Leaving España

If there is one thing that I have learned in Spain, it is to slow down and live in the moment. It doesn’t take long to learn that Spaniards’ highest priority is family. It is a value that permeates all aspects of their culture and is evident in how everyday life unfolds. Four years ago we could never have anticipated the way living in Spain would transform our family, remind us to cherish time together, redefine our priorities and help us learn to love the simple life by recognizing all the things we can live without.  

When we found out we would be moving overseas we promised ourselves that we would do everything possible to really live in Spain. We wanted an immersive experience flooded with culture and language and opportunities we knew would likely be once in a lifetime.

 

Due to some travel complications, our planned departure last week has been pushed back. We have been gifted seven extra days in Spain to ‘live in the moment.’ Our bags are packed, the stressful, hectic, exhausting moving tasks are done. While the thought of leaving Spain is emotionally gut-wrenching, I’ve tried to slow down and take some time to reflect. Did we keep the promise we made to ourselves? Have we really lived in Spain?

Looking back, we hit the ground running! Within the first month, I started attending Spanish classes several nights a week. We enrolled the kids in public school – including a last-minute decision to send three-year old Avery (who knew not a single word in Spanish) to full-time classes with Evan (2^nd grade) and Ashtyn (kindergarten).  We dipped our toes in the Mediterranean for the first time and Blake’s first steps were on the beach with white sand between his toes. We honed our manual driving skills, learned to master roundabouts and got European diving licenses. Brandon and I went to our first (and last!) bull fight, we climbed the bell tower of our first European Cathedral and were treated to our first paella.  

 

We learned to greet our new friends with dos besos on the cheeks. We adopted the Spanish schedule and started eating lunch at 2 pm after school got out. We learned to plan because siesta means everything shuts down from 2-5 pm. Every day. Even Burger King’s drive through (which is the only fast-food besides McDonalds.) Restaurants open for dinner no earlier than 8 pm but the kids don’t mind because they are welcomed and doted upon and every restaurant has a playground or inflatable or swing for them to run around while parents take 2-3 hours to socialize and enjoy their meal. The kids feel pretty special when they can order Fanta Limon or Orange, (e)Sprite or Ashtyn’s favorite agua con gas on their own and the servers compliment them on their Andalusian accents. For breakfast, they often request pan con aceite (toasted bread drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sugar) and cola cao. We had to learn that milk is in shelf-stable cartons and eggs don’t need to be stored in the fridge.

Weekends we spent exploring. First the nearby stunning pueblos blancos with their flourishing hidden patio gardens, narrow streets and tight parking garages (not nearly big enough to accommodate our giant American SUV). We ventured to castles, cathedrals, museums, parks and monasteries. We learned that bars have very practical names (bar rotunda, bar plaza de toros) and that every town has a Plaza de España in the center.  Some memorable favorites include Christopher Columbus’ ornate tomb in the Seville Cathedral, the Islamic architecture and colorful tiles in  Granada’s Alhambra palace and fortress, the breathtaking Segrada Familia in Barcelona which has been under construction for more than 100 years, and the Cathedral de Santiago – the end point for the Camino de Santiago (St. James Way) where hundreds of thousands of Christian pilgrims have trekked since the middle ages.

  

We have taken road trips from the southernmost tip of the country up both the Portuguese and Mediterranean coast borders. Along the way we have driven through terraced olive farms, blossoming orange groves, pristine vineyards and past rolling hills of sunflower fields. We have seen aqueducts and Roman ruins, hiked mountains, waded in hot springs and descended caves. We have collected shells and sea glass from beaches on the Atlantic ocean and Mediterranean sea. There is nothing like cliff jumping in Mallorca’s turquoise water, counting jellyfish on the beach in the Canary Islands or catching crabs in San Sebastian. We learned that many Spanish girls (and women) go topless at the beach and boy’s swimsuits are more like American speedos. Blake now has a collection of suits in bright floral prints and refuses to wear anything else! Everyone is tan and nearly every woman, regardless of age or body type, wears a bikini. We love the European sentiments toward body image and sexuality which are vastly different than American norms.

 

Spaniards are classy! We’ve conformed to more polished dress and love the tailored European style, especially the traditional style dresses for little girls! Leather bags, wool blankets, espadrille sandals, a Toledo sword and of course loads of colorful pottery are all coming home with us.

You can’t live in Spain without learning to love the food! We have eaten paella made with rabbit, chicken, seafood of every variety and even black squid ink (Evan’s favorite)! We have enjoyed churros con chocolate from the street corner stand, Michelin star tapas, salmorejo, gazpacho, bizchoco, chorizo, jamon, fried peppers, octopus, fish, snails, and every other kind of seafood. It’s become routine to pick up fresh baked pan or barras at the pandaria for dinner for a Euro after ballet class. And our favorite gelato flavors you’ll only find at the heladaria – Kinder, Nutella, and turron! We love tortilla de patatas so much we took a class to learn how to make it ourselves.

 

Speaking of learning, we attended workshops on how to fire pottery, press olives to produce oil, make goat cheese, age Sherry wine and extract honey from beehives. The kids can tell you all about Antonio Gaudi, Pablo Picasso, Gloria Fuertes, Rafael Alberti, Dali and Don Quixote. They know Spanish history, government structure and names of the nation’s political leaders. Evan even received an award from the mayor of El Puerto de Santa Maria! We have sat in freeway traffic stalled for hours due to independance protests in Catalonia and lived under strictly enforced government induced quarantine for nearly three months during a National State of Alarm.   

Spanish culture is rich and colorful. We have watched the famed Andalusian dancing horses train, been mesmerized by talented flamenco dancers, swayed to alluring Spanish guitar, gawked at the jaw-dropping castells (human towers) in Catalonia, dressed up for Carnival and danced sevianas at Feria de Abril. Spain’s candle-lit Semana Santa (Holy Week) processionals and the unique and beautiful Christmas Balen displays have taught us about deeply rooted religious traditions. We have been pelted with chulches thrown from elaborate floats in the wild Reyes Magos parades in Madrid, Seville and at home in El Puerto de Santa Maria. We had a piece of the largest Reyes cake in Spain in the Plaza de España in Madrid. Three Kings Day will be part of our family Christmas celebrations forever.

 While Spain is far less commercially driven than the United States, we have still found many fun ways to shop! We love the quirky variety of goods sold at weekly gypsy markets and have come home with everything from socks and swim suits to kitchen gadgets, fans, shoes, fabric, baskets, spices and olives in every variety imaginable! Nothing can match the quality of colorful, locally-grown organic fruits and vegetables at the town’s daily mercado stands except for maybe the pomegranates, lemons and limes picked from our backyard trees. The smell of fish will forever remind us of isles piled high with fresh caught fish and shellfish. We have bought tasty cookies from convent-living nuns, maps and trinkets from antique markets, colorful tiles and even a table made from a door salvaged from a 100+ year old building. We have been treated at local hospitals, dentists and even had laser eye surgery, competed in local pools, taken dance, sail and surf lessons, befriended shop and restaurant owners and frequented every variety of ‘aria you can imagine- pandaria, carnecaria, papelaria, heladaria, farmacia, gelateria, fruiteria, pecularia, libraria… We will forever be olive oil snobs!

  

School has been perhaps the greatest immersion experience of all. Starting in their 3-year-old classrooms, Avery and Blake have learned to love traditional Spanish kids’ songs and rhymes, folk tales and playground games. They have learned about local flora and fauna on field trips to nature preserves, salt flats and beaches. Evan can locate all 17 Spanish provinces and all the major rivers and lakes throughout the country on a map. They proudly sing the Spanish national anthem at swim meets and look forward to the special projects they have done yearly to celebrate culture on Dia de Andalusia. We have built a home library filled with books by Spanish authors, poets and artists. Recess means trading football (soccer) cards and lively football matches. Evan has acquired more than a few jerseys from his favorite teams and can spout off player names and stats better than multiplication tables! Their language is spoken in kilometers, centimeters, liters, kilograms, Celsius and Euros.

  

 

 

I have dreaded leaving Spain for so long because I don’t want to leave all of these things behind. In truth, we will be bringing much more back with us because Spain is now an inseparable part of who we are. Memories, traditions, knowledge, customs, language and friendships are intangible. Our priorities have clarified, our worldview expanded and our family has forever been changed by our experiences living in Spain. This country has become home, it’s people are family. So, it is ‘hasta luego’ for now but we will keep a little piece of Spain in our hearts forever.