What's New II

The past week was full of firsts - and I suspect that might continue.

Early Morning Squinty Sun

The biggest and best 'first' was having Claire visit us for several days.  She is the younger daughter of a friend that worked with us in Haiti in the 1980s. 

Her older daughter, Annie, had visited us in Virginia to see the school where her mom absorbed an education.  It just so happened I worked there.  Both Annie and Claire are wonderful people to be with and will no doubt have many adventures in their travels.

Home for her family is Christchurch, New Zealand, and both daughters participated in a tradition called 'gap year' where on high school graduation young people are given an opportunity to gain knowledge in a non-structured way facilitated by travel.  I recall Annie going to Nepal and working at a summer camp outside NYC in addition to coming to visit us in Virginia. 

Claire did a semester of high school in France, just outside of Paris.  In addition to exploring the Paris area, she also visited The Hague, Amsterdam, and the UK during her time in Europe. Now that school is finished she is visiting a few more European spots including Italy and Spain before a time in the US with other family members.

Artist-made piments at Flores del Camino

We gave her a chance to see an area of Spain not visited by most tourists and to see how local folks live, eat, make art and are entertained. 

On the Camino

We walked a short part of the Camino de Santiago, visited a wonderful rural town, Castillo de Los Polvazares, and the artists' retreat located there, Flores del Camino.  This retreat center nurtures creativity in various historic and spiritual media.  The pigments made on-site are an example of the unique approach they share with visitors. Check out their website!

Together we shopped, cooked, ate, went to historic sites and walked, walked, walked.  It was great! We already miss her!


But next week is another first: Our first Housesitting in Spain!  Stand by for more.  We get to be with dogs again!  We miss our dog-lives.

Lessons learned?  

The relationships one builds over the years may just reward you with time engaging the next generation.  I can say for sure that Ann and I enjoyed every moment with Claire and look forward to getting the rest of her family to visit one day.  Her parents met in a special spot in Europe and we are suggesting a reunion in that place that we can participate in.

_______________________

The Other Jew of The Day is Nahmanides. He was a Spanish Talmudist, Kabbalist and biblical commentator (1194-1270), known, after the initial letters of his name, as Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman).

Within Walking Distance

Most of my friends would be hard-pressed to imagine living without a car at their disposal, instead walking everyplace close and taking public transportation for longer journies.  Walking the Camino de Santiago changed the meaning of the oft-used expression "... within walking distance" for me.  After walking across a large part of a country or two one realizes that it is possible to walk a few hundred miles.  And enjoy it.

I'd like to share a few things that walking brings to mind that seldom occurred to me while using a wheeled vehicle to travel each day in the States.

1. Walking allows one to gaze into the eyes of others: neighbors, friends, strangers, and greet them.  I have found that gazing into the eyes of others is a vital part of communications or communion.

We can ask 'How's it going?' or '¿Qué tal?' and actually be there to hear, and maybe respond to, the other person's reply.  Every day we see and hear people passing one another have a conversation started by a simple greeting.  One day we hope to actually understand what they are saying!



2. Walking alone allows one time to think about tasks, how to approach challenges, observe creation ("Look at these roses!" Ann says every day ...) and listen to that voice inside that is so often drowned out by the car audio system or thinking about the to-do list we plan to shorten at our destination. 


3. Walking together as a family or group of friends allows time to solve the problems of the world or the relationship. It lets you spend time with your kids as part of your real life.  And shopping just might include ballons for the family!



4. We find that walking, combined with healthy foods available here has resulted in weight loss.  The last time I weighed myself I was at 74.1 kg (163 pounds), just a little less than I weighed when I graduated high school in 1967.  I think I have lost about 15 pounds since getting here.  We are not on a diet! Remember, this is the chocolate capital of Spain and has great gelato along our daily walks.  It also makes one thirsty and thus increases water consumption.  Most people realize they don't drink enough water.



5. Being around the people in the community, who are also walking for daily needs lessens the feeling that 'they' are different.  People of all ages and abilities are walking with us, different speeds, toting different kinds of bags, carts, using canes, walkers, or wheelchairs.  But we all reflect upon the commonality that we carry a loaf of bread, or some flowers or a kid in our arms and we are on the way someplace necessary for life.



6. Kids see adults walking as a normal part of life.  Families walk together, hang out in the plaza, eat a snack or dinner together outside.  Kids play soccer, ride bikes and scooters or just run after one another.  There is a lot of freedom out on the plaza.  People walk their dogs to dinner too.  It is a great multi-generational experience as older family members run into younger generations and spend time chatting.

7. In our city, there are definitely more pedestrians than vehicles.  Streets are narrow and parking limited.  It is easy to get anyplace on foot. And a couple of hundred thousand pilgrims walk through town each year on their way to Santiago de Compostela about ten days away.

I invite you to visit and walk around for a week or so and see if you learn anything of value.  Or just start walking for more daily tasks and let me know if you gain any benefits.



_______________________
The Other Jew of The Day is Olympic race walker and Holocaust survivor Shaul Ladany.

"For this highly accomplished professor of industrial engineering and management, race walking has been a way of life. It is what has kept him going in spite of hardships that would have sidelined most other people. Race walking has given Ladany a way of moving past personal experience of the horrors of the Holocaust and the terrorist attack on the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. It has also helped him clear hurdles like lymphoma and skin cancer. “I believe that if I didn’t continue to engage in physical activity as I am used to, I wouldn’t be able to move,” he told The Jewish Week in a phone interview.

What's New

Since I seem to have a problem writing a long, involved post with many photos and design considerations, I am switching to one photo and a few words about a thing that is new to us living in Northern Spain. That way I might actually click PUBLISH and stay in touch with my readers.

Coffee or other drinks ordered without food always come with free tapas to snack on.  Potato chips are not common, but this place must have known Ann's heart - and that is what she got along with her Aquarius, which is sort of like a sports drink, but tastes good.

I got a little muffin, called a magdalena in Spanish, with my café con leche (coffee with milk, sort of like a flat white), a staple of my existence here.  Available wherever food is served, espresso drinks never costs more than $1.50 and are delicious.







_____________________________
The Other Jew today is Historian Elliott Horowitz who documented that devout Jews appreciated the caffeine in the new drink’s stimulating quality, allowing scholars to stay up at night in order to study Torah. Early drinkers faced a range of questions, whether the new drink should be considered a food or a medicine, and what blessing should be made over the bean-infused drink. (It was determined that coffee is considered a drink, not a medicine, and the shehakol blessing is made over coffee.)

From https://www.aish.com/jw/s/Jews-and-Coffee-8-Little-Known-Facts.html where you can read more facinating facts if you are unable to sleep.

The Overdue Apartment Post

Today marks 2 weeks that we have been in what will be our Astorga home for at least a year.  I have been waking up each day with "Apartment post" as the top entry in my mental to-do list.  And each day seems to fill itself with taking care of 'more urgent' things, like getting another cup of coffee or going for a walk around the charming town we live in.  Our walks are our transportation: to Spanish lessons with Maria, to the stores, to government offices, to have a snack, to the bank, and to the post office. We have not needed a vehicle to do any of this.

Going for a walk is a big part of our mornings, noon-time, afternoon and evening.  It takes hold of us and allows us to meet people and see things 'in a new light.'  That phrase has such a powerful meaning when one walks everyplace in a setting with great architecture and street art and other people on the street.  The way the light plays upon a tree, or rose bush, or cathedral or park bench or the Roman wall we walk along at least once a day.  'In a new light' deserves it's own post, so look for that one Real Soon Now.

So what does all this have to do with the apartment?  Light is so important and significant in the apartment as well as on the street level.  Windows here have roll-up metal coverings - I am sure they have a name, but that will do for now - that one adjusts to allow or prevent sunlight from coming in.  We use them to control the temperature as well as illumination.

There is little reason to close them for privacy as no one is looking in from atop the surrounding buildings.  We are on the what is called here the second floor, Americans would call it the third.  Here the ground floor is Zero.  Our building has an elevator and even a handicap lift for the dozen stairs one must climb to get to the elevator.

We have a plumbing supply retail shop on Zero, the street level, and a floor of apartments below us and one above us.  The buildings are all made of stone and retain heat well.  Almost all the floors are marble or porcelain tile.  Our living room and the bedrooms have wood flooring.  It is generally about 20 degrees C (68F) in our house even if is it 4C (40F)  or 28C (82F) degrees outside.  This is partially due to the stone storing and releasing the sun's warmth, there is no heating system turned on at this time of year.  Not bad for a building that is likely a hundred years old or more.

Guest room

Our place has two bedrooms, one with a double bed (called Matrimonial here) and one with two single beds that are wider than the ones we call twin beds in the US. Pillows here are the width of the bed, one big long one for Ann and I to share.  Yes, one of our first purchases was another pillow!

There are no closets in these old buildings so each bedroom has an armoire for hanging and folded clothing.  All this furniture is of a style that would have been in my grandmothers home and is way above our Ikea taste and style.



There is a piece in the entryway that looks like it should be in a museum.  It holds our keys, sunglasses, and spare change.  And we hang our hats from the upper trim-work.  Terrible.  But functional.

It also covered the only phone jack in the place so when the man came to install WiFi (pronounced 'WEE FEE' here) he had to trace down the wiring and drill a hole through the stone wall to install a jack in the living room.  It made a lot of noise!

View of the Cathedral towers

The living room has windows facing East and South to get wonderful morning and mid-day sun.  I write this facing the East window and have the shutter down to keep the early morning sun out of my eyes.  Normally it would be up to allow that wonderful warm sun to play upon the room and our skin.
There is what I would call a breakfront and Ann would call a hutch in the living room that again would look perfect in my grandmother's place.

Living/Work Room

Ann has filled the shelves with art she brought from the US, stone carvings and pictures that are linked to our friends and family.  We have art on the walls (using mostly hangers that were already installed) and we have a few more items to hang that requires me beating a fastener into the stone. Another to-do list entry.

The Gallery

We also made a gallery inspired by our language teacher, Maria, to hang pictures of family and friends on strings supported by a hiking stick.

Also in the living room are two couches and a large dining table, that, you guessed it, are in the grandmother tradition.  The couches were covered with throws but we removed them to display the original design in all its glory.  We use the dining table as our workspace for Spanish study and typing the occasional blog entry.  We eat in the kitchen.

The kitchen is simple.  It has a table that seats 4 reasonably and 6 if everyone is thin and flexible.  It holds our vital kitchen appliance: the coffee machine.  We have three now. The first purchase was a simple 2 cup thing from the dollar store, then the used Espresso machine from the flea market (mercado segunda mano) and now my big splurge, a mini-Nespresso machine.  Nespresso is very popular here, the supermarkets have a dozen or more brands and type of capsules at low cost.  It is so neat and easy to make a perfect cup of coffee with this thing before you've had your first cup.

The kitchen came with basic dishes, glasses and cups, silverware, a new microwave and refrigerator, stove, oven and an immersion blender, orange juicer, and scissors.  We had to buy pots and pans and some utensils and we are good in that department now. We have been eating almost all our meals at home these days.  The grocery stores are two minutes walk in either direction from home and we find almost everything we want on the shelves. In addition, each Tuesday there is a huge open-air market in the plazas and every day, except Sunday, there are stores specializing bread, pastries, chocolate, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and meats of all kinds. Peanut butter doesn't seem to be popular here so we had to settle for Nutella. Life is good!

So the place is ready for visitors.  We are less than one block from the Camino de Santiago route, two blocks from the bus station, the Cathedral and the Gaudi Episcopal Palace and five minutes walk from the Plaza Española, the main square where the Ayuntamiento (local government) building is an attraction.  On that main square are a variety of restaurants where families and pilgrims alike enjoy long leisurely meals and conversation. I am working on getting used to a slower pace of life, and the work is rewarding.

Next time more about seeing things in a new light.  Thank you for joining us on this page.  Please comment and ask questions to motivate me to do this more often. And less words!

__________________
The Other Jew of the day is the historian and Toledo's Sephardic Museum director Santiago Palomera.  Read more about "After 522 Years, Spain Seeks To Make Amends For Expulsion Of Jews" by NPR.

Jardin de la Sinagoga

When I arrived in Astorga the first time on September 25th of 2016 I stayed at the Albergue run by the Federation at the entrance to the town.  Just up the street was an entrance to a park marked by an iron arbor covered in roses.  I had been in the habit of sending Ann a picture of a flower each day to mark my progress and to appeal to her love of flowers.

2019 Version

2016 Version

I asked someone to take a picture of me smelling a rose at the arbor and sent it to her.  I thought nothing of the place or meaning of the pathway into the park, it was afternoon and I was on my way to find food.  What I found was much more, but let’s stick to the park and flower-covered arbor for this post.

Fast forward to our arrival in Astorga on May 13, 2019.  We were following Google Maps directions to our Airbnb and it took us out on the walkway atop the Roman wall!  Cars are not supposed to be out there and a construction worker kindly showed me where to park and guided me to a safe path off the wall.  The park was right near our Airbnb and we walked there daily.  On one of our walks, we exited the back side of the park right through that arbor!

Later in the week, I asked Ann to take a photo of me smelling a rose in the same position as my 2016 picture.  The roses are amazing in color, size, and variations.  And of course, they smell great as well.

But here is the kicker for The Other Jew: This park was the site of one of the Synagogues of Astorga before 1492.  There was another as well, but I haven’t found that location yet. The park is known as Jardin de la Sinagoga in remembrance of the Jewish community that once existed in that corner of the city.  It is a lovely place to sit and enjoy the view, have a conversation with friends and, of course, stop to smell the roses. 

Here are some other pictures from the park.

  

 

 

_______________________

The Other Jew of the Day is McDonald's founder and CEO, Bob Bernstein, who took the idea of a Happy Meal from a Guatemalan franchiser named Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño and made it a staple of the fast food industry.  Now that is obscure! 

Two Weeks in Country: Status Update

For a person that planned to write something every day I have surely not met my goal.  Somehow writing a blog post consumes a higher imaginary effort than posting on FB or sending an email to a friend.  I will try and do better.

Plaza España: The Main Square of Astorga

Much of what we do is mundane and the rest is climbing an uncomfortable learning curve. Taking for granted that you can communicate politely with others around you is an example of this dichotomy.

Think about this in a small restaurant at home.  We sit down and a few minutes later a waiter asks what we want.  We order Café con leche (coffee with milk) for both of us and he goes to prepare it.  Then another waiter comes by to take our order, and I want to say "The other guy already got our order."  Simple, right?  Not really.  I could type that string of words into Google Translate and a minute later have some words, but would this be the way this concept is handled in Spain?  Likely not. So I fall back on a smile, glance at the other waiter and gesture.

I'll be asking Maria, our language teacher, about the correct way to handle this tomorrow at our lesson. And this is what I mean when I say I want to learn Spanish Culture and Language. Words are one thing, communicating is another.

But I can report that we are pretty comfortable finding all the places we need to go, no longer walking around with a map and/or phone in hand.

We are recognized at our bank branch now due to frequent questions about how things work and at one of the little restaurants on the square where we have evening coffee and pintxos most days.

It is one of the places on the right in the picture at the top of the page. This plaza becomes an open air market on Tuesdays and I'll try and get a picture for our next blog post to compare sleepy Sunday with fun-filled market day.


Because this town is on the Camino de Santiago, many of the foreign clients are one-day visitors.  So seeing us for many visits a week makes us stand out.  Don't confuse that with outstanding.

______________
The Other Jew of the Day is Samuel ibn Naghrillah (born 993; died after 1056), who "was a medieval Spanish Talmudic scholar, grammarian, philologist, soldier, merchant, politician, and an influential poet who lived in Iberia at the time of the Moorish rule. His poetry was one area through which he was well known. He was perhaps the most politically influential Jew in Muslim Spain."

Working on the ‘To-Do’ list

Checking off another task ...

On the list of things that need to happen here in our new town as we learn Spanish language and culture are things that would be much easier if we knew Spanish language and culture.  And one of those items involves using the health care system to get a prescription refilled for Ann.

We started at a pharmacy.  We met and enjoyed working with a pharmacist, Marisa, who understood and spoke English and understood the medication that Ann needed.  She explained that the product available in Spain was not the same as the US version Ann was used to, so dosage might need to be adjusted over time, requiring lab work and a visit to the doctor.  She told us the name of a doctor who worked with our insurance provider and warned us that the clinic would not be open until 5pm.

Many medications that require a prescription in the US are available for the asking at any pharmacy in Spain.  But the one Ann ran out of does require monitoring and an Rx, and an email from our doctor in the US was not enough, it had to be from a local doctor.  Maria helped us find a clinic to visit.  We walked there, and as promised, it was closed until the regular hours from 5 - 8pm.  So we planned to go back later that evening.  Well things happen and we missed the time. Dinner takes so long...  But passing by this morning we noticed lights on and the door open.

In we go - no one in the waiting room.  The doctor greets us, we let him know we didn’t speak much Spanish and we began the process of telling him what we needed with giving him a copy of our medical insurance information.  He made a copy while working patiently with us, with help from Google Translate, and written notes and many smiles back and forth.

He finally did what we wanted which was to arrange a lab test to check levels before prescribing.  He gave us a paper for the lab which we will visit tomorrow morning.  We wanted the lab results to establish baseline data using European methods and units rather than compare future results with past US lab results.

But the real special moment came after his time with us, still not one other person in the waiting room or anywhere else that we could see. As we were leaving he reminded Ann not to eat before the blood is drawn and I thought to ask his office hours.  He simply said and then wrote on a paper “1700 - 2000.”  That is 5pm to 8pm.  We were there in mid-morning.  He wasn’t even open and he spent a difficult hour helping us.

Like I said yesterday on Facebook, we make a new flesh-and-blood friend every day.  And we are thankful!

____________________

The Other Jew of the Day is Hasdai ibn Shaprut (915 - 970) a Spanish Jew who was “appointed physician to Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III (912-961), he, by his engaging manners, knowledge, character, and extraordinary ability, gained his master's confidence to such a degree that he became the caliph's confidant and faithful counselor.” 

Lessons Learned on a 14 Day Transatlantic Cruise

Cruising Notes

While on the cruise ship we had no internet connectivity - a choice I made to lessen distractions and increase our chances of getting some well needed rest. Thus no blog posts, but I did take some mental and written notes on what I was learning on my first cruise experience.

The cruise remind me in some ways of the Camino. In addition to the fact that we had a defined start and end point, we were traveling in the same direction towards new territory each day even if the ‘terre’ is deep ocean water.

And one meets people from many nations, hears many languages spoken, including English with many accents from New Jersey to Jersey.

I learned that octogenarians are out there having a great time!  It encourages me to know that I can do that too!

And then there is the Camino like leisurely eating and coffee times. And an occasional glass of Vino Tinto. We enjoyed many new culinary treats. So far, if the scale in the fitness center is correct, I have gained no weight, partly I suspect, because I have been walking around the boat and in the few town's we have visited. Most days resulted in over 10,000 steps for me - my target at home. Not quite Camino distances, but more than on many vacations by car, plane or train.

Frankly, I was concerned that all this free time would be challenging - make that awful - but it was truly relaxing. I caught up on my sleep, felt very grateful for the rest time, reading time, and internet-free time. I think we napped every day.

Not signing up for the internet access package tested my ability to do something other than stare at a screen as I am doing right now. I have taken a few pictures, and read Kindle books, but low total screen time.  We did access WiFi in towns briefly which allowed me to keep up with family and my friend Michael who was walking the Camino while we were on the sea.

The overall lesson learned is that I can apply my ability to get to know people anyplace, even on a huge cruise ship.  Ann and I both enjoyed it and plan to do it again.

_________________
The Other Jew of the Day is Moses Cohen Henriques a well known Sephardic Jew who operated from Jamaica and captured Spanish treasure ships.  Who would have guessed ...

Table 78

On the first night of our cruise we followed directions and went to our assigned table, Table 78 at 8:00pm.  It is a table for 6 in the center of the room and a couple that had already been seated were speaking German to one another.  They looked a little older than Ann and me but it is hard to tell. Otfrid and Erika are from near Munich and they shared that they were language teachers, but that English was not one they had learned, nor was Spanish.  They specialized in Eastern European and Slavic languages and even Arabic.

And then her son went to Spain to study theology and fell in love and married a Spanish woman in Malaga.  Now they had the need to learn Spanish and, from traveling elsewhere, felt the need to become more fluent in English. Which made them perfect table mates for us.  We are interested in Germany and Eastern Europe as well. It turns out that they were older than they appeared to me, in their 80s and still traveling the world.

But we still had two empty chairs at the table …

Enter Cynthia and Jesus from the Tampa area, both Spanish language teachers of professionals working in bilingual populations.  They arrived a few minutes after we had and joined right into the language discussion. And they both had walked the Camino more than once - Jesus had completed six walks over the years! Jesus was from Galicia, now a US citizen and has been working in the US for many years. He commented that walking the Camino helped him maintain connection to his home country and he is one of the few people who knew exactly where we are moving to and remembered it warmly.

Just another example that reinforces Einstein’s reported statement that “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” (I know he likely never said that, but it is so good!)

We are getting along fine on the cruise, slept well, found everything we needed, went into Key West, our first port of call, and got back onto the ship. Key West is lovely and there is a lot to see, eat, drink and hear. We took the trolley tour and spend some time in the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum which tells the story of a man who woke up every day and said “Today is the Day” while searching for the sunken remains of a Spanish ship loaded with silver, gold and more.  Perhaps we will have another chance to spend more time here in the future.

I suspect that this will be my last post for a week or so. Next stop is in the Canary Islands. Thank you for joining us along the way ...

__________________________________

The Other Jew today is Arlo Haskell who wrote The Jews of Key West: Smugglers, Cigar Makers, and Revolutionaries (1823-1969), an entertaining and authoritative account of Key West’s Jewish community.

What was Required for Us to Live in Spain?

Many folks have asked what we had to do to live in Spain as residents and I'll take a stab at responding to that question but want all to understand that not only am I NOT an expert on this topic but also, from what I have read, applying for and getting a visa depends on many factors including where you call home. If one stays for 90 days or less no visa is required for US citizens.

Spanish Consulate in Washington, DC

The Consulate's Role

Assuming you are living legally in the United States you must apply for your residence visa at the Spanish consulate covering your state.  You can find that out at The Embassy webpage, selecting a consulate that looks near your residence and looking for 'Jurisdiction' which will show a map or list of states they cover.  Each consulate website seems to be slightly different, but look around and you will find the answer. For example, Our consulate, for Virginia, is in Washington, DC.

Once you find the right consulate website, look for visa information, review all the types one can apply for and their requirements.  In our case, it was the non-lucrative visa which means we are not permitted to be employed by a Spanish employer.  If one works remotely for an off-shore employer that is allowed.  We have no desire or need to earn money, so the non-lucrative visa fit our needs well.

Each consulate appears to have different requirements, and most require an appointment to submit your application.  The Washington, DC consulate did not make appointments and we just walked in and were in and out in about an hour and a half.

The basic requirements are that you have

1. income to support yourselves (we used Social Security and pension benefits letters);
2. a clear criminal record (we used Commonwealth of Virginia background check with fingerprints via the State Police);
3. statement by a doctor that you are free of communicable diseases, addictions, and mental health issues;
4. proof of health insurance that is comparable with what Europeans enjoy from the government (meaning no co-pays or deductibles).  

There is also a form that must be filled out, some documents must be translated into Spanish by an official translator and the criminal background report signature must be validated by what is called an Apostille of the Hague, kind of like an internationally recognized notary seal.

We needed a recent wedding certificate from the state where we were married to prove we were a couple, which reduced the amount of income we needed to prove and that needed an Apostille as well.

All these things were easy and affordable except the health insurance.  I found through research that if I had a Spanish bank account I could get the required insurance for about one quarter the cost of buying it internationally and paying by credit card.  So I researched how to open a Spanish account and found that normally one had to have the residence status to open an account.  But there was some mention of a 'non-resident account' so I flew to Spain and tried to open an account.  Six banks in Valencia told me it was impossible.  But two hinted that I might have better luck in Leon, the capital of the province where we intended to live.

The Lion of Leon

Off to Leon 

So I bought a train ticket and away I went to Leon.  I'll shorten the tale to say that I walked into a small bank branch office in Leon and a banker there worked with me for over three hours to not only get me a bank account but also the required health insurance, complete with the policy in my hand, in Spanish of course, so no translation required.  This was a branch of the same well-known Spanish bank that in Valencia told me it was impossible. It was amazingly good work on his part and he has earned my loyalty.  I never would have guessed that one could buy health insurance at the bank.

I now had time for a quick trip to Astorga, 30 minutes away by bus or train, to look at neighborhoods where we will be renting and visit the stores we would be relying on the coming year. Astorga still captures my heart even though the gelato shop was closed for the season.

I had gotten translations of all the other required documents in Virginia, but as long as I was in Spain I decided to get it all translated by an officially recognized translator if I could find one who could do it in 24 hours.  I asked Siri for the name of a translator near me and Sheila's name came up.  I called her, told her my situation, she agreed to do it, I sent her the originals as email attachments and picked the official translations up at her office the next day as I passed back through Leon on my way back to Valencia.

Back in the States

Outside the consulate after submitting our application

Papers in hand we drove up to Washington, walked into the consulate, they reviewed our paperwork, had us sign a few forms and accepted our payment and an Express Mail envelope.  They told us it would take three to five weeks to get a response, and we walked away feeling very thankful and positive about our experience.

Two weeks later we got a call saying our application had been approved, the next day the overnight mail envelope appeared with all our paperwork.  That night we clicked 'submit' on our cruise tickets and as I write this we are two days from boarding the ship for a restful 14 day trip to Barcelona.

We have elected to not have WiFi on the ship so there may not be any posts or responses until May 11th, don't worry about us.  I may find a connection at some port we stop at, but I am not sure.

Remember, your experience, should you chose to apply for a visa, will not be the same as mine, each visa type has different requirements, each consulate seems to have different instructions and procedures.  But if you have questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to give you good information based on my reading and current experience.

Why Astorga?

Thinking back a couple of years to my desire to live in Spain, I believe it was Astorga that captured my imagination on what living in this new culture would entail.  It wasn't a tiny hamlet with few services and people.  It wasn't a large city with hustle and bustle.  It was historic, beautiful, had a train station to enable friends to come to visit and for us to explore the continent. There are few foreigners living there.  Castillian Spanish is the language, not one of the many dialects.

It is located in the north part of Spain, in Leon Province, just east of Galacia.  It is along the French route and the Via de la Plata from Sevilla meets the French route there.  So there is lots of Camino activity to enjoy.

Most of all it includes the wonderful memory of the gelato shop, Veretium.  Yes, the gelato shop was, and is, a key factor in the decision to locate here.  Most of my friends have heard this story, often more than once, but I'll share it with you so it will be in writing.

Background: For many pilgrims, a major factor in walking the Camino de Santiago is the formation of a 'Camino Family' which develops organically and without much effort as one walks along paths, eats meals, washes clothes and shares our lives.  I use the term 'fall in love' as a wrapper for this process.  I fell in love with hundreds of people from all over the world, some of whom I wasn't even able to speak to or understand because they spoke no languages that I understood at a cognitive level.  But no problem, share a meal and laughter and that is all it took.

The Camino Family

After some weeks a core group developed, and they were all younger than me, mostly female. Somewhat out of character for me, I felt that they didn't need this old guy with them all the time.  So I made some effort to 'give them space' by staying back one town along the way.  But our bond was love and after being apart from them for a couple of days I could no longer stand it.  I got up one morning early and was determined to catch up to them.




I walked hard and fast and with long strides.  52000 odd steps (about 25 miles) later I entered the town of Astorga, walking past chocolate shops with their attractive goods in the windows. Then I saw an ice cream cone sign a couple of blocks away - and being an ice cream addict - picked up the pace and entered the shop in expectation of cool, sweet, rich flavor and goodness. 

But what I saw was so much much more exciting.  It was a great event on a long day of walking and exceeded my expectations greatly: Ice cream and family together!

As I entered the door I saw and heard Stephanie, my Camino 'daughter,' saying to her Aunt Janice and another pilgrim I had yet to meet "... too bad Ron's not here, he'd love this place."  But I was there, and I hugged them and enjoyed my hard earned treat. 

Afterward, we ate on the square, I got to know the other pilgrim, Julie, and never saw much of Astorga as my heart was focused upon my family.  But the place occupied a special place for me.

Gaudi Episcopal Palace

But Astorga has a lot more to offer than just that Gelato shop and the chocolate culture.  It is small, about 10 - 12,000 people, has a long history as a crossroads in culture, trade and two Camino routes and even a history of being a place that was tolerant and kind to the Jewish population in a time when that was not common in Spain.

Ann and I visited Astorga in April of last year and she agreed that this was a wonderful place to call home for a season. It offers views to the east of high plains (La Meseta) like her home state of Kansas and snow-capped mountains to the south and west.

So this place is where we will begin our time in Spain. My current plan is to spend a year here to learn culture and language, interacting with the Camino support groups and making friends. 



In future posts I will cover getting to Astorga, finding an apartment so that you can come to visit us and some stories about the transition. I'm sure it will be filled with learning.

The Other Jew of the Day: In memory of the Jews of Astorga who appear to have been well integrated into the community until the expulsion in 1492.

Why We Are Going to Live in Spain?

In the first days of my 2016 walk from St Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain I was prepared to be impressed by the beauty of the mountains, of the architecture, of the history and the people along the way.

But I was not expecting to be impressed by the healthy life I was experiencing. In fact, I was expecting sore muscles, joints and blisters. Pain. And sleepless nights listening to strangers snoring in the Albergues, the hostel-like facilities where many pilgrims sleep each night.

But much to my surprise I became aware of how healthy I felt not only in the morning but also at the end of the day.  I loved the food which was simple, fresh and low-cost.

I have to say that a good part of the joy were the other people at the table - folks from around the world who were in this place for various internal reasons, but in actuality were all in one accord - walking westward each day and taking care of one-another. So it was not only healthy physically but also spiritually and emotionally.

With the exception of a stinging nettle in my right knee while taking a photo of some flowering plant alongside the path, I was not aware of any pain in my joints or muscles or feet.  It was amazing.  The ibuprofen I carried in my pack remained unopened for the entire 5 week walk.

When Ann met me in Santiago at the end of the walk it was hard to use words to describe this state of well-being after a walk that during the planning stage I had viewed as torture to my old body.

One of my reasons to go was to figure out why anyone would do this pilgrimage journey more than once - and many seemed to be doing it yearly.  What was the attraction?  I found my answer, and for each of us it is different, but for many it seems to be rooted in the spiritual concept of love.

As time went on I found that it was not only the walking and the good, simple food that contributed to that feeling of well-being.  It was the supportive people, both pilgrims and local residents along the Way.  It was the lessons learned each day.  It was good sleep.  But it was more, something that resists words.

Months after we returned to life in our lovely mountain home in Virginia this idea of retiring in Spain came to me.  Ann was still working but had spoken of a retirement date.  I was a little timid about proposing the idea, but one evening I felt the mood was right and I blurted it out.  Ann responded in a positive way, mentioning apartments she had been researching on the internet.  She was having the same thoughts herself.  So the idea grew, and the research started on how we could get visas to become residents of this land we had come to love.

Las Fallas in Valencia

A couple more trips followed, enjoying the Las Fallas festival with Camino family member Pablo and his mom in Valencia, then walking the Portuguese Camino from Porto with our son Jack in 2018.  On that trip I took Ann to see my choice of a first place to live, Astorga, and she loved it.  More about that in the next post.

Ann retired in July of 2018 and the process went into production mode.  We began the process of gathering all the paperwork to apply for residence visas and to sell our home and other tangible property.  In the end we found great owners for all of our stuff, and a wonderful family to enjoy our home in the woods.  Not everything went according to our desired timeline, but all worked out well in the end.  God’s timing is perfect and we had no need to be in Spain on any particular day.

As I write this we are visiting family in Kansas and Oklahoma in memory of two great men who died rather unexpectedly and catching up with family members Ann hasn’t seen in a long time.  Had we been in Spain when all this happened it would not have been easy to be here with the family.

Some other benefits include having our kids and grandkids spend time with us experiencing another culture, being able to interact with pilgrims walking the Camino, helping at the albergues and seeing the rest of Spain and Europe as opportunities appear. And of course friends from all over the world having a place to stay with us when visiting Northern Spain.

In summary, we look forward to experiencing the well-being benefits that walking, healthy food, good healthcare and learning a new language and culture will provide.  We will make lots of new friends, enjoy our current friends visiting us and our hearts will be open to learning new lessons we can’t even imagine today.

The next post will be about why we selected Astorga, a small city in northern Spain, as home base for the first chapter of our new adventure.

_______________________________

The Jew of the Day today is Harry Houdini (1874-1926) American magician and escapologist. From Hungary, his father was Rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation.

The Move to Spain: Part I

Some two years after my Camino walk Ann and I made the formal decision to move to Spain in our retirement.  I have been waiting for it to all come together before posting much about the process, and that time is now. The house has been sold, the motorcycles have new owners, the visas are in hand and 60 years of accumulated stuff has been passed on to others.

In the next few posts I will detail why we are going, where we are going to live, what administrative steps it takes to live in Spain as retired, non-working Americans and finally how it all comes together as we arrive in Spain on May 11th and go about finding a place to live and begin this new chapter in our lives.

Briefly, we are going because I was first attracted to the healthy lifestyle in Spain while walking the Camino de Santiago in 2016 and after two visits Ann agreed that we needed another chapter in our lives.

We plan to spend our first year (or more) in ASTORGA which is in León province - in the northern part of Spain.  Why we chose that place has many dimensions which I’ll discuss in the next post.

But one hint that may appeal to you is that Astorga is the chocolate capital of Spain and even has a chocolate museum!


For those who may be interested in a similar move I will discuss the steps and resources we used to obtain our non-lucrative residence visa, including some tips on doing it yourself.

We will keep you in the loop on what it takes to find and rent an apartment, complete all the required administrative steps in Spain and ongoing reflections on being a foreigner learning a new language and culture.

We leave for Spain on April 27 from Tampa on a relocation cruise arriving in Barcelona on May 11th.

Let the adventure begin!

______________________________

The Other Jew today is actually the community of Jewish people in Astorga.  They somehow managed to gain recognition and exemption from taxes in 1432.  You can read more about it at https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/astorga

Portugal: More Than You Expect

I can summerize our experience in Porto, Portugal and in the smaller communities that we walked through on our way to the Spanish border as joyous. The lasting impression of generosity of the people we met, merchants or just people along the way, makes Portugal a place to return to in the future.