I should have blogged more!

It's already 2011 and I guess I was too busy working, etc., to keep up with blogging. I can also blame Facebook! Living in Spain has made Facebook a priority, a way to keep up with family and friends back in the good, ole US of A! We leave here soon, well, not soon enough. I have met some wonderful people here, but ready to get back to the conveniences of the US. My kids are already in college and I'd like to be in the same country!

One very good thing about living on a small base overseas is the making of good friends. Unless one is a total miser, it is imperative to know your neighbors or coworkers. There is no getting around it. Every day I am amazed at how many people I recognize while walking out of the NEX! A new round is coming in now, so more new faces and ours will be leaving soon. We'll be back where we won't be forced to be a community. I will miss that.

I haven't "assimilated" to the culture here and I am thankful for that. I see Americans who have been here longer than me and some have taken to the "I really don't care" attitude. My immediate supervisor hasn't and I am flabbergasted. She's been here 10 years, I do not know how she does not have an ulcer. My non-working friends don't understand why I don't like it here. They just don't see the corruption that I see on a daily basis. For instance, how does a warehouse "lose" two 14 foot items? Maybe that crate hasn't come yet, but the rest of the items came over a month ago. Regardless, this is a regular occurrence. I suppose it happens everywhere, but nothing gets done about it here. Very frustrating to say the least.

On the flip side, we have beautiful weather and so many travel chances. Traveling Europe is like traveling from state to state only sometimes cheaper! Another very positive thing about Southern Spain is the lack of violent crime. There is the petty theft off-base, but that is the most that happens. Unless a drunk sailor or marine says something stupid to a local person and gets beat up. There are no shootings or stabbings. Just reading the online news shows me how often this happens in the US. Definitely feel safe here.

Well, I have gone on enough. Time to pick up the hubby from his 3 month long trip!

Hasta Luego!

First Blog

Hola!
This is one of my first blogs so I imagine I'll be making some mistakes along the way. Please bear with me! It has taken a couple of hours to get this going. For some reason, everything in my Google account, except for Gmail, was in Japanese or something like that. At least in Spanish, I can probably muffle my way through figuring out the words, but Japanese? Hello? I couldn't even find a place to change the language. So, I refueled with dinner and jumped right back in. Finally, after starting at square one, I was able to find the language filter, which was offered no where I had looked earlier. I had been trying to access the start page from a friends blogspot. No can do, I guess, especially if it's in Japanese!

I mentioned Spanish because we have been living in Spain since July 10, 2008. My high school ('82) Spanish has helped a tiny bit, but not really knowing the language is quite crippling here. I have my first day of Spanish School tomorrow. It's a lucrative business here. People come from all over the world to learn Spanish in Spain. Makes sense. Except for the fact, they speak it different here than the Latin American version we learn in the states. To top it all off, we were told by our cultural person (a beautiful Spanish lady who majored in Tourism in a Spanish college) to try NOT to speak like those here in Southern Spain. She said that here they speak slangish, dropping the ends of words, etc. Apparently, those who speak Southern Spain are likened to those who speak Southern in the US! Now, ya'all don't get upset now, ya hear? I have lived in many places in the Southern United States and I think the accent is really cool. Anyhoo, here "gracias" should be pronounced "grathias" but the locals make it even more different by saying "grathea." Adios becomes adio, buenos dias becomes buenos dia. I hope to begin learning the correct way tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!
Buenos Noches!