Spain

September 10, 2007 to …today, October 20, 2007...no news is great news!

~As of September 16, 2007, I’ve been in Spain for two months. Two of these days produced a little rain…the other 59 have been sunny and blue skied. It’s because I brought an umbrella. If you have an oily complexion, this is a great country in which to dry out!

~Of course, the day I wrote the above entry we had a wild thunderstorm in the middle of the night. Living in a valley amongst mountains creates an amplified sound effect. Carb who is a “scaredy cat” in the normalest of storm conditions…well, I don’t know the technical term for “fear of thunderstorms” or “fear of loud noises like vacuum cleaners”. Gas, on the other hand, suffers from “fear of plastic shopping bags”.

~Carb has taken to liking showers…we have no bathtub here. He also likes to be vacuumed with the quiet, hardly-sucking, low wattage vacuum like appliance.

~Good news…I found part-time (7 hours/week-he he he) TESL work (Teaching English as a Second Language) and Baking Soda (in the soft drink section of the remaining grocery store to be explored in Jaca)! Finding work and cooking/baking are truly like a scavenger hunt here!

~Clay floors are wonderfully easy to keep clean…if you can tell they are dirty in the first place! My floors are a mottled terracotta colour, the same colour tone as regurgitated dry cat food, that’s no longer dry. Gotta watch where you’re stepping amongst two hairball-proned cats though! Clay is slippery when wet!

~Haven’t had to buy a can opener yet…not because I can’t say it in Spanish (abrelatas), but because most canned goods here have the pull-off lids! How cool is that!

~So Mac, my buddy, accepts Spanish formatted DVDs. I’ve now memorized the 1st three Harry Potter movies in both Spanish and English. Words like witch, spells and magic are practical when you live in the heart of a Gypsy neighbourhood. I don’t know about my control of the Spanish language…but my British accent is certainly improving!

~One of my greatest adult desired goals in life has been to be or become wise! My mom was probably the wisest woman/person I have ever known. I know wisdom does not arise from formal education, but from practicing life, picking up common sense and the ability to rationalize. Experiencing various lives by changing its familiar patterns, taking calculated risks, and making mistakes make one wise. Being observant through all the senses, an efficient listener being utmost. I have been called a “wise woman”, and this is the most distinguished compliment I could ever hope to receive…but I know I still have a lot more experiencing to do before I feel I have truly achieved my goal. Part of the reason why I’m here!

~I have no real “To Do” list here this year. I’m not accustomed to wandering aimlessly…but I like it!

~I love countries that promote Siestas!

~Canadians take note…the Spanish have designed a plastic grocery bag that can successfully later be used for a garbage bag! (No holes!)

~Towels hung to dry on a clothesline are excellent defoliators!

~If you’re not “on” Facebook (www.facebook.com) and you don’t want to be…then you can read both Lauren and my Blogs or updates on www.travellerspoint.com. This is a very cool information sharing utility for anyone who likes or wants to travel anywhere, anyhow, anytime. Even if it’s simply a 2 week holiday somewhere, just put it “out there” and you’ll receive oodles of feedback of great places to eat, stay and/or visit. Fellow travellers will share their experiences, the good, the bad and the funny. You’ll discover the stuff not found in travel books. Lauren doesn’t email her updates so Facebook or Travellerspoint are your route of reading about her journey! She also bought herself a cell phone: +44 799 090 31 54 and her email address is: lauren__mccormick@hotmail.com (2 underscores).

~Have you ever played the memory game? You know, the one where a bunch of objects are placed on a table, something is removed, then you have to guess which object isn’t there…well, a friend just asked me for a list of grocery items that I can’t purchase here, things she could possibly send me…and now I’m trying to remember what’s missing in this country’s grocery stores!

~I’ve got to stop cooking and especially baking so much…my clothes are starting to fit again!

~As I age, I find if I don’t wear my glasses when I clean mi casa, then I don’t have to clean as hard!

~Carb has a new cat toy…it’s a rug. It’s quite pathetic to watch actually. He sits on his mat and flicks up the edges with his paw…for hours on end! It cost me 60 centimos…cheaper than those fake furry mice that accumulate under the sofa that I’m forever having to move in order to retrieve them. Gas’ favourite pastime is jumping out of my bedroom window, in the middle of the night. He can’t reverse the jump, as the terraza is substantially lower than my bedroom…so he meows at the backdoor until he disturbs my sleep. He likes this game! As screens don’t exist in windows here, my choices are few. So, the first night I closed the window, I awoke to the sound of Gas’ head reverberating off the window pane! He only played that game once! His other favourite pastime is sitting in the bathroom and staring at the ceiling which is mirrored, and meowing at his reflection. It’s apparent they are quite missing the freedom of the great outdoors…and that they are quite psychotic!

Besos y abrazos xoxo Dana

~Back to normalcy, although we never quite found normalcy before taking in our 4 temporary house guests. 8 paws and two human feet now reside in our home, making our home, home! It is phenomenally beautiful and cosy. Spaghetti brewing on the “induccion” ceramic stove top as I write, sipping some inexpensive but yummy Rioja vino tinto, listening to the soundtrack of “Chocolat”…one of my favourite movies, utilizing the portable speakers I brought! And I’m happily unemployed! I’m enjoying time…enjoying life!

~So, translating domestic duties have presented a FEW challenges…I think the expression “trial and error” must have originated in Spanish! (She says as her 1st attempt of a banana loaf made in Spain bakes weirdly in an ever-so-different Celcius oven-like appliance.)

~1st the purchase of cooking/baking utensils and equipment. I bought one mixing bowl and one measuring cup…that’s all the store had, one of each, lucky me, an electric handheld mixer/cutter sort of gadget, forget measuring spoons and rubber spatulas-they don’t exist, and loaf pans here must be metric or something ‘cause they’re sure a strange size and shape…but “improvising” and “making do” are the name of the game of living life abroad…and should have scouted for oven mitts because I just burnt my hand using a non-water-absorbent but obviously heat-absorbent tea towel I purchased. People here use aluminium foil the way I use plastic wrap.
WHERE IS GLOBALIZATION WHEN YOU NEED IT!
(This is my favourite line, and my new philosophy this year!)

~The banana bread tastes great, not quite the same as Canadian banana bread, but it’s stomach-friendly! It baked in record time…I’m beginning to suspect this ain’t no normal oven I have here. Took me a week to figure out the stove’s funky touch-top keypad “induccion” elements. This figuring out was with the assistance of the landlord…seems you have to have a pot/pan ON the element before it will work…who’da thunk! Thus, the word induction…so, I’m not a genius! It’s just all so overwhelming that sometimes thinking is tough! This oven-like appliance with the multiple dials with funny little pictures on them MAY just be some kind of “bake-it-faster confusion convection contraption”! I’ll have ‘er all figured out in another 11 months.

~You don’t want to know what I’m storing my baked goods in…no, you just don’t want to know! You’ve got to walk in my stinky shoes to know where I’m coming from…remember what I said, “Improvising and making do” are 2 important survival techniques. I’m still alive to tell you about it! That’s all that matters! Good loaf.

~Now, back to the purchasing of ingredients. Cancel vanilla flavouring, and it’s make-your-own chocolate chips with a knife and a semi-sweet dark chocolate bar I found by accident, flour has the consistency of cornstarch…sold in 1 kg. bags…I’m going to wear a path to the grocery store this year. Then the bananas I bought…you know, the yellow ones that really look like bananas…well, they were bendable-couldn’t-even-break-them-in-half impostors…but once I put my handy-dandy chopper to them, they actually tasted like mushed bananas. And then the oil. There is an entire aisle in every grocery store dedicated to olive oil…but where’s the normal vegetable oil? Found 2 lonely bottles of sunflower oil, glad I took my portable pocket dictionary shopping, tucked up and back on a shelf where no Spaniard could ever reach, so I bought them both. And eggs aren’t refrigerated in stores here…why are North Americans so paranoid? No first aid aisle in this grocery store, therefore no baking soda, so had to ask about baking powder…my pocket dictionary was simply too compact. Pardon my Spanish…described, “white powder to put in cakes to make it rise”…I thought I was doing a fine job with my description…and what a confused looking shelf-stocker. So then I added some body language…tricky miming baking powder…should have guessed it was called levandura en polvo…next time I’ll be ready with the language! So, baking one loaf of banana bread has been a day’s adventure! And what did you do today!

~Next, spaghetti sauce. Are you tiring of this yet…’cause I’ve only just begun! Tomato paste doesn’t translate, so Dana buys one of every tomato product in a can to take home and investigate. My tomato vocabulary has expanded ten-fold. I can now say cut-up, ground, peeled and fried tomatoes. How can fried tomatoes come in a can? I think I added tomato soup to my sauce. The outcome was a successful flavour despite the lack of paste and language. Every grocery store sells only the same 6 spices…buy them all and get creative.

~Last cooking complaint for the day. I’m living in a grape infested country, you know, Spain, wine making capital…well, do you think I can find raisins anywhere? Where there are grapes…there have got to be raisins! So, I finally found a store that sells them…in 125 gram packages! Is there no justice in this world?

~Okay, so next domestic duty that’s non-translatable…the cleaning! As soon as a vacuum is measured in Watts as opposed to Amps, one should become suspicious! My blow dryer at home has more oomph than the vac I just bought. Anything heavier than a cat hair MAY suck half way up the hose and then if you hold the hose above your head and vertical, the pieces will fall due to gravity into the canister bag! Glad I also bought a broom. Sponge mops don’t exist in Jaca and I refuse to use a string mop…they just seem to dilute the dirt and spread it around, sloppily! Exposed stone walls are beautiful, but I think they are forever shedders of grit…the price one has to pay for beauty! Something like cats. Buying a cleaner. Go with what you know! Don Limpio…this one I could translate all on my own AND I recognized the picture of “Mr. Clean” himself, dressed in white of course, smiling his obsessive compulsive smile. And he smells good!

~On to other things. I must have a sign attached to my back, on which is written, “Please ask ME for street directions in Spanish” (as opposed to every other Spaniard walking around/near/beside me)! Not only am I new to Jaca, but also slightly unfamiliar to the country (and the language). And I seem to get targeted every time I venture out of my safe haven. Is it that non-English speaking tourists can guess that I carry a map with me at all times-biggest fear, not being able to find your way home! But I love getting Spanish directions. There’s not a Spaniard who won’t give them to you if you ask. They may not be correct directions but they’ll always be considerate and point you in a direction. I’ve learned to ask 3, then average out the results before moving on.

~Let’s see, what other mistakes can I report on! Well, I accepted an ESL teaching position in a little village called Benasque, a couple of valleys away, toward Andorra and the Med. Spent a week immersion teaching and hiking/exploring the mountains and towns surrounding the village. What appeared to be employment served on a silver platter was not cat conducive…so had to give it up! Will find something more local!

~Just bought 2 teenager-aged evergreens. Named them Simon and Garfunkle. Will see which one survives to serve as my Christmas tree…only 106 shopping days remaining. (Peanut butter…Temptation cat treats!!!)

~Requests for a Lauren update! 3 days till departure date! She flies to Amsterdam on Sept. 12 to begin her journey of independence. She has my address and phone number, so I anticipate a visit when she needs a breather from travelling…or money! I am soooooooooooo excited for her. It’s taken years of brainwashing and training her for this year abroad pre-University. Her acceptance to Queen’s has been deferred for a year, so I think she’s set for life…or at least a year or two. As a parent, it’s a nice place to be…I can sit back, relax a little and watch her life unfold…and wait for the phone calls! I envy her adventures because I still value and view my post high school travels with care and clarity, like the learning was yesterday, but I seem to be in the midst of my own adventures today! But it’s different now…I’m different…I’m old(er). I don’t really want to sleep under bridges with rats swimming at my feet, or feed on canned lentils for consecutive days, or have to call collect…I’d much prefer struggling with foreign language-ed appliances and having to carry Spanish kitty litter home without a vehicle.

So enough idiosyncratic rambling from me. Ew, just found a spider the size of Gas’ head! Cats refused to kill it. Looked (simple past tense) like a daddy long legs that had been eating my levandura en polvo!

Here’s to IT being September and ME not having to plan for a year of teaching! Salud!

dana, carb and gas xox

~Carb and Gas are so happy with their brand new, blue, normal size, Spanish kitty litter box. They like blue. It also matches their brand new Spanish kitty litter. No scoopable stuff to be had in Jaca, so opted for the clear crystal stuff with the blue flecks. It's Martha Stuart beautiful! But of course, they won't use it...it's just different. So I awoke last night, with a start, to the sound of a china cabinet crashing to the floor shattering it's entire contents of crystal and glass! NOT...one of the cats decided to test drive the cat box. Noisiest cat litter on the market!
 
~In my Hostal, the only one in Jaca that accepts cats, I found a bathtub. As I know bathtubs are a rare commodity when living in small apartamentos, I have taken advantage of my full size tub. Gas has developed severe twitches and itches so am finally bathing him in shampoo far more expensive than mine, Selsen Blue, as had been prescribed by our Canadian vet for his dandruff disabilities, which combined with a bad hair could have been diagnosed as mange (sp?) which would just not have been a good thing at customs entering Spain. Too late, customs just didn't notice. Anyway...Carb gets the same shampoo treatment...just because!
 
~Another note of coincidence between Susana and I, her mother and I share the exact same birth date, March 10, 1961!
 
~I am officially a resident of Jaca, Spain, as I now have a library card! There exists one bookshelf containing 5 shelves of books en ingles! Of course, they are not necessarily national best sellers or even published in the recent century...and I may have to re-read Anne of Green Gables (the one token piece of Canadian literature), but I am just sooooooo happy! And so is the librarian as I donated 2 English books I brought and have read...I think she likes Canadians now too!
 
~Visited the local Friday market in Jaca. It is not the Rastro of Madrid, but should I need to purchase a thong during my stay here...I know where to shop!
 
~Yes, if only these cats could speak...FUCK, would probably be the first word out of their mouths (and they are neutered, so now you have context)!
 
~So I now have an address...send peanut butter (for me) and Temptations Cat Treats (for Carb and Gas) please!
Dana Biernacki
Calle del Barco, 9 (bajo)
22700 Jaca Huesca
Spain
 
~So, my new piso has 2 bedrooms, 4 beds...come visit! It's newly renovated with clay floors, exposed stone walls, exposed beamed ceilings and a terraza (terrace). It's amazing. Beautiful. Home for a year!
 
~Had to clean a lot of renovation dust, but alas, a few days with a borrowed vacuum and we're down to clay and stone...let the shedding begin Carb and Gas!
 
~Have been hiking and trekking a mountain a week, day hikes...takes me a week to recuperate! So we're talking 8 to 10 hour continuous, mostly uphill,ventures. This, combined with my involuntary diet (my stove/oven is due to be installed this week, so have become an accidental vegetarian!) has loosened my clothes. Peculiar how the skin doesn't retract so well at age 46! But, I feel so good, emotionally, physically and spiritually!
 
~As in any new place, new world, I am learning it's ways...for instance, I have just learned of the short cut to the first mountain I hiked...could have cut 5 km off my 30 km day hike!
 
~Setting up and operating new appliances with Spanish manuals has been quite a task. The washer: looks foreign, sounds foreign, but 2 loads later and I think I've got it figured out...one load, however, takes and hour and a half! The dryer: is even slower...I strung a clothes line! But simple to operate. The fridge: now this is an ongoing challenge. One minute we're friends and the next, it's beeping and flashing lights at me, and really, there are only 2 possible buttons to push (unlike the washer), so how complicated should a fridge be?! And the manual is as thick as the latest Harry Potter book, which incidentally, I still haven't got (Spanish book store guy assures me in September)! Wait...I now have it...and feel privileged that I have taken time away from Harry et al to write to you!
 
~Carb and Gas have made a Spanish amigo...se llama Diesel! Yes, we have adopted boarders, temporarily. My friends Susana (Poland) and Antonio (Madrid) and Diesel have moved in. They needed a room, and I happened to have one...and I accept cats! Diesel is young and follows Carb everywhere, to Carb's dismay, and Gas just observes from beneath protective furniture and growls! Carb is much more tolerant in a good-thing-for-Diesel-that-I-just-had-my-claws-clipped kind of way. Perhaps it is a language barrier issue. A great opportunity for an inter-cambio language exchange as Carb and Gas now reside in Spanish territory and Diesel, awaiting a visa, is Canada-bound. How coincidental! I just love how lives interconnect amongst opposite destinations!
 
~And now the brother of Susana visits from Poland, so we are an international full house! I'm loving it all!
 
Hasta luego mis amigos,
dana and fur
xoxo

Thus far, Carb and Gas have travelled in/on/through: a van, an Element, airport and train station trolleys, a jumbo jet, a shuttle bus, a taxi, 2 trains, conveyor belts and Gas even had the privilege of passing through security x-ray...by accident, but he still looks the same!
3 days in Madrid allowed for sleep, revamping my Telephonica cell phone, organizing the next and final leg of the journey by train, and visiting with 2 good friends...what a productive pit stop.
I think the Czech Republic train ticket sales guy has a cousin in Spain, working for RENFE...no space for the cat kennels as promised! So I parked my butt on their crates between cars till Zaragoza.
Had mas o menos 12 minutes to connect with final train to Jaca...thank god for 1 € trolleys because the porters on the first train were next to useless.
The train to Jaca, which travelled 1/2 the distance in twice the time, had a wonderful coach assistant who even returned to me, my 1 € which I wasn't about to disembark the train to park the trolley and get my money back...had a visual, running behind the train which was carrying cats and packs off to Jaca without me!
The cat-loving conductor, who showed me a photo of his cat, Miles, (didn't catch the conductor's name) led me to the Jaca train station guy...the only person in the station, who proceeded to drive me to the only Hostal recommended in Let's Go and helped me carry a cat, the smallest one, and backpack, the lightest one...already small town niceness!
Suzanne, of Poland with perfect English...the only English speaker in this city of 10,000 people, runs La Casa Del Arco and accepts Carb and Gas, the only hotel evidently that will, only one glitch, and there's always one, no rooms available the next night! A task to keep my mind busy and one night to sleep between now and bedlessness!
But, things work out...because they always do! My discovered philosophy at age 19 still holds true!
I was meant to come to La Casa Del Arco...as Suzanne of Poland's (NB my last name) mom has just married a Canadian from Ottawa (NB my birth place), has a cat named Diesel and an earring collection! Too many coincidences to ignore. Besides the fact that she is simply very cool and extremely helpful!
So after we discovered our commonalities, she attempted to phone around and find me accommodation for the night and assured me the cats could stay put, in the open-windowed loft room just a leap away from Spanish rooftops and freedom! So it will be the kennels for them! This journey must be never ending in their eyes! After dead end phone calls and the mention that I possessed a sleeping bag and mattress, I was invited to their couch for the night, gratis.
Backtracked to the train station to give the nice train station man one of my 50 "I am Canadian" gift lighters that security missed! Initially, his face read, oh my God, what does she want now? But as I thanked him again and gave him my token gift his face lit up and I think he likes Canadians!
Gas, the stray of all strays, is neither harness nor kennel literate. With all fours braced on the kennel door, Gas growls as I shove, and I've never heard Gas to be anything but grateful, then he meows with a possessed voice. When I need a good laugh, I put Gas in his harness, and as though winding a mechanical toy, he proceeds to slink around the room backwards bumping off the walls and furniture with his butt end!
Upon close inspection of my dirty clothes pile, I am noticing an international flavour, not smell. The few items I have chosen to accompany me this next year(s) have been purchased in France, Ireland, Spain, Czech Republic and Ecuador. I don't often analyze my dirty clothes like this, but I don't often have such free time and a free mind as when I'm travelling.
Located my new Spanish teacher, Antonio, Co-administrator of this Hostal, Bar, and Restaurant who presented Carb and Gas with a gift, a Spanish cat toy, then proceeded to caution me about the crazy old Spanish woman who lives in a room on my floor and EATS CATS! Antonio is very serious and Let's Go never made mention of her!
Jaca is made from really, really old stones. The streets, buildings, everything...but the toilets are porcelain.
Muchas Gracias for all the positive and familiar feedback to my first journalish entry. Has anyone out there noticed the pattern...I only seem to email when abroad...has everything to do with time. Thanks for your patience between trips! Reading about home gives me a high when I'm way over here!
Love always and always,
the crazy cat canadian and her cats,
dana, gas and carb
xoxo

NOW I'm excited, for all of those who have been asking for months. NOW it feels right and I can´t stop smiling. All the work toward making "this" a reality. Thanks to each of you for prodding me along and assisting me in my journey before the journey. The getting here is as memorable as the "this". And those helpers are never forgotten!

My moment of paradise is stimulating all the senses! The bluest of skies above, the dry desert heat of the Spanish sun pouring through my open balcony door...into my air conditioned room that allows cats, an accordion player below in the street serenades me for free, sipping my café and once again reunited with my journal. What a glorious first day abroad.
Birds speak an international language to cats...Carb just saw his first Spanish bird from our 2nd floor balcony in the heart of Madrid.
The wonders a ducha, siesta y café can instill in the weary traveller.
Carb is nestled under my bedsheets and Gas is cowered in the farthest, darkest corner under the bed. Are they having fun? If asked, in perspective, compared to 2 international airports and a cargo hold for 7 hours plus, I think they're thinkin' this is paradise!
So now that I've tested the waters, rest assured, 'twas a piece of cake, so you too can now all come over and bring your cats!
Security on both ends was a joke. I carried my unconcealed lighters through security and was able to immediately have my post-flight smoke in the taped-off floor section of the Madrid airport. Mac was completely ignored. At customs, the "cats were scanned" by a nonchalant vet who wouldn't acknowledge my tagged ears and away we rolled with our teetering trolley piled high with cat kennels and packs.
I'm going to send the tourist information señora a Christmas card...she made the final path of our day's journey flawless. Makes for dull journaling, but after many months of toiling with the "what if's" in my mind, dull is a Godsend. She arranged a shuttle to a 2 starred Hostal in the heart of my old stomping grounds.
I anticipate the cats will sleep for the next 3 days, revitalized just in time to up heave the peace they've found here.
Carb has a love/hate relationship with his kennel...the provider of his security. At Pearson, while unloading my "oversize luggage" backpack from the top of our cat tower, his kennel flipped off backward and overish! Pinned beneath towel and kitty litter box...it stopped his meowing!
No one ever talks about the gas that builds in a pressurized bowel flying at a 30 thousand plus foot altitude. I'm certain I'm not the only one who suffers this. After the first test of a jet's efficient air filtration system, I'm certain I'm not the only one releasing. Maybe this is why they don't allow lighters in carry-ons!
A good night's sleep with my right un-depressurized ear down to the pillow and my puffy ankles elevated, I think this 46 year old body with history will be ready to venture out into the Spanish version of the Western World.
4 siestas in my first 12 hours after arrival, followed by a 12 hour sleep! And do I feel good!
My stress growth, which I duly named Margaret, has disappeared. Now I have a blister I named MJ.
Bought the cats Spanish cat food...it's called Ultima, so of course they like it.
Retracing steps in Madrid of three years past. Cool to begin in familiar territory. Minimal changes, favourite cafés and stores still here. Lots of tourists, Spaniards still short.
Cats are disgusted with their portable cat box, for rear ends only...but we're all maintaining regularity.
I have achieved peace of mind, that state of mind when the heart is content. I soooooooooooo love my life, the choices I've made and the people who have dared cross my crazy path!

My cell phone is re-simmed! My new phone number is:
(34 = Spain) 676275521

En route to the mountains in 2 days...until then,
love always,
dana, carburetor and gasoline
xox