Ah Spain!

AI generated, please excuse any errors!

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[Music]
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Hola, welcome to a Spain. Buos, Tanya. Hola. That was nice with a lot of
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Spanish. See, I know a lot now. That's it, right? You're done. You don't need to learn anymore. For the day. Yes. For
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the day. Well, I have my rane. You do? What is
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it? Uh well I don't know whether it's a good or it's whether it's a good or a bad everybody can decide one day.
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Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. So I want to talk about the cat
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situation in Los. Yes, the loss. Um as people may know, I have
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four cats. This was not planned. Okay. This would not have happened in any other country, I don't think. Well, I
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don't know about that. I mean, well, let's see where this goes. Cuz if it's a if it's a they've got more cats here, I
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guess you haven't been to Turkey, but you know. Well, I have not been to Turkey. This is true. Um I have not
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lived in a country with so many wild cats and what they what they have here
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is um and people are very nice to them. It's lovely. But they have colonies, what they call colonies of cats. So
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there are and and then the community will probably take care of spay and neutering them and feeding and watering
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them and they're they're like they're living in a corner of an orange field and and this is definitely an outside of the city thing. Um well, can I say we do
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have these cat houses throughout the city so there are Yeah. Okay. Well, what happens out here
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that I wasn't prepared for? Okay. Is if and you can tell me if you've
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experienced this. Everybody wants to give you a kitten because if you there's
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either a colony that somebody act that that a cat accidentally had kittens and they're dealing with it or somebody had
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a house with a um like our friends they they had a cat they had a they had a cat that had kittens in their garden. It
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wasn't their cat. It just rolled up into their garden pregnant and found itself a little corner and had kittens. So then
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they're dealing with four kittens. So they're trying to give everyone a kitten, right? And so you really if you
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I am not I wouldn't call myself a cat person. I'm I was always I wanted a dog. We promised Zena a dog when we moved
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here. We got here during co we couldn't get into a house as quickly as we had
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planned. So it all got very elongated and then we had a friend.
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Wait, did I just see you do a quote unquote? Yeah, we'll just call they're still a friend, but I mean they got us
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into this cat business and and she was like, "Well, why don't you just get a kitten? I have a kitten. I'm getting this kitten and it has a friend and it
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needs a place. So why don't you have this kitten? So it's like people are constantly like have this kitten. Have a
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kitten. This kitten was in my garden. This kitten was over here. Like you need a kitten. So it's like very hard. You
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need to come here with a cold dead heart if you do not want to have a cat and you're living outside of the city. That's all I have to say cuz we got that
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one because also I live with a bunch of bleeding hearts here. So you know it was
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like yeah let's just have the cat for two weeks and if you don't like it you can bring it back to me. Well, what what are you going to do with a kitten after
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you've had it in your house for two weeks with an 8-year-old? Clearly, the kitten's not going anywhere.
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Well, can I can I just say something here? It sounds like you're talking about this cat situation, but it sounds
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like you have another a Spain here is that maybe Spain has softened your cold dead heart because now you're cuz the
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way you're telling it is like no, you should say no to all these things and and here you are embracing the newness
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of living. Yes, but one leads to another. So then we were walking out in
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the orange fields and somebody had dumped a little kitten that had was very poorly and we obviously we had to rescue
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it and because that cat we I said to everybody in the house, we're going to take it and we're going to bring it
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bring her back to being well and then we're going to find her home and we're going to be the people that porn off kittens to somebody else this time.
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How long do you think we had that kitten in our house before everybody was like, are we keeping her?
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I would say by the end of the night 6 hours. 6 hours. Okay. Well, depends of
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the night. So that's two cats. Okay. Okay. So then we buy a house and guess
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what's living in the garden of the house. Oh well, you know they do sell houses asis here. As is. As is might be
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with two kittens living in your garden. Two kittens. Some furniture you don't
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want. Right. So this is how one accidentally seriously accidentally ends up with four
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cats in Spain. Wow. So yeah and I and even with the last two I was like I we
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can keep the last two but I really really want a dog. So I don't want us having four cats mean meaning that we
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don't get a dog. So then we also got a dog. So yeah. Well we have two cats but
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we brought them with us. So that doesn't Yeah. That's totally unnecessary. You do not need to bring cats to Spain.
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Yes, you do when they're part of your family and you love them. You dead English woman. You dead inside English
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woman. I mean, she's very sweet, ladies and gentlemen. I love Tanya. I do love our
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cats, but I think four is maybe too many. And four is bordering cat lady. People are talking about you. Okay, so
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seriously, this is the other thing. I was the I was always the last person that was brought on board because
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everybody else wanted to keep the cats. And now I'm the cat lady because I'm a woman, but my husband who bought the
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four cats into the house is not a cat lady. And I'm like, this is also very unfair. His oh, you know, the patriarchy
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of it all, right? I know. I know. So, I do love our cats. They all have very unique personalities. Let's say that.
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Well, we do have cats in the city and there are these there's these these like cat houses and we've run across two. One
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is like famous and then another one we just stumbled upon and it's like in the walls of these buildings you'll see a
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little hole and you look in and there's like a place for the cats and the person on the other side of that's their
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backyard or whatever the building's backyard like a hole and they they'll put cat food and all that kind of stuff
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down. Yeah, they're very much taking care of them here. I mean, I there's wherever there's a colony of cats, like
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somebody from the the closest town or house is is taking care of them, which is lovely. I mean, the upside is I have
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yet to see a mouse or a rat in this town. So, I don't know what it's like up there, but I mean, we're I haven't seen
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one. I lived in New York City and in Los Angeles. You walked on the sidewalk, one's like running by you, waving at
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you, you know? Yeah. And they're definitely taking care of them. And I will say that was something I saw when we went to in in Morocco, too. They have
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a lot of stray cats, but they're very, it's not tons all over the place, but like every block will have a cat that
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the the people from the restaurants and everyone is feeding in order to keep the cat around. And so these cats are like
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kings and queens living there. So, we're living the wrong life next
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basically. Yes. Come back as a cat. Yeah. There's this one cat in um I don't
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know how this episode turned into a cat episode, but we we will get on topic soon. um that there is a cat near my
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daughter's bus stop that literally just sits at the door of the building, doesn't like walk into the side. We'll
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come out to the sidewalk a little bit. It's not running away and lets anybody pet it, love it, hold it. It is the
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sweetest thing. And it just lives in the lobby. You walk anytime you just see it living in the lobby of the building of
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the if the front door is closed. It's so cute. Also a cat cafe in Valencia, which
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was really fun. It's really cute. Yeah. So, you can go and have a coffee and, you know, sit there with all the cats
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and do they try to pawn the cats off on you like they do and because LA has a cat cafe and it's like an adoption place
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to it. So, I they did not make any efforts to porn them off to us. They should know probably know better. We
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probably have a sign. We have neon sign above my head. Don't try it. But I think if you wanted to adopt them, you
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probably could. Yeah. Gotcha. But it wasn't like very aggressively. was more like fun and the kids were having a nice
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time, you know, petting the cats and all that, right? They were much friendlier than some of our cats, so they're
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pettable. Anyway, so that's the cat situation in Spain. Just be prepared.
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If you're going to live outside of the city, make sure that you either bring your own cats and keep to it or pick a number that you're all willing to have
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or whatever it is, you know? Right. Which leads us to the top of our uh
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show, which is um the things we wish we knew before we moved. I did wish I knew
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that before I moved. Yeah, I I I would I would have prepared the family. Well,
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you know what? I think I I prefer a a a gentler, kinder Tanya. So, I'm glad they
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warmed your heart if you had known me before. Exactly.
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Yeah. So, things we wish we knew before we moved. Um, I think um, do you have
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anything in particular you want to start with? I since we kind of started with the cats, we could then move on to, you
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know, I think we've we may have touched upon this on other episodes, but it does bear to be repeated is that I thought I
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was very well prepared, did my research, all that kind of stuff. But it, you know, the the so the siesta thing was
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hard for us because I mean we wanted to go out and eat and then um it was like
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3:30 and which is like the time where everything's closing is what the
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restaurants are open during the siesta time but nothing else is. And we're like they're like the restaurant's closing in
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like 4 minutes and we were like what what do you mean we need to eat? And they're like that's the siesta time.
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That's and they had probably closed the kitchen like an hour ago as well. Like so the cafe might have been open but you weren't getting any. So re reading about
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the siesta and knowing about a siesta is very different from experience it where you're trying to live and do things I
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think and it is an adjustment for sure right because we were at that that the thing and thank god we weren't trying to go shopping cuz then we tried to do that
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the next day. I was like, let's go start looking for furniture. And 3:30, what a perfect time to go out in the day and
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look for furniture and shutters everywhere we can find. And I think it's
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more difficult, I think, if you come from America where it is almost everywhere, a 24-hour 24/7 culture. You
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can find something to do, something to eat pretty much all day and all night if you live anywhere near a city. So I
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think it's I think it's more of an adjustment coming from America because when I go back to England, you know, there are, you know, everything things
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close earlier and things and that you can't do certain shopping and and stuff like that. So, but coming from America,
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I think it's an adjustment and it takes a while for your brain to like twist.
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Yeah. And but it's also weird, too, is that things are, you know, the shops are closed from the 1 to 4 siesta time,
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whatever it really truly is. I don't know. I feel like it kind of shifts depending on the store, but then also
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you're like if you want to buy a TV at 9:30 at night, you can because they were closed those other hours. So, a lot of
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these stores are open until 10:00 p.m. Like like the big department stores open at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night. And
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you're like, well, I guess if everyone's getting off at work at 8, they have to go. Yeah. And out in the out here, I
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would say everything's everything closes for Siesta maybe opens up again around 5:30, but then it all closes again around 9:30. Mhm. as far as if you want
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to do any little shops and things like that. So, it's not as late as the city. And I would imagine you've got certain
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shops and places that might kind of kind of merge into the siesta a little bit sometimes that maybe there are certain
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things you can do in the city during siesta, but out here it is dead as a dawn. Like that's it. in here. It's like
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the chain stores were going to be open like your Zara and H&M's, those kinds of stores in the center of town might be
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open, but there are plenty of, you know, high street stores that are closed during Siesta in the middle of the
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touristy section of the city, too, because that's how we're going to do it. And and we've been here 5 years, and
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it's still I still sometimes have to like remind myself at a that if I suddenly I might have that feeling, oh,
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I just need to go do something and then look at the time, I'm like, oh, okay, now I need to wait. So I it's not I don't even after 5 years it's not
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completely built in yet. No. No. We're going on two, right? Or three. How many
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years did you go to movie? We're going on two. And I wanted to go get something printed the other day and I and there's
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a printer shop right around the corner from the the apartment and I went there and all shutters and it was like 4:30
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and I'm like still but we aren't offices I guess everything's closed but like why
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would they be closed? Like I mean printing needs to get done during the day and well I next morning cuz I wasn't
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coming back at 6:30 to get my printing done. I was done for the day. My kids are home. I'm cooking dinner, right? You
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know. Well, and and funnily enough like I needed to I needed to get I needed Zena to get some photos taken um for
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something we'll talk about uh another one of the one of these things. Um we needed photos and she gets out of school
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at 4:30 but things don't open till 5:30, right? So, I have this time that I would
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love to just go straight from school and get things done and I can't, right? And
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because of where we live, I either then have to wait around somewhere and get a coffee or something until things open or
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I have to go home, drive home and then drive out again to do it because of that time frame of when school gets off and
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when siesta's over. So, that's a little that's something that I, you know, sometimes it's like, "Oh, this is a
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bummer. I wish I could just go do this now, right?" And with that siesta time, that's when
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people are eating. And then if you get to the restaurant late, but like you know, and at 5, you're like, I could use
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a snack now. They're like, nope, kitchen's closed. We can we can serve you a awa kong gas, but that's all
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you're getting. Oh, you can get a sevea as well. Come on. You can always get verano or whatever. But you're not
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getting you're not getting the patatas bravos on the table next to you because
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yeah, the cook went home. But it works. you get used to. It does.
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It does. It does work. I mean, it's nice in in some ways, I think. Right. But I think if you're sitting at home uh
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wanting to come here, don't worry about it right now, but you will find it when you get here. Absolutely. Yeah. I think
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that's very true. Um I think another thing that I wish I knew, we were very optimistic about learning Spanish. Okay.
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Um and for and I and I really thought I I didn't have much of a base. I had
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learned Spanish like when I was 17 and so I had a little bit of knowledge of
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Spanish but that was about it and I hadn't really spoken it even though I lived in LA a bit. I hadn't really
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spoken it for anything other than getting my car fixed in LA I think occasionally. And so I was thinking you
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know we were going to come over and we were going to take immersive classes and really get into it. Now, that wasn't
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possible because of when we came, but I think, you know, you think, oh, everyone says like Spanish is probably the
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easiest language to learn if you're English and also if you're living in the country, there's no way you won't learn
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it. So, you have this mindset that if you're living in the country, you will learn the language at some point, like
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quite quickly. That has for me that that has not been the case. We put our kid into an English-speaking school, so all
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of her friends speak English, even if they're Spanish. She has a lot of Spanish friends, but they all speak English. There's a few parents where
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I've been able to practice my Spanish with, but we're not immersed in in Spanish. We're speaking English in the home. So, exactly. It's And I It's
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difficult. I agree. I mean, I thought and and I will say we we toured many a
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school before we got here and they they made this big promise that, oh, within two years, your kids will be fluent. And
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that was across the board. The schools were telling us that and we're two years in and now. My oldest does speak a lot
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more than me, but she's also a teenager who doesn't want to speak. So, so her English might be declining, too. Right.
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But, but like we'll leave a store and she's like, "You were so embarrassing, Dad." You are embarrassing. Let's be
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honest. Well, that's part of my job, too. It's, you know, absolutely. But she she'll leave, "That's not how you say
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it. You were supposed to say it this way." And I'm like, "Well, I didn't hear you chiming in. At least I'm using what
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little I have." Exactly. That's so true. You're supposed now. know all of this and I'm getting bered on the street when
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you could have actually helped your father out. Just saying. There you go. And I think you could like to that
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point, you can definitely get to the point where you can get things done and you can communicate and you can ask for things and you can grocery shop and
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maybe you can go into the the town hall and maybe get some paperwork done or something. But the the fluency that I
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was expecting that I thought I would get to where I would be able to just sit around with Spanish people and chat and
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and read more in peace in Spanish. Is that what you're hoping for? Yeah. I mean, that is not a reality. I think
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especi if you're and I it's not an age thing per se. It's not because we're old
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and we can't learn. It's because we're older and we have a lot of stuff going on. So, I you know, if we were 20 and we came here, yeah, it might be very
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different because you could maybe just go to school all day and you might meet a lot of Spanish people and you're single and you're meeting people and and
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things and it might happen that way. But when you're older, we're out of the world. We're not. We have our families. We have our thing that's going on. We're
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isolated with our English speaking and and we have mostly expat friends because
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of these schools. I mean, you know, because of the schools that we have, we're drawn to the expat. There's these expat communities and hangouts and all
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of all of us trying to get together to to acclimate to a new country and a new life and that shared experience. So, and
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the Spanish friends I have speak a lot of English and you know, so it's it's and the ones that and the ones that
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don't the the the the Spanish the the Spanish parents of your kids of your
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kids' friends. Did I say that right? My brain went like in a big old loop. Um if if you if there are some of them that
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don't speak English, you might you're not going to socialize with them as much. So you might meet them at birthday parties and things and get to practice
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with them, but you're not going to be just like hanging out and doing stuff when it's that sort of awkward. So we're
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we're actually in the process now. So we've been here 5 years and um Zena was
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like eight when we got here and we went into an English speaking school. And because one of the things that I really
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wanted for her was to be fluent, not not capable in Spanish, but fluent, like natively fluent in Spanish by the time
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she's 18, we have made the decision to pull her out of the English- speakaking school and move her into a Spanish
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school now. Wow. And that was that was a tough decision to make because obviously she has loads of friends in the school
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and it's a hard thing to do and she's being a real trooper about it and we're we're going to do it. and her Spanish.
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Of course, she does have more Spanish now than when she got here. So, that's a bonus for her within the transition.
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But, you know, deciding to switch schools after 5 years of being here is is is difficult. That's a difficult
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decision to make for sure. But that's what we're going to do now in order to get her Spanish because her Spanish is
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never going to be fluent, right? Going to an English speaking school. Then my
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oldest one's going to be a sophomore in high school, like American high school, right? next year which and I've toyed
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with I mean I've I've had that battle too of like you know if they if she was much younger I would have done the
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public school thing or a Spanish concertado or something like that but I was so fearful of the acclamation of
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life here and then being thrown trigonometry being taught in Spanish and and all of that I was like I I no but
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now I'm seeing that oh I would maybe I should have let her just completely fail a whole year of school to to see where
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she's up but now I can't move or they're happy. They love their school. I love the school. It is it is what it is. But
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um it's literally the same process. You're you're thinking about all the things that we thought about that everyone thinks about and then and then
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you're going through the proc exact same process that we did while she has all her friends there. I mean it's it is a
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tough thing. But to think that I just want I do want to mention that I wish I knew before I moved here that it would
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be much harder to learn Spanish. I agree for the kids. I don't know where you've heard they said it's the English the
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easiest of the language to learn because it's not because I've taken classes and
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there are they just throw these words around these sentences where they don't belong. I mean the one thing that I will
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say is easy is there is some of like the the um
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base words are are similar and I I I got in trouble by my Spanish teacher for one
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time saying this in class. like just to add an a a mete after any English word
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and it's a Spanish word like obviously is javmente like just throw it around and put that and she was like that's not
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how you do it. I'm like really really no but I love that you try that and you totally just throw words out there and
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Jawat is the same way. You both have this confidence of like just throw words out there and often when I it's true. I
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mean I I I don't know what a word is in Spanish. I look it up. It's the same word as it is in English, just
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pronounced completely differently. But if you don't pronounce it that way, they're not going to understand it. Right. But you like you are speaking
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like Wait, what was the one we were just talking about uh the other day? Wiffy. Was it? Oh, Wiffy. Yes. That was so fun.
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Yeah. I mean, it took me a while because there So, Oh, an an app that. You should probably tell the audience what um Wiffy
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is. A Wi-Fi. They're Wi-Fi. that if you go in and ask for Wi-Fi, they look at you like you just came off of a boat
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from Mars, right? And and the same with appe, right? It's like it's not an app. So, it's just little those are little
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things. The app pay really kills me because it's short for app, which is like applic. And so,
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you just made a aviation an abbreviation longer than the word
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itself, but it sounds so cute. I think whippy and ape sound so much cuter than what we're saying. But it is adorable
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and they are adorable here. So that does help. Yeah. So just know those two words when you're trying to do things here.
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It's you're not looking for Wi-Fi for your house. You're looking for wiffy. Wiffy. Wiffy. And in England you're
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looking for broadband. It's so confusing. It's just Yeah, you got to change it. You got to change it up a little bit. But I I think that's one of
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the things I think everybody thinks, "Oh, my child will learn because everyone's telling me, especially like you had the same experience from the
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school, that they will learn." Oh, yeah. They'll learn. They get immersed. Don't worry about it. It it isn't. I haven't
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seen that happening to anybody that I know that's in the international schools unless they are um
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we Azena has one friend that is very very outgoing and she loves football and
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she loves loves loves football. So she joined a football league outside of the school and that is so if possibly if you
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have young boys are going to that are going to be really into football and they're very very outgoing, it's possible they could learn a lot of
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Spanish through doing that if they're going to be doing that. Um but you really have to have the right type of
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personality and the right extracurricular activities. Cuz I put Zena, she did gymnastics outside of school. She's done other activities
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outside of school, but she manages to get through meeting and hanging out with other Spanish kids with like sign
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language or something, you know. And I will say it it just because I have two kids, so I have these comparisons. I'm
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always My older one is in ballet conservatory and it's in Spanish. The teacher will
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try to speak some English to her. Yeah. But that's really helped her because it's six days a week that she's at
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conservatory. So it's not just like a gymnastics for an hour. you can just wing, you know, get through it and and
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go on about your day. And my younger one has these once a week kind of classes and that is definitely it's not enough.
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And that teacher comes over and teaches them in English for a little bit, but you know, so she's not learning I will
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ironically say that my youngest is learning French much quicker than she's learning Spanish. So, you know, that
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makes complete sense and it's very strange, right? I mean, Zena's also learning French and that she seems to be
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enjoying learning French more than Spanish as well because she gets a lot and I mean and Zena's getting an hour of
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Spanish every day at school. So, when you count out the amount of hours that she's been having over the 5 years, one
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would think it would add up to being fluent. So, I it's not from lack of
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having classes. It's not from lack of a certain amount of effort, but you would need to put in a lot of effort into a
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lot of money and effort into tutoring and then also getting them out of the environment of your English speaking
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home and English speaking school in order for them to be practicing what they're learning from a tutor. And my
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kids have friends from all over the world, expat friends from all over the world, but the common language is the English. Even though they're from Russia
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or the Ukraine or Germany, they're all coming here with English because it's the English school. I will say that my
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youngest Paloma said the reason why she is learning French more and enjoying it
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more is that they are taught differently in that one is taught as a like you know ESL. It's a second language course and
25:20
the French is actually being taught the mechanics of the language. So she's learning it in a in a you're not
25:26
supposed to learn to speak it right now but this is how you do everything in the language versus let's get you into
25:33
conversation. So I think for me when I took the Spanish classes um it was throwing too much information where I
25:40
wanted the science. I'm like give me the science of the language. It all depends on how you learn, right? Yeah. Yeah. So
25:46
when I Yeah. And I think I think just I think that's the point of that really was like it just have an idea of what
25:52
kind of fluency you're looking for for your kids. Especially for yourself you can manage that yourself. But for your
25:58
kids you only have a certain amount of time and a certain window of opportunity. Like we figure at this point with a 13-year-old, we have a
26:05
window of opportunity right now to move her, right? Which we won't have in a year or so. Like you don't have with
26:10
your eldest. Like it just right now we are in this window of opportunity to move and we're just going to suck it up and do it. Because if you want complete
26:18
fluency for your kids that it's something to consider if you're just if you just want them to get by in Spanish,
26:24
then you're fine. They can probably do that in an international school. Do international school. And and you know
26:30
we can also say that there are it you know there are a lot of uh major programs taught at universities
26:36
throughout Europe. So if your goal is to stay here and have your kids go to college university in the EU there are a
26:43
lot of programs and a lot of universities that teach majors in English. So it's it but it does limit
26:48
you especially in Spain like Valencia has majors that are taught in English but we haven't gone down that road yet
26:54
to find out what they are be like these are the courses you're taking for the rest of high school right that are
27:01
available to you that's one way to do it that's I guess I should put that on my note list look at the classes it's going
27:07
to expand I'm sure over the next few years but for me it's not it's not yes you can do that but it if you don't if
27:13
you're not fluent in Spanish you are completely limiting yourself to who you can be friends with, who you're socializing with. I've noticed I've
27:20
noticed, you know, making choices and not making choices of things because something's going to be in Spanish and not jumping in with kids that she could
27:27
easily be jumping in with. And and that for me is is um not really an acceptable
27:34
situation when we're considering when we're living here forever. So for me, that doesn't make sense and that's why
27:40
we're moving schools because we're not moving in a year. We're not going back to somewhere else. and she if she wants
27:46
to go to school in Spain, she needs to be able to have access to all the people in that college to have to hang out with
27:53
and with English and Spanish. Then you do, right? And and and agreed and I um
27:59
you know I I wanted them to be fluent, right? Like I wanted them to have that
28:05
because that was part of this opportunity is you learn another language which is just only going to increase your opportunities in life,
28:11
right? That was another reason of moving here. That was the joy. boy. I'm like, they're going to learn it and they haven't learned it yet. So, we're going
28:17
to figure out. But what I've started doing is when I text them, I go to Google Translate and then text it in Spanish. So, they get the English and
28:22
text it. So, I'm forcing Spanish on them on their text messages and on myself and on myself. Yeah. And then then you start
28:29
recognizing like my Spanish is horrible, but people laugh at me. I hope with me and but I get my point across. I'm
28:36
starting to speak um as we say in America, the Spanglish. So, I'm starting to throw like speak like uh to my
28:43
Spanish friends that speak English. I'm like I'm just starting to throw Spanish words in my English sentences just to
28:50
get them and they're they think it's cute and I'm like I'm trying it's cute now.
28:56
I learn almost all of my Spanish through WhatsApp and translating and sending messages back and forth in Spanish.
29:01
That's literally where I've learned almost all of my Spanish at this point and then obviously practicing it. But,
29:07
you know, since um most of my friends are speak some English, you're you're stuck with me because we both speak
29:13
English together. Sorry. Sorry. One day we'll do an
29:19
episode in espanol. Oh my gosh. We'll stay English. It's English.
29:24
[Music]
29:31
Well, speaking of speaking of the Spanish people, I think one of the things one of the reasons that we moved we picked Spain to live in was because
29:37
we were um we we thought that we we really thought and knew that the Spanish
29:43
people are really really nice and that is very true and that is something that
29:49
I I thought I knew and I'm glad was correct before we moved that actually turned out to be correct and I just
29:56
think that is has been such a blessing as well about how kind Spanish people have been to us as we've transitioned
30:02
and been here and been looking for things and trying to get things done and it's been and just yeah it's been that's
30:08
that's thank goodness that's true right we they had I've had nothing but really nice experiences for sure with the
30:15
Spaniards I mean even when we moved in and we we thought we lost one of our cats the day we moved in because oh my
30:21
gosh it had found back to the cats back to Loskatoss um well you could just
30:26
picked up another one on the corner. So, the corner. Yeah, that one looks kind of like ours. And we
30:33
couldn't find the cat. And I I may have told this story before, but it had found a way to get underneath the kitchen
30:39
cabinets under like got in the kitchen cabinet and then crawled from behind to get under. So, we couldn't find we
30:45
looked every now mind you, we had just moved in, so we had no furniture. There was nowhere for this cat to hide. And so, we're running up and down the but
30:51
we're yelling something. Maybe we left the door open for a little bit and it it ran out. And so we're going yelling in
30:58
the in the stairwell, you know, Raven, Raven, where are you? And one of the neighbors downstairs, little old couple
31:04
came out. And they they speak not a lick. I still see them all the time. They speak not a lick of of of English
31:09
whatsoever. And he wrote a little sign for me to put on the street. And he like
31:16
he's like, "Hold on, hold on, hold on." And then he came, he had the sign written. He's like, "Put a picture." Basically, he was telling me to put a
31:23
picture of the cat on this poster and put it outside and people will find your cat for you. Oh my gosh, how nice is
31:30
that? And then we found it under the cabinets cuz it was in the house. It was in the apartment the whole time. It was
31:36
underneath the kitchen cabinets like Yeah. in this weird space. And he'd found some absolutely ridiculous place
31:42
to hide like cats do. The hard the move was hard on him. Asher, um, our other
31:47
cat, the move was not hard on and he was running around and even on the boat and in hotels and everything, he was fine
31:54
and Raven hid the entire time. It took him a couple weeks to be like, "Okay, I'm cool now." Yeah. And we had like I
32:02
mean we had several experiences where we I mean not just the the friends that we've met that are Spanish that have helped us with a lot of things locally.
32:08
But we we were wandering around Sagunto one day looking for this place again to take photos um because you know needing
32:15
some sort of passport photos for things and we couldn't find it. It just wasn't
32:21
the the map wasn't taking us where we want to go. And we this this old lady was like you know clearly we're lost
32:27
foreigners and she's like what are you trying to find? and and we showed her what we were. She's like, "Oh, okay. I'll take" and she's like, "Just follow
32:33
me." Like, she wasn't going to try and explain it. And she walked us like 10 minutes to this thing in the completely
32:39
the opposite direction. And I'm like, "That is the nicest the nicest thing." And we've had people in the grocery
32:45
store that are you just the people working in the grocery store just, you know, we need something. They're not like, "Oh, over there aisle 20 over
32:52
there, right?" It's like, no, no. They walk you there and make sure that it is the thing that you were looking for. And
32:58
as we've stated before, we need them to because they don't put things where they belong.
33:04
Oh, you need lemon juice? Sure. Buy the battery acid there. I found cream in the
33:09
refrigerated section today, which was super weird. Like cream for your coffee or cream for your face. Like cream for
33:15
your coffee. Like cream for cooking. Oh, that is a nice thing. You put your
33:22
cream for your face in the fridge when in the summer and cool off that way. Well, let's talk about that. One thing
33:27
else I wish I would know, we did do a web a weather episode before, but we can say I didn't think it was going to be as
33:32
hot and humid as I didn't realize. I mean, I looked at the temperatures for a
33:38
year before we moved and I said, "These are similar to to LA, so we'll be fine. It's a lot more humid than I thought."
33:44
And I know you're from DC. No, it's not. Where the where we're going to argue about this again. I'm sure we've argued
33:50
about this already. But if you're coming from a drier climate than say the swamps of DC, this is it's a it's it's a lot
33:56
more humid than you think it's going to be and the heat is feels hotter and the cold feels colder cuz it's really
34:03
temperature- wise not that cold, but for me it's Well, that's a fair way to put it. I mean, if you do come from
34:08
literally the swamps of DC, you know, it is nothing really compares to that. I mean, you just step outside, but also
34:16
there everything we had was air conditioned, right? you know, your house, your car, the next person's
34:21
house, the restaurant, everything is air conditioned. So, here there's not so much. You don't walk you're not constantly walking in and out of
34:27
freezing buildings here. So, you also I think I think personally that gives your body the ability to acclimatize a little
34:35
better cuz it but it's not that humid. It's not that humid. So, yeah. I don't know if you could acclimatize to DC. No,
34:42
that's I've been there. And I've also lived in New York in the summer in Manhattan. So, Oh my god. Yeah, it's
34:47
nothing. So, it's nothing like those, but it is more humid than LA. But you don't want to wear white t-shirts in the
34:53
summer here in this city because you'll expose yourself. That's That'll be a white t-shirt concert. What t-shirt
34:58
competition? People like, "Why do you wear black?" I'm like, "Because I'm not obscene." That's why I wear black shirts and navy blue shirts. If you want me in
35:06
a light pastel, catch me in the spring when it's when I'm not sweating. That's good for everybody to know. you
35:13
know what the weather is like here based on the color shirt that um Gana is wearing. And the people here Yes. And
35:19
the people here, they dress for the season and not the weather. So it might be 85 on April 22nd, but it's still
35:26
spring. So they're still wearing like a light puffer jacket and you're like, it's not why are you doing that? Right.
35:31
And then in the winter you're like, it's a beautiful day in the high 60s and they're like in a fur coat, you know,
35:37
basically. Yeah. Um people I mean I've heard a lot of people talking about how for instance the Malaga area that down
35:43
there is a lot lot hotter than here and I don't know how much hotter. So and when we're talking about like we're
35:49
talking about Valencia we're not from we haven't been living year round than any other parts of Spain. So what the
35:55
weather's like and what the humidity is like in those areas I don't know. But here in Valencia I would say it's a
36:00
little bit hotter and a little bit cooler but it is very pleasant really. I mean, and if you're coming from
36:05
Wisconsin, it's gorgeous and you know, you're it's going to be amazing. So, exactly. Not that it's not, it's just
36:11
it's just different. You know, in LA, I didn't use the air conditioner as much as I'm using it here in the summer. And
36:18
and and we and and it doesn't shift, right? The weather doesn't shift. It's hot for four months. It's you're not
36:24
getting a cool day. Right. Right. Right. Right. And I think the other thing that
36:29
has helped and this goes back to a little bit the use of Spanish and everything. The other thing I wish I knew because I was very very stressed
36:34
about communication here. I was very very stressed about whether we would be able to communicate. That was obviously
36:41
one of the reasons that we picked a English- speakaking school because of of our very very low level of Spanish for
36:47
all of us. Um, and the it was a bit intimidating to even imagine communicating with with the school and
36:54
all those sorts of things in Spanish. And obviously here in Valencia and Valenciano just seemed like let's not
37:01
even go down that road, right? Um, everything here is done on WhatsApp. If you're trying to find a plumber, if
37:07
you're I mean other than going into city hall and getting stuff done, I mean literally everything is done on WhatsApp and it is amazing and I love it. Right.
37:15
I love it too because you can translate everything, get back to them. Um, and
37:21
it's it is amazing. What frustrates me is our Americans since no one in America
37:26
uses it. I have certain people that refuse to get WhatsApp to communicate with me. And so they're using this
37:32
Google thing and they're like, "Oh, send me a video of the kids." I'm like, "You are only you're only contacting me through my Google voice number, which I
37:39
can't send videos on. Just get WhatsApp." Oh, well, you know, I I'll never use it. Well, you're never talking
37:44
to me or see or seeing my children ever again. The rest of the world is using WhatsApp. Get it? It's free. I know.
37:50
Yeah, it is. And it's something I mean, it's if because it's it's not embedded there. So, I totally get it. But it's
37:55
like here I've had funny situations where I've like I've coordinated I've got the name of a plumber off of a neighbor. I've communicated with the
38:02
plumber in SP in my brilliant Google Translate Spanish, right? So, my Spanish is probably perfect. And then the
38:08
plumber has come and he's like, "Your Spanish is so great." And I'm like, "Yeah, no, it's not." Now, can we We're
38:14
like standing in front of each other communicating via WhatsApp. WhatsApp and Google Translate. Well, we And I love
38:19
the the Google Translate, whatever translate app you're using because I just had my air conditioner fixed and the the guy come he speaks not a lick of
38:26
English. Um except for hello. And I say, and he he he's just speaking
38:34
into my phone on the Google Translate. And then I'm doing the same to him and we're getting But, you know, the job got
38:39
done. he's that cold air and he's gone and it it's fine. Um but you know that
38:45
is a thing I in those moments um
38:50
neither good or bad or anything. It's I just it's one of those moments that you're like
38:55
people fight about this word but it's like I felt like now I feel like an immigrant. Now I know what it's like to
39:00
be in America without speaking the language, right? like where you're trying to get these simple things done
39:06
and WhatsApp and Google Translate makes things easier but you are you I feel you
39:12
no one's making me feel lesser than but I do feel lesser than right like I want to be able to communicate and so there's
39:18
this kind of moment of like I'm not at par and I want to get there so there is a little what's the word I'm looking for
39:25
not um I don't want to say I feel bad about myself but you you don't you feel
39:31
disconnected you know you feel disconnected and you I mean, you're going to laugh because you're I mean, England and America, it's the same
39:36
language. It is not the same language. So, I was an expat I was an expat in America for 25 years. I mean, when I
39:43
first moved over there, the world wasn't as global as it is now as well. And and
39:48
it was constantly like I I had to completely change my vocabulary to communicate with people properly. And
39:54
again, like you're saying, I was always somebody that wasn't from there and you could always tell that. So even when you
40:00
got the vocabulary going and you feel like you've sort of got it going, you will never you will everyone always knows that you're not from a place. It
40:06
doesn't really matter how great your language skills are. It's just you always are. And I think that's something
40:11
that's been really nice about you know talk to the Spanish people, make Spanish friends and ask them for things because
40:18
if you only ask other expats for things, you you will you may likely end up spending more money on things and doing
40:24
things like that, I think. And that took me a while to learn that one because I have definitely been overbuild for
40:30
things when I first arrived. And um I'll be honest, I had to do my taxes and my
40:35
banker who I go to a bank and she's very involved in my life. She calls me every
40:40
few months to see if I need something. It's very strange, right? And I love it. It's very nice. But I was like, "Oh, she
40:48
just called me out of the blue to say hi." And I was like, "You know what? I do need to get my taxes done." And she's like, "I'll handle it for you. give me
40:54
your information because if they find out you're an American, you're going to pay five times as much. So, let me get you the Spanish price. And she totally
41:01
did. And I was like, "Oh my god, that's amazing." So, that's the other thing you want to ask Spaniards who they use the I
41:08
mean, there is a And you know, I'm not I'm not knocking the hustle if that's what how you're making money off of
41:13
expats and you're providing a service in English to help them. I get it. But I I
41:18
don't have um unlimited funds. So, yeah, this happens all over the world. This is not this is not unique to Spain. This is
41:25
if you're living somewhere, like I said, I've had this experience. I've I've I've lived as an expat most of my life. So,
41:31
it's it's a little different everywhere, but it's also very very similar, right? I mean, I'll bring a side note. I
41:37
remember my nanny back in or I hate to say nanny, babysitters for my my girls back in LA told me that there's a whole
41:43
price structure for neighborhood. So, if she got called to Beverly Hills, her rate's 35 bucks an hour, but in my
41:49
neighborhood it was 20. And then in another neighborhood Yeah. I mean, that makes sense. Yeah, it does.
41:56
I mean, you're going to charge more to people that can afford more. Yeah. Right. Right. And that's the that's what
42:02
you got to do sometimes. So, yeah. And I will say when I moved here, um, going
42:08
with the sp the Spanish being helpful and all that, there was a there was a change and I don't know if this goes
42:15
with the wish I would have known, but I'm telling you when you get here, tell people that you're living here. if you
42:20
are going to move here because how they approach you in the store, they're like, "Oh, here's another church." They won't they will be I don't want to say rude,
42:27
but they're not going to be as friendly. And when I would walk into the Elc Court or something when we first moved here, I
42:33
oh, I'm living here now. Their attitude completely changed and they were much more helpful and much more sweet because
42:39
they realized you're someone who's a part of their community. And especially Valencia is a small city that is still
42:45
very much a small town mentality of community and you're here. It's very
42:52
true in the neighborhood the neighborhood that people wave at me at the grocery store. I I have my I have my
42:58
clerks that are usually there and they're like, "Hey, how are you doing?" Right. Yeah. Don't wait for them to like figure that out because you've now been
43:04
here a year and they've seen you every week. I mean, when we moved into our house, like the area that we live is a
43:09
is a summer um is a summer spot for Spaniards. It has been that's the historically that's what what this area
43:16
is and our house was a summer house. So, um you know, when we moved into the
43:21
house and we were started meeting neighbors and they and we were like, you know, like, hey, hey, like whatever. Oh
43:26
crap, like another another foreigner or something, you know. And then like and they were like, oh, you're going to be we're going to be living here year
43:31
round. And their faces would just change like you're going to live here year round. Oh my god, that's amazing. And suddenly we had like we were friends
43:38
with everybody, you know, because we're actually living here longer than some of the Spanish people that have houses in our community, right? And you're like
43:44
fresh me like I don't have to talk to Maria anymore. Exactly. Their families have known each
43:50
other since like, you know, hundreds of years. So it does it does make a difference and
43:56
it definitely helped us to sort of really become friends and have and have a community here where we live because
44:03
the fact that we are moving and becoming part of the community and engaging our neighbors and and being helpful and
44:09
being part of it just makes a big difference. Now I want to ask a question too. this is, you know, after you've
44:14
moved and you've moved around and a lot and and been expat and and in in other
44:20
countries. Um, what would you say about do you have any
44:26
feel of isolation here or friends kind of drop off like losing communication with people you may have been close
44:33
with? Like how did you handle that? Has that happened or it's just been or has
44:38
it been a common experience for you over the years? Yeah, I would say for me
44:44
personally, I lived in LA which was a for me a transient place. Most of the
44:50
people that I knew that lived there were not from not from LA and a lot of them
44:56
have most of them have since left. I think I was one of my first in my friendship group to leave. But that part of that was because I knew people they
45:03
weren't all going to be there in like 10 15 years or something. And then I'm obviously we moved to DC which is very I
45:09
mean people are just coming and going. I mean, there's people and you've got the whole military, you've got the government, people are just coming and
45:14
going all the time. And Zena has had several friends leave before we leave
45:19
from DC before we even came here. And then so I find here very similar like
45:25
she has obviously her I feel like her Spanish friends are very solid, but the in the expat community, yeah, people
45:31
might get a job somewhere, but it hasn't been more than other places that I've lived personally. But I've lived in
45:37
those sorts of places, right? in my in my experience in LA was different on my fronts. I had lived there for so long
45:42
and had this community of people that had lives and careers there. So, I didn't know a lot of people that had left. But what I guess what I'm trying
45:49
to also ask is like since you've moved here, the people from where you were, have they dropped offs?
45:56
Because I have um I will say since we've moved here, we've isolated some there's just people that we don't talk to
46:01
anymore. And that's what happens when you move. But some of these people I've known for years and years and it's a
46:07
time change. It's not it's not it's not a it's not a bad comment. It's just how life is. And some of that took a little
46:14
bit to get used to of like oh and or I just can't talk to these people especially the ones on the West Coast because the time change. If they have a
46:21
job I'm never speaking to them and they're like they can't call me after work. I'm not taking a call at 3. So our friendships have you know changed a
46:28
little changed. Yeah. I think you know who your you know who you're really I think you probably know when wherever
46:34
you are living who your core friends are that are going to be your friends forever regardless of where you live and
46:39
that for me I I knew that already from moving to America that there's you know
46:45
certain friends that I had in England and same thing and back then it was much harder and then now it's like yeah I
46:51
mean I've had friends we've had friends move literally from here into the city that we've lost touch with right because
46:58
it's just too inconvenient. And at the beginning you're like, "Hi, what's to it?" And then it's like, "Oh, I can't make it." And then eventually you're
47:04
just kind of like, "Then they made and they obviously made friends in the city and we stuck with our friends out here." So we still know them, but it's not
47:11
those people don't have to necessarily leave the country or put move to another part of the country. And you might have
47:16
experienced this in LA. LA is huge. I had friends move out into the valley. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And then gone. Yeah. Now
47:23
it's different. Now the valley is like Brooklyn. You can move to the valley and still have friends. But yes, I lived in there 22 years and I remember the first
47:30
when I first moved there, if you lived in the valley, you that was suicide. That was social suicide. Yeah. And and
47:36
LA's still that way. Like people who live by the beach will not you pride themselves at not going past one
47:41
boulevard. Yeah. We don't pass Lincoln. I haven't passed Lincoln in 10 years. I'm like, okay. But u but yes, it is
47:47
there is that and and I think about because we're renting a place now and I really would like to buy something and
47:52
I'm and I'm already kind of pre-thinking that of like we're going to lose these
47:58
friends that in our neighborhood then I'm like I don't know if I'm ready to lose this friend if we even just move to the other side of the city cuz it's that
48:04
we're and and those people won't be as convenient. Yeah. And I and that that is what happens in in life I guess for
48:10
sure. And I I don't find it that different here. Um, so that isn't something and when I when we were
48:15
thinking of moving over here, I knew pretty much and I think it's I think I'm pretty correct on which friends I still
48:22
have from there from DC that that we're still connected. Obviously, we're not seeing each other as often, but we
48:28
stayed connected and we will stay connected in a in that way. But yeah, um
48:34
it was pretty much how I imagined, right? Yeah. I mean, I wasn't shocked by
48:39
any of it per se. You know how it is cuz I've moved around a lot as well. And I will say when I had kids, a huge group
48:46
of friends just stopped communicating with me. Not in a bad way, just because you're not going to invite me out to a bar on a Tuesday night that the
48:52
invitation stopped because I'm not going. Right. I think that's an equal adjustment to moving. Yeah. Yeah. Very
48:58
much so. Yeah. If you've gone through the situation of having kids and losing friends, moving to another country will
49:03
be pretty much like that. Right. Right. And and and here though the things that
49:09
um and it's not here I think goes with what you were saying as well is that because the expat community and this is such a small city that the expat
49:15
community itself is small and they will move people will move because of jobs or they just don't like it or or or it was
49:22
only for a year to begin with that you can develop relationships with and then they leave. So, um I would also suggest
49:29
to people um have a broader group of like really get out there and meet as many people because you don't know who's
49:34
going to stick around and that's very true. Yeah. You know, and we're losing very good friends and and they're
49:40
they're moving and it it breaks all of our hearts. So, if you're listening, how dare you? Um but they have life choices
49:48
that they have to make. They have to deal with their life. But, um people get jobs. Those are our easy dinner party
49:53
city friends, right? you know, like we love them, but they're like, "Oh, we know we can hang out with them." And so it's now I got to broaden
50:00
my base again, you know? Yeah. And I think and that I think you do, and that's I think it it works out for sure.
50:06
It it was kind of how I imagined. I think we did touch on this a little bit in another episode, but I think it's
50:12
worth worth bringing up because this is something I wish I knew before I moved. And I think a lot of people get very
50:17
attached to certain items and they really really really want to either bring over a bag of it or find it here.
50:24
And and I think um readjusting all the things that you use to things that you
50:30
find in Spain is just the best plan for in my opinion. And I I and it is but it
50:37
does take more time than you think to like find that toothpaste or deodorant
50:42
or whatever it is, right? So, it's just like all the time. Yeah, we had someone
50:48
last summer bring a bunch of stick deodorants and we're out and there was a fit in. Yeah, we're out. They're only
50:55
supposed to be for one daughter, but the other daughter was sneaking to they sticks was sneaking. So, now
51:01
there's none. We have a friend coming in July. Um, if she's listening, I'd be sending you a text message soon about
51:06
things we want you to bring. So, they're not willing to find a new one here, cuz this is this was the point of me bringing it up, which is go find
51:12
something you like. You're in the city. You can go shopping. You've got Doney, you've got Sephora, you've got all the
51:18
all these places to go find stuff. I think this is a yes. And you should acclimate, but also when you have
51:25
friends visiting, use them as mules and bring the stuff that you want. So that goes back to keep the friends
51:32
you have where you come from because you might need them to bring you things. And I wish I knew I had a lot more visitors
51:38
the first year than the second year. They have dwindled. The first year everyone's like I'll come visit you. Free place to stay in SP. It was
51:44
wonderful. We we had mules all coming all the time bringing stuff. Yeah. And we missed that whole thing cuz we came
51:50
during co. So everybody that was going to come visit us in that first year that I'm sure would have by the time CO was
51:56
over everyone was just not doing it. and we've missed that whole like rush of
52:02
people visiting from the place that you've come from which I think was a bit of a bummer right and you know going the
52:09
things getting used to things um what I wish I would have done like I I don't
52:15
regret anything that I got rid of I know you got rid of a lot more you came with suitcases we had stuff shipped over and
52:21
I'm very happy I had my art and all that stuff that's important to me but looking back there was a few books I wish I
52:27
would have kept Um, but retrospect, my daughters may not have ever wanted to read them. There's things I wish I would
52:33
have could have shared. Kitchen stuff for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Kitchen stuff. I wish I would have brought more kitchen
52:39
stuff. I like really And so buying those gadgets over again. So, I know we've talked about this another episode, but I
52:45
want to bring it up again. If you are going to move and ship, look at the cost of how much it is per cubic foot. And if
52:52
you can fill that cubic foot and it's 20 and you can fill it with a $100 worth of stuff, ship it because fill up fill up
52:59
those feet because you're gonna spend another hundred euros here and that that I I get angry like rebying certain
53:06
things when I had a contain you I didn't have a full container but we I could have slipped some other spoons and serving spoons and things you know and
53:13
also an array of an array of English books is is hard to find here. It is
53:18
very hard. So, it's not like you can't go and find an English book to read, but the array of what you might have had or
53:25
what you might want to have and and reread it. It would be better to bring that with you, especially in this city
53:31
because it is so small and still so very Spanish. I mean, there is Amazon and there is a selection there, but we don't
53:37
have like the the the $1 book shops at the thrift stores, you know, and so when
53:42
we were in England, I was begging my kids and they wouldn't go with me when we were in the winter. Like, let's go to
53:48
a thrift shop or like a used bookstore and like we'll bring a suitcase book of books and they're do that, Dad. And I
53:54
was like, well, why wouldn't you bring a suitcase full of lip glosses? Come on. I mean, you're just so boring. I know,
54:00
right? Well, we can get lip gloss here. Well, I think to that point, like one of
54:05
those things, um, speaking of friends and making new friends and and WhatsApp, this all kind of comes together in one
54:11
thing. I wish I had known how many fabulous WhatsApp groups there were for
54:16
everything. Our our class at school has a WhatsApp group. So, that puts you in touch with all the parents from the
54:22
school. Like, there's one in the city here just for like parents with teenagers, right? There's a there's I'm
54:28
part of a ladies group for of like of just ladies in our area of for us to
54:35
connect and do stuff together. I mean, it's just and those are all the places as soon as you meet people like ask them
54:41
for what whatever WhatsApp groups they're part of because those are a source of how do you find a plumber, how
54:47
do you find this, all the so you can get all this from the hive mind of these WhatsApp groups that are just for
54:53
everything and I love it for sure. And you Yeah, just put it out there. this is what I need and it ends with it. And then the expats themselves are very
54:59
helpful because we're all in this boat together. Um I think there's another topic, but I really think we should save
55:05
this for next week's episode maybe is
55:10
knowing about how to acclimate the kids from the schools. I feel like that should be an episode on itself, but
55:16
there's we have a wealth to talk about that. So, I think next week we should bring up um how to acclimate kids to
55:22
living in Spain, how we got them to move here on board and and after they hear, we've already we've already discussed
55:29
that they haven't learned Spanish like we wanted them to, right? We could talk about that again. It's very important.
55:35
Very important. Uh but I think that covers most of the things that I that I sort of wish I knew
55:42
because I think a lot of it is it's helps the level of stress. Um, and also speaking of things I wish I knew. Things
55:49
get done. gets done. Just don't worry about it. Like that we we're all
55:54
so stressed in the moving process and it's very hard to know the difference between stress and excitement and they
55:59
all kind of blend together in this very stressful feeling of emotions and you I
56:04
mean as long as you've got your visa sorted and you're legally allowed to live here, I mean everything else and
56:10
you got your kid in a school if you got kids I guess the rest of it will it will fall into place. And that's a very
56:15
Spanish way of thinking which was very hard for me. I'm I think we just end on this because I'm, you know, American and
56:23
you want things done yesterday and you want it done right and you want it this way and and and blah blah blah and the Spanish like like I will I will say this
56:30
renewing my visa. Mhm. It came 4 months after it had expired and everyone was
56:37
like, "Don't worry." And I'm walking around, like biting my nails and clenching my fist and worried and
56:43
sweating in the winter time cuz I'm waiting for this thing because I'm so nervous that we're going to be deported cuz this and the the visa people, the
56:50
people at the city hall, they're all like, "Don't worry, it will get taken care of." And and that's as an American,
56:57
not in our not in our way of thinking, not at all. And if you've never moved before, you can't imagine how things
57:04
fall into place really than they do. And I' I've moved enough that I wasn't that stressed about that, but I see the
57:10
stress and I was a little bit stressed. So I can imagine how much stress people have that might be coming from a
57:16
hometown, for instance. I mean, I can't imagine that kind of stress because I've moved enough times and I'm like,
57:22
whatever, it's it'll work out, you know, at this point. But and it does. It really really does. So, I mean, if you
57:28
could know that before you move that it will take care of itself and wherever you're moving, there are people that
57:34
will help you. And I will say that it's also the way of life here because and like we've moved a lot, right? So, we
57:41
know things will happen just in our experience, but you don't have anyone breathing down your neck. Like when we moved here, it took forever to get
57:48
forever. I think it was a couple weeks, but forever to get the electricity. I think the water took a month to get or two months even to get in my name,
57:55
right? It wasn't like the land like if this was back in the states, a landlord or someone would be yelling at you, why isn't this done yet? Why isn't this
58:01
done? And the landlord was like, don't worry about it. It'll get done. They'll bill it back. Don't worry. They'll they'll know when you're like freaking
58:07
out. I'm freaking out. I just want to be a good honest citizen. I don't want anyone breathing down my neck. He's
58:12
like, I'm not breathing down your neck. It'll happen. And every everyone else is like having coffee. It's Stop bothering
58:18
me about this. It'll get taken care of in September. Oh my god. Yeah. We had a we had a car breakdown in August once.
58:23
That was fun. Nobody would fix it. It was like, "Yeah, just don't like, okay,
58:29
so we just left it at the dealership and they're like, yeah, yeah, we only have like one person here. It'll get fixed at some point." And yeah, I was like,
58:36
"Yeah, it's August. Don't let things happen in August."
58:41
Well, I think that's enough. And if anyone has things they want to ask us about Yes. that specific thoughts and
58:48
fears and worries, um, let us know on our on our social media. send us a note or Yeah, we would love to have some
58:56
ideas about things that um you all are interested in. Until next time, AAO.
59:02
Aaego. Hey, can't get enough of us? Follow us
59:07
on Instagram and Facebook at rpane podcast and on our website.com, which we
59:12
will be updating with exciting new things as we grow. We would love for you to message us with any topics you would
59:18
like to hear about. See you next time. Bye.