My inbox continues to grow every day. I received 55 new emails since I left Poland – and read maybe 10. The rest is just junk – things like LinkedIn, tons of newsletters, account registrations, subscriptions of stuff I no longer care about.
And to think I used to read all this shit just because it was arriving in my inbox. Getting perspective really puts things in the right places.
# 2013-03-27 11:24
# Highway service point, somewhere between Valencia and Madrid
Another one of those little differences: apparently it’s OK to bring your own food in places like a highway stop or a university canteen. Not only OK – it’s encouraged; there are microwave ovens available for this very purpose. Another example of attitude towards people, not against them.
We’re back on the road after a twenty minute stop. A movie is playing on the bus TV. It’s Spanish with Spanish subtitles, probably in case someone is even more deaf than me – or wants to learn Spanish the hard way.
The weather changed. It’s raining, which means less wandering around the city and more sitting in cafes. Can’t complain. As long as they have power, WiFi and coffee, I’m good.
By the time I finished writing this, the rain stopped. It’s now sunny. I’m not even pretending I understand this climate.
Written a few hours ago.
As promised, I’m sitting on the bus to Madrid without any internet access, and at last I share my few thoughts about Valencia and Spain in general.
The place is wonderful. I’ve been in Spain before, but only now I realized how beautiful it is. I grew up in Poland, which – as crazy as it sounds – has basically no buildings older than, say, 150 years. Boy, things are different here. Not only it’s nothing special to live in a house over one hundred years old – more than that, those old houses still retain most of the original decor. Somehow even though the new buildings are modern, yet still have that nice touch of tradition; and although many of them don’t blend in perfectly – glass & metal monsters are hard to get rid of completely – there’s much less discrepancy between the old and the new.
Enough about architecture. What impressed me most is a different matter: the way people live here. Everything – and I do mean everything – is there to make life more comfortable. It’s a completely different level than what I’ve seen in Poland. It feels like a different thought process – people are put first, and solutions and rules second. For example:
Another example: Metro tickets. The tariff is so simple I could understand it with one look. It has to be simple because it’s meant to serve people. Compare this to Wrocław, which has three different types of tickets (depending on zone & time of day), single-use tickets, short-term, long-term… also, the metro card can be bought in a vending machine at every station. How could it be otherwise?
Despite all the attempts to make life easier there are almost no signs, marks, or arrows. This made me nervous at first – I’m so used to being guided – and then I realized there’s no need for them. A society is co-regulating most of the time – which also means people attain their goals by cooperation. If you want to survive in a new land, you just watch the locals and follow them. The net result may be the same as reading instructions and using GPS, but cooperation has a tremendously important side effect: it improves human connection. I was a complete stranger when and I arrived, and after just a few days I started to feel a connection with those people – even though I don’t speak their language at all.
Speaking of connection – there houses are built so close to each other that it’s impossible no to be in contact with your neighbors. No wonder there’s no violence on the streets – with this amount of closeness on so many different levels, it’s hard to be angry or jealous.
If you want to travel to Spain, one thing to keep in mind is that people don’t speak English here. There are exceptions, of course – but the majority don’t. It takes some time to get used to it, lots of empathy to communicate despite this barrier, and a bit of persistence to learn enough basics to be able to order beer and tapas without confusion or embarrassment – but you do get used to it. Spanish is easy to learn – especially if you know English (because of vocabulary) and some Slavic language (so that you won’t be intimidated by conjugation and noun genders).
Nothing is perfect, of course. Because of the climate, Spain has a very distinct rhythm of life – if you are used to stores and restaurants being open all day, prepare for a big shock. After a week in Valencia I still haven’t quite grasped the rules: theoretically, work hours are 9-13 + 15-19 for stores and 12-14 + 20-23 for restaurants. In practice, each one is a bit different. My friend Taras (who also hosted me during this week) summed it up nicely: if you decide to live in Spain, you have to become Spanish. The rules of life are well-proven here, and straying from them means a bit of discomfort as you go shopping and realize stores are closed, or want to meet up with your friends at an hour they’re not available. Not to mention that going outside during siesta hours on summers isn’t the smartest thing to do – it’s just too hot.
Valencia is a tremendously beautiful place, one that I will surely miss. But it’s not a place where I could live – not without major lifestyle changes.
…is almost finished. It’s pretty sad to be leaving Valencia just when I was getting acquainted with the city – one week is definitely too little, especially since I spent a good part of it just getting through the adaptation shock. It’s a really beautiful place, one I could maybe even life in if I knew Spanish.
I do have some experiences to share, but they need to mature a bit more – I’ll probably write something on the bus tomorrow, since I deliberately chose the cheaper service without WiFi. Internet addiction is a horrible thing – even though I’m over one thousand miles away from home, I still can’t quite bring myself to get offline completely. Once you get used to the comfort of being connected constantly, letting go seems almost impossible… guess I just need more time. At least Facebook makes much less sense now – all the updates I get are from people so far away I can’t bring myself to care. Which is a good thing. I would probably delete the damn thing if I didn’t have so many services connected to it (and if I wasn’t addicted).
Despite the warmth of Spanish spring I caught a little cold, but with the help of some pills it will hopefully be gone in a few days. I guess my immune system still needs to recover after the long cold Polish winter.
Next stop: Madrid.
Do you know what makes you happy? I forget way too often. I rented a bike today – and then just went autopilot without map or GPS. My instinct led me to the city outskirts first, then to the beach, and along the quay to the marina. Made lots of photographs along the way without even stopping (this is how I’m going to die, probably). Grabbed a quick coffee or two along the way, too.
What we want from life are simple things. We just keep forgetting what they are.
Not blogging much right now, so I thought I’d at least make a little update to let you guys know I’m alive and well.
You see, I’ve never considered myself a tourist. I find museums boring, marketplaces and squares too crowded and points of interest rather uninteresting. Upon arriving in Valencia, I completely ignored the city center and went straight to the marina – and just sat there, looking at the sea. Today I walked just outside the city borders and through the fields of potatoes and onions and orange trees – and I found it the most beautiful experience of the entire trip.
Travels do teach you much about the world and yourself. The thing is, the lesson is often not what you want or expect it to be.
I’ve finally found a boundary I can’t easily cross. Living in a new country, in a town I barely know, at a temperature my body doesn’t know how to react to, speaking two languages and trying to learn third one – all this and I don’t have enough brainpower left to handle social situations. Despite the beautiful English presented here, in real life I’m more like hello, me potato – an unfortunate side effect of being raised by the internet. Add Spanish to the mix and my brain shuts down.
Arrived in Spain. It’s like taking a plane and arriving in a different reality. Will post some update once I stop literally looking at everything and saying “woooow”.
Proposed Ryanair in-flight activities:
Seriously. I kept the straight face until the lottery; when I heard the announcement I was all like WAT? Then I regretted I didn’t have any euro with me. I’m definitely buying a lottery ticket during my next flight.
Explanation for those who never flew Ryanair: their tickets are crazy cheap, so they make up for this in two ways: one, outrageous fees for extra anything; and second, making lotteries and selling perfumes during the flight.
Facing a two-hour wait at the airport, I could choose between catching some fresh air (it smells of rain and jet fuel) and catching some WiFi. Guess which I chose. (answer at the end of the post)
The place is weird. There are some crazy renovations going on and there’s NO MAP of the place – so I spent the first 15 minutes wandering and looking for food and coffee. The coffee tasted like dirt. At least Italians speak some English. ;)
Next stop: Valencia, arriving at 23:40. Won’t report until tomorrow, probably – the last thing I want to do upon arriving at the place of my dreams (well, kinda ;) is to take out my laptop.
Answer: both. What did you expect? :)