Mom and Dad's European Vacation

Mom and Dad´s European Vacation
So, I had Mom and Dad here visiting for the month of August, minus one week when they escaped the doldrums of our mountain home for 7 days of urban bliss in Paris. During that time, Patti came and went as well. It was a really neat experience to have them here! After all these years of “Spain this or Spain that”, they finally got to know the country that I first fell in love with 18 years and 15-some trips ago. For Mom, it was the first time she ever set foot in Spain. For Dad, it was the first time in 40 years he had been here. If you know anything about recent Spanish history, you know that the Spain of 40 years ago, under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, has absolutlely NOTHING to do with the democratic/socialist Spain of today, currently under the leadership of President José María Aznár and the Partido Popular (the Poplar or Populist Party). Needless to say, Patti marveled at how remarkably similar to Italy Spain is and Mom and Dad were impressed with the old world and new world functioning side by side. Old world stuff...I had Dad participate in an encierro small town bull fight. Yes, he was actually in the ring with the bulls and a bunch of other brazen young and not-so-young, sober and not-so-sober men (I won´t say which category my father falls into). Actually there were a few women participating too. This chica, as crazy as she is, has retired from her festive days. I enjoyed the spectacle from the bleachers with Patti and Mom...who I am not so sure was enjoying it too much. I think she was worried about explaining to my brother how all of Dad´s ribs got broken. Hee hee. Dad made it home in one piece, after a few tense moments and Angel finally going down and dragging him out of the ring. Literally. It was quite an experience and a memory that I am sure Dad will enjoy reliving many times over. New world stuff … shopping in El Corte Inglés, Spain´s largest department store and wandering through Carrefour, the French chain of hypermarkets that was never really successful in penetrating the American market. I also have to mention zipping along the autopistas (highways) that are quite modern in their own right. Of course me with my new Spanish drivers´ license, I am not permitted to zip too much...more like crawl at 50 mph (newly licensed drivers are permitted a maximum speed of 80 kph for the first year of their license) with all the others zipping by me at breathtaking speeds of 100-120 mph. Ahh but it´s good to have friends in all the right places, or as they are called here enchufes. So, Juan (yes, Lori, can you believe it? He is now a big time lawyer here in Madrid) has promised to take care of any speeding tickets, just for crying out loud go faster than 50 mph (as he so eloquently put it)!

Business as Usual
Summer is over and it´s back to business as usual, or is it? I sometimes feel like my life is an endless series of adventures. Close one chapter open another. It´s actually a pretty cool feeling. As I have always said, better busy than bored. So, I am busy creating the next chapter (within a chapter) of my life. Now that all the summer visitors are gone, we are full steam ahead on our business. Originally planned for a September launch, but it looks like it´ll be closer to October before Iber-English Language Partners will be opening it´s office just northwest of the business district here in Madrid. For those of you familiar with the city, it´ll be located in the Plaza de Castilla/Valdeacederas section. In the meantime, between laying brick, hanging drywall, developing teaching plans for the business and teaching a few random classes, I have been cranking out a couple of proposals for corporate clients (see, those non-profit fundraising days served me well to write great proposals on a shoestring budget!). Two of them are multinationals (one American and one Spanish), the third is a smaller local client. Along with that, have been pounding the pavement for English teachers...native speaking and preferrably legal. Otherwise, our expenses go up with the cost of administering the paperwork and legal fees to get the teachers their work visas...Patti! Where are you???!!! So, you are sitting there, shaking your head and thinking….”that crazy Becky! How does she do it??”. I don´t have to wonder, I know...I do it with the tremendous support of my wonderful life partner (or as Lee puts it, my best friend, my lover, my husband).

Fallen Angel
So, Mom and Dad...AND Patti, had the opportunity to get to know Angel much better and his wry sense of humor. I really hadn´t given it much thought before Patti pointed out to me how so many of my friends and family were concerned/worried about me “running off, getting married, and moving to Spain” in the blink of an eye... primarily because no one really KNEW Angel. Yes, several had met him on his brief weekend visits during our “courtship”. But the brevity and language barriers prevented any real “familiarity” from developing. Well, Mom and Dad left with future dreams of spending several months at a time visiting. And Patti, well...how ´bout it Patti? As I have always said, you never know what is waiting for you just around the next corner!! I feel like my Angel has fallen from the heavens. For those of you remaining with any bit of concern or worry, he is a wonderful wonderful man who has done (is doing) everything humanly and inhumanly possible to make sure that my transition here is a smooth one and that I become every bit the independent woman that I was in the states. Can´t beat that!

The Flip Side
Yes, I feel like my life is a shining sun, but it does have its dark spots (as every life does). My legal battle with O.E. is moving forward. Will probably have my court date mid October. I don´t care about being paid at this point, all I care about is putting these losers out of business so that they don´t continue to cheat hard working teachers and innocent families out of money. Angel and I have launched a massive (by our standards), publicity campaign against them. I even had my first TV interview here in Spain. Ha ha! It´s much different doing such an interview in a language that isn´t your native tongue. I felt like such a rebel running around Madrid at midnight posting up signs on all of O.E.'s former offices telling teachers and students alike to get in touch with each other via an email account that Angel set up. Oh the fun of it all. Good thing that Angel and I are like minded!

Food and Fun
As I mentioned in one of my previous chapters, Angel and I with the help of Jeremy, organized a decent sized bilingual barbecue in June. In all we had about 30 attendees and it was great fun. The next one is planned for this Saturday (the 21st) and the guest list has swelled to 53 and counting. The menu includes paella (seafood, meat and vegetable) as well as sangría and burgers and dogs for the expats with a hankering. We are gearing up for another volleyball game. Can´t wait. Rumor has it that a French guy is joining us this time around! If you are a Spain lover, or have a curiosity about the country, I recommend that you check out Jer's website. The guy has webcams all over the place as well as a very active message board. Aside from the social aspect of the BBQ, I am really testing the waters for part of our business...bilingual activities that give students of either language (Spanish/English) the opportunity to practice in a non-threating environment. Ah yes, remember game-night groupies...game night will never die, on the drawing board are plans to launch a monthly bilingual game night here! Many thanks to Patti who brought Taboo and Scrabble and also Rob and Chumi ... Boggle lives on! Mom and Dad taught Angel´s parents how to play rummy and they taught Mom and Dad how to play chinchón. Cards, the international game.

Many thanks to those of you who emailed and said that you were looking for me on the news when the local stations covered the Tomatina (the huge tomato fight here in Spain). Unfortunately, our plans of going were altered by the tremendous hailstorms that Spain suffered the last week of August. The Tomatina was held, but the weather was rather cool. We didn´t want to run the risk of driving 5 hours only to discover it had been cancelled...there is always next year!