Reflecting Back / Looking Forward (Deborah)

Well, we are back home, and here are my thoughts on:
What I Liked About Barcelona, and What I Like About Murray

Here is What I Enjoyed There:

Lots of interesting things to do and see at such convenient proximity to apartment.

I feel blessed to have been a part of the International Church there, and all the people we met there, friends we made.

Convenience of grabbing a needed grocery item for a meal. For instance, I'm making biscuits one morning, realize I'm low on jam, so ask Josiah or Kathryn to go to supermarket to get some (while I stay and prepare food). They can walk, it's close, they're back in 5 minutes. At home, I would need to change menu or do without ingredient.

Convenience of recycling--large bins for everything within a few yards of apartment and very abundant throughout city.

Public transportation is nice, though it has its drawbacks, it is for the most part very convenient.

Forced to get exercise, since so much walking is required to get around.

Gigantic flea market within walking distance to our apartment--open 4 days a week. Just fun to walk around and look at stuff, watch people, get good deals.

Large fresh market, a metro ride away, with huge variety of fresh meats, produce, cheese, bread, etc., but my favorite parts were the fresh fruit juices and the Greek cafe's.

Weather was nice there, for spring season anyway. Okay, May was nice, really nice. Moderate temps, slight comfortable breeze. We did have one or two cold days in May, but mostly it was great. Heard it gets stuffy in summers, so we were there at a good time.

Here is What I Didn't Like So Much, Appreciate About Home

Jim mentioned in another blog that the writing of dates there makes more sense. I agree, but sense or not--it is so confusing since I'm used to another way. Glad to get back to the U.S. (familiar) way.

Struggling to communicate--Although good learning experience for a temporary time period, challenging and at times, frustrating

Late night city and apartment noise. There must not be a such thing in Spain as "disturbing the peace". People in apartment and outside it are sometimes very noisy very late at night. Anything from loud talking, laughing, dancing, music, etc. We're talking til 12:00 a.m. or later. Added to that are the loud traffic noises nearby. Difficult to get to sleep some nights, or get back to sleep when awoken. Appreciate our quiet neighborhood in Murray.

Operating hours of businesses are inconvenient. On the days we didn't have an outing planned, we did school in apartment in mornings, then after lunch, maybe run an errand or 2, or planned to. But most businesses are closed between 2:00 and 5:00. Supermarkets are open throughout the day, but there's no 24/7 there--9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. And closed on Sundays. So we just had to plan. And it worked. Just makes me appreciate the extended hours here.

Several places didn't accept credit cards, and it wasn't so easy to get out cash, but Jim handled that part for us and we made it work. Just a little inconvenience.

Worldliness--nudity in statues in several parks, profanities on T-shirts in souvenir shops--and not hidden away either, very blatant.

Smoking--in city, but thankfully banned in restaurants. Still, many people here smoke, so you pass it several times daily when out. And in apartments, the smell comes in windows when you try to open them a little for some "fresh" air.

Traffic seemed to have a slight disrespect for pedestrians. Cars were more than anxious to go, even when pedestrian light was green. They didn't stop behind a line when their light was red, they just pulled right up and waited for you to walk through, but stepped on it as soon as you were clear. Had to always be watching out for that.

So yes, we have proved we can wash dishes by hand for 3 months, and this is no complaint, but the dishwasher is just a good invention, okay?

And living without a dryer is more work, but is doable. However, I'm enjoying the soft towels again.

I so appreciate my oven here. The one there worked, but didn't heat evenly at all, so had to flip everything over and add to cooking time. Plus figuring out all the metric conversions.

It was a challenge to find certain items in grocery store there. Some I found a close enough similar, others I found if I looked at several stores, others they just don't have in Spain. But we tried different things, and that worked. Just glad to be able to easily find baking/cooking ingredients again. Going to Kroger the other day just made me appreciate the variety we have here in grocery stores.