PARIS!, LOS-ANGELES!, BARCELONA!, PANAMA CITY!, BOCA-RATON: FLORIDA!, PORT-AU-PRINCE: HAITI!, MONTEGO BAY: JAMAICA…!!!
Indeed, as most of my sisters are presently based in different cities in France of which: Paris and Metz, I spent some New Year’s Eves either with them and relatives or they have been coming to spend it at my sister’s home in New Jersey (which is only thirty minutes away by car from New York City). Four years ago, I had to absolutely use my airline ticket which was about to expire as a year was about to reach its end. I had initially purchased my airline ticket, to fly out to witness a cousin’s wedding in Spain. Most unfortunately, a close family member who lived with me at the time, fell ill and I had to attend to her and forego attending my cousin’s wedding. (As an important sidebar note, we MUST always prioritize the family members, relatives and friends we are/and feel closest to over any leisure travel, entertainment & hobbies we had initially planned as one never knows when it sadly is too late…)! I was/and still Very Much Am extremely busy with my various projects and endeavors , that I totally did not pay attention to planning for a new trip with that ticket (as I did in fact travel for work to a few places nationally-within the states). When I realized that the deadline for me to use the mileage for a new trip, a new year was only a month away…!!!
As a very young adult, right out of Undergraduate School in the states with my Bachelors’s degree in Arts & Sciences (as I majored in English & American Litterature with a minor in Social Studies and Latin Languages (Spanish & French) in hand and with the “Cum Laude” Honors, I had already decided that I would spend about a full year in Spain, to really be able to master Spanish absolutely fluently like my oldest sister whom my Dear mother had sent to spend an entire Summer (three months) in Salamanca, Spain so that she could absolutely become fluent in Spanish prior to graduating from high school. (We were living in France at the time and all schools in France offered wither Spanish or German as a second foreign language , starting in the 8th grade since English is still the mandatory first language commencing in the 6th grade). I just cannot type and express here below, how envious I was of my sister when she returned in the Fall, speaking and writing Spanish absolutely perfectly (LOL…)! I guess looking back today that if I was already motivated to become fluent in Spanish like my sister as teenager, my envy and admiration of listening to my oldest sister just talk away in Spanish, most assuredly reinforced my own teenage will! But I do digress here, as I often do on blogs…😉Sorry, I cannot help myself..! Well, the upon obtaining my Bachelors’ degree, graduating and spending that Summer Season with my family in France (as my mother still had an apartment in Paris), thanks to one of my sisters whom she:herself, was preparing to spend a month in Germany, I successfully applied and was accepted to spend almost a full year as an “Au-Pair”/Live-In Nanny and to become one hundred percent fluent in Spanish. I was Oh So Extremely Fortunate to live in Beautiful Majorca, Spain (located in the Balearic Islands) with a couple of two children of whom the father was a sculptor and of whom the mother managed the Art Gallery: “La Galeria Maior” they mutually owned, which was located at the center of the small town: Pollensa in which we lived. Needless to state here that upon the termination of my Au-Pair contract, not only die I accomplish my goal in becoming fluent in Spanish but a hunger to continue to live in another Spanish speaking country, in order to be absolutely certain that I reinforce what I accomplished and that I would furthermore master it for good until the end of my life! Also, one of my sisters came to visit me for ten days from France, at the end of my stay. Together, we went bike riding to explore Pollensa and its surroundings, to a few couple of concerts, to the market, to a couple of art exhibits and dinners with friends and as my sister was dabbling in singing back then and as I had befriended a small group of local musicians, my sister had the opportunity to perform at an exclusive concert that they gave for their friends. (I as well, had my very first opportunity and time to travel and to visit Barcelona with the family for a few days right before Christmas) as I would go to spend the Christmas and New Year Holidays with my own family, in Paris. However, as I was with the family, I did not really get to sightsee Barcelona as I had wanted to. I only remember walking through “Las Ramblas.” (Las Ramblas is the equivalent of New York City’s Park Avenue or as of yet: of Paris “Champs-Elysees.”
INSERT PICTURE HERE from MAJORCA, SPAIN