31st (New Year's Eve) The Last Day of the Year!

I want to make a balance and a reflexion

This year that is finishing has been disastrous for many people and for our society in general. There are families that have had to leave to look for a better life in another country and nowadays they are far away from their relatives, people who lost everything and maybe this night they can’t cheer below a house, there are people who left a little bit of their/our social and personal rights, there are lonely people...

Some people say that 2014 will be better. Will it be better when we have to confront our lives with less freedom? Will it be better for chronically ill people that have to choose between eating or taking medicine? Will  it be better for children who only eat at school? Who will it be better for?

In spite of these thoughts, this night I will be lucky because I'm going to meet my relatives, I will celebrate the change of the year with good food and cava. However, we should remember people who are suffering and we ought to improve their state. We should remember them every day, and this night too, and when we can do something for them, do it.

For this New Year I only want to have good health and a good voice to shout because another world is possible, but we should fight every moment if we want to get it.

Happy New Year 2014!

29th Sunday

Yesterday I was exhausted.
I was speaking all the evening with my old classmates and I lost my voice.

Today I had people for an afternoon snack in my home.
Peter and I prepared all the dishes: Spanish omelette, cold meat, tuna sandwiches and broads beans with sausages, and vegetarian pates: aubergine, hummus (chickpea), dry tomato, charlotte and black olive.
My parents brought a "coca" (like a pizza) with tuna and tomato and turrones. And my brother brought two bottles of wine.
We cooked a brownie too that was delicious.

The guests are a family who my parents met 40 years ago and every year we meet together. They are excellent and wonderful friends!
This year is the first time we met together at home.

28th Innocents' Day

Today I met people who I  hadn't been in touch with since we finished Primary School. It was wonderful to speak to my old classmates who I had shared a lot of experiences with (sometimes good and sometimes bad).
I met a few of them years after, in Secondary School or at the University or in the street, but I had never seen most people until today.

People compared how we were and how we are now. And from my point of view, generally speaking, girls are better looking than men, ha, ha!
We met around 30 classmates and four teachers for lunch in Alcasser, we were one class but separated in two classes.
We spoke a lot about our memories, anecdotes, and we saw pictures and drawings in a Power Point when we were child.

Too many emotions for only one day. :)

26th and 27th of December

I stayed at home all day.
It was a windy day. I hate those days when the wind is blowing strongly. Sincerely, I prefer rainy days than windy ones.
In the morning, I started to correct a book about old witches and witchcrafts in our country, and I also recordered more than 10 time my voice for the English homework. It was fun but when I heard it I felt like Ana Botell and I wasted a lot a time!
My cold is running away and I don't have a fever. Finally, I feel better.
Tomorrow will be a great day! I hope.

25th XMas Day

When we were having breakfast in my parents-in-law house, Peter's mobile rang, they were the Mexican relatives. We spoke to Peter's cousins about XMas and the next trip that we will make together along the Santiago's Way.

After that, we met my relatives in my parents' house for lunch, like any Saturday, but before that, we visited one of my oldest aunts, Trini.

24th Tuesday (XMas eve)

We got up without hurring. Valencia is only 1 and a half hours away. However, we must work at 3 pm.
During the journey I didn't feel very well, I felt pain in all my limbs and I had an enormous headache. I have flu and my nose is running all the time. Besides, I lost the sense of taste (a good day to not notice how the dishes tasted and smelled), so I had to take a pill to feel better but I didn't go to work. I don't like taking painkillers.

This evening we're gonna celebrate the XMas eve with my family in law. But I don't feel very well. We're gonna spend the night there because they live in Betera, another night out of my home.

XMas is coming, and I feel sick and overwhelmed because I must do a lot of work: I have to correct a book more than one hundred pages in Word, finish my English book and do the homework and write this diary! Ah, besides, I must go to work every day.

23rd Monday

We got up late. Yesterday, nobody called us to say we had won the lottery, so we continued with our life.
The hotel was comfortable, small and familiar. We were in the old city.

We sightseeing places in Teruel. Teruel is good know because the history of the loving: los Amantes de Teruel and because there are several Mudejar monuments.

We visited Los Amantes in the city centre. The visit was ok. After that, we visited the Cathedral. The Mudejar wood panell ceiling was interesting

In the evening we decided to go to the cinema: "Hobbit, the desolation of Smag". Here, in Teruel, the cinema is cheaper than in Valencia!

22nd Sunday (the Lottery Day)

Today we got up early because we had to pick up our luggage to move to Teruel city.
In the middle of the way we visited the source of a river in the small town called Pitarque. This is the road to get there.

We had to leave our car in the town and walk 4 kilometers to get to the source. A beautiful place. The weather was chilly (1 or 2 degrees) but in the sun we weew warm.

 

We had dinner in a restaurant called La trucha near Pitarque, and we ordered a pickled trout. Oh, it was delicious.

After dinner, in spite of sitting next to the fireplace, I didn't feel very well... I got cold the day before. :(

In the evening, we arrived in Teruel city and after taking a warm shower we went to a bar to watch a football match (Valencia vs. Real Madrid). I'm not really into football because it's very boring.

 

21st Saturday

In the morning we visited Balma' s Sanctuary, in Castellón, near Sorita del Maestrat, that's an interesting middle aged place built inside the rock mountain.
Several years ago, we went but we didn't stop. Today was the moment.

After La Balma, we visited a town called Castellote, now in Aragon, and its castle on the top of the mountain.
Have you ever heard the flap of a vulture? It's strange and fascinating. You can observe their movements and the wings moving into the wind.
It was extraordinary!

When we were coming down from the castle we could see a family of goats. They were guarding our movements all the time.

In the evening, we visited a little town near Castellote, Cuevas de Cañart, and an old oven place of the XII century.

20th Friday

I got up late with a headache. I drank a lot yesterday night and I wanted to go to swimming, but I couldn't.
For me, swimming is a luxury, I'm really into it.
At 1 pm Peter and me left Valencia for a few days to go to Aguaviva, a little town in Teruel. We still have some holidays left.
We had a good journey and arrived at 6 pm, in the darkness. The rural house was big and comfortable. We're staying on the first floor. In the main floor is the kitchen and the lounge.

19th Thursday

I worked all day but in the evening I prepared the XMas company dinner.
We went to a restaurant in the barrio del Carmen and we enjoyed ourselves verey much. I went to bed at five o'clock... It's diferent when you meet your workmates out of work.

18th Wednesday

It isn't my first day off because I went to class and to work in the morning. However, I want to write because I went to an interesting conference in the Palau de les Arts i les Ciències about hapiness and optimistism. In the queue I met our classmate, Victor, who works there.
I enjoyed it and laughted a lot. I needed it!
Here there is a fragment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu7KOigbwhY