Here’s a direct link to Valerie’s story WITH A ROSE BETWEEN HER TEETH, a hilarious take on the expat experience in Spain. Please leave your comments and let Valerie know what you think of the story.

“ ¿A cuanto están?” I ask the younger of the two women standing behind a row of upturned crates piled with higos chumbo (prickly pears). “MaMAAA,” she asks mama, even though they’ve been selling the things all morning, “¿A cuanto están?” “Tres euros la cena,” replies mother in her gardening gloves as she expertly slices [...]

What would you do if someone gave you pumpkins? Soup them? Pie them? Put them away for Halloween? In Spain, you’d probably kick down a door and sulk. Dar calabazas a alguien, to give someone pumpkins, means to reject them, to turn them down. It used to be only hapless Don Juans who got the [...]

Animals ‘speak’ different languages. An English dog responds to “Sit!” a Catalan dog to “¡Seu!” and a Spanish dog to the long-winded “¡Siéntate!” Of course, what they are responding to (or not, as the case may be) is the tone, not the word. My cats don’t care what I call them as long as I [...]

Valerie and Theresa were guests on Andreu Buenafuente’s popular show on La Sexta (Spanish TV Channel 6). Watch the show here.