That´s Spain, part II

(Photo: El Dude with the Smith Boys: Jan 1, 2008)

But nothing changes on New Years Day
-U2

I apologize that i have been soooooooooo out of touch. Things have been CRAZY and the Internet only occasionally shows up at my house like a Jehovahs Witness- at all the wrong times.

As I believed i mentioned, i have been waiting on some medicine from the USA for a month now. Mum sent it UPS just to have it get to Madrid, sit for 5 days, and be sent back.

So mum sent it again via the US Postal service, to link with our local service, Correos, as we were instructed. It got here at 1am on January 21. I waited and waited. Then I searched for a number to call to contact them as I never received a notice or a call, but could only follow the package thru USPS online tracking. While my Spanish gets better, talking on the phone is still a bitch, especially with civil servants who could not care less. They talk too fast and use slang no matter how much you ask them to slow down or be helpful. La Profesora, using her Spanish and her womanly charms, found out that the package was cleared by the medicos (doctors) on Thursday the 24th and that i should recieve the slip for it soon.

By monday i was out of one medicine and and still had no slip. We called again. I found a half crushed pill in my knapsack and took it on tuesday.

I guess it should come as no surprise to anyone that i am mentally irregular, so i will divulge that the medicine i waited on was serataline or zoloft, which i started taking 4 years ago for OCD. When you come off it, you are supposed to taper off, as it is considered dangerous not to (don´t just stop taking your meds!!!!).

I was trying not to. On Wed., they told Maria I could go out to customs near the airport and attempt to retrieve it. All they could give her was a streeet name and no street number. Bienavenido to post-Franco Spain!!!!

No one knew where the street was when i arrived at the eastern most metro stop on the line. People were deformed with smashed in faces- grotesque and hideous (this was real - i hadn´t been off the meds that long). I went from building to building. Person to person. I found a cab and asked him to take me.

Ït´s muy cerca (very close)!¨

I told him i didn´t care, to just please take me. He refused because it was so close and pointed off in the direction.

I couldn´t find it. I stopped another cab. It was over the highway. He finally delivered me to what we figured was the right place (with the yellow Correos sign). Then he tried to rip me off for an extra Euro, which i caught. I got in and their were tw o long lines. I read them both to Maria over the phone, and even she was puzzled!!!!! I picked a line, talked to the lady and waited.

¨You can´t believe how many complaints there are on the Internet about how difficult it is to get a package!!!!¨Maria told me.

Can I play with madness?

-Iron Maiden

I waited. The phone rang again. It was Maria.

"Okay, I just talk to the man there again. You not going to believe but they tells me the package is back on the way to the United States." I almost dropped the phone.

"I tell him this is crazy because they tell me last week it was approved by the medicos!¨

We boith hoped that this guy was wrong. And then the lady called me.

"Vuelta. (It´s flying)".

"Adonde?"

"Los Estados Unidos"

Thankfully, Maria had prepared me for the shock, or i would have killed the woman. ¨That´s exactly why i call you!" she told me later that night.

The doctors had rejected it again.

I walked out, wondering what the fuck i would do next. The insanity is that last year i received medicine twice by mail. Once they just delivered, once I had to go get it- both sent by the US postal service.

I had to wait to get a cab across the highway.

He told me in Spanish that he didn´t know where the Metro was. How can you drive a cab and not know where the Metros are not have a GPS!!!!! I directed him.

"Collectively, this bario is the stupidest group of people I have ever seen,¨I said in English.

"Si Si," he said.

Now i am walking back to the metro. I see a farmacia. I have the empty bottle with me. I figure i´ll ask him what kind of doctor i need to try and see to get him to write a prescription. But first, like MacBeth, i try the last.

I hand him the bottle, say i am from Los estados Unidos, and ask for it.

"Ah, setranlina." He comes back with a thirty day supply, says its 18 Euros, and gives it to me - a prescription only drug.

When i called Maria, she said, "Yeah, that´s Spain. Just keep trying and you never know."

I bought some cheese and bread and boarded the Metro for the long ride to Boadilla, far to west of Madrid, to teach at 2pm.