United Statesian

DVD empties Dear Citizens of the World! Space is a key word for expats. The more things you have, the harder it is to move from home, to home... to home ( see past post ). Many expats start their lives in new homes with a suitcase or two. As time goes on, "things" accumulate. After living in Madrid for more than three years ,"things" have been accumulating and ruining the Zen feeling at home. Today, I have started to tackle that problem by stripping the many DVDs to store the meter-high contents in a shoebox. Ahhh! That feels much better...next, those boxes of random "junk"... to get closer to Zen. Have a nice week, - The United Statesian

Dear citizens of the world, My first post about the annual San Gil fiestas in Torrico was crying out for a second part. Many people asked how the fiestas were in 2009. For the most part, things were tranquil. There is always excess, but improvements have been made -- most noteably, I bought ear plugs. There was lots of music: flamenco to warm up, traditional Spanish songs for the older crowd that turn in at 2:00 am and popular dance music for younger ones. Techno started at about 6:00 am, but I was already sleeping -- thanks to my ear plugs! This years festivities were special for the family because there was a 50th wedding anniverssary. After a short ceremony in the village church we went off to have appetizers in the garage (much nicer than it sounds). There were kilos of Spanish ham, cold cuts, chorizo, chips, olives, cheese and local sweets: Roscos (small dense donuts) and Floretas (Large flakey flower shaped sweets, dripping in honey. This was to warm up the belly. At three in ...

Citizens of the world, Today, the topic is the Spanish " Pueblo " (Village). El Pueblo is a very important part of Spanish culture - almost everyone has one, but nobody seems to actually live there. Most Spaniards live in big or medium sized cities, but that was not always the case. Urban areas have expanded greatly over the past two generations, but there is still a strong link to the pueblo. The average age of some pueblos is over 60 - a few smaller villages have died out completely. However, there are still thousands of Pueblos that survive, in most part, thanks to the strong family and cultural bonds. When we are not climbing mountains or traveling, we go to Torrico, our pueblo. The main reason is to visit family, but it is also a way to get away from the pollution and stress of the big city, relax, disconnect, and to get your hands dirty in the fields. El pueblo also survives for practical reasons. For many families the pueblo and the extended family serve as a cheap ba...