Posted on by Jo Gent

Very Close to There

Are we there yet?, as in, Are my husband and I in Spain yet? Not yet, but very close.

The new news is that we have an apartment!

After rejecting several on their merits or lack thereof, being turned down by one landlord for being foreign, and missing a few great finds in this fast-moving market, we suddenly found ourselves with two applications accepted and a short time to decide whether to put a deposit on one of those or continue looking.

Eliminating the Continue Looking option was easy. We need to get out of here before flu season!

Both of these apartments are close to Ave Diagonal in the very northwest portion of Eixample, where it marks the boundary to Sarria and Gracia. The smaller one is a gem, with a huge master suite that includes a windowed gallery overlooking a leafy pedestrian way, and its building has a concierge. Sigh. A cozy retreat for us, but not much room for anyone else. 

The second apartment is 30 square meters larger, still with a large master area, but not ensuite. It has two other bedrooms, and all the bedrooms and the two baths are grouped together at one end of the apartment. The kitchen is opposite the front door, and the living spaces are at the other end. The living/dining area is spacious and has a balcony, though its not wide enough to dine on. The building was built in 1900 and the apartment has been renovated. The views are not as appealing as in the smaller apartment, but there is a lot of light. 

We chose that one, for the extra space and also because it has both A/C and heat. Many apartments in Barcelona seem to be lacking one or the other of those. 

I would link you to the listing, but the realtors took it down today! I guess they accepted the deposit we sent this weekend. I also have videos our agents posted on Whatsapp,  but I have not figured out out to share them.

In any case, we are here in charming Glen Burnie, MD, with water views in every direction, until Oct. 25th, when we will leave for Barcelona. We will be in  a hotel for about ten days while we register ourselves, find a bank, sign our lease, and arrange furniture rental, then occupy our new place starting Nov. 5. 

Furniture rental is a fun new addition to our to-do list. Our container MYK Demeter, rechristened by us as Slow Boat, won’t arrive until Dec. 14, so we need furniture between Nov. 5 and then. Moreover, our overpromising/underdelivering mover says clearing customs could take a week. We suspect it may be unwise to expect delivery during the festive season, since Barcelonians go big to celebrate Christian holy days, and we are having our kids out between Navidad and Año Nuevo.

We’re thinking we will allow a year to unpack when it does get here, because we have a lot of preferable activities planned. The joys of retirement know no bounds. 

 

Posted on by Jo Gent · 1 Comment

Know Thyself

I recently read about an author who claims people repeat the same patterns over our lives. She feels it’s important to notice those patterns and acknowledge them. I was mildly interested in this idea although not swept up by it, mostly because I think growth and change are more important and interesting.

Nonetheless, I may have stored it subliminally because last night my husband and I were having a conversation and a pattern just leapt out at me, one so obvious and ubiquitous I could not believe I had never marked it. We were talking about TV shows at the time, but the pattern definitely applies to books and many other aspects of us.

My husband approaches the library with a sense of mystery and the expectation of revelation. He walks the aisles and checks out the displays seeking seeking something that sparks his joy. He approaches TV the same way, starting with the homepage of the stream and scrolling through, occasionally watching a trailer, but mostly just jumping in.

I approach the library with a curated list of books I have vetted by reading reviews, mostly, or getting a recommendation; I might also search for a book on a topic of interest, most recently Harriet Tubman’s military contributions to the Civil War. I’m also pretty picky about TV shows, and very reluctant to start one without some research.

I’m very willing to drop a show after one episode, or a book after one chapter, if it’s not working out for me. My husband is much more patient with his finds; he will also drop either a book or a show if it doesn’t work out, but he’ll give it more time then I will.

It would be incorrect to say that my husband never reserves books, or that I never grab something that caught my eye on the Lucky Day table. But this basic pattern of being willing to try unknown paths versus planning the route in advance describes us in many ways, not just content selection.

Happily, we have both absorbed some of the others’ energy over the years: I try to be more spontaneous, and he certainly can plan when it’s useful. Patterns can inspire growth.

And now for something something completely different…we made a video of our robot jar opener today. This is a miraculous device. The music is Inisheer’s version of Jay Unger’s tune Wizard’s Walk, the best one in my view. It’s on Spotify if you want to hear more. Meanwhile my physical therapist recommends this and the robot can opener for protection of everyone’s wrists.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eVQrWZTXXrouHr48A

Posted on by Jo Gent

Drowning in Sorrow

Most of the time I’m not, but the moments happen.

There was one this morning. I read about a young Indonesian man, married to a US citizen, caring for their disabled baby, applying to be a permanent resident. He had a good job in a hospital, until ICE came in and told his work colleagues to call a fake meeting in the basement so it could nab him.

They complied. Jesus wept.

ICE doesn’t need any real reason to nab anyone now, but sometimes it enjoys pretending it has one. In this case it retroactively revoked his visa, set to expire in 2026, by changing its expiration date to sometime in March of this year. Then it picked him up based on criminal activity which involved graffiti years ago. The victim had traveled outside the country and returned multiple times since that misdemeanor (not punishable by deportation) offense.

Criminal activity is one of our new opposite word/phrases, like merit hire, as in the sentence, Current US cabinet members are merit hires.

These stories of individuals, usually men around the ages of my sons, illegally torn from there homes and jobs and families and deported if they’re “lucky,” or imprisoned in harsh conditions with no legal recourse if they are not, affect me much more than the threat of losing Social Security or the US betraying the good guys and joining the bad guys. It’s horrific for even one person to be snatched from their life for no reason. Are we just going to get used to this happening again and again?

Well, we have certainly adapted to regular school shootings.

Things are going well for my family and for me, and yet we live in the midst of increasing rancor and lawlessness of the worst kind, that perpetrated by authorities and fueled by capitulation. Now happiness now often seems gratuitous, and our right to pursue it a slender, shreddable veneer.

I haven’t blogged in a while because, well, they always start out like this. I will regain equilibrium shortly and probably not feel like this for a while, maybe even days. But I needed to acknowledge the situation today. Every room is filled with elephants.

Posted on by Jo Gent

The Message and the Narrative

The Narrative is the way humans explain things to ourselves, and like most of what we invent, it can be used to inform or to obfuscate. Narratives are powerful, and an entrenched narrative in a society is very difficult to dispute, much less dislodge. The narratives of America are very much in play right now, with currents of patriotism and paternalism, generosity and exploitation, diversity and exclusion, unity and retribution swirling madly through our public discourse.

Can Americans be both good and bad, kind and hateful, on the right side and on the wrong side? Since we are humans, how can we not? The narrative of, We built a great country but we had to ride roughshod over a lot of people to do it is simply not as compelling as the narrative, We did our very best and though not perfect the positives vastly outweigh the negatives.

Most difficult is the realization that a narrative we’ve been believing for a long time is not completely true. We all encounter inconvenient truths in life, perhaps as a poor job review, a lower than expected grade, an unanticipated breakup, or a recording of ourselves singing. Such revelations, while initially painful and unwelcome, can lead to strengthening changes if we are open enough to consider them.

The Message is a new book by Ta-nehisi Coates, a daring challenge to many of our most closely held narratives, which has incited critical responses ranging from vitriol to acclamation. In it, Coates travels to South Carolina, Senegal, and Palestine hoping to clarify some of his own life experiences and observations. At each location he probes the narratives he has internalized, comparing them to the reality in situ. The result combines history and revelation into an extraordinarily thoughtful and moving personal account, an account that starts with his own soul and expands to embrace the world.

I love this book, a compelling mental journey described step by step in an almost intimate exploration of his thought processes. He revisits his own past as well, exploring his experiences and thoughts as a younger person, as a successful writer, and as a seeker. All of these pieces come together to form a moving and persuasive whole.

I loved it, but I can’t do it justice! How The Message made me feel, made me think, and most important, transformed my relationship to and awareness of the ubiquity of Narratives, stands out compared to other books, yet I am simply not finding the words to convey that. Perhaps the Muse is not with me today.