Swimming

I can't believe I forgot to list that I will miss my swim team.  One friend has been a steady swim partner for almost nine years, patiently waiting for me to return from summers in Ithaca and for a year in Denmark.  I hope he is patient again!

I will miss the 1.75mi/2.8km ride from the house and watching the sun rise and seasons change.

I can see that our apartment complex has a pool.

Only one mile/1.6km away is this facility.  

Looks promising, if you ignore the membership requirements. This is from G00gle Translate.

How can I do to come to train in the CAR? What do I enter the CAR?

To enter the CAR permanently athlete must be federated be granted a scholarship by the federation or entity concerned, and that the federation has a training group at CAR. The CAR does not grant these scholarships.

I hardly qualify as an elite athlete, but since the Olympics will have just ended maybe they will be trying to fill their lanes!

Looking back, looking forward

I am often asked if I am excited about the year ahead.  I am, but I am also living in the moment, which is filled with to-do lists and not so much excitement.

It is good for me to focus on what I am looking forward to.

• Learning a new language.
• Exploring a new neighborhood.
• Watching Eurovision in Europe.

But it always helps me to think about what I will miss.  Each summer we went to Ithaca I would make a list so when it was time to leave I could pull it out and motivate myself to be happy about returning home.

I will miss

• Trader Joe's - I will miss the products and seeing friends there each time I go.  The people there know me and it feels a bit like walking into a Cheers episode.
• Knowing my way around.
• My stuff - some people are not attached to worldly possessions, but I am.  I like my memorabilia, all my kitchen gadgets, and things I don't need.
• Baseball on the radio

Preparations

I know it is worth it, but making the move is not without challenges even before we leave.  There are so many decisions to make!

Should we sell the car that is almost twenty years old?  Logically the answer is yes, but I will miss the windows that roll down manually, the odometer that rolls over mechanically instead of digitally, and I might even miss the tape player.

original sticker from September 1996

Should we try a peer-to-peer foreign currency exchange?  In 2010-11 our landlords were living in the US and we paid them in US currency.  It is a different story this year, plus the financial options have changed in the last five years.

What should we hold onto?  What should we leave out for the tenants?

I think some tears may be shed as this room is packed up.

How many bicycles should we take with us?  Where should we store the bicycles we aren't taking?

Maybe it helps to work with a deadline since we know the plane won't wait for us.

Where is Sant Cugat?

People are excited when we say we'll be near Barcelona, but it will be a lot like living in a suburb of Los Angeles.

By train it is about one hour away and by bicycle it is about ninety minutes.  Your results may vary.

People often ask about my level of Spanish proficiency.  While I think my Danish is better, I could survive in Spanish.  Another question to ask is about my level of Catalan proficiency, because by law that is the language of the Catalonian region.  All government dealings take place in Catalan, including the instruction in public schools.

I have used a couple of panagrams as examples of the language. First is English, then Spanish, then Catalan.  Thank goodness for Google Translate.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
El rápido zorro marrón saltó sobre el perro perezoso.
El ràpid guineu marró va saltar sobre el gos mandrós. 

Pack my bags with five dozen liquor jugs.
Las maletas con cinco jarras docena de bebidas alcohólicas.
Les maletes amb cinc gerres dotzena de begudes alcohòliques.

Yes, there are similarities, but I think we will still have our challenges.  I am looking forward to it!