ponderings by k

i feel like i could just write and write and write and write about all the things coming up in my mind. i'm surprised at how much this move has thrown so much up in the air. it really is like starting from scratch in a lot of ways. strange...i didn't expect it.

for those of you who were worried that poor arel would be ostracized for not having a ruler because i couldn't bring myself to spend 7 euros on a plastic one, you can relax! by chance i found a 1 euro store and was able to get the final school supplies for a bargain. what a relief! there are some cheap things here, you just have to know where to find them.

on friday we tried to open a bank account. i waited in line in one bank for about ten minutes while a lethargic young man attended to several people. he looked so bored and disaffected that i decided to walk out and try another bank.

good choice. at the next bank, a woman explained that we could have an account for foreigners, just using our passports. but with that account, you can't do anything fancy like money transfers, internet transactions, or anything. on the other hand, if we had a european resident card, we could open up a much better account. i told her i was going to look into making us legal residents and then she proceeded to make about 20 calls for me, trying to find out where we need to go and what we need to bring! i was quite amazed that she was so helpful. tomorrow we will tackle the bureaucracy and see if the information she got was right. i'm going into with the skeptical optimism. could it be as simple as bringing my german passport and saying we're living here now?

and finally, a question to ponder: why don't they sell yogurt in larger containers in spain? any insight would be appreciated.