​“Mate. WHAT is going on in your country?” 
“I’m so sorry. My condolences.” (hug)
“Honestly it’s kind of funny to watch the U.S. f*** up this big.”
“I think he’s funny. We need more leaders like that here that can just laugh it off.”
​“This is totally like Brexit. The conservative right is taking over the world. France is next.”
“How did this happen in your country? It must be because people are just really pissed off?”

We’ve now officially lived in Valencia for over five months. As official residents of Spain, we can both finally work legally and have access to state benefits, like free health care and paid time off. We ride our cool, Dutch-style bikes across town to teach English (Megan, kiddos ages 7-9 and 10-12, and Ryan, professional adults) for about 12-15 hours each week. The rest of our workday is spent developing experiential travel packages for Cohica (we’re not just a blog, folks) and planning ways to grow our business so we can fulfill our dream of working full-time, independently, from anywhere. Otherwise, our days are spent cooking, running in the park, occasionally hitting the beach, and drinking too much Spanish wine. We stay up too late, sleep in too late, and still have enough time to do things like roast tomatoes and pickle red onions. Everything is going according to plan. 

​Yes. We know it sounds awesome, and on most days it totally is. But living abroad isn’t always easy. The truth is, sometimes, it’s really hard.