Resident. Resident in Spain.

I got a Spanish social security number today.

It was the least painful bit of paperwork I've done so far (the only complicated part is finding a job because 25% of Spain is currently unemployed). You just have to bring your ID and job contract to the social security office. Ten minutes and some small talk later, you have a SSN.

Here a SSN means you have health care. When the friendly lady at the office told me that, I was like 'I have healthcare in another country.'

And I have an apartment. And a job. And a school. And a printing press.

It's a weird feeling, folks. Right now, there aren't that many things I can do in the US that I can't do here (vote is the only one I can think of off the top of my head). I am a resident.

It's been really interesting to meet American expats who have lived here for a long time. Because, on paper it looks like I have moved across the world in a pretty big way, like I'm one of them! And I'm more documented than a lot of people I've met who plan to stay here permanently.

But I definitely don't want to be an expat -- I am American and I want to live mostly in ammerrica. And also I really like Spain and right now I am here.

What is inspiring to me is to see Catalan people move so seamlessly between cultures. Nothing about daily life being bilingual seems to faze them.

On the other hand, the newly trilingual nature of my daily life means that I have yet to have a day in three months where I don't spend a few hours feeling overwhelmed or confused about what's going on.

Today, for example, I taught an English grammar class (in Spanish). Later I hung out with an American friend (in English!!!). Then I went to my bookbinding class (in Catalan). Then I came home to an apartment full of Peruvian people who speak Spanish SO FAST. And it's Peruvian.

So I am just packing the languages and experiences in good and tight, and trying to enjoy the more crowded version of my brain. I don't think it's wrong to analyze and compare culture, but for me, now is the time to just be grateful to be in this city and try and soak it all in.

Views of Barcelona

That's the title of the post I wish I was writing. But actually I have spent a fair amount of my time in Barcelona looking at this:

While the interior of government buildings is not Barcelona's best feature, the part of getting a visa that hasn't been frustrating has actually been pretty informative.

I thought a visa (which is attached to your passport) allowed you to study and live in Spain, but the visa+passport combo doesn't actually serve as official ID for the purposes of opening a bank account, enrolling in school, and renting an apartment. But you can use the visa to get a residence card, which allows you to do all those things. 

Cards for people from the EU are processed in one office. Cards for the rest of the world (including the US) are processed in another. I would say that most of the people waiting this morning at the latter hailed from Latin American countries. 

So, for many of those who need to apply for residence, the language barrier is not a problem. But I honestly don't know other how people manage to figure out exactly what paperwork they are supposed to do, since the Spanish Government doesn't have much of it posted online. My source was the security guard at an immigration office who gave me metro directions to the right office and a verbal list of what documents I was supposed to bring. 

People who are applying for residency start forming a line outside the office at about 5:30 am (which in Spain is a very unholy hour ... and also just half an hour after the metro starts running). The office opens at 9am and closes at 2pm. Here is the line at about 6:45am, from the end (there are about 50 people waiting):

By 8am it was four people thick and wrapped all the way around the block. The office serves about 200 people a day. You cannot make an appointment in advance. 

Apparently work permits are even worse ... 12 hour lines that start at 3am, anyone? 

Then, when you finally get inside the building, there's this looming feeling of desperation. The waiting rooms always remind me of this Joaquín Sabina song, which talks about "salas de espera/sin esperanza."

Spanish culture is, in some respects, laid back, but deadlines and paperwork are not flexible and no exceptions are made. I feel really grateful that I was able to get my residence card today and I'm ready to see some real views of Barcelona!

Beach - Badalona - 03 Nov 2012

I WANNA VISA

Not the credit card. The other kind.

Pretty please?

This weekend I went to Spanish Consulate in Chicago to apply for one.

Happily the consulate is 10 minutes from the Art Institute and 15 from the Newberry Library. It was really hard to decide which to go to so I went to both. Then I went to the Chicago Cultural Center, which used to be a library. 

Nice typography in mosaics at the Cultural Center. 

The Newberry's holdings are incredible. And there's something downright beautiful about a world class research library like that being free and open to the public. 

A highlight at the Art Institute was seeing drawings by Marion Mahony Griffin for the first time. She was one of the first female architects in the US and also a brilliant draftsman (woman?). Her drawings were influenced by her study of Japanese woodblock prints. 

Seeing her work reminded me of this recent editorial. Graves says he is "fascinated not just by what architects choose to draw but also by what they choose not to draw." Griffin's drawings have just the right amount of information.

The show included two different lithographic reproductions of her drawings on silk, which she later colored by hand with gouache.The combination of silk and gouache is perfect for renderings of prairie school architecture. The monotone paintings help you visualize the building as an extension of the landscape.

Later in her career Griffin did a series of similar silk paintings of the Australian landscape:

You can actually look at the manuscript of Griffin's autobiography, the Magic of America, online. That's where these images are from:

Griffin as a young architect.