When reading my first book in Spanish for three weeks — the first part of Harry Potter — I adopted a habit. With Read HP 10 min now removed from daily reminders, I needed something new to keep the habit. I could get the second part — Harry Potter y la cámara secreta — but … Read more
It was “just” Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal, but still a big personal milestone. ———————— My last visit to a bookstore was in June in Bratislava before taking a bus to Schwechat airport. It was more to drink coffee and take a video call from there than to look at the books. Had I … Read more
The theory of Spanish holidays Where I live in Spain, there are 13 public holidays, los días inhábiles. I say “where I live” and not “in Spain”, because the number of days depends on the autonomous community and on the local municipality. The holidays in Spain have three levels: The municipal holidays are announced at … Read more
A Coll de Rates? — a friendly neighbour asked as I walked out on the street with my bicycle. “Sí, a Tárbena” — I responded. I was happy my planned route exceeded the neighbour’s guess by more than 100%. When I reached the climb I hit play on a work related podcast and put the … Read more
The arrival to la importación It was 7:45am and I entered the facility of technical inspection of vehicles, ITV for an 8:00am roadworthiness test. This was to get Spanish licence plates, to do the importación as everyone referred to it. The last milestone in the process that dragged for months. I requested it in July … Read more
As of writing this, it’s been 18 months since we moved to a village with population of 1000 people in Comunidad Valenciana, Spain. I wanted to write a list of things I appreciate about the life here. Expect something different than cheap café con leche or las fiestas to appear on the list. Easy access … Read more
It’s time of the harvest of olives in Spain. The olive trees are covered with their inedible fruit. The nests are spread on the ground to capture every bit of the goodness growing above them. The sights of a car parked by an olive orchard or passing by me carrying a precious load during a … Read more
In the last 24 hours before writing this, my opinion of the motocycling took a rollercoaster ride. It started with watching a romantic drama “Tres metros sobre cielo” (Three Steps Above Heaven). The movie is full of clichés and machismo – demonstrated mostly by the masculine main character riding a motorcycle in his leather jacket. … Read more
October is a brilliant month to go to the beach in Comunidad Valenciana. It’s no longer hot and there’s few people. The air is fresh. We bring coffee, tea and sit there for a few hours. Sea is still warm, probably more than air, and swimming is enjoyable. On the day I’m writing this, we … Read more