Breaking in and Whiplash.

**I wrote most of this just after the car accident, and after sharing a bottle of wine with Alex. I was going to edit it later, but upon reading it, decided just to let it lay. Why not?

What a month! Earlier this month our car got towed. It was soccer night, and since we live right behind the soccer stadium, there was no place to park. We parked next to the Westin hotel, and, of course, when Alex went to go to work the next day, it was gone.

Then, on Thursday night some freaks broke into The Bohemian Café by crawling into one of our high windows. They didn't steal anything, however. They broke an ashtray, pulled the paper tray out of the fax machine and threw it on the floor, but left the money in the cash register just above the fax machine. The alarm went off, but for some reason, it didn't connect with the main office, or connect with the police office. Wierd.

After talking to a few people in the neighborhood, it seemed as though this was a common theme - breakins without any theft. This was my theory...

Maybe someone was doing a study on bringing excitement into people's lives. He'd break into their places of business, which typically doesn't make a person feel violated in any way, and leave things fairly intact, just to create the notion of disorder and in doing so, bring the inevitable excitement that break-ins incite.... What do you think? Was it really a do-gooder in disguise?

The other theory was that it was a gang initiation and that they may have taken something, but just something small as a souveniour.

Two years ago yesterday, Alex proposed to me in The Bohemian while dancing to the song "Satisfy my Soul".

Yesterday he sent me red roses with a little note that made my eyes water.

So finally, today we were going to go out on a uncommon date to see the movie "The Reader" and afterward to a romantic dinner at the Japanese restaurant, Zen, that we've been wanting to try out for the past three years. Unfortunately it was raining. Rain to Valencia is like Snow to Seattle. People FREAK OUT when they drive. It's like all driving ability gets thrown out and we move back to primitive times, but with automobiles. YEAH...SCARY.
On our way to dinner, we were involved in a three car pile up. The car in front of us stopped suddenly, occupying two lanes (they do that frequently here), so we stopped just in time, but the two cars behind us didn't. We got smashed TWICE from behind and had to go the the emergency room. They are making me wear a neck brace, but Alex got off easy.

We did make it to Zen where we indulged in a bottle of WINE. No valium for me this time. I'm still breastfeeding. I get to cuddle up with my old friend Tylenol if there are any problems. Nice.

Are you Crapping?

When Bella's face turns bright red and she starts grunting, we all know what's going on, right? Well, a few days ago I overheard Alex making double sure by asking her

"are you crapping?"

I have a sneaking suspicion that he already knew it, but I explained to him anyway that "crapping" is not a word we typically use with kids, and to try using "going potty" instead.

NOTE: Ok, I guess I'd better add that the reason I find this so funny is not necessarily because of the "slip up" Alex made (he SHOULD be speaking in SPANISH with her anyway...) but that he didn't realize that "crapping" wasn't language appropriate for children. I do the same thing in Spanish, by the way. I use the word "joder" all the time, even with some of my younger students. I hear it so often that I figure it's ok, but when I got some snickers from my students the last time I used it, I asked Alex if it was age-appropriate and he said, "absolutely not". I won't tell you what it means, because it's definitely not appropriate here! ;-)

Boycotting Consum

That's it. I'm boycotting our neighborhood grocery store. I just can't take the rude clerks and their lack of tact. For the past five years I've put up with it. I've tried to say hello to them, they ignore me. I've tried to be friendly despite the complete disregard for my and every other customer's existence. I've tried to frequent CONSUM less and less, but I still seem to give them my business despite the fact that they clearly don't deserve it. Enough is enough.

Today we went to CONSUM after making a stop by the Natural Foods store. After dodging the obstacle courses that the workers had set up to restock during the lunch hour (and feeling as if WE were invading THEIR space and inconveniencing THEM), we made our way to the check out line. We try not to use disposible grocery bags, so we had put the groceries from Ecomercat in my backpack and were pushing it around on the stroller. As we were waiting, we yanked the other resusable shopping bags out of the backpack, in turn, exposing the organic baby food we'd bought at Ecomercat. As the clerk began passing our groceries - packages of chicken, beef and cheese over the scanner, she gave us a suspicious smile and asked, "was that macaronni I saw in your bag?"

Alex kind of laughed and explained that we had stopped by the natural food store beforehand.

"Well you have to show me what's in your bag" she said, a bit too severly. So we did. And then she started going on about how we aren't allowed to bring food into the store, that it's not ok, that it's against the law of Consum... and on and on. When I asked her what we're supposed to do with our bags then, she rolled her eyes and signaled toward the entrance of the store where there was a row of unused lockers.

Now, I understand that it would have been better if we had used one of the lockers up in the front of the store that serve this very purpose. That's fine with me. If it's store policy, it's store policy. I won't argue with that. But, when a shop assistant lacks the tact to introduce her customers to store policy without making them feel like macaronni theives, there is a serious problem. Why the heck would we be stealing macaronni in the first place? I'm going to pay for all the meat and cheese - all the most expensive stuff, and smuggle a 50 cent bag of macarroni out of the store? Oh please.

I am so fed up with the lack of customer service in this city, I just can't bear it anymore. I am tired of feeling angry every time I return from the grocery store, or trying to let the rude behavior roll off my back. Alex has no problem with confrontation and will tell them not to be so rude, but it doesn't change anything. They just get defensive and then an argument ensues. I feel that my only option is to boycott the store, and that is what we will do.

From now on, we'll go to the central market on Mondays, buy the main ingredients for the week, and go to the other grocery store, Mercadona, if we need anything mid-week.

Consum on Calle Amadeo de Saboya,

You're out of my life. I no longer need to put up with your snotty treatment of customers. I no longer need to listen to your gossipy conversations that you have over your customer's heads while you disregard them or accuse them of macaroni theft. I no longer need to feel like I'm inconveniencing you if I ask a question or try to find the watercress while you are trying to stock the spinach.

I'm over it. Se acabó.