Well, it appears to be official.
After almost 13 years in my beloved adopted home of Madrid, I am making a move. South. To Baeza, Jaén. Population 16 (thousand). Any reservations I had about moving from a thriving metropolis to small town, from a city that never sleeps to a town that I suspect is narcoleptic, are now behind me. It's full steam ahead. Baeza or Bust.
My Spanish boyfriend, let's call him "McNulty", has to spend the next 9 months there and I talked it over with the dog and we have decided to go with him. Despite my initial reservations—you can't drink the tap water and there's no Starbucks (there are also no department stores and no movie theater, train station or ethnic restaurants)—I have decided that I am up for the adventure. A friend told me I would have a hard time adjusting to the simplicity of life in Baeza, but with this blog as my witness, I am going to do my best to embrace that simplicity.
My boss is going to virtualize our office so I can work from there (further evidence of how amazing he is/lucky I am), I'm sayin' "hasta pronto" to my friends, and we are packing up the Stilo and heading down in September.
We went to look at apartments to rent a few weeks ago, and that was my first contact with this new city. The truth is that it is quite beautiful and my first impressions were positive. The streets are narrow, irregular, and cobblestone; the two-storey houses seem to huddle together in rows; the remains of a rich history seem to spread throughout the city; and olive groves stretch as far as the eye can see in varying shades of green. A complete 180 from my views in Vallecas.
Our visit was brief but busy: we saw at least a dozen places, of which most were lovely, a few were "livable" and only 1 or 2 were terrifying. We spent the night in the neighboring town of Úbeda, which is just as ancient and even more breathtaking. And before I knew it we were heading back to Madrid.
In the end we decided on a place right in the center. It's a longer walk for McNulty (15 whole minutes!) but it is close to "civilization" (so I might feel less isolated), and it has its own semi-private parking garage, a fireplace (I see us roasting marshmallows, and also chorizo) and a wine rack built into the wall. In short, it's perfect.
I feel good about our decision so far, but maybe because the move is still a month away and it hasn't actually sunk in yet. For the moment I'm enjoying an interesting balance of excitement and panic. I guess I will have to wait to September to see how it all unfolds.
After almost 13 years in my beloved adopted home of Madrid, I am making a move. South. To Baeza, Jaén. Population 16 (thousand). Any reservations I had about moving from a thriving metropolis to small town, from a city that never sleeps to a town that I suspect is narcoleptic, are now behind me. It's full steam ahead. Baeza or Bust.
My Spanish boyfriend, let's call him "McNulty", has to spend the next 9 months there and I talked it over with the dog and we have decided to go with him. Despite my initial reservations—you can't drink the tap water and there's no Starbucks (there are also no department stores and no movie theater, train station or ethnic restaurants)—I have decided that I am up for the adventure. A friend told me I would have a hard time adjusting to the simplicity of life in Baeza, but with this blog as my witness, I am going to do my best to embrace that simplicity.
My boss is going to virtualize our office so I can work from there (further evidence of how amazing he is/lucky I am), I'm sayin' "hasta pronto" to my friends, and we are packing up the Stilo and heading down in September.
We went to look at apartments to rent a few weeks ago, and that was my first contact with this new city. The truth is that it is quite beautiful and my first impressions were positive. The streets are narrow, irregular, and cobblestone; the two-storey houses seem to huddle together in rows; the remains of a rich history seem to spread throughout the city; and olive groves stretch as far as the eye can see in varying shades of green. A complete 180 from my views in Vallecas.
Our visit was brief but busy: we saw at least a dozen places, of which most were lovely, a few were "livable" and only 1 or 2 were terrifying. We spent the night in the neighboring town of Úbeda, which is just as ancient and even more breathtaking. And before I knew it we were heading back to Madrid.
In the end we decided on a place right in the center. It's a longer walk for McNulty (15 whole minutes!) but it is close to "civilization" (so I might feel less isolated), and it has its own semi-private parking garage, a fireplace (I see us roasting marshmallows, and also chorizo) and a wine rack built into the wall. In short, it's perfect.
I feel good about our decision so far, but maybe because the move is still a month away and it hasn't actually sunk in yet. For the moment I'm enjoying an interesting balance of excitement and panic. I guess I will have to wait to September to see how it all unfolds.
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