Welcome...and the long, slow goodbye to San Francisco.

Welcome to The Cubicle Escape! Where to start? I guess I should give a little background on how this site came to be…

Most recently, I lived in San Francisco…for three years back in 2002 and again starting in 2010 for a total of 8 years altogether. The first time around, I adored it…I cried every time I had to leave it to go home for holidays, etc. The second time around…not so much. The difference between 2002 and now is mind-boggling and not in a good way. I thought I would love it just as much the second time around and didn’t have a plan B in case I didn’t. I spent the past 6 years in a sort of “stages of grief” process in regards to the city…in denial that it was changing so much, angry that it was, and then accepting that it was no longer the place for me. I won’t get into the reasons why because there are so many…ridiculous cost of living, dirty, crowded, noisy, etc.

Don’t get me wrong…there were a lot of good times there and some of my dearest friends still live there and I still miss it from time to time. Things like the sheer beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands, the Victorian houses, wine tasting in Napa and Sonoma, the memories of the Giants winning three World Series championships while I lived there and so on. However, it came to a point where while it was nice to be financially secure, the quality of life benefits of living there was definitely skewed in the wrong direction. Plus, going to a job that I no longer found fulfilling in order to finance that lifestyle wasn’t worth it anymore.

​So, one random post about teaching English abroad way back in 2013 later and now I’m in Madrid. It took me awhile to get here…mostly because that whole denial thing about leaving the Bay Area, but I’m here now and so far, so good. The Spanish way of life, and European life in general, is much different than the rat race of the Bay Area. I’ve come here with no expectations that Madrid will be my final stop as far as a place to live forever…I don’t want to put those expectations on it like I did for San Francisco. For now, I’m here and thoroughly enjoying this new way of life, learning Spanish, teaching and traveling around Europe.