Living Overseas

Rota, Spain

At the age of 21 I hopped on a plane and flew to Rota, Spain to follow the guy I would eventually marry.  He was going to be stationed there with the US Navy for three years and had asked me to marry him just before he left 4 months earlier.  I arrived with two suitcases of clothes and some money from Dad in lieu of a wedding.  That was the beginning of a great adventure living in and getting to know a different culture and country. 


Arcos de la Frontera

The first two weeks were full of setting up our furnished apartment located on the third floor of a newer building that was only a mile or so from the main gate of Naval Station Rota.  We mostly shopped at the Navy Exchange at first but it was fun to walk around town and look at all the small stores with many different things.  After a few weeks the “new” wore off and the difficulties of living and functioning in a foreign culture became real.  Nothing in Spain happens at the speed that a young American is used to.  Very few people had home phones (cell phones were unknown back then), there were only a couple of local Spanish TV channels (Satellite TV did not exist), and many locals were quite impatient with my poor Spanish.  It took a while to realize that people were not being rude or lazy, it is just how their culture functions.  Plus they had spent many years dealing with rude Americans and it took time for them to figure out I was not like others.  Also, there was no 24 hour 7-11s to pick up some forgotten item at any time of day or night, that is such a small things but the small things can make a difference.  So much was different, I really felt like a fish out of water and I was often very lonely because my husband was always gone on deployment.   It helped me to appreciate living in the US and I decided then that I would encourage my children to travel one day. 

Cathedral in Cadiz

For the first few months I did not know anyone, I did not work and did not have a car, so I spent many days just walking around town. There was no map so I just walked where ever looked interesting and kept walking until something looked familiar.  Thankfully it was a small town with an ocean on one side and a military base on the other.  After I bought a car I followed that same pattern all around the surrounding towns and that is how I stumbled across some wonderfully beautiful old structures; churches, castles, museums, and government buildings.  Sometimes I could remember how to get back to those historical places and sometimes I just had to stumble across them again.   When I got a job at the Navy Exchange my exploration days were limited and I started to settle into daily life.  I got to know some of the local neighbors but still socialized mostly with the other Americans.  As I became more comfortable living on the Spanish economy I shopped for more and more items at the local stores.  Of course, the Navy Commissary was there for all the staples we were used to cooking and eating, but it was fun to roam around the local grocery store or Hypercore (Wal-Mart type store) and buy local products also. 

The Alhambra, Granada, Spain

I met many Americans stationed in Rota who lived on base and almost never left the base.  I always wondered how they could do that without going stir crazy.  I also met people who did nothing but complain about the Spanish people or the differences in culture and lifestyle.  Those people had a tendency to think that different meant bad and they were miserable the whole time.  I wonder if they look back today and regret missing seeing as much as they could while they were there.

Cathedral, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain

I hated history as a kid in school, it seemed so boring, but I loved seeing all the historical places in Spain.  It brought those boring words in a book to life when you could see the actual place something historical happened.  Christopher Columbus actually walked the streets of Seville and he is allegedly buried at the cathedral.  Cadiz was the oldest continually inhabited city in all of southwestern Europe, supposedly first settled about 1000 BC.  Jerez de la Frontiera has some of the best sherry vineyards and bodegas in the world.  I became the unofficial tour guide.  I loved to take visiting guests or new Navy friends to see all the old forts, castles and cathedrals.  Thankfully my husband and friends also like to explore the area also.  We spent many weekends driving around Southern Spain exploring small towns like Rhonda, Arcos, Ubrique, and Gibraltar. 

Cathedral, Sevilla, Spain

Over time, my Spanish got better and I became more comfortable and came to really enjoy the slower paced life of Southern Spain.  Two and a half years later we received orders to Adak, Alaska.  I was excited about getting to experience a completely new place but sad to leave Spain.  I had become very comfortable living, working, and shopping in the Spanish culture.  I felt like I was leaving my home. 

The experience of living in Spain when I was so young really left a deep impact on me.  I still crave good Spanish cheese, huge olives stuffed with garlic, crusty Spanish bread and cheap red wine mixed with La Casera.  To this day, I try to find that same “cultural experience” when I travel somewhere, but it is almost impossible to really get to know a place in two weeks or less.  Now look forward to the time when I can once again live somewhere with a similar culture; Belize, Mexico, the Caribbean.   It also branded a love of travel on my heart; a love that has only grown over time and has lasted much longer than my marriage. 

TRAVEL ON!