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Expecting Extravagance
fiesta feastI am the epitome of unending optimism—so much so that I sometimes border on delusional. When I conceive of an idea, I see it fleshed out with all the details—I envision it with such vivid clarity that I have to try to make it happen, because not doing so would be a disservice to myself. That said, when the thought comes to fruition, it isn’t how I planned it—and even though I know that to be the case, I am taken aback every time it happens.
From my suburban life outside of Washington DC, I romanticized the life I would soon lead as a sophisticated New Yorker—thinking of all the ways my life would be different and more glamorous…I did the same thing before coming to Spain, building up my soon to be European existence into an unattainable dream. I’m doing the same sorts of things I would be doing in New York with similar types of people. I get up in the morning and go to school on the weekdays, and relax and have fun on the weekends. But, alas, I am the same person, just at a different cross of geographic coordinates.
I think what makes anticipation different from reality has to do with the more mundane aspects of life: taking the metro, doing laundry (as I discussed in my last post), and going grocery shopping. Before coming to Spain, I didn’t think twice about any of these routine occurrences, but already I’ve had issues with all three of the aforementioned tasks.
To celebrate making it through our first week of classes we had a potluck dinner party at our apartment. I ended up being great, hanging out with some new friends and eating some fabulous food. My contribution to the feast was Mexican fiesta dip: refried beans, sour cream mixed with taco seasoning, salsa, green onions, tomatoes, and cheese—easy enough, right? No such luck- I spent two hours in a series of grocery stores trying to get the sour cream.
After many attempts at explaining this foreign food and coming home with what turned out to be yogurt (which I have detested since childhood), I conclude that they don’t have sour cream in this country. That, as well as their lack of cinnamon raison bagels (my favorite food), is quite frustrating but isn’t at all something I knew to anticipate.
I've declared sunday laundry
I've declared sunday laundry day just so i can feel like i accomplished something. Seriously EVERYTHING is closed. Im annoyed enough at home when I want Chic-Fil-A on a Sunday, but this is ridiculous!
Dana, i think you pointed out a really interesting difference between travel and actually living somewhere else- i think its really interesting to think of messing up and having to improvise as cornerstones of 'real-life' here!
I should mention that I'm
I should mention that I'm commenting in part because your fiesta potluck looks delicious, and sounds like a wonderful idea. Reading your entry, though, I also recognized the process of idealizing a place (for me, Paris) from afar and then, upon arriving and actually living there, learning to deal with the realities of a new and surprisingly different city. As Hillary mentioned, lots of shops and markets close on Sundays, or only stay open until 1 PM, which can be quite stressful when you've invited friends over for fresh pasta and shrimp Sunday evening and can't get a hold of either. I think this kind of learning a new routine and a new system (and improvising and messing up until then), though, is a big part of what makes living somewhere different from traveling there.
food
The potluck is such a nice idea and a great way to interact with all these new people that we are meeting! I went to one myself and a friend's apartment here in Paris on Sunday night. It's so funny though, because I don't know about how it is in Spain, but here in Paris, almost everything in Paris is closed on Sunday, so when I went out to find what ingredients I could gather to whip up some sort of dish, I was met with the fact that I had to just buy something already made from the only place on my street that was open!
I can also totally relate to not being able to find the food that you want. Even things that you think are so basic, for me it was sandwich stuff, are done much differently and you find yourself having to improvise a great deal of the time. I have had to come up with a completely new list of food to keep stocked in my apartment, because all my favorites things that I usually like to keep around in NYC don't exist here! While it's frustrating, it can be fun at the same time forcing yourself to branch out of your routine in yet another aspect!