There are good days and there are bad...Some days are just in between. Some days start bad and end good and vice versa. I don't know where yesterday falls on the spectrum. But it was a day!!! Mitch left on Sunday morning for Denmark, a quick little business trip. The girls and I made it through the day, dinner and a little Say Yes to the Dress on TLC. Monday morning was the mondayest morning I've had in a while.
Hattie wasn't moving very fast getting ready. There was arguging. Leah and Kiersten left a little late for the bus...they had to run. Hattie and I left on time. But we got to the stop and Hattie didn't have her back pack. Actually she had a bag, but it was her swim bag. We raced home...and saw Kiersten and Leah waiting at their stop. I was certain that I was going to have to drive Hattie to school. And I had several other errands to run already. But we raced back to the bus stop. On the way we noticed Leah and Kiersten were gone, so there was that. After we parked, Hattie and I full on ran like Forrest Gump to get to her stop. The bus was there waiting on us...we kept on running and the sweet teacher was so kind. God Bless her for waiting!!!
Then I headed down the block. Google Maps said there was a Correos close by, which is what I'm assuming is the Spanish Post Office. But there is also construction happening on the block. I walked back and forth and back and forth and could never find a door to get into the business area...or what looked like the business area. So I scrapped that idea. I ran into the farmacia to get a prescription filled for Hattie...did I not mention our disaster of a pediatrician appointment the week before??? ADM helped us find an "English speaking" physician. I drove there last week mustered my way through communicating and got an appt. Only to get there and wait over an hour on Friday for the doctor to not speak ANY English. I showed her a picture of Hattie's prescription bottle for her ADHD. She wrote me a script and told me to find a doctor who speaks English. I was literally in the room with her for 5 minutes...it was INSANE. But anyway, I got the script filled for a whopping 4 euros, and headed next door to the bank.
And because Europe is a weird, weird place...the banks are only open from 8:30 to 2:00 or 14:00. Tomrrow we have an appointment to process our NIE's. We went and got our pictures taken last week. They are some stellar mugshots, let me tell you. But anyway, you pay the NIE application fee at any bank. So I went in and waited...and waited. After 35 minutes I used my phone translator, only for her to tell me that since we aren't "customers" of that bank, she can only help me on Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30-10:00. For real! At least she was nice about it. Because then I drove the ten minutes into L'Eliana, struggled to find parking and walked to Banco Sabadell. I waited another 30 minutes or so before the bank employee waved me in. Only for him to tell me that he wouldn't help me without my passport. He told me to complete the process with online banking. Easier said than done when you don't speak the language. But this man clearly could not be bothered by me. I left feeling defeated.
But I pulled up my google maps to find a Correos a few blocks away. There were all sorts of cute shops/cafes along the way. One really caught my eye. Despite the language barrier the lady at Correos was wonderful and we figured out a way for me to leave with stamps. SUCCESS! And on the way back to my car, I stopped in this little cafe. In my very broken Spanish I attempted to order an iced coffee. The nice yound man working asked me if I spoke English. Even with the mask on I'm sure he could see the joy on my face. He made me a lovely cafe Americano con leche y helio (with milk and ice) and put a lemon and a little brown sugar. Coffee never tasted so good. He said he hoped we enjoyed our time in L'Eliana. I told him my girls attended school nearby and he pointed out a big ice cream display case and encouraged me to come back with mi hijas. Thank you kind sir, I certainly will!
I meandered back to my car, made a much needed stop at our beloved Aldi and then drove through a dozen roundabouts before arriving at home. I got in a quick workout showered, had lunch and then got really brave. I can't just call places here when I need information or need an appointment. The language barrier makes that incredibly difficult. So I drove into Valencia, to IMED a private hospital in search of English speaking physicians. Now normally, I'm not bothered by city driving. I've done it in my fair share of places. But I've never seen anything like this. Some of the roundabouts are like 5 lanes wide but in spots there are no "lane lines" AND there are traffic lights just in the middle like no big deal. They make me super uneasy when Mitch drives them...he hates them. And here I was, about to willingly do it myself. Well I did it... I got honked at twice. I took a wrong exit and had to circle back in to the next exit and made my way to IMED. I missed the parking garage and had to circle the block and then the parking was such a cluster I just kept on going down to an empty floor where I wouldn't have to squeeze my car in between a concrete pillar and another vehicle.
I made my way into the building, found pediatrics and while the receptionist didn't speak English, she called out a pediatrician that did. #WINNING He gave me his email, the receptionist email and wrote down a list of information that they would need and asked me to send it via email. I did, and I've already got links to set up online accounts for the girls. I then made my way up to dermatology and the med spa...I need a facial!!! But you can't get a facial until you see the doctor so that appt. is next week.
What a day!!! But I'm celebrating the wins. Because who knows what tomorrow will bring.
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