Yearning for Something Else

It seems almost impossible, but I’ve already gotten used to all the beautiful old European architecture that I dreamed about seeing for so long. I've settled into a routine. I’m not constantly in awe of my surroundings anymore.

Chinchero, Peru

And I find this normalcy quite tragic. 

One of the things I hate about being American is that there is such a dearth of ancient historical sites. Sure, I love the Alamo and Nottoway and the Biltmore [Estate? Manor? Mansion? Giant house] and Independence Hall, to name a few. But my favorite buildings in history are earlier than all these – like the Hagia Sofia and the Alhambra and Petra and Saint Petersburg. A medieval Spanish city really is one of the most perfect places for me to end up.

A similar thing happened while I was in Peru, but then I was living in a newer urban area, so that wasn't too surprising. Besides, the Inka walls and ruins in and around the Sacred Valley never ceased to amaze me. [I think I wrote about the time that ruins and terraces made me cry.]

Here in Soria, every other building looks like it was built 400 years ago. From my living room window, I can see the ruins of a church built even earlier. Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely love it, and yet, I’m already walking through the streets quickly, not bothering to look at the wonders around me. I already want something different, something else.

Partially, this means I have to quit being lazy on the weekends and go explore other pueblos and cities in the surrounding province. I have a long list of recommendations from both students and teachers on the best places to see – cathedrals, castles, nature areas, etc. Those, I’m sure, will bring me some of the oh-my-goodness-I’m-in-Spain-this-is-amazing moments that I crave.

With my newly connected Internet, I've also been researching and planning trips for my Christmas and Easter breaks. There are so many possibilities - Andalucia, Istanbul, Morocco, Eastern Europe, the U.K. I haven't entirely figured out where I'm going to be going, but I am already super excited about all that traveling!

Secondly, it means that I need to quit being super nostalgic about the past and start finding things to like about the present, a la Midnight in Paris. [If you haven't seen it already, I really recommend it - the casting and script and cinematography were all perfect.]

So many famous actors: Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Alison Pill, Adrian Brody, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni...and Owen Wilson, who really can act.

Continuing with this pop culture theme, I recently rewatched several episodes of Castle. 

[And Mr. and Mrs. Smith was on so I watched that again too – in Spanish, because I hadn't figured out how to change the language yet. Undoubtedly one of the best Spanish language dubs I have ever come across.] 

[I’m not just watching American stuff though, I promise. Telemundo has a channel with all their ridiculously goofy telenovelas, so I've been watching one of those on weeknights.  And there’s a Spanish hospital show, and plenty of Spanish period dramas.]

But anyway, the Castle episodes were all from last season, which I couldn’t resist, especially because they started with "Still," a.k.a. the best flashback episode ever created. Two episodes later [they were going backwards, apparently] was the Bigfoot one, where once again we see Castle ready to believe in everything imaginable and Beckett being skeptical. I am super realistic and practical about just about everything, so it really hit me when she said she didn’t need to believe in Bigfoot or zombies or ghosts – she believes in the magic of everyday things.

The most perfect incredulous look. Stana Katic is brilliant.

I think that’s why I work so well with little kids - they are still curious. Everything is new and amazing and magical to them. Daily life doesn’t have to be boring. It’s an infectious idea. And yet, I forget so often. It's hard to remind myself to appreciate and enjoy life when that self-critical inner voice starts nagging me.

Today, however, that's been really easy to do. All because it snowed! For at least 30 minutes. Actually, as I've been writing/editing this post, there have been a few more snow flurries. No matter how many times I've seen the same thing in Texas - although I always seem to miss the biggest snowfalls - it's still amazing and magical that it's happening here, in Spain, in the middle of the day, in November.

And I haven't even needed to turn the heat on.

Even though I started writing this post weeks ago, I knew there was something missing. So I waited, and in the meantime I started some more posts, about books and charity and Spain, that also need to wait. But now I feel a perfect clarity about the ending. The day has come, the snow has come, the magic has come. That was the something else I needed.