Thank you all for taking some time to write to me. I was inundated with mails from as far as Brasil, Germany, Argentina and, of course, Bristol. It's really moving to know that I do have many dear friends whom, despite being far away, love me and are more than willing to give me a pat in the back (or a kick in the backside when needed!).
After a few days feeling truly rotten, and after getting an upset stomach and bad sleep for days due to stress, I'm feeling a bit better. The weather here is so nice that is hard to be sad with the sun shinning so warmly.
My dad is back in Argentina and although I do miss him, it's nice to have the house to ourselves and to be able to walk around the house in my undies again scandalising only my son.
Did I mention you how conservative Patxi is? I don't know where does he get it from but sometimes he sounds as an old Tory gentleman disproving of everything.
A few days ago we were watching the local news about an 11 years-old girl who is pregnant in Almeria or another city in Spain. As Patxi's studying a bit about sex, puberty and the rest in school, I pointed the news to him as an introduction to talk about condoms, etc. I said: -"look, that girl is your age and she's pregnant" to which he looked up shaking his head in deep disapproval and muttered: -"and I bet she's not even married!".
He complains about women going topless on the beach to the rudeness of Spanish kids and everything in between. He's idealising England and I'm afraid that one of this days he's going to say he miss the England of "the village cricket team, warm beer and spinsters cycling through country lanes to communion" as in the John Major's silly speech.
I do miss Bristol too, not only my friends and colleagues but things like walking down Gloucester Road checking the charity shops, Indian food and even the rain! As my friend Miriam put in her mail from Brazil (after living 18 years in Bristol): - "I don't know what it is about Britain that it grows on you and you become quite attached to it".
A few days ago, after a lot of cajoling and negotiating, he accepted and invitation to play the piano in the school's fiesta de Santa Cecilia (the patron saint of music). He didn't want to do it as he was afraid that the children would boo him out! So we reached an agreement in that I'd allow him a lot of extra time in the computer in exchange of him taking the risk and performing. He played "Scarborough fair" and a shanty "What shall we do with the drunken sailor" and, to his surprise, the kids loved it and one of his classmate even suggested that they can form a band.
I hope this help raise his self esteem.
For my part I' m bound to feel better if I see him doing fine as he is my main concern.
25 November, 2007
14 November, 2007
feeling down
I think I'm getting some sort of depression.
First, I don't feel like writing and that's very odd as I'm a compulsive writer.
Second, I do have some reasons to feel down as my father is going back to Argentina tomorrow, my son is not doing well at school and I have to pay through the nose to get the car fixed without any guarantee that I'll get my money back.
Plus I'm feeling very lonelPlus I'm feeling very lonely lately with all this working in and outise the house and not enough girly chats. I don't have somebody who can listen me vent out and complain and then laugh about everything.
I do need a hug or at least a pat in the back..
First, I don't feel like writing and that's very odd as I'm a compulsive writer.
Second, I do have some reasons to feel down as my father is going back to Argentina tomorrow, my son is not doing well at school and I have to pay through the nose to get the car fixed without any guarantee that I'll get my money back.
Plus I'm feeling very lonelPlus I'm feeling very lonely lately with all this working in and outise the house and not enough girly chats. I don't have somebody who can listen me vent out and complain and then laugh about everything.
I do need a hug or at least a pat in the back..
27 October, 2007
General elections in Argentina
Tomorrow is general national election in Argentina. I'm not even registered here in the Argentinean consulate so I've no idea if we're entitled to vote. In any case, I don't think is fair for me to vote because I've been away from the country for more than 14 years and I hardly know who's who anymore.
However, the stronger candidate seems to be Cristina Kirchner, the current president's wife and all political forecasts and polls are predicting that she'll be the next elected president. She's always been compared with Hillary Clinton in that she was as much involved in politics as her husband, was elected senator and was always pursuing a political career on her own right. She's also been called ruthless and accused of all sort of sins, from corruption to wearing too much mascara.
I meet her once in a party in London given by the Argentinean embassy when their were touring European countries as her husband was then the newly elected president. That was 2003. She was already a senator and I remember that I asked how it was the meeting with
the then PM, Tony Blair, a few minutes before the party. She said the it all went well and that she dared (her word) to say that maybe protocol would not allow her husband to mention the problem with the Falklands (of course she said Malvinas) but that she, as a senator, couldn't let the opportunity pass to say that there should be more talks about it and all the rest. Then Blair as an answer muttered something such as they're were also a good a political team and that he knew a thing or two about that and it all ended in polite smiles. She seemed very chuffed with herself while telling this. I found it funny at the time.
I found her very clever, well spoken and very self assured and with that politician's easy charm that you can see is kind of fake but still work. She's petite but she was wearing the highest heels that I've ever seen in real life and was dressed and made up to the extreme. She was also very kind and all smiles when I asked to take her picture with me, as I explained to her that my late mum wanted to see me with the power couple of the times and was very exited about my meeting the then very popular new president and his feisty wife.
I remember telling them how much hopes people were investing in them and that I wished them both all the luck in the world.
The same now... I liked her at the time and I appreciate that to be a woman in that position must be really hard so I wish her all the best.
However, the stronger candidate seems to be Cristina Kirchner, the current president's wife and all political forecasts and polls are predicting that she'll be the next elected president. She's always been compared with Hillary Clinton in that she was as much involved in politics as her husband, was elected senator and was always pursuing a political career on her own right. She's also been called ruthless and accused of all sort of sins, from corruption to wearing too much mascara.
I meet her once in a party in London given by the Argentinean embassy when their were touring European countries as her husband was then the newly elected president. That was 2003. She was already a senator and I remember that I asked how it was the meeting with
the then PM, Tony Blair, a few minutes before the party. She said the it all went well and that she dared (her word) to say that maybe protocol would not allow her husband to mention the problem with the Falklands (of course she said Malvinas) but that she, as a senator, couldn't let the opportunity pass to say that there should be more talks about it and all the rest. Then Blair as an answer muttered something such as they're were also a good a political team and that he knew a thing or two about that and it all ended in polite smiles. She seemed very chuffed with herself while telling this. I found it funny at the time.I found her very clever, well spoken and very self assured and with that politician's easy charm that you can see is kind of fake but still work. She's petite but she was wearing the highest heels that I've ever seen in real life and was dressed and made up to the extreme. She was also very kind and all smiles when I asked to take her picture with me, as I explained to her that my late mum wanted to see me with the power couple of the times and was very exited about my meeting the then very popular new president and his feisty wife.
I remember telling them how much hopes people were investing in them and that I wished them both all the luck in the world.
The same now... I liked her at the time and I appreciate that to be a woman in that position must be really hard so I wish her all the best.
25 October, 2007
Rock chic
"The husband" and I went to a concert. A very rare night out for us.
An Argentinean group that we really like very much is touring Spain and they're giving 2 shows in Barcelona. I think it's mainly for the Argentinean expats community altough you can find their cds in any local music shop.
They're called Bersuit Vergarabat and they have a very eclectic style, to say the least. Their music range goes from fun upbeat Argentinean cuartetos (salsa like music) to dramatic tangoish songs to furious riffs from heavy metal inspiration. So the whole concert was very interesting and one moment you can see everybody shaking their hips Ricky Martin's style and pogoing furiously at the next song... sometimes even in the same song.
The hall was packed, mainly Argentineans, and the average age must have been around 25 so I felt extremely old. Nevertheless I was dancing, clapping and all except the pogo bit which I cannot do, so I just flexed my knees with one hand in the air (and the other on the wall to keep me steady) in the vain hope that it'd look like a pogo from afar.
We had a great time and we sang our hearts out. My knees are still a bit sore and my ears are still ringing today as the sound was far too loud but I'm going to keep going to pop/rock concerts until I stop enjoying them or I'm wheel chair bound, whatever happens first.
It's nice to go out without much care or planning, knowing that my dad is at home to feed and just been there with my son when he's back from his rugby training. My dad's going next month and I'm going to miss him very much.
Not that we go out any often now... but it's going to be even less easy when he's gone.
An Argentinean group that we really like very much is touring Spain and they're giving 2 shows in Barcelona. I think it's mainly for the Argentinean expats community altough you can find their cds in any local music shop.
They're called Bersuit Vergarabat and they have a very eclectic style, to say the least. Their music range goes from fun upbeat Argentinean cuartetos (salsa like music) to dramatic tangoish songs to furious riffs from heavy metal inspiration. So the whole concert was very interesting and one moment you can see everybody shaking their hips Ricky Martin's style and pogoing furiously at the next song... sometimes even in the same song.
The hall was packed, mainly Argentineans, and the average age must have been around 25 so I felt extremely old. Nevertheless I was dancing, clapping and all except the pogo bit which I cannot do, so I just flexed my knees with one hand in the air (and the other on the wall to keep me steady) in the vain hope that it'd look like a pogo from afar.
We had a great time and we sang our hearts out. My knees are still a bit sore and my ears are still ringing today as the sound was far too loud but I'm going to keep going to pop/rock concerts until I stop enjoying them or I'm wheel chair bound, whatever happens first.
It's nice to go out without much care or planning, knowing that my dad is at home to feed and just been there with my son when he's back from his rugby training. My dad's going next month and I'm going to miss him very much.
Not that we go out any often now... but it's going to be even less easy when he's gone.
23 October, 2007
The saga continues
The saga to get the car repaired continues today as "the husband" finally got hold of the people from the insurance and the people form the garage so they can assess the damage once and for all. However, they could only do it today in the morning or in a month time so, I had to drop everything and take the car to the garage.
That meant cancelling my lessons without any notice something hate, but... no options there.
The only silver lining was that I could stay in bed a little longer that usual, something that I really love to do and that it give a well deserved rest as I've been working too hard these past weeks.
I'll treat Darwin to a longer that usual walk today.
That meant cancelling my lessons without any notice something hate, but... no options there.
The only silver lining was that I could stay in bed a little longer that usual, something that I really love to do and that it give a well deserved rest as I've been working too hard these past weeks.
I'll treat Darwin to a longer that usual walk today.
21 October, 2007
Rugby overdose
Well. The rugby world cup is over and we're very proud of the Pumas as they've reached new heights beating France twice in a very dramatic and colourful game that we saw on Friday (thanks that we have Sky tv as the world cup was not aired in Spain). Then it all ended in tears for England as we lost against South Africa. I feel as if they beaten us twice!! (that's the downside of having two nations).
Meanwhile life was going on and we learned that it's actually true that we may take up to 2 years to recover the money to repair the car as the other party was Hungarian and they're not even into the European Union yet. So it does make sense to pay for the repayments ourselves and then wait until (and if) we get the money back.
So now we're trying to find out how much the repairs are actually going to cost, how long it'll take and we haven't even started to think how are we going to manage to find the money. We don't even have a Spanish credit card yet... although this may be a good time to get one.
On top of that Patxi's teacher call us really worried because he's regularly falling asleep in class and when asked told him that he has trouble sleeping plus he's homework is not delivered on time if at all and his overall performance is falling recently.
After a bit of research we find out that the reason P couldn't sleep was that he kept on playing or surfing the net until the small hours. I was very much against the idea of letting him keep his computer in his room on the first place, but there's no room elsewhere. Regarding the homework and overall performance, I think the reason he's not doing as well as he can it is that there's nobody at home to really check as I'm working longer hours and I'm not at home to check what he's doing.
So we took immediate action. We dealt with the playing all night long night problem by blocking him access to the computer after certain hour. And I took the executive decision of cutting down my working hours in order to be at home when he arrived from school. That means less money at the end of the month (around 100€ less per week, which is a lot for us) and I didn't even check this with "the husband". I just thought about it overnight, then took the decision and informed the agency. All was dusted and done by the time "the husband" arrived home later the next day and he wasn't too please about it.
For me is a matter of priorities, and since I decided to have a child I've just knew that he was going to come first, always. Now I feel that he need his mum at home to coach him in order to learn how to self motivate and do homework without a coach. So, I'm going to be there.
My boss at the agency (the Catalan one) is a mother of 2 girls around the same age as mine so she was very understanding and made it very easy for me as I've just got to teach for one more week my afternoon classes and that's it.
Regarding the loss of money... well... we'll manage. For instance we were thinking of getting someone to clean the flat and now I'll have more time to do it myself. Great.
Any money saving tips are going to be very much apreciated.
Meanwhile life was going on and we learned that it's actually true that we may take up to 2 years to recover the money to repair the car as the other party was Hungarian and they're not even into the European Union yet. So it does make sense to pay for the repayments ourselves and then wait until (and if) we get the money back.
So now we're trying to find out how much the repairs are actually going to cost, how long it'll take and we haven't even started to think how are we going to manage to find the money. We don't even have a Spanish credit card yet... although this may be a good time to get one.
On top of that Patxi's teacher call us really worried because he's regularly falling asleep in class and when asked told him that he has trouble sleeping plus he's homework is not delivered on time if at all and his overall performance is falling recently.
After a bit of research we find out that the reason P couldn't sleep was that he kept on playing or surfing the net until the small hours. I was very much against the idea of letting him keep his computer in his room on the first place, but there's no room elsewhere. Regarding the homework and overall performance, I think the reason he's not doing as well as he can it is that there's nobody at home to really check as I'm working longer hours and I'm not at home to check what he's doing.
So we took immediate action. We dealt with the playing all night long night problem by blocking him access to the computer after certain hour. And I took the executive decision of cutting down my working hours in order to be at home when he arrived from school. That means less money at the end of the month (around 100€ less per week, which is a lot for us) and I didn't even check this with "the husband". I just thought about it overnight, then took the decision and informed the agency. All was dusted and done by the time "the husband" arrived home later the next day and he wasn't too please about it.
For me is a matter of priorities, and since I decided to have a child I've just knew that he was going to come first, always. Now I feel that he need his mum at home to coach him in order to learn how to self motivate and do homework without a coach. So, I'm going to be there.
My boss at the agency (the Catalan one) is a mother of 2 girls around the same age as mine so she was very understanding and made it very easy for me as I've just got to teach for one more week my afternoon classes and that's it.
Regarding the loss of money... well... we'll manage. For instance we were thinking of getting someone to clean the flat and now I'll have more time to do it myself. Great.
Any money saving tips are going to be very much apreciated.
20 October, 2007
15 October, 2007
B****y garage!!
I'm still going around with the car looking like a wreck. The insurance send me a letter asking me to take the car to a garage to have the damage assessed and an estimate of how much it'll cost to fix it so they can charge the other driver insurance. That's supposed to be free of charge.
So far so good.
The problem now is that when I went to the garage that they recommended me, the people there say that they need to dismantle the car to check if there's any internal or unseen damage.
OK.
Then they say that once they dismantle the car they may not be able to put it together again (Humpty Dumpty style). So they say that it made sense to do everything together, the assessment and the repairs.
Of course, in order to be able to do that they need me to pay upfront for the job and then wait for the other insurance to refund me. They hastily added that it's the best option for me because as the lorry was foreign it may take up to a year or a year and a half to sort everything out and get my money back. So to do it at once will save me time and money in the long run as the car will get worse if it has to wait for a year to get fix.
Plus they are not able to tell me how much the repair will actually cost without taking the car apart! But we may be talking of anything from 1,000€ to 2,000€.
I hate garages. Is it only me or are they really out there trying to get us women to pay extra and/or do unnecessary work?
I tried calling the the insurance office to hear from them that it really may take a year to get the money but there's nobody at the other end of the line who can give me advice! They didn't know and promised to call me back asap which means never in Spain.
Tomorrow I'm going in person to their office in town to try and get an answer because if I must pay to get the car fix I'll have to take a loan or pay with the credit car and nobody will pay me back the interests on that.
And also is the matter that while the car is in the garage I'm not going to to be able to go to work. Here the concept of courtesy car is that they have a car available for you to hire at actually worst rates that hiring in Europcar or the local Pepecar!!
A total rip off!
So far so good.
The problem now is that when I went to the garage that they recommended me, the people there say that they need to dismantle the car to check if there's any internal or unseen damage.
OK.
Then they say that once they dismantle the car they may not be able to put it together again (Humpty Dumpty style). So they say that it made sense to do everything together, the assessment and the repairs.
Of course, in order to be able to do that they need me to pay upfront for the job and then wait for the other insurance to refund me. They hastily added that it's the best option for me because as the lorry was foreign it may take up to a year or a year and a half to sort everything out and get my money back. So to do it at once will save me time and money in the long run as the car will get worse if it has to wait for a year to get fix.
Plus they are not able to tell me how much the repair will actually cost without taking the car apart! But we may be talking of anything from 1,000€ to 2,000€.
I hate garages. Is it only me or are they really out there trying to get us women to pay extra and/or do unnecessary work?
I tried calling the the insurance office to hear from them that it really may take a year to get the money but there's nobody at the other end of the line who can give me advice! They didn't know and promised to call me back asap which means never in Spain.
Tomorrow I'm going in person to their office in town to try and get an answer because if I must pay to get the car fix I'll have to take a loan or pay with the credit car and nobody will pay me back the interests on that.
And also is the matter that while the car is in the garage I'm not going to to be able to go to work. Here the concept of courtesy car is that they have a car available for you to hire at actually worst rates that hiring in Europcar or the local Pepecar!!
A total rip off!
The dream is over
The Pumas lost to an unstoppable South Africa tonight in what was the first time the Argentinean team reached the world cup semi-finals. The final sco
re was 37 - 13.
We're just so sad that the dream is over... My son couldn't even watch the whole game and just went into his room well before it ended. We were not in tears but I can totally understand why the Argentine's captain was crying at the end as you can see in the picture here.
However, I'm very proud of "our" guys.For us a third of fourth place in the world cup is an achievement. First: rugby is not played professionally in Argentina, most of the players played most of their life as amateurs. 2- Argentina doesn't play either in the south hemisphere Tri-Nations nor in Europe Six-nations and is in fact the very first country to reach that position without being in one group or the other.
The only down side was a bad tempered finish which saw yellow cards shown to and Juan Smith and Felipe Contepomi, but it could not spoil either South Africa's party nor the Pumas achievement.
Now, if you thought of England as the underdog in this rugby world cup... spare a though for the brave Pumas!
And now: GO ENGLAND!!!!
re was 37 - 13.We're just so sad that the dream is over... My son couldn't even watch the whole game and just went into his room well before it ended. We were not in tears but I can totally understand why the Argentine's captain was crying at the end as you can see in the picture here.
However, I'm very proud of "our" guys.For us a third of fourth place in the world cup is an achievement. First: rugby is not played professionally in Argentina, most of the players played most of their life as amateurs. 2- Argentina doesn't play either in the south hemisphere Tri-Nations nor in Europe Six-nations and is in fact the very first country to reach that position without being in one group or the other.
The only down side was a bad tempered finish which saw yellow cards shown to and Juan Smith and Felipe Contepomi, but it could not spoil either South Africa's party nor the Pumas achievement.
Now, if you thought of England as the underdog in this rugby world cup... spare a though for the brave Pumas!
And now: GO ENGLAND!!!!
10 October, 2007
It ended! (phew!)
Today was the last time I had to go to San Llorenc Savall, the place up in the mountains, to teach. And it wasn't a second too soon. I was really looking forward to finish this one as the road was giving me a lot stress and I was then late to everything else.
I was very professional and I did finish my commitment although I was very tempted to ended right there after the crash.
So I wrote my report for the course and at the end I wrote (this is an actual quote):
Why I'm not comfortable saying a plain old no? Not a clue.
Here in Spain is part of the culture so sometimes you have to guess that people actually mean NO when they're mumbling all sort of perhaps and then simply just don't do it. It's like we're told is just not polite to refuse. It's just in the culture so beware if you ever visit Spain or Latin America.
I was very professional and I did finish my commitment although I was very tempted to ended right there after the crash.
So I wrote my report for the course and at the end I wrote (this is an actual quote):
I believe that they are keen to continue with lessons in November and they are going to need some more translation work in the future. However, I do not think I am willing to drive to San Llorenc as the bendy and very busy road was too much for me. (sorry)�I'm not good at all at saying no, so that paragraph cost me a lot to write!
Why I'm not comfortable saying a plain old no? Not a clue.
Here in Spain is part of the culture so sometimes you have to guess that people actually mean NO when they're mumbling all sort of perhaps and then simply just don't do it. It's like we're told is just not polite to refuse. It's just in the culture so beware if you ever visit Spain or Latin America.
08 October, 2007
Pictures of Paris and the Pumas
The guys had great seat next to the action and they enjoyed the trip very much. Of course, they were also happy for the results, but they also said that it was sad to see the Scottish guys go home with very sad faces.
For me, it was the result that I wanted, a great memory to keep forever.
07 October, 2007
Rugby day (again)
I took my guys to the airport feeling totally sad and full with envy to see them going with a spring in their step and Puma's T-shirts on. Well... nobody said that being a very good and generous mum doesn't go together with feeling sad!
I think that it only counts as a generous action if you really value what you're giving up... Then this one is really and truly generous and it should earn me a place in heaven. Pity I'm a atheist!
Then, in order to cheer me up I drove to the nearest beach in Casteldefells with my dad, Darwin and we went to have lunch in a cafe and for a long walk.
It's a very nice day, sunny and warm and there were loads of people down the beach.
After that I drove back home just in time to watch the South Africa vs, Fiji match. I was cheering for Fiji because they were the underdogs and they play with such heart that is a joy to watch (more than half the people in the stadium thought the same as they were cheering like mad). They lost but fought valiantly. A great match! Now whoever win the game Argentina vs. Scotland will play South Africa.
They guys just send me a text saying that they're actually entering into the stadium in Paris and the atmosphere is totally thrilling.
Of course, back in Argentina everybody is talking about the match and there are several adds on tv regarding the pumas. While I'm trying to figure out how did I do to post a video here, please take a look at this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD3Dfr_9sPY&mode=related&search=&v3
I think that it only counts as a generous action if you really value what you're giving up... Then this one is really and truly generous and it should earn me a place in heaven. Pity I'm a atheist!
Then, in order to cheer me up I drove to the nearest beach in Casteldefells with my dad, Darwin and we went to have lunch in a cafe and for a long walk.
It's a very nice day, sunny and warm and there were loads of people down the beach.
After that I drove back home just in time to watch the South Africa vs, Fiji match. I was cheering for Fiji because they were the underdogs and they play with such heart that is a joy to watch (more than half the people in the stadium thought the same as they were cheering like mad). They lost but fought valiantly. A great match! Now whoever win the game Argentina vs. Scotland will play South Africa.
They guys just send me a text saying that they're actually entering into the stadium in Paris and the atmosphere is totally thrilling.
Of course, back in Argentina everybody is talking about the match and there are several adds on tv regarding the pumas. While I'm trying to figure out how did I do to post a video here, please take a look at this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD3Dfr_9sPY&mode=related&search=&v3
04 October, 2007
Quarterfinals
We're following the rugby world cup this year and we're truly enjoying the Argentinean performance so far. The fact that they managed to beat the host and favourite team, France, in their home turf in Paris on the first match did wonders to boost the morale of the team (and the fans!).
Well, life has a way dealing bad and good cards, sometime even on the same day.
A few days ago and through the rugby club mailing list, "the husband" received an e-mail offering to sell 2 good seats tickets for the incoming quarter final match Argentina vs. Scotland. Those tickets were sold out ages ago, as everybody assumed that they'd be for the match between France and whoever was second in the other group. Now that the Argentines relegated France to the second position on that group, loads of French fans are trying to exchange their tickets to be able to go to Cardiff and watch France vs. All Blacks. (and they're furious that the match with the host has to be done in another country). (for their part, the Argentineans must be delighted that they don't have to play against the almighty kiwis, plus whoever wins is bound to end up dead tired as it's going to be a tough match).
Of course, those tickets are never cheap, so "the husband" asked my opinion. I said that this was once on a lifetime opportunity as we'd always wanted to see a world class event like this one and that we work hard so we can afford to do the things we want to do. So, we agreed that if the price was reasonable, we'd buy the tickets and go to Paris.
Then, more or less around the time I had my crash, "the husband" sent and e-mail buying the tickets.
So, despite the bad blow of the crash, we also had the good news that two of us are goin
g to Paris for the weekend to see a world cup quarterfinals game!! So exciting!!
Then, after I thought it trough, I realised that this could be a great chance for "the husband" and our son to go together and have a sort of male bonding shared experience. You know... one of those things that people remember for the rest of their life... "the time when my dad got tickets to the quarter final world cup rugby match and we went together". So, very generously I decided to give up my place and let the boys do it.
When I told Patxi that we had 2 seats for the match he looked amazed and pleased but he assumed that it'll be the parents going. So when I said that I really wanted to go but if he wanted to go too I was willing to give my seat to him... well... he just went berserk and started jumping around the kitchen and hugging me and crying how much he wanted to go and that I was the best mum ever. Then he said that this surely count as his birthday present (his birthday is on the 31) and that I could scrape his birthday's present list or return any items that I've already bought.
So, that settled it, I'll watch the match on TV and try to find them in the crew.
We bought Easyjet tickets to Paris for them. They're flying on Sunday morning and arrive in time to go to to the match latter that evening, they´re flying back on Monday. Patxi's going to miss one day at school but I think that the experience is well worthy.
I'm a bit sad because I really wanted to go but there's no way we're going to find 3 tickets seated together, so let's them enjoy this one.
Well, life has a way dealing bad and good cards, sometime even on the same day.
A few days ago and through the rugby club mailing list, "the husband" received an e-mail offering to sell 2 good seats tickets for the incoming quarter final match Argentina vs. Scotland. Those tickets were sold out ages ago, as everybody assumed that they'd be for the match between France and whoever was second in the other group. Now that the Argentines relegated France to the second position on that group, loads of French fans are trying to exchange their tickets to be able to go to Cardiff and watch France vs. All Blacks. (and they're furious that the match with the host has to be done in another country). (for their part, the Argentineans must be delighted that they don't have to play against the almighty kiwis, plus whoever wins is bound to end up dead tired as it's going to be a tough match).
Of course, those tickets are never cheap, so "the husband" asked my opinion. I said that this was once on a lifetime opportunity as we'd always wanted to see a world class event like this one and that we work hard so we can afford to do the things we want to do. So, we agreed that if the price was reasonable, we'd buy the tickets and go to Paris.
Then, more or less around the time I had my crash, "the husband" sent and e-mail buying the tickets.
So, despite the bad blow of the crash, we also had the good news that two of us are goin
g to Paris for the weekend to see a world cup quarterfinals game!! So exciting!!Then, after I thought it trough, I realised that this could be a great chance for "the husband" and our son to go together and have a sort of male bonding shared experience. You know... one of those things that people remember for the rest of their life... "the time when my dad got tickets to the quarter final world cup rugby match and we went together". So, very generously I decided to give up my place and let the boys do it.
When I told Patxi that we had 2 seats for the match he looked amazed and pleased but he assumed that it'll be the parents going. So when I said that I really wanted to go but if he wanted to go too I was willing to give my seat to him... well... he just went berserk and started jumping around the kitchen and hugging me and crying how much he wanted to go and that I was the best mum ever. Then he said that this surely count as his birthday present (his birthday is on the 31) and that I could scrape his birthday's present list or return any items that I've already bought.
So, that settled it, I'll watch the match on TV and try to find them in the crew.
We bought Easyjet tickets to Paris for them. They're flying on Sunday morning and arrive in time to go to to the match latter that evening, they´re flying back on Monday. Patxi's going to miss one day at school but I think that the experience is well worthy.
I'm a bit sad because I really wanted to go but there's no way we're going to find 3 tickets seated together, so let's them enjoy this one.
03 October, 2007
CRASH!!! Why I'm shaken AND stirred.
I had a crash with a big lorry. or better said, the big lorry crash into me.
There's one intensive course that I'm teaching in San Lorec Savall, a little village up in the mountains, around 45 minutes from home and bang on in the middle of the national park of the same name. The road is very bendy and goes through a national park, a very beautiful pine forest where we go for walks on Sundays. I took the job despite the distance because they're paying me twice as much as other classes and it was schedule to last only until the 10th of October.
I didn't like the bendy and small road with heavy traffic and I always drove extra carefully there as visibility is not great and there's many big lorries that takes up more than their fair share of the road.
I was counting the days to finish this course.
Yesterday I was going back home after I finished the class, driving carefully and slowly as usual on a very clear and lovely day. All of a sudden, as I was approaching a hairpin bend a lorry appeared and I stopped quite close but with a good meter or so between us. I put the handbrake and the reverse gear and when I was actually looking over my shoulder to reverse to give the lorry a wider berth... he just went into second gear and I heard the horrible scratch of metal against metal and left the car move while the big shadow of the lorry invaded my space.
My reaction was to press the horn and only then the lorry driver stopped, when it was few inches from my actual nose.
Once he stopped I was able to go in reverse and take myself out of it grips.
My neck was hurting badly and as the lorry went ahead and parked a bit far away I just sat there in the car in total shock.
Somebody came and opened the door, helped me out and asked if I was ok. Many other cars were there too and it felts as if everybody was shouting at the lorry driver who came down to check that I was ok, speaking total gibberish (the lorry driver did although probably I was doing it too)
I tried to talk to him but he didn't know Spanish, not English or French or Italian or even Romanian!! (I know a few words on that language and as he was Eastern European looking I thought that it was a good chance that he was from there). He couldn't (or wanted) to speak any known language. (bloody globalization!).
While I was trying to put myself together and call the police, take his papers or whatever, he just turned, got calmy into his lorry and drove away!! I was dumbfounded! People around me were outraged and screaming at him but there was nothing we could do. He just left.
It just happened that I had my mobile on my hand so I took a picture of the lorry before it disappeared. Then I realised that there was no coverage there and mobiles weren't working, so a gentleman told me that he was just behind the lorry and saw everything and he gave me his car an case I needed a witness of the accident and told me that he'd go ahead and call the police as soon as his phone started to work.
Just by chance a van with park rangers were passing by and they stopped and help, so when they realised that the guy was going away, they used their radios to call for another rangers to stop the lorry in the next petrol station and they called the police. They managed to describe the lorry thanks to my phone picture.
One of the rangers stayed with me and helped me to place the triangles on their place and he diverted the traffic. He said that I shouldn't move the car until the police has a chance to see it, even tough it was in a very bad place. So we spend the next 40 minutes diverting the cars and telling people that help was on its way. Every car that passed us stopped to stare, but one in every 4 was kind enough to ask if I needed something.
After a while I really wanted to call "the husband" so I started to move around the place trying to catch some phone signal. Finally I half climb a pine and was able to call, but "the husband" went off to have lunch and left his mobile on his office! Typical!!
I left him a very dramatic message, something along the lines of " a lorry just crushed me, call me", and went back to sit next to the car. Then I though than after listening to that message "the husband" could panic and call me, get no answer and call my dad and scare the hell out of him. So i half climb the pine and called my dad.
-"I'm all right" was the first thing I said, rather stupidly and rather out of breath after the climbing.
He took a deep breath and cautiously said: "ok.. .then... what happened?"
I explained the situation and asked him to call "the husband" and ask what needed to be done regarding the insurance.
The local police, the mossos de escuadra, arrived 45 minutes after the crash when I was fed up of waiting. In the meanwhile, the ranger was told that the the other rangers did manage to stop the lorry but couldn't understand him and that apparently he didn't have a driving license or any personal papers.
The mossos took a good look at the scene of the accident, the road, searched for marks on the roads, check my car and asked me questions about what has happened, they did ask me to get all my papers ready and to go with them o the petrol station where the lorry was.
The lorry was waiting with the rangers van in a petrol station around 10km from us. I arrived followed by the 2 police bikes and they went straight to talk with him. When the driver saw me he made a beeline towards me and started talking rather agitatedly in whatever language he used. The police took him away firmly to talk to him while I gather my papers.
After a while the police came back and told me that when the driver realised that they were the police and not the park rangers, he immediately produced a valid driver licence, insurance and he has even able to communicate ok enough; plus said that he didn't mean to run away, only to park a bit further in a safer place. (yeah, sure!)
That's the power authority has over citizen of the former Soviet Union.
The driver even described the same events that I did plus he added that he invaded my space and draw a little picture showing what happened adding that it was his fault. So the police filled an "amicable accident agreement" form, we added our personal details, insurances and so forth and we all signed in agreement.
Then the lorry driver was very happy to go his way and he managed to convey that we all should visit his country and take the water there in Budapest. Then I realised that he was Hungarian! That's why I couldn't even guest which language was he speaking. I thought that I was in shock. But the Hungarian language is one of only two languages in Europe without any Latin roots (the other is Euskera, the language of the Basque country), all other European languages belongs to the so called IndoEuropean languages and at least I'm able to identify them. Well...
Then I called the, by then rather worried, "husband" and explained the situation and said that I was going home to take a shower.
The car has several rather worrying looking scratch in the front left all the way from the front light to the back door, but it was working fine, (except for a bit of noise when I take corners). So I was able to drive myself home where my dad was waiting and he looked quite relieved as he didn't totally believe me when I said I was fine.
I'm going to add the pictures that I took with mobile phone as soon as possible.
Then it was time to call the insurance company. They took all my details and asked me to fax or e-mailed the form that we both signed with the police reference number. Then we have to take the car to the local office so they can assess the damage and the, with a bit of luck, their insurance company will pay for the repairs. The problem is that it's a foreign lorry, although the insurance is Alliance which are a pan-European company... so let's see.
From now on I'm going to my classes in a rather poorly looking car and I'm not able to take Patxi to his rugby training sessions on Tuesdays because they're in the evenings and my lights are not working properly. At least I'm able to keep on earning a living!
Let's hope that Alliance will sort out everything fast and we can take the car to a garage as soon as possible or the car will deteriorate even further and I don't really know if is legal to go around without my lights working. Keep your fingers cross!!
There's one intensive course that I'm teaching in San Lorec Savall, a little village up in the mountains, around 45 minutes from home and bang on in the middle of the national park of the same name. The road is very bendy and goes through a national park, a very beautiful pine forest where we go for walks on Sundays. I took the job despite the distance because they're paying me twice as much as other classes and it was schedule to last only until the 10th of October.
I didn't like the bendy and small road with heavy traffic and I always drove extra carefully there as visibility is not great and there's many big lorries that takes up more than their fair share of the road.
I was counting the days to finish this course.
Yesterday I was going back home after I finished the class, driving carefully and slowly as usual on a very clear and lovely day. All of a sudden, as I was approaching a hairpin bend a lorry appeared and I stopped quite close but with a good meter or so between us. I put the handbrake and the reverse gear and when I was actually looking over my shoulder to reverse to give the lorry a wider berth... he just went into second gear and I heard the horrible scratch of metal against metal and left the car move while the big shadow of the lorry invaded my space.
My reaction was to press the horn and only then the lorry driver stopped, when it was few inches from my actual nose.
Once he stopped I was able to go in reverse and take myself out of it grips.
My neck was hurting badly and as the lorry went ahead and parked a bit far away I just sat there in the car in total shock.
Somebody came and opened the door, helped me out and asked if I was ok. Many other cars were there too and it felts as if everybody was shouting at the lorry driver who came down to check that I was ok, speaking total gibberish (the lorry driver did although probably I was doing it too)
I tried to talk to him but he didn't know Spanish, not English or French or Italian or even Romanian!! (I know a few words on that language and as he was Eastern European looking I thought that it was a good chance that he was from there). He couldn't (or wanted) to speak any known language. (bloody globalization!).
While I was trying to put myself together and call the police, take his papers or whatever, he just turned, got calmy into his lorry and drove away!! I was dumbfounded! People around me were outraged and screaming at him but there was nothing we could do. He just left.
It just happened that I had my mobile on my hand so I took a picture of the lorry before it disappeared. Then I realised that there was no coverage there and mobiles weren't working, so a gentleman told me that he was just behind the lorry and saw everything and he gave me his car an case I needed a witness of the accident and told me that he'd go ahead and call the police as soon as his phone started to work.
Just by chance a van with park rangers were passing by and they stopped and help, so when they realised that the guy was going away, they used their radios to call for another rangers to stop the lorry in the next petrol station and they called the police. They managed to describe the lorry thanks to my phone picture.
One of the rangers stayed with me and helped me to place the triangles on their place and he diverted the traffic. He said that I shouldn't move the car until the police has a chance to see it, even tough it was in a very bad place. So we spend the next 40 minutes diverting the cars and telling people that help was on its way. Every car that passed us stopped to stare, but one in every 4 was kind enough to ask if I needed something.
After a while I really wanted to call "the husband" so I started to move around the place trying to catch some phone signal. Finally I half climb a pine and was able to call, but "the husband" went off to have lunch and left his mobile on his office! Typical!!
I left him a very dramatic message, something along the lines of " a lorry just crushed me, call me", and went back to sit next to the car. Then I though than after listening to that message "the husband" could panic and call me, get no answer and call my dad and scare the hell out of him. So i half climb the pine and called my dad.
-"I'm all right" was the first thing I said, rather stupidly and rather out of breath after the climbing.
He took a deep breath and cautiously said: "ok.. .then... what happened?"
I explained the situation and asked him to call "the husband" and ask what needed to be done regarding the insurance.
The local police, the mossos de escuadra, arrived 45 minutes after the crash when I was fed up of waiting. In the meanwhile, the ranger was told that the the other rangers did manage to stop the lorry but couldn't understand him and that apparently he didn't have a driving license or any personal papers.
The mossos took a good look at the scene of the accident, the road, searched for marks on the roads, check my car and asked me questions about what has happened, they did ask me to get all my papers ready and to go with them o the petrol station where the lorry was.
The lorry was waiting with the rangers van in a petrol station around 10km from us. I arrived followed by the 2 police bikes and they went straight to talk with him. When the driver saw me he made a beeline towards me and started talking rather agitatedly in whatever language he used. The police took him away firmly to talk to him while I gather my papers.
After a while the police came back and told me that when the driver realised that they were the police and not the park rangers, he immediately produced a valid driver licence, insurance and he has even able to communicate ok enough; plus said that he didn't mean to run away, only to park a bit further in a safer place. (yeah, sure!)
That's the power authority has over citizen of the former Soviet Union.
The driver even described the same events that I did plus he added that he invaded my space and draw a little picture showing what happened adding that it was his fault. So the police filled an "amicable accident agreement" form, we added our personal details, insurances and so forth and we all signed in agreement.
Then the lorry driver was very happy to go his way and he managed to convey that we all should visit his country and take the water there in Budapest. Then I realised that he was Hungarian! That's why I couldn't even guest which language was he speaking. I thought that I was in shock. But the Hungarian language is one of only two languages in Europe without any Latin roots (the other is Euskera, the language of the Basque country), all other European languages belongs to the so called IndoEuropean languages and at least I'm able to identify them. Well...
Then I called the, by then rather worried, "husband" and explained the situation and said that I was going home to take a shower.
The car has several rather worrying looking scratch in the front left all the way from the front light to the back door, but it was working fine, (except for a bit of noise when I take corners). So I was able to drive myself home where my dad was waiting and he looked quite relieved as he didn't totally believe me when I said I was fine.
I'm going to add the pictures that I took with mobile phone as soon as possible.
Then it was time to call the insurance company. They took all my details and asked me to fax or e-mailed the form that we both signed with the police reference number. Then we have to take the car to the local office so they can assess the damage and the, with a bit of luck, their insurance company will pay for the repairs. The problem is that it's a foreign lorry, although the insurance is Alliance which are a pan-European company... so let's see.
From now on I'm going to my classes in a rather poorly looking car and I'm not able to take Patxi to his rugby training sessions on Tuesdays because they're in the evenings and my lights are not working properly. At least I'm able to keep on earning a living!
Let's hope that Alliance will sort out everything fast and we can take the car to a garage as soon as possible or the car will deteriorate even further and I don't really know if is legal to go around without my lights working. Keep your fingers cross!!
28 September, 2007
little act of kindness
I have to add that when "the husband" saw the car parked inside the closed car park instead of laughing at me and tease me mercilessly (as I'd probably done give half a chance) he just shrunk his shoulders and said:
-"Well... at least it's safer there than in the street!"-
So, "the husband" is also very kind and forgiving.
-"Well... at least it's safer there than in the street!"-
So, "the husband" is also very kind and forgiving.
Set the record straight
"The husband" asked me to officially record an incident that happened today. He said that I'm always portray him as the air-head of the family and conveniently hush under the carpet any of my wrong doing. Then he forgets them and have no chance to tease me back when I tease him. He said that he always suspects that I'm as forgetful as he is but that I keep track of his incidents an he's to busy to do it with mine.
Well. here is one, on the records.
When I'm back from work I park the car in 2 or 3 places, the usual spots around the flat so I more or less know where the car is.
Yesterday I was extra busy with everything plus my dad's flue and I couldn't find any space in the usual places. So I went into the parking space of the supermarket opposite to our building and left the car there. Did some shopping and went home, thinking to retrieve the car later and park it on one of the usual places latter, when the roads are more empty.
Then, at around 11pm, while we were walking the dog and happened to pass in front of the , very closed, supermarket parking lot... I saw the car, safely parked inside the then closed and locked parking lot.
I'm very grateful that we didn't need the car yesterday after the supermarket closed at 8pm. I do hope they don't call the council to take the car away early tomorrow!!
I do confess. I'm officially another air-head!
Poor Patxi!! Genetically or not, the poor kid doesn't stand a chance!!
Well. here is one, on the records.
When I'm back from work I park the car in 2 or 3 places, the usual spots around the flat so I more or less know where the car is.
Yesterday I was extra busy with everything plus my dad's flue and I couldn't find any space in the usual places. So I went into the parking space of the supermarket opposite to our building and left the car there. Did some shopping and went home, thinking to retrieve the car later and park it on one of the usual places latter, when the roads are more empty.
Then, at around 11pm, while we were walking the dog and happened to pass in front of the , very closed, supermarket parking lot... I saw the car, safely parked inside the then closed and locked parking lot.
I'm very grateful that we didn't need the car yesterday after the supermarket closed at 8pm. I do hope they don't call the council to take the car away early tomorrow!!
I do confess. I'm officially another air-head!
Poor Patxi!! Genetically or not, the poor kid doesn't stand a chance!!
27 September, 2007
Flue!
My dad's got a flue that's going around Sabadell.
He's a bad patient and not used to get sick, so he's a total pain to live with right now.
So, on top of everything, I have to do his share of the chores around the house and take care of him, bringing meals and drinks, thermometers (to his great disappointment; no fever whatsoever) and a million other thing... plus listen to his detailed and often gory descriptions of cough and chest blockages.
"The husband" found out that the Italian travel agency charged us twice for the hotel and wrote to them a month ago to ask them for a refund. They acknowledged the double charging and asked for our bank account number to refund the money (on the 4th of September) and then... total silence and no money.
We're very short of money right now, as this left us 600€ shorter that we should at this time of the month.
I woke up today with a very red eye and the blackest mood on earth. I do hope is not an eye infection or a road-rage incident later today.
He's a bad patient and not used to get sick, so he's a total pain to live with right now.
So, on top of everything, I have to do his share of the chores around the house and take care of him, bringing meals and drinks, thermometers (to his great disappointment; no fever whatsoever) and a million other thing... plus listen to his detailed and often gory descriptions of cough and chest blockages.
"The husband" found out that the Italian travel agency charged us twice for the hotel and wrote to them a month ago to ask them for a refund. They acknowledged the double charging and asked for our bank account number to refund the money (on the 4th of September) and then... total silence and no money.
We're very short of money right now, as this left us 600€ shorter that we should at this time of the month.
I woke up today with a very red eye and the blackest mood on earth. I do hope is not an eye infection or a road-rage incident later today.
19 September, 2007
No time anymore!
Since we have a dog I've no time whatsoever!
On top of my usual payed job and non-payed stuff: cooking, shopping, doing the laundry, cleaning, ironing, giving orders to everybody (that's called organising the family), driving people around, etc, now i have to take Darwin for walks, clean his pee and poo, feed him, play with him and cuddle him.
So, no more time to write much, and no much things to write about anyway!!
Darwin is a dear dog, very clever,but still a puppy so he's not house train yet and that's a hard and full-time job. I imagine that is like when we were potty training P. in that at the time we could see no end to it and all of a sudden, it was done and over.
Now we take turns in taking him to for walks, "the husband" does the first one in the morning before going to work, then at midday is P's turn as he came home for lunch from school and finally I do it after supper. Most days I also take him for walks at 5 or 6pm, just to keep him entertained so he doesn't need to chew all our stuff. And at weekend we all take him for very long walks. On Saturdays it around the rugby club, plus he plays with all the children there. And on Sundays we go for long walks at a National park nearby, where we all get totally wasted at the end of it.
If one of the ideas behind having a dog was to walk more, well... we're all doing that thanks do Darwin.
But that left me with no time whatsoever and nothing very interesting to tell. Sorry. Life is complicated that way. However, you may be happy to know that I'm very happy to have him around.
On top of my usual payed job and non-payed stuff: cooking, shopping, doing the laundry, cleaning, ironing, giving orders to everybody (that's called organising the family), driving people around, etc, now i have to take Darwin for walks, clean his pee and poo, feed him, play with him and cuddle him.
So, no more time to write much, and no much things to write about anyway!!
Darwin is a dear dog, very clever,but still a puppy so he's not house train yet and that's a hard and full-time job. I imagine that is like when we were potty training P. in that at the time we could see no end to it and all of a sudden, it was done and over.
Now we take turns in taking him to for walks, "the husband" does the first one in the morning before going to work, then at midday is P's turn as he came home for lunch from school and finally I do it after supper. Most days I also take him for walks at 5 or 6pm, just to keep him entertained so he doesn't need to chew all our stuff. And at weekend we all take him for very long walks. On Saturdays it around the rugby club, plus he plays with all the children there. And on Sundays we go for long walks at a National park nearby, where we all get totally wasted at the end of it.
If one of the ideas behind having a dog was to walk more, well... we're all doing that thanks do Darwin.
But that left me with no time whatsoever and nothing very interesting to tell. Sorry. Life is complicated that way. However, you may be happy to know that I'm very happy to have him around.
17 September, 2007
The air-head scientist sterotype is true
Totally true. I know because I'm married to one.
Yesterday "the husband" needed to travel abroad for a few days, job related short trip to England. He prepared all his things himself, of course, and at 8:00pm I took him in the car to his campus so he'll meet the his boss, who's taking her car to the airport. So far so good. He even managed not to over pack as he usually does and this time he hoped that he'll be able to take the small rucksack with him in the cabin.
(I'm not sure that Easyjet will allow that as he has some toiletries and the policy on liquids in the hand luggage is quite strict).
Anyway, when I arrived home, my son told me that "the husband" just phoned in a panic estate as he forgot to take his passport with him.
So I have to take it and go back to give it to him.
How can someone forget the passport, of all things?
OK, I did it myself once, but I was 14 years old at the time and never again!
It's "the husband" after all who's always telling that the 3 essential things for any travel are the 3 ps: passports, tickets and money (at least they're 3 ps in their Spanish translation: pasaporte, pasaje, plata), I wouldn't be surprised if he also forgot his credit card!
At the same time he's a brilliant researcher and scientist. So he does have a brain and he know how o use it, at least partially!
As my American friends would say: Go figure!
Yesterday "the husband" needed to travel abroad for a few days, job related short trip to England. He prepared all his things himself, of course, and at 8:00pm I took him in the car to his campus so he'll meet the his boss, who's taking her car to the airport. So far so good. He even managed not to over pack as he usually does and this time he hoped that he'll be able to take the small rucksack with him in the cabin.
(I'm not sure that Easyjet will allow that as he has some toiletries and the policy on liquids in the hand luggage is quite strict).
Anyway, when I arrived home, my son told me that "the husband" just phoned in a panic estate as he forgot to take his passport with him.
So I have to take it and go back to give it to him.
How can someone forget the passport, of all things?
OK, I did it myself once, but I was 14 years old at the time and never again!
It's "the husband" after all who's always telling that the 3 essential things for any travel are the 3 ps: passports, tickets and money (at least they're 3 ps in their Spanish translation: pasaporte, pasaje, plata), I wouldn't be surprised if he also forgot his credit card!
At the same time he's a brilliant researcher and scientist. So he does have a brain and he know how o use it, at least partially!
As my American friends would say: Go figure!
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