Diary

18/7/05
1st disappointment
What a hectic day today; I woke up early this morning although I had only one hour of sleep last night, and don’t ask why……..;) My friend Elegance and I packed our baggage and headed in our rented car to Valencia and then from there to Moncofa; a small village about 10-15 min drive north of Valencia and a prospering tourist area at the northern east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Moncofa is the place my friend had purchased an apartment a year back and today was the official turn over date, it took us three hours drive from Madrid and the highway was smooth and we faced no problems at all.
And although we had expected that we’d spend the first couples of days busy habetating the apartment, but a lot of disappointment were in store for us; first the lift was still not working and we had to carry the luggage from the garage in the basement to the third floor, and thanks God we had water to clean the apartment before the plumber who was here to fix the swimming pool broke a pipe and as a result we were deprived of water, and do you know what that means? Smelling like coolies after a hard day of work and not having water to clean up? The furniture arrived at the right time and the poor delivery guys had to carry the heavy stuff to the third floor; I could see the sweat tricking from the tip of their noses.
And by the time we finished we were reeking with the smell of sweat and dust and no water to wash up.
So we decided to wear our bathing suits and take a shower at the beach although the sun was down and the weather was cool, and you can imagine us with our shampoos and shower gels cleaning up on the beach with our bathing suits on, but honestly; we really felt what a blessing is water, we got refreshed although the water was freezing cold and with our towels around us, we slammed at the nearest beach restaurant and had dinner with cold servesa then waked along the beach and back to the apartment where we hit the sack.

19/7/05
Tsunami
There still more things to attend to in the apartment; so the day was spent in shopping and calling the plumber, the electrician and the contractor, but thanks God the pipe was fixed but we still had to wait for water flow one more day, and still no gas which means cold showers that’s if we get water, and it turned out that gas procedure is so complicated here where you have to make an appointment with the guy to come check the pipes and authorize the flow of gas; a procedure that takes three days to one week, but by now we have adjusted ourselves to accept cold showers so few more days would not make much difference, besides; cold shower is good for the skin, and coming from Kuwait where we are forced to bath in hot water during summer, we can’t complain can we?
And talking about Kuwait; my cousin called the same afternoon while she was on her way to my apartment and this conversation took place between us:
My cousin: “hi, how are you, is everything OK, are you enjoying your stay in Spain” then a pause and the sound of water showering on the background.
My cousin: “oh my God, no, what is this, tsunami!”
Me: “tsunami, what are you talking about? What’s going on?”
Cousin:” your apartment is flooding with water, I don’t know what is going on, water coming from the ceiling”
Me:” are you in my apartment?”
Cousin: “I’m by your front door, and the water is sheeting down from the ceiling and I don’t know what’s going on inside, I’ll call you back”
I had to wait for another ten minutes to get the news from her that the water tank had broken on the roof and the water was draining from the elevator shaft and the balcony, and some water did get in the apartment and she had to mop it, thanks God the damage was minimal and she had controlled it, but what a coincidence to have no water here and have a tsunami back home.
All this did not bother me, but having no access to internet seriously did. In Madrid it was working OK but here, something went wrong and thinking how much I spent calling Kuwait Vodafone hotline with no use frustrated me, and I finally gave up.

20/7/05
Adjusting to no net
Today was more relaxing; we only had the final touches to the apartment, and finally we had water to bathe and clean up, and by the end of the day I learned that one of our friends who is vacationing in France had decided to join us on the 12th of Aug if she could arrange all here bookings.
And although I was frustrated yesterday for not having access to internet, today I am resigned to the fact that the net is not a necessity and I can still write my diary whenever I feel like it without the intention of publishing, or I might do that on a later date if I feel like it. I will take my laptop with me when visiting other towns next week, so I hope the connection works in other areas.

Random thoughts
Honoring Santa Maria Magdalena ( july15-30)
Before reading Brown’s The DaVinchi Code I never knew who is Maria Magdalene, and after reading I have come to realize that the Vatican had dishonored the lady and that some sects went as far as considering her a prostitute. This little village considers Maria Magdalene it’s sacred patron, they have a church named after her and the whole village is out in the streets to honor her; her statue was carried by eight or ten young guys dressed as sailors in a convoy that consisted of men women and children of all ages walking on and around the small snaked alleys carrying lit candles to pay respect to the lady, the convoy also included last year’s queen of the festivities, and more than half a dozen nominated queens for this year all dressed in the traditional Spanish costumes, it also included their mayor and other high officials.

I have also noticed some hand written signs on the walls that read” Moros No” which means no Arabs, as I have learned from the locals that this place had long suffered from Arabs and Islamic brutalities throughout their history that they still celebrate the day that the Arabs retreated back to North Africa, and that sign is one of their many means of calibrations; to be honest I do not blame them.

To get acquainted you have to kiss on the cheeks
At night we went clubbing in the beach clubs that are open only on the weekend; four adjacent, open air clubs. It is open for all ages; no restrictions, so long you pay for your drink, they don’t care how old you are, and the people are wild. And as we were enjoying our drinks and the music, a guy approached me and said ;” hola, guapa” so I replied :” hola” he introduced himself and asked me about my name, then he pointed to his cheeks for a kiss on each side, and because I did not want to seem impolite I gave him a kiss on each cheek, he started uttering some words in Spanish which I did not understand and I looked toward my Spanish friend for help and she was giggling out loud and asked me if I was interested in him, I answered her that I wasn’t so she said then you do not need my help, it was her scheme to dismiss whoever was not wanted and it worked. But this is not the point, this guy left after giving up on me because of the lack of communication then another one approached and did the exact same thing, I looked toward my Spanish friend and said: “what is it with the kiss on the cheeks?” she giggled and told me that this is the way people get acquainted here, each introduce themselves and then give a kiss on the cheeks, well, you learn something everyday

24/7/2005
The weather is awesome, it is meant for lovers and love, lover birds cuddling and kissing all around me on the long stretch of the beach, and although I cherish my privacy and love being single, at these times I wish I had a lover. I think it’s the atmosphere. Good looking single guys are also available like dime a dozen, they look more Italian than Spanish because most of the locals in this area descend from Italian origins but too bad I’m not the summer love type of girl, the most I can offer is a kiss on the cheek LOL, so I guess there isn’t much luck for me here (sigh).
I terribly miss Useless !!

Pictures Pictures and more Pictures are yet to come