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Back Home in our Pajamas

by Jeni Martinez | Oct 18, 2024 | Food, Friendship, Language, Moving Home, Relationships, Travel, Yoga

The number one question I’ve been asked this month is, “What’s it like moving back to the USA?” Most people seem surprised by my answer. I feel like I’m back home wearing pajamas! Two weeks ago, Rocky, Wilma and I flew out of Madrid,...

Connecting From The First Bite

by Jeni Martinez | May 26, 2024 | Family, Food, Japan, Language, Love, Travel, Yoga

“Food is everything you are. It’s an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.” Anthony Bourdain Would it surprise...

Returning to the PNW like the Salmon

by Jeni Martinez | Feb 12, 2024 | American Yogi in Spain, Americans in Gijon, Ex-pats in Spain, Family, Friendship, Language, Love, Relationships, Retirement, Spain, Travel

Like the fall-run Chinook Salmon which spend 3-4 years in the ocean before migrating to their spawning grounds in the fall, Rocky and I will be returning to the Pacific Northwest at the end of September. While we do not plan to spawn or die right away on our return,...

Rain Rain Fall Fall

by Jeni Martinez | Dec 7, 2023 | Aging, Alzheimer's, American Yogi in Spain, Americans in Gijon, Ex-pats in Spain, Language, Travel

The rain was coming down hard on Monday, hitting the windows of the classroom and creating a waterfall down to the sidewalk.  I was sitting at a long table, watching my teacher write hiragana (Japanese characters) on the chalk board. Since it was my first class at...

When I’m Sixty-Four…

by Jeni Martinez | Nov 12, 2023 | Aging, Food, Friendship, Health, Hiking, Kindness, Language, Letting Go, Life and Death, Love, Travel

My high school boyfriend and I used to sing “When I’m Sixty-Four” by the Beatles. At the time, the lyrics had us imagining that we might have a long and happy life together. Of course sixty-four seemed ancient and so far in the future that we also...

Healing a Broken Heart

by Jeni Martinez | Feb 14, 2023 | American Yogi in Spain, Americans in Gijon, Ex-pats in Spain, Family, Health, Hiking, Language, Life and Death, Love, Relationships, Spain, Travel, Yoga

This year Valentine’s Day is not only a day to exchange boxes of chocolate and read the sweetest love poem that Rocky wrote for me in Spanish, but a chance to express my gratitude for a mostly-healed heart. Last September, while leading our Spain Hiking &...
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