Sunshine and Wine

The weather here in Spain has been incredibly cooaperative and beautiful. Almost every day I see sunshine and feel the warmth. I have been enjoying every minute of it. On most weekends and afternoons you can find me in the main plaza reading the lastest issue of Vanity Fair and trying to interact with the cute Basque children. In fact, two weeks ago I had 12 days of vacation and I managed to head over to the plaza to enjoy some time in the sun every day.

Sorry it has been so long since I have up-dated my blog. I have been back in Spain for about 7 weeks since I returned from the States for Chistmas but it feels like I have been back for 7 months. Time here is passing quickly...sometimes too quickly.

I no longer live in San Sebastian. I moved out of my apartment in San Sebastian a few days before I came home for Christmas after a very unfortunate incident with a roommate. After I returned to Spain I found a new place to live in Irun, the small city where I teach. This new environment has shown itself to be a fantastic decision. I no longer have to call the train my second home and I get much more sleep. Don't get me wrong...San Sebastian is an amazing city which I love but I think I became a little bored with it. Irun is smaller (about 50,000 people) and it just has a more personal, intimate feeling. And it's been really fun discovering a new place.

My new address is:
Season Westover
Calle Lepanto 7-3B
Irun, Spain 20301

We also have a house phone now so if anyone is interested in calling it is much cheaper to call on a landline. The number is:
011-34-943-615-776

School continues to keep me busy. This past week I substituted for one of my friends who teaches at the high school here in Irun so I had my normal classes, along with 5 of his classes and then my tutoring classes. It was a very busy week. I would run from one school to the other and then to San Sebastian for a tutoring session with enough time to run to catch the train back to Irun and then back to the school for more classes. I am so glad that my life is not like that every week. Working only 11 hours a week is becoming more and more normal. I still haven't decided if that's a good thing or not.

My new apartment has a great balcony that overlooks a playground and field where people play soccer and old men play bocci ball every afternoon. It is my new favorite place. I always eat breakfast on the balcony and lunch, if I am fortunate enough to be at home. The old men playing bocci ball are very entertaining. They usually appear around 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon and are very serious about the game. Sometimes I see them with a measuring tape trying to figure out who is the actual winner. They bring wine or beer and sometimes some snacks (from what I can tell, usually cheese, bread and meat) and play until the sun goes down. Their grandchildren come and visit some days. I've decided that one day I would like to be (or at least do the same things as) an old Basque man.

Life is pretty damn amazing here. But I do miss the States and everyone that lives there. I especially miss my newphew when I talk to him on the telephone and he says "Hola SeSe. I love you." And it hurts my heart when I receive e-mails from Fong (my ex-boss) and she tells me that the twins are fighting over a phone because they want to talk to me. As long as I don't think about my other life, I manage to do ok. But every once in a while it sneaks up on me and I find myself on the bus early in the morning on my way to school thinking about a friend who is going through a hard time and how much I wish I could be there to give her a hug. It's during moments like these that I question every decision I've ever made.

Hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all so much. Please send e-mails and up-date me on your lives. And I promise to be better about up-dating my blog...or at least I'll try to be better at it.

Lots of love from Spain!