Trip down memory lane

---

Hemingway suggests a good idea is to always stop writing when you have a sense of what you will write next. That way, once you pick up the piece again, you have a sentence or a paragraph that flows easily into text as it was conceived at an earlier time. My ideas about Valencia were preconceived in this way. Having lived with Dennie in Valencia from 2007 to 2009 I have a sense of what happens next. I could write florid descriptions of the food, much of which I have nostalgic feelings towards, or provide a description of the Spanish cultural milieux, pointing out the differences between Spaniards and Canadians, or I could describe the places we visited on this trip; the winding streets of the old town, the orange groves of La Huerta, the seaside Paella restaurants of Malvarosa, the winding Parque del Turia with it's futuristic landscape. However, there is nothing new to describe our time in Valencia. It was a revisiting of our lives when we were a little bit younger. The challenges we faced with language barriers and developing meaningful friendships while living there did not weigh heavily in our minds as we dined at our favourite spots, and rode bicycles around the city in search of memories. The passage of time inevitably erodes adversity, leaving only a romanticized version of the past lingering in our minds. It was in this mindset that Dennie looked at me on our third day in Valencia, and wondered aloud whether our old school in Spain would hire us back, whether we should consider uprooting the lives we have come to appreciate and love in Canada to return to Spain. While fleeting, the idea was exciting enough for me to while away hours online after our trip looking at real estate, and planning the logistics of a more permanent return. The truth is that we won't be buying Spanish real estate any time soon. We have grown to love our close knit community in Canada and our growing certainty that relationships are more meaningful than a place on a map will likely mean that our home base will stay where it is. I can confidently say however on this trip to Valencia the Paella tasted better, The people were a little friendlier, and the streets smelled a little less like urine. This could be a result of a certain glorification of the past, but it certainly fuelled my desire to return.



*I am sorry to reference Hemingway two blog entries in a row, but I can't put this book down...

---