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Published: July 17th 2008
Oma and me in front of the bull ring
We happened to watch a lot of the bull fighting on tv that week - you want to look away but you cant!There are two interesting things to talk about in this blog, the first involves, dogs, ex-druggies and bonsai....and the second, my grandma (oma) coming to visit us in a tiny village in Valencia!
Mario and I have been lucky enough to get to travel together around Spain because of his work with Bonsai. We left Alicante for one week to go to Valencia. We were given an apartment in a tiny town called La Pobla Llarga close to the place where Mario would be working. We were very surprised when we were first taken to the huge complex. Not only did it contain hundreds of bonsai, but it was also a place where all sorts of dogs were bred. Kennels with barking dogs everywhere! Now the most unusual part which turned out to definitely be the most interesting thing was that the whole place was also a rehab centre for drug and alcohol addicts! Among the dogs and bonsai, were lots of small flats where the recovering people lived and they were surrounded by beautiful gardens. Unfortunately I do not have any photos as I felt it wrong to pry on their private lives. There were also doctors and psychologists
that lived on the premises. The place actually ran itself quite well, everyone had a specific job so everything was looked after very well, maintaining the bonsai, cleaning the dog cages, gardening, etc. I was very intimidated by everyone at first but they all turned out to be very kind and friendly. It was also interesting hearing some of their stories from their 'past life' and how only after a certain time they are allowed to leave the centre for a day at a time.
Towards the end of the week Oma came from Germany to visit us, just a brief stop in her worldwide holiday! We spent a lovely and very hot day in Valencia city, catching the train half an hour away from our tiny village. We saw the very packed beach and caught busses and explored the city. The next day we wandered around La Pobla Llarga and walked to Mario's interesting workplace!
The day Oma had to leave, one of Mario's boss' employees drove Oma and I all the way back to Alicante and to the Airport there!
It was an exciting week but in the first few days the heat got to
me and it didn't help that one day I got lost walking to Mario's work and later got sunstroke!
Enjoy the photos!!!
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Pinkdaisy
non-member comment
Looks like you had a lovely time with grandma, great to hear you are doing well!!!