One More Cup of Coffee Before I Go: Adventures in Valencia

Day 0: Absolute Beginner

As an outlet for my music-loving geekiness, each blog post title will feature the name of a song (a decent one at worst, in my humble opinion) or a pun thereof. Try to guess the artist before you reach the bottom of the blog post or cheat if you want and scroll past my ramblings!

Day 0

So, 100 kilos of life (all the meaningful stuff, I promise) packed up into one suitcase, one travel bag and two Voovit boxes. TANGENT ALERT! Even the luggage itself tells a few stories; the suitcase was bought in Madrid with money borrowed from a friend’s flatmate as EasyJet smashed my case and Halifax blocked my cards, the travel bag belongs to someone who can only be described as the male version of me (poor guy!) and the Voovit boxes are a throwback to the days of Erasmus, gaining 1.5 stone of bread-and-wine weight and 135€/month rent! Predictably late, only by an hour, our two-hour buffer came in somewhat handy! We arrived at the airport in good time; enough time for a few tears, necessary help with luggage, a hug I never wanted to end, a chat in a lift with a stranger who bore a mild resemblance to Will off of The Inbetweeners and una gran copa de Pinot Grigio with complimentary tap water. TA! Possibly my favourite Italian word, culaccino, was all I could think about at that particular moment. Apparently there is no English equivalent of this word; I imagine this stems from the British appreciation for coasters… maybe! Culaccino actually also means ‘the end of a salami’ and ‘the dregs left in the bottom of a glass’. It comes from the word ‘culo’ meaning butt, which is exactly the same in Spanish.

After an easy flight and short taxi ride from the airport I was greeted by my AirBnb host and over the luna to discover a beautiful apartment. He’s a top guy and it’s such a relief to live with the epitome of non-narcissism and non-neuroticism! A glass of red later and it became evident we had a lot in common and are both pretty fácil para vivir. We decided to only speak in Spanish too, which is going to be excellent for me! This morning feels like a lifetime ago already…

You know that excited yet ‘where-on-earth-am-I?’ feeling of waking up in a totally new place, usually when you’re on holiday? Times that by a hundred and it probably describes my 7.30am wake up courtesy of señorita sol pero no me quejé – I didn’t complain. It’s the first time in months I’ve woken up with such urgency and a ridiculous to-do list. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from spending a bit of time in Spain a few years ago is that the more you stress about something, the less progress you’ll make; you may as well just succumb to the ‘Spanish way’, chill out and know that everything will happen when it’s meant to. Besides, the only type of stress I’m entertaining here is in relation to polysyllabic words.

So with a work contract and quick obligatory besos with the new jefe, I made my way to Plaza España in the centre to desayunar. TA: I love the different words for eating in Spain (desayunar, comer, almorzar, merendar, cenar, picar, picotear…) I guess it reflects the importance of eating regularly, enjoying the whole process, heated discussions, catching up with friends and family. My Spanish compi thinks that Spain is unique in this way, that in no other culture in the world do you find people eating so late in the evening or dragging out a meal so much. I argued that Italy was pretty similar but we agreed to disagree on this particular point! Anyway, the breakfast was muy rico (un café, un zumo de naranja, una tostada con tomate all for 3,20€. The waiters in the café were very hipster and didn’t one bit the fact that I spent an hour and a half there reading The Handmaid’s Tale (which I highly recommend, for the record!) Through some miracle of Díos I managed to get my NIE (Numéro de Identidad de Extranjero) and Seguridad Social number in the space of about two hours. Keep an eye out for another post which will tell you how to do this is you’re moving to Valencia! I’ve met people who’ve had a real pesadilla trying to sort this out because they simply didn’t know what the trámite was. On my first visit to Valencia this year I was sent to the wrong comisaría as the official I spoke to just assumed that I was from Canada without actually telling me that she had made this assumption. I ended up in a line for visa/refugee applications for three hours until it dawned on me that something didn’t quite feel right. I must say that the sad state of affairs that followed was a real eye-opener. I was only treated with an ounce of respect and dignity once the policeman dealing with my ‘asignación’ saw my British passport. I wonder two golden the British passport will remain post-Brexit? Had better get accustomed to the visa queue. After all, us Brits like queueing, don’t we?

After this, it rained buckets so took shelter for a while and just people-watched. I went to my first Meet-Up here too later that day, a dinner in a quirky Italian restaurant in Ruzafa (total hipster area) with around 25 other girls. Pretty nice bunch of open-minded and friendly autónomas who I’d definitely like to get to know more.

Rainy and refreshing!

Side notes:

Daughter album is out – pretty good but why so many instrumental songs?
NIE & SS done – ridiculous sense of achievement
Friends made. Phew!
Cabify driver offering lifts ‘particulares’. Proceed with caution!

Did you guess the song?

Scroll down to find out!

David Bowie – Absolute Beginners

I’ve nothing much to offer
There’s nothing much to take
I’m an absolute beginner
But I’m absolutely sane
As long as we’re together
The rest can go to hell
I absolutely love you
But we’re absolute beginners
With eyes completely open
But nervous all the same