Places
Living and Learning in Málaga, Year 2—Adventures When a Friend Visits
My friend Debra came for a visit from Seattle on her way to an eight-day hike on the Costa Brava. In Debra’s three and a half days in Málaga and then three more days in Madrid, we did a lot of walking, a lot of talking, and a lot of eating. In between, there was…
Read MoreLiving and Learning in Málaga—Year 2, A Bit of Portugal, Galicia, and Asturias
It began with Portugal and ended in Asturias, Spain—this month that was mostly travel and a retreat. It was just a glimpse really of Portugal—two nights in Lisbon and two in Porto—but it was an enchanting glimpse. What I especially love is that these cities, like many European cities, have no skyscrapers, which preserves their…
Read MoreLiving and Learning in Málaga – Year 2, Migration
Migration is the theme for this month’s post, which includes an Englishman who moved to Spain in 1920 and became a hispanist; Latin Americans who migrate to Spain because economic collapse in their own countries compromises their future; and an exhibit at a Madrid museum by a Filipina Canadian filmmaker who looks at migration on…
Read MoreLiving and Learning in Málaga – Year 2, Renewal
Renewal Our renewal application for our Spanish residency was approved and in record time, according to our gestor, which is the intermediary for the administrative requirements for living in Spain. All thanks go to the diligent and detailed efforts of James who has managed our visa and residency paperwork from the start. So, kudos to…
Read MoreMonth Nine in Málaga – Some tidbits about a few Spanish writers and artists
Aside from Spanish, I’m slowly learning the cultural history of this country. It’s a gradual accretion of information through podcasts, museum visits, and books. Here are some recent tidbits. Pio Baroja and Ernest Hemingway I listen to a variety of Spanish-language podcasts on my morning walks. Some of them are specifically for language learning with…
Read MoreMonth Seven (Mostly Not) in Málaga – Of New York City and Northern Spain
It turns out I spent only three and a half days in Málaga in October. James and I had to be in New York City for the first three weeks of the month to attend to an issue that had been pending prior to our move. New York offers its own unique attractions and I…
Read MoreMonth Six in Málaga – Intercambios and Small-World Encounters
With September came a change in the weather. For the first few days, there were clouds and a bit of rain, and when the sun returned, it was with a tempered presence. No more scorching hot days. No need to cower indoors until evening or skitter from scarce shade to scarcer shade in the height…
Read MoreMonth Four in Málaga—Sun, Spanish, and More
I recently utilized the Spanish healthcare system and had blood and urine analyses done. Todo bien. Everything within normal levels with a few things slightly above normal. Like Vitamin D. The doctor asked if I took vitamins. I hadn’t for months, not since I ran out of my multivitamin and fish oil tablets soon after…
Read MoreMonth One in Málaga
It’s been a month since we left Seattle for Málaga, Spain, thanks to my husband’s perseverance through the gymnastics of the visa labyrinth. Once we got here, I could no longer be a detached bystander. In our first two weeks, we found an apartment, arranged for electricity to be turned on, opened a Spanish bank…
Read MoreThere’s Gnome Place Like Home
Much of my fiction is set in a place that resembles my hometown of National City, California and some of my characters live in a house that resembles the National City house I grew up in. I’ll argue that these similarities are due not to writerly laziness or lack of imagination, but to an emotional…
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