Spain Thus Far (9/3-9/7)

So we have arrived!  We got in late Friday evening (around 4 or 5pm EST).  We flew from JFK, to London, to Madrid, and then to Vigo (the local airport here in Spain).  Everything went smoothly, traveling for that long is just miserable though.  I spent the last week prior to leaving the US at Jonathan's family's home.  It felt like the longest week ever!  I had already said goodbye to my family and was just so emotionally prepared to leave for Spain that it was almost painful to hang out for that week.

When we arrived at the airport several of Jonathan's family members were at the airport waiting for us.  All of our bags arrived (1st time ever :)).  We then went over to Jonathan's cousin Chelo and Gonzalo's home for dinner, where several other family members met us.  We ate tortilla, empanada, fresh bread, and drank wine made by Gonzalo in his backyard (absolutely delicious).

We then awoke the next day at 2:30pm (probably should have set an alarm to avoid jet lag by oh well.  We're unemployed.  Who Cares:)).  We then took the bus to Pontevedra, a neighboring town as there was a festival there.  Apparently several times a year people in Spain celebrate medieval times.  So we went into town for this celebrating.  His family told us that people dress up in medieval gear, but man they weren't kidding.  Everyone was dressed up.  None of the sit down food vendors would serve you unless you were dressed up (luckily we already ate).  All of the little boys had swords.  There were lots of little bands standing around playing traditional Gallego folk music and different dance performances.  There is a bullfighting amphitheater in Pontevedra where whey performed jousting matches throughout the day.  It was really fun.

The next day we went over to Chelo and Gonzalo's for lunch where we saw more of the family.  We spent the rest of the afternoon over there talking and then returned to the apartment to install our wireless router, which another one of Jonathan's cousins, Nico, had set up for us.  Unfortunately there was something wrong with the phone line, but the telephone company fixed it the following day.  Later that night we went out for some tapas and drinks and a local restaurant to celebrate our 1st anniversary.  We then went for an evening stroll around town.  Raxo, the town we live in, is built up onto a hillside, so it is nice to walk along the roads and look down at the beach and waterfront.

Yesterday we met Chelo at the bank.  Prior to leaving we had wired some of our money into her bank account (we got a better rate doing this.  Also, if we just used our HSBC debit cards at the banks here we'd be changed an international fee for each transaction).  So we had the goal in mind of then opening our own account at the bank here and then transfering the money from Chelo's account into our own.  Unfortunately, we were unable to do that because we need to prove residency here.  The bank teller said that we need to register our residency with the town hall in Pontevedra and then with that documentation we could open our own account.  This was not a problem as I need to do this anyways for immigration purposes (so long as Jonathan and I register our residency as a married Spanish and US citizen, I didn't need to obtain a visa).  So Chelo withdrew some of our money for us until we got a chance to do this.  We then went over to the supermarket and picked up some basic stuff.  All of the food is really fresh and produced locally.  Food is also inexpensive here when compared to back in the US, which is pretty amazing (i.e. a good bottle of wine for $7, 6 peaches for $.50).  We then went home and made some dinner.  After dinner I went for a run, which was probably my best ever as I got honked at/yelled at by 3 different Spanish men :).

Today Gonzalo went with us to the town hall in Pontevedra to take care of our registration of residency.  Needless to say, there is as much red tape here as there is in the US.  We need to first do all of this other stuff locally and then go back with copies of x, y, and z.  It's going to be a pain in the but, but will nevertheless be taken care of.