Rodriguez
Ever seen the Seven Year Itch with Marilyn Monroe? The basic premise of the movie is that in New York during the 60s (50s?) all the housewife's went off to the countryside for the hot summer leaving their husbands behind to work.
Well, like many things in Spain, that sort of thing still happens here, for a variety of reasons. One, there's a ton of vacation time mostly centering around August and despite the fact that it's usually damn hot here in the Summer, many people still don't have air conditioning (which is considered a luxury). Though nowadays, most families consist of both Mom and Dad working like in the U.S., it still happens that Dad is left back in the City for a bit while Mom and the fam go off to the in-laws. That's what I'm doing right now, and in Spain they have a name for it: A "Rodriguez". God knows where the name comes from - probably some popular movie, book or TV show that I'm not aware of. I just went downstairs to the little corner supermarket and after a few of the clerks asked me about the little one and I said they were down at the grandparent's on vacation, I got the customary response of something like, "Oh! Pulling a Rodriguez, hey?". Yep. That's me. Let the hijinx begin.
I spent the first part of the week down at my in-laws before deciding to head back to Madrid for a few days to get some work done and finish some paperwork at the Embassy (for Ana's visa stuff). The AVE bullet train makes the trip - which is the same distance from SF to LA - really quick and relatively cheap (20� one way). The city is DEAD right now. Incredible. It's quieter here than in Ana's parent's little town - which is filled to the brim with teenagers with purposefully loud moterbikes and a police force that's either too lazy, incompetent or ignorant to do anything about the noise.
Anyways, not only is it quiet (which is perfect for productivity), it's also HOT. WELL over 40C/103F for weeks now. *I'm* not hot because we have A/C in Madrid, but the city is damn hot. It's actually even hotter at my wife's parents place because they're in the middle of a desert and have no A/C. Even the nights are hot, though they are rather enjoyable as even at midnight the entire town is out in the central square with their kids enjoying the relatively cool evening and having a drink or two or just taking a stroll. Small town Spain is definitely nice, especially in Summer. About an hour south of their town is Seville, which last week recorded the hotest temperature ON THE PLANET. Something like 54 degrees celcius. Insane.
Anyways, I'm spending a couple days here and then going back down to join Ana and fam. It sorta drives me a bit nuts because it's not like *I* need a vacation after "working" at home for the past 3 months... We'll see how it goes.
-Russ