Got Lucky

Today was the kind of day where it's hard not to feel okay about life. Friday, the sun was shining, the sky was bright and blue and cloudless. Then I stepped outside. WHAM! Gale force winds. The kind of wind that nearly knocks you down and then blows sand in your eyes. Always something.

Anyway. Do you ever do something knowing full well that it's guaranteed to be completely futile? I've been waiting for my landlord to get me some documents that she says I need in order to get the Padrón certificate, which I need to extend my visa (long boring story). But some English translation that I found online said that I only needed an original copy of my lease, which I now have. I'm more inclined to trust my landlord than anything that's been translated into English here, and when bureaucracy is involved the option that's a bigger pain in the ass is pretty much always the correct one. But the sun was shining and I didn't feel like working anyway, so I decided to try and get the Padrón with only my lease. I had no expectations that it would actually work. But I figured I could at least confirm that I was going to the right office, and maybe someone would give me a straight answer on exactly what documents I needed. So I went.

I'm starting to get comfortable here. I'm acting more like me. The problem with that is that sometimes acting like me means acting like a stark raving lunatic. I had my first weather-related breakdown today. And it was on what was probably the nicest day of the year so far. It was 19 degrees (66 F). But like I said, it was very, very windy. And those of you who know me know that wind does strange things to me. So, on my long walk through several highway interchanges and construction sites to get to the Ayuntamiento (the Padrón place), I lost it a little bit and started screaming and yelling and cursing the wind. It wasn't pretty; it never is when I curse the wind. My scarf had nearly blown off and my hair was all over the place and I could barely open my eyes and I started spewing obscenities at the top of my lungs. That I freaked out over the weather isn't really noteworthy--I do that a lot. That I had a breakdown here is kind of noteworthy though. I wouldn't have let myself go like that when everything was new and different and scary. Not that cursing the wind is a good thing, exactly, but still it's kind of a milestone.

Anyway. I pulled myself together and pressed on and, when I got to the Ayutamiento, I experienced none other thanbureaucratictic miracle. It worked. I knew right when I sat down that the woman I was dealing with was different from the other bureaucrats. She had a nice smile and didn't radiate meanness. But I also knew better than to get my hopes up. I gave her my lease and asked for the Padrón. She asked if I had lived in Barcelona or anywhere else in Spain before. I said no. She typed. And then she handed me the Padrón. Just like that. It worked. If only there were some way to quit this visa process while I'm ahead....