Madrid Redux

I did not expect to be back to this blog. After I left Madrid last June I had thought we had parted ways. But like lost lovers who find their way back into each others life I am here. And I am here in Madrid. This time as a visiting lectured. No longer am I the expatriate find his way in a foreign land trying to grasp a foreign language. Now, I know the town and can reasonably speak the language. Also, when I first came here I did not know anyone, now people see me who remember me and did not know where I went: “¿Dónde has estado? Hace mucho tempo no verte!”.

SInce here is not much employment turnover here (people trying to hold on to the one good job they have) the people at my favorite Starbucks in Principe Pio, or other eateries, are still there and they remember the Black American who spoke Spanish with much gusto, even if not correctly. And the faculty and students at SLU Madrid have been incredible. Old and new alumni seem to know who I am and have made me regret I only have 4 days on the ground here.

I will give one final lecture tonight and then go out for tapas. Something I could not do when Dominique was hear with me. I will eat, talk and laugh and be Spanish for tonight and tomorrow I catch the flight back to my world in the US. With a smile and melancholy sadness that comes from seeing an old friend that you have had to leave much sooner then you wanted to.