What We Will and Will Not Miss...

In less than three weeks, we will step off our plane and land in the U.S.A. where baseball games, barbeques, and sweet freedom await us.  Just kidding! Really, it is crazy to think that our time here is winding down so quickly.  Like all seasons of life, when we think back to our first jet-lagged days in Vilagarcía, it seems like an eternity ago.  Fast forward to the present, and we don’t understand where the time went.  After all is said and done, it was definitely time well spent.  The best part is that we feel like we learned just as much during this post-college year as we might’ve during one more year of formal education.  We feel so much healthier, although it wasn’t too difficult to improve considering our former college eating habits.  Up on the wholesome food adventure for next week is goat’s milk.  Apparently, it’s super good for you! We can’t wait to see what a year of “real-life” teaches us.

Since we’ve had more time than we’re accustomed to having back in the U.S.A., we’ve had the opportunity to reflect a lot about our lives here versus our lives in the U.S.A.  Thus, we present our grand list of what we will miss and what we won’t miss about our Spanish life.  In no particular order...

We will miss: 

1.  The fact that we can buy all of this fresh produce for less than 5 Euros.

2. The ability to walk everywhere we need to go.  Sure those grocery trips can be a bit rough since we have to carry our grocery bags about half a mile, but everything is located so conveniently close.  We even started walking to the business where we teach English three miles away.  How can we not? It’s been beautiful outside and we are able to walk through rolling green hills while passing country houses and sheep along the way. 

3. The delicious cereals.  Yes, America has a fantastic cereal variety.  I can’t complain.  The one cereal America is missing is rellenos de leche (basically chocolate pockets filled with milk).  I know I said we were eating healthy, but this is a rare treat.  Maybe this already exists in America, but granola cereal with chunks of dark chocolate is a pretty wonderful combination.

4. The fruit culture! I feel inspired to seriously up my daily fruit consumption here after the twelve-year-old girl I tutor told me she eats at least six fruits daily.  Also, the businessmen told us that it is not uncommon to eat six to eight different fruits during one day.  We have been taking advantage of the super cheap fruits here, but I do miss cantaloupe!

5. Our sweet students and their funny personalities.  They all watch American T.V. shows and movies, and it’s just so funny to hear their thoughts and impressions about American culture.  The third graders were doing a special arts and crafts project with the Mona Lisa.  The teacher showed the painting and asked the students what they knew about the painting.  One third grade girl shot her hand up and enthusiastically shouted in Spanish “Her name is Mona Lisa and she was a virgin.” Clearly, this was an innocent remark influenced by the strong Roman Catholic tradition here in Spain. The teachers on the other hand have even sillier thoughts.  One of the teachers thought (or maybe joked...Spanish humor is hard to detect) that we were from Missouri just because we’re twenty-three and married. 

6. The small town feeling. We feel like we’re getting to know all the neighborhood dogs on the paseo.  If we go out for a walk, we’re guaranteed to see at least one person we know.  When I get a ride home with one of the businessmen, he beeps at literally every person jogging or walking a dog.  He says families here go way back.

fishermen (or mussel-men)

7. These views.  It’s unique to live near the ocean and open green pastures.  This weekend, we ventured out into the country and saw baby horses, sheep, and goats!

8. The evening walks.  It seems that time has not affected Spain as much as it has American culture.  What I mean by this is that technology and the all the other pressures of modern life don’t seem to have changed daily life here as much as they have American life.  Sure, there are still kids texting and playing videogames.  Yet, we see so many more kids being active, having fun outside, and just being kids here.  It’s like clockwork.  At 5 o’clock, families pour out into the streets (grandparents, parents, and kids).  Everyone slows down at this time.  We might even struggle to find a bench since they’re all taken up by grandparents hanging out together.  It’s nice to see people just be still and spend time with one another.

9. Cheap olive oil! We’re trying to use up all of our awesome olive oil made with olives right from Spain before we leave.  I’ve even been putting it on my skin.  This stuff is great! It’s been the sole reason why I’ve been able to eat heaping servings of spinach salads.  Robin doesn’t need any help.  That crazy man can eat a bowl full of dry spinach leaves.

10. Sunsets at 10:00pm!!!!!

WHAT WE WON’T MISS

1. Inefficiency

2. All the smoking!

3. Wearing flip flops isn’t appropriate unless you’re at the beach

4. Saying goodbye instead of hello upon passing someone on a walk...never got used to that.

5. Business hours/ multiple closings.  I can agree with everything being closed on Sundays. In fact, I like this.  However, there are many random closings. Yesterday, for example, all the stores were closed to remember Galician writers.  The bank is only open until 2:00pm!

Next up: What we look forward to in America :)