1 June 2025

The visa saga continues. At this point, it should all be very straight forward. My student visa was renewed for 2025. I finally had my appointment on Monday at the police station to get my finger prints. The officer wanted me to have a new photo. But my attorney hadn’t said so. So in the end, she agreed to use the one from last year (which is what I had expected). Before I left, she had me take a photo of a piece of paper with the web site to be able to check when my new card would be ready. All good.

When I got home, I went to the computer to find the web site. But what was on the paper was not a web site. If you search for the given instructions, you get a variety of pages, the most relevant of which are to get a date for finger printing…which clearly I no longer needed.

On Friday, Vicente and I went to my neighborhood police station to see if they could give us the correct website.

In typical bureaucratic fashion, he said he doesn’t know anything about that and we have to go to the location to pick up the card. So, that is what I will do. I’ll wait 30 days and go check for the card. If it’s not ready, hopefully they can tell me the URL so I can check and know when to go get the card … that will expire 2 January 2026. If they can’t, I’ll go back in another 30 days.

What then? My current thinking is to return to the US in January to begin the process of applying for a Non-Lucrative/ Retiree visa. That will require me to be in the US for three months. Then I hope to return to Spain as a legal resident with a path towards permanent residency.

On Wednesday evening, Vicente and I went to one of his work events. It was a casino theme party with gambling with play $1 bills. We quickly gambled away our $10 that we received upon entry and left to get some dinner. I’m so glad I no longer have to schmooze and work a room for my job.

I had a Couchsurfer stay with me from Belgrade Serbia on Thursday. I took him to the beach and enjoyed getting to know him.

School will be changing teachers tomorrow (Monday). So on Friday, our teacher from the last six months took us to the park for a picnic. I adore this class. And several other long term students will be leaving in the coming weeks. So it was a kind of farewell party for this group.

As we enjoyed fun conversation (in Spanish and English), eating the snacks we brought, I watched as a pair of doves played in the sun, there was a soccer match going on behind us, and very near us, a couple was practicing Flamenco dancing. It was one of those quintessentially Spanish moments that felt like a dream.

Both Saturday and Sunday mornings, Vicente and I went to the beach for a couple hours.

Saturday afternoon, I joined friends for an impromptu party, then later met another friend for dinner.

This afternoon, I joined my friends Marc and Laurel at their gym and spa. It’s a very lovely spa!

I hope you have a chance to unwind and relax. And I hope you take time to notice the beautiful moments of your life.

Cheers!