Hashtag First World Problems

Because I tend to not like to blog about my work, it's very easy to make my current life look like I'm just traveling about Europe on vacation.  I'm not.  I actually am working.  The one fun day a week gives me enough fodder to fill up the blog, but Maple thinks I should add another post with all the little anecdotes that show just how non-glamourous this trip is at times.  Here are a few stories (with random vacation-like photos that don't fit anywhere else...)

I already mentioned the two ridiculous things about our housing in Budapest: the chair that was supposed to be a bed and the snake-like fire hydrant that was supposed to be a shower head.

At our apartment in Elche, Spain, there was no hot water kettle.  While there was a stovetop, there were no matches to light it nor a pot to boil water in.  So I was forced to use the microwave to heat water to make my pour over coffee.  However, trying to pour boiling water from one coffee mug into another coffee mug usually just ends with me burning myself.  There was a small creamer (jug with a spout?) in the kitchen, but it had no handle, so I couldn't microwave it directly lest I be left with no way to pick it up, (and we're back to burning myself).  So...I microwaved a coffee cup of water, then spooned that water into the creamer, which I then poured over my filter to make my coffee.  I did this twice daily for five days.  That's roughing it, folks.

After driving from Barcelona to Elche (about 6 hours), we were both pretty spent.  Our host told us where to find a grocery store and restaurants.  However, after driving around in the dark a good deal, the only restaurant we spotted was called the Jackson American Pub, and it was packed.  To me, packed is always a good sign that the place will be good.  We went in, and the waitress explained that burgers were only 1euro, and a basket of six wings were 2euros.  We ordered a burger each.  When she brought them out, I went into that so-tired-I'm-a-little-bit-silly/loopy stage and just put my head down on the table laughing.  Laughing so hard I almost started crying.  The burgers were slider sized, with a sorry excuse of plastic cheese, and the meat looked a beef version of canned spam.  Sliced canned "meat" on a slider sized bun.  Of course that costs 1euro.  Dinner fail.

The water in Elche was so minerally that it was undrinkable for me.  On one of our first mornings there, we made a plan to go into Alicante for several hours, and on the way home, hit up the grocery store for bottled water.  Because we were going to eat lunch immediately in the city, I didn't drink water before we headed out, or buy any along the way.  I forgot, though, that Spaniards eat lunch much later than I'm used to.  Plus two of the restaurants we were trying to find were closed for summer holidays.  The next thing I knew, it was near 2pm, and I hadn't eaten and hadn't had water (save my crazy coffee), and the sun was barreling down on me.  Maple and I were climbing a set of stairs, and about halfway up, I told her, "The priority is to get water at the top of these stairs."  When we got to the top, I was so weak that I couldn't go any further.  She went to hunt water and I stood there praying that I wouldn't pass out from dehydration.  I began to feel weak enough that I finally just sat down, not caring that dogs probably pee'd on the poll I was leaning against.  A woman walked past me, and I was contemplating saying, "Por favor?  Agua, por favor?"  But then Maple walked up, to the rescue, and we got me re-hydrated.  Don't worry--that freaked me out enough that I've made sure to stay well hydrated since then.

Our hotel in Castellon, while so different than the apartments we'd stayed in up to that point, had its own set of issues.  It was advertised as a non-smoking, air-conditioned, two twin bed, four star hotel.  Well.  While it may be non-smoking now, it was not non-smoking once upon a time.  The two twin beds were pushed together in such a way that they could not be separated...but we did at least have our own separate bedding each, and we put a buffer pillow between the two of us.  Oh my.  And then the A/C...it simply wasn't on when we arrived, and it took about two days to cool the room down.  Since we didn't have a kitchen, I was making my coffee in the bathroom (gross), and our sandwiches on the desk.  Again, roughing it.  At one point, I remembered someone I'd know who'd gone "glamping" (glamorous camping, it's a word), and thought...that's what this is.  Glamorous camping. Glamping.  It's a word.  It's what we did.

When driving from one town to another, there was a friendly little "Have a nice trip" sign on the side of the road.  Except that it said it in multiple languages, and one of them made me laugh so hard it was ridiculous.  I lost it in the car, laughing so hard that I was crying.  Maple, (who was driving), couldn't figure out what was so funny.  I was finally was able to tell her what the sign said that tickled my junior high heart so much.  Here it is from Google Translate for your junior high pleasure.

We've learned that a great time to get a McFlurry is when you can't take the Spanish roads any longer.  The day we drove through Valencia, we got trapped.  You can't make any left turns ever in Valencia, and some round-a-bouts don't go all the way around and some round-a-bouts are double round-a-bouts, and after a solid hour of going the wrong way because the roads wouldn't let us turn around, we finally just turned into McDonald's and calmed cooled down with a McFlurry.  We kept commenting about how much concrete Spain has--so many roads, so many ways to go one way but not the way you need.  We told our boss that tonight (who lives in Spain), and he laughed and explained that when Spain entered the eurozone, they used the money to improve their infrastructure...thus the road insanity system.  Thanks for the heads up, boss!

There is a cookie in France that my friends would offer me, and it got to where I became sort of hooked on them.  I saw them one day in Spain, and decided to buy a package.  I tried to explain to Maple that they're a little bit like the off-brand cookies bought from a bulk store like Sam's Club that we use at VBS every summer: cardboard flavored sandwich cookies with a paste that is supposed to be cream inside.  But for whatever reason, I can't stop eating them.  I had her try a bite today, and after just one, she gave me a look like I was the craziest person she'd ever met.  "You keep eating these, when you could eat Oreo's or anything else?!"

Seriously, we're having a great time.  The work in Hungary was intense, and we're about to head back to intense next week.  These two weeks in Spain look totally different, as we're driving instead of public transporting (stressful), doing our work in spanish/french/arabic (instead of english), and we're not dealing with heart-breaking situations with refugees.  I joke about all these first-world problems listed above, but when I'm honest: I love my life.  I know just how blessed I am to get to do the work I'm doing right now.  I'm thankful.  It's not vacation, but it sure is pretty and fun.