20 September 2026

The big news this week is that I finally have my first year resident status officially approved. It was a roller coaster of a week!

If you remember that after my residency was denied, my attorney said he would appeal. After that, he had been AWOL through much of the summer. However, after learning from a friend that he had left the firm, I went to the office to ask what was going on. They introduced me an attorney who will be my attorney after the residency question is resolved. But for now they said, I would continue working with Cristian. And they gave me his new email address.

Neither the firm, nor Cristian had said anything to me, until I went in, and asked.

That afternoon, I emailed Cristian. I wished him well in his new ventures and asked him to keep me up to speed as he heard from the authorities.

That was the afternoon, he responded saying that he had been on vacation earlier in the week, at which time, he received my temporary probationary approval for my residency.

With that great news, I responded with questions about next steps, travel restrictions, etc. No response. That was about a month ago.

After a week, I wrote again. No response.

So, on Monday, I went to the office and told them that I hadn’t received any response in almost a month to two different emails. I told him I checked both my inbox and spam folders. My “new” attorney, Carlos told me that he would reach out to Cristian to nudge him to respond. But that since Cristian is officially my attorney of record, there was nothing more he could do.

On Wednesday, I wrote to Carlos asking if two business days is a reasonable amount of time to expect a response? If he were my attorney of record would he respond in a more timely way? And what is the process of making him my attorney of record? Finally, I said this whole experience does not leave me with a favorable view of the firm.

He responded Thursday morning that he had reached out to Cristian and Cristian told him he responded on September 10.

Then he said that because Cristian is my attorney and doesn’t work for the firm any longer, the firm has no obligation to me. (Really! That’s what he said…in English!)

So, I checked my inbox and spam folders for September 10, specifically. Nothing. I wrote back and told Carlos there were no emails from Cristian on September 10, or any other day in any email folder. And that I would respond to his second comment at a later time.

That afternoon, while I was gathering receipts and bank statements to demonstrate that I had hired the firm, not the person, I got a WhatsApp message from Cristian.

He asked for a different email address. I sent a Gmail account I hardly use. In the time that it took him to send it, Ireceived his email (from September 10) on my Hotmail junk folder…just then! Then, I received the message in my Gmail inbox.

The message said that my first year residency is approved and included the official documentation. He added that an associate with the firm was scheduling an appointment with the police office to get my fingerprints and he answered most of my other questions.

Now, after confirming that Cristian’s email is in my contacts, and armed with both his email and WhatsApp number, I responded and thanked him.

On Friday, I heard from the office with the police appointment and details.

So, I will go to that appointment on October 21, and about a month or so later, I should have my residency card!

Whew!!

I still haven’t responded to the comment about the firm not being responsible. At this point, I’m almost done with what I hired them to do. So, I think I’ll get this first year resolved and look for a new firm for the renewal next year.

Spanish language and driving classes are both going well.

This weekend, I spent a lot of time with my friend Tatiana.

Saturday, I helped her hang posters for a friend for an event in October.

As we walked, we noticed the Fallas groups from each neighborhood were having street parties and cooking paella.

It was Tatiana who realized that September 19 is exactly six months until Fallas!

We went to a great Mexican restaurant for lunch. The food was the best Mexican food I’ve had in Spain.

Then, we planned to go to a movie, but had some time. So, I gave her an abbreviated version of Jim’s Tour of Valencia. It was really fun because she’s an art restoration major. So, I shared things she didn’t know and she filled in bits that I didn’t know.

We ended up at the Lonja de Seda, perhaps Valencia’s most architecturally significant building. She had never been inside.

There, we were on time to get a tour of the tower, that is normally closed to the public.

We went to Filmateca, a city run movie theater showing foreign and art films. We both got in with reduced fares. €1.50 for her as a student, and €1.50 for me as a retired person.

We saw the film The Life of Chuck. I loved it! The film is an ode to the Walt Whitman poem, Song of Myself.

If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and find it. It will leave you scratching your head until the very end, when it all comes together. It’s beautiful.

Today, Tatiana and I went to the World Paella Day competition, near the Marina. The lines were long. The sun was hot. The paella was sub-par. But we had a good time and then left. It was just too exhausting.

I hope your week is not so exhausting and that all your news is good.

Thanks for reading!