Stories over a cup of coffee

Four nationalities met at a cosy café at 5:00pm. Conversation was good, as every person had a well of stories to tell. The teacher told stories and anecdotes from his teaching-experiences in exotic places, and concluded that he preferred teaching new-beginners, as they tended to smile more. The political science student told her tale about finding her way around Germany one late night without having any language in common with the taxi-driver, much to the amusement of the rest. Tito informed the crowd about the origins of the term "gringo", something nobody knew from before. The curly lady didn't as much tell stories as she was offering smiles and making everybody feel good. The smoking lady was upset because she had failed her exam for the second time, and was thus quietly smoking one cigarette after another. Willow enjoyed being in the company of her new acquaintances and found inspiration in them.

Recieving a postcard

Recieving mail is always a great pleasure. Today I found a postcard from my Mom in the mailbox - the first time anyone has used my new address!! Thank you, Mom!

For those of you knowing me, feel free to send me postcards and/or letters :-)

Formula 1 World Champion 2005

As the first Spaniard and the youngest driver ever, Fernando Alonso has won the Formula 1 World Championate 2005! It has been a nerve-wrecking experience seeing the race on Spanish TV, and the emotion transmitted by the reporters cannot be explained.

¡Felicidades Fernando!

Condor 64

Condor 64 takes her first step out of the cage. She looks out on unlimited freedom in an open, mountainous landscape. She takes a few more steps, as if testing the ground. Slowly, she opens her wings and starts to move them. Condor 64 is ready to take off. Then the wing-movements cease. She does not want to fly. Condor 64 returns to her cage, ready to be taken back to the zoo.

A Saturday Adventure

Willow had felt an urge to get out in Mother Nature for days (as she sometimes does), so Tito (as the most loving man in the world) was more than happy to help her planning. With the help of Willow's excellent Lonely Planet travel guide, they decided to go up to the Sierra Nevada. After a long bus ride on whiney, narrow roads up to 1,500 meters, they finally arrived in a small village called Capileira.




Capileira turned out to be a very nice little village clinging to the mountainside - being Spain's second highest village. It's "whitewashed stone houses seems to clamber over each other in an effort not to slide down into the gorge, while streets decked with flowery balconies wriggle between." (Lonely Planet : Spain, 2005)




The houses in the village have very special chimneys, which fascinated both Tito and Willow.

Setting out on their mountainous adventure, the young adventurers had only a very bad map to help them, so naturally, they never found the track they had planned to take. After some disappointment (and no time to turn back to find the right track), they ended up having a very nice lunch on an old tree-trunk under a lovely chestnut tree. The wind felt good, as the sun was burning. The landscape was beautiful: spectacular views of the villages along the whiney road, dry paths, thorn-bushes, cactuses, fruit-trees, tiny creeks, a river, horses, butterflies, tiny abandoned stone cottages...... The day was perfect and hiking was perfect. Tito and Willow did get lost a couple of times, as their map didn't serve for nothing and road marking was scarce. But they did find back to Capileira - and in time to take the last bus back home.




Adventures does not always turn out as one plans, but that's also what makes them adventures, right?

A night out

Cerveza, cerveza, tapas, cerveza, cerveza, tapas, cerveza, cerveza, tapas...

€ 9,00

An unusual sight

Last night Tito and Willow were walking through the park enjoying the chill air. All of a sudden, lots of noises could be heard from above. People in the park were looking up to detect the source of the noise, and were caught by surprise. A large flock of migratory storks! As the sun was setting, the birds settled down for the night on roofs and TV-antennas - apparently causing a bit of disturbance on some people's TV screens. (Good thing there was no soccer-game on!) Winter is setting in sooner than usual this year, resulting in earlier migratory flights. Quite a sight!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

This is without a doubt the best film I've seen in quite a while. Even the synchronised voices in Spanish sounded good! The film brought back so many nice memories. When I was a child, my mother read the book loud for me. I can still remember the taste I imagined the Willy Wonka chocolate to have. So sweet.... And how unfair it felt that those spoiled kids got the invitations to the chocolate factory, when all I wanted was for Charlie to get one. He did absolutely deserve one. Roald Dahl has always been one of my favourite authors due to his incredibly rich fantasy and his rare ability to tell a spellbinding story. This film did not spoil my good memories of the book, which to me is a compliment to the moviemakers.

Night in the neighbourhood

The world seems so peaceful at night. My neighbours' lights are out, their curtains drawn and everybody appears to be sleeping. Tito is sleeping. I ought to sleep. The air feels cool on the balcony, but not too cool. A dog is wandering restlessly on the street and the occasional car is passing by. I guess some people go to work this hour, while others are out there trying to cure their insomnia. If I wait long enough, I'll see the sunrise and a new day being born.

And now tomorrow's weather forecast

Spanish meteorologists must be a beloved group of professionals. Having been here for a week, the forecast is always the same - sun in every part of the country. Must be nice to bring good news to people every day. You never hear anybody complain about the weather. Well, apart from the heat, that is. The number of times I've heard people saying "¡Qué calor!" is probably higher than I can count. But I am very happy. I left the cold north to get some feeling of summer. The other day I was told I looked sun-kissed. Now that's not bad, is it.

Setting out on a new adventure

After having spent lots of amazing quality time with Tito in Titonia, Willow had to leave. She had decided to study abroad for one year, and the time had come to realize those planes. There were however no tearful good-byes as Tito decided to acompany his beloved Willow. And stay with her, at least for some time. So here they are, in a new country, embracing all the wonders life has to offer.