Settling in, one errand at a time

One thing I miss right now is simply knowing where to go to find the things I need.

I don’t miss Target itself, but I miss knowing what the equivalent is—or whether there even is one. In the U.S., most household basics can be found at Target or Walmart. I don’t need fancy hand towels, but I’d also rather not use the Dollar Tree equivalent.  I’m still trying to figure out where that middle ground exists here.

There are lots of cute little home goods stores in Sant Cugat, but I never really decorated our homes from places like that. I usually stocked up on basics at Target, Walmart, HomeGoods, or At Home. There’s an IKEA we can drive to, so that’s one option.

We’ve visited several grocery stores, and each seems to carry a different mix of household items. One has a great cleaning section; another barely has any cleaning products at all. The problem is that I don’t yet know which store is good for what. It reminds me of when my kids were little and I avoided Trader Joe’s because, while I could get groceries there, they didn’t stock diapers and wipes. I know I’ll learn the system eventually, but for now, buying almost anything feels like a small adventure.

Chris is using a different type of coffee maker here and needed a specific kind of coffee. My Google Translate wasn’t working inside the store, so I couldn’t decipher all the different words for coffee, milk, and creamer (which is all unrefrigerated!). Many products are local Catalan brands, so the labels are in Catalan, adding another layer of confusion.

I ended up buying a few other things and texting Chris from a bench outside the store. He promised he’d drink whatever coffee-and-milk combination I brought home, but asked me to please go back in and try again because it was Saturday—and we’ve learned that many stores aren’t open on Sundays. That’s definitely not something I’ve had to think about in the U.S. I’m pretty sure I’ve made grocery runs on Thanksgiving morning before.

The boys’ biggest complaint so far is the ice cream situation. They miss having giant half-gallons in the freezer, and the pint-sized containers here are surprisingly expensive. Their top requests are ice cream and fresh baguettes, usually in that order.

Speaking of the boys, as I’m writing this, I have no idea where they are. They’ve already made friends with several boys in our community and spend their days and evenings roaming from one house to another, playing together. Families here really do eat dinner around 10 p.m., and many kids sleep until 10 a.m. during the summer.

I’ll write another post soon about how grateful I feel to have landed in this particular little community of townhomes. Watching the boys settle in so quickly has made this huge transition feel a little smaller.