I am sure throughout the next 3 years here there will be many postings depicting things/actions that I come across as bizarre/inappropriate/just plain strange that the Spaniards do. Because I have noticed on more than one occasion these behaviors I have dubbed them as Rules of the Spaniards...such as their driving...here are a few more.
Our stay thus far here in Madrid has required/allowed us to get around using public transportation. The great thing is that the public transportation here is incredible. You truly can get anywhere you need to go without any trouble. A consequence of using public transportation is that you are around other people all day long as you travel to where you need to be. I posted a post a while ago about the women of Spain. How smartly they dress and how you don't see them running errands in their pajamas. This is still true, but as the weather has turned extremely warm a trend of wearing white has emerged among the Madrilenos. Now...here is where their rule comes in...It must be a Spanish rule that if you wear a white shirt you MUST wear a black bra and if you wear white bottoms, such as slacks, skirts or shorts that you MUST wear some brightly colored underwear. Being the fashionista that I am (hehehehehe) I find this totally bizarre. Am I the only one that knows when wearing white you wear nude colored undergarments, not even white undergarments. It just boggles my mind...do they not see themselves in a mirror before walking out the door. Now, you may be chuckling, but I am stunned at how many women I see in a day abiding by this RULE!!!!!! Stacey and Clinton...Madrid needs a What Not to Wear - Undergarments show.
Another rule that I have observed is that when out in public you MUST show as much PDA (Public Display of Affection) as humanly possible. This one just makes me uncomfortable. If I knew how to say "Get a room" in spanish I might get to the point of yelling it out at the top of my lungs. Just today on the Metro ride home a young couple were totally going at it. Now, when I say going at it, I don't mean a little peck here and there, but full blown, noisemaking, making out. I find this terribly disturbing. I try to appreciate that they are in love and expressing that, but I really feel there is a time and a place. That place is certainly not sitting next to me and my two children on the Metro. Almost everyday we ride the Metro we experience something of this nature. Whether it is making out on the escalators, as they wait for the Metro, in the parks...EVERYWHERE!!!! This, again, may be one of those European things, but I really don't like it and I certainly don't appreciate this RULE.
Until next time....
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The Woes of Moving...
Our experiences thus far in Madrid have been over the top incredible. We are so blessed to be able to have this experience and we have been trying to "stop and smell the roses" and appreciate all that is around us here. We have been successful in seeing as much as we can see, and do as much as we can do. With two young children there are times that you are pinched back to reality over things that, as adults, we try and push through in order to make each of our "homes" the best that it can be. As I mentioned in a previous post, "Every place is what you make of it." Well, the kids have a harder time embracing this concept. They cannot always appreciate the age of buildings, statues and fountains. They don't care to understand, at this point, the history of how a city, such as Madrid, became a city. All they know is that they have been pulled away from everything that they have ever known, or known for a really long time, and there are days that they just want to go back to what they know.
Being a military family can sometimes be a double edged sword. We "get" to move every few years and experience all new places. Hubby and I have moved many, many times and we always try to look forward to our new locations as an opportunity to see something we have never seen before. We would even start to get "the itch" when we have been in one place longer than normal. Some moves are more welcome than others, as the location we were leaving weren't the most ideal locations. Now, with children, this moving business is a whole new ball game. We had been very fortunate in our last duty station and had been "stable" for just over 6 years. Our littlest, LuLu, was born there and our oldest was almost 3 when we arrived to Fort Carson, Colorado. So having been in that location so long was really all our kids had ever known. In previous moves our oldest was too little to really understand what was going on and we hadn't yet had the little one. So this move has been especially tough on LuLu. She has been torn from, literally, her whole life as she knows it. There are many days where she wakes up in tears. She just wants to go back to Colorado and all her friends and everything she is "comfy" with. As a parent this just breaks your heart. Hubby and I miss the friends that we have made as well, but we are "old hats" at this moving business, and since most of our friends are also military they know the old Army saying, "See you later". We NEVER say goodbye...only SEE YOU LATER. We hope and pray that at some point down the road we do cross paths again with the many special families that we have been blessed to get to know.
There are many more "kinks" put into our moving routine when moving overseas. As I mentioned before Hubby and I are "old hats" at this moving business, but neither of us have moved overseas before. In our many, many military moves, we have never had the right conditions to have gotten a door-to-door move. A door to door move is one that once the movers pack out and load your household goods on their semi the timing works just perfect that you get to your new location and have a house that they can literally drive your things from the home they packed it to the new home and not have to unload the truck in government storage. This has never happened to us. Our stuff always goes into storage and is delivered when everything else is in order. Now...throw an overseas move into the mix. By the time we get our stuff delivered here in Spain it will have been exactly 2 months since it left our residence in Colorado. Now, of course, an overseas move is a differnent sort of beast in itself. Our stuff must ship over on a boat versus being driven in a semi-truck. Again, for Hubby and I, not that big of deal. We are certainly looking forward to getting our things, but now think of this whole thing through a childs point of view. The kids have not seen their toys, beds and all the things that are special to them for 2 months. Imagine for a moment...leaving your home of 6 years, 2 months ago, with essentially only what you could carry onto an airplane. I am not going to lie and say that the limited clothing items that I having been wearing for the past 2 months may have to be burned when my other clothes arrive because I cannot stand to look at them anymore. :-) The kids could really care less about their clothes, but they have really been troopers under the circumstances. They are confined to this little 2 bedroom apartment with only the toys and things that they could carry in their backpack on the airplane. Military children are especially resiliant and can adapt very quickly, but the reality is that they are still children and don't yet have the coping skills that adults have. As a parent we certainly try to "soften the blow", as you will, with all that is going on. We try to encourage all the great things that they are getting to see and the new people they will meet. The reality is...sometimes it isn't that easy for the little ones.
We have just about a week left before we can begin to really "settle in" to our new home. We move into the house next week and will be able to receive our household goods at that time. We are certainly looking forward to getting our routines and schedules back in order and hopefully with familiar things surrounding us, the kids can start to feel like this is "home" and begin to make new memories and friends. I never want them to forget all their past experiences, but hope and pray that they can embrace and appreciate where they are in the present. They truly are a unique breed from other children and probably once they are grown and have their own families will they truly appreciate those past experiences. Here is to praying that each and every transistion our children go through they feel the Lord's presence as comfort and familiarity.
Until next time....
Being a military family can sometimes be a double edged sword. We "get" to move every few years and experience all new places. Hubby and I have moved many, many times and we always try to look forward to our new locations as an opportunity to see something we have never seen before. We would even start to get "the itch" when we have been in one place longer than normal. Some moves are more welcome than others, as the location we were leaving weren't the most ideal locations. Now, with children, this moving business is a whole new ball game. We had been very fortunate in our last duty station and had been "stable" for just over 6 years. Our littlest, LuLu, was born there and our oldest was almost 3 when we arrived to Fort Carson, Colorado. So having been in that location so long was really all our kids had ever known. In previous moves our oldest was too little to really understand what was going on and we hadn't yet had the little one. So this move has been especially tough on LuLu. She has been torn from, literally, her whole life as she knows it. There are many days where she wakes up in tears. She just wants to go back to Colorado and all her friends and everything she is "comfy" with. As a parent this just breaks your heart. Hubby and I miss the friends that we have made as well, but we are "old hats" at this moving business, and since most of our friends are also military they know the old Army saying, "See you later". We NEVER say goodbye...only SEE YOU LATER. We hope and pray that at some point down the road we do cross paths again with the many special families that we have been blessed to get to know.
There are many more "kinks" put into our moving routine when moving overseas. As I mentioned before Hubby and I are "old hats" at this moving business, but neither of us have moved overseas before. In our many, many military moves, we have never had the right conditions to have gotten a door-to-door move. A door to door move is one that once the movers pack out and load your household goods on their semi the timing works just perfect that you get to your new location and have a house that they can literally drive your things from the home they packed it to the new home and not have to unload the truck in government storage. This has never happened to us. Our stuff always goes into storage and is delivered when everything else is in order. Now...throw an overseas move into the mix. By the time we get our stuff delivered here in Spain it will have been exactly 2 months since it left our residence in Colorado. Now, of course, an overseas move is a differnent sort of beast in itself. Our stuff must ship over on a boat versus being driven in a semi-truck. Again, for Hubby and I, not that big of deal. We are certainly looking forward to getting our things, but now think of this whole thing through a childs point of view. The kids have not seen their toys, beds and all the things that are special to them for 2 months. Imagine for a moment...leaving your home of 6 years, 2 months ago, with essentially only what you could carry onto an airplane. I am not going to lie and say that the limited clothing items that I having been wearing for the past 2 months may have to be burned when my other clothes arrive because I cannot stand to look at them anymore. :-) The kids could really care less about their clothes, but they have really been troopers under the circumstances. They are confined to this little 2 bedroom apartment with only the toys and things that they could carry in their backpack on the airplane. Military children are especially resiliant and can adapt very quickly, but the reality is that they are still children and don't yet have the coping skills that adults have. As a parent we certainly try to "soften the blow", as you will, with all that is going on. We try to encourage all the great things that they are getting to see and the new people they will meet. The reality is...sometimes it isn't that easy for the little ones.
We have just about a week left before we can begin to really "settle in" to our new home. We move into the house next week and will be able to receive our household goods at that time. We are certainly looking forward to getting our routines and schedules back in order and hopefully with familiar things surrounding us, the kids can start to feel like this is "home" and begin to make new memories and friends. I never want them to forget all their past experiences, but hope and pray that they can embrace and appreciate where they are in the present. They truly are a unique breed from other children and probably once they are grown and have their own families will they truly appreciate those past experiences. Here is to praying that each and every transistion our children go through they feel the Lord's presence as comfort and familiarity.
Until next time....
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Spanish Drivers Make their own Rules!!!!!
On the eve of us receiving our car I thought it would be appropriate to talk a little about how the Spaniards drive and park around the city and for you to gather a bit of an understanding as to why I am terrified to drive here.
Now I consider myself a pretty experienced driver. We have driven through too many states to count. I have driven through major cities such as Denver, St. Louis, Seattle, Louisville and many, many others. I have driven in weather of snow, ice, blizzards, rain and flash flooding rain. Through all of this experience, I realized the moment that we were passengers in a vehicle headed into downtown Madrid that I was certainly going to get a run for my money.
One of the things that I am not experienced at driving in is these crazy roundabouts. We had a few in Colorado Springs, but they were tiny compared to the ones here. I also am not sure if it is a European thing or a Spain thing, but the roundabouts are everywhere. They certainly don't believe in a 4 way stop sign or stop lights for that matter. They use these roundabouts at just about every intersection. Now...in the Springs we would have 4 streets come into a roundabout. Here they have like 8-10 streets coming into a roundabout. The roundabouts in the Springs had basically one lane. One car would enter after yielding to the right away car. Here...all friggin 8-10 lanes come in at once and it becomes a free for all. There are no lane lines painted in the roundabout. Literally the cars come in and do as they please. You would think that if you are going to exit at one of the next streets coming up, you would be in the closest lane to the exit. Ummmm...not so much. These people literally exit from the inner most lane closest to the ginormous fountain or statue that usually sits in the middle of these roundabouts. It is just crazy. You have to be on your toes at all times.
Lets jump to the topic of lane lines. Lane lines here...mean nothing. I am not even sure why they bother. They are sort of a suggestion, but people drive wherever they want to. A car can easily be taking up multiple lanes for no apparent reason. What you don't see here is people on their phones or texting while driving. Truly, the reason for this is that they really don't have time to do such a thing. Because you never know what the person in front of you or beside you is going to do, you have to be both an offensive and defensive driver at the same time. Drivers here use their horns all the time. I feel like in the States we only use our horns when we are ticked off. Either somebody has cut us off or done something totally stupid. Here, they really use their horns as a form communication.
Just as oblivious whilst driving they also just park wherever they want to whenever they feel like it. They do put on their flashers and that seems to make it ok. You see people stopped in the most bizarre, most unlikely and obvious non parking places.
Now I consider myself a pretty experienced driver. We have driven through too many states to count. I have driven through major cities such as Denver, St. Louis, Seattle, Louisville and many, many others. I have driven in weather of snow, ice, blizzards, rain and flash flooding rain. Through all of this experience, I realized the moment that we were passengers in a vehicle headed into downtown Madrid that I was certainly going to get a run for my money.
One of the things that I am not experienced at driving in is these crazy roundabouts. We had a few in Colorado Springs, but they were tiny compared to the ones here. I also am not sure if it is a European thing or a Spain thing, but the roundabouts are everywhere. They certainly don't believe in a 4 way stop sign or stop lights for that matter. They use these roundabouts at just about every intersection. Now...in the Springs we would have 4 streets come into a roundabout. Here they have like 8-10 streets coming into a roundabout. The roundabouts in the Springs had basically one lane. One car would enter after yielding to the right away car. Here...all friggin 8-10 lanes come in at once and it becomes a free for all. There are no lane lines painted in the roundabout. Literally the cars come in and do as they please. You would think that if you are going to exit at one of the next streets coming up, you would be in the closest lane to the exit. Ummmm...not so much. These people literally exit from the inner most lane closest to the ginormous fountain or statue that usually sits in the middle of these roundabouts. It is just crazy. You have to be on your toes at all times.
Lets jump to the topic of lane lines. Lane lines here...mean nothing. I am not even sure why they bother. They are sort of a suggestion, but people drive wherever they want to. A car can easily be taking up multiple lanes for no apparent reason. What you don't see here is people on their phones or texting while driving. Truly, the reason for this is that they really don't have time to do such a thing. Because you never know what the person in front of you or beside you is going to do, you have to be both an offensive and defensive driver at the same time. Drivers here use their horns all the time. I feel like in the States we only use our horns when we are ticked off. Either somebody has cut us off or done something totally stupid. Here, they really use their horns as a form communication.
Just as oblivious whilst driving they also just park wherever they want to whenever they feel like it. They do put on their flashers and that seems to make it ok. You see people stopped in the most bizarre, most unlikely and obvious non parking places.
Here is an example. This is a roundabout and this black Mercedes just parked on a tiny curb within the roundabout. We watched her park, put on her flashers and jump out. You think to yourself...Why on Earth would she park in such a bizarre spot. Ohhhhh...Because all the tiny curb space on the other side of this street were taken and she needed to get to the ATM machine. Are you kidding me???? This is just CRAZY!!!!!!
Here you can see cars entering and exiting the roundabout around where the Mercedes is parked.
Another view of the car. I am standing on the sidewalk where the lady was running to the ATM. The Land Rover there...Yep, just parked. It just boggles my mind.
Talking about parking space. People not only park in these bizarre tiny curb spaces, but they also double park...ohh...and put on their flashers. I swear, they think that if their hazards/flashers are on they can do whatever they need to do. This same day we were having a coffee and watching a driver next to the cafe totally double park. The owners of the car that he blocked in just honked their horn when they were ready to leave and the driver of the double parked car ran out, backed up his car, the blocked car went and he took their spot.
Parking spots - WOW this is a whole other challenge. We own a Honda Odyssey and lets just say that we probably will not be able to park that van anywhere on the street in Madrid. The streets are tiny and we would stick out to far. Parking garages can be hit or miss. Our parking spot here at the apartment is basically between a wall and a cement pole. There is absolutely no way the van could maneuver to get into that spot. There just isn't any clearance anywhere. Plus, you have cars parked behind you, in front of you and next to you. Hubby was able to get a borrowed car equivalent to a Dodge Neon in the space. He did, however, have to do about a gazillion point turn and I truly didn't think he would get in. Once he did get in I was for sure he wouldn't get out. He did get out, but I wasn't there to witness the fiasco. It was just too much to bear. :-)
So on the eve of us taking possession of our vehicle after 2 months of no car, we certainly have mixed emotions. We are excited for the freedom to have a vehicle to travel around, but I think we will still depend on the Metro system when it comes to travelling within the city. People here have warned us that it won't be too long until we have "earned" our Madrid racing stripe, which translates into a huge scrape down the side of our vehicle.
Until next time....
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