A Birthday Abroad

As much as I hate the rollover of the number associated with a birthday, I am quite fond of the day itself and like to spend it doing something fun. Being alone in a foreign country, however, makes that a little trickier than usual as one probably doesn’t have many other people to help celebrate it. Granted, Facebook is very good at reminding all my online friends and family that it is my birthday and there definitely wasn’t a shortage of birthday wishes (and I thank you all!). It is, however, a little different in real life. Fortunately for me (and you … since this story is not going to be a sad one, after all 🙃) I have finally made a new friend!

When I first met the Valencian AirBnB host she mentioned that there was a Polish woman who was also staying here; that got me quite excited since I knew, if nothing else, we would have being Polish in common, and that may just be enough to start a friendship. I don’t normally base my friendship just on sharing a heritage, but when you’re this far away from home, any connection, however small, is welcomed. The hostel may not have a good lounge area but it does have a dining room set up with a large TV and the chairs are comfortable enough to spend time working at the table. Since bumping into other guests here is pretty much impossible (I never saw a soul other than the cleaning staff for days), I thought if I plant myself in a public space like the dining room I should be able to spot whoever comes and goes on the off-chance one of them will be the Polish lady. Sure enough, on the first day of my plan I heard the front door open and a young woman came charging in. Hoping I had the right person I said “Cześć” (hi in Polish) and almost startled her into a heart attack 🙂 I turns out that my floor-mate is Ewa, from Olsztyn, in València to study Spanish for 8 months. Her classes are every day, from 10am to 2pm, so she has quite a bit of time every day to enjoy the city. After chatting with her only a little I knew right away we would be friends.

The first time we could spend a little more time was yesterday, the day before my birthday. We went out for breakfast at my favourite little place, spent over 2 hours just sitting there chatting while enjoying the sun, and then a few more hours just walking around the neighbourhood (Cabanyal) and talking. Ewa does speak English though it is much easier for her to speak Polish and since I do understand it, I let her. I, on the other hand, have had to wake up an awful lot of brain cells that have been dormant for many years to respond in that language. Add to that the need to switch to Spanish when talking to locals, my brain has had to work really hard lately, at least when it comes to languages. Ewa tells me my Polish is very good, but all I can think of is how many words don’t come to mind when I need them and also how many I simply don’t have. My vocabulary, don’t forget, is technically of a 13-year-old and the world has changed a lot since then. Undeterred, and with much encouragement from Ewa, I manage to somehow still communicate in all my languages, but I’m sure Mom is secretly very pleased I’m using Polish a lot. We should both be practicing our Spanish but that has proven impossible. Using one’s native (AND common) language is like the lowest common denominator — communication is always reduced to it.

Meeting Ewa when I did was very fortuitous and meant that I just may not have to spend my birthday alone and I asked her if she’d go for dinner with me on Sunday. Not only did she say “yes”, she was also able to ask at her school where we could go: having recommendations from locals is always so much better than picking places at random. Our choice was a place called El Molinon in the Old Town, but since they don’t open for dinner until 8:30pm (yeah, I know, right?) I had to have other plans for the day.

In the morning I took myself out for a nice breakfast, and then I headed for l’Oceanogràfic (the aquarium), the ticket for which I got a few days ago. Unfortunately for me, however, all of València decided to be my best friends today and joined me there too. I should have known that a discounted ticket would draw a crowd but just how huge a crowd it was going to be I had not anticipated. Having a ticket pre-bought I was able to get in rather quickly, but once inside I realized that nothing I wanted to see was going to take less than an hour (or more) to actually see. I thought of sneaking in to the dolphin show but that was already full an hour and a half ahead of showtime. The line to get in to see the sharks was at least 200 people that I could see but I’m sure there were more in the underground corridors also waiting. Resigned, I took a few pictures, sat in various spots watching the human animals on display (quite fascinating at times), and not before long gave up. Knowing how amazing this place is, however, I vowed to come back and soon.

Later in the afternoon, Ewa and I met to go out on the town. We had to take the metro to Ciutat Vella but first I had to teach her how to use the tram. Ewa had been taking the metro but never before experienced the joy of the above-ground version. I’m sure she enjoyed the whole two stops, lol. When we got into town she became my guide, as that was an area she’s already quite familiar with. We had plenty of time so we got off the metro at Xativa station, close to the train station València Nord, and next to the imposing building that houses València’s bullring. It has been a while since I’d seen so many people on the streets, especially on an early Sunday evening, and had it not been for the masks it would have felt practically normal. As it was, I was just so happy to be out with a friend on my way to what I hoped was going to be a yummy dinner.

On the way there, Ewa introduced me to another new spot: Plaça de l’Ajuntament: the place where the city meets. This is the place you name when you’re meeting up with friends or family to go out and do stuff. It seems all leisure life starts here so all you have to say is “ok, let’s meet at 7pm at Ajuntament” and everyone knows what that means. Until very recently cars were allowed on the plaza but now only a small part is open to motorized traffic making the whole place not only easier to navigate on foot but it is also much easier to spot your date. The main building dominating this space is Ajuntament de València, or València’s City Hall, which is lit up in the evenings. It and most of the other building around the plaza are examples of typical neoclassical and baroque styles with some modernisme thrown in, and most of them make you wish you could have one of those amazing apartments. Sadly, most are hotels or office buildings so there is little chance of that. A large portion of the plaza is a wide open space with what appear to be stalls around the perimeter. Later I discovered that most of the kiosks are flower shops, a tribute to the flower market previously located in this place before the rebuilding of the plaza in the 1930s and being driven underground. There is also a statue of some dude whose importance seems to be in question and a fountain: both easy markers for meeting places.

We made our way north from there through the narrow streets of Ciutat Vella to find El Molinon. It was still closed, of course, so we found a place nearby to hang out and watch the people come out. Yes, everything you’ve ever heard about Spanish nightlife is true: everyone–young, old, singles, couples, families, friends–comes out, starting around 6pm, and starts to pasear, or stroll through the neighbourhoods, most often to find a place to eat and/or drink, often to shop, and really just do a walkabout. It does help that the weather is so damn nice, even late into the evenings, and staying inside just seems like a waste of time (unless you’re doing so in order to write a blog, like yours truly).

As soon as El Molinon opened its doors we were ready. It’s not a big place, with only a few tables … I’m sure it used to be more packed but with restrictions on seating capacity, they have fewer tables than BC (before Covid). Inside, the first thing I noticed were big wicker baskets of what looked like homemade bread, big round loaves of it. Instantly I knew we were in the right place. It wasn’t easy picking dishes because they seemed to have so many that looked delicious but we settled on some pan-fried setas (mushrooms), a classic ensalada tomato (salad with tuna), sepia (cuttlefish), and morcilla (blood sausage). Fortunately the yummy bread was also included and it tasted as good as it looked. We barely got any photos … it’s really difficult to remember to take out your phone when the food looks so inviting. For dessert we tried a couple of different cakes: Ewa’s was apple, I think, and mine pumpkin … an homage to the Canadian Thanksgiving I was missing. All in all, this was an amazing meal and I was very glad I could share it with someone.

Since it was my birthday, I thought it would be fun to call home from outside the restaurant. At first I chatted with Adrian, who was very sleepy, as always on a Sunday and totally understandable! Then I called Mom and Dad who I knew were having lunch with Ori so I could catch them all together. It was nice to not only speak to them all but also be able to show them the sights of Valencia. We talked as I walked back to Plaça de l’Ajuntament (while trying not to trip on the uneven sidewalks) and there they got a good look not only at the cool buildings but also at the nightlife.

It was really a very special evening and I am very glad I could share it with my family and a new friend. Life is good.