Friends
Well I've been back in Europe for almost 2 weeks now. I really had a lot of mixed emotions about coming back. Not many people will be sympathetic about this, but a major downside of travelling and living overseas is that your friends -- people you care about -- tend to be really spread out. I mean, it's great to have friends all over, and I absolutely cherish the ones that I do have. But it also means that wherever you are, a lot of your friends are far away.
So in short, I'm psyched to get to see all of my friends here in Europe, but I miss the people I've left behind, and if you think I mean Tara then you're right.
Still, it was really nice getting such a warm reception back here in Madrid. From the airport, I went to pick up my car and then straight to the office to meet Manolo, Dani, Noe, and Jorge for lunch. It was my first time back on "Yahoo territory" since I quit, and it was super to see everybody again.
But the timing for my trip back to Madrid had a lot to do with a visit I got from my oldest and dearest friends, Scott and Tanya (seen above, pictured on my living room sofa), who scheduled a few days here on their way back to the states from Morocco.
"I am not your guide. Looking is for free."
Aside from just being great, loving friends, Scott and Tanya are always very entertaining, and it appeared that Morocco provided them with great material. It seems that on the streets of Morocco, "guides" assign themselves to you, and that it's a major breach of protocol to ask for assistance from someone who is not your "guide." Thus, "I am your guide" and "I am not your guide" were common refrains from the locals there. I have to trust that their rendition was not quite as, erm, interesting as hearing Scott singing "I am not your guide" after waking up with a hangover.
Shangri-La For The Gluten-Intolerant
Given that I had just recently arrived back from the US and that I wasn't fully up-to-date on the needs of my guests, we spent our first afternoon on a little shopping mission. Tanya, as it happens, has an allergy to wheat gluten -- which basically means that most breads and bread products, and many things that we generally take for granted, are off-limits. And the grocery store I chose was not exactly helpful, as it had absolutely no special products to meet Tanya's needs.
At dinner that night, however, Noe mentioned to Tanya that El Corte Ingles (which, according to Manolo, does approximately 99.9% of all the eh-fucking retail business in eh-Spain) has a large selection of such products. Scott and Tanya went down there in the morning, and let's just suffice it to say that I had to loan them an extra suitcase to take all of the special gluten-free products home. In Spain -- who knew?
A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss
I had an absolutely wonderful time with Scott and Tanya, and was sorry to see them go. So sorry, in fact, that the prospect of a less-exciting week in Madrid led me to choose a whirlwind trip to London.
Last Monday was my friend Jason's birthday, and so I figured it would be nice to make a visit up there and spend the night with him and some other old friends from London. We went out in the West End, and even managed to make some firm plans for a forthcoming trip to Scotland before alcohol and my standard case of party narcolepsy kicked in.
I also got to hang a bit with Alick, who won't be in London the next time I'm there because he's representing Yahoo as an ambassador for the company at the World Cup in Japan this month. Those of you who know Alick as I do hope and trust that he will show the Japanese what a real English football hooligan is.
On top of that, I managed to spend some time with Dana and Denis. I've commented to some of you over the years that I could make a business translating the English tourist menus at continental European restaurants into English. Well, Denis just became a partner in my favourite restaurant in Paris, and is re-doing the menu with his friend Laurent, so I got to sit with Dana, the menu, and the Larousse Gastronomique and see how I would do. Once we sorted out that Tête de Veau is the same in English as in French, I think we got it put together well. Shannon joined us for a wonderful dinner and some great conversation, and with that I put the London voyage to bed.
Next moves:
My big Euro-roadtrip begins this week, so it's off to Paris on Sunday, then up to Scotland via London next weekend.
Until next time...
--Andrew