Cala Ratjada

Mmmm.... Mallorca. Those Germans really know how to do vacations. Mallorca is so popular a vacation destination for my German comrades that it's become a (bad) cliche, but man, is it pretty. Our package vacation included flight from Germany, hotel transfer, room with air conditioning and balcony, two large pools, the Mediterranean sea 2 minutes away, and two amazing seafood-buffet meals per day. The only thing left to decide is which side of my body I want to fry at any given point, and whether to do the tour in the glass-bottomed boat before or after the parasailing and the snorkeling and the cave tour. :-)

That said, um... about half the day I spent thinking "get me out of here!" While I fully endorse Mallorca as vacation-spot extraordinaire, I would put it closer to the bottom of the list of "places to take your Dad for a week." Not that I don't love him - I do, really I do - but man, it's harder to meet people my age with the old man in tow. It's not like I am trying to pick up guys at bars, just, you know, converse with people. It's more difficult to find the right ice-breaker when people are looking at you thinking "Ew, isn't he a lot too old for her?"

Again, I love my dear old dad (and, like my grandma says, I should consider myself lucky that my father enjoys my company enough to want to spend so much time with me)... but we have never been experts at the conversing. He sees the world in black and white: it's all facts and sweeping generalities for him. I prefer nuance and possibility. He sees a field, and suddenly he "understands" everything about the soil, the farmer, the type of energy and irrigation used, what the farmer had for breakfast, which political party she belongs to, etc. Sometimes his ideas are somewhere near the ballpark, and sometimes I have to stifle laughter, but if I voice a contrary opinion or even (*gasp*) happen to know, by virtue of having lived in Europe for longer than he has, that his construction is way off, he just doesn't *hear* it. There is no malice at all behind his selective hearing - it's just that anything that doesn't jive with his worldview gets subconsciously filtered out. This works for short periods of time, but I can't suspend my disbelief for two full weeks. I just can't. And I start to get irritated and then I NEED outside stimulation! I can't talk to just him for this long! I will go nuts! Thankfully so far, whenever I get to this stage, some kind souls do take pity on us and throw a conversational bone my way. So there has been little murder and mayhem. So far.

But oh friends, how I appreciate you and the way you talk to me about the deep things and the way you talk about your feelings and help me to understand things and have nuanced opinions about the world! I love you! I miss you!

P.S. I know: I'm such a tease, promising you a respite from my blatherings, and nonetheless finding an internet cafe every single day. Fools! You're all fools for believing I could wean myself away so easily! Hahahahahaha! (What is up with the exclamation points tonight? It must be the excessive sun. Have I mentioned the weather is amazing and there are beaches many many?)