Size Does Matter and Other Life Lessons

Living in Barcelona has led to a few poor decisions. Nothing has been very major but each time we make a mistake we chalk it up as a "lesson learned."  We are getting better and hopefully  learning our mistakes. Here are a few things we have learned....

Lesson One - Size Does Matter
Many things are smaller here than in the US. Predictably, cars, washing machines and people. Some things I
did not predict. When doing immigration paperwork we were turned away because our passport photos (from Kinkos) were too big. Really? I thought they only came in one size. Wrong! When traveling within Europe our cute matching set of REI roller bags did not
meet the European size standards. Arrgghhh...four smaller suitcases later we are rolling again. Living here means challenging our assumption about everything including size.

Lesson Two – Function matters

When we arrived we needed to stock our kitchen completely with dishes, pots, glasses and a few pieces of key kitchen electronics. One thing we felt we needed was a toaster. Since we are only here for a year we bought the cheapest toaster without really thinking through our usage. While the toaster worked perfectly for what it been designed, normal flat bread, we only toast baguette. So, back to the store we went for toaster number two  with little baskets for skinny or wide bread.

Lesson Three– Not all clocks tell time and always eat hot a churro

When school started we found that we were in need of alarm clocks for our bedrooms.  We went to the local flea market hoping for a bargain. After discussing the various features with the sales person at the electronic stall we bought three for 5 Euros each. Sadly only one of them actually kept the time. I guess the joke was on us because while we were asking about all of the features we forgot to ask about the accuracy of the time keeping. The good news was that there was a chucharria (stall selling crisp fried foods like churros, potato chips, and donuts) at the market so the journey may still have been worth it.

Lesson Four – Some days we want to suck

The box is all I have left!

This week I will be buying our third vacuum. Third you ask? WTF? The first was in our apartment when we arrived. It looked good but the socket at the end was broken. I went to the hardware store and bought the piece to fix it. Mike fixed it but when we plugged it in, we smelled smoke. The second one we bought second hand. We were very optimistic. Mike washed the filters and we were good to go. We decided to store it in a vestibule attached to our apartment that is accessed by a locked door or service elevator. Poof, it is gone. We think that our portero  (doorman) accidentally threw it out….or it was stolen. Regardless, I now need to buy #3.

Lesson Five– Choosing to live with my decision…for now.

In the US I have a Nespresso that makes delicious coffee. I love the machine so much that we brought it to Spain. What I hadn’t counted on was that it would need a big ass converter since it has such a high wattage. The converter I need weighs over 20lbs and costs about $50. So, I bought a….yes, you guessed it….a cheap coffee maker. Guess what? I hate the new machine and really want a Nespresso. I keep visiting the Nespresso machines at our local department store.  I am conflicted. Yes, I can afford it but is it worth it. I have decided to live with my poor choice...for now.


Lesson Six - Cut myself some slack
I started writing this post a few weeks ago. Since then I bought a Nespresso maker (see lesson six). I am now much happier and seem to be making fewer mistakes. Maybe the real lesson was to relax, cut myself some slack and drink a good cup of coffee in the morning.