seven o'clock

It's seven o'clock in the evening on St. Joseph's Day, or Fathers' Day. It was a really lovely day: sunny but windy. I went for a run by the river past the many orange groves that lay just outside the city center. And when I came home, I went up to the roof and watched the clouds drifting opposite directions across the sky.

Now I can hear the church bells ringing over Gregory Alan Isakov, floating in my window with the cool spring air. The sun has gone down behind the light yellow steps that are the roof of the apartments that face me. And the laundry gently sways in the soft wind.

El Viejo Puente de los Peligros

Right now I'm standing on the bridge here, watching the sun go down behind the trees. Behind me I can see the sunlight shining softly on the mountains. This bridge connects the city center to one of the "immigrant neighborhoods" and the majority of the many people passing be me are Moroccan, South American (most likely from Ecuador, or gypsies. It's cold out here but so lovely. Photos when I get home...

Besos

Lovely Days

Today is a beautiful day. I can feel the sun shining gently through the window on the backs of my hands as I type. And maybe it's the sun reflecting off that yellow building across from me, but it feels like November. Sunny November.

Last night was a really beautiful night, too. A few days ago, when I went to the police station to get fingerprinted for my Spanish ID (see photo - an adventure in itself), I finally met a few other Auxiliars and one invited me to a small gathering for Thanksgiving at a house just outside of town, in Guadalupe. The streets are dark at night in this village and no one was out, except at a little bar by the side of the road. The house itself is called a "huerta" because it has a lovely orchard in the back with lots of mandarin orange trees. It's very cold out there - much colder than in the city, and the stars shine bright all across the sky. I found a small group of people in the back of the house, standing around a little outdoor wood oven, cooking a couple of small chickens and a pan of Mac 'n Cheese and inside the rest of the party working on the turkey, 2 types of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and green beans, cranberries, biscuits and gravy, stuffing... Everything for a perfect Thanksgiving. Downstairs we sat at a long wood table, all 15-or-so of us. It felt like a clipping out of an Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters catalog. Everyone was so lovely and so warm! Really good people, and I feel so lucky to have been a part of the evening. I have no photos, sadly, but there will be soon, I'm certain.

But for now, since it is such an incredible day and I'm still feeling so thankful for everything in my life right now, it seems a pity to spend much more time here in my room, so I'm going to close this computer and stroll.

Un beso!

Murcia, Murcia

I suppose it's about time I posted about Murcia, no? Or Spain...or...anything, at this point, honestly. But we'll start with Murcia. In fact, we're going to break it down into manageable, bite-size pieces.

I've been here about a month now and am finally more or less settled in. The only thing I'm still waiting on is my appointment at the police station for my NIE and TIE (residency and work permit), but that's scheduled and once it goes through, I'll finally get paid. Finally.

So far things are going great. A few weeks ago, I found a wonderful apartment with two Spanish girls, Isabel and Mercedes. But I came frighteningly close to living in a dark and dirty cave with some guy I had never met... It was cheap, and there was a reason for that - or 5. This place, on the other hand, is surrounded by gardens, though I only know the names of two: Jardín el Salitre and Jardín la Seda. When I walk out the front door to my building, I'm hit by the smell of...I'm not sure what! Maybe it's the lemon and orange trees, maybe the crushed dates that have fallen from the unbelievably tall date palms, I don't know.

Not terribly long ago, it became Fall. Not in the way that I expected, but maybe somehow even better. The thing is, it's still pretty warm here (at least during the day) and so I was feeling a bit sad at the prospect of missing out on Fall, which I love SO much. But as it is without the change in the temperature, the change in the season lies the light.When I walk through Jardín el Salitre, I can see that the light shines differently through the trees. The trees are called Plátanos de Sombra and are very tall and very beautiful. The bark looks like high-contrast camouflage.

Like I said before, Fall is a different Fall here. The trees only drop a few leaves. As a result, they prune the trees that line the streets so that only the largest branches remain. They look really strange and sad, with no leaves and stumpy branches (for lack of a better word). Now that the dates have fallen from the tall palms, the citrus trees are all bearing fruit: lemons, oranges... And the olive trees have little black and green olives on them, as well.

Through the park there is a small man-made pond with ducks, geese, and 2 beautiful swans and next to the pond a little outdoor café (where I sat once and got hit in the head by a soccer ball...). I have to say that it was significantly less lovely a couple weeks ago when the pond was drained. And at night, too, when the water is perfectly still and black. The swans look like they're swimming through tar.

Aside from the parks, the apartment is also very near to the Corte Inglés, which is very convenient and several old churches (which I suppose isn't so much convenient as different from home - I like passing by them on my way to and from my house). I think I'm really lucky to have found this place.

For now, I'll leave it at that, but I will be back soon with a School/Work Update!

Besos!