You’ll get used to it.

When you have no other out, they say you’ll get used to it.

Get used to what?

Everything.

It’s amazing how you do. Get used to things that is, with enough time, you adapt to less. Or to acceptance, or to low expectations. Or to more than you expected. Or whatever you thought you wouldn’t get used to. Including some good things, not everything is bad you know.

Except for some things

Like what you say? Compared to what?

An apartment with no central heat or AC and wearing a coat in your own home.

Get used to it.

Warming your bed an hour before bed with an electric blanket so you don’t have frigid sheets. Sleeping with a hot water bottle. Stepping out of a shower in a cold bathroom. And wearing a coat nonstop to school or work and every business because there is no heat.

Get used to it.

Walking 3 miles a day on cobblestones and bricks to shop, get coffee, meet the teachers to ride share to the school because you have no car, and the only bus is at 6 am three hours before the school opens. No such thing as drive-through anything, walk to an Atm, walk to a pharmacy, walk to the grocery store. Walk your ass off every day.

Get used to it.

Waiting for the 3:45 bus home that never comes till p.m.

Get used to it.

Having breakfast at local taverns and bars

Get used to it (there is no Denny’s here)

No such thing as a fast meal. Sit down, relax for 2 hours to eat, who has a schedule to keep? Need something fast? Go home, make it yourself it’s faster.

Get used to it.

Carrying a bag to the store so you’re not charged 20 cents for them to give you a bag. And packing your bags yourself, and then walking blocks with just enough groceries you can carry by hand to walk up three flights of stairs.

Get used to it.

Taking a cool shower before bed and sleeping with a fan blasting your bed in the summer to stay cool before the oppressive heat makes you throw off your bed covers, and pull up your pajama shirt to get some cool air on your belly. Then wake up sweating all night anyway.

Get used to it.

Doctors that don’t get up from their desk to examine you, and five minutes consults with a disinterested stare.

Get used to it.

No pill bottles with your name on them and instructions from the doctor, on how to take your medicine. Remember your refills yourself, there is no Walgreens here, no reminder texts.

Eating fresh warm croissants with your coffee con leche and fresh squeezed Valencia orange juice for only 4 euros (yum). Did I say fresh Valencia oranges? Yes and yes from the farms right here.

Get used to it.

Having wine or whiskey and tapas at 8 am if you so choose.

Get used to it.

Buying endless fantastic wine for less than 6 euros a bottle

Get used to it.

There is no bacon and egg breakfast, your choices are tosta (toasted French bread) con butter, jam or tomato puree or tuna, or jam….

Get used to it.

Ice-cold tile floors in apartments, so you wear three pairs of socks.

Get used to it.

Waiting 15 minutes for a waiter to serve you and you never complain.

Spanish cuisine; paellas with meats, fish or rabbit or egg…, cocidos, stews, fish, seafood, ensalada mixta with artichokes or pomegranates, or asparagus all fresh from the neighboring farms…

Get used to it. (gladly)

The waiter never comes back to ask if you want another glass of wine to go with your delicious 3-course meal of paella, and cocido, and salad…

Get used to it.

The world closes from 2-5 pm for lunch and siesta time so you get nothing done.

Get used to it and take a nap too.

Never getting your packages on time, at the right address, or at all from Amazon as they bump delivery to a local delivery company or God forbid the local correo office (post office) who says “it’s not us.”

Get used to it.

No one ever uses voicemail, ever. Everything is in person via phone, what’s app, or go in person to get anything done.

Get used to it.

Cars abiding by the pedestrian walkways stringently and knowing you won’t get run over (yea!)

Get used to it.

Sitting outside at cafes even if it’s 40F to have your coffee.

Get used to it.

Learning the metric system See above.

Get used to it.

Websites that have no contact information for complaints at businesses. Websites with no online reservations so you have to call but only if you are fluent in Spanish.

Get used to it.

Registering a complaint of a business in an antiquated paper-bound “complaint book” instead of a website is normal.

Get used to it.

Trains that are late advertise “if we are 30 minutes or later we will refund your ticket 50%” but deny they were ever late despite missing your connection so they don’t have to pay the refund.

Get used to it.

Appointments for medical, internet, installations, plumbing etc. are usually 9-2 or 5-8p.m.. Only. Not a bad thing unless you want something done from 2-5 pm.

Get used to it.

Eating a three-course “menu del dia” for $11 euros including any drink and coffee or dessert. A Hell of a deal.

Get used to it (gladly)

Using a bidet, nuff said.

Get used to it.

Children out at midnight with or without the parents

Get used to it.

Eating dinner at 10 pm

Get used to it.

Fireworks for every event including kids shooting them off.

Get used to it.

Going deaf at a young age. (See above)

Get used to it.

Kissing openly in public like it’s the last time you will see them.

Get used to it.

Drinking in public

Get used to it.

Closing for a month in the summer no matter how important you think you are.

Get used to it.

Fiestas and holidays almost monthly with parades and fireworks at midnight keeping you up half the night.

Get used to it.

No sleep; Locals up all night till 6 am partying even during the week. They don’t sleep so why should you?  Wear earplugs to bed.

Get used to it.

Breaking out in a dance at the sound of any music anywhere.

Get used to it.

Waiting on buses or trains that are usually late.

Calling to make a reservation at a winery or an Olive mill for a tour. (Because they don’t use the webpage for that, go figure).  They can’t give you a schedule because they don’t know what “their schedule will be in 2-4 weeks” Call back in two weeks to find out only one week is open but it’s now booked and they don’t know their schedule in four weeks again, round and round we go…

Get used to it.

Getting huge discounts on travel to rural area hotels or bus and train rides offered by the gov’t intermittently to encourage travel and help the low-income. A sweet deal.

Get used to it (when it happens).

Trying for weeks to get a government appointment.

Get used to it.

Paying 2-3 times what you pay in the US for electricity.

Get used to it.

Dealing with mindboggling bureaucracy at every govt appointment.

Get used to it.

Waiting in line for an incessant amount of time for anything without complaint while the clerk has their “coffee” to hell with 20 ppl in line.

Get used to it.

Plumbers that are not licensed and don’t know what a P- trap is.

Get used to it.

Sewer smell in most apartments because of missing P- traps, (see above)

Get used to it.

No pasa nada and hasta mañana… relax, nothing is an emergency.

Get used to it.

Always a hug and Kiss on each cheek every time you meet or say goodbye, even if its only been an hour since meeting.

Get used to it.

Drinking coffee and socializing 5 times a day.

Get used  to it

Drinking fantastic wine for five euros a bottle

Get used to it, gladly.

Making coffee in an Italian espresso maker

Get used to it.

Hanging clothes out to dry on a clothesline instead of a dryer and wearing stiff clothes.

Get used to it

Washing dishes by hand

Get used to it.

Misunderstanding every Spanish conversation because they talk too fast or you know zero Spanish so you are always an outsider.

Get used to it.

Many small towns are beautiful with their own ruins and castles off the beaten path.  See them instead of the big cities.

Get used to it and explore.

So moving here there are things I thought Ide never get used to and somehow, yet I have.

Waiting without complaints. Expecting it to take weeks to get a government appointment and knowing the appointment will require everything but my blood type is expected.  So, I don’t stress anymore. Waiting on waiters to bring me another glass of wine, that one still raises my blood pressure.

The hugs and kisses to and from everyone you meet whether they are a new friend or an old one. Ive adapted my distance protocol and hold myself still to receive and give, the double cheek kiss no longer throws me off.

 2-4 pm heavy lunches. I got that down so does my growing belly. 10 pm dinners, no, still can’t get used to it.

Some things I thought Ide never get used to but have. Some things amaze me every day. Some things scare me.

Some things I admit I worry about getting used to. I think complacency for some things is dangerous. Namely the 6-foot diagnosis. You can read that in an earlier blog.

Be careful what you get used to. Suck up the good stuff, drink that damn cheap but excellent wine, smile often when no one understands you, and accept whatever you ordered in Spanish on the menu like you knew what you were ordering. Even if it’s pig ears.  Suck it up buttercup. Decide where to draw the line between frustration, anger, and exasperation.

Wear thick socks.

Get used to it.

Somewhere in Spain