teacher, staff and participants all seemed to have benefited from the weekend.

Renewing Residency, Foot Miracle & Tax Season

Most of this post is filled with good news!  First, my visa renewal status:  FAVORABLE!  This allows me to reside in Spain for two more years.  With my type of visa, I had to renew within two months before the end of the first year of residency here, which ends on March 11.  My appointment to submit my renewal application and documents was on January 21.  I was told that I would receive something in the mail within 20 days of that appointment.  I waited and waited and waited.  By Feb 12 I checked online to see what I could do to find the status of my renewal.  It took a couple of days, but I finally found that I could actually get my status online.  I did and found it was approved. I was able to print it off, which is necessary at the time that I have to request a new residency card.  And for some strange reason I can only request my new residency card AFTER my current residency card expires.  But who cares!  Although I never had any doubt that would be denied continued residency here, it is still a relief to know that it was approved.

On the approval form it shows that it was approved on Jan 29.  But I still haven't received any notification in the mail.  Again, it doesn't matter now that I found it online.

Foot Miracle!

The issues of numbness in my left toe that started last May was a cause for concern because I was

These are NOT my feet :-)

feeling that numbness slowly expand, especially around the winter holidays.  But a podiatrist that I saw when I was in the U.S. suggested that I see a chiropractor or a physio-chiropractor.  I have now had about 10 sessions with a chiropractor in Barcelona and I am seeing a world of difference with my foot.  The range of numbness has been significantly reduced to a very small area.  I have confidence that this will continue to improve over the weeks ahead.  It certainly feels like a miracle to me!!

Death and Taxes

Ok, no one is dying, at least not that I know about at the moment.  But taxes are due every year.  And since this is my first year living in Spain, I needed to become acquainted with how this will work in my case.  An American friend here recommended a Spanish tax lawyer for me and I have met with him regarding my tax situation.  There is a treaty between Spain and the U.S. to avoid double taxation, which helps.  But Spain has its unique flavor to taxing.  So here is what I have learned so far, which may be helpful to others who are thinking about residing in this country:

• For a public pension earned coming from an outside country, taxes are only paid to the country of origin.  My tax lawyer is going to double-check this, but that would relieve me of paying higher taxes, as is described in the second point below..
• For other kinds of income that I receive outside of Spain, I would pay tax to the U.S. first and only pay the difference of what I would have owed Spain. For example, if I paid the U.S. 20% on my federal taxes and my Spanish taxes is at 30%, I would pay the U.S. its due and pay Spain the remaining 10%.  
• There is no such thing as filing a partial year return.  Although I moved here in March 2014, because I lived here more than 183 days, I am considered a Spanish resident for the whole year and all the income I earned in 2014 is subject to Spanish tax.  My issue is that I worked in the U.S. in January and received not only my regular income but also final year bonuses.  It is a sizable amount.  If I had known this, I might have chosen to have entered Spain in July to have avoided the tax on income that I earned prior to my residency here.

BTW - As you know, U.S. tax deadline is April 15 (although U.S. non-residents have until June 15)

and the Spanish tax deadline is June 30.

Ok.  If I didn't lose you here, I don't want to bore you with much else.  The only other interesting but potentially devastating tidbit, is that Spain requires all residents to declare all foreign assets worth greater than 50,000 euros by March 31 of the following year.  This is not a tax, but if you don't report in time the penalties are very, very steep.  In my case, my retirement savings would fit into this category.  So my tax attorney will be making this declaration next month.

Is An American Driver's License Valid In Spain? Yes and No

When I arrived to Barcelona, I was able to sign up for AvanCar (the same company as ZipCar in the U.S.) using my US driver's license.  Also when my friend Carol came in September, I rented a car for us to go to Figueres, a city north of Barcelona.

Technically, September was the last month that I could use my U.S. driver's license to legally drive a car here in Spain.  After six months of living in Spain, one can no longer use a foreign driver's license to drive.  For those countries who have a bilateral agreement with Spain regarding driving permits, those citizens can go to the DMV (here it is called the DGT) in their local Spanish jurisdiction and convert the foreign driver's license to a Spanish one before the end of the 6 month period.  Unfortunately, there is no agreement between the U.S. and Spain.

Since I would still like to be able to rent a car in Spain now and again, I need to take the driving test and obtain a Spanish driver's license, which consists of both a written test and a driving test.  The problem is that it's not as simple as it is in the U.S.  First, you must obtain your driver's license through a driving school (if any of my Spanish friends reads this and I am incorrect about this, please let me know).  The driving school has classes that you attend, practice exams to take, takes you out in a special drivers-ed car with two sets of pedals and steering wheels, registers for you at the DMV, and, when you're ready, accompanies you to take the driving part of the test.

I have found a couple of schools that will allow me to not take the driving class, but to just study the

driving book on my own.  Luckily, Spain offers the written test in English and has an English version of it.  However, it use British words and sometimes it is poorly translated from Spanish to English.

With removing the class from the list of things the driving school will do on my behalf, it will cost me about 250 euros to get my license.  Plus another 35 euros to get a medical test that confirms that I am fit to drive.  Also, you only have two chances to pass.  The written part consists of 30 questions and you cannot miss more than 3.  And the questions are very detailed and sometimes not very logical.

And if you fail the written part two times, then you have to pay another 90 euros to take the test again.

An Indian friend from my Spanish class had gone through this process and helped me a great deal in understanding what I need to do and loaned me his English driving manual.  I am now studying it and will soon sign up with a driving school to go forward with my written practice tests and driving practices with the school.

Residency Renewal

After one year, I have to renew my visa for another two years.  I got the documents for my pension, my retirement savings, and a letter from my health insurance company translated into Spanish.  I also provided my property registry of the flat that I purchased.  There shouldn't be any issues with the renewal, but the waiting game is a little nerve-racking.

Santa Eulalia Festival

This weekend Barcelona had a number of festivities for Saint Eulalia.  I went today to see the human towers (Castelles) that is so famous here in Catalunya.  It is quite impressive.  Below are some photos of the the physical feats that the men, women and children performed in making these human towers.

Quiet Week - Building Face Lift, Dental Work & Some Foot Relief

It's been a quiet week since coming back from London, being with Chris there and supporting him as he successfully found his first international teacher's position in Europe starting next Fall.

When I got back I discovered that the entire scaffolding for the front of my building was removed.  They had removed the upper part but left the lower part to do some cleaning of the facade at the ground level.  I am very happy with the results and even more happy that the scaffolding is removed and the street is open with no obstructions.  Below are a few before and after photos.  Besides, replacing all the stonework around the windows and restoring the ornamentation on the top of each window, they also lightened the color of the window shutters, which the city required them to do, for some reason.  The next thing they will do is replace the door, which will complete the work that the company was tasked to do.

Before photo

After photo

After photo close-up

I finally got my pre-approval to have a root canal done - my first!! (no, the exclamation points are not because I was looking forward to this).  I did that on Wednesday.  It was a little rough because one of the nerves was inflamed.  I got a provisional crown, I am now on antibiotics and will be going back on Monday.  I hope that will be the last visit, but I'm not sure.  Chris told me that his dentist gives his patients antibiotics a week prior to the visit to ensure that there are no complications such as this one, But I talked to an American friend here who had this done in the U.S. and he was not given any antibiotics beforehand.  It seems that dentists both in the U.S. and in Spain have different ways of preparing a patient for a root canal.  I just hope it all finishes up quickly.

In spite of my skepticism, I am now starting to see small improvements with my foot due to the work that I am doing with the chiropractor.  It seems that the area of numbness around my big toe has been reduced.  I still have a good little area of numbness, but I'm happy to see some progress. It looks like the nerves that seem to be pinching are finding relief.  I will continue to see the chiropractor and will hopefully see continued progress.

A Major Milestone for Chris and for Us!

I am posting this article a little later than usual because I just got back from five days in London with Chris.  You see Chris spent probably the last 10 months researching how he could move to either Barcelona or to Europe so that we could be closer together.  He has been persistent, thorough and relentless in his determination to come here.  We had many, many conversations about possible options on how this could happen.  But it seemed that the most assured way for Chris to come here was by him building upon his strong public school teaching experience and pursuing an international teaching career.  In these conversations we both agreed that it would be ideal for him to find a teaching position in Barcelona.  But if that were not possible in the beginning, that he would also look for positions in other parts of Europe, putting him much closer to Barcelona than where he currently works in Alexandria, VA.

We were a little idealistic in the beginning.  We thought that Chris' experience would make it easy for

him to land a job in Barcelona by next September.  In fact last summer Chris had a couple of informational interviews with two prestigious international schools here.  Also, Chris signed up with a job search firm specializing in helping teachers find international teaching positions.  He got good advice from them that he followed as closely as possible.  But understanding the complex world of searching for international teaching positions and the challenges that it presents did not come to the fore until Chris actually tasted the hotly competitive environment at the job fair.

After the first day, Chris realized that the most coveted places for teachers to work were in cities like Barcelona.  These schools know that and look for teachers who not only have previous international teaching experience, but who also have been trained and have taught in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program that many international schools follow.  Although Chris had the training, he did not have the experience.  As the conference progressed, he saw that he needed to expand the cities that he would entertain living in.  He had about 5-6 interviews and some really good ones including Casablanca, Frankfurt, Kiev, and a small town in Denmark.  However, the lack of international teaching experience and experience in IB allowed other teachers there to be offered most of those positions.

The best interview Chris had was with the British International School in Kiev.  They were very

impressed with Chris' teaching background and after a second interview they offered Chris a position in their downtown campus with 1st or 2nd grade class.  It's an excellent school on a beautiful campus in a beautiful city.  They are building their IB program and Chris would be able to gain that valuable experience with them.  Chris asked a lot of questions including questions about security, given the yet unresolved issues that this country has with Russia. But Kiev is hundreds of kilometers away from the eastern border where there is unrest and Chris felt comfortable in accepting the position with this school.

I will be spending some time in August with Chris in Kiev as he gets settled.  Our plan is

to see each other once or twice a month, either meeting in Kiev, Barcelona or in one of the many cities in eastern and western Europe that are between our two cities.  It will be quite an exciting year of being together more often and of exploring the European continent!!

This decision also deepens the commitment that Chris and I have for each other in our relationship.  We are very much in love and want to ensure that we can cultivate our love and our relationship by being able to see each other more frequently.  This is truly a huge step for Chris and for us.

I Did Better Than I Thought

I got my results from my Spanish test.  In spite of my many doubts, I passed with flying colors.  I didn't realize this until afterwards, but not all parts of the exam counted for passing the test.  There are 5 parts: Writing, Grammer, Speaking, Reading Comprehension and Listening Comprehension.  I was especially concerned about the listening comprehension part of the test. I didn't need to take the speaking test because I did well on a mid-term presentation in class.  The only parts that counted for the final grade were the first three.  My writing composition earned me 100% and my grammer 80%.  So I passed with much to spare (passing is 65%).  I also found out that I got 100% on reading comprehension.  But where I did really poorly was in listening comprehension - 52%!!  Oh well, I know what I need to work on for level 5!  I start up again on February 9.

A Cat, A Foot, An Exam & A Hike

It's ironic that I did not skip a beat in continuing with my blog articles while I was in the U.S. but I found it difficult to get the next one out when I returned to Barcelona.  But between unpacking, bringing the cat home and taking her to the vet, and going on an all-day hike on that first Sunday, I found that it was impossible to do so.  So this is my catch-up article.  I'll try to make this as brief as I can.

Cat Issues and Accommodations

I'm learning about cat behavior here more than I ever knew in the U.S.  I'm also learning to be an amateur vet in giving Sunset her medications. When Sunset arrived in September, Carol and I both noticed that she would sneeze infrequently.  I didn't think anything of it, but over time it got worse.  A couple of weeks before my trip to the U.S. I took her to the vet and he prescribed medications for her which included giving her drops and a cream in her eyes three times a day.  She has been a trooper and has endured this up to now.

I also needed to have someone care for Sunset while I was gone for 2 1/2 weeks to the U.S.  My friend Oscar B. was more than happy to take care of her, but it meant that I had to bring her to his home, which is about 6 blocks away.  Oscar was great with Sunset and she seemed to be fine there.  But as I had been warned, it can be stressful for a cat to move location and at the same time to be separated from her owner.  She did exhibit signs of stress plus her medical issues were still not completely resolved.  So she returned to the vet and I am giving her medications for another week.

I will be in London from Jan 22 - 26 and this time a classmate friend of mine, Vera, who also lives in the neighborhood, will be coming to the house and spending time here with Sunset and will also spend some nights here.  That should minimize any future stress on Sunset.

My !#@&$ Foot

Back in May, I noticed that I had lost some feeling in my left toe.  I went to a doctor and was misdiagnosed that I had a gout attack.  In the summer I went to another doctor who didn't believe it was gout based on blood tests but didn't have a clear diagnosis.  This issue didn't impede my ability to be mobile, so I waited until I was in the U.S.to see my doctor there and although he didn't know what the issue was, he recommended that I go to a podiatrist.  I did that in the U.S. and the podiatrist said that it was a nerve issue and that it was emanating from my spinal column.  He suggested that I find a chiropractor in Barcelona and begin to get treatment.


I am now going to a chiropractor and I'll see how this goes.  I do have some skepticism about chiropractic therapy and its benefits but I will be patient and see if they can help.  A few years ago I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, which is a narrow spinal column that one is born with but can cause issues with age.  There is probably a pinched nerve and the chiropractic treatments may help with realigning the backbones and the pelvis and giving relief to the nerves.  Time will tell on this one.

Spanish Final Exam

My Spanish Class with my teacher (holding the plant)
and some of my classmates (I am not in the pic)

In less than a week upon my return from the U.S. I had two days of final exams in Spanish.  Spending  3 weeks talking in English the entire time made for a rude awakening in getting my mind and speech back into thinking and speaking in Spanish.  The first day was a writing test which involved reading a complex article and writing a composition about the topic.  It was not an easy reading and was not an easy topic for me.  The second day was a 2 1/2 hour exam that included reading comprehension, grammar and listening comprehension.  Again, it was a very tough exam.  Luckily I did not need to do the oral exam because I did well on a mid-term presentation in class.  On Jan 27 I will get my results to see if I passed and can sign up for Level 5 or if I failed and will need to repeat Level 4 (if I decide to go back).  A lot of emphasis is placed on the individualized pace of language learning and that it takes some people longer to master a language than others and that it is not an issue to repeat a level. That all sounds well and good, but I'll be disappointed if they recommend that I repeat.  I'll know next Monday.


Tough Hike

My good friend Jordi, who is in the restaurant business, finally has been able to take some vacation time in January and so organized a hiking trip into the northern mountains of Catalunya.  We walked 24 kilometers and climbed up about 700 meters to an altitude of 1,246 meters.  It was the hardest hike I have ever done since moving here!  It was beautiful though.  But I definitely felt it over the next few days!!!  Here are some photos from the hike.