Sarah la Viajera
Sarah la Viajera

Life in Spain

44 articles
One night earlier this month, I dreamt I was trying to find my way but no place or path could take me there. Every place I tried felt like the wrong one and every path just brought me towards more people and problems I didn’t want to get myself into. But the most startling thing was that while in reality I was wearing a mask but in every reflection, in store windows and mirrors, I didn’t see it on my face. That paradox has been coming back up in my thoughts and haunted me the week I had that dream. What could that possibly mean? I have a couple ideas and many more thoughts to still share about last year but there are some things I’ve yet to fully process. Can you relate? Like everyone, I’ve been trying to make sense of the world we live in today for a long time now but I feel that based on that dream, my subconsciousness is finally trying to catch itself up. 2021 has gotten off to an odd start and while I vowed to stay cautiously optimistic about it, I’m only just beginning to feel like there are new possibilities around the corner. It’s funny how a blizzard hitting the city where you currently live dumping record amounts of snow (thankfully it is almost 💯 gone!) can make you feel like you have a clean slate and a fresh start. If you are uncertain or vulnerable in terms of health though, just know that I am thinking of you often. I have gotten a little too bit annoyed with the foggy state my mask 😷 leaves my glasses 👓 in the past couple of months but that doesn’t mean I want to take it off. As much as I want to at times, it’s not the right time yet. It’s gonna be tough road ahead but I will keep taking it one day at time. One step at a time. 👣 I hope you, wherever you are, will do the same. 💗🤗🥰
To think that last year I celebrated my birthday “normally” but back then I had what would be considered a quiet birthday. But with the state of the world today...going to teach one of my classes in person, munching on a chocolate chocolate chip cookie and drinking chocolate outside on a bench (RIP Calle Fuencarral Tim Horton’s 💔) and meeting a friend for a taco dinner are a few of the things I would love to do today, especially without foggy, misty glasses. Little did I know what the year would bring and I don’t think any of us truly did... 31 was an odd year in many ways. It’s similar to 21 (in my opinion) where you’re getting farther away from the teen years but you don’t quite feel settled into your new decade. Except when you’re that age, the excitement of being an adult stays with you. On the contrary, 10 years later you’re very much an adult but you’re not used to being this experienced. It’s a little hard to put into words but when you throw in a global pandemic (which is still going on) and still getting used to the newness of being married, it makes for quite an interesting year. Nevertheless while the past year did not look like I had hoped it would look, it was a year of exponential inner growth for me. A year where I could really take a step back from the big picture (and everyone), find time to rest, cultivate new habits and discover some new ones (🌱🖍 🖼 🏡) and never give up on old ones (📝📷☕️🙏🏻📚 🎶). I can certainly say I’ll never forget the things and events that came to pass while I was 31. But today I am grateful to be given the privilege of growing one year older. Not everyone was blessed with that this year and they will be remembered. 💗 32 has both scared me and excited me, and it honestly doesn’t feel like it’s time for my birthday just yet but nonetheless it is here. When I was 16 I thought of being this age because it would be double that age. I thought about it again when I was 27 because sadly my oldest cousin passed away at this age from battling cancer. 💝 Regardless of what this year will bring and if we will still be struggling with the challenges that 2020 brought, I hope you will choose to be grateful. 🙏🏻💗
Today I got to recover part of the school year that I’ve really come to love over the years: seeing how much a student has grown (physically). Thanks to mapping out an errand to run in the area where I used to work in and give in-person private English classes, I got to run into my oldest and most beloved student in Madrid. This is our 5th school year together and going on our 4th year of forming a really special teacher-student bond. Canillejas and the larger district of San Blas are a very Spanish, working class neighborhood of Madrid. Dozens upon dozens of families live there and one of the things that’s almost always present is the sounds of children’s voices and laughter. Its residents are tough yet extremely proud of where they live. I only saw my student after she got out of school for the lunch break (where they go home) for less than 5 minutes but just seeing her in person filled me with so much joy. 💗 She has the coolest handmade Pusheen mask and is now nearly as tall as me! Her growth spurt as she launched into adolescence this summer really made a mark. It was a quick check-in but those few moments allowed me to turn back the clock and for just a short, fleeting moment pretend as if everything was normal once again. The familiar sidewalks, my usual metro commute on my way back home, the dozens and dozens of trees lining Calle de Alcalá. It felt so normal and so good to experience it even for what now feels like a split second. So for today I feel a little more like myself and more connected to Madrid than I have lately. ✨🌃 🚶🏻‍♀️ @madridnofrills
Around this time last year, we had just wrapped up our apartment search and our first two weeks of marriage spent living out of multiple suitcases and a storage unit was coming to a close. However, the *big* stuff was just on the horizon. Though I had waited close to the better part of a decade of adulthood to finally be married, nothing could have prepared me for the experience itself, as much as I had talked to other married couples, read books and blogs and listened to podcasts. (@dearyoungmarriedcouple 💗) ✨ Yet, I remember very clearly during that first month as I was commuting to/from my classes via the metro an overwhelming feeling of not knowing what to do. I absorbed a ton of material from online devotionals, podcasts and blogs. Anything I could get my hands on about married life, I was probably reading it. I suppose looking back on that time, I did those things because I was fighting off a fear of failure and a desire to be the best wife I could for my husband. There was a lot of hidden shame wrapped up in all of that and it came out when I wasn’t at my best or I had ruined one of our dinners 🙈 ✨ We eventually found our footing, got into a rhythm, recovered it a few months later (hey, 2020 👋🏻) and I realized that though I could read all there was about what a healthy marriage should look like, I had to take things with a grain of salt. And remind myself that just because something worked for another couple, doesn’t mean it will work for us. The five love languages have been a common theme in our relationship and one we’ve discussed many times. So, it seemed fitting for us to receive a 5 love languages based Bible on our wedding day, as well as a couple of marriage focused devotionals to help us on our journey. Feelings and “feeling like it” have come and gone but I’ve come to cherish this new, steadfast love we’ve cultivated, @andrewrgillan 💕 It’s a lot of work but when you’re with the right person, you don’t mind it at all. 🥰 Books featured: Happily Ever After by John Piper and Francis Chan • Nuestra Mejor Vida Juntos by Joel Osteen • The Love Languages Devotional Bible
✨ 6 years in Spain ✨ What an indescribable experience it’s been. But here’s my attempt to describe it through these photos from February 2020 all the way back to September 2014. One of my last day trips (to Ávila) before the pandemic began. Our wedding (an American and a British man), which wasn’t in Spain at all. Receiving a dozen roses for the first time ever in my old (favorite) apartment on Valentine’s Day 2019. Visiting Andalucía (Huelva and Palos de la Frontera) in the winter in 2018. My first time going to the Madrid Open 🎾🇪🇸 in 2017. Seeing stained glass inside Casa Lis in Salamanca in 2016. Going to Entroido in Verín (Galicia) dressed as a lost tourist/map of Ohio in 2015. And the photo before any of these events took place: just before boarding an overnight bus to NYC from Ohio with all my personal belongings for the next 9 months ahead of me in 2014. I knew coming back over here to live would change my life but I didn’t know just how much! 😅😍 I’ve had my fair share of high highs and low lows here but other than home, this is the one country where I feel like I fit in. I mostly know how things work 📝😅, the places to visit and explore are endless and discovering why I love the language lights up my heart day after day. Here’s to starting year number 7. Te quiero, España 🇪🇸❤️ Gracias por dejarme quedar y enamorarme más de ti.
Happy first anniversary, @andrewrgillan, my love! What a year it has been since last September. Too much has happened to fit into a short caption but one thing is certain: there is no one else I would’ve wanted to have by my side through all the twists and turns, good times and bad (or down right crazy). Your your love and your embrace have been a safe haven. Your company has helped stave off homesickness. And most of all, no one can care for me, love me and make me laugh the way you do. 💗 While our wedding day was the happiest and most wonderful day of our relationship thus far, there will be more and perhaps others that will surpass the joy we felt then. A flashy proposal and a big wedding don’t necessarily mean that the love will endure the tests and trials of life. Our big day was perfect for us and this year our love has deepened in such a wonderful way. Here’s to many more years together and a little more normality in the coming one! 🥂🥰😍👰🏻🤵🏻💒
4 years ago today (September 17th) I left the beautiful countrysides of Galicia for the cosmopolitan, big city streets of Madrid. Time has definitely flown and not every day has been the best day of my life but I have found more than enough reasons to stay. Every city has its pros and cons but los balcones madrileños are hands down the most beautiful balconies I’ve ever seen. 😍 The metro celebrated 100 years of operation in the last year and I’ve been using it for about 10% of that time, seeing it through lots of changes and improvements. I’ve made some wonderfully random connections that have turned into lasting friendships that have weathered many storms nearly all the time I’ve been here. All of whom I was destined to meet once I moved here...or reconnect with again. 👫💗❤️ Rooftop terraces, amazing sunsets, brunch, dressing up and wandering the endless city streets are just some of the many things I love about this city. And last but not least, it’s the place where my relationship with that one cool guy I met up in Santiago went from friendship to first love to marriage material. 💍🏠 We won’t always live here but I will always love the fact that this city was where we made our first (rented) apartment a true home. 💕 #demadridalcielo #madrid #madridmemola
***Before you jump to conclusions and don’t fully read this caption, my ring is not missing and it is not damaged.*** Six months ago yesterday, Spain went into lockdown and I stopped wearing my engagement ring. First, it was because I was going to be home all the time (not knowing it would be for 50 days straight without the ability to go outside for a leisurely walk or for exercise, though!). Then, it was because we all had to wear gloves when shopping at the supermarket. Then finally, it was because of having to sanitize your hands before entering any type of shop and you didn’t know which way that hand sanitizer will squirt out onto your hands (and if it’ll be super sticky or not 😑). This ring has been very special to me since late 2018. I wasn’t a ring person before but getting used to seeing it sparkle and catch my eye was something magical. And it always reminded me that our love was connected to something tangible now in a way. We both fell in love with the unique twist and delicate frame of this ring but one of the downsides of it is its material. It’s made of white gold and the jeweler urged us to be careful with it and to not let it get wet from any type of liquid. (Pretty things come with a catch, don’t they? 🤔) While not wearing it has started to make me sad in the past couple months and my dreams have been all over the place, nothing has changed in my heart about the way I feel for @andrewrgillan 💓 If anything, these past few months my love for him has been strengthened and it has only deepened. This is not how I ever imagined the year to go but I am ever so grateful to have him by my side in sickness and in health, for better or for worse. 💍💑💜💙
Happy Gibraltar-versary, @andrewrgillan! Though this day was mostly seen as our marriage license day/paperwork day, I loved how uniquely special this day still was and how we laughed and smiled throughout all the obstacles that came our way (a description of our relationship up to that point and even now). And not to mention how our relaxed and genuinely happy expressions were captured so beautifully on film. This year we decided to go out and celebrate this day in case we find ourselves staying at home at the end of this month. So yes, this is our unofficial anniversary and one we will look back fondly. 🥰👰🏻🤵🏻🥂 For the next 19 days after our civil ceremony, I still called Andrew my fiancé and he called me his “almost-wife” 😂 The true start to our marriage will always be on September 21st, to commemorate the day we celebrated and received a blessing over our union with family and friends present. 💗 If I could go back in time and do this all over again, though, I totally would. And if you know me, I had to get a picture with this amazing wall of hand painted tiles (the last photo). 😍 Gibraltar was such an eclectic mix of English, Spanish and Moroccan culture, much like the unique blend of cultures we bring to our relationship. I can’t wait to tell our future kids about this story some day soon. Here’s to us, mi amor! 💜💙🥂