following my star

Road trips and geography lessons have given me ample opportunities to contemplate maps of this knobbly peninsula on the western end of Europe. But because of the overtly Portuguese nature of those road trips and geography lessons, my mental map of Iberia is a bit skewed. In other words, Portugal is there – the major cities (and villages), rivers, monuments of my memories – in my imagination’s equivalent of technicolour. Spain, on the other hand, is exactly as I see it on the weather report every night: the undifferentiated gray blobs of Galicia to the North and…uh, those other regions to the East.

Even I find it stupidly amazing that I have never gone across the border, in so many years of extended stays in Portugal. We’re a skinny country after all – no matter where you are, nuestros hermanos are only ever a couple hours away.

I stared at those letters offering me jobs as a language assistant – one from the Academie de Paris-Versailles, the other from the Direccion Regional de Educacion de Extremadura – for two tummy-twisting weeks. Then one August evening, while watching the weather report, I finally recognized the Spanish offer for what it was.

The Ministry of Education and Culture was holding out the crayons to colour in the grays of my mental map.

And we all know I’ve never been able to resist a new pack of crayons.

So I accepted, at the very last minute, the offer to spend 8 months in a city none of my Spanish or Portuguese friends had ever heard of in the least visited region of Spain. From October 1^st to May 30^th I’ll be working twelve hours a week at two high schools in the fair city of Villanueva de la Serena (pop 20,000) in the region of Extremadura. I fly to Madrid next Tuesday (25^th) for a short orientation course, then hop on a bus to my newest Iberian adventure.

A series of coincidences and lucky breaks have since confirmed that I made the right decision.

- Several bureaucratic stars have aligned and I should (cross body parts of your choosing here) have my European health insurance by next week.

- After technical difficulties buying my ticket online, Vueling rightly refunded the 7 euro service fee I was charged for having to purchase my ticket over the phone (sounds like an insignificant amount, but it’s the principle of the thing – and 7 euros was one-fifth of the ticket price!).

- One of my classmates from my summer course in Lisbon (who happens to be an art teacher from Madrid) has already arranged to see a play with me when I am in town.

- While hanging out with my Portuguese class buddies one night in Bairro Alto I met a guy, randomly at a bar, FROM VILLANUEVA. He went to one of the schools I will be teaching at. He imparted all sorts of wisdom, from things to do in town to which teachers to hang out with.

- I made contact with the assistant whose shoes I am filling, whose overall enthusiasm is contagious. He suggested I look for an apartment in Don Benito, the livelier city next door to Villanueva.

- And then, out of nowhere, I received an e-mail from some woman looking for a roommate for an American girl she has hired to work at her daycare in Don Benito. So while she is finding me and my mystery roommate a place to live, I am relaxing on the beach.

I explain all of this to my cousin Adélia as we watch the sun dip towards the ocean from what I am deciding is my new favourite terrace.

She puts her expresso down and leans far back in her chair for emphasis. “Bolas, a tua estrelinha está mesmo forte! I think I’ve had a fair bit of luck in my life, but your star is shining very brightly indeed.”

She’s right. Minus the small inconveniences of life (having unwittingly demagnetized my debit card, for instance) things seem to be going my way. It would be irresponsible to fly in the face of such luck. As long as this little star of mine deigns to shine, I’d better follow it.

And so with much gusto and reckless optimism, into the grey blob I go!