Our Friend, Sara

I met Sara online and corresponded by email.

When Amy and I came to Valencia to look for homes in March, I emailed Sara and suggested that we meet each other. Sara agreed and said she would walk over and meet me in front of the Purple Nest Youth Hostel (where Amy and I were staying).

Based on all the horror stories I've heard about "meeting" people online who pretend they are someone else, I was half-expecting to meet a dirty old man looking for entertainment. Before leaving, I asked the girl at the front desk to call the police if I was kidnapped. She was cool. She knew that I was from Chicago - so like most people, she probably figured that I had experience with kidnapping, gangs, guns, corruption, violence, etc. Word to yo motha.

No dirty old man. No guns. No drugs. Just sweaters. Sara brought a bag of sweaters for Amy and I because it was colder than normal that week. The girl at the front desk was probably a little disappointed. Amy and I were really touched.

Sara grew up in Valencia. She married a guy from Chicago, lived there for several years, and had two children. Last year, they moved back to Valencia.

Given her own cross-cultural moves, Sara wasn't overwhelmed by our plans to move to Valencia. Sara isn't overwhelmed by much.

Sara reminds me of my sister, Margaret except Sara is much much younger (hee hee - that was for you, Margaret). Like Margaret, Sara tells you what she thinks ... even when you don't ask. I love that. Also like Margaret, Sara is a great host but makes it seem really easy.

Sara invited Amy and I over for dinner. While we were chatting with Sara and Beatrice (Sara's neice), they whipped up a multi-course meal with everything Spanish. No problem. That was the first of many.

Sara has had all of us over several times. Sara and her parents hosted all of us for a day at their summer home outside Valencia. They made paella for 20 people over a fire! Paella ("pie ay ya") is a Valencian rice dish. Just in case the kids didn't like the paella, they also made hamburgers. We all loved the paella.

A couple of weeks ago, Sara invited us for homemade hot chocolate (Spanish style which you can eat with a spoon). Then her parents had us over to their house to celebrate Sam's birthday (Sara's 16 y.o. nephew). We joined in their family tradition of giving everyone a turn to blow out the candles.

We were so cruel to Sam. He does not understand any English. While we were talking with Beatrice (his sister) about *whatever,* we (okay, I) would sprinkle in Sam's name ... so he would think that we were talking about him. Then Yana and Kerline would burst out laughing because saying Sam's name was so out of context and we could see that Sam was struggling to figure out what we were talking about.

Then, we (okay, I) told Sam that, in the United States, the birthday person must give everyone a kiss in order to have a year of good-luck ... and if he does not, he will have a year of bad luck. By the time Sam made it all the way around the room kissing everyone, I did not have the heart to tell him that I was joking.

We had such a great time. Sara and her little family (by comparison) opened their hearts and arms up wide and invited our big-huge family into their lives. Wow. Tears come to my eyes when I think about how lucky we are to have met Sara and her family.

Tears come to my eyes too because ... last week, Sara's father passed away.

I started writing this blog in July, continued in October, and I'm finishing it now (November). It started as a dedication to Sara. Now it is dedicated to Sara, her mother, Pilar, and her father, Vicente.

Thank you, God, for bringing all of us together. Thank you, God, for Sara and her mother, Pilar. Thank you, God, for Sara's father

Vicente Verdeguer Tamarit

- who now is with You.

Bye, Buddy!

Buddy
May 3, 1996 - Nov 12, 2007

Buddy died this morning - unexpected but peacefully in his sleep. He was staying with Matthew's parents in Wisconsin while his sheep (the kids) went to Spain.

We are so very sad. He has been our shepherd ever since the only sheep we had for him to watch over was Yana.

Buddy is the little b in our YAMMbfEB.

Slideshow of Buddy pictures ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/abrownell/sets/72157603148377813/show/

If the slideshow doesn't work for you, you can browse the pictures ...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abrownell/sets/72157603148377813/

Bread ... Pan (pronounced 'pon') by Maria Engel

We have two bakeries downstairs from our apartment in Valencia, Spain. One bakery just sells bread and it is really small. The other bakery sells bread, sandwiches, drinks, and yummy pastries. I (Maria) like the one that sells pastries the best.

We buy bread every day. I usually offer to go (and look at the other daily goodies while I'm there). I get three or four bars of bread (occasionally more). Each bar costs 70 centimos (about 1 US dollar). A bar of bread looks like french bread.

I ask "Tres barras de pan, por favor?" (That means "Three bars of bread, please.") They keep the bars of bread on shelves and in baskets - not in individual bags. The person at the bakery just grabs the bread with her hands and sticks it into a big bag. This is a picture of me with one of my favorite workers at the bakery.

We use the bread for comida (our big lunch in the afternoon), for snacks, and sometimes for bacadillos (like sub sandwiches). Sometimes we buy regular bread at the grocery story - but that's boring.

Happy Halloween ... NOT

When in Spain ... do as the Spaniards do (or don't). We try, in our own imperfect way, to follow that adage.

In Spain, they don't really "do" Halloween. A few people try. Our kids wanted to support the effort and push the tradition (especially the part of stuffing their face with candy).

We had one group of trick-or-treaters. Thanks to Amy's parents and our upstairs American neighbor, we had a few treats for them. It is probably all they received.

Yana, known as the American Girl at her school, was asked to help a few classrooms carve pumpkins. She brought about 50 knives to school. I guess there are no restrictions about bringing knives to school. At the end of the day, she brought home 50 lbs of pumpkin seeds (and guts). On Monday, she'll bring back the roasted pumpkin seeds.

All Saint's Day (November 1) is a national holiday in Spain. This year, All Saint's Day was on a Thursday so there was a "puente" (poo en tay) - a bridge holiday from Thursday to Monday. Schools, businesses, and grocery stores were closed on Thursday and Friday. We typically have to go shopping every day (for eleven). So, by Friday night, all we had left was candy. The kids were very happy.