Of masks
And this bus driver was the type you didn’t approach with a half-hearted, nose-sticking-out mask job. He asked the lady in front of me to tighten the metal part across her nose. Continue reading Of masks
Category: Narratives
Spanish healthcare chronicles: the dentist
My first dentist experience was terrifying. My teeth are bad and I was already imagining myself in dentures. Continue reading Spanish healthcare chronicles: the dentist
Some ups and downs of language learning
We approached what we hoped was the bus stop, our suitcases rattling along behind and a disgruntled (and tipsy) beggar peering after us. Since disembarking the ferry, we were well aware that we were in foreign territory once again. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Spain anymore!” Continue reading Some ups and downs of language learning
Tonight, I flew
The week began with the bus radio blaring, “I want to get away; I want to fly away.” That day, I got away over café coffee and the chilly breeze sailing through the hollow bus station. But tonight, I flew. After two months in lockdown, was I ready to function in normal life? In another language? Another culture? I had my doubts. Ready or not, … Continue reading Tonight, I flew
A different world: another quick update
I answered the door. The neighbor girl beamed up at me, her fuzzy pigtails sticking straight out from her head: a North African Pippi Longstocking. Adorable. Continue reading A different world: another quick update
Along the coast
I felt more at home with the worn travelers and scruffy men bumming cigarettes than I had browsing a mall full of things I didn’t need and lounging in Pad Thai Wok after my pad thai was gone and all I had left was C.S. Lewis. Continue reading Along the coast
There is a lion in the streets: lockdown in Spain
Restrictions descended upon us one by one. I was always still adjusting to the previous restriction and was never pleased with the new one.
Immigrantville inhabitants grew more careful as time went on. On Wednesday evening last week, I marched into an odds and ends store to find a plastic wall protecting the workers behind the counter. Continue reading There is a lion in the streets: lockdown in Spain
Another goodbye
We were both pleased by the prospect of a promising future for the little family, but also stunned that this moment was a last. Continue reading Another goodbye
His Presence in the waves
I love being at home. But sometimes there is an accompanying trapped feeling. Trapped within my own honey-do list. Seemingly endless people to contact and visit, groceries to buy, food to cook, laundry to soak, languages to study, paperwork to stress over.
Right now, I had only my Kindle. Continue reading His Presence in the waves
The lightning bug prayer
One of the childhood memories I treasure the most is the summer evening I found an injured lightning bug. Its wings were bent and useless.
Heartbroken by this poor creature’s dilemma, I carried it to where Mom was working in the flowerbed behind the garage. I cried as I showed her the bent bug. Continue reading The lightning bug prayer
