Liam was born, Barack Obama, the first black President of the United States, was sworn to office, a windy week in Spain and other things.

Barack Obama solemnly swore on Abraham Lincoln's bible to be the new President of the United states, the one the eyes of the world will be watching closely to see how he "rebuilds" America
Hi again,

We’ve now been back from India for nearly two weeks and a lot has happened since then.

Something very important happened in our family as the first great grand child was born. Liam, the son of Alvaro and Bea was born in León on 15th January just after our return from India. Alvaro is the son of Alejandro who is Eladio’s brother and the 4th offspring of 6 that their Mother, Ernestina, and Father, Antonio, raised in their beloved village, Montrondo. Antonio is no longer with us but Ernestina is now, thanks to Liam, a proud great grandmother. Liam does not only make Ernestina a great grandmother, he also makes Alvaro a father and Alejandro a grandfather. Furthermore he also makes Eladio a great uncle and believe it or not that means that I am now a great aunt!!! Wow Liam what have you done?

Alejandro, who is not the most expressive of the brothers, had just returned from his very first trip abroad which was to Havana to see their cousin Rosi and her family. You will remember that Rosi visited Spain and our family very recently. José Antonio picked him up from the airport and they came here to fetch his car and only then, and quite by accident, did we find out that Lian had been born during his absence in Cuba.

And yesterday, finally, we got to “see” Liam in the multimedia message Alejandro sent Eladio and I and which is posted here.
Liam, the first great grandchild in the Freijo family
And this week the world witnessed the swearing in of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States. The world was glued to the television and internet on Tuesday 20th January 2009 to follow the inauguration events. The ceremony was identical to that of his 43 predecessors but could well have been the coldest as it was -10ºc when he addressed the nation and the world.
Over a million people witnessed the inauguration ceremony at Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
Like most of the world I am a fan of Obama but wonder whether the machinery around him will let him make the changes he wants to. I ask myself, why both sides seem to love him, well perhaps not the Israelis, and come up with the reasons that attract me to him personally.

Basically it’s because he’s charismatic – what a marvellous orator he is. It’s also because he’s black – except that he’s only half black. And it’s definitely because he signifies the end of George Bush, that most unpopular of American Presidents. And finally, he means hope for the global crisis. I just wonder how much will really come of his “Yes we can” promise which has become the catch phrase of the moment.
George Bush, leaving the Presidency
I was disappointed to see that the cost of the inauguration festivities was the same or more as his predecessors. I was, perhaps naively, hoping the money would be spent on the needy in these times of crisis. But that was not to be. I’m also hoping those in charge will let him continue using his blackberry, so vital for him to keep in touch with the world beyond the bubble he will be living in from now on.
Security, part of the bubble Obama will be living in.
The first measure he has taken since becoming President on Tuesday is to close Guantanamo, that most frightening detention centre for supposed terrorists. This measure was accompanied by a ban on torture and a review on military trials, all making a very good start. What is not good is that it’s going to take a year to close Guantanamo. Why I ask myself?

This last week was the first full week home after our trip to India which is still very much in our minds. I took the time to post 2 albums on Facebook, one of our visit to the Taj Mahal and the other of our dressing up in local costumes in Udaipur in Rajasthan.

This week I had meetings with my press and events agencies. The former was to close 2008 and compare our results with 2007. From the evidence gathered it is obvious we have done a really good job.

I also met Phillip P from my Nokia Network days for a quick coffee at the Corté Inglés on Tuesday. He was here on business. We hadn’t seen each other for a while and enjoyed an hour catching up on how life has treated us since we left Nokia. Phillip is doing fine, living in Austria and GM of a local network company there. He got married and they have a lovely little boy called Jamie.

Later in the week I also met up with Elena, my neighbour and friend and ex colleague in the telecoms market. I think I spent the whole hour telling her about our trip to India and I hope I didn’t bore her.

At the weekend we went to the cinema and out to dinner which is what we like to do best. On Friday we went to see Australia, a film I was keen to see with Nicole Kidman in her home territory. The film is very long and the beginning rather silly. However it gets more entertaining as it goes on. I was most captivated by the young aborigine, Nullah, played by Brandon Walters. He was superb and brought out all my most motherly instincts as he did Nicole Kidman’s.
12 year old Nullah, captivating in Australia.

Yesterday, Saturday, was a lazy day spent at home with the family. I made lacón con grelos (cooked ham with “turnip grass”) a typical delicacy from the Galicia region. Judging by the favourable comments from the family, I will be repeating the recipe soon.
After lacón con grelos, we had a siesta, that most famous of Spanish “sports”, then a quick Jacuzzi (rather than a leisurely one as time back home, is now a problem – I often think there are not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to). This was followed by an outing with the girls to the cinema, again.

This time we went to see Revolutionary Road. I was attracted to seeing Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio together for the first time since Titanic. Funnily enough the Director was Sam Mendes, Kate Winslet’s husband! Eladio and the girls loved the film but I was somewhat disappointed. The plot just didn’t interest me. The idea is similar to American Beauty or even Desperate Housewives and it portrays the lie of the American dream, or the sham of the supposed perfect life and perfect marriage, something I cannot ever relate to, probably because I myself am very happily married. I was not really convinced by “Jack and Rose’s” histrionic shouting matches andjust didn’t believe what they were saying. For me, they will always be Jack and Rose and the epitome of true love, not a jaded American way of life couple.

After Revolutionary Road, the girls had plans and Eladio and I returned to our "scene of the crime", i.e. our all time favourite restaurant, La Alpargateria. It's like walking into your home when you go in and I even got the feeling the staff had possibly missed us. We didn't get our favourite table, number 7, though due to some mix up. It's just not the same having dinner at a different table but it was nice to be back.

This weekend has brought with it terrible winds. Our walks have been so windy they have been actually unpleasant. My father braved them and I wonder he didn’t get blown over. Big branches from a tree fell into the driveway. Other parts of Spain were much harder hit and there have been fatal consequences, the most notable of which was the death of 4 young children when the roof of a sports centre caved in on them in Sant Boi in Cataluña. In some parts of the country the winds reached over 160km/h!

Coinciding this week with Obama’s swearing in as the new President of the United States, I got news from there too, news which took us back in time at least 23 or 24 years. The news was from Rosa. Recently I had found Angel, her husband on LinkedIn and we had exchanged emails summarising our lives of the last 20 odd years. Well this week I got an email from Rosa.

Rosa, of Cuban origin but brought up in the US, was a colleague in my first job. In fact we both started at Defex together, that company I sometimes admit I worked for which exported “defence material” to the third world. Yes, I worked in the arms industry for 8 years in the early 80’s. And so did Rosa.

Rosa and Angel were part of our beginnings in Madrid when Eladio and I “lived in sin” in Saconia, that trendy part of Madrid for intellectuals or left wingers at the time. Angel taught maths at the Autónomo University and they had 2 children at around the same time as us. Very soon they decided to return to the US and set up life there. I was very upset to lose them and as time went by we lost touch. In those days there was no email or mobile phones and keeping in touch was much more difficult. Well now we have found them 20 odd years later and with the wonderful communications tools available today, we shall continue our relationship where it left off. Hopefully too we will see each other this summer in Alicante where Angel’s family is from.

And that’s it for this week.

Cheers as always, Masha.

The week I found my cousin in Canada, some long lost friends in the USA, the week that Christmas came and many other things.

Preparations for Christmas were early this year.
Hi again

This week, the week after Aunty Masha’s funeral, has had me thinking more about my family, my Mother’s family and just how few of us are left. Of the 6 brothers and sisters, there were only 4 off springs, possibly because only 4 had children as 2 of the sisters, Olga and Dorothea (Dara) were nuns. These were, Andre, son of Alexander (Sasha), Sophie (Zuka) daughter of Nicolas, Alexander (Sasha), son of Maria (Masha) and George and I, son and daughter of Helene (Lena) – my brother George died in 2001.

I have always been in contact with Sasha who now lives in Spain and also with Zuka who has lived most of her adult life in Yorkshire. However I only ever met Andre once when my Mother and I went to Montreal in 1978 (when I was 21) to meet her brother Alexander (Sasha) for the first time since they parted in Germany in 1945. That was some meeting. When my Uncle Sasha died in 1987, we lost touch with the family. I had googled Andre occasionally but got nowhere until this last week. I wrote and got an immediate reply about which I am very excited. Andre is the only child of the Lieven children to carry on that name. I wonder if he realises that.

This year has been about finding people from my past and so again, thanks to Internet, more concretely LinkedIn, I found Rosa and Angel, our friends from when we first lived in Madrid. Rosa worked with me at Defex, my first place of work and hers too. We were employed as bilingual secretaries and went through a very long process before being taken on. We were going through all the interviews but not once were we told what the company did. When Rosa and I arrived at the offices in the post Madrid business district to sign our contract we wondered what the line of business could be. Rosa wondered whether it was pornography! Amazingly enough it turned out to be the export of weapons, or “defence material” as it was described to us. I will never forget a Señor Ibañez telling us that it was just like selling cars. He asked us whether we had a problem with that. Our morals at the time were less important than finding a full time job, so we just meekly said “no”.

Rosa, of Cuban American origin, and I worked side by side for a few years and were also neighbours. Her husband Angel taught Maths at a Madrid University and got on well with Eladio. But Rosa missed her family in the United States and very soon they decided to return to New York. I only ever saw her once since they left but have never forgotten her. She organised the ceremony of our wedding and was an essential part of my life. We did see Angel again occasionally when he would visit his cousin in Madrid but the last time was over 15 years ago. As with Andre, I wrote to Angel and got an immediate reply with which I am thrilled. It is wonderful to find old friends.

This week has brought bad news again too. On Thursday my niece Marta (on Eladio’s side) rang to say her husband, Fernando, more commonly known as Ministro had lost his Father early that morning. It was not unexpected as that wretched illness cancer had slowly been consuming him for some time. I’m so sorry Minis. I know how you are feeling and my thoughts are with you and your family.

Then the following day, Friday, we got the dreaded phone call we were expecting from José Antonio to announce that Dolores’ Mother, Merche, had passed away that afternoon. She has been suffering for a long time and this was now to be the end of her suffering. However she leaves behind, 4 orphans, Mercedes, Dolores, Esther and Cristina. They already lost their Father some years ago and will be feeling very lost. My heart goes out to them.

The girls have been ill this week with pharyngitis and a nasty cold which actually means they have been a lot at home. Also as this is a bank holiday weekend, for the Spanish Constitution and the Immaculate Conception it has been very much a family weekend.
My ill girlies, Oli and Suzy (in pink)
As we have had a lot of time on our hands this bank holiday weekend, we decided that Christmas should come early this year. Also because Eladio and I will be off to India on Boxing Day, we wanted a bit more time to enjoy the decorations. So up went the tree, last years Ikea lights and lots of mobile musical trees and Father Christmases I couldn’t resist buying at the Christmas market in the Plaza Mayor. Of course, to this we added the lovely decorations we had bought in Stockholm recently.
The Christmas tree.
Talking about India, we are now a little wary or worried about our upcoming trip of a lifetime. So, should we go or shouldn’t we? Well, from a materialistic point of view, maybe we should as we have already forked out quite a bit. On the other hand, there is an awful lot of tension between Pakistan and India, so it’s anyone’s guess. I vote we go, but be cautious right up to the last minute.
I would hate to have to cancel as that would be a bit like the straw that broke the camel’s back in our spate of bad luck. I think we will go in the end but am conscious we are risking it a bit.

Christmas is also creeping up on me at work where I have 3 events left to go out of 4. Last week I organised a press lunch for the key journalists on the occasion of Yoigo’s 2nd anniversary but as it was already December, there was a Christmas touch to the occasion too. We organised a proper “birthday” with gas filled balloons decorating the ceiling and we gave the journalists a bag of sweets as a good bye present. Next week will be the employee’s party and the following week the bloggers and then the children’s party. I also have to do all the gifts and the online Christmas card. So I am very busy on the work front.
The balloons at the company's 2nd birthday
The bag of "birthday" sweeties
Meanwhile I have to do a horrible test at the Montepríncipe Hospital on Tuesday afternoon called a colonoscopy. I won’t go into what it’s about as I’m sure most readers will know what it is. The worst part is the preparations, 3 days of protein only diet and then some awful liquid to be taken.

On the subject of hospitals, Eladio and I went to visit Zena, our Ukranian cleaning lady who has just been operated at the Hospital Clínico San Carlos. She has a tumour in her cheek and will now have to have chemotherapy treatment. That was a depressing thing to do this weekend. We hope she gets better soon.

Finally this has been the week when I have begun to think about writing a book. What book you might say? Well it has to be about my Mother and her family. I have had encouragement from my best friend Amanda who offers to be my editor. Thanks darling. So here you have me thinking the whole time how it should be. It will probably be the story of 4 generations in history, about my maternal Grandmother, my Mother, me and finally my girls, Suzy and Oli. The how and when is now the subject of my thoughts. Suzy made the obvious question by asking me who would buy it. She’s right of course, probably very few people, but then the object is not to write a bestseller, but to record the whole story for my children and for the generations to come.

And on that note of self questioning, I leave these pages again until next week,

Cheers
Masha