Day 1

Taking the metro to work this morning reminded me of a lot of things that I forgot about Spain.  Everyone was staring at me and I couldn't understand why.  Was there something on my face?  Was a button loose?  Did I look like a mess?  Was I was the only woman on the metro in a suit?  Was I not wearing heels?

Answer:  Spaniards stare.  A lot.

And then I couldn't find my way to the embassy from the metro because the street you need to take is actually a giant staircase.  Or you can walk the wrong way, then cross a bridge, and avoid the stairs altogether.

And THEN I tried to just stroll through the embassy like I knew where I was going.  And got stopped by the marine on duty.

All in all, an eventful hour.

The rest of the morning went a lot better.  I was in shock to see how many Spaniards work at the American Embassy because I thought you had to be American.  Turns out I had a lot of misconceptions about embassies.  The good thing about the composition of the embassy staff being about 1/2 Spanish is that I can actually speak Spanish during the day and learn Spanish legalese.  There are two lawyers that I'll be working with, one of whom is a licensed Spanish attorney and a permanent staff member in the embassy, so half of her rundown of the embassy was in Spanish and half was in English.  I understand 95% of what people are saying which is a plus.  And most people just flip back and forth in Spanglish all day long.  This could be really good, or really bad.

It sounds like I'll be working with international custody/family law questions, extraditions, judicial assistance, registration of life events, passport decisions, and a couple other odds and ends that the American Citizens Services deals with, and will spend a couple of days over on visas to see the types of issues that visa staff deals with.

Aside from learning what the consuls actually do and what I'll be doing, we also had a townhall meeting with the Assistant Secretary for the European Division -- he basically sees all of the European embassies.  It was interesting to hear him speak and to hear him answer questions and concerns from the Embassy and from the Consulate in Barcelona.

There was also a report of a parental child abduction today.  I'm not sure what I can say about it so I'll err on the side of nothing.  But it was fascinating to see the lawyers working to figure out what to do because the kidnapper was a U.S. citizens.  Even though he was in violation of Spanish law -- and possibly international law -- the consulate's job isn't to help Spanish law enforcement, it's to protect the interests of American citizens.  No, that doesn't mean grant him asylum.  It basically meant pretend you know nothing about the police pursuing him.  What was even more interesting is that it wasn't the start of the U.S. work day yet, so my supervisor's couldn't call their big boss for another hour or so to get an answer on what they should do if he showed up at the embassy.

It's 8:30 PM and looks bright as day outside.  This will take some getting used to.