Forever Young: Life's Connections

Forever Young
I was always reminded of my years at LVC serving as one of the DJs in the campus social club whenever I heard the song Forever Young by the one-hit-wonder group Alphaville.... that is until I went to my local Madrid food market, “Los Mares” for the first time.

I turned 36 this past January... hard to believe. I had a moment (or two) of crisis as I began to think about my age and get anxious about it. To make matters worse, I started to think about my friends from Lebanon Valley College, from Radnor High School and from many of my life journeys ... the ones that are married with kids. I stopped and thought, “where on earth has time gone??” (by the way, please don´t stop sending the kiddie pics... I love them!). It got me down a bit. Ángel tried cheering me up by reminding me that he was turning 40. Ufff....

Then, I discovered a miracle cure for this age-related depression. Actually, it´s a great pick-me-up anytime I am feeling down... I go shopping at Los Mares. You have to understand that shopping at Los Mares in and of itself is an adventure... a journey into a land of mixed smells... fresh fish with fresh baked bread, aged cheese with hanging ham hocks. It´s also a visual journey full of vibrant colors and activity. From the brightly colored fruits to the blood red meats, a rainbow of seafood. And the din... from the fish mongers to the frutero (green grocer), the butchers, etc... calling out to the clients, reconfirming orders asking about grandchildren, offering samples of their foods. It´s true pleasure for the senses. But this isn´t the real cure...

The cure is the special treatment that I get every time I go. From the butcher calling me joven... "¿qué más joven?" ("what else young lady?") to the poultry man calling me his queen:
Me: can I have a dozen eggs please?
Him: what else my queen?
Me: half a kilo of chicken breasts cut into filets.
Him: Anything else beautiful?
It´s enough to make any woman leave floating. Of course, I have to mention that I hit another small bout of depre (depression) when I heard them talking to a woman of about 70 in the same manner as they spoke with me. It´s all a farce I thought. But that´s ok... I have learned to accept the piropos (compliments) and let them be my pick-me-up for the day. Now whenever I enter the market, invariably I am humming “Forever Young”.

Summer weather in June
This past week the temperatures hit 40º celsius in the shade. That translates to 104ºF. As I commented to my sister the other day... one really begins to develop an appreciation for why the Spaniards take such long and leisurely lunches/siestas midday. It´s just so darned hot that you can´t really do much else. Too bad that doesn't seem to be the norm in stressed-out, work-crazed Madrid. The heat is asphyxiating.

I´m also convinced that heat drives people out of their homes. Which might explain the visits that I have been receiving from Miguel. He first came by the office when I was in class with another client two weeks ago. He was content to wait the 30 minutes until I finished. He excitedly explained that he MUST learn English. He told me that in today´s world English was absolutely necessary. I don´t disagree with him... especially to get ahead in the labor market here in Spain. However, Miguel is about 75 years old!!! Since his initial visit, he has come back twice. I finally gave him a level test to assess his level of English. He has a surprisingly ample vocabulary. When I handed him the test he asked, what do I do? Translate the questions in Spanish? No, I answered him. You answer them in English”. In English?! He was astonished. He told me, I don´t know English which is why I want you to teach me. Then he asked me to pronounce a few random words in English and giggled with delight at my “perfect pronunciation”. I hope I can learn to speak as well as you can!

May there be more Miguel´s in this life!

Life´s Circles
Back in 1987 when I was here studying at the Universidad de Madrid Complutense, I became friends with Javier F. Javier was my intercambio (language exchange partner). We would go out a couple of times a week with two specific objectives... for him to improve his English and for me to improve my Spanish. After a few beers, we never ran out of topics of discussion. He introduced me to his circle of friends which included Pepe, Antonio, and Carlos. Pepe and Carlos were law students and Antonio was studying medicine. I started going out with all of them feeling very much a part of the sophisticated Euro culture of having a leisurely cup of coffee in an outdoor terrace (long before Starbucks was a household name). After awhile, Pepe and company lost touch with Javier, as did I. However, I remained in contact with Pepe and continued going out with them until my semester ended. For the next couple of years, I exchanged Christmas cards with Pepe, but eventually lost touch as the years passed. A year ago, I was watching TV here in Madrid... thinking about the olden days of studying here... and the friends that I had. Suddenly, on the news I saw a guy that I could have sworn was Pepe. The man was a lawyer giving a press conference about the music industry and the illegal piracy. For a month I kept debating the idea and then finally sat down and wrote him a note and sent it to the only address that I had for him. The weeks, then months passed and I never heard from him. I was a bit disappointed but figured, what the heck... he is a big time lawyer now and probably doesn´t even remember me!

I was in the office this morning when the phone rang. I answered it with a “good morning”. A Spanish male voice on the other end asked to speak with “Becky”. Those of you who have visited me here will know that most everyone Spanish calls me Rebecca. I suppose it´s more Spanish sounding than “Becky”. I was a bit taken aback as I didn´t recognize the voice. I said “this is Becky”. The male voice continued, “I bet you don´t know who I am”. I responded, “continue talking I´m sure I´ll recognize the voice”. The unknown voice said, “you´ll have to remember back 17 years”. No, I thought. It can´t be. Then the voice continued... "Becky, it´s Pepe". Pepe! I screamed! It was so exciting to hear from him. He went on to tell me that he hadn´t seen Carlos in about 15 years, but recently got a call from him because Carlos had received a call from Javier! Now we are all planning to get together for dinner with our respective spouses. I´ll have to report back on how it went!

The first few weeks of July are going to be busy! I have gotten the usual calls/emails from passers-through. First on the agenda is Penny K. She arrives tomorrow with a group from Villanova University. I think we´ll invite her to our house for dinner if her tight agenda allows it. Next comes Dr. Iglesias, my college Spanish professor. She´s in town for a conference and we are planning on getting together at some point before she returns to the States. Then comes my sister and her friend Vanya visiting from St. Petersburg, Russia. I am sure that they will melt once they feel the temps that we have been experiencing here! Ángel and I are hoping to escape the second half of August to the mountains in the north to do a little camping and hiking before the high season of English teaching really kicks in in September/October. Hopefully this fall we will be seeing former roomie Liz and her hubby Mike as they pass through Madrid on their way to the beach. Any others planning their European getaway? You know where we are so feel free to look us up!