Little Steps With Big Rewards

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Since I moved here to Spain, my biggest handicap is my inability to speak the language. I don't have any friends here out side my boyfriends family and acquaintances, and I never had money for lessons. Slowly I have picked up words and phrases thought my time here, but never enough to really be fluent.

Finely, I had decided that if were going to make it here, it's time I really set out and found a way to speak Spanish. After a bit of searching and brain storming, I came up with the idea to offer lesson exchanges, via a yahoo group called FreeCycle.

I posted my add and meet with great success! Not only have I found tutors to teach me, but I have started a second yahoo group dedicated to the idea. My first full lesson is on Thursday, and our first group meeting is on Wednesday.

I am excited eager to meet new friends here in Madrid, and to finally learn Spanish. It's amazing how often being a little innovative and brave can often pay off.

My Yahoo group is entitled MadridTalk and can be found via this link.

Customs Adventure, Part 2

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Well after getting up at 8 am and out the door with out breakfast or coffee, my friend Pablo and I, made our way to customs. It was a short subway trip to the bus terminal, and an extremely long trip on the bus. Once we reached the end of the line, we were fortunate enough to have a nice bus driver who told us the way to customs. It is on an industrial outstretch of the airport, adjacent to a big highway we had to cross with out street light. Always exciting!

Once there we had a short walk around the urine smelling building to the hidden entrance along the side. Luckily because we left early there wasn't any lines and the employees were still in a good mood. Having my friend Pablo translate for me, we explained the package was a gift from my mother. It was sent to me for my birthday and all the contents were for personal use. We were promptly informed that "There are no gifts as far as customs is involved." Apparently a company motto as they all repeated it often.

Fortuity the nice woman who had taken our claim was quite helpful. She asked permission to look in the box then stepped out of the room a few short moments. When she returned she informed us that the fee was waved and we could pick the box up for the 4 euro surcharge and be on our way. She also explained to us the reason it was stopped is because it contained food items.

If you plan to ship food to a person in another country, be prepared for some hassle. The crack down on meat, fresh produce, and chemical contents is at a high. Even items containing animal products will be stopped. The care pack from my mother had only a few sweet treats and none of them contained chemicals on the no ship list.

We were then free to walk way and make the whole lovely trip in reverse. This time with a large and heavy box to add some entertainment. In all our trip came from 8:45 am when we left the house, until almost 1pm in the afternoon when we returned home. All to speak for under five minutes with a customs agent and pay a 4 euro surcharge.

We where happy that the 100 to 6,000 euro charge wasn't applied to us. (On the notice we received from customs it said we would be charge between those amounts, even if for personal use.) I still don't understand, if nothing was wrong with the box and no one did anything illegal, why we had to pay anything at all. I'm not going to dwell on that though, it worked out and thats all that matters.

If your ever wondering why customs is so bad, I have found the truth. Across from the postal and customs building was this.



Yes, it all makes sense now!

Customs Adventure, Part 1

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Tomorrow I get the pleasure of enjoying a trip to Spain's customs agency to negotiate release of my package. Never once, since I was a small child, have I ever had an issue with customs. I have been vacationing, traveling, and sending mail back and forth for many years. Of course I have at times payed a little extra money for tariffs or taxes when it comes to some packages crossing countries, but thats to be expected.

This time however, they have withheld my package until I appear at the airport. Not only will this be extremely inconvenient, but it is likely to be both expensive and time consuming. Then of course, I need to ask a friend for help, because I am not fluent in the native language. All of this because, well I can't really figure why. I have had bigger and more expensive items shipped to me in Spain. I pay my tariffs and taxes and life goes on.

By no means am I looking forward to tomorrow.

I will send an update after this affair is settled and hopefully I will receive an explanation on what went wrong and how I can avoid it in the future. Wish me luck!

Ah.. Silence at Last!

Monday, July 7, 2008

A while back I wrote a post complaining about my neighbors from hell. Well, it seems we weren't the only ones who had enough with the noise levels. The neighborhood community set out a campaign to lower the outrageous amount of noise past midnight. After the third notice arrived last week, warning about the crack down on violators, the late night street parties have seemed to diminish.

It's nice to sleep at night once more! Now if only the other neighbors would stop deep frying sardines in butter, it would be perfect. At least they don't eat at the same time as us. This way we can at least enjoy our food before the smoke and stink of burnt fish and butter fills our home. God I love apartments!

Happy 4th

Friday, July 4, 2008

To all my American friends, and any other who wish to celebrate today, Happy Fourth of July!
I hope every one can enjoy this clip =)



I have to give Credit to Neatorama for finding it.

Odd Happy Birthday Greeting

Friday, June 27, 2008

This morning as I was opening my mail I found an odd Happy Birthday greeting. Star Gate Worlds, a new MMORPG in development, sent it. I am registered with their forums so I guess it's a polite feature they added. I have been playing MMOs since EverQuest came out 9? years ago. This is the first time any of them have sent me a Birthday Greeting, I found it quite nice of them.

As you can see it's short and to the point, no adds or subtle catches. Just thought I would share as it was an unique experience to receive one like this. For any one who is wondering you can find the game trailer movie here. The game is in development for later this year, and has not yet reached beta.

30 by the Morning

Thursday, June 26, 2008

When I wake up tomorrow morning I will be 30. I look froward to a quiet day with my boyfriend, a good meal and a movie with snacks in the living room. Of course the meal we will eat out, no dishes on birthdays, it's an international law of mine. The following morning we will be going out to the families house to see his mother, It was her birthday last week.

If I don't get another post in before Tuesday, don't be surprised, but I will have all three posts up next week.

Have a great weekend!

Finally a Break

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Today was my last appointment of the month, with my dentists and his medical appointments June was one busy time. The only task I have left this month is my birthday, and I plan to celebrate that in a relaxed day out with my boyfriend.

I look forward to returning to posting several times a week, and I thank every one for checking back to see if I was still around. I now have my camera and I hope to start adding some photos with my project posts.

Off to the Dentist Again

Friday, June 13, 2008

If I have to have my teeth poked, prodded, or pried at one more time I think I will run away. For the last few weeks I have been in and out of two separate dentists for a list of procedures. Of course it's my fault, but that doesn't make it any easier.

It's odd for me to have such an issue with my teeth, the only time before in my life when I had to go to the dentist was for my wisdom teeth. When I was in my late twenties I had a wisdom tooth invasion and they all came in the wrong way, I had all but one removed. The one that remained was barely threw but had already broken the tooth in front of it.

They were working on that molar when I came to Spain. I regrettably, never had it finished and spent the last 3 to 4 years with temporary dental work. Now all at once, one of my upper molars broke, the temporary work is ruined, and the wisdom tooth came to reap it's revenge. Thats why I have had limited posts and many adventures in and out of the dentists here in Spain.

I do hope this is the last trip, I am going in for at least 1 root canal today. If they can fix the top tooth and finish the other then I would have completed all the work needed. I don't know, however, if they plan to do only one to both today.

On the up hand this has given me several things to write about when I can grab the time again. It seems simple things like water supplies, diet, and the amount you chew food, can effect your dental health. I plan to write on how to deal with, avoid, and treat dental pain and aliments. Perhaps this will help you all avoid the annoyance of the dental chair.

Another Delay in Progress

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Well, I just wanted to warn you I may not be posting a few days in the coming weeks. You see I was lucky enough to have my filling come out. Never is loosing dental work enjoyable, but I was able to deal with it. Now I have managed to break a separate tooth and the need for the dentist is here.

I will be making my appointments tomorrow and be back and forth with the dentist for as long as it takes to fix these teeth. Nothing in this world hurts quite like a good tooth ache, and it's just killing me. I will try to get as much up as I can, but I think most of my time will be spent on pain killers, ricing, or trying to sleep.

When this is all over I will resume my blogging duties properly and hopefully be able to add some content deeper then fluff, but right now I can barely sit at the computer. I do apologizes again.

Pic via http://pixdaus.com/

Underwarter Cemetary Open for Busniess

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

As strange as it sounds this divers find is more then a must see before you die destination. For some people it's their choice for a final resting ground. If you like the idea of being part of an epic project that will have your name memorialized in an underwater tourist attraction, then maybe you should consider buying a spot at Neptune Memorial Reef.

There is of course some terms and conditions it. They can't actually bury your remains there, but they will be more then happy to dump your ashes in to a mix of concrete they use to build it with. For your moneys worth they make you a nice plaque that is installed in to the monument, it will server as your grave stone.

Click here to see their video: https://www.nmreef.com/ForDivers.aspx

Just remember cost of a placement starts at $995 and can go up past $6,000

Read more at: Watery graves offer a haven for divers via guardian.co.uk

Madrid Clothing Dilemma

I have been neglecting my blogging duties, and I apologize for that. The weather has been suitable to get underway with my spring cleaning projects and it seems the more I do, the more I find I need to do.

In my previous posts, I decided to start my spring cleaning with my clothing bins and closet. Most of our clothing is rather old and just doesn't fit right anymore or is begging to get well worn. The question isn't weather we should discard them, the question is how to do it. In the area we living there are no clothing drives.

I have been spending some of my time sorting out the clothing that is good enough to give away and what needs to be come rags. Now I need to decide what to do with all these rags and find some kind of charity or person willing to take the clothing. Once i sort out this dilemma I will be sure to leave a post on the options I found. It may come in handy for other people who are facing the same questions.

Neighbors from Hell

Monday, May 5, 2008

Lately we have had the displeasure of annoying neighbors. Like all neighborhoods, ours is changing. Since Spain has opened the door to immigration, Madrid has become more and more crowded.

Every new neighbor brings ideals and customs from their native lands. Some of these customs are welcome changes and wonderful additions to the neighborhood. Unfortunately, not all of those customs adapt as well to Madrid.

One of the customs our new neighbors is a love to sing and clap in large groups. This is not a problem, after all they are not drinking or doing drugs, it's just some good clean fun. That is until it's 3am on a week day and they are still at it. It's not uncommon to have them out there from sunset until sunrise the next day.

In addition to that, our upstairs neighbors have decided to be DYI experts and redo the kitchen and bathroom them selves. Good for them... after dealing with a week of non-stop banging and power tools it seems that it is all over. Well, except that little thing where they broke the radiator in their apartment in the process. What's a little water damage, the insurance company, and more angry owners between neighbors.

After all this gives us the pleasant adventure of having inspectors, neighbors, and the water company in and out of our house for who knows how long. Hopefully he hasn't shattered any pipes this time. Last time the pipes broke the whole building had to pay for it in collective billings to out monthly dues.

Just to make sure there is no boring silence at night, the downstairs neighbors have an issue where their door won't close properly unless they slam it. Not a little slam, a good slam that actually shakes our apartment.

Ah city life.. how I miss the woods!

More Editing

Saturday, May 3, 2008

I will be editing old posts and images this month, I just wanted to apologize in advance if this causes older posts to re-emerge in your readers or email feeds. This site is a work in process, and is still has it's training wheels. Changes and fixes will be regular the next few weeks, but they should be harmless for every one.

New Look is Here!

Friday, May 2, 2008

So what do you think?

I feel it's a large improvement, it's not as dark as I wanted, but after it all went up I am quite pleased. It has a much more polished feel and more eye appeal.

I made the logo myself from some old open source clip art I had, and my photo editing software. I can't draw to save my life, but I do like to play around a lot.

Well, I hope you all like it to!

New Layout to Come

Thursday, May 1, 2008

By next week this site will have a new look. I am keeping a dark theme, because it's better for the eyes and actually better for the environment.

Thats right I said black pages is better for the environment. If you don't believe me check out blackle and here is their about page link.

It's just a warning in advance, I didn't want any one to open the page and think they went to the wrong place. Also, if you like the whole black page thing and have firefox, check out Stylish. It has a bunch of scripts you can apply to pages to help the eyes or just give it a better look.

A Nice Break

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Today I was going to get up early and keep busy, filling up with tasks for the upcoming week. I wanted to start plans on the domination of my apparent.

I was going to lay down the meal plan for the week, and do some topical cleaning and organization. I was going to hit the market early and get some good first pick produce, then research some software sites I have.

In stead it turns out I had an entire day of quality time, good meals (diet qualified of course!), good talk, and almost nothing of what my original intentions were. To be honest it was one of the nicest days I have had in a while. We event went for a stroll this morning.

Now that the evening has come, I will do a little work and then have dinner and more tea. The blog posts on my productive day will have to come tomorrow. I always enjoy a day off, but there is some thing special when a day just turn out wonderful all on it's own.

I hope you all had a great day too!

Nutrition: Green is Bad.... kinda

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I just had a huge detour sign placed in my meal plans. I know that vitamin K effects blood thinners. I did not realize how much and how fast. So now I have to re-do all my meal plans and recipes, to fit in the low vitamin K end of the diet in.

Luckily I found a very helpful tool! I stumbles on this Nutrient Search Tool on NutritionData.com.

The last thing I could really use is a Spanish nutrition site! It's not easy guessing the translations of cuts of meats and such. After all not all the cuts are the same as what I am used to, plus Spain has a plethora of it's own foods not found in the counters.

On the up side, I am going to chart my progress with this diet, and I hope it can help others who need the same. If any one has any advice on where I could look for this, printed or on line, I would be thankful for the help.