Sunday 9th September, 2018
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| Enjoying studying French - me revising and doing my homework on Thursday |
Last Sunday our 7 Spanish stag party guests left. They were a nice group of guys if a little untidy. After they left it was all go to get ready for our next guests, a Russian family from Lithuania. We went for our walk as is our custom and came back to see the guests off. Later they would give me 5 stars. The more 5 star reviews I get, the longer I get to keep my "super host" status. It was nice to have the house and pool to ourselves for the rest of the day.
Oli and I went to get a few things I needed from Carrefour Market. I love going there because of the quality and variety of the food. I only went in for bread but ended up buying more as I always do. Here is a photo of Oli and I together at the check out.
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| Food shopping with Oli on Sunday |
After that she had to rush off as she had a lunch date in Madrid with a friend. Thus I came home alone to unload the shopping and set about preparing lunch. Eladio was in the garden where he had started to mow the lawn.
Oli was back around 5 and we spent time by the pool. I would have swum as it was 35ºc but was all dressed to receive our guest, Amiram at around 6. It was funny to see Oli swim in the pool with her panama hat on.
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| Oli swimming in the pool on Sunday with her hat on! |
At about 6 our guest arrived. Amiram is a retired Israeli judge who lives in Tel Aviv but whose 88 year old Mother lives near here with his younger sister and whom he comes to visit a couple of times a year. Last time he came to see her he stayed with us via Airbnb. However, this time he was staying in Madrid accompanying his wife who was attending a conference on the other side of Madrid. He said that he wants to stay with us next time he comes. I told him it wasn't often we had a Judge for tea and that in fact we didn't know a judge to which he humbly replied he was a retired one. Here he is chatting to Eladio.
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| Entertaining our Israeli judge on Sunday |
We had a very interesting conversation with him about Israel and Palestine and about the world's problems in general. He certainly broadened our knowledge of Israel and the Jewish plight. Very surprisingly he told us he was a Pro Palestinian Jew. I told him I had never met one and he told me that now I had. He said Israel has to admit it took the land from the Palestinians and that when it became a nation only 10% of the population was Jewish. He seemed a very secular and moderate Jew. He said there was a solution towards peace which had nearly been reached with Obama but that with Donald Trump everything had been reversed. We learned a lot from him that afternoon and enjoyed every minute of his visit.
When he went, Eladio continued mowing the lawn. Meanwhile Oli had been doing her French homework for our Tuesday lesson which I would have to leave to the last minute on Monday. We made dinner together while I picked flowers and arranged plates of fruit for our Russian guests. Sunday was the first time in a week I strayed a bit from my bland diet as my stomach was feeling a bit better. We sat around the table talking until late. Amazingly just before we went to bed it rained and we had to rush down to rescue the garden furniture from getting wet. The shower which was not forecast lasted about 10 minutes but there was thunder and lightning for a while. That's news as I cannot remember the last time it rained here.
That night we watched the film about Lady Diana and her love of the Pakistani surgeon, Khan which I loved and I think had seen before. I fell asleep but would be woken up by my Russian speaking Lithuanians at past 1.30 in the morning.
They came by taxi and I wondered how they would get around without a car. Later I was told they don't have a credit card and without one it's impossible to hire a car! There were 5 of them; a mother and father, Veronica and Vadim and their son George and a friend Viktor and his son Max. Both boys would be enrolling later in a basket ball school near here for the next 6 months. Only 13 year old George spoke English, the rest only Russian so communication was a huge challenge. It was then that I cursed both my parents for not bringing me up to speak the language which would have been very easy if they had spoken it to me from early on. I do, however, understand bits here and there and know some basic phrases which I had to use that night.
The first thing they did was remove their shoes when the entered the house and leave them in the hall. I asked them, politely, to put them in the cupboard as no one in Spain leaves their shoes off when inside their houses. I had to show them their rooms, the pool, etc, and expected them to go straight to bed but no. They stayed up, swam in the pool I think and the boys even used their play station in the TV lounge all this at 3 in the morning!! They had lots of questions about my Russian origins which with the help of young George I was able to answer only partially as my Mother's story is not to be told in 5 minutes, more like 5 months hahaha. Finally I went back to bed at past 2 in the morning with a headache having woken up abruptly during the night to receive them. My listing states 9 pm as the latest check in time but no doubt they hadn't read that. They were afraid of our dogs which surprised me as they feature heavily in the listing. So I kept them in the kitchen and Pippa firmly in my arms. Oh dear! As a host you have to be accommodating in order to keep guests happy and get good reviews. It was difficult to get to sleep afterwards.
I woke up at 6.40 on Monday morning after a pretty bad night's sleep. Thankfully my Russian guests were fast asleep and wouldn't get up until we came back from our walk. Oli and I were off on an errand so left Eladio to look after them but first I introduced the two boys, George and Max to my Russian speaking Father. He spoke a few words and showed them his library of Russian literature. They were impressed and also impressed with the big picture of Tsar Nicholas II which dominates his room hahaha.
Eladio ordered them 2 taxis to the nearest "mall" a word I hate as it is an Americanism. The word is shopping centre. George, in particular, wanted to have lunch at Burger King - OMG with all the wonderful food in Spain - They wanted a big taxi to take them all but our local taxi service doesn't have one. That would prove a problem on their return and a nightmare for me.
I had intended to have a siesta and then quietly do my French homework before Tuesday's lesson that day after lunch but it all went haywire when our guests called to ask us to get them a taxi back from Plaza Norte 2. Note that each time I rang them I was ringing a number in Lithuania on my mobile phone (:-(). They insisted we find them a big car for the 5 of them which I told them I would not be able to find. N:B. by the way as an Airbn host my only obligation is to provide accommodation. Thus we ordered 2 local taxis again which duly arrived at the main entrance of the shopping centre. From there one of the drivers rang us to say they had refused to get in the cars and had gone away. He also said we would have to pay for the service and promptly arrived at our house with a bill of 50 euros, 25 for each taxi that had made the journey but hadn't been used. Again I rang the guests who explained they had found a big taxi themselves and were coming home. What a situation. I knew it was going to be difficult to explain all this to them when they arrived back so resorted to the best idea I had at that very frustrating moment; ring my Russian neighbour Katya who lives right next door to come and help me translate and smooth the already tense situation. Yes I could have spoken via 13 year old George but it's not the same as between 2 adults. So along came dear Katya and she was such a help. We have the best neighbours possible. I got my 50 euros back but more importantly the atmosphere went from tense to the friendliest possible. In fact, Katya stayed on chatting to them in Russian and we sat together until nearly dinner time. Eladio took a photo of what he called the 3 Russian women, i.e. Veronika, Katty and myself although of course I am only half Russian so it's 2 and a half Russian women hahaha.
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| The 3 Russian women! |
They were most interested in the story of my Mother's aristocratic background and in the end I got out an old album with lots of photos and documents as well as my grandfather's poetry which my Mother published before she died. They were very very interested and impressed. I suppose it was surprising for them to know that one of my ancestors was Felix Yusopov's Mother and who had been my own Mother's Godmother! By the end of the day we were firm friends but wow what a tense situation.
Meanwhile, I totally missed out on spending the afternoon with Olivia and Miguel who had just returned from Valencia and of course did not get to do my French homework. In the end I did it after dinner at the table in our "gallery" (a sort of glass extension to our bedroom) while Eladio read. I'm not sure my mind was completely on it as I was tired. At about 11 we went to bed and not yet ready to sleep we watched another episode of Jack Ryan.
Tuesday dawned and it was generally a quiet day. Our guests left to take the boys George and Max to start their 6 month stint at a Spanish basketball school, thus we would not see them again. The parents were out all morning and we, meanwhile, continued our normal schedule. The highlight of the morning was our French lesson, the second. If in the first lesson we had been introduced to the pronoun "en", that day we were to learn the pronoun "y". Neither Oli nor I ever remembered learning either of them. They are damned difficult and I shall need to practice them a lot. In the middle of the class, Miguel surprised us by barging in suddenly to take a photo of the 3 of us. It took us by surprise but now, at least, I have a photo to show you. This is it. We are still waiting for our grammar and exercise books to arrive from Amazon. Without them it is difficult to learn using only one book between the 3 of us.
The hour passed very quickly I couldn't believe it was over so soon.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Suzy was giving her first online lessons to Chinese children who are complete beginners. That must have been challenging. I wonder how you teach someone a language online when they know only theirs, especially if its Chinese which couldn't be more different than English. She later told us she enjoyed the lessons and even though the children were shy she managed to engage them. Bravo Suzy and thank you Jacqueline for all your help. This is her in one of her lessons. Go for it Suzy. Wouldn't it be funny if one of my daughters turned out to be a teacher like both their Grandparents and Father?
As soon as we had finished our French lesson, I suddenly had to perform a sort of "bread and fish" type miracle to make lunch for everyone. The 3 of us were going to eat leftovers and hadn't counted on Miguel and Oli for lunch that day. I was up to the challenge of course and then I had Miguel's help when he made "moules" (mussels) for all although I don't like them that much. Besides, my stomach couldn't take them as it still wasn't right.
They left after our siesta and while they were about to leave, Vadim, George's Father, called me to the fridge to say that their tomatoes, yoghurts and chocolate biscuits from their shelf had disappeared when they came back that morning. We all looked on astonished. I mean we have tomatoes, yoghurts and all sorts of biscuits so why would anyone want to take theirs? I had no explanation, neither did Lucy, Eladio, Miguel or Olivia. I felt dreadful as this has never happened since I started Airbnb. There and then Eladio and I took the car to Mercadona and went and bought what went missing. It is a complete mystery to us and I felt helpless to explain anything. If the situation on Monday had been difficult this was equally so. Oli later urged me never to have them again as guests as they only brought trouble. Having no car, they spent the rest of the day at home by the pool.
I had a headache that afternoon which only got worse after this mystery incident. Sometimes it's not easy to be a good Airbn host however much you try and this week proved difficult. I would have a lady and her son from Brussels coming on Friday when the Russians left and I prayed all would go well:-).
We left them to it by the pool where they drank and smoked endlessly while we read our books, or rather my kindle and Eladio an ebook on his tablet on the kitchen patio. The mystery of his missing kindle has not been resolved either and I have no explanation for that either. Later we had a light dinner and went to bed early taking Pips up with us.
We watched the news as we nearly always do. There hasn't been much of interest lately, apart from the usual Spanish political issues, mainly Catalonia. However, on Tuesday night the news of repercussions of the typhoon in Japan was one of the most shocking things I have seen for a long time; whole lorries falling around on motorways as if they were cardboard on a board game. Typhoon "Jebi" is the worst storm, if you can call it that, to hit Japan in 25 years. So no complaints about the weather here I can tell you.
Later we watched more of Jack Ryan which is a Homeland type series and very true to life. It had us up till late and even so I was awake at just past six in the morning on Wednesday and with just a lingering headache.
That morning our Russian guests were going off to the boys's school and asked me to book another taxi. Thankfully we wouldn't see them until the next morning as they were out all day. We went on our morning walk at about 8.45, a little later than usual. It was on Wednesday that the heat receded and it felt cool on our walk. Here is Eladio with the dogs ready to go.
It was great to come home to a guest free house. I prepared "cocido" (Spanish stew) but was gutted when the pressure cooker didn't work and I had to resort to the microwave to make sure the meat was properly cooked. While I was cooking, Peggy, the mother of Marianne, our 8 year old French Airbnb guest sent me a video of her daughter. I just love her smile and enthusiasm. It started with a big and friendly "Bonjour Masha" and ended with "Gros bisous" and I listened to it over and over again. All this was on whatsapp with Peggy and we had quite a chat with little Marianne writing too. This time I wrote back in French. I have a feeling this lovely family from Normandy will come again next year and let's hope my French has improved by then.
The afternoon was quiet, we read, Eladio did odd jobs around the garden and later I took Lucy out to her favourite dress shop. She only bought a t-shirt and amazingly for me, I bought nothing. I didn't need anything. In any case while we were there, I was busy replying to a potential Airbnb guest who was chatting to me on the company's app on my phone. "Espe" from La Rioja, Spain, will be coming with her son on Saturday night. This weekend we will be fully booked. Later I updated my calendar to put on the fridge and noticed she would be one of few upcoming Spanish guests. These are the nationalities or rather the countries our next 11 guests or sets of guests are coming from: Lebanon, Italy, France, Argentina, USA, UK with just two from Spain.
That evening we watched the news again and not only was Japan still suffering the effects of the typhoon but it had been struck by an earthquake. Nearer home, the Catalan issue has tensed up. The new autonomous government wants to continue along the lines of Puigdemont: they are his puppets really. In reply to gestures of dialogue from the new Spanish socialist government only comes more belligerence from their side. They only agree to dialogue if the central government agrees to independence basically; something which will never happen. Meanwhile, the Day of Catalonia is looming (11th September) as well as the anniversary of the illegal referendum held on 1st October last year. No doubt there will be many demonstrations and lots of tension. Other governments around the world have taken heed and, sadly but believably, countries like the UK, the USA and Germany have warned citizens that travelling to Catalonia is dangerous now!!!!! This is a terrible image for Spain, a country that relies on tourism as one of its main sources of income.
The best news that day for me came from the US Open after Rafa Nadal made a come back in the quarter finals against the young Austrian player Dominic Thiem. He went from losing 0-6 to winning 0-6 6-4 7-5 7-6 in a thrilling match which they had to play until 2 in the morning, something, Nadal, understandably criticised. The match lasted nearly 5 hours. His opponent in the semi finals would be Del Potro. Federer is out of the tournament but not Djokovic so it would be no easy feat to win this Grand Slam. All my hopes were for Nadal, forever the gentleman. His first words after winning the match were for his opponent. He said he was sorry for Dominic Thiem, his friend and colleague on the circuit but that one day he knew he would win.
While on the lookout to see if our Russian guests were back so as to close up the house, switch off lights, etc, we watched more of the Jack Ryan spy series against ISIS. It's pretty frightening to see what these terrorists can do and at the same time what the CIA can do too and a lot of it is thanks to technology. It's a good series.
I slept badly that night, tossing and turning and waking up on several occasions. Unable to sleep any more I finally got up at 5.50, taking Pippa down with me.
On Thursday the weather turned cooler and went from the mid thirties to the mid 20's which was a bit of a shock to my system. It meant that for the first time in months I was to wear a cardigan on our morning walk. At about 9.30 as we were heading home I took it off. That morning I wore trousers for the first time too in months. I instinctively knew I had put on some weight over the summer and some of them were a tight fit. I resolved to get on the scales the next day to see what damage was done and to remedy it.
Our Russians, or rather Vadim and Veronica, asked us for a taxi again to take them to George's school, "Villalkor" in nearby Campodon. They were not happy to hear that only 90% of his tutoring would be in English. In fact they were furious and also complained the headmaster knew no English. Well they don't either. I suggested that as George already knows English very well after having gone to an American school, it would be good for him to learn Spanish. They went off in a huff and we wouldn't see them again until the next day when they were leaving. The other father, Victor, stayed behind and must have been bored stiff all day. He told me he was pleased with the school. I wondered why he didn't go into Madrid to see the city but then thought as he knows nothing but Russian that might prove a big challenge. It makes you realise how important it is to speak languages although I already knew that but I must say it has been frustrating not to be able to communicate with them. I have an idea at the back of my mind to start learning Russian after a year of French and even Italian after that. It's never too late to learn is it?
That morning I worked on my French, revising and writing up what we had learned in our lesson on Tuesday and doing my homework. I have a big exercise book for my notes and a smaller one for vocabulary. I remember having a notebook always with me when learning Spanish to write down vocab as well as when I was learning Portuguese. Ah, maybe I should add Portuguese after Italian as mine is very rusty. This week's feature photo is of me revising on the kitchen patio. Coincidentally my daughter and co learner, Olivia, was also studying French or should I say relearning as we are not starting from scratch. We are sort of "faux debutantes"; I mean we know quite a lot but have huge gaps and have forgotten a lot. But it's all coming back and I am enjoying studying French but this time with motivation. Oli sent me the following photo of her studying French. Miguel is in the photo too and he was learning English. Good for him.
I am really enjoying studying French; it's like a puzzle at times and I feel so motivated. It's funny but for the first time ever I am learning a language without the use of a physical dictionary. That is because I can use an online one. Jacky my friend recommend the app Word Ref and I have taken her advice. Little Marianne helps me too. As you know she sends me videos via her Mother on whatsapp and this week she sent me another one, telling me about her "reentrée" (back to school). I thought, well it's back to school for me too haha. I just love the way she smiles and laughs so passionately when she says "Bonjour Masha". It was Marianne who sparked our interest in French lessons. They will help me communicate my French speaking Airbnb guests and to feel more included in next year's "cousinade". But it's not only that. I have always wanted to improve my French feeling the frustration of knowing quite a lot but with too many gaps and a problem in understanding other people talk. So finally I have taken the plunge and I am enjoying it immensely. At long last our language and grammar books arrived that afternoon which will make our classes easier. The next one is on Tuesday coming.
I spent a lot of the day studying only stopping to make the lunch and for a short siesta. Eladio and I had a quiet day together, perhaps thanks to the Russians being out. The evening ended as it usually does these days; dinner on the terrace, the news in bed with Pippa and yesterday, the final episode of Jack Ryan.
The big news on Friday came from India where the Supreme Court made the historic decision to rule that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence. It was a long time coming as the law up until then was based on colonial era law whereby gay sex was considered an "unnatural offence" with punishment of up to 10 years in jail. I'm glad that India has moved into the 21st century with this new ruling, although society will continue, no doubt, to stigmatise the LGBT community for whom the decision was a huge cause for celebration.
The ruling overturns a 2013 judgement that upheld a colonial-era law, known
as section 377, under which gay sex is categorised as an "unnatural
offence".
We didn't know what to watch after finishing Jack Ryan. Eladio chose a documentary on the Roman Empire and I promptly fell asleep hahaha.
Friday came and true to my word I finally got on the scales. Thankfully the damage was not too bad. I had put on 2.5 kg since April and I shall now work to shed that and maybe a kilo more so as to have some leave way. Oh I do hate the scales. The only thing was that we had a dinner date that night with Oli and Miguel so my resolution to start losing weight would have to wait until the next day.
That morning my Lithuanian Russian guests left at around 11.30. Víctor, the nice guy who came without his wife and who had been no trouble at all, took a photo of my Mother's pre -revolutionary icon the one she had smuggled out of Russia in the 60's. He also blessed our house with a little Russian Orthodox booklet he showed me. Our guests were a bit strange in their behaviour (well Russians are Russians) but he and George's mother, Veronica were really nice. Vadim, George's father who was a bit standoffish, I though, actually left us a lovely note in the house guest book. Of course he wrote it in in Russian but my good friend Andy (ex pupil of my parents), translated it for me. Below is the note in Russian and below the translation. So, after all, they had loved our house when all the time I suspected something was wrong. Well, that has to do with our frustrating language barrier.
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| Our French lesson on Tuesday at 12 noon |
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Suzy was giving her first online lessons to Chinese children who are complete beginners. That must have been challenging. I wonder how you teach someone a language online when they know only theirs, especially if its Chinese which couldn't be more different than English. She later told us she enjoyed the lessons and even though the children were shy she managed to engage them. Bravo Suzy and thank you Jacqueline for all your help. This is her in one of her lessons. Go for it Suzy. Wouldn't it be funny if one of my daughters turned out to be a teacher like both their Grandparents and Father?
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| Suzy giving her first online English lessons from Indonesia on Tuesday |
They left after our siesta and while they were about to leave, Vadim, George's Father, called me to the fridge to say that their tomatoes, yoghurts and chocolate biscuits from their shelf had disappeared when they came back that morning. We all looked on astonished. I mean we have tomatoes, yoghurts and all sorts of biscuits so why would anyone want to take theirs? I had no explanation, neither did Lucy, Eladio, Miguel or Olivia. I felt dreadful as this has never happened since I started Airbnb. There and then Eladio and I took the car to Mercadona and went and bought what went missing. It is a complete mystery to us and I felt helpless to explain anything. If the situation on Monday had been difficult this was equally so. Oli later urged me never to have them again as guests as they only brought trouble. Having no car, they spent the rest of the day at home by the pool.
I had a headache that afternoon which only got worse after this mystery incident. Sometimes it's not easy to be a good Airbn host however much you try and this week proved difficult. I would have a lady and her son from Brussels coming on Friday when the Russians left and I prayed all would go well:-).
We left them to it by the pool where they drank and smoked endlessly while we read our books, or rather my kindle and Eladio an ebook on his tablet on the kitchen patio. The mystery of his missing kindle has not been resolved either and I have no explanation for that either. Later we had a light dinner and went to bed early taking Pips up with us.
We watched the news as we nearly always do. There hasn't been much of interest lately, apart from the usual Spanish political issues, mainly Catalonia. However, on Tuesday night the news of repercussions of the typhoon in Japan was one of the most shocking things I have seen for a long time; whole lorries falling around on motorways as if they were cardboard on a board game. Typhoon "Jebi" is the worst storm, if you can call it that, to hit Japan in 25 years. So no complaints about the weather here I can tell you.
Later we watched more of Jack Ryan which is a Homeland type series and very true to life. It had us up till late and even so I was awake at just past six in the morning on Wednesday and with just a lingering headache.
That morning our Russian guests were going off to the boys's school and asked me to book another taxi. Thankfully we wouldn't see them until the next morning as they were out all day. We went on our morning walk at about 8.45, a little later than usual. It was on Wednesday that the heat receded and it felt cool on our walk. Here is Eladio with the dogs ready to go.
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| Eladio and the dogs ready to go on our walk on Wednesday morning |
The afternoon was quiet, we read, Eladio did odd jobs around the garden and later I took Lucy out to her favourite dress shop. She only bought a t-shirt and amazingly for me, I bought nothing. I didn't need anything. In any case while we were there, I was busy replying to a potential Airbnb guest who was chatting to me on the company's app on my phone. "Espe" from La Rioja, Spain, will be coming with her son on Saturday night. This weekend we will be fully booked. Later I updated my calendar to put on the fridge and noticed she would be one of few upcoming Spanish guests. These are the nationalities or rather the countries our next 11 guests or sets of guests are coming from: Lebanon, Italy, France, Argentina, USA, UK with just two from Spain.
That evening we watched the news again and not only was Japan still suffering the effects of the typhoon but it had been struck by an earthquake. Nearer home, the Catalan issue has tensed up. The new autonomous government wants to continue along the lines of Puigdemont: they are his puppets really. In reply to gestures of dialogue from the new Spanish socialist government only comes more belligerence from their side. They only agree to dialogue if the central government agrees to independence basically; something which will never happen. Meanwhile, the Day of Catalonia is looming (11th September) as well as the anniversary of the illegal referendum held on 1st October last year. No doubt there will be many demonstrations and lots of tension. Other governments around the world have taken heed and, sadly but believably, countries like the UK, the USA and Germany have warned citizens that travelling to Catalonia is dangerous now!!!!! This is a terrible image for Spain, a country that relies on tourism as one of its main sources of income.
The best news that day for me came from the US Open after Rafa Nadal made a come back in the quarter finals against the young Austrian player Dominic Thiem. He went from losing 0-6 to winning 0-6 6-4 7-5 7-6 in a thrilling match which they had to play until 2 in the morning, something, Nadal, understandably criticised. The match lasted nearly 5 hours. His opponent in the semi finals would be Del Potro. Federer is out of the tournament but not Djokovic so it would be no easy feat to win this Grand Slam. All my hopes were for Nadal, forever the gentleman. His first words after winning the match were for his opponent. He said he was sorry for Dominic Thiem, his friend and colleague on the circuit but that one day he knew he would win.
While on the lookout to see if our Russian guests were back so as to close up the house, switch off lights, etc, we watched more of the Jack Ryan spy series against ISIS. It's pretty frightening to see what these terrorists can do and at the same time what the CIA can do too and a lot of it is thanks to technology. It's a good series.
I slept badly that night, tossing and turning and waking up on several occasions. Unable to sleep any more I finally got up at 5.50, taking Pippa down with me.
On Thursday the weather turned cooler and went from the mid thirties to the mid 20's which was a bit of a shock to my system. It meant that for the first time in months I was to wear a cardigan on our morning walk. At about 9.30 as we were heading home I took it off. That morning I wore trousers for the first time too in months. I instinctively knew I had put on some weight over the summer and some of them were a tight fit. I resolved to get on the scales the next day to see what damage was done and to remedy it.
Our Russians, or rather Vadim and Veronica, asked us for a taxi again to take them to George's school, "Villalkor" in nearby Campodon. They were not happy to hear that only 90% of his tutoring would be in English. In fact they were furious and also complained the headmaster knew no English. Well they don't either. I suggested that as George already knows English very well after having gone to an American school, it would be good for him to learn Spanish. They went off in a huff and we wouldn't see them again until the next day when they were leaving. The other father, Victor, stayed behind and must have been bored stiff all day. He told me he was pleased with the school. I wondered why he didn't go into Madrid to see the city but then thought as he knows nothing but Russian that might prove a big challenge. It makes you realise how important it is to speak languages although I already knew that but I must say it has been frustrating not to be able to communicate with them. I have an idea at the back of my mind to start learning Russian after a year of French and even Italian after that. It's never too late to learn is it?
That morning I worked on my French, revising and writing up what we had learned in our lesson on Tuesday and doing my homework. I have a big exercise book for my notes and a smaller one for vocabulary. I remember having a notebook always with me when learning Spanish to write down vocab as well as when I was learning Portuguese. Ah, maybe I should add Portuguese after Italian as mine is very rusty. This week's feature photo is of me revising on the kitchen patio. Coincidentally my daughter and co learner, Olivia, was also studying French or should I say relearning as we are not starting from scratch. We are sort of "faux debutantes"; I mean we know quite a lot but have huge gaps and have forgotten a lot. But it's all coming back and I am enjoying studying French but this time with motivation. Oli sent me the following photo of her studying French. Miguel is in the photo too and he was learning English. Good for him.
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| Oli studying French and Miguel studying English in their flat on Thursday |
I spent a lot of the day studying only stopping to make the lunch and for a short siesta. Eladio and I had a quiet day together, perhaps thanks to the Russians being out. The evening ended as it usually does these days; dinner on the terrace, the news in bed with Pippa and yesterday, the final episode of Jack Ryan.
The big news on Friday came from India where the Supreme Court made the historic decision to rule that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence. It was a long time coming as the law up until then was based on colonial era law whereby gay sex was considered an "unnatural offence" with punishment of up to 10 years in jail. I'm glad that India has moved into the 21st century with this new ruling, although society will continue, no doubt, to stigmatise the LGBT community for whom the decision was a huge cause for celebration.
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| Celebration in India of the new ruling |
We didn't know what to watch after finishing Jack Ryan. Eladio chose a documentary on the Roman Empire and I promptly fell asleep hahaha.
Friday came and true to my word I finally got on the scales. Thankfully the damage was not too bad. I had put on 2.5 kg since April and I shall now work to shed that and maybe a kilo more so as to have some leave way. Oh I do hate the scales. The only thing was that we had a dinner date that night with Oli and Miguel so my resolution to start losing weight would have to wait until the next day.
That morning my Lithuanian Russian guests left at around 11.30. Víctor, the nice guy who came without his wife and who had been no trouble at all, took a photo of my Mother's pre -revolutionary icon the one she had smuggled out of Russia in the 60's. He also blessed our house with a little Russian Orthodox booklet he showed me. Our guests were a bit strange in their behaviour (well Russians are Russians) but he and George's mother, Veronica were really nice. Vadim, George's father who was a bit standoffish, I though, actually left us a lovely note in the house guest book. Of course he wrote it in in Russian but my good friend Andy (ex pupil of my parents), translated it for me. Below is the note in Russian and below the translation. So, after all, they had loved our house when all the time I suspected something was wrong. Well, that has to do with our frustrating language barrier.
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| The note my Russians left in our guest book |
"A huge thank you to
the hosts of this wonderful house!! Especially Masha!!! We immersed ourselves
in this beautiful home environment, bathing in the warm cosiness and sincere
care [by our host]. We had the very best experience. We spent five wonderful
days as the guests of a Russian princess!! A huge thank you!!! "
They also took pictures of us before they left and promised to come back in October. We had to clean up a lot after their departure. They had left all the remains of the breakfast, including a nearly empty bottle of white wine (yes they drink wine for breakfast!), clear away the plates etc and a lot more. On the positive side they left me a plate full of beautifully sliced melon and water melon as a leaving present.
Friday was a quiet day after they left and it was nice to have the house to ourselves but not for long. At 2.30 my next guests arrived, Rania and her son Johnathan from Brussels. I don't think they are Belgian though as Rania is not a Belgian name and her surname is very probably Arab. I was right and delighted to hear she is originally from the Lebanon.
Rania's story is one of a child who grew up in bombarded Beirut where she learned to think bombs and war were the norm. Her family, by the way, like many in The Lebanon, are Christian. I asked her what it was like to live there and she told me "you get used to it" and was only upset when she went to school to find a flower on a fellow pupil's desk which meant he or her had been killed by the bombs! I look forward to talking to her to find out more about her story. She told me that as a child she was not conscious of the danger but that later in 2006 when she returned to the Lebanon, pregnant and with her first child and Israel again bombed her country, she was fully conscious and panic stricken. Who wouldn't be? It's funny to think I have had a person from Israel this week and one from Lebanon, countries historically at war with each other.
This time there were to be no language problems as both speak perfect English. That's a pity as I would have loved to practice my French with them. They are living in the downstairs room and will be here for 9 nights. Rania has come to enroll her son in the UEM University and to look for accommodation for him. They are beautifully behaved and we saw little of them that day. They came without a car as Rania wanted her son to learn how to use the bus! And they did it without a hitch thank goodness. I was stunned to receive a lovely box of Belgian chocolates from them in the shape of an Asterix book! We would eat one each that night at dinner as I took the beautiful box to show Miguel and Oli and to have a piece of chocolate after our meal. This is me with the beautiful box when I opened it on Friday night at the restaurant.
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| The original box of Belgian chocolates so kindly given to me by our new Guests |
Yes, the highlight of Friday was dinner out with Oli and Miguel. I got dressed up for the occasion and for the first time in a long while wore long trousers and even a jacket as the temperature cooled that evening. We went to a new place for us, "Pepita Pepa" in Las Rozas. Just as Eladio was parking, I met an ex colleague from Yoigo, Pedro, a lawyer from the legal department who I know well and worked a lot with and his wife. They were leaving after having drinks with friends. It was a lovely to bump into him and I was soon introducing them to my husband and Olivia and Miguel. Very kindly he said he and many people at Yoigo followed her on TV. He also said my blog was much commented at work! So there and then I had a photograph taken with him and his wife which I promised to share in this week's post. And here it is. Pedro was a great colleague and fellow worker and above all an easy and helpful lawyer to work with. He was always there for me whenever I needed him and was always extremely positive and approved my press releases or statements, etc really fast which is pretty unusual for a lawyer in my experience as they are usually far stricter. It was great to see you Pedro. All the best to all my other lovely ex colleagues and friends at Yoigo even though Yoigo is not really Yoigo anymore.
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| It was a lovely surprise to bump into Pedro an ex Yoigo colleague on Friday night in Las Rozas |
Dinner was good although it was a little loud at the restaurant. The food was the best part, not particularly the place itself. We were home by about 11.30 on time to let the dogs out of the kitchen and spend some time with them. Just as we were closing the kitchen doors to go upstairs to our bedrooms, it began to pour it down. We didn't expect the sudden shower which lasted at least 15 minutes.
On Saturday morning it was wet and soon the rain came and would not go away until the late afternoon. We have't had rain for months and I can tell you we are not used to it. We had to put off our walk until the evening. It rained in many parts of Spain that day and I was amazed at footage of extreme flooding in many areas, but especially in a village called "Cebolla" (means onion in Spainish) in the province of Toledo which were as dramatic as some we saw in Japan this week, with cars floating on the roads Hopefully, we will get normal September temperatures after this cold spell.
I was disappointed to read yesterday morning that Rafa Nadal had to pull out of the US Open during his semi final match to Del Potro due to a knee injury. That was sad news for him and for Spanish sport.
Oli and Miguel had spent the night with us after dinner on Friday. They got to meet our guests from Belgium, who, poor things were to spend a very wet day in Madrid, their first time in the Spanish capital. I drove them to the bus stop and then later joined my daughter and her boyfriend at Carrefour Market to do some food shopping. Miguel would be having lunch with his parents so we parted after that and Oli and I went to have a coffee together at our favourite café, "Alverán". Thankfully there was a lull in the rain and we were able to sit outside. Neither of us can resist the pastries there, so despite my decision to lose some weight (putting it off until today hahahah), I just had to have one of their fruit tarts. Here I am about to devour it with a cup of coffee.
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| Coffee and fruit tart with Olivia on Saturday morning at Alverán café |
We came home to unload the shopping and were soon making lunch. Yesterday our weekend carer, Zena, was back from her 2 month holiday in the Ukraine and it was good to see her again. She looks after my father extremely well and I like her a lot. She has been our cleaner and latterly carer for about 14 years and I consider her a friend.
It continued to rain and at times bucketed it down but finally we had a respite at about 6 and set off for our walk with the dogs, hoping there wouldn't be a sudden downfall. There wasn't and we had a pleasant if cool walk.
Yesterday we got new guests, this time a Mother and her son from La Rioja who were coming just for one night to pick up their daughter and sister, as well as a friend to take them home today. They arrived just as we were finishing dinner .Funnily enough, "Espe" is also an Airbnb host but in Logroño, the capital of La Rioja area, where Spain's most famous wine comes from.
After dinner last night there would be no film or series for me as we had to watch the Spain England match being played in Wembley. I felt a bit divided and Eladio confessed he didn't really care who won that he only really enjoys the football. But that's not true, he was routing for Spain. My adopted country won in the end 2-1. I felt very sorry for the England player Shaw who suffered a serious head injury after a fortuitous clash with Dani Carvajal. I hope he gets better soon. Both countries were playing in a new competition called The Nations League. I'm not sure what to make of it yet.
Today is Sunday. My guests from La Rioja will be leaving at 12 and at 2.30 pm, 3 people from Italy will be occupying their room which is actually Suzy's room, one of the biggest in the house. Lisa and her husband will be bringing their son Nicolo, also to enroll him and look for accommodation. Like Johnathan, Rania's son, he will be studying dentistry here. Perhaps they will make friends. What a coincidence. The day should be quiet apart from that.
So, my friends, I am at the end of the tales of this week; as you can see immersed in my Airbnb role as a host where I have been quite busy. Of course I would far prefer not to have people staying here all the time but looking at it from a different view, I really do get to meet some interesting people, like Amiram the Israeli judge, my funny Russians, Vadim, Viktor and Veronika as well Rania from Lebanon and all in one week. Sometimes this house feels like the United Nations a bit like my house at home when my Mother and Father had guests from all other the world too.
Wishing you all a good week ahead, cheers till next time,
Masha
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