My grandfather

I met him when I was born. He was my father' s dad. He was in his late seventies. At that time he was already a pensioner.
He had a curly grey receding hairline. He was oval faced. He had bushy eyebrows, long eyelashes and big brown eyes that reminded me of my father. He had bags under his eyes. His face was wrinkly. He had a hooked nose. His mouth was small and his lips were thin. He was well -built and quite tall for his age. He was always casually-dressed.He used to walk with a cane.
I didn' t talk with him too much, because he was much older than I was and he mostly stayed in his room, lying down on his bed and listening to the radio. I felt a deep respect for his voluntary loneliness.
I have fond memories of my grandfather walking by my school with his cane and handing me sweet rolls through the fence.
Everything that I know about my grandfahter´s life is because my father and uncles told me these stories many years after he had died.
My grandfather never had a permanent job, he spent his life moving around from place to place. He was a free soul.Throughout his life, he had many different jobs.He was a fisherman, a sailor, a barber and even a lottery ticket vendor which meant that he had to speak many different languages.When my father and uncles told me that, I was shocked because I had always associated knowing many languages with having a university degree or being from the middle class, but neither my grandfather nor my father had gone to school due to the hardship after the war. My family told me that he became so famous because of his knowledge of languages that many people asked him to translate documents and letters. It seems to me he was a sociable person.
However what surprised me the most was the fact that he used to swindle foreign people. He invented a lot of tricks to get money, for example once he dyed sparrows yellow and he sold them as canaries. Another time he sold whisky bottles, made with a mixture of several kinds of low-priced alcohol, to foreign sailors that landed in Cartagena. I am sure that he invented many other tricks to get money to take care of his family. I assume he was a very witty and resourceful person.Actually, if someone asked me to chose two adjetives that describe myself I would undoubtedly say witty and resourceful. Now I realize how much I am like my grandfather.Like him, I consider myself to be a free soul and a travel and language lover.
In short, the motives behind our actions and the roots of our tendencies may seem a construction of our own personality but inherited characteristics and the environment that surrounds us influence us greatly.

¡Acostúmbrate! Esto es Madrid.

Saludos a todos aquellos que quieran compartir su tiempo conmigo.

Este es mi primer mensaje ¡Estoy un poco nerviosa!, a ver que tal queda.

Ayer fui a cenar a un restaurante mejicano. Era una cena multicultural, organizada por un grupo que lleva varios años haciendo encuentros multiculturales, dónde la gente de manera distendida, tiene la oportunidad de conocer gente y practicar idiomas.

Llevo dos años asistiendo a este tipo de encuentros. Aunque tengo que reconocer que no de manera continua. Este es uno de mis própositos de año nuevo, tener continuidad.

Tengo que decir que este tipo de encuentros son geniales, conoces a tanta gente, de diferentes países e incluso de tu mismo país, con aficciones e inquietudes parecidas,aprendes sobre sus costumbres, ellos sobre las tuyas, y de manera muy relajada y fluida entablas una conversación en tu propio idioma o en aquel que estés buscando perfeccionar . Es cómo viajar fuera, pero estando en tu propio país.Puedo decir, que este tipo de encuentros, a mí, me aportan vitalidad y energía, y si, además cómo es mi caso, has tenido la oportunidad de vivir en otros países,vuelves a revivir aquellas sensaciones que sentiste y que a veces añoras.
No sé porque será, que a veces caemos en la rutina,trabajo, casa...y olvidamos disfrutar del día a día. Sin embargo, cuando hemos estado trabajando fuera, incluso aunque tuviésemos un trabajo "mierdoso" (cómo diríamos en mi tierra),esto no te impide vivir y disfrutar de cada minuto, de cada momento, vives todo con mucha más expectación y más vitalidad, estámos mucho más receptivos a vivir cada experiencia y a no dejar escapar cualquier oportunidad que se presente.

Para terminar mi primera entrada,sólo quiero añadir que en efecto, ¡Esto es Madrid!, estos encuentros multiculturales son una de las muchas actividades que puedes encontrar aqui. Sin lugar a duda, Madrid es una ciudad llena de vida.
Por cierto,¿A qué no sabeis, quien estaba cenando en el mismo restaurante que nosotros?,Alejandro Amenabar...tuve que contenerme para no pedirle un autógrafo...y es que tienes que acostumbrarte, estas cosas pasan en Madrid.

Una cartagenera

XXX