Yo soy un soñador y tu eres el sueño.
And so it happened that the dreamer returned in the summer and kept this promise. She was hungry to experience the Andalusian summer on her own, even her friends thought she was crazy to go there at that time. But she didn't care, she saw it as a challenge and loved the heat. It wouldn't get any hotter than with her mother in Thailand, she thought to herself, and it was confirmed. She was born for this weather, but unfortunately in the wrong country. Maybe, she thought to herself, this will be my new home. Because one thing was clear since the beginning of her journey in September 2022: she never wanted to live again in the country where she was born.
She celebrated the beginning of summer with the locals in her neighborhood. The Fiesta de San Juan took place on a Friday. There was music, drinks, a lot of dogs, children playing, people dancing and the dreamer felt like one of them. She was not a local neither a Tourist. She was different. There was also a big bonfire where she could watch people throwing little pieces of paper in it - a ritual for good luck. The fire also symbolized the victory over darkness.
While the dreamer was watching the fire, she listened to the conversations around her, which she tried to understand with her limited Spanish. But she also got lost in her thoughts. Was she really here? How did this happen? She felt very grateful for being in this city with witchy vibes, the magical Alhambra, the influence of the Moorish, the Hippies and Gitanos and the nature. All reasons why she fell in love with this city at her first visit.
How witchy and magical this city really was she found out a week later, again on a Friday night.
On the day of Freya, the norse goddess of love and beauty, sex and fertility she witness a magical Ballet Show at the Generalife Theatre of the Alhambra. The ballet dancers moved elegantly and rhythmically to the sounds of Queen and Mozart and this unusual combination made the dreamer cry. She had to cry because she was alone here among strangers and yet happy because she was fulfilling a dream. She cried because she would have liked to share her happiness with a friend or lover. And at the same time she wanted to enjoy the moment all alone for herself. The sunset before the show began. The people who slowly took their seats. The employees who patiently helped the guests. She was an observer and always had been. It was the only way to tell good stories. By watching and listening. Because in the end, she was not only a dreamer but above all a storyteller. Lonely she felt when she cried. She missed a special person who also danced Balet and whom she had to think of especially during the song "I was born to love you".
Bittersweet tears she cried.
***
A few days later she understood her feelings even better because she realized that it was Full Moon and she had her menstruation.
Because of her menstruation, which was particularly heavy this month, she felt very emotional all week. She cried a lot. Sometimes she didn't know why and sometimes it was obvious. She explored her feelings, tried to be kind with herself, booked a massage and when she felt better again, her body wanted to move and needed nature. The dreamer originally only wanted to have breakfast outdoors, but when it became too cold for her in the shade, she decided to go for a walk. The walk turned into a hike and she did not regret it.
She decided to start at Silla del Moro and to explore the area there. In doing so, she met only a few other hikers. Instead, many mountain bikers raced past here and were perhaps surprised to see a young woman on foot in the midday heat. While she slowly put one foot after the other in front of her and surveyed the area, she listened not only to the chirps but also to a podcast about hiking in Europe. She really needed to do a lot more hiking, she thought to herself.
In the dreamer's last week in this magical city, things got even more magical,
can you believe it?
Well one special encounter I must tell you, dear readers, because the dreamer still wonders to this day if it was real. She was sitting on the bus on the way to the outdoor pool when an old woman sat down opposite her. The woman looked at the dreamer, briefly spoke a few words in Spanish, but the dreamer could not answer and did not understand her because she had music in her ear. Before she could react, the woman turned to other people on the bus and started a conversation.
When they got off, the woman spoke to the person sitting behind the dreamer and when she also got off, they were alone on the bus. So the old woman tried to start a conversation with the dreamer again. The dreamer did her best to use the vocabulary she had learned all week, but the old woman gave up. And that's when it happened.
"Caminando,caminando,caminando voy solito
A buscar a mi gitana q lavando esta en el rio!
No puede vivir sin mi
No puedo vivir sin ella
Yo soy el sol q le alumbra
Ella es para mi la estrella
La q alumbra mi sueño!
Ella es mi alegria
Cuando su pelo acaricia mi cara
Y entre mis besos yo me pierdo mirando
Sus ojos negros y yo me vuelvo loco"
She sang. It was a Flamenco Song from the famous Camarón De La Isla. The dreamer knew that song because she had watched a Documentary about his life. The woman kept singing and clapping her hands and between the sung lines, she told the dreamer that she was a flamenco dancer and danced every night in a cave in Sacromonte. The dreamer suddenly understood every word that this old woman exchanged with her and when she said goodbye and got out, the dreamer wondered if the song was a spell.
The highlight of his visit was spending time together at the museum of Federico Garcia Lorca, a famous poet who was also queer, unfortunately one of the reasons he was killed in the Spanish Civil War. They walked through his house and listened to the guide telling about his life. Meanwhile, the dreamer did what she does best: she dreamed of one day having a similar house, with a large desk to write down her stories. She didn't know this poet before she visited the museum, but now she felt very inspired and once again she had to thank her flamenco friend - her muse and biggest source of inspiration.
After his visit, she had only a few days left in this magical city, which she spent mostly reading. She had already read 3 books during her time here and the last book also wanted to be finished. After this very extroverted time, she couldn't think of anything better than relaxing and recharging with a good book on the bed or in the outdoor pool. She also found a second-hand bookstore, which she immediately fell in love with.
During her final days, she was reflecting a lot on her time in this magical and witchy city. Her time was characterized by dance and music - whether at the Festival de Granada and its shows or the Pride Parade, street musicians, Gitanos or older people dancing Salsa in a square on Saturday evenings. Loud music was even playing in the swimming pool and people were happy, singing along and moving their bodies to the Spanish sounds. She loved it! And thought: I never experienced this in my home country. Or can't I remember?
She came to Granada with the intention of improving her Spanish and experiencing a hot Andalusian summer and even if the first one wasn't that successful, she knew it was ok. Because for her the most beautiful language in the world was music which everyone could understand. And as for the heat, let's put it that way, the dreamers spent a week either at home in the cool or in the pool. She survived better than in Thailand at her Mom's place, where she wasn't allowed to swim in the river because of the neighbors.
In Spain she was more free. Maybe that's why she felt so at home here.
***
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