Paella

#protip : if you move to Spain, make friends with great people!
And there are great people everywhere!
On Saturday our friends Xema and Dara invited us to come "do paella" in a ridiculously picturesque little neighborhood outside of Valencia proper.
Xema is a killer musician from Valencia. He's played all over the world - we actually met him in Austin while he was touring with Josh Rouse and have seen him play with several other projects since moving to Valencia. El tiene habilidades!!
Aside from his many musical talents, Xema is also known for his paella! I'm talking real deal authentic Paella Valenciana!
Since the night we met in Austin, we have had a standing invitation to come do paella with him.
And that's the real lesson from our dining experience this weekend: On top of all of Xema and Dara's skills (Dara is a fantastic chef!), THEY ARE GREAT PEOPLE! Open minded, accepting, patient (my Spanish is bad, y'all), funny, attentive, kind, generous, curious, and engaging.
That night back in Austin, Xema gave us his contact info and offered to help with anything we might need as we were still considering a move to his home town. True to his word he has gone above and beyond to help us through this journey. He and Dara have done so much to make us feel welcomed and comfortable in our new city. See? Great people! ...also, GREAT PAELLA!
They aren't the only ones who've gone out of their way to offer help. So many! So many people, locals and xpats from all over, have been instrumental in keeping us from spending our days tearing out our hair, whilst huddled and weeping in a dark corner of our flat chanting "no entiendo...no entiendo"... Even total strangers on the street and the many government funcionarios who've had to endure the 9 of us looming over their desk asking a thousand questions in my version of Spanish that would make a two year old sound like a rhodes scholar, have cheerfully rendered aide...I mean, like, walk me around the block to the correct building because I'm in the wrong place and can't seem to understand which way is left or right, type aide. Great people! They're everywhere! Let em cook for you;)
#greatpeopleing #paellavalenciana #sogood