November 30, 2016 by Rae

Things Fall Into Place

One of the things I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older and possibly wiser is to stop fretting so much. If things are meant to be, they fall into place. If they’re not, there’s no sense working myself into a frenzy trying to bend circumstance to my will.

I was blessed to find a sit in England at the start of January, right around the time that I have to be out of the Schengen zone. But that still left me about three weeks to fill between the start of that sit and the end of my sit here in Almería. I really wanted another sit to fill that gap to avoid having to pay for accommodation.

So I began to look for sits in Morocco, the Costa del Sol, and Portugal, eventually expanding my search radius to all of Spain and France as well. I found a few sits that looked promising, but they were either super complicated and expensive to get to or the homeowners declined my applications.

I pondered this for a bit and wondered if it was a sign that I should just pony up the money and go to Morocco on my own dime. But I crunched the numbers on that and kept on coming up with a huge NOPE. Remember, I’m heading to Mexico, perhaps for good, in May!

Then, I had a thought. Plane travel in Europe is very inexpensive and if you go between major cities, it pretty much doesn’t matter where you go as it’s all roughly the same price. So is there anywhere else I’d like to go in Europe that would be a straight shot from either Almería or Málaga and then from there to Manchester? Weather was no longer a consideration by this point since I’m heading to England in January and need to get acclimatised anyway. The answer came immediately.

I promptly went to my housesitting websites and did a search for that destination. I found a two-week house and cat sit right between the end of my time here and the start of my sit in England, giving me time at both ends to travel (and possibly a day or two to explore Málaga and Manchester). I emailed the homeowners and they got back to me straight away, saying they thought they had someone lined up, but that person was being flakey. Could I give them a couple of days? Of course.

I just knew this in-between period was sorted and was not surprised when they emailed me late last night to confirm that the assignment is a go.

So I’m very happy and excited to announce that I will be ringing in 2017 from… Amsterdam!

November 29, 2016 by Rae

Shopping for Raisins

My Sunday work ended up going very quickly, so I decided to do my Monday work so that I could do my Tuesday work on Monday and possibly get Tuesday off (no, I don’t find this confusing. Do you? 😉 ). So this meant that when I woke up this morning to an email from a client with a job and a promise of a 40% bonus if I got it in by my late afternoon, I was able to take it without suddenly being overbooked. And it also meant that I was able to take on an even more rush job at even better pay… after dinner. It’s been a long evening!

This is something I learned fairly quickly in my freelance career, to get through my work queue and then go have fun so that if anything else comes in, I have time to take it. I’m definitely doing a lot less sitting around and waiting for work than I used to in that I know work is going to come in at some point. I just don’t know when exactly sometimes. So I try to cram in everything that comes in, even if it means working very long days. Then, if there’s a genuine lull, I can enjoy it. There is nothing more frustrating than having to turn down a job because I decided to stretch out over three days a job that I could have done in two so that I could take a day off in the middle.

I did take a break late morning to go down to the shop to pick up some more drinking water. Of course, I ended up picking up a few other things as well… One item that was on my list that I couldn’t find was raisins. Surely they’d have those, no? When I had everything else, I went to the till and asked the owner if she has raisins.”Of course!” she exclaimed. “I’ll show you.”

The raisins were well hidden. Her shop is quite packed!

I was really amused that instead of leaving me to examine the various packages, she felt a need to sell them to me by explaining the differences between each. Never I have more seriously shopped for raisins before! I went with the seedless sultanas. 🙂

Also, a half litre of beer was only about 0.90CAD! Cheaper than Mexico, almost as good as Bulgaria. Wow! Not so wow is that I’d just opened said beer when that rush job came in, so I wasn’t really able to enjoy it. And it could explain why my typing was rather flustered…

It feels really good to have earned solid income during my time in Spain even if it came at the cost of not so much tourism. I found that I worked hard when I was in Bulgaria, but that money wasn’t really coming in. If I can just nail down a sit between here and England, I’ll be tickety-boo till I have to start thinking about moving to Mexico. There is a possibility that I’ll have that sorted tomorrow…

November 26, 2016 by Rae

A Drizzly Amble In Almería

I thought I was going to get the weekend off, but, of course, work came in, mostly because I’m the only person who usually works on weekends for that client and the client assumes I’m available! Because it is a holiday weekend in the U.S., I was told I had till Monday morning their time (evening my time) rather than their Sunday morning. They just about never have anything for me on my Monday because it’s still their Sunday and so I had thought to take Monday off. But since I got the extension and really needed a full day off I chose not to work today, Saturday, and then do the work on Sunday and Monday.

It was the first really cold night here. I went to bed in my thermals and added a second duvet to the bed. I was so comfortable I pretty much passed out at 11:30 and woke up at 8:00 this morning. I was in no rush to go anywhere. So I let the cat into the room and snuggled with her for almost a full hour while I checked my emails and Facebook on my iPad. She started to get fussy so I asked her if she was ready for breakfast. She promptly jumped off the bed and headed to the kitchen. But I was in no rush and was still lying there when she came back ten minutes later, jumped on me, got in my face, and yelled, “MEOW!!!”, which I’m pretty sure means, “I WANT BREAKFAST,” in cat.

I eventually got her sorted and made myself a nice breakfast of whole grain toast with hummus, sliced cherry tomatoes, and black olives, plus, of course, coffee. It was grey and drizzly, but I really wanted to go to town as this would be my first day since I got here that I’d have time to just amble aimlessly with no need to go back to work after. I did scratch my plans to get to about 3KM from downtown and walk along the malecón as the wind coming off the water was unpleasant, but figured I’d be okay a bit more inland.

It was almost 10:30 when I finally headed out. The buses run at the half hour on the weekends and the last Saturday bus had come around the hour and 45 minutes. Today, it came at just shy of 10:40.

With a sky this colour, a clearing was not likely!

I got off at my usual stop and didn’t get very far before ducking into a café for a second breakfast. I wanted a pastry since I’d had a healthy first breakfast. 🙂 This pastry with dried apples wasn’t huge and was very tasty!

The wind and rain let up by the time I got through the newspaper (not the one in the picture, as that just has sports coverage), so I headed towards the water.

I’m still trying to figure out what this sign is trying to say…

The courthouse.

This pedestrian street was commissioned and built in 1894 under the reign of Alfonso XIII. They had to reroute traffic to accommodate it.

This is the “cable inglés” (English cable), which was used to load ships with iron transported on trains. It is considered a work of art in steel construction and was built in Gustav Eiffel’s style.

These ferries go to the African continent. Melilla is a Spanish community on the African continent. I am investigating whether a visit to the environs of Nador might be a compromise to going to Marrakech as it’s only about 50 euros to get to Nador from Almería.

Shame these fountains aren’t working. I like the one with the sun.

Ambling westward towards the old city.

I loved how the flower boxes are themselves a work of art.

I ended up going through that arch to find myself in the heart of the old city.

Orange trees still awe me.

I love the tile work I see all over Almería.

Looking north to the fortress.

“We want free women.”

There are tons of play areas like these all over Almería.

They have age limits. The ones I’ve seen in my neighbourhood are for ages 11 and under. The one above is for ages 7 and younger.

A few play structures later, I found one for kids aged 9 and younger.

I love these big trees.

Coming back to Paseo de Almería, I found the Doña Pakyta art museum. It was free, but there was a 3 euro special exhibit. It was almost closing time, so I will come back to the special exhibit, but I had time to go upstairs check out the artwork.

There were were a bunch of paintings belonging to the “Indalo” movement, based on a local cave painting. This group of artists was the first of the avant-garde movement after the Spanish Civil War.

I really liked the rich texture of the oil paintings. I want to take up this pastime again when I get settled in Mexico. I think the colours there would really be inspiring!

“Terraces of Almería.”

I loved this floor that reminded me of a cross-stitch pattern.

This painting was really interesting. Look at the contrast of the super realistic grapes with the crude nature of the rest of the painting.

This is Place de la Concorde in Paris. So I’m guessing this, and not the Washington Monument, is what Almería is emulating.

Cramped buildings, old men on a bench (literally the title of this piece!), and laundry: this is “my” Europe.

“Almería, Joy of the Sea”

I wandered around some more and found this church, where there was a wedding.

I went around the back and found this graffiti-strewn alley.

Just as I came out of the alley, an older couple ran to me and asked me a question, sounding very panicky. I had a moment of Sherlock Holmesian brilliance and made a deduction based on their attire. “Are you looking for the wedding?” I asked. “YES!” the lady replied. I told them the church was on the other side of the building where we were standing and if they went to “that” street and turned right, they’d see the fancy black car parked in front of the church. I got about a thousand thank yous before they rushed off. Amazing timing, no?!

It was almost one by this point and I was famished, so I figured it was time to go home and have lunch. I passed this amusingly named store on the way to the bus stop, a play on the Spanish word for “home” and the word “emporium.”

And then I found… lunch. An American diner/UK café style restaurant with the kitchen open all day! I could not believe it!

The translation effort on the menu was worth a laugh. I mean, “Ask for our English (carta?)”?! LOL

I went for a burger and beer and… learned that burgers in Spain come with a fried egg! Good thing I’m not allergic and only have an intolerance to eggs! Thankfully, the egg came off easily and the flavour did not contaminate the meat, which was a real beef patty. There was also bacon and cheese. I haven’t had a real burger since Belgrade and dang did this one hit the spot! The fries were much better than they look.

There was no sauce on the burger, though, so I asked for mustard and was brought this:

I was nursing my beer and watching on TV the reports of Fidel Castro’s death when I was brought a piece of flan, that, of course, I had to politely decline. I requested a coffee instead (a “solo,” which is a single shot of espresso, no milk). The burger, beer, and dessert were a set price (8.50 euros) and coffee is extra, but the server told me that since I didn’t have dessert, they were not charging me for the coffee. I think this is a fairly standard decision since I often see menú del días that say, “and dessert OR coffee.”

As I was heading out, I heard the server speak English to some other customers! I have not heard English while out and about since I got here! It was really strange!

It was raining quite hard when I got out of the restaurant, so I just hurried to the bus stop. The electronic sign there told me my bus would be coming in 26 minutes, but one pulled up after 4 minutes after I arrived! I had to stand most of the way home.

Here’s a map showing some of my stops today:

It was such a lovely day despite the weather. Finding lunch was such a bonus!

November 25, 2016 by Rae

In Which I Actually Manage to Have Lunch Out

It’s a really beautiful day and I don’t have a ton of work, so I decided to walk to La Cañada to pick up coffee rather than getting some at the little shop here. I can’t believe how fast I’m going through coffee here, but since it’s cool, I’m having two cups every day, which explains it. Thankfully, good coffee is not expensive in Europe! Lunch at the Chinese restaurant was also hoped for, but not expected.

I set off just past 12:30 and got into La Cañada just shy of 1:00. I was struck by how many shops were having Black Friday deals! Talk about a very American concept that has spread.

I decided to pop into the produce place to get a couple of potatoes to make leek and potato soup this weekend (bacon may also be involved).

The Chinese place was open! I was seated promptly with a huge menu and brought a bowl of edible polystyrene chips that smelled vaguely fishy and were addictive.

The server asked if I knew what I wanted to drink and I requested a beer. He brought me a bottle. I’ve heard people say San Miguel is crap, but I really liked it!

I found a menú del día at the very back of the menu, three courses, dessert, and a drink, including beer, for 7.65 euros! I figured that my big beer would have a surcharge, but that was fine. I’ve really slacked on the beer since I got here and was due for a nice big cold one!

For my first course, I asked for a spring roll. This is their idea of a spring roll:

It was about twice the size of an average egg roll! They had sweet and sour sauce to go with it. The inside had what I consider to be egg roll filling, carrots, cabbage, and onion. Very good!

For my second course, I asked for fried noodles with pork:

This was yummy, but like in Mexico and the Balkans, they used linguini instead of Asian noodles, which really isn’t the same.

My third course was pineapple chicken:

It wasn’t particularly special, but at least the chicken wasn’t fried. It was very sweet, so I asked for soy sauce:

The very good soy sauce (so thick!) helped immensely.

I wasn’t able to eat everything, of course, but when I was told dessert was ice cream, including chocolate, I couldn’t resist/found room. The scoop was tiny/perfect sized.

The restaurant had WiFi, so I caught up on emails between courses since I was in no big rush. The server was very patient in making sure I understood the password and inputted it correctly. I asked for the “internet” password and he replied that the “Wee-Fee” (Wi-Fi) password was such and such. So that was my Spanish education for the day. In Mexico, I’m sure they would understand Wee-Fee, but I always asked for the “inalámbrico” (wireless) password. I haven’t seen that word used in Spain so far.

When the bill came, it was for 7.65 euros — no surcharge for the big beer. Wow!

This wasn’t an amazing meal, but it really hit the spot and was very good value. I am pleased. And stuffed. 😀

It looks like I may not have any work this weekend (!!!), so I’ll probably head into Almería tomorrow to explore the waterfront. This guarantees that work is going to come in. 😀

November 23, 2016 by Rae

In Which I Make It to Almería’s Mercado Central

I thought I’d be out of work today, but, nope, more came in! I still decided to take today off and power through on Thursday so I could go to town today during what I’ve ascertained to be the optimal hours: 10 to 2. I was overdue for a day off and a change of scenery and was out of some groceries that I can’t find at the shop here or at Mercadona in La Cañada. I also needed cash and a top up for my phone and hoped that the Mercado Central would be open.

I managed to be out the door before 10 and got to the bus stop just as a bus was pulling up! I got off at the start of Paseo de Almería, a main thoroughfare, so I could go to the Deutsche Bank. Again, that’s the bank in Spain where I can withdraw money with my Scotiabank card without paying any fees.

There was a Vodafone store almost right next door and I popped in to ask about a phone top up. They were slammed and the attendant told me she couldn’t help me and to go to a bank! I decided to try somewhere else. No, I cannot top up online because you need a Spanish credit card. I believe that’s for the same reason most countries require prepaid SIMs to be registered against a passport: to fight terrorism by making it more difficult to get “burner” phones.

I then tried a phone reseller that doesn’t just do Vodaphone and she told me that I had to top up with the same amount as I’d originally paid, 20 euros! That was not going to happen since it’s not like I’m out and about that much. If I do stay in Spain through the New Year, then I’ll revisit that question. And as it turns out, you can buy phone top ups at most ATMs. Huh.

The Mercado Central was open!

The top floor had produce, meats, cheeses, olives, assorted groceries, baking, and a little café.

It was much “neater” and orderly than the Mexican markets I’ve been to. I was able to look at things without any pressure.

The café can cook up your purchases!

I’d hoped to get a second breakfast in town and the café wasn’t intimidating. I ordered a café cortado and toast with tomato.

My coffee came in a glass and was perfect.

I read the provincial paper as I waited for my food. Like anyone in their right mind, Spaniards are bothered by Trump’s dressing down of the media and what it means for freedom of speech and a free press in the U.S.

My toast came. The first one of these I had had chunks of tomato, but this was just pulp. Still very tasty, especially with olive oil, a bit of salt, and lots of black pepper! The bread was very nice, kind of like a ciabatta. This is such a good breakfast and I’m so grateful my host introduced me to it.

One thing I like about eating out in Spain is that you are not rushed out the door. I wasn’t done with the paper when I’d finished eating and there was no pressure for me to leave. I just sat and kept reading till I was done. There was a fascinating article about a man who survived 438 days lost at sea near the Marshall Islands.

I then went shopping for some produce. No one had grapefruit (!), which, by the way, is “pomelo” here, not “toronja,” but a few people had dragonfruit (pitahaya).

The vendor who had the freshest looking ones had a lot of other nice produce, so I started with him. I asked for a half kilo of cherry tomatoes (had no idea how much that would be, to be honest, but it ended up being the perfect amount!) and he let me sample them. Yum! I wanted a leek, but didn’t know the name, so “the green and white thing to the left of the celery” did the trick. Puerro! He offered to cut off the green part, but I love it, so I declined. I got a few other things, including carrots and onions.

I then wanted some grapes and found a vendor who had some really nice ones. I was again allowed to sample them first.

Then, I headed downstairs to check out the very impressive fish market. I apologise for the terrible pictures!

There’s a small grocery store on the fish level.

I’d left home with my little grocery cart, so I didn’t have to carry my shopping. Isn’t my host thoughtful to have provided it? The cart itself is very light and easy to manoeuvre.

I went back upstairs and ogled the olives for a bit.

There were some lovely cut flowers.

I wandered a bit around the exterior of the mercado and found these grocery carts for sale. I like that pink and white striped one!

Next stop was going to be Lidl. En route, I found some nice artwork at the entrances to two parking garages.

I found myself on the pedestrian street with the “Washington monument.” I looked for a plaque that would explain it, but there was none.

Almería is very pedestrian and cyclist friendly. Just follow the red brick path!

The Lidl here was rather disappointing compared to the one I went to in Sofia. It was mostly a luxury premade goods at a bargain price store and I didn’t find some of the staples I was looking for, like unsweetened almond milk. But I did find some nice cheddar and a vacuum packed roast chicken like I got once in Bulgaria that was very good, so the detour was not for, well, naught.

Like in the Balkans, grocery stores here have a parking space for your cart. You need to give 1 euro deposit, which you get back. When you pay for your groceries, you can put everything back in your big cart or basket, bring it here, and then pack your cart, saving you from having to fiddle with bags. When I shopped in Sofia, I would put everything back into my basket, go to a counter like this, set my backpack on it, and then load up the bag. This keeps the checkout lines moving quickly.

Since I still didn’t have much in the way of groceries, I decided to go to the “Carrefour Market” on Almería that I’d passed on the way to the Mercado. I took a different route there to see more of downtown.

I liked the contrast of that very neat apartment building and the mess across the street.

Found the lovely San Sebastián church.

There was a neat tree out front.

This contrast of architectural styles reminded me of Sofia.

Love this pink building!

The Carrefour Market was tiny and had almost nothing, which surprised me. I thought I must be missing something since there wasn’t even regular milk. So I asked and was told there were two other floors! Oops! The basement had junk food and drinks, the main floor had the deli, some dairy, produce, and premade foods. Upstairs was what you would normally find in the centre of a grocery store.

They had piles of almond milk, but none without sugar. Since I found sugar-free cereal, I decided to go with a container of sweetened milk and was pleased that they had a the same brand I could sometimes get in Yablanista as it really tastes like almonds. I’ve had bad luck with some brands being very chalky. The big Carrefour had the sugar-free in the brand that I like and can get in Canada, the US, and Mexico (Almond Breeze) and I’m kicking myself for having bought only the two containers.

One thing I was super happy to find was another jar of Tikka Masala sauce! I also scored some whole wheat pasta (surprisingly hard to find), and a pizza with barbecue rather than tomato sauce (surprisingly popular in Spain) for just 1.50 euros.

It was about 1:30 by this point and I was hungry again. I went to the bakery area to get something to munch on while waiting for the bus and selected an empanada with curried chicken. The clerk offered to heat it up for me and said that if I paid for it right there, I could eat it right away at their lunch counter rather than wait. Awesome! It was a little light on the chicken, which didn’t surprise me, but the curry sauce was really yummy and a flavour I haven’t had in a very long time.

I then paid for my groceries and loaded my cart. It was full! But I do have to note that I’d bought a pack of toilet paper at Lidl (on mega sale), and that took up quite a bit of space!

When I’d left home this morning, it had been very damp and cold after a solid 24 hours of rain. By the time I came out of the supermarket, it was warm and sunny — ice cream weather! So I stopped at the heladería I’d discovered my first time in Almería and asked for a small scoop of “cheesecake.” The server was very generous! Calories don’t count in such circumstances! I found a bench and took my time savouring my treat.

The bus stop was just a couple of blocks later and I came up just as my bus was pulling up. Talk about good timing today! Since I had my cart, I had to stand all the way home, but I was able to lean against a wall, so that was fine.

The cat was sitting on the roof of my host’s car as I came around the corner. When she saw me, she let out a very indignant meow since I was an hour late giving her her 1PM treat! So I did that before unpacking my groceries. She’s curled up against me now, so I think I’m forgiven!

Here’s my gorgeous dragonfruit:

What a lovely day it’s been! I’ll pay for it tomorrow, but it’s done me a world of good. Almería was a whole other world between 10 and 2!

Before I close out this post, I want to make something very clear. Frustrated as I am by the Spanish schedule, I have to emphasise that I really like Almería!!! It is a beautiful city with a very walkable downtown core, lots of green spaces, a super friendly population, good public transportation, and an affordable cost of living. If I do manage to eventually move to Spain (easiest country for me to get residency and eventually an EU passport), even without having seen much more of this country, I could very well imagine myself in Almería. It ticks a lot, if not all, of my boxes. I still can’t believe I was fortunate enough to get this sit!

A Life By Design

"Sometimes in life, we reach to a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!" ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Month: November 2016

Things Fall Into Place

Shopping for Raisins

A Drizzly Amble In Almería

In Which I Actually Manage to Have Lunch Out

In Which I Make It to Almería’s Mercado Central