Something Old, Something New

Hello My Little Turtle Doves,

I know that it's 2010 and I am all about brining new things into my life: new place to live, new job, new friends, maybe new relocation, new love, whatever this year has to offer. But at the same time there are some old things that I don't ever want to let go of.

So I am really happy right now because I got my old pictures from my time in Barcelona back. A couple of years ago, my Dell laptop, the one I took with me to Spain crapped out on me. I got my files out, but the storage it was on then crapped out on me again this year. So I begged and pleaded with one of my coworkers to help me out, and he did. And now I will be smarter about transferring them to this laptop and backing them up.

The picture of me below was taken at work. I worked at the Barcelona World Trade Center as a total phone whore telemarketer. The work was demanding, but after 5pm rolled around I was free as a bird, and I could go to the beach, hang out with friends or teach English, or makeout with boys. Weekends were free also, so I would sometimes take weekend trips, or just sleep in all the time.

One thing I never got to mention in this blog, which I was writing in while I was there, was that our office had a beautiful view of the ports, and not only that but we could watch the cruise ships come in. Sometimes you would see people suntanning naked. Luckily I didn't but a couple of my bosses did. I remember one of the guys standing on his chair to get a better view.

But this picture was taken during my lunch break. I worked with a few Argentinians, and we bonded fast because: 1.) We were all homesick 2.) They loved the US and I love Argentina 3.) We loved to bitch about our job. One of the guys took my picture here, and notice I am barefoot. It was nice to eat lunch in the sun .

There are a couple of other things I wanted to mention................

Above is that last picture I took of my Oma. This was our last full day together, as I got on a plane the next day to come back to the SF Bay Area. We did errands that day, she took me to the Festung, a famous Austrian fortress in Salzburg, and she bought me Almdudler ( a softdrink only served in Austria and Germany) along with Apple Struedel.  That struedel was so good, that I had two pieces that day with Oma's blessing, of course ;)

I was just looking to my pics and realized that on that day before we went to the Festung, that she also took

me on a boatride on the Salzach river. In the picture below, you can see the Festung (Austrian fortress on a hill) in the background. I also realized that before we went up to the Festung to eat Struedel, she took me to a famous Austrian cafe. I don't remember what I had there, probably coffee.

I am writing about this day with my Oma, because it was our last day I got to spend with her. On our last full day, I also got to see this...........................

It was sunny, and then all of a sudden rainy. But at the end of that I saw the most beautiful rainbow. This was taken in Oma's neighborhood.

It was like this was a sign to things to come. I had been in Barcelona for a year, and Austria for a week, and was ready to go back to California. Oma took me to the airport, and said goodbye. It was a long good bye, and we hugged a lot. She and her beloved Tony stayed with me the whole time, and was there to hug and kiss me before I walked away for good. At the time, I was thinking "don't worry, I'll be fine, you don't have to stand around the whole time." But looking back, I am glad she did. Sometimes you really never know when your last goodbye is.

 What I didn't realize was that it would be the last good bye for us in person. She passed away in August of 2006. But I came back to Austria to say my last good bye.

It has been almost four years, but her rainbow still lingers in my heart.

So that is all for now my little feathery friends. So nice to have these pictures and memories back where I can see them.