Blogs from Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain, Europe - page 42

Hello Reader. Stagnancy is something different. I have been so used to, in the past two months, moving and meeting and adapting. Now that I am officially living (albeit illegally) in Valencia, all that has slowed down so much. This is good because it is the chance I was waiting for to really soak up the Spanish culture. And bad because, by Spanish culture, I mean watching movies at Mike's apartment. I suppose this will change when I actually find a place to work. As for the restaurant I was hoping to work at, I brought in my resumé and had a small informal interview with Dhani. He said that I would fit right in and that someone with my kind of experience is exactly what he was looking to find. Then he asked how long ... read more

Hello Reader. After a week, I have finally mustered up the courage and clarity that it will take to write this entry. One of my best friends, Jennifer Becker, wrote me last week. She said that she had something she wanted to tell me over the phone. I tried to call her on several occasions and never got through. She finally decided to write me an e-mail. Jenna Johnson, one of Jenny's roommates and best friends throughout college, died just before Christmas. She had moved to California and was training with a friend to run the AIDS marathon. After feeling a little dizzy, Jenna simply collapsed to the ground. They did an autopsy and could find no reason for it. She was twenty-three years old. After reading the e-mail, I read it again. After reading the ... read more

Hola, First of all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Please be sure to check out the first photo in this series, it´s just for you, all of my peeps back home. Hope you´re all enjoying the warm so-cal weather. Here it´s pretty friggin cold, but I have no complaints. Anywho, I´m in Valencia now, but for about a month I was teaching English in a town called (ironically) Alquerias del Niño Perdido. It´s ironic because this translates as Collection of Houses of the Lost Boy. At the time I was feeling pretty lost, so it was appropriate. So I was there, teaching English with several others. In a tiny house, with zero insulation, in the middle of orange groves for as far as the eye could see. We taught mostly in the neighboring ... read more

Hello Reader. I went to the hostel and read my new book, Brave New World, until Monica came... except she walked right by me an sat down and started peeling an orange and talking to one of the girls that works there, waiting for me to arrive. The girl then pointed at me and Monica, suprised she didn't even recognize me, came over and gave me a hug. She is such a cool girl! We prepared pasta together in the open kitchen while drinking cheap white wine and chatting in Spanish. The pasta was mediocre, but the encounter will not be fogoten. We planned to meet the next day and go to the market, then she left around nine to babysit. We met the next morning at eleven and went to the mercado central (central market). ... read more

So, here we are in Benidorm Spain, after finding out last minute about our honeymoon being cancelled to Mexico. What a tragedy, for us it could have been much worse had we already been down there. Hopefully Mexico can recover quickly and there is not too much devastation. Flew to London from Ottawa, after attending my brother´s wedding, in hopes of finding somewhere else to go --Paris, Spain, Canary Islands. We miscalculated a little since it is school break in the UK and everything was booked. We told the travel agent that we wanted something ¨quiet and peaceful¨so she sent us to Benidorm, Spain on the Costa Blanca. Well, it is interesting, but not quiet - skyscrapers everywhere (although likely all of Europe sun destinations like this). We are staying in Gran Hotel Bali - the ... read more