September Curiosities

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• Enrique and I have "re-chosen" Friday, September 7 to celebrate our wedding
• In Latin, septi means seven and septem means seventh; September was also the seventh month of the Roman Calendar until 153 BC.
• September begins on the same day of the week as December every year
• September's flower is the aster or morning glory
• September's birthstone is the sapphire
• In 1752, when the British Empire adopted the Gregorian Calendar September 2 was immediately followed by September 14
• On Usenet, it said that September 1993 never ended (Eternal September)
• September in the Northern Hemisphire is the seasonal equivalent to March in the Southern Hemisphire and viceversa
• Caligula attempted to rename September Germanicus after his father
• September is also the name of a female Swedish singer, author of the dance hit song "Satellites"

Things Happen

Many of you might be wondering about my silent past two weeks. The truth is that as a kind of premonition my last article was about breaking an engagement. The day after that publication I was breaking mine.

As sad as it is it is very difficult for me to make it public. However, I have to do it for two reasons. First of all, I want to say that we are still together and that all the pressure that has been put on us to break our engagement has also made our love stronger —if that was possible at all.

Also, I want to thank my family and friends, who have been beside me these days. I was overwhelmed with calls, with friends taking me out, not leaving me alone one minute, with my family telling me every single moment that any decision I made I would have their support. It’s a pity that sometimes bad things need to happen to make us realize what we have.

Without all of you I would still feel miserable. But I feel really grateful of having you. I can shout out loud that I have the best friends and the best family of the world.

Thank you.

With This Ring I Thee Wed (III)

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Can you imagine receiving a premature engagement surprise? It could happen. It is not that rare that couples break their engagement before getting married. I’ve met a few. Can you think about it? It must be quite tough.

The question that often arises is whether the woman should return the engagement ring. The answer is yes; in fact, women traditionally refuse offers of marriage by refusing to take the offered engagement ring.

It is true that there is a non written rule where gifts may not be revoked; but an engagement ring is the exception that confirms the rule, as it is only a conditional gift. Questioning whose fault was it or why did the break-up occur is irrelevant. The ring will only become property of the woman if and when marriage occurs.

A woman who keeps an engagement ring but doesn’t marry the man could be considered dishonest; in some countries the man could actually hold to the law to get his ring back.

However, what if he breaks-up? Would you return your engagement ring? Depending on the reason I would absolutely justify not giving it back.

What do you think?

I had a farm, in Africa

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There are plenty of places I’d love to visit, in Africa. I’ve only been in Kenia, and that was already 21 years ago, when I was only 6. I can remember some pieces of the journey, like changing a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, recognizing the bones of a zebra, being waked up at 3 o’clock in the morning to watch the elephants drink in the pond or even a swimming pool evacuation when some lions came towards us…lovely for a 6 year old girl but quite scary if you think about it!

Seriously, it was a wonderful trip and would eventually like to repeat it to be able to enjoy it in another way. Nevertheless, as I said, for my honeymoon I’d rather visit a place where neither Enrique nor I have been in, so Kenia should be discarded from my list.

The point is that having enjoyed as I did this trip, going to Africa on my Honeymoon could be a very good idea. However, visiting Africa can be a nightmare if you don’t go in the correct season of the year. According to the Weather Man I will be lucky if Africa is my pick since May is quite a good moment to visit the continent. However, there are some countries where it may be too cold or too wet to go to in May, like Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal or Tanzania among others.

The question is, should we embark us in an exclusive safari in Botswana or would it be better to go to magnificent Egypt? Wouldn’t it be nice to relax in an island like Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius or Reunion? What about exploring the so visited South Arica or discovering the undiscovered Namibia? Can I forget of the colors of Morocco or Tunisia? What about touring the whole continent?

Have you ever been to Africa? Please let me know! And remember, if you vote giving 3 reasons why should I visit any of these countries you could win a beautiful souvenir. Don’t be shy and vote!

Wine Tasting

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Last Wednesday we went to a friend’s house to a Wine and Cheese Party. In other words, 15 people got together with the perfect excuse to get drunk.

Seriously, we thought it would be a good idea to organize a wine tasting evening and in fact we had lots of fun. The bad news is that I discovered that I have absolutely no taste. My partner -whi has asked me to keep his/her identity as a secret- and I obtained 0 out of 25 points. This fact made us, nevertherless, win the consolation prize: a 0,75 € Caprabo* branded white wine bottle.

Will I be able to distinguish a good wine among the huge number of wines that the caterer is going to show me in the following weeks? Well, for those of you coming to the wedding, don’t worry; at least I am happy to say that I have close friends in the alcohol business that will help me to make the correct choice. Thank them for the wine.

*Caprabo is the name of a supermarket in Spain