My Family History and the Charm of My Town: A Personal Journey
My Town and Its History
Hello friend, how are you? The last time I saw you, you were doing very well. How is your family? I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me and how well you behaved at home. On your next vacation, you should come see me and visit my town and the beach where I go swimming.
My town is very pretty. We have about 1,000 people living here. The largest building is the church, and there are two bars. One is popular with young people, where they play modern music. The other is frequented by older people; it’s quieter, and they play board games there.
Roman Roots
My town also boasts Roman ruins, as the Romans were the ones who founded it. Wealthy Roman citizens who lived in Cartagena would spend their vacations here in large houses called villas. My town is near a Roman road where travelers would stop to rest and water their animals. The town grew around this road.
From Romans to Arabs
After the Romans, the Arabs arrived and repaired a Roman water raft, painting it in vibrant colors. My town is called Balsapintada because of that raft.
The Heart of the Town: Our Squares
Balsapintada has four main squares: the Raft Square, the Truck Driver’s Square, the Church Square, and the Plaza de la Virgen.
A Town of Farmers and Truck Drivers
Nowadays, my town is known for its many farmers and truck drivers. For example, my father and two of my uncles are farmers, and my grandfather was as well. Another uncle and two cousins are truck drivers.
Weather and Festivities
The weather here is mild, but it gets very hot and humid in the summer. The people in my town are good and friendly, and the summer festivities are the best in the province! They last for nine nights and ten days in July, and people come together to eat, drink, and dance.
The Nearby Beach Town: Los Alcázares
The beach is nearby, in a town called Los Alcázares, where my family has a house. Everyone from my town goes swimming there. My family has always gone to that beach, and I love it. It’s a quiet place during the day, but at night there are many places to party. Things are less expensive in Los Alcázares than in my town. With a little money, you can have a great time. I know you’ll like it, and I hope you come next summer.
Online Shopping: Convenient But Not For Me
These days, buying online is very easy, safe, and cheaper than buying in a regular store. Years ago, very few people shopped online. I used to think it wasn’t secure, and few people had internet access. There were also very few stores that sold online.
Now, you can save a lot of shopping time by doing it online because you can buy from home and don’t have to go to the store. You can use that time to do other things.
Personally, I prefer to go to stores and see the things I want to buy. Touching, seeing, and smelling the things I want to buy is very important to me. I also think that shopping online is not very safe, and I don’t like it very much.
My Online Shopping Experiences
Even though I feel this way, I have bought things online. Last summer, I bought military equipment online because stores that sell this type of material are far from where I live. Two years ago, I bought two tickets online to see the play The Lion King with my girlfriend. These tickets were very expensive. In the end, I couldn’t go and got my money back online.
The Future of Shopping
I believe that in the future, everything will be bought online to save time, because in today’s society, time is the most expensive and valuable commodity.
My Extensive Family History
My family is very large, and we live in many different places. I was born in Cartagena, and that’s where I feel I belong.
My Mother’s Side
My mother’s family is from Odessa, Ukraine. They toured Europe in the 1930s because they were escaping World War II. They came to Spain, first to Barcelona and then to Madrid. That’s why my grandmother is from Madrid and my grandfather is from Alicante. They met there because my grandfather went to Madrid University. My grandfather’s family is from Catalonia, and my mother was born in Alicante.
My Father’s Side
On my father’s side, my family is from Cartagena and other towns in the Campo de Cartagena. I have lived all my life in a small town in the Campo de Cartagena where some of my relatives live.
A Family Spread Across Spain
For these reasons, my family is spread out across Spain. I have eight uncles and ten cousins. My grandparents have passed away, including my grandmother Catalina from Madrid.
My Relationship with My Parents
My relationship with my parents is very good, except when I was a teenager. I was a bad and angry boy and argued a lot with my father. I did bad things on the street and had many problems. I’m closer to my mother, but my father is not as close. My mother is also more easygoing. I argue a lot with my father because we have the same personality, but I have a good relationship with him too.
Uncovering Our Family’s Past
I know a lot about my family history. I have written about my family’s adventure traveling from Ukraine to Madrid. On the other side of my family, I know that they were fishermen from Catalonia. In the first decade of the last century, they left Catalonia and went to a town in Alicante called El Campello, which is north of Alicante. My great-grandfather was born in El Campello, but he went to Alicante to work. He earned and saved money as a sailor, and with that money, they opened a savory shop in Alicante called Salty Lloret. It’s still open today in the Central Market of Alicante, and my family works there.
My Grandfather’s Story
As I said before, my other family has always lived in Cartagena or in the Campo de Cartagena. My grandfather lived there until he was 18 years old. At that time, the Spanish Civil War began, and my grandfather went to fight in it. He spent two years in the army of the Spanish Republic, and when they lost and surrendered, he was sent to work as a forced laborer in a mine in Africa. He was there for four years, eating only one potato a day. When he returned home, he was called to do mandatory military service and spent another two years with the Spanish army, searching for Republicans who had gone into hiding in the mountains. Then, when he left there, he returned home and married my grandmother, who was ten years younger than him.
That’s almost everything.