9 March, 2025

It’s been another quiet week in Valencia.

We have had an unusually wet week with so much rain that that they issued flood warnings and closed schools Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That meant that my school moved to online classes. And because I’ve still been recovering from this tenacious cold, I was able to attend classes online those three days this week.

Another visit to the doctor this told me that I’m fine. It wasn’t what I expected to hear. She told me this bug will just take time. So, I continued to try to be patient.

By Saturday, I was starting to feel a little better.

I had a couch surfer arrive today (Sunday). Ilya is an attorney from Warsaw Poland. He arrived and promptly took a nap and I went to my first Maskleta of the year. It was the first time in three weeks that I went anywhere other than the doctor.

You may remember that Fallas is the annual huge festival in Valencia and lasts from March 1-19. Each day at 2:00 pm, they host a Maskleta in the City Hall Plaza. These 5-8 minute daytime fireworks displays are mostly about crowds, noise and explosions.

So, I met Vicente and his friend Tom who was visiting from the UK.

The Maskleta was as fun as ever.

Vicente had to meet some clients later and to be honest, I was feeling exhausted. So, after the short venture into the crowds and back among the living, I returned home and rested.

Later in the afternoon, I met Ilya and we went to a community band concert at the Les Arts symphony hall.

I came home again feeling exhausted and called it an early evening.

My plan is to go to school for the first time in three weeks tomorrow. It’s also Fallas and I really want to start enjoying more of the celebrations. Wish me health and strength.

I wish the same for you.