Open for business

This “abre facil” is anything but.  It translates as “easy open” but really means “pull and swear until the bag bursts open and throws muesli all over the kitchen”.  I just want to try what is inside without the extra crunch of dirt from the floor. I must have missed the lesson on how to open breakfast when I was in school.

After spending the month of August on vacation, Valencia is open for business again.  Doors have been rolled up and gates pulled back to reveal restaurant life and a consumers paradise of shops and boutiques.  While Valencianos might be lamenting the return to work and school, we joyfully wave goodbye to the construction remodelers and await the unveiling of new facades and menus as well as new opportunities to burn euros.

School also starts in Valencia this week and uniformed kids line the streets.  Rebecca’s uniform consists of pink polka dot shorts and a grey top and looks a lot like what she wore to bed last night.  Online school is nice, but it has its cons.  Today Rebecca's L.A. lesson included the line “may a drunk soil your festive robe with vomit”, while Sammie’s Spanish lesson required her to learn (in English) the ingredients of mofongo, a Puerto Rican rice dish.  Typically a supporter of public education, sometimes I question the approach of the American school system, as each day it gets harder to answer the question “do we really have to learn this?”

Life here is on the streets, in the cafés, and along the río Turia, and there is so much to learn by exploring.  Math can be learned from converting dollars to euros and Spanish by speaking with our neighbors.  Opening Google does not open our minds, and life itself is the best education.  Learning is not memorizing answers but solving problems.  Like how to open breakfast without making a mess. 

A museli-free meal a the new café by our house