Creature Comforts

Hey guys. Sorry for the hiatus. We've been dealing with a nasty Spanish flu over here. Everyone was sick and then my immune system finally faltered last weekend. When you are physically ill and you are living in another country, it exacerbates the feeling of homesickness. We turned to our favorite things to help soothe our souls.

For Will, it was near-constant physical contact, allowing us to let him be the authority on Greek gods and Pat's new home-made salsa.

Spain's food is amazing......and it lacks variety. We come from a city where we can eat fresh eggs and greens from the farmer's market in the morning, a bowl of steaming hot ramen for lunch and a plate of delicacies from Burma for dinner. We find that when we are homesick, we crave those diverse and delicious dishes. And since Old El Paso has the corner on the Mexican food market here and there is a dearth of foods from other countries in general , we are learning how to re-create it ourselves. (And by "we", I mean I ask Pat to do it). We started a farm box last week and Pat made a huge pot of incredible salsa with some of the contents (he also received intel re spicy peppers at a speciality store across town). We used it on everything and spoke of it in revered tones. Will came up to me after dinner one night with a dot of it on his nose and another on his forehead. The salsa was gone within 3 days. 

And then there's Leo. He showed us some cracks in his happy armor in the last couple weeks. He felt homesick, had a terrible cough, was yelled at by a teacher for coloring on a piece of blank paper that she had handed him BECAUSE HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND SPANISH YET (I'm still resisting the urge to pound down the classroom door and cuuuuuuuut her)  Ahem. Anyway, back to Leo. He said after that day: "Mom? Spain's not really my type".

This boy loves his ramen and its rich broth full of umami. He sings his heart out while getting lost in his lego world. 

Then one night when it was just the two of us he asked if we could have a dance party to Robyn and New Order in the lower apartment area. And he ran into his room and came out with a new outfit:

Ok, if it makes you feel better to dance your heart out with your mom to new wave and house power pop anthems, then I love you even more than I thought I did. Which was hella.  He also insisted on this photo shoot afterwards. 

For Pat....it's going to the clinica to understand our health insurance, practice his Spanish and load up on meds. The Spanish doctors dispense medication liberally. Here's some of his take:

As for his creature comforts .... the dude just dives deeper into his experience here. Here are a couple pics from Pat's new book "Living My Best Life" (which will also be excerpted in my upcoming post "An Ode to Pat").

Yes, that's him on the side of a huge mountain. More on this in the "Ode to Pat".

I've been feeling homesick too. For the food, the fog of San Francisco and my familiar life there. And missing my friends, my family -- my soul connections!-- the most.

And then! Last Friday night, I was still feeling a little sick but new friends who live 15 feet away from us invited us to dinner and I pushed myself to head out of the cave. The woman, Valentina, a Mexicana by way of Portland, is just a delight and I could tell she was into the same woo woo I am. She made an enormous taco meal with fresh tortillas, beans, peppers and meat. (We also brought Pat's bomb salsa). The wine and laughs were flowing. She said she heard Pat saying something about how the universe brought us here to Granada and she was like, Ok, you're my people. She went to her room and pulled out her Goddess deck of Oracle cards. My heart sang! Woo hooo!!! Yay! I have a friend! (ed note: Dad, the Goddess Oracles are a special deck of cards that I have turned to many times in my adult life for guidance and inspiration)

Human connection! It's really what makes the world go 'round, guys.

Also, I found a guy who sells kale. So basically all my dreams are coming true. 

Also, Rosé on the patio.