The reason for the trip back to the US was prompted by Arnaud´s appointment to be sworn in as a US Citizen. Arnaud had returned to the Bay Area twice since our arrival to Spain in order to progress the citizenship attainment process. He had enjoyed those visits and the opportunity to connect with friends. Finally, he was given his sworn in date of December 4, 2007. Now all three of us are US Citizens and two are French. I plan to join Chloé and Arnaud with a French passport in the coming years.
The swearing in ceremony was more moving than I had expected. There were nearly 1, 500 people being sworn in that day at the Masonic Auditorium on California St. in San Francisco. I was touched by the diversity of cultures and races that were represented that day. You don´t have this here in Spain.
In that crowd there were all types of reasons for becoming citizens of the US. There is a marked difference between someone like Arnaud who had gone through this process because of his wanting to have the option of returning to the US and making it home versus someone who has come to the US to flee from difficult political, economical, or social situations. As they called out the various countries that were represented that day, the load rumbles came from China, Mexico, and India. For us, it was a welcome, leisurely experience, for others it was far more critical and this showed in their smiles laced with relief.
After all of the excitement, we were back in Madrid for a few days then off to Normandy. We had a great week in Normandy. Arnaud´s family is quite tolerant of my inability to speak French (one of my new year´s resolution) and it was a cozy time.
New year´s eve was spent at home. Arnaud cooked a beautiful meal complete with a tasty onion soup, smoked salmon and creme fraiche toastettes, and finished off with baked pears in a white chocolate sauce. Yummy! Of course, there were the 12 grapes we consumed while the clock struck midnight. I was happy on that day, but a bit lonely the following morning. For me, this is the most difficult part of being here, those unexpected times when you want to be around those that know you. This is when the distance is difficult to deal with.
Then came El Dia de los Reyes Magos, the feast of epiphany celebrated on January 6th. Here in Spain it is the wise men that deliver the goodies to children and not papá noel. Apparently he´s too busy handling the US boys and girls. Another thing I learned is that since there are not many chimneys around here, if papá noel does come around he tends to climb up to the balconies in order to access the homes. We saw many of these plush figures hanging from people´s balconies in our neighborhood. And it was great to see that the wise men, Los Reyes, also were employing the same tried and true climbing techniques as Santa while they left their camels parked on the street. They must be in great shape, those guys.
