La maternidad española - Spanish motherliness

Every time things start to get crappy here in España...one of my many moms in the pueblo does something to cheer me up.  I think they're like horses; they subconsciously sense disturbances in my mood.

A few weeks ago, Enrique's mom was giving me a ride back to my house (as she typically does after a clase particular) and in the middle of our conversation asked me ¿Estás feliz? Of course, I answered her with my memorized answer of "Si, me gustan mucho España y Madrid. Estoy muy a gusto aqui." It is true, I really like Spain and Madrid, but her question made me realize that no one ever asks that in the United States.  I can't remember any time when someone plainly asked me if I was happy...not in a time of crisis, or a time when they were checking up on me, just plainly in the middle of a normal day and normal conversation.

Then, there is Andrea and Alba's mom.  She is so friendly and down-to-earth and someone I would hang out with...if we were the same age.  On the one hand, hard work is clearly very important to her.  Her husband works from home (they converted their basement into a shop where he makes some kind of orthodontic / dental molds) and she pushes her girls to study and work hard in school.  She doesn't care if they get perfect grades or not, just as long as they study.  She obviously comes from a successful family, but dresses like a normal mom and fools around with all the kids and neighbors we encounter on the way home. She picks me and the girls up every Tuesday and Thursday from school and always drives me back home afterwards.  She pays me AND always gives me some kind of food to bring home.  It started with small things like chocolates, then clementines, then fruit, then an entire SLEEVE of cookies, and the latest, a tupperware full of a veggie paella dish she made with fedua instead of rice and two oranges.  She also made me a cup of infusion tea during today's class because she knew I was sick this week.  She helps me with whatever I need, took me to the library two weeks ago to get my carnet, drives me to Maria's house every Tuesday, and even offered to look at my silk shirt to see if it had to be dry cleaned or not. 

Today she said for the second time that I MUST stay for 2011-2012 for the girls year in 4th grade.  Its so hard for me to hear that because I love teaching her girls and I love the kids at school, but I could never imagine staying another year at Colegio las Castaneras...let me just focus on surviving this year. Paso a paso, one step at a time.  She also told me that every Sunday she cooks a good meal, so whenever I want I should call her and she'll come pick me up in front of my apartment so I can come hang out with the family <3

After teaching Andrea and Alba, I give Maria a lesson from 5:30-6:30.  The two moms are friends and Andrea & Alba's mom told Maria's mom that I needed to refrigerate the food I was carrying.  She also told Maria's mom that I'm vegetarian and my mom wants me to take B12 and is worried I'm not eating well.  They both instantly ask, "How are you feeling? Do you feel weak at all?" Maria's mom came over and listened in on about 20 minutes of the English and Science lesson because she said it seemed fun :) and then....surprise, surprise....at the end of my lesson Maria's mom put ANOTHER tupperware in my bag of some kind of veggie soup.  She also told me on the ride home that her husband is a police officer in Madrid, so if I ever get into any kind of trouble, I just need to call her and her husband will come pick me up.

Just when I was sinking back into my old ways and thinking of leaving you Spain, you give me these mamás.

Toledo (Oct. 30) and Consuegra (Nov.6)

I've come to realize that traveling by yourself can be rewarding, lonesome, and interesting at the same time.  I've also come to realize that I'm a bit picky about my accompaniment.

1. If I'm with my family or close friends, it really doesn't matter where we go because its fun just to travel with people you're close with.

2. If I want to see specific sites, aimlessly wander, take pictures, and explore, I prefer to travel by myself.

3. If I'm in a place I know nothing about and never thought of visiting, I can go with family, close friends, or even random people I meet along the way.  Thats when it gets fun!


Puente de Alcántara

Streets of Toledo

Last Saturday I went to Toledo by myself.  It was overcast and dreary, but I went anyway.  The estación de autobuses is nowhere near the main plaza or tourist information center, so I just got off the bus and started walking.  I could see the Alcázar at the top of the mountain but couldn't figure out how to get up there!  Toledo was the spiritual capital of Spain for centuries.  The Romans arrived in 192 B.C., later the Visigoths, later the Moors, and later the Jewish, Arab, and Catholic population.  Now its a serious tourist destination, but still beautiful.  I visited the Puente de Alcántara, the Alcázar, la Catedral, el Museo de Santa Cruz, and la Plaza de Zocodover.

Because I took the afternoon bus and didn't get to Toeldo until 3:45pm, a lot of the sites I went to were closed.  I was getting sulky and started to have a bit of 'lonesome traveler syndrome' as I headed back down the mountain to the bus station.  I passed a store that said ITALIANO in big letters and heladería in small font underneath.  I went in, ordered a chocolate con churro, and sat down at one of the four tables. I noticed the two young guys working there spoke castellano with an Italian accent, and an old Italian man was talking their ears off in Italian.  I struck up a conversation with one of them, and he told me he was from Girona, Italy and had been living in Spain for 5 years.  After the old man and his family left, I was the only one left in the shop, and Andrea (el chico italiano) talked to me the whole time I had my merienda.  He definitely brightened my day....nothing to do with the fact that he was gorgeous or anything....

This past Saturday, I took the 1:30pm bus to Consuegra.  Before I boarded, the driver asked me, "Do you know which stop it is?" Of course I lied and said "Yes" (I don't like asking for help), but as we started getting farther and farther away from the city, I realized the bus stops were essentially un-labeled benches in the middle of the towns we passed through.  I started to worry, until we turned a corner and I saw a mountain with 11 windmills on top....Consuegra.  (It also helped that there was a tourist couple from Milan that loudly asked the driver if we were at the last stop in Consuegra.) The town was amazing.  It was stuck in some kind of time-warp.  Unlike Barcelona and Madrid where the locals kind of resent tourists, it felt like the people of Consuegra were completely oblivious to us.  Granted, I only saw about 20 tourists the entire time I was there, so we didn't have much of a presence.  The entire time I was hiking from windmill to windmill all I could think was, "There's no way Don Quixote could have done this as an old man...He had to be in really good shape."

My video from the day in Consuegra!