An open letter

Dear Mr. Prime Minister of Spain,
It has been some time since our last written correspondence, but I would like to bring to your attention a couple of items which are of grave importance. I apologize that you have had to wait for these urgent concerns, but I have been quite busy lately. I know you spent many evenings bent over your computer screen, waiting for the notification of a new message from me, but I really must insist that you put more confidence in your own ability to direct the affairs of state without my help at every turn. Nevertheless, I hope these two items will give you something to work on over the next few weeks.
Parking spaces: Why do we have such small parking spaces in Spain? We are not hobbits, nor do we drive vehicles built for hobbits. Why then must all parking spaces be sized slightly smaller than a refrigerator box? Everyone else’s paint job will thank you if you widen them for me.
Bathroom lighting: Why do we insist on placing the light switches on the outside of the bathroom doors? We have junior highers here, right? Is there some back story behind why we can wait to turn on the light once inside the room for every other room in the home, except for the bathroom? Is there a safety hazard with allowing the occupant to be in control of the illumination?

And while we are at it, is it really necessary to set the automatic lights in public restrooms to under 5 seconds? I don’t know anyone who is in and out of the restroom in the amount of time given. I would have to argue that staggering around in the dark, running your hands over the bathroom walls looking for the activation sensor, is not necessarily hygienic. I could be wrong, but there is a possibility it would be frowned upon by the World Health Organization. Just a thought.
I trust your family is doing well you were able to resolve the issue with your cat and the neighbor’s parakeet. I completely agree that sometimes these things just escalate. Hopefully this next week will have fewer “complications!”
Your friend,

Seth

Driving School

One of the joys of living abroad in Spain is the opportunity to brush up on my driving knowledge and skills. Here in Spain they require that those from the USA start at ground zero in their driving endeavors, which means back to the books.
In order to receive a Spanish drivers license one must first pass a theory test and then a practical test. The tests are separated by at least a week, and you have 3 opportunities to pass the two tests until you fork over another large sum of money.
My inner tightwad encouraged me to study in order not to have to pay more than necessary, so study I did.
Along with reading the driving manual as though my life depended upon it, I also took approximately 100 practice tests. A practice test is made up of 30 questions from any topic in the driving manual, of which you must get at least 27 of them correct in order to pass.
Because of the sneaky way the questions are asked on the exam, others encouraged me to take the test in English.
While the official test was translated well, the practice tests were “questionable.” Here are some of my favorites:

Screen Shot 2016-06-14 at 3.23.00 PM

Very important in case Thor or Loki is riding with you.

Screen Shot 2016-06-19 at 5.35.32 PM

I hate it when I brokes down!

Screen Shot 2016-06-24 at 10.21.03 PM

I get to a point when my eyes burst out fatigue, and let me tell you…

Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 9.42.50 PM

I thought so hard about what this question could be asking I may have gotten a nosebleed.

Screen Shot 2016-06-26 at 3.33.12 PM

?

Screen Shot 2016-07-02 at 3.14.35 PM

Always, always, the rider of a motorcycle must riding wit free exhaust pipe. How many times do I have to tell you!

Screen Shot 2016-07-03 at 5.13.22 PM

If my car is ticking over too loud, I get upset.

Screen Shot 2016-07-03 at 5.24.58 PM

The right answer should always include extreming precaution.

Help?

Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to keep Elli, Tanzen’s stuffed elephant, from talking during nap time? Tanzen tells us that Elli keeps talking to her and keeping her up, even after Tanzen shushes her.

I have little to no experience with reasoning with stuffed elephants who refuse to stop talking, so any recommendations would be helpful.

IMG_1250.jpg

The 25 Funniest Analogies (Collected by High School English Teachers)

 

I came across this post the other day while reading through my blog reader. Pretty funny! It is worth reading through.

Some of my favorites include:
– The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
–  Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
– John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
– He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.