Where to find Aimee:
Where to find Rebecca:
Where to find Aimee:
Where to find Rebecca:
Welcome to Bonjola, a podcast about two women, Aimee and Rebecca, who each moved from the United States to Europe to become expats, Aimee to Spain and Rebecca to France. We're here to share the highs, the lows, and the logistics of this adventure, encourage you to follow your own move abroad dreams, and remind you that you're not alone when the going gets tough. Enjoy. And this flashback episode, we go back to October 19th, 2023. Where I, Aimee share some unexpected emotions that I received a couple of days after we received our visa approval. And discuss next steps that we're taking now that we've got the green light to stay in Spain. Rebecca shares more about her transition to a more focused effort on moving. And that co-mingling of grief and joy for what she's saying goodbye to as well as the excitement of what is to come. We discussed the importance of creating comfort in the home and building community. And I reveal some really interesting changes for any American traveling to Europe in 2024 and beyond. As well as some curious geopolitical. The ideas that Spain has about a couple of other nations. And we have a brief visit from a surprise guest who pops in to discuss foreign currency of interest and capture the flag. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it. Well, let's get to the show. You Hello. Hi. Bonjour. Camera in Spanish. Camera in Spanish? Hola. Hola. It's been a while. Yeah, it's been a hot minute. I want to hear all about what All about your September and also like, where are things progressing with your move closer? Well, I'm in the new apartment right now. And September is a blur. Um, cause I did the road trip with dad, which went amazingly. And I am in such a much better place maybe than ever before in my life. And then I. Did a road trip with my friend Carolyn, taught two classes, and saw my mom, all in the same journey. Wow. What? And, yeah, and now we're moving. And, I mean, like, I don't even know, the list is too long of the things that have happened since I last saw you. Yeah. Um, we hired a lawyer, our immigration lawyer. You found your lawyer. Congratulations. So hopefully we have as awesome experience as you did with your people. Yeah. Cause you're in, you're done, right? We're done. Yeah. Our visa got approved on Monday, 17 days after submission. I don't think anything else in Spain can go that fast. Like having to deal with Spanish bureaucracy. So we are rather gobsmacked. Fantastic. Yeah. Oh, Aimee, I don't want to get there and I don't want to get there all at the same time. Yeah, the, the, the mixed feelings are hitting hard this week. Are they? Yeah, they totally are. They totally are. Okay. Tell me all about your mixed feelings. Oh my gosh. Okay. So Monday night, 11 o'clock. I do the 1130. I do the worst thing in the world, which is lay in bed and open up my email. Why is this the worst thing in the world? Nobody should be reading email at 1130 at night. Okay. That is when you work on de stimulating your brain. Not finding things which stimulate a desire to take action. And you know, whether it's work email or, or, or receiving a email from your lawyer saying, Hey, guess what? Is that when you got the news? Yes. Oh, so zero sleep. She, yeah, she had sent it, she had sent it in the afternoon, but you know, I was busy that day doing a lot of stuff. And so I hadn't checked my personal email. So I just, and you know, as I'm hitting the little icon on my phone for Gmail, I'm like, this is not what you should be doing. And then poof, you know, here's this email. Good news, you know, good news. So, and so, and so I open it up and it's like, your visa has been approved. And I'm like, holy smokes, holy smokes. So, you know, I wake up, I wake up Shane, right? I'm like, guess what? Guess what? It's happened. We're approving. So, um, you know, we couldn't celebrate that night, obviously. I texted my mother in my I mean, all Spain is up till 4am. You coulda. Yeah, but you know, he's got a 10 year old who's got to get to school in the morning. So it kind of puts a damn and I'm doing a sober October which so the the partying is a little bit subdued at the moment. And Spain doesn't take fondly to public inebriation anyway. Interesting. Yeah, yeah, very frowned upon here. Huh? Yeah, yeah. So Yeah, so I, you know, talked to my mom and my sister for a little bit via text and messaged a couple other people. Didn't fall asleep till like 1. 30 in the morning, right? The next day we went to one of my favorite places and had a five course meal for lunch to celebrate and the, the lead, the lead. Server made us some special mocktails for the occasion, which was really sweet. Yeah. Yeah. It was really sweet. And that's how we celebrated. And it was, you know, I thought for sure, I thought for sure I would just cry in relief when the news came because it's like, okay, finally I can settle in and start living here. And that didn't happen. I was just so excited. And then immediately the to do list. Okay. Okay. Okay. This is the furniture I've been waiting to buy. This is the thing that I need to do. I need to get plane tickets because now we can leave the country and we have a couple of trips that we've been wanting to plan this winter that we have to wait because, like, we don't know, we don't know when the visa's gonna come in. There's a family who goes to my son's school and they're at, uh, our bus stop and they submitted their visa. Same visa. digital nomad visa to the Spanish government in July, and they are still waiting for approval. That's crazy. Because the Spanish government keeps coming back to their lawyer and saying, Hey, we need this. Hey, we need this. So, the Spanish government is telling their lawyer additional things that they need to get. Our lawyer already knew all the things we needed to get and her, and her asked us about that before we were allowed to even submit. So this is where like all of that stress on the front end really paid off on the back end. Because if you have all of your ducks in a row and your lawyer is on top of things and our lawyer like goes to meetings where. They're called the UHG or the UGH, but they're the, um, they're sort of the, the governing body of, of visas and things like that in the country. Um, and she goes to meetings where they are talking about the things, the changes that are happening. So she's very abreast on the changing nature of this visa and that has paid off in spades. So, so happy, so happy because we can't leave the country. In this holding period, right? Where our 90 days tourist visa has expired, but we don't have permission to, to stay in this, in the Shen green zone, right? Without, without our visa. Yeah. So, um, I've got the to do list, none of which I've taken action on, but it's rolling around in my head. And then yesterday, yesterday. So yeah, about 48, 72 hours later, just this grief really, really hit. I, when I moved to Seattle, I thought I would die there. I have never in my life lived in a place that felt like home. And Seattle was the very first place I've ever been. That felt like home. And Girona doesn't feel like home yet. It's like, oh my gosh. It might be better than ever. It might be. And it might, yeah, it might not. It's like, whoa, this glamorous, fancy place with all these super nice people. How did I end up in this universe? But it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't cradle my soul the way that the Pacific Northwest cradles my soul. In that very like deep. Soulful, maternal held kind of way, as you know, we're trying to get all those walks in around our neighborhood because of that. And I talked to Damien about, like, even just moving from house to house. I'm like, Oh, I miss this house. And he doesn't seem to have that sense of nostalgia and rootedness nesting. And he's like, no, I'm so excited about the next thing. I'm like, it doesn't mean I'm not excited about the next thing, but I'm going to miss this thing. And the grief is real. Yeah. Yeah, it is. So have you found anything that does feel really comforting there? Um, I have a really good friend. I have a really good friend here and she has just been awesome. She asks very poignant, deep questions. She Is very astute and self, like, she's just, she's totally my jam, right? Is she an expat or is she a local? Yeah, she's an, she's a, she's an expat, but she's lived here for 11 years. So she's like a long term expat, knows the ins and outs of the area pretty well. And she is, She also is someone who deeply values community and friendship, and she's a community builder and very extroverted. And so, the desire, like that deep longing desire I have had for community and for friendships where people invest in each other, rather than, you know, I'll see you when I see you, whether that's next week or three years from now, right? She's someone who values friendship and values community. Yeah, she values friendship in a way that I have needed for years. So, she's also super spontaneous. So, we'll text each other and be like, Hey, do you want to go grab a coffee? Hey, I'm, you know, I'm walking by your neighborhood. Are you home? Right, that kind of thing. And that is, Lovely. It's so lovely. So that's, yes. It's something she might be somebody fun to have on as a guest at some point. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I have no doubts about that. I was thinking about that earlier today because we had coffee after Pilates class. The word spontaneous really struck me right then because there's nothing spontaneous about my life here in the United States. And I know that that's partly a personality thing. But I think it's more than that. I think it's, does your, does your lifestyle allow for spontaneity? Um, do you feel like the spontaneity that you see from her is entirely because of who she is, or is it also because of the Spanish lifestyle? It's both. It's both. There are, there are people here who do fill up their time in such a way that they can't be spontaneous. Those, those people exist here too. Moving to Europe is not a cure all. Right, moving to Europe is not a cure all. And they're not necessarily, they're not necessarily American, right? They're, I've known some Catalans who are like very busy. They've got a lot going on. Um, and so this is the case where, but, but, In the States, or at least I guess I can really only speak to the West Coast, when someone is busy and you reach out, they'll be like, Oh, I'm busy, but let's definitely get together soon. And that's the last you'll hear of them. For who knows how long, right? But here it's like, you know what, let me take a look at my calendar and then they'll come back and they'll be like, how about this day at this time? Or sometimes they give you two or three options to choose from and they engage in the conversation until there's a time that works and they make that commitment to invest in that friendship. And that just does not seem to happen anymore. You said that the Pacific Northwest felt like it cradled your heart, but you didn't have the community here to find out that you want it. Yeah, when I first moved to the Pacific Northwest, the community was there. I mean you're in college, you're in your 20s, you're like, you know, you're out and about, you meet people. It's a, and it is probably still a fun place if you're in your 20s, although largely unaffordable for more and more young people, more and more of everybody. So, you know, the, the landscape, the trees, the mountains, the water, the, the earth itself deeply, deeply nourishes me there. When I first moved there and I was young, the vitality of the city, what the city offered, the overall mentality of the city was very aligned. And that was, you know, it was a, it was something that was aligned with my values. And I feel like my values have mostly stayed put and the city has, the area is just gone. You know, kept going in a different direction. And so now there's that, that friction of, I don't, I don't belong among the people that I used to belong to. Okay. And I feel like that's because the city shifted more than you shifted. Yeah. I think just the, you know, over the last 20 years, the influx, the massive changes that come with an influx of tech dollars and the new influx of like all the people that have rushed into the city over the last decade. Right. All of those things. Have changed the culture of the city and also the nature of the people who have always been there. Yeah, I was thinking about that. I think about it pretty often when I'm driving. We used to be a city that waved. You always waved when you would get in front of somebody. And now, I mean, not really ever. And then yeah, people also used to not cross the sidewalk when you approach to them, they would just stay where they were and away from you. But you know, that's not a thing anymore. The comfort thing is real. It's one of the things I get really anxious about when I think about living over there is it's all well and good when you're feeling good, but when you have a sick day or you're just feeling blue. You don't even know what you're going to want in that moment, but you know, it's comfort and it's, and it's for me, it's familiarity is part of comfort. Oh yeah. Because everything unfamiliar takes work to navigate. And so the last thing I want to do when I'm feeling sad or sick is anything that feels like work, mental or physical. Absolutely. We watch our old childhood movies when we get sick, you know? One of the things that I did too, because home is very important to me, a feeling of being home. And I knew that with that transition and also being limited to what I could take with me, you know? Most of what felt like home would be left behind, but I did make sure to bring little pieces of things like little, honestly, little tchotchkes, right? Little, little things that felt that felt homey to me. And so as soon as we, you know, landed our apartment, our long term rental, like those came out of the suitcase. And I was like, we're going to decorate this place, you know, put up the family photos, right? Make this feel more like home. And then of course. Go and buy 400 euro worth of plants, because But yes! That's what distinguishes a place from a hotel. It's things that are tending and caring and that give back to you. I'm so glad we're bringing our cat with us. Oh yeah, absolutely. I think, honestly, that's going to make all the difference. I hope it's a good move for him. I'm nervous for him. I think that's fair. My hope is that he recovers well from the move. Yeah, exactly. What are things that give you comfort? Well, one thing I always travel with, even on a road trip or to whatever, I have this pink fuzzy blanket, just a little throw blanket. So I always travel with it because having something tactilely soft to snuggle up against, like just even like literally rub my cheek against. It's like a toddler with their little stuffies or whatever. That We are all still toddlers on the inside. So having, and like last, when we took our three month trip, we brought our robes, having, and we said so many times, I'm so glad we packed our robes. So it definitely is about soft, literally tactile softness is a big part of it. Yeah. Um, we just sold our sofa as part of the moving to the new apartment. And so we're sitting in armchairs to watch TV. It's both less comfortable, physically less comfortable, which by the way, helps you watch less TV. So I guess that's my choices that support your goals, but it also doesn't let us cuddle. Right. I can't put my feet in his lap. He can't put his head in my lap or whatever. So we're recognizing that some of those things like we figured out we need a door between our bedroom and the rest of space so that we can have some separation, but also the furniture layout so that we can have some together. Really matter right right soft softness and comfort I think are the category but then how that plays out is still to be determined. And you're moving into a furnished apartment, right. Lightly furnished. Yeah. So it has, um, it has a sofa. I'm very excited about that. Um, and like an American style sofa, not like Victorian parlor city, which is what a lot of Airbnbs end up with. And I know that the mattress is called out in the listing as being a really nice mattress. That's another important thing at 46 and 50 our bodies. Need real recovery at night. Um, so those are the two pieces of furniture. That's basically the two pieces of furniture that are there. I, there might've been a dining table that might just been bar stools at a counter. I can't remember. But so the thing is, I know I want a really comfy chair so that I can have an extra person sit in space, but we're only going to be in that first apartment for six months. Do I buy a chair and then have to move it when I don't know where our more permanent place will be? I don't know. TBD. Stay tuned for another episode. The chair. Right. Oh my gosh. It's going to be fun. I think we're going to have a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, random factoid, which I wrote down. So I wouldn't forget to tell you today, Rebecca. With one C, means cardigan in Spanish. I did not know that! Nor did I! It's a random fact you would have learned being named Rebecca, and taking Spanish classes, so that's weird. But cardigan is such an infrequently used word. It's a very specific word, right? It's not, it doesn't typically come up and it's not a hoodie. It's not a sweater. It's it's a cardigan. It's a cardigan. Love it. Um, speaking of things that we've noted down, um, two things. One, we found out that Damien, so we thought Damien 90 days ahead of him getting. Are getting into the program, which starts and we're writing March 1st. So we thought he wouldn't be applying for his visa until half a month after me. But we found out that he can just go whenever and just be a regular tourist. And then, like, as long as he just takes the train over to London and then enters on his visa. Um, so basically he'll have two entries if we go earlier, just go in as a tourist and then he goes back in. Right. Hmm. Same thing I learned. And then on podcasts. I also wanted to mention, I've been using Descript for all my editing. I love it. It's a really, really cool interface. So that's something to share with Sean. Change, change, Sean. I'm just going to rename this guy. How many names have you known? So tell Sean hi. Tell Sean hi. Wait, tell me again so I can write that down. Descript. really, really, really cool editing platform. And then I have been toying with the idea of testing out either Riverside or squad cast instead of zoom. So we want to think about what platform we actually want to record on. Okay. My understanding is that Riverside and squad cast do local recordings. wifi gets weird, you have better fidelity. Nice. Like those texts I sent you, Aimee, I am such a hot mess right now. Like I'm holding it together mostly, but oh my gosh, I am so aware of how much has fallen through the cracks and how many things I'm like, oh shit. Um, okay. Scrambled, but nobody knows you are in the thick of it. You are in the thick of it. I wish that I could tell you that it's temporary, but. I love you too much to be dishonest. So learn how to have compassion and forgiveness for how much you will be inefficient and drop the ball and show up less than you want to. For the next handful of months. I don't like your words, Aimee. I know. But I know it's true. It's like, before you get married, you know. Oh gosh, right? Yes. My friends literally hung a notepad with a pen attached around my neck. And it was like this funny, not funny, like, no, really, we need you to do your job. Cause it was my work friends. And I imagine the same thing happens when you're leading up to having a baby, like, and that's all chemical changes too. Holy crap. So I know grace and forgiveness and understanding. Think of this. It's, it's really, it's really the prep work for coming over to. An area of the world where living your life as though you are on Henry Ford's assembly line just isn't a thing. That's a fascinating way to describe my, at least my life in the United States. That's really accurate. It is. It's, I mean, that's, it's true for all of us. Well, 97 percent of us. Yeah. But I'm, I feel myself like the resistance is real, right? Yeah. Little desk drawer here is perfectly set up. My stapler has its spot and my tape has its spot. And right now, no matter what my husband asked me for, like anything, you know, do we have whiteout? Who has whiteout? Yes, I do. Not only do we, I even know where it is. Like I, my, my crafting stuff, like I'm not going to move all that over to France. And so like the person that I am, the person I pride myself on being, I either have to become a different person or set that all up again from scratch, which by the way, it's really expensive. Like having just a little bit of everything at your fingertips, it didn't take decades to build this. I know. That's why it was so great to just buy someone else's three years of household that they accumulated. Well, my friend is buying all my stuff from me because she bought a four bedroom house or something after living in an apartment and she found out I was moving and I was going to sell all my furniture. She's just like, I'll buy it all. And I was like, that's kind of weird. And now I'm like, Oh, I get it. Yes. Yes. It's, it's amazing. It's amazing. And your friends are, I mean, like, I guess they didn't become friends. The people who owned the place before you, did they leave like everything, silverware, pots, pans? Yeah, they, they were renting and they had rented, they would have been here, I think for about two or three years. Um, and so it's, yeah. Pots and pans, you know, a full, the full kitchen, um, a desk, you know, the, the Ikea bookshelf. But, you know, all the, the linens on the beds, because when they began renting it, it was partially furnished. So, so the, the beds themselves, the couch, the chairs, those were all, those all came with the, with the unit dining room table and chairs. Um, but everything else, you know, they, they had purchased over the years. So it's, it's very handy because you're also, when you're in a new place, you also don't know, like, Where do you, where do you, where do you buy this? Where do you buy that? Where do they have, I don't, I still am not fully sure where to get hydrogen peroxide here. I found out, you know, you can buy stamps. at the tobacco store, the smoke shops is where the stamps are. It's like totally counterintuitive, would not have guessed that. I mean, I can also go to Correos, the post office and get it as well. Right. Yeah. And I mean, there's obvious answers, but like, if we, if somebody just moved to the United States and Googled, where can I buy silverware? They're probably going to find like Crate and Barrel first or Macy's. Yeah. Perfectly legitimate answer, but it's not a cost effective answer or IKEA would be more cost effective. And of course, goodwill would be super effective but nobody would know any of that getting here, which makes me think. That'd be really helpful information to give people. So you've landed in the United States and you need silverware. What do you do? That's exactly what's on my mind about France. So you've landed. My biggest trauma during the three months in France was when we melted all my underwear and I had to go buy underwear. That's right. Now, France is the capital of lingerie, but I don't want that kind of underwear. I just needed regular cover my comfortable so much trauma, crying so much crying. Yeah. Yeah. Just feel like an idiot, you know, forget the language barrier, which is also there, but just, you don't want to overpay not to mention some issues that come up underwear. Right. You just have like that, you learn, you learn which battles to hang your ego on. And there are some where you're just like, I am too overwhelmed to give a shit how much this costs right now because I just need it. And that, and I'm just going to cut my losses here. I know I could get it cheaper somewhere else, but I don't know where that somewhere else is. I don't. And how many of my life hours am I going to waste trying to find? The best X or the best Y, right? Are you finding that you're turning to any of the Facebook expat groups or are all of your resources turning out to be local and community? They're one in the same. The Facebook groups that the expat Facebook group that I'm most active in is a local group, a city group here. And that's how we found the apartment. Um, and how we got connected with that family that was leaving, you know, at the same time we were arriving. And that's where a large amount of, of my community that I'm developing has come from is from, well, it's, it's actually a parent group. In Girona, with English speakers. So there are some Catalan there, there are some, you know, some Spaniards there, and people from other countries. But it's, it's been a fantastic resource. I think having a kid is a good crutch for forming community. It is here. We did not have as much luck in the States. That's interesting. Hello! Hi. How are you doing, Oliver? Good. What are you doing today? Mmmmm. What are you doing today? Today? Yeah. What have you been doing? Is it, I guess it's evening there, huh? P. E. Oh, you did P. E. today. What'd you do for P. E.? Raccoon. P. E. P. E. Captured the flag. That's awesome. I'm tired. I bet. My leg is sore. I'll take a look at it later. Okay. I have a question for you. Um, you collect coins, right? Yeah. Do they, are they from, do you like them to be super old or super international? Or like, what is your criteria? International and old. I don't really care. Right. I have a couple that I'm bringing for you that, cause I went through some old boxes and I found just, I don't know if you'll like them, but I'm bringing them. Thanks. You're welcome. Thanks. I take that any coin, any coin, except for lottery coins of like, you know, the circus ones, like that I would basically have nothing and it says one lottery, like the coins, like the coins, I don't especially care for those. Really? Like those tokens for getting a car wash? No, that's not that's. I will bring them with me and you can decide if you'd like to keep them. Thanks, Rebecca. You're welcome. I'll, it's gonna be a while. I'll see you in about five months. Bye. Bye. I'm gonna go rest. Okay. My little heart is melting. Right? Oh, I hope he doesn't turn into a gross monster team. It depends on upon your definition. I can tell you that, um, the foot odor is already gross monster teen. What is it with that? It's evidently something that happens at 10. I don't know. Is it like a pheromone thing? Is it like an evolutionary I'm ready to mate? Like, what is that? Why does it start with the feet? Yeah. And it's, and it's actually like anti mating because, I'm sorry, maybe it's protection. It's the, no, it's, it's so that, it's so that the, it's so that the maternal unit pulls away and the male, the male offspring can differentiate between self and maternal unit and between like, optimal female for future mating versus like stuff that we don't want biologically to happen, right? I think that's it. Best explanation I could come up with. It's foul. Yeah, yes, yes. Spanish summers have not been kind to my nostrils. Oh, that gave me a good laugh. Well, what's on the radar? What's the next thing? Oh, gosh. Um, the next thing is, is some travel and furniture buying. To make, you know, circling back around to make, you know, The house feel more like a home. What is, you said, there's some places you've been meaning or wanting to go. What are they first on the list? Hamburg, Germany, because Shane's sister is, has created a performance for the Hamburg opera. And yeah, her very first. Cool. Yeah. So we want to go see what she's created. Of course. Is that an ongoing show or? Yeah, it's an ongoing show. It starts, it starts this week, started this week or next week, and then it's going for a couple of months. You know, if we were recording this for our podcast, I would now say, what's the show call so people can go see it. Yes. That would be nice. Laura Wa was just here yesterday and she's planning a trip to Germany and she wants me to save Germany for when she's there. So, awesome as a confluence. Yes. Hamburg. Yeah. And then I'm gonna head back to the States, uh, probably close to Thanksgiving to um, visit some family members that are not. Well, what part of the States? Uh, I'll pop into Seattle for a couple of days and then I'm either going to Houston or Arkansas. I'm not totally sure. And then I'll pop back up to Seattle on the way out. Feel free to let me know when you're going to be here. I'll do that. I'll do that, but I don't want to, you know, I'll be seeing you on the other side of the pond. So if you have other people that you need to spend time with, that's okay. I will not take offense. Okay. Um, okay. So you can plan those two trips. Yep. Those two trips. Just get a bookcase, side table, that's about it. Just a bookcase and a side table? That's all the furniture you need? That's the thing that has been the most, like, nagging bits. How come? Because the, the master, the master bedroom is a little spartan and like, I don't have places to put some things, right? It's the bed. And then there are two tiny little side tables that hold hardly anything and still stuff falls off them all the time. And yeah, just, it looks cluttery. It's like not, not my jam. So I want to rectify that immediately. Where do you go shopping? Are there flea markets or furniture stores or what do you got? There are, yeah, there are. Where we live because we live in the high tourist. Area and one of the more expensive areas in town every all the furniture stores here are pretty exorbitantly priced They have some cool stuff, but it's pretty exorbitantly priced So I might I might just hit up Amazon. I have a couple things and in the car yet. Is it? Yes, we have figured out. Oh, oh, this is this is a valuable. Yes. So speaking of like when you just can't deal. We did figure out Amazon. Amazon has been just fine. I ordered some supplements from the UK. Didn't realize that was going to be a problem. Because it's not Euro. Uh huh. And evidently since Brexit, Spain Customs has their undies wadded up in a bunch about the Brits. So they are really, like, they're just not, it's impossible to get stuff released from Customs. When it comes from Britain, I thought it was just me. I mean, my, well, my problem was independent of that, but because I received a letter in the mail, basically saying, we have a package for you. It is being held in customs in order to release it. You need to go to this website and give us some information. So I go to the website and you have to create a profile. It's like, okay, my name. Your ID number, right, which they're, your options here are in IE, which is the, you know, the Spanish ID number for foreigners, and I think the DNI is the number, the ID number for, for nationals. And then it had an option for passport. So I put in my passport number and it says, Oh, I'm sorry, your passport number is not accepted here. Why did you give me the option to put my passport number in if you're not going to take it? So I go to the post office and in my very broken Spanish, I try and explain to the woman Behind the counter, you know, I've tried to do this. It doesn't work. How, how can I get my package without creating this profile? She's like, well, that's weird. It should work. I'm like, it doesn't work. I tried it's not working. It's not and she, you know, Went and talked to somebody who's like, I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do. Um, And then she said some things that I didn't understand. So I went back a few days later with, with my friend So she could act as my translator Cause she also speaks Catalan and not Spanish. And so the conversation, she had a conversation with her in Catalan and the takeaway was basically Spanish customs makes life hard for everybody. Nothing can be done. You, your best bet is to just reject it and send it back to the original person, you know, to the, to the sender. So I was like, great. And then she said, yeah, getting anything from the UK, honestly, it doesn't matter if If you were to send it back and reorder it and have it shipped to me, the likelihood that it would be released to me isn't really any better because sometimes they just don't. Yeah. And evidently, yeah, like Spain just has these little issues. Like they refuse to recognize Kosovo as a country. So, if you have a Kosovo passport, there is no way to get into Spain because it just doesn't, on all of the forms, like, there is no option. Like, that's as good as having a Barbie passport. They're like Yes! Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. What?! Yeah! So, like, people from Kosovo cannot enter the country because their passport isn't recognized as, like, anything legitimate. So, showing my idiocy here, what, what's the history of Kosovo that makes Spain feel like it's not a country? What's the alliance there that that's messing with? They're aligned with whoever was At war with Kosovo at some point in time in the 90s. I think it was the 90s and you know, like that knowledge is in the back of my head because I remember the war in Kosovo, right? I remember that thing happening, but not enough for me to say at all. Exactly. But whoever, whoever was opposed to Kosovo, I guess Spain aligned with them. And since they created that, they have that political alliance. They're just like, Kosovo doesn't exist in our eyes. Yeah, it's, it's random geopolitical facts that you learn when you travel. And if you have, if you go in with a spirit of curiosity, you learn so much about the world from a small little fact like that. Yes. I am definitely going to be getting off this call and looking up Kosovo. Like, what happened? It makes you feel like a real idiot to not have a clue about something that would create that kind of a fact. Kosovo is a small country, Spain is a small country, the United States is a huge country that has been dominant on the world stage for a very long time, you know, and isn't, and you know, it's losing that. Yeah, he's losing it but we still have so much more access like we take our access so for granted wandering around on a US passport, and we're so like it's very true it's very true but I think I think the fact that the European Union is, is, as of I think it's 2024 that they're going to start requiring that Americans. Get a visa to come over to Europe period, like the 90 day grace, like whatever you guys is cool. Totally cool. That's going away. And Americans are going to have to apply for a visa to even go on like a family vacation. And is this, is this the same thing? No, this is a Europe thing. This is a like, I didn't, I totally missed this. Yeah. And so if you ever, if you need, if you need confirmation that the U S is faltering as a world power. They're going to start treating us like everybody else. And that is a sure sign as anything. And that's really fascinating because of course you and I are both hoping that we'll have family and people visit us. And so I'm going to definitely need to get to know those things. Cause I want to give people a heads up about, and what's interesting is like this visa that you've applied for, which is brand spanking new. And so you're like, I don't know the rules cause there aren't any rules yet. That's probably going to happen with the visa for Americans to like, okay, it's a new thing. How does it work? How, how long do we need of lead time to get it? There's probably going to be this massive bureaucratic crunch of who's in charge of getting that to you and how fast can you get it? Like, I expect there's probably going to be a bit of a mess. They're very well maybe, it depends on who's spearheading that, right? It's, it's throughout all of Europe. And, you know, Spain is known for being a bureaucratic nightmare, but there are certainly other EU nations which are much more like ch ch ch. You know, put together and organized when it comes to implementing things. But yeah, like who's in charge? Like if you want to, you want to do the same, but you're coming in through Germany, do you apply through Germany? Do you know you apply? You apply through the European travel information and authorization system. That's a lot of words. It is. E T I A S. E T I A S. I think I've seen that, actually. Um, you're very well informed about this. I'm in Europe now. You know what? I couldn't tell you what's happening on the political stage in the States, though. Not that interesting over here, so don't worry about it. Oh, well, that's refreshing. I also don't watch the news, so it could be something I don't even know about. It's a low drama situation at the moment. We're really watching Europe a lot more, you know, like the flooding in Paris recently. We really pay attention to that. I mean, the streets were literally flooded and it just makes you go, okay, so maybe in our tiny Paris apartment, we do want three days of emergency supplies, you know, because. We actually have emergency supplies here at our house in the States. Yeah. But, It goes back to what we're talking about. So, okay, so do I want to store jugs of water? Where will I put them in my tiny apartment? How many days do I want to prepare for? Do I want extra food? Because here, at least I, again, know the system. I know the government system. I know who to call in case of emergency. There, I would be in more of a state of emergency simply Because I don't know the system or the resources or who to call. So I think it's even more important that we set up some kind of a self supporting system in case Paris is completely flooded and you can't leave your apartment for three days. Yes. And unless you choose to live your American lifestyle in Paris and you are holed up in your flat working all day. You will meet people who will be able to provide you with the information to make that less of an unknown. Yes, and Paris is a pretty big city, it's known for being a friendly place where people really get to know each other. And so I am, that's one of the things I'm very curious about. I really do want to explore co working, co working spaces. Good idea. And I, but I just don't have answers yet. I don't, it's all big, huge question marks filled in. Yeah. And it's, it is, it's very, and it's very ungrounding not knowing. And all I can say is like. You will become accustomed to living in the place of feeling ungrounded. Yeah. You could fight it the entire time, but I encourage you to just get accustomed to it because it's, that's the easier path. You're a more easygoing person than me. Have you had to get accustomed to that? And what have you done to do like mantras and meditations to recommend? No, I recommend watching the Bridgerton series and laying in bed all day. Tell me more about this very strange prescription. That's how I cope. So it's just your comfort. You go back. You eat as needed. Absolutely. Absolutely. When it gets too overwhelming and you can't handle, you know, when you, when you lose your shit at a tiny thing that normally you wouldn't lose your shit over, or we just like we independently, each one of us, you know, myself and Shane and our son, like independently at different times. We are just like, I don't want to leave the house. I don't want to deal with anything right now. I just want to stay here and decompress. I feel like our next conversation should focus on meltdowns. Yes, I will interview you about your meltdowns. I meant the other way. I see. No, no, this is remember it's tag team. You've interviewed me. I'm going to interview you about your meltdowns. I'm super excited about this, Aimee. I think that we have something really wonderful. I agree. Do you hear this? Yes. So that ringtone came from the Dungeons and Daddies podcast. Ah. There's this character named Spam Likely. What? Oliver, Oliver totally, when Oliver was like five years old, he would draw Spam Likely. I agree. I agree. I agree. Because when my phone rang, it was scam likely. And so he created a character. Like he drew scam likely. He was this villain and scam likely was always trying to get your money by calling you and convincing you to give it to him. It was like this whole thing for like six months. He was super into scam. You might need to check out the Dungeons and Daddies podcast. It is highly amusing, but he, so, and I can't remember if it was scam likely or spam likely. You get the point. He's on the phone with another character or the character. calls him, and then he pretends to put them on hold, and then he's making that little doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, as the hold music, and I was cry laughing, and so I looked it up, and I made it my ringtone, and now I love getting Spam calls. Oh, so awesome. So anyway, what were we saying? Um, we were going to schedule. And then I, and then I will let you go. Oh shit. That might've been somebody calling me. That was actually supposed to be answered right now. Okay. We're going to have to schedule later. I love you. Text me. Bye. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Bonjola. If you did, the best thing you can do is share it with another person brave enough to move abroad. See you next time!