Cool Websites and the Prince of Spain

Now that another several months have passed (I should be up to chapter 31 by now had I been doing this monthly as my was my original intent), I figured it was high time I got back on my laptop and did some more recreational writing. It appears lately that all I am doing is developing exercises to practice the use of the present perfect continuous (that´s the verb form of... “I have been working” for those inquiring minds that want to know) and explaining the subtleties in meaning between munching, gobbling, scarfing, noshing, chewing, snacking and eating....yum-yum...just in time for Thanksgiving! Ahhh the finer points of teaching English.

I want to share with you two really cool websites that I have learned of lately. The first one is a unique demonstration of the rapidly changing Spanish culture. TELEMADRE. Spain takes its eating seriously. Family meals are important and lunchtime is the biggest meal of the day. Of course that is in direct conflict with the savage capitalism which suggests that one must work umpteen hours a day with only a 30 minute break of a sandwich eaten hastily at your desk for what we pathetically call lunch. So, how does this work in Spain, where the images of siesta and fiesta are what immediately come to the minds of those not so intimately familiar with the country? Well, by law, companies are required to provide a 1 hour lunch break and the norm is generally 1.5-2 hours for lunch. This gives those who live close enough to go home and have a good home-cooked sit-down meal. Those who aren´t so fortunate can go to a nearby restaurant and for a fixed price (generally 7-10€) eat a three course meal including beverage and dessert. As my Uncle Jack would say, “not too shabby!” Obviously though, most salaries aren´t high enough to support a 10€ a day habit... especially for the younger workforce who has been forced to leave the comfort of their home town and mother´s cooking and move to big capital of Madrid. These poor souls are blessed with a long lunch hour, but small meals...often a sandwich or leftovers of last night´s meal.

Stresses of modern day life are here...and it´s quite frequent to find young Spanish professionals (especially women) who don´t know how to cook...not even the perennial tortilla española (which has nothing to do with the tortillas from Mexico). So, who are you going to call? Telemadre! (tele-mother). This business is the brainchild of a couple of bored housewives....empty-nesters to be exact ... who realized that they could fulfil their “need to cook for someone” (believe me, there are women here with that mentality....for example, my mother-in-law) by cooking for the thousands of single (or married) young professionals who don´t know how to, or don´t have time to cook for themselves...AND make money doing so! The clients are affectionately referred to as telehijos (tele-children) and they can order cooking services for up to all of their meals and are charged monthly. (Forget the VISA bill and grocery shopping, just pay your Telemadre bill!). This website / business venture is particularly fascinating for me because it blends a lot of different things, the Spanish culture of good eating... i.e. comidas caseras (home cooked meals), “recycling” (for lack of a better word) an important part of Spanish society that is often overlooked.... the 50-something year old mothers who just missed the boat on the feminist movement here in Spain and are caught in that old world/new world void... and brings them together with young professionals who find themselves away from the bosom of their own mother for the first time and perhaps are a bit overwhelmed with it all, especially their newly found independence. This business was recently covered by NPR, for any of you who listen to it. If not, you can go to NPR´s website and read the story in English.

A side note about my mother-in-law. She is just beginning to live her feminist movement days now. She has spent the entire summer (well, since May) in the family´s casa del pueblo (country home) which is in a small town about 2 hours northwest of Madrid. (When I say small, I mean about 300 full-time residents small). She has abandoned (in my father-in-law´s words) the family to live alone and at peace by herself... the funny thing is that she went there in the spring and is still there...and we are now in November! Some summer getaway! Her plans are to come back to Madrid in time for all the Christmas preparations. After a week or so of being there alone...she will get the urge to cook for someone or have family around her... so occasionally she will call a family member and an impromptu family reunion occurs where everyone gathers at the country home for a big meal. But then of course, she is stressed and uptight during the meal because she was so comfortable being alone...but now she has all these hungry mouths to feed and her screaming grandson to boot...a never ending vicious cycle. Ángel has to pass by the town on occasion for business, so he stops in to have lunch with his mother. That´s a good thing for me because he invariably comes home laden with several containers of home made food... from lentils, to chickpea stew, to stewed hare...you name it she sends it. She´ll even call me and ask if there in anything in particular that I would like for her to send! How funny is that?

The other website that I recently learned of is BOOKCROSSING. This site is based on the idea of making the entire world one big free library. Anyone can become a member for free and register any number of books that they own. Each book will receive a unique registration number (usually its ISBN number) and when the owner has read it and is ready to part with it....they do so by either passing it onto a friend or “freeing it into the wild”. “The wild” means a park bench, a lunch counter, a metro station... a bus stop...some public place where someone else will find the book, “adopt it” and hopefully go to the bookcrossing website (each book carries a sticker identifying it as a bookcrossing book) to register that they have found it and are reading it. Once they have read it, they too will hopefully release it into the wild again. When the books are released into the wild, the “releaser” posts where the book was released, and any bookcrossing participants who live in the vicinity can go and hunt down the book. Cool idea don´t you think? There are over 15,000 members in the USA alone, not to mention all the other countries of the world. Definitely a site to bookmark.

If you have any favorite websites, by all means share them with me. I am constantly amazed at the wonderful things that can be accomplished on the web and am always on the lookout for interesting sites.

The big news here in Spain nowadays is that their native son, Prince Philip of Asturias Príncipe Felipe de Asturias) has proposed marriage to ... (horrors upon horrors) a commoner! Well, in my opinion, she is not that common...she just isn´t of royal lineage. She is a divorced (no children) 31-year old, highly educated, bi, if not multi-lingual, on-the-fast-track, TV news anchor for Televisión Española (Spanish Public Television). Probably an equivalent to a Dianne Sawyer in terms of national fame here in Spain. The Spaniards view their royalty with complete respect (generally speaking) and therefore, you won´t read scandalous news about them as you might with their English counterparts. However, some social circles here question the Prince´s sexuality (he´ll be 36 in January, is very handsome, moneyed and single) and others question Letizia´s (future queen´s name) intentions. Some see her as power hungry and he with the need to continue the Royal Family bloodlines. Who knows? (and, who cares? I might irreverently add) Alas, my dream of marrying the Prince of Spain has now come to an end....but that´s alright with me as I have truly married my prince!

I have rambled enough for now...just a bit so that you know that I am alive and well. I hope that you are fine as well. Do drop a note and let us know how you are doing and what is new with your life...as always, I might not be quick to respond, but you can be sure that I read what I receive with great relish! Happy late Halloween or early Thanksgiving (is your glass half empty or half full?) to you all!