5. June 5-10, 2011

June 2, 2011 Thursday   Sevilla

I haven not written since I returned to Sevilla late last Sunday night; actually it was Monday morning around 1:30 AM.  

In my absence Angel had set up the practice stage in my room. To do that, he had totally unarranged my newly perfectly arranged room. I was floored (no pun intended). People don’t understand that I am not as easy going as I appear. I have my own order, and if that is disturbed I feel invaded and undone. 

The room smelled of mildew because my roommate had borrowed the dehumidifier for her room (which we had agreed upon) because her room too has a humidity problem. My bed had been turned with the head toward the most smelly, mildewy part of the room. So at 2:00 AM I was turning my mattress around and trying to find things that I needed for the next day. I was furious! And I had to get up by 10 AM at the latest in order to get to Angelita’s first dance class at 11 AM! At least it was close by, in Lakshmi’s studio.

I didn’t sleep very well that night. The next day I told Angel exactly how I felt. He understood. I think I said it nicely enough. A few days later he commented on how we were some of his favorite and best clients. I felt good that I had expressed my feelings to him. It cleared the air and I was no longer upset. I knew that it would never happen again. And I know that he thought he was doing me a favor. Later, Chris helped us to move the stage to the living room, where we wanted it.

Angelita’s class was great but hard. And each day, the class grew more complicated. It is only a two-week class, because it is at Lakshmi’s studio, which is in her house, and she doesn’t feel comfortable with group classes there. She worries about disturbing her neighbors. 

We are looking for a new studio so Angelita can continue to teach us. We have about seven students. 

I have been taking private lessons with Lakshmi every day in addition to Angelita’s classes. Lakshmi is an outstanding teacher. We work on styling and details of Angelita’s choreography. Lakshmi’s “polishing” class also helps me remember the choreography. 

Monday was a holiday here in Sevilla, so all the stores were closed and I can’t remember what kept me so busy, but the day passed very quickly. I worked on rearranging my room again and I Shamanic journeyed and then took a siesta. 

I had gotten a bladder infection at the beach and I had first tried the whiskey cure, which actually helped. I saw the doctor in Palmar on Friday (he is not there every day) who prescribed antibiotics (without a test). He said that women my age get these infections frequently; but I don’t and haven’t had one in a long time. He told me that the whisky lessoned the pain because it kills everything, but not to take the whiskey with the antibiotics.

So I tried the whiskey again and kept the antibiotics for an emergency. But I didn’t feel like continuing with the whiskey in Sevilla and I was getting up every two hours to go to the bathroom. So I took the antibiotics and the infection finally cleared up. 

Tuesday morning, because I was still getting up every two hours to go to the bathroom, I got up early and I checked the computer and saw that Freddie was on Skype, so I actually got to talk to him a little and to see him, until his internet weakened and Skype quit. That was fun. And I was glad that I had gotten up early. But I was tired for my dance classes.

Tuesday, after my two classes and shopping at el Mercado before it closed so that I could buy food, I got on my trusty bike and rode to Triana to pick up my “liberated” Iphone. I got lost because I crossed on the right side of the bridge instead of the left. And the right side turns into a highway and I missed the easy and close left turn I would have seen if I had crossed on the left. I finally found the store. My phone was “liberated”, and I was told that the phone would work, but if I turn it off or let the battery die, it will lock up again and I won’t be able to use it. 

I had to ask to get my new case back, which the technician had conveniently taken off and left in his car. I think he wanted to keep it! He said that people liked it. I like it too! And I definitely need it to protect my phone. So many people here drop their Iphones on the hard tile floors and break their crystals. Paco is still waiting for a replacement crystal for his. 

The technician also told me that he had lost the phone card that was in it, Freddie’s phone card! I was disgusted. After almost two weeks of constant prodding, I had my phone back, but without its sim card and with the possibility of it locking up again. 

Next I had to go to the phone store on calle Feria and buy a new card! Again, as I rode, other bikes passed me up going more than twice as fast. People, actually men, keep telling me what a great bike I have. It is a great antique! People also call it gracioso, funny in a cute way. I am thankful to have it, but I work very hard riding it. 

At least Sevilla now has some nice bike lanes that are not cobblestone. When I ride on the cobblestones of the smaller streets, I bounce and bounce and vibrate. Especially then, I laugh at myself – an old grandma, grey hair flying, on her tiny, old fashioned bike, pedaling through the streets of Sevilla, in the heat, like the kids. I have been using a small, black, Sierra Club pack on my back to carry my things, because the bike does not have a basket. So there I am; I must be quite a sight. 

I was exhausted by the time I returned home. My phone had all the music and videos erased and I needed to back it up. That night I plugged it into a hub and it didn’t back up, although I tried many times.

The next morning I woke up early and tried again. Then I tried plugging in directly into the computer and it still didn’t work; it kept looking for a file that I did not have checked. So I unchecked all the music except for one file and all the videos except for one and it finally backed up. I slowly started to add the videos I wanted and some of the music. I felt like I had to make friends with my phone again.

Tuesday, Wednesday and tonight I cooked for myself and was able to freeze some food for when I return from the beach. I am trying to get a ride there tomorrow night. After Angelita’s class at 11 AM, I take a class with Javier Heredia at noon, only on Fridays. If I can get a late ride to the beach, I will take a new group dance class of Juan and Lucy’s at 8:30 PM. We will dance and he will critique. It should be a lot of fun and I really want to take it. 

Stephanie arrived at the beach today and I talked with Freddie on her phone. He is doing well. 

One of my rides to the beach has fallen through. Tomorrow I will find out about another one. The third will either leave on Friday night or Saturday morning. I hope that I will get to take Juan’s class first, which will last until 10 PM. If Lakshmi can get a ride, she will leave after work, which means after 11:30 PM, which would work for me but we would probably get to the beach around 2:00 AM. Such is life.

Meanwhile, I have been Shamanic journeying (my form of spiritual meditation) every day but not always getting my siesta. I sweat in class and so have had to do several loads of laundry as well as hand laundry. I walk up three flights of stairs to the roof to hang the clothes. They dry quickly in the Spanish heat. I am more domestic than I ever planned on being. But I am enjoying my time here.

June 5, 2011 Sunday    Playa el Palmar

I am in Palmar again. I got a ride this time with Lakshmi and Miguel Angel. We did not arrive until 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning. Miguel is looking for work in Vejer and I was glad that he could give us the ride. Stephanie had arrived on Thursday and it was nice to see her. She has been spending all her time in Jerez, with Chicki, her singing teacher.

Yesterday afternoon, after time on the beach and in the water, Miguel Angel cooked for us. He is such a gourmet cook. He made a feast out of practically nothing. He had bought some groceries in Vejer earlier, mostly vegetables. He is amazing. All five of us ate outside on the wooden picnic table in the front yard. Then Miguel took us to Zahara, another nearby beach town, for the evening. Last night he took Lakshmi and Stephanie back, dropping Stephanie off in Jerez and Lakshmi in Sevilla. Miguel lives in Lebrija, where he is from. So this morning Freddie and I are by ourselves and enjoying that too. 

This new apartment here in Palmar has one bedroom, a kitchen/dining room/living room, and a front yard. We stayed here last year too. But it feels nicer this year! 

June 8, 2011 Wednesday   Sevilla

My how time flies. I returned home from the beach on Sunday night. My dance classes continued Monday morning. Monday night Rina and her daughter Akahne arrived. They will be my roommates for the next two months and will overlap Yuko’s stay by six days. We all stayed up late talking that night and we had a good time.

I have been able to talk to Freddie by telephone now. That feels great. 

Rina is a “cleaner” and she reminds me of our dear friend Cihtli in that way. Rina’s arrival ritual is to clean. She even swept and mopped my room, for which I am extremely grateful. She is amazing and her sixteen-year old daughter Akahne is one of the nicest and most together teenagers I have ever met. That means that Rina is also a fantastic mother! 

Rina cooked dinner again tonight (last night too). She is an incredible cook and I love it!

I will miss Yuko when she leaves. Yuko and I have had a wonderful month living together as roommates. I have come to know her and appreciate what a wonderful and talented person she is. 

I don’t know if I wrote that she is Japanese and that she teaches Japanese at a University in North Carolina. Yuko also dances Flamenco beautifully. She is a pianist and her musicality comes out in her dancing. When I have watched her dance Tango in Angelita’s class, I see her dancing to the music and really feeling it. I also saw that when we had the dance class at Juan and Lucy’s last Friday where a number of us got to dance Bulerías to Juan’s singing and guitar. Lucy served wine and tapas and everyone got better and better. We all loved it. The class will now take place on the first Friday of the month, except for August. 

I am almost exactly twenty years older than Yuko. And I am twenty-six years older than Rina. Rina was born in the same year as my son Elun. I don’t feel that much older than either of them, except that I have that many years more life experience.

Tomorrow night I will be preparing to return to Palmar for the weekend, after Angelita’s class. Karim, a friend from Palmar who lives in Conil (a town very near Palmar), is coming on Friday to pick up Freddie’s tricycle from Paco Fernandez’s house where it has been stored. Karim will bring me down to Palmar along with the tricycle so I don’t have to take the bus! What a great way to celebrate Freddie’s birthday and our anniversary, which is on Friday June 10.

June 9, 2011 Thursday

–Another great class with Angelita. Lakshmi left early this morning for a week in California – She has a dancing job there and has been flown out by them to do it. That is wonderful, but of course I will miss her.

We had rain and a thunderstorm the other day and Sevilla is much cooler than it usually is this time of year. Actually it is pleasant.

When I talked with Freddie yesterday he told me that the weather at the beach has been wonderful. 

After the last update that I finally sent out recently, a friend wrote and asked if Freddie and I were not together anymore. I want to clarify. Oh yes, we are together. And we are about to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary and Freddie’s 72nd birthday this Friday!!! Freddie just prefers the beach to Sevilla and I am in Sevilla for my dance classes, my passion. Freddie is now autonomous enough to be able to stay there alone! He does a lot of walking and it is good for him, better than Sevilla.

All is well and Freddie continues to improve, although he is now drinking again. After twelve years of abstaining, Freddie has been gradually beginning to drink again, and because alcoholism is a disease, it is affecting him. 

Freddie originally quit drinking because he discovered that alcohol adversely affected his guitar playing. At the time, his guitar was what he cared most about. Now that the stroke has taken away Freddie’s guitar ability, he feels that he has no reason not to drink. This is his decision, not mine. 

The good part about that is that I see him more able to relax and to speak more easily and walk more easily, if he doesn’t drink too much. The bad part is that I know that it affects his health and I want him to stay healthy. But as I said, this is his decision and his life, not mine. I can only love him and hope for the best.

My adjustment to his continuing recovery from his stroke is to learn to not tell him what to do, as difficult as that may be. He is his own person and that is very important to him and to his wellbeing. 

So tomorrow I join him for his birthday and our anniversary. 

Today I went to the nearby pharmacy to pick up the rest of my antibiotic medicine. Angel, our landlord, was there. Because people socialize in Spain, the man behind the counter was practicing his English with me. I was speaking Spanish to him, telling him that I must practice my Spanish too. He commented on how good my Spanish was. I don’t feel that I have improved that much over last year, but apparently I have, because I have never had so many people tell me how well I speak Spanish. I always notice my mistakes. (I did practice my Spanish during the year at home with Martin, who is from Mexico. He is our gardener, maintenance angel, handyman and friend. I think our Spanish conversations have made more of a difference in my Spanish ability than I realized!)

Angel told the people at the pharmacy all about my Flamenco studies. He is proud of that! The pharmacy is a homeopathic pharmacy and they also carry the Bach flower remedies. And there is always time to chat here. These are the things that I love about Spain. 

I like the Jueves too (way vez). Jueves means Thursday, and on Thursdays a part of calle Feria turns into a giant and festive flea market. The cars are diverted to the side streets. Calle Feria fills with people walking, people selling, people buying, people looking. We have to pass it to get to Angelita’s class. On the way home Yuko and I browsed a little, but I am trying not to spend too much money and not to collect more junk. But it was fun to look.

Friday June 10, 2011

Last night Lucy stopped by to say goodbye to Yuko, who is leaving early Sunday morning. Lucy is going to Almuñecar, the beach beyond Granada, for the weekend to visit her family. Yuko, Rina and I had been listening to the audiotape I made yesterday with my Iphone of Angelita’s class. We were reviewing the Tango. Yuko and I showed Lucy what we had learned and then I did the Bulerías that we learned last week. Rina did the palmas. It was fun to share. Lucy liked it. We have learned a lot of material.

After that we all, including Akahne, walked to the Alameda for a drink. We sat outside, but the weather was too cold so we finally moved inside. Inside of restaurants and bars is now legally smoke free, a wonderful new part of Spain. 

Later today I go to the beach to celebrate Freddie’s 72^nd birthday and our 11^th wedding anniversary.

SPAIN CHRONICLES 2011

May 10-25 Writings
May 18 Writings
May 19-22 Writings
May 23-29 Writings
June 5-10 Writings
June 11-16 Writings
June 18-19 Writings
June 21-26 Writings
June 27 – July 9 Writings
July 17 – August 3 Writings
August 5-6 Writings