Dear all,
If I apologize one more time for not keeping the consistency on writing and then failing again, I will lost the 0,001% credibility I had remaining! So instead of that, I will write about me and these times I am living.
Yesterday, Thursday 9th of June it was 3 months since I put a foot in Spain to consider it “home” moving forward… “3 months” of this new project growing in my soul and mind and heart, and probably this is why I am feeling more comfortable sharing about it. Some of you know that this has been a long LONG road that started actually in 2019 before the pandemic, was on hold during the pandemic, and then had a million of obstacles even until the day before I had my ticket, until it finally happened.
I never thought of living in Spain. I always thought I would love to live in another country at least for some time, and I actually lived in Brazil for 1 year and a bit in 2004-2005 when married; and when I divorced, I thought it was the time to do it, but I come from the culture of “you have a career”, “you have to stay close to the family”, “you have to have a house” and my rules compliant personality made me worked like crazy in my job and a private practice, live as simple as possible to save money to buy my tiny apartment, and dedicated most of the time to spend with my nephews who were very young and my uncle and aunt. When the wish to move rekindled again, my uncle passed and my aunt after 60 years with my uncle as a partner in life, needed support, so she moved in with me. Then I blinked and her cognitive health declined and she was the one in need of a caregiver now, and well, again some years went by…
Few of you knew that days before going to the Veranda in 2019, my life was turned upside down. Both for decisions I had to make and for the reactions and long lasting (still now) ripples these decisions had. I came back from the Veranda to a new life at home also, but also with lots of work that I had set aside for that month, a working trip to Poland and friends from England coming to stay with me. I blinked and the pandemic started.
The rest, is how this post started… and long LONG long road, but maybe it is like the Camino… that the way starts once we arrive to Santiago… so maybe this is why it is so significative for me to be here today, one day after the “3 months” timemark, just in case there was any risk of miscarriage.
The first time I travelled my myself was in September 2011 when I walked the Camino from Leon to Santiago. In the train from Madrid to Leon, I flipped the book I was reading -The Elephant Journey, from Jose Saramago-, and for the first time I realized what was written on the cover (obviously since the day I bought the book!!!)… it read: “You always arrive where you are expected (The book of the itineraries)”.
We all know what means to arrive to Santiago Loves,
Cris
Much, much love to you.
I’ve just booked a holiday on the coast near Girona. Not my normal kind of choice, but tbh I just want to go somewhere beautiful by the sea, swim and sit with a book. Yay! It’s next door to the Roman city of Empuries which I know I will enjoy, even if it’s too hot.
Great to see you again, I miss you
Buen peregrinaje!
Karen
Hola Karen!!!
So so SO good to have you back in Spain!!! When are you coming? Let me know if you want some visitors, I would be happy to take a train and visit!
Love to you!
And thank you for your encouragement <3
Cris
At least you are in a country where they speak the same language but it Brazil you’d have to learn Portuguese.Which must be the second most spoken language in South America? Some people in Brazil must speak Spanish near the borders although it,I think without cheating and looking on a map,it also borders with; French Guyana, Suriname and Guyana so maybe a bit of French and English too probably not Dutch? Valencia looks nice and almost exactly the same longitude as the place I’m at now in north England but 7 degrees warmer as it’s 20c here and 27 in Valencia.
Hi Kevan,
Nice to hear from you! Yes indeed, I had to speak Portuguese when in Brazil, but when I went there I was almost 30 and I had read and written Portuguese since I was around 17 years old. My biological father met a Brazilian man in a train in Spain back in 1986 and became close friends. I met this man when I was a teenager, and he started writing to me in Portuguese and giving me books in Portuguese as presents and sending music in Portuguese too, and at a point, he also sent a dictionary. So I sort of self learned Portuguese, but when I moved there, I could read, write and understand spoken Portuguese but I couldn’t speak. It took me a bit, but eventually, I also learned when there just by interacting. So once I came back, I added Portuguese to my CV because I had started to be asked whether I was Brazilian!!! I have a very distinctive Sao Paulo posh accent, it seems! LOL!!
And In between our countries, there is another language… PORTU-ÑOL which is a mix between Portuguese and Spanish… (in both countries, we all think we can speak the other’s language)!!!
Hugs
Cris
Just checked and Brazil does border on Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana and it has an impressive 10 countries to border with!I think that China has the most borders with other countries, Russia must have a lot too.
Dear Cris–so great to hear your whole saga (well some of it anyway). And so glad the chance of miscarriage has passed! Did you receive Phil’s present yet? I mailed it a couple of weeks ago. If the pandemic ever lets up I would still love to come to Spain to visit all the caminoheads there.