Blog Post  Sunday 10 November, 2024

This is the hardest blog post I have written. I will tell you about my last two weeks in the U.S. I will tell you about the flooding in Valencia. But after much writing and thinking and praying and wrestling, I have decided not to comment more on the election. I’m sick and tired of giving him any more attention. I’m devastated. Truly crushed. I’m grieving. If you want to know more, I’ll send you the full, unedited blog post. Send me an email. Please DO NOT respond in the blog post!

And it’s not all pain…

Travel to the United States

I’m home in Valencia after more than two weeks in the United States. I had a great trip (except for the obvious). Honestly, between the joys of seeing people I love and the floods in Valencia and the election results. I’m exhausted! What an emotional roller coaster!

To be honest, I was feeling nervous about going back to the US. This was my first trip there since arriving in Spain on December 30, 2023.  Ten months!  Would it feel different? Would I feel like a foreigner? Would it feel so good that I would decide to move back?

Often people ask me, “What is the thing you miss the most about living in the United States?”  They are usually asking about food or cultural differences. My answer is always the same, “the thing I miss about living in the US is my friends. I love my country. It’s the people who make it great.” (That’s not intended to be a political statement…but take it as you will.)

On Wednesday 23 of October, I flew from Valencia to Madrid, Madrid to London, London to Denver. I arrived in Denver and spent the night at the home of my friends Kelly and Ray. It was like I hadn’t left at all! 

I had dinner with my friend MK and then flew to Boise on Thursday, the 24^th.  My friends Glen and Caile met me at the airport and welcomed me to their beautiful home. The first thing I noticed in both Denver and Boise was that I hadn’t missed Fall. Usually, the leaves are gone by the end of October. The leaves in both cities were just reaching their peak. It was beautiful!

Glen is also my financial advisor. We met and confirmed that when the time comes, I can plan to live in Spain for the long-term with the combination of my Social Security and Savings. Great news!

I spent much of the weekend there with my friends Tom and Alice.  Tom was in a rehab center after suffering numerous health issues. I was able to help Alice with a few small house projects and spend time with Tom in his hospital room. The good news is that they seem to have found the cause of some of his problems and as of the last report, he’s feeling better and stronger.

It was great seeing old friends, including Eric and Dan (whom I last saw this summer in Bilbao Spain), and running into Linda and Heather, and Carmine and Doug.

I flew back to Denver on Monday the 28^th of October.

It was great being with Kelly and Ray, seeing Kelly’s dad Jim, her kids Kate and Mike (I missed seeing Liz). Kelly and Ray provided a wonderful, comfortable and relaxing home. Mike and Kate fixed a delicious dinner of stuffed squash. Kelly handed out Halloween candy and I felt like I was home.

My friend Sue hosted a cocktail reception with many of our mutual friends. They brought appetizers and snacks of “American foods” i.e. Pigs in a Blanket, meatballs, crackers with Cheez Wizz and more!  It was a lot of fun!  That so many people came to be together and welcome me home…well, I left feeling very loved!

That night, I went to dinner with my friends John and Jon. A delicious dinner of beef stew and amazing cocktails filled my heart and soul, even with John’s mischievous sense of humor!

By Wednesday, the 30^th of October, I began seeing and hearing news of the devastating DANA floods in Valencia province.  The images we all have seen of water carrying cars through the streets, then piles of cars, then mud in the streets is overwhelming. (More on all of this later). My friend Martin had been checking on my apartment and confirmed that all was dry here. The worst damage was outside of the city of Valencia and in the towns around the city.

A breakfast with Jyll, a lunch with Mike, and a breakfast with Sue, CJ and Julie added to my time with friends and loved ones in Denver.

On Friday, I rented a car and drove to Larned, Kansas to spend the weekend with Mom and my brother Joel. One cool thing about that trip, when I booked the car rental, every company in Denver wanted $450-$500 for a four-day rental of their cheapest Hyundai, Toyota or Ford.  I found a company that is common in Europe, Sixt. They have a location in the Cherry Creek Mall and for $340 provided me with a new BMW 330i.  My drive to Larned was long…but it was comfortable!

On Saturday, Mom and I spent the day going through papers and photos, finding things that may help with my exploring citizenship through my great grandparents who immigrated to the US from Slovakia/ Hungary.  It was a fun day remembering family that I never knew and updating details on Ancestry.com.

Sunday should have been a good day…but politics entered the picture. Enough said.

So, on Monday, I got up, my brother wouldn’t talk to me. I had breakfast with Mom and drove back to Denver.

From Monday to Thursday, I stayed with my friends Ken and Pab who had come to visit this summer in Valencia. They are delightful hosts and have a beautiful home near the Denver Botanic Gardens.

The rest of my visit to Denver was focused on time with friends. Dinner with Tom and Kris, breakfast with Karla, lunch with Paul, visit with Susan, lunch with Marilyn and two dinners on Wednesday evening, first with Jack and Micaela and then with Pab and Ken at the Mile High Club at the Denver Country Club. That proved to be an especially fun evening. The speaker gave a powerful and hopeful talk on Climate Change and growing technologies to provide alternatives to carbon emissions. I also saw my friends Jack and Greg, another Greg, and Miles there.

Of course, the election proved to be heartbreaking. Truly. I joined MK and Hope to watch the early returns. By 9 p.m., MK took me home and I went to bed, not feeling very optimistic. I woke up at 4 a.m. to go to the bathroom. I told myself, “Don’t look at your phone.  Don’t look. Go back to sleep. Don’t look.” So, I looked. Trump was declared the winner.  I immediately emailed my attorney in Valencia and said that instead of renewing my student visa, I want to pursue a path to permanent residency in Spain through a “non-lucrative”/ retiree visa.

It had started to snow on Tuesday evening and by Wednesday, the ground was covered. The snow continued. It seemed that I would get the best of fall and a good taste of winter in my short visit to the US. And maybe, just for a brief time, the beauty of the snow could cover the dark stain of the previous day.

After breakfast with Karla, I had time to stop by the mall. I had an hour or two with nothing to do. So, I returned a Skype call with my friend Medi in Paris about an event he’s planning there this coming Easter.

And I received a desperate message from my friend Isabel, who lives just outside of Valencia in Paiporta.  She was looking for help after watching her two friends get swept away and drowned in the floods. She and her 83-year-old father had lost everything in their ground floor apartment. I sent a message to some mutual friends asking one of them to check on her.  I stopped to look at boots that could be worn to dig through mud so I could help when I got home…I wept as I tried them on and in the end, they were over-priced and did not fit at all.

My lunch with Marilyn provided a beautiful image of hope at a time my heart was feeling despair. In the snow on her deck, the geraniums still bloomed!

By late in the day, I received a voice mail message from my friend Arl. He had called Isabel. She was fine. Her father found refuge with friends in Bilbao. She has food, water and a place to stay. Her one request: “Send tractors to get this mud-covered furniture and cars out of our streets.”  I cried with relief and sadness.

On Thursday morning, Pab got up in the middle of the night (bless her!) to take me to the airport for my early flight…from Denver to Charlotte. Charlotte to Madrid.  Madrid to Valencia.

Even on the long journey from Denver to Spain, I continued to receive messages of hope.

I arrived home at 9 a.m. on Friday morning and my English student, Ukranian refugee, Dima picked me up at the airport and drove me home.

While I was in Denver, I received a couch-surfing message from an Italian physician looking for a place to stay for he and two others from Friday to Monday, so they could come help with flood relief. I immediately said, “yes!”  I was excited to get home and get the apartment prepared for three guests.  I could do something tangible to help! Sadly, at the last minute, they cancelled, having found a friend to host them.

It’s good to be home!

I took a bus on Friday to a get blood work done. As we drove around the city, I was struck by the number of volunteers, wearing boots, carrying shovels, brooms, mops and buckets. The people of this city are not relying on their government to clean up after the flood. They’re doing it!

Later in the day, I visited with my friends Martin and later with Rafa. Both asked if I’d be interested in helping with flood cleanup. I quickly said, “Yes!” Hopefully, in the coming week, I’ll be able to share some of that.  I know the community has rallied with volunteers and donations. I’m not sure exactly what I can do that will be of help but I’m ready to do whatever I can.

So, I’m home, working on moving forward.

More on the Valencia Floods

The floods killed 215 people in Valencia Province. As of this writing, dozens are still missing. Nearly 100,000 cars were destroyed. They continue to find bodies in waters and beaches around the city. Some areas received as much rain in 8 hours, as they do in a full year.

The weather authorities issued repeated warnings about dangerous rain coming and the local government officials refused to issue evacuation orders.  They told kids to stay in school and businesses to stay open.  When they issued the first alarms, the floods were already pouring through the city streets.  After the floods, the local authorities first refused help from the Spanish government, from other cities and from other countries.

Here’s the thing. The flood damage was the result of politicians choosing to ignore the warnings of experts: to reinforce the river and dredge it so that it can drain properly, because a heavy rain will come and do immeasurable damage. They refused.  Hundreds are dead.  More are missing.  And thousands have lost everything they own.  The politicians were slow to act, slow to respond and as I write this 130,000 people are holding a massive demonstration in front of City Hall, calling for the resignation or dismissal of the president of the local government.

Election

At this point in the blog, I literally wrote pages about my reaction to the election of Donald Trump. And as of now, I’m sick and tired of giving him so much attention. If you want to read the blog post in its entirety, send me an email and I’ll send it to you.

Jim, are you staying in Spain?

As someone who is living in Spain, I feel the need to say the following, as well.

I moved here in late 2023, long before the 2024 election. I did not flee the US.  I pursued a dream that preceded the political assent of Donald Trump.  As long as I stay here, (despite my initial reaction and email to my attorney) I am not staying away because of who occupies The White House. There are many things I love and many things I despise here, just like the US.  I am loving my life here, but I will always be an American. I still pay taxes in the US. I still vote.  I am still affected by and care about the policies of the US government.

And yes, I believe Valencia is my long-term home, for the foreseeable future. As of now, my student visa expires on the 2nd of January. I’ll keep you posted as I navigate that.

And if you are tempted to move overseas because you don’t like Trump, think long and hard about it.  I encourage not to run from anything, to stay and engage.  If you want to pursue a different quality of life, think about what you will gain and what you will lose.  When you have calculated the advantages and disadvantages, then you might choose to pursue a new life in a new country…moving toward your dream, not away from anything or anyone.

As always, thank you for reading.