Tag: #mylifeinspain

Surviving the Spanish Shutdown.
Travels 2018-2023

Surviving the Spanish Shutdown.

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You act as if we are fighting a different enemy and that yours will either weaken like a hurricane as time passes or that you are better prepared.

Bad news. The clock hasn’t started on your recovery yet. It won’t until everyone goes in their house and stays there.

Spain has been forced to not use ventilators on patients 80 and over. If that doesn’t lessen the load, the age limit will be lowered. How many people do you love that would be denied medical care?

This will be your reality too.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/06/europe/spain-coronavirus-drive-thru-funerals-madrid-intl/index.html

Believe it or not, Dan and I are so proud of Spain’s response to this. Sure, the government could have acted faster. But, we are surrounded by fellow citizens that have taken this seriously, followed the rules and as a result, our curve might be flattening. Today, we woke up to a glimmer of hope.

This is my last post for awhile. I hate the new tone my happy blog has taken. When I return, we will be traveling again and enjoying life in Europe. We will embrace how this has changed us and how our everyday lives that seemed so mundane in February were actually full of joy and adventure.

If we all do our part, this too shall pass. Please stay safe and stay home.

Love you,

Nan

Travels 2018-2023

Surviving the Spanish Shutdown: Day 19, I think

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I lost it yesterday.  The heaviness was too much for my shoulders.  The grief of my dog, my country and the world overwhelmed every cell in my body.  I feel vulnerable all of the time.  There isn’t enough I can do to protect my husband, my daughter and myself.  And on top of it, I am more “home-sick” than I have ever been.  The longer predictions of when life will return to normal, the longer it will be until I see my family.

And then I woke up this morning and felt better.  I hugged my husband and danced with my daughter.  We took the long route when we walked our two pups.  I baked a butternut squash to make into soup.  This evening, Dolly Parton is going to read Squirms her night time story.  The air is crisp and clean.  The sky is just about a blue as you can ever imagine.

I fell apart last night.  Love and gratititude put me back together today.

 

Travels 2018-2023

Surviving the Spanish Shutdown: Day 12

Nan2 Comments

What’s on my mind…

We are hanging in there. We are healthy and have food. All of our family and friends are healthy, so far, and also have food. This is more than 2800 people and their families can say today.

Everything feels irrelevant compared to this.

If you are healthy and your family is healthy and you all have food… count your blessings. You are ahead of so many…

We will love you and miss you forever, Murgatroid… you made our family whole.

Surviving the Spanish Shutdown: Day 6
Travels 2018-2023

Surviving the Spanish Shutdown: Day 6

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A letter to my fellow humans…

I would like to see my parents play with my daughter again. Someday soon is preferable. I want to see their shared joy and giggles. I want to watch how uncomfortable Squirms tongue kisses make them. I want to roll my eyes when they think her tantrums are funny and a payback.

I am heart sick that people are treating this so casually. Get your ass in your home and stay there until the numbers start to drop. Things are about to get bad. Really bad. The type of bad that you can’t even imagine. Prepare to be ridiculously uncomfortable and bored. Boredom is a privilege of those who are alive. And if you think it’s boring being quarantined, do you think it’s entertaining in the ICU?

This isn’t going to be over by April 1st. If we are lucky and we all do our part, we might just be able to enjoy the end of the summer outside. It sucks. But literally EVERY SINGLE DAMN PERSON ON THE PLANET IS DEALING WITH THIS TOO! This isn’t happening to you. The 800 people who died in Italy over the last 24 hours did not die to cause you discomfort. Stop being so selfish and get inside.

And stay away from my wonderful, selfless parents who would be devastated if they gave you a cold, let alone a deadly virus.

Surviving the Spanish Shutdown: Day 2
Travels 2018-2023

Surviving the Spanish Shutdown: Day 2

Nan2 Comments

Things that are on my mind…

Dan and I are considering signing up for YouTube TV so we can watch the Food Network and HGTV. We have lived in Spain for two and a half years and only had Spanish cable. It took two days of quarantine to break our will :).

I am loving all of the free museum tours and online classes that are being offered. I’m also making a list of companies that are going out of their way to help keep us (the world) from going a little crazy. I will post it in the next couple of days, in case there is something you might enjoy too.

Squirms starts online classes tomorrow from 11-1. She is 14 months old and her preschool thinks she is going to sit in front of a laptop and learn for two hours. I’m anxious to see if she will.

Of all things, our cheese supply is running incredibly low already. We didn’t realize we ate as much cheese as we do. Quarantine does lead to self-discovery.

I’m still very worried about the world.

Wishing you health tonight.

Love you.

Surviving the Spanish Shutdown: Day 1
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Surviving the Spanish Shutdown: Day 1

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Here is what’s on my mind today…

Squirms doctor reached out this evening, without any prompt from us, to make sure our family is feeling well. The Spanish healthcare system is second to none.

We are all still great. But we think Squirms is cutting SIX teeth. SIX! During a global pandemic… What timing.

Every evening at 8pm, Spanish residents go to their windows or balconies and give a round of applause to the healthcare workers. There is whooping and hollaring and genuine gratitude. It’s simply moving. I choked up watching my sweet daughter participate in a lovely act of humanity. (She is a very good clapper).

I introduced Squirms to baby yoga this morning. We went on a bear hunt. I can tell you that she was enthusiastic and energetic and had no idea we were doing baby yoga or that we were on a bear hunt. 🙂

I’m worried about our world.

Finally…

Here’s hoping…

Love you all.

Travels 2018-2023

The Spanish Shutdown Day 0

Nan1 Comment

Hello my fellow humans!

Never before have I felt so connected to you. No matter what corner of the world you are reading this in, we are battling the same enemy. This is heavy, guys. But know, I am doing my part and got your backs.

Here in Spain, the government has declared a State of Alarm and as of tomorrow, Monday morning at 8am, we are movement restricted. Unless we are going to the grocery, pharmacy or hospital, we have to stay home.

Dan and I have been anticipating this for several weeks now. No other measures seemed extreme enough to stop the spread, except quarantine.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the term social distancing. I feel it gives too much freedom to interpretation and by default, won’t be successful. We are quarantined. Government mandated quarantined. We can’t negotiate the terms because they are black and white. Stay home unless you need medical attention or provisions. Period.

A great article about social distancing, in case you are interested, is Here.

So… how are we doing on Day 0?

The moment feels surreal to me. I have inundated myself with facts and figures, articles and protocols for over two weeks now. At any given moment, I could have told you exactly how many people worldwide were in serious or critical condition with the virus. I have been an obsessive statistic-junkie hoarding figures, trying to figure out exactly when this moment was going to arrive. Now it’s here and I feel prepared, but nervous.

Dan’s teaching has been moved online indefinitely. Squirms has been out of school for a week already. An abundance of new toys were purchased on Amazon last week and we will try and stagger their reveal :). We have completed our Costco run and placed our grocery order for delivery next week. All in all, our ducks are in a row. We all feel great except Squirms is cutting some teeth.

It’s unclear to us what is allowed when walking the dogs. Can we take them on their normal long walks or are we restricted to the end of the block? By the end of the week, we should have a rhythm with that too.

I will make sure to write regularly so you don’t worry. Could you do the same? Down there… in the comment section… let me know how your mental state is. Need any words of encouragement? Any mamas of newly mobile one year olds reading? How do I contain this energy?

You can trust that the Clarks in Madrid, Spain are thinking about you, your health and your family’s health too. Please think about ours. We are in this together.

Love you all. Wash your hands and Don’t touch your face!!! ❤️

Travels 2018-2023

So many sheep!

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Time sure does fly when you have a newborn. It seems like yesterday when I promised you pictures from our trip to Copenhagen and here we are… four months later and the amount I want to share piles up weekly.

Since we last chatted, we visited Marrakech, Yellowstone, Canada and England. Squirms has successfully traveled through three continents and believe it or not, is more of a joy in the air than in a car.

We have briefly paused to catch our breath until the holidays kick into gear. Our next international trip is back to England in a couple of weeks and then a long winters break back home in North America.

In the meantime, we continue to love Spain and all she offers. We are frequently teased and tempted by cheap airfare to exotic lands, but have committed to traveling Spain in 2020. We have only seen bits and pieces of this gorgeous place and it’s a sin that needs rectified.

There are traditions in Spain that we just simply don’t have back home.  A festival to celebrate migration is one of those things.  After verifying in several different places that we would not be watching a parade to the slaughterhouse, we boarded a bus to the center of town to watch Fiesta de la Trashumancia. The annual parade of 2000+ sheep and various other livestock through the center of Madrid. The festival is the kickoff of the north to south migration and a reminder of the importance of animal husbandry.

There just aren’t proper words to describe watching 2000+ sheep and goats walk by you. There were a few goats that wanted to go back where they came from, there were some sheep who were as suspicious as I was about their destination,  a few sheep dogs that didn’t have much to do and there were people! Man, did Madrid come out to watch a parade of sheep!

We even had the pleasure to meet a Norwegian man who had coincidentally drove sheep down a mountain in Norway just two months prior. He couldn’t believe that he stumbled on a sheep parade and stayed to watch it with us, all the while showing us the beautiful pictures of his own sheep drive.

This country and her traditions amaze me when I let it. It’s very easy to allow modern conveniences and the hectic life with an infant to distract us from remembering that we live in SPAIN!  Today was one of those days where we are pinching ourselves and breathing our gratitude (even though the air is a little stinky with the smell of sheep).

Love you,

Nan

Valencia
Travels 2018-2023

Valencia

Nan3 Comments

Okay…I’ll admit that we might have been a bit overzealous when we decided to take our 9 week old on a weekend getaway. :). Between unfamiliar beds, heavy traffic and an uncomfortable car seat, Squirms let us know that she was unhappy to be in Valencia.

We, however, were far from unhappy. The sun was shining, and there was enough of a breeze to make 80 degrees feel like the ideal temperature. Our AirBNB was on the beach in a little town about ten minutes from Valencia. So close to the Mediterranean Sea that we were able to hear the waves from the patio.

Squirms and me by the sea

Our Friday night plans had to be readjusted to accommodate Squirms and our late arrival. But Saturday morning, we hit the town with foolish optimism that a good night sleep made Squirms’ car seat comfortable. I’ll jump ahead enough to tell you that it did not. 🙂

Trying to keep Squirms in her car seat for as little of time as possible this weekend was in vain.  The traffic was heavy and it was because we once again failed to check our Spanish calendar before planning a trip.  Have I mentioned how much the Spanish love festivals? We don’t attend many because we always seem to know about them after the fact.  This weekend was no exception.  We arrived in Valencia on the Valencia Festival Las Fallas or Festival of Fire, the biggest festival of the year.  From what we understood, there were mini-carnivals going on throughout the city all weekend long.  Most of them had a parade with the participants dressed in traditional Spanish attire.  If you have any interest at all, this link tells you about Las Fallas.

Its confession time… Valencia was our choice destination this weekend because I was craving paella.  I still don’t care much for Spanish cuisine on the whole, but really good paella can’t be beat.  Valencia is the birthplace of this incredible rice dish, so surely I can find good paella here, right?  According to my favorite author and lover of all things Spain, Ernest Hemingway, the best place in the world to eat paella is a restaurant called La Pepica on the beach in Valencia.  As always, Hemingway didn’t disappoint.  The paella was absolutely the best HANDS DOWN.  They even peel the shrimp for you here.  So Delicious! 🙂

Sunday, after an awesome brunch, we headed to the Oceanografic.  The largest aquarium in Europe.  We watched sea lions wrestle, Beluga whales and met an ancient turtle who turned his head and smiled to every one’s phone, one at a time 🙂

There are still so many sights to see that we just didn’t get around to this time.  Or maybe its an excuse to eat another pan of Hemingway’s paella. 🙂  Either way, expect to see Valencia again.  A return trip is a must.

Segovia
Travels 2018-2023

Segovia

Nan6 Comments

We knew that we were going to have to take Squirms on her first “trip” soon. The idea of traveling with an unpredictable newborn is daunting, but we knew postponing would make us lose our nerve.  So, with Grandad and Grammy by our sides, we boarded a train to Segovia with our 19 day old daughter.

Segovia is a town a little less than 100 km from Madrid, an approximate half hour train ride. Even though they are close in distance, the two cities couldn’t feel more different.  Madrid is a modern city that’s still hugging her history while Segovia only allows in modern life by necessity. Segovia knows tourists come to see her past.

And history we saw!  As soon as we entered Segovia, we were smacked in the face with potentially the oldest piece of architecture we may ever encounter… the Roman Aquaduct.

Built in the FIRST century, the Aquaduct runs from the walled castle to the other side of town.  It’s visible throughout most of Segovia and man, is it a sight.  Interesting fact, if you look closely, you will see that this massive, ten story structure that was built 2000 years ago doesn’t even have mortar holding the rocks in place.  Amazing.  And look at how every stone is exactly the same shape and size.  All without modern tools.  Unbelievable.

Like many European cities, Segovia’s cobblestone streets are primarily for foot traffic.  Squirms loves a good cobblestone street and for that reason, so do we.  We took a leisurely stroll to Segovia’s Plaza Mayor, which is charming and idyllic.  It even has  a gazebo in the center.

The most eye-catching building in Plaza Mayor is the huge Segovia Cathedral.  It was built in the mid 1500s and still holds weekly services.  On the inside, there are eight chapels, an ornate ceiling and the grave of Saint Valentine (Jury is still out if it’s that Saint Valentine).  You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the devout details.  This is a place where you stand in awe.

After the cathedral, the moment I had been dreading was upon us.  Segovia is popular for three things…the Aquaduct, the Cathedral and…suckling pig.  Yep, just like the one you dissected in 9th grade Biology class.  We went to the place to have suckling pig, Meson de Candido, owned for decades by the mayor of Segovia.  Apparently he is a bit of a rock star.  Many people were standing in line to have a photo-op with him. Not sure why, but below is a picture of Dan, the mayor and Squirms. So bizarre.  🙂

I promised myself that I would try the poor piggie, which I did, and hated myself afterwards. Not for the reason you would think either.  The pig was delicious.  The meat was super tender and juicy.  I hate the possible consequences that might happen if I say how much I enjoyed it, so I will leave it at this.  There is a reason why this is one of the things Segovia is known for and if you happen to visit Segovia, do yourself a favor.  (Sorry piggies)

We had such a nice day that we will be visiting Segovia again this summer when two of my favorite humans join us for the month of July.  Apparently the Cathedral at night is too gorgeous to miss.

So…are we crazy for traveling with an opinionated infant?  Maybe… but Squirms did so well that we’ve decided to push the envelope.  Next week, we take our first weekend getaway.  The destination?  Valencia!