“Roses, books and lovers: Barcelona is full of them on 23 April. In Catalonia the World Book Day becomes an especially romantic festivity. The people in Catalonia celebrate the day of their patron saint, Sant Jordi, with a curious tradition: a book for the men and a rose for the women”
Funnily enough, the day we celebrated Sant Jordi was quite close to the day I landed in America one year ago.
Looking back, I had no clue of what was waiting for me in this land of Stars and Stripes, so much has happened, and my one regret is that I didn't jot it down on this blog. So since I've decided to stay for another year, let's start now.
Maybe the most unexpected thing from my stay in America was the huge number of Spaniards and Catalans I was able to meet. Maybe it's to be expected if your significant other is Spanish, but I think he was just as surprised about how many were in Silicon Valley.
We were invited to a BBQ to celebrate Sant Jordi that weekend, and of course, to watch the match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. The results had the Catalans in high spirits for the rest of the day.
The house we were in was beautifully furnished, and had the maturity of a couple who had lived there for quite a few years. Most of the people who came were either Spanish or their partners were Spanish. I was completely lost among the frequent exchanges of Spanish, Catalan, and English. And most of the children knew all three.
The more we spoke with them, the more we realized that everyone had gone through the same thing: they loved living in Spain, and planned to go back. The only thing that it couldn't offer were the career opportunities and salaries of Silicon Valley. But in the end, to them, the quality of life is better in Spain.
It made us wonder, is this what we will go through too?
Things don't always turn out as planned after all.
