TONGUE PRO
Living with PMLE
True, it was life changing, no use denying that - but it was a change for the better, not for the worse.
"It"... being the sudden outbreak and diagnosis 2 years ago of PMLE, which for the sake of ease I always just call "my sun allergy". In my specific case it's one with a high risk of skin cancer, so the sun is a No No Go.
Sun allergy... in southern Spain!
What was life going to be? A combination of a Rubik's Cube and a quarantine?
"My life here is over", I thought (for an hour).
Turns out there's at least no risk whatsoever for my sunny, outgoing character, or my attitude of "problems are there to use".
Any possible worry I might have had to become that pale person among the millions of beach bums, it didn't last long: seems that being an active person, and having wind through the house, keeps you just as healthy looking as any blushing Scandinavian who never sees the sun.
It was surprising to learn that we actually don't need much sun, and that you learn how to work around it - just as the southern Spaniards do and always did.
Tips for sun allergy in Spain
Early morning walks and late evening walks: the light is best for photography. All of a sudden your photos get a glow. Moreover since you have developped an eye for the play between light and shade.
And at times of rain or wind: nature is at its most vibrant. There are hardly any other people, so there comes the otter, the mongoose, the heron - I was even surprised by a lonely flamingo. Somehow that ended in me learning video editing.
When applying sun screen: it's an ideal moment for a face massage, turning a chore into a very useful moment.
Having to spend a lot of time indoors, means a lot of possibility to learn, study or practise. Personally I picked up Salsa dancing from YouTube; Latin Dance Workouts maintain (or give) your healthy glow, - and made me lose weight, rather than gaining it.
I converted my house into "Little Portugal", in order to learn Portuguese in 2 months.
And that was just one year.
In the second year I have learned everything about rhetoric and speaking in public.
Sure, positivity is incurable, I always instantly spot the sunny side, but even when looking objectively at photos of myself BEFORE and AFTER, it's clear that I look fitter and younger.
Typically Spanish
It made me smile, when I realised that after 20 years in rural Spain, I finally seem to live as the rural Spaniards themselves.
Rising early, a good siesta time (that daily Sunday), blocking the sun left, right and center, or playing with light and shade, loving the narrow alleys, going for a coffee at 7AM when the bars are buzzing, only going to eat or drink or dance or socialize after the sun has set,...
I no longer stand out as a sore thumb either, being lobster red or exagerratedly tanned as the typical tourist or northener. No Bermudas but just, you know, normal, with classical trousers, a white shirt and a straw hat, - like someone who actually lives here, and is not on an eternal holiday.
That performed wonders for my Spanish, which jumped from intermediate to fluency, - because somehow the life rhythm is one in which life is a bath in Spanish, and not the Bable of languages that you hear during the tourist hours.
A long story short: an initial reaction of thinking that I would have to move to the north, - was a short story indeed.