Can you say bureaucracy?

As if jumping through hoops and living in suspense for months wasn’t enough to get my long-term visa issued by the Spanish Consulate (finally!), I also have to obtain a foreigner’s identity card. To do this, I have to register with the City Hall in my town to get a stamped certificate saying I live here, and then take that certificate, plus passport photos, my health insurance, and multiple forms to a police station in my province to apply for the ID card. When I filled out the online form to get an assigned appointment time, it offered me the choice of two offices — one two hours away in a small town in the mountains! and the other three hours away. Really?? I hope I can figure this out and not have to drive so far, because inevitably, I will be missing some piece of information and will have to return on another four or six hour trip! And the first available appointment in the closer office is in December – so a pleasant jaunt in the mountains in the snow! Yippee. Maybe twice.

Speaking of time, when I turned on my dishwasher for the first time, the panel lit up in yellow, saying “3:30.” I thought that meant the time, but it meant the cycle would take three hours and thirty minutes! Longer than the two hour and thirty minute cycle for clothes! Jeez. And the coffee machine! I’ve mangled so many of the capsules. I keep thinking I’ve gotten it figured out and then I screw up another one. I’m just not good with appliances. Or they’re not good with me!!

This country is endlessly fascinating to me. Today I saw an article about an annual event (now largely symbolic) when shepherds lead their flocks of thousands of sheep through the middle of Madrid. Imagine being a tourist heading to the Prado for an afternoon visit, turning a corner and seeing this! Baaa!

There are various ways to reach me. I still have access to my text messages when I am in my apartment or somewhere with wifi. But the best way to contact me is through WhatsApp on my Spanish number. +34 666 379 917. Obviously, also email, sw6252@gmail.com, and my mailing address is: Carrer Sa Nau Perduda, Apartado Correos 34, Begur, Girona, 17255, Spain.

The mornings here are still impressively beautiful and the nights are still sparkly… Stay in touch !