The last couple weeks have been godsends.

First was my time in Bilbao with Eric and Dan last week. And this weekend, my former boss, turned colleague, and now long-time friend Jim came to see me. Both Eric and Jim have been roll-models for me. They came to Spain more than ten years ago to study Spanish. And while, they never spent an entire year here, they’ve done it enough to have a valuable perspective on what it takes to learn the language, living in the country.

With their help and the help of others, I have been shedding unrealistic beliefs and expectations. Here are a few recent revelations for me:

1. Any idea that I could come to a country and become truly fluent in less than a year was horribly naive and misguided. Jim shared a staggering statistic. On average, it takes 10,000 hours of study time to truly master a new language. Do the math! At 20 hours per week, that’s 500 weeks… nearly ten years!
2. Jim used a term I hadn’t heard before: “Traveler’s Spanish.” When I came to Spain with some nominal Spanish eight months ago, I did not feel comfortable making an appointment or dinner reservation on the telephone. Now, I wouldn’t think twice about it. I have something stronger than Traveler’s Spanish. My confidence isn’t what I want, but it has definitely grown.
3. Jim attended Spanish classes with me today. It was affirming that he shared my perspectives of what I value and what could be improved about the program. I have some tangible suggestions that I will be sharing. And he agreed, it is a really good program.
4. I came to Spain with the misguided idea that I would avoid forcing my American ways on people by becoming somehow “Spanish.” That’s silly. I am and will always be American. I can embrace the culture of a country. I can even point to cultural differences and NOT embrace them. I don’t have to love everything about Valencia or Spain to know that for this time I’m my life, this is exactly where I belong.

Jim and I had a wonderful weekend. He arrived Friday evening by train from Madrid.

He brought an amazing bottle of wine that we opened and started enjoying on the terrace.

Then, we went to Olrait, the corner restaurant for tapas “compartir,” to share.

On Saturday, after sausage and eggs (did I mention that I’m still American?), we went sight seeing through the Casco Viejo (old city).

We walked through the City Hall Plaza (Plaza Ayuntamiento), through Plaza Reina, Plaza Virgen and to San Nicolas Church, a church I hadn’t visited before.

We toured La Lonja de Seda (the silk market), the Central Market and the Cathedral, where we saw the Holy Grail (There is legitimate reason to imagine it could have been the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper.) We also climbed all 207 stairs to the top of the bell tower.

That night, we went to the beach for a delicious seafood paella dinner. We laughed and talked and ate and capped off a wonderful day.

On Sunday, after a breakfast of bacon and eggs (Yep, still American!), we went to the City of Arts and Sciences.

We toured the Oceanographic, the largest aquarium in Europe. They do an amazing job of educating both about marine life and how we can all do our part to protect marine life from pollution and climate change.

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Afterwards, we walked through the Science museum, the Hemispheric, and past the opera house…all part of the City of Arts and Sciences, a futuristic and spectacular group of buildings, designed by world renowned architect, Salvatore Calatrava.

Sunday night, we stopped for Agua de Valencia (a cocktail), before going to my favorite restaurant (El Rodamon) for a memorable wine pairing dinner.

Now, Jim is on his way to Milan and then Lugano, Switzerland. And you are updated on my latest activities and musings.

As I wrote the other day, thank you to each of you who have expressed your encouragement and support. Through the good times and the bad times, I’m reminded that I’m not alone. Your presence is very much felt when you comment, email, text and respond to the blog. I love having you participating in this experience.

Thank you!