LIVING FOREIGN

 

LIVING FOREIGN

‘Living Foreign', 'Going Native’ – expats had various epithets, some of them very impolite, for anyone who chose to embrace local life and customs.

Babs didn’t care what they thought – she had come abroad to experience a new culture, not to create a patch of England with added sunshine.

The local fiesta was a wonderful event, and when her neighbour Constancia offered her a costume she wore it with pride. She hung the customary wreath of almond blossom on the door before she climbed onto the float, waving happily at the astonished, and slightly envious, expats in the crowd.

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When I lived in Tenerife I joined in the fire-building and fun at the annual Dia de San Juan, although I was a bit too nervous - and too creaky - to risk jumping over the flames. There were many fiestas: each town celebrated its own saint, and our local school held processions around our small town. The children were from many different countries, all of them had learned to speak Spanish quickly as that was the language they were taught in, and therefore the cheering crowds of parents and friends were a grand mixture of nationalities. 

Thanks to Dale Rogerson for the picture and to Rochelle  https://rochellewisoff.com/ for keeping this group going for so long. Without her weekly photo prompt I might have given up writing altogether when my life hit a rough patch. Instead of which, with FF and Twitter - @young_liz - keeping me ticking over, I have just begun resurrecting a novel I abandoned two years ago. Watch this space!