smells like moscato wine in the mornings out there

“At Last” - cover by Jason Mraz

goodmorningandgoodnight.com

Oct 16th, 2011

“Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets.
So, love the people who treat you right and forget about the ones who don’t.
And believe that everything happens for a reason.
If you get a chance, take it; if it changes your life, let it.
Nobody said that it would be easy.
They just promised it would be worth it.”

Here in Spain, I wake up with no sense of time lately - it's the strangest thing. Regrets can't help but linger, love is on my mind often, and this chance I took is transforming my life. This first hand experience can tell you it's not easy...but it's worth every single moment after a small dilemma (i.e. "the power went out - WHAT do we do..", "I'm lost again and we have to use this paper map", "what kind of meat is listed on this foreign menu?") when you realize you can handle *almost* any situation if you just trust yourself and that annoying-but-oh-so-right gut instinct.

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The only time I went out this past weekend was to have a nice glass of red wine out on the beach here in Chiclana to watch the sunset and enjoy a dinner with my roommates. I simply finished a book the rest of the days and spent a lot of time catching up on emails. My brother’s been the bridge between the rest of my family and I with updates, so we exchanged at least six emails the past few days. I'm honestly surprised, our means of communication used to just be quick phone calls. We knew where we stood on things and that everything was okay. Now, he gives me detailed advice, writes to me Spanish (as if being in Spain wasn't enough) and tells me more about his life. My close friends know how much he means to me, like a dad with the age gap between us, but my love for him has reached a whole new level with the comforting words he sends me. I just really wanted to remind everyone to appreciate your family, their words of encouragement are like no other because they REALLY know you. This is the year I’m discovering more about myself and my brother’s supportive messages are with me along the way.

There’s a coffee shop around the corner from my apartment that makes great lattes for one euro. ONE. Everywhere I go, they serve it in a small glass, so I’m convinced this is to force foreigners to sit down and RELAX like the Spaniards. You can’t take it “to go”, you can’t ask for specific details (thank God no one here has to deal with “no foam” or 104 degree requests…shout out to baristas there ;) and you can’t complain because your server is long gone and won’t come back to check on you until you wave at them kindly to pay out.

I discovered all this after my Monday morning shopping at the farmer’s market. My roommate picked up a food magazine last week, with a quote inside that said, “We don’t have time for everything, but to eat well we MUST make space for this…and of course that means taking a break to enjoy cooking that great meal as well.”Well, I listened. This time I bought pesto for less than 2 euro, sweet potatoes & bells peppers to make a delicious hash that I tried at a friend’s in Cadiz, mysterious spices - imitation vanilla does not exist here so you can only buy the bean…darn, mystery fruit (I’m guessing it’s a pear’s cousin), and brown eggs. I hope my food consumption is forever marked by this lifestyle. Living in the moment: the farmer will only sell you what’s in season, the butcher can name the goat & region that creamy cheese came from and how to cook the cut of pork he chose for your dinner tonight, and the annoying lottery man on the way out of the market always tells you how beautiful you specifically look today. The best part of it all is that a month after moving to Spain, with so much time spent by myself, I feel at peace right now. It’s like every day another layer of stress falls off as my strength builds. For instance, physically I feel better than ever (thank you my daily 4 flights of stairs, 20 minute walk to school and afternoon run along the river), emotionally I still get struck by pangs of missing Texas but not in a depressing way (cue Emilee’s cd for my boots & I), and mentally I am learning so much daily! I’ve made it a daily habit to check New York Times (thank you Marybeth), MSNBC, Glamour (had to be girly), bible, and Wikipedia with the most random research. I haven’t traveled as much as I’d like to but it’s only October and Italy is 2 weeks away! I start making extra income this week with some English tutoring in the afternoons but I figure let’s get that first paycheck deposited THEN begin more adventures on the bus, train, plane…

On that note, I’m hoping to make it to Seville (again, orientation just doesn’t count) or Tarifa soon. Christmas needs to get planned as well…

Honestly, I still feel lost and found all at once so these next few days staying in town will really help get me grounded and more comfortable interacting with people. I’m still adjusting but everything around me is falling into place… my Spanish debit card arrived in the mail, the “green card” version of my Spanish residency will be ready mid-November, and dealing with euros is easy now!