So…I really could have done without the orientation in Ciudad Real yesterday (Monday). It was every bit as boring, perhaps even more so, as I was anticipating. We arrived in CR about 9:30 and had an hour to kill so what did we do? We   went for a coffee in the cafeteria, of course! We headed for the auditorium about 10:00 and people were starting to trickle in. We met several people from nearby towns (when I say nearby, I mean about 20-45 minutes away): Tomelloso, Alcazar de San Juan, Campo de Criptana. Hopefully, we can all get together sometime, since we’re all kind of out in the middle of nowhere.

At 10:30, the presenters were still messing with the computer, so we didn’t start exactly on time, but shortly after that we did. I have no words to describe how boring it was; it was all in Spanish, they talked super fast and about education laws and edicts and the Spanish education system in general. I would expect to learn about those things if I were getting a degree in education here, but as a non native speaking assistant, it was WAY too much. Even Rocío and José, our school directors, said it was excruciatingly boring. I was also annoyed that we didn’t have any time to go apply for our NIEs (Número de Identidad de Extranjero aka Alien Resident Card). CR is our nearest office, so I figured they would allow us time to go apply, but no, we were booked the entire day. So now, we get to take the bus/train on our own sometime soon to go back and do that. Come on now, is the killing-two-birds-with-one-stone philosophy altogether dead?

There were, however, two bright spots in the otherwise dull day: 1) I found out there is another American guy coming to Socu! No one is sure when he’s coming because he has encountered problems with the visa process (and before you ask, Dad, exactly what the problem is, I don’t know!) 2) In honor of Columbus/Spain Day, we don’t have school this Friday-Tuesday. We’re hoping to take a trip somewhere, we just aren’t sure yet. At the end of the day, they gave us all a goodie bag (yay!) of info on CR—a map, tapas bars, etc… We got back home a little before seven and I went to bed rather early (about 11, which is considered early here).

I did not start off the day well today—I awoke eight minutes late. A lot of people, I know, are like “Wow!, it’s eight minutes, get over it!” But, to me, eight minutes is a long time and I found myself rushing around this morning, in an effort to make up those precious lost moments; I wasn’t a happy camper.

I arrived at school (with all the children and their parents) at nine o’clock on the dot. I dropped my bag off in the office, near Aurora’s desk and headed for María José’s 5^th grade class. They were just starting science hour (which was supposed to be half in Spanish and half in English, but turned into a whole hour of reviewing in Spanish), so I sat there and listened to the class review the parts of a cell in Spanish. It wasn’t too bad…I guess, it would have been more interesting, though, if I knew anything about science.

At 10:00, I went to Esperanza’s first grade room and observed two very long hours of chaos. It was actually two classes, one each hour. I introduced myself (in Spanish, because she thought it would be easier for them) and the second class laughed at me because I don’t speak with a lisp. I stood there and thought to myself “Wait a minute—shouldn’t it be the other way around? But, then again, I’m not at home, I guess”. When kids are that young, it’s hard to teach them about anything, much less another language. They’re not good listeners: they were up and jumping around the class, hitting each other with their water bottles and having pencil sword fights. In the very short time some of the students were paying attention, Esperanza reviewed some school vocab with them: book, pencil, pencil case, sharpener, crayon and rubber (which I learned is UK English for eraser). She tried to play a song that incorporated the vocab, but it didn’t take too well.

We had recess/lunch from 11:50-12:20 and today many of the teachers were in the lounge drinking coffee, so I joined them. I was going to buy a bocadillo/sandwich for 50 cents (I guess on Tuesdays some of the moms host it as a fundraiser), but by the time I got there, they were out of meat and were making like these peanut butter-like chocolate sandwiches, which I did not want, so I didn’t eat anything at school today.

From 12:20-2:00, I was in Rocío’s two 4^th grade classes. She’s very hardcore—which I appreciate to a certain extent. She doesn’t take any crap and if a student steps out of line, she’s on them like no other! I had met some of the kids last week but not all of them, so we did more introductions. She had each of them stand up and say “Hello, my name is _____. Nice to meet you.” Hers is the only class I’ve helped with teaching in. They’re reviewing letters and numbers, so I was able to lead the exercises. I would say a number and they would repeat it and write in out in English and then spell it back out loud. I felt a little bad for the kids because if they forgot how to say a letter or number or hesitated when she called on them, Rocío would get rather impatient and short with them like “This is really easy stuff, maybe you should have studied more!” If they got it wrong, I tried to be empathetic (learning a language is really hard, especially as a child!) and be like “That’s close, but not quite!” and she would flat out be like “No, that’s wrong (grrr!)” and dismiss them. Even when they introduced themselves, she was all over them. My thinking is at least they’re trying—they know more than our nine-year-olds, at least.

At 2:00, the day was over and I stopped at the store (MERCADONA, not DÍA!) before going home. I got back a little before three and was going to go to the bank to pick up my debit/young person card, but Gunita said they’re only open in the mornings, until two. Which, if that’s true, I’ll like never be able to go…SWEET! (That’s not true actually, I could go on a Friday since I don’t work…I just felt like being dramatic!)

Xoxo,

Court

It’s another lazy Sunday here in small town Socu…I’m getting the feeling that all Sundays here follow this same lethargic pattern (not that I mind in the least, though; I have come to treasure these days [all two of them!] of waking up late, sipping my café ever so slowly, listening to Socus {the people of Socuéllamos, that is, I have no idea what they’re called, so I have deemed them as such} pass by on the street below and reading a book…some people would call me a nerd, I know!).

Last night was interesting. We (Gunita, Will and I, that is) started out the evening by going out for Chinese with Jesús. Gunita had told us of the plan earlier in the day, so I was sure not to completely spoil my appetite when I ate “pre dinner” (a hunk of bread and cheese, last night), if you will, at eight o’clock (not that I’m like a porker or anything, I’ve just never been able to completely adjust to the eating schedule here). We made our way out about 10:30 (in Jesús’ car; I don’t remember what kind it is, but it’s very shiny and pretty! I was all excited that he was driving; I love riding in cars here…for some reason it just seems so much cooler here than back home!), which proved to be quite a popular dinner hour because the first place we tried was totally packed! So, we settled for choice número dos: LA CASA DE LAM. They were very busy too, but one table was being cleared right as we walked in, so we got lucky.

I thought we would all order our own separate dishes and possibly share a few bites, but instead we ordered I think three dishes and collectively shared. Will and I really didn’t know what was good, so Gunita and Jesús took the reins on this one. They ordered a bottle of wine (and a pitcher of sangria after that!), what I thought was fried rice, but it turned out to be regular rice with ham and peas in it (it was alright, but not my fav, gotta tell ya), a shrimp dish and a chicken with mushrooms dish (which I ate, but didn’t think about!). The others ordered soup for an appetizer, but I didn’t want soup, so I decided to spring for a spring roll, haha! I thought that would be a nice, small amount for an appetizer because all the spring/egg rolls I’ve ever eaten are relatively tiny. Yeah, not this spring roll…holy paella, this thing was HUGE! I mean this was one mother of a spring roll; it was like five times the size of an average spring roll! That could have been my whole dinner right there! But no, more kept coming. I tried not to eat very much of anything else and Jesús was like “What’s wrong? Do you not like Chinese food? Why don’t you eat more?” And I was like “Dude! Did you not see the size of that spring roll I just demolished?” To end the meal the waitress poured us all a shot of this yummy sweet tasting alcohol (I guess it’s complimentary??)

We left the restaurant at midnight, and honestly, I could have gone home, went to bed and been happy (I’m just not really that much of a drinker/party animal) but, we went to the bars instead. It was kind of funny, actually, on our way to the first bar (either BIANCO or BLANCO, I’m not exactly sure…the way they write the I/L is a little bit of a mystery to me) Jesús goes “I smell like Chinese!” I don’t know if he didn’t like the lingering smell or what, but he kept saying it. I was like “First of all, is it really that different from smelling like smoke in those stuffy ol’ bars? Second of all, all it takes is 0.2 seconds in a bar and a new smell will engulf your clothes.” The constant smell of smoke is one thing I will never get used to here. There are very few things I don’t like about Spain and the smoke definitely tops the list.

At BI/LANCO, Jesús hooked me up with this “Señorita Card”, in which each visit you can present the card and get a free drink. It’s awesome considering I don’t drink that much and I’m usually set after a couple of drinks…I’ll never have to spend that much! It wasn’t too crowded here, so we were able to move around a bit and dance…it was fun. Usually we meet up with a bunch of people while we’re out; unfortunately, the only name I can recall right now is Teresa, she’s very nice, as all Gunita’s friends seem to be.

I could have sworn earlier at dinner that Jesús said Tomás was coming out, so I asked him where he was and he was like “You like Tomás?” (Only has a friend, by the way, he’s very nice, but he’s a bit of a unique fellow, that one). He asked me that like other times too and I really just wanted to say “Dude, lay off!” But I didn’t. He also told me last night that one of my eyebrows is higher than the other. I sort of looked at him and smiled, but again, I really wanted to be like “Wow, every girl wants to be told her imperfections. Sweet…Thank you!”

We went to one other bar, about five minutes away from our house, after that. This bar was extremely crowded and I was rather tired, so I didn’t stay long, I came back about three and promptly got into bed and fell fast asleep shortly thereafter.

I’m going to try to go to bed early tonight because we have regional orientation in Ciudad Real tomorrow. It starts at 10:00 and takes about an hour and a half to get there, so the directors of our programs are meeting Will and I here at the apartment at 8:00, which means I have to get up by about six-ish…boo. I’m really not too excited about the orientation. My school director, Rocío, said it’s quite boring, as they talk about the Spanish Educational System a lot. I thought it could a little interesting, but not if they talk about that for eight hours. Will and were talking and we’re a bit confused about what they’re going to actually tell us, because our schools have already told us all the really important things. I would think that many procedures would differ from school to school, so I don’t know, we’ll see…all I really know is that tomorrow is going to be a LONG day!

Xoxo,

Court

We didn’t go to Albacete today, we were all pretty tired from last night, so it was decided that a nice sleep-in was in order. There’s always tomorrow, though!

I did, however, encounter something earlier this afternoon that irks me quite a bit. I got up before the roomies, so I decided to go to the grocery store to grab a few essentials while they slept, that way I wouldn’t have to worry about tip-toeing around. I had never been to this particular store before. Usually we go together to one of the bigger ones, farther away (if you have more hands, you can carry more, you know?) But, I was by myself today, so I went to the store right up the street. I did my shopping and went to go checkout stand and promptly saw a sign that read “Bags 0.03€, to better serve you”. I looked at the sign again, because I thought surely one doesn’t have to pay for plastic bags here; I thought they had to be perhaps nicer bags you could purchase in their stead. NOPE! This grocery store, DÍA, actually charges money for your run-of-the-mill, Wal-Mart like, plastic bag. Is it not enough that I just dropped 20€ shopping in your store? Is it too much to ask for that store to be like “Here, have a free bag, thanks for your business.” Really, DÍA, REALLY?

Like everyone else, I paid that stupid three cents and actually, I could have used another bag. But instead, I held my head high and I carried my toilet paper in one hand and I stuffed that one bag so full, it ripped and my loaf of bread kept falling out all the way home. I would have rather eaten peas and mushrooms (which I detest ever so much!) than paid another three cents! I know that three cents is basically nothing in the grand scheme of things, but, hey, it’s the principle of the matter.

Just so you are aware—that is the only grocery store I’ve ever been in, anywhere in the world, which charges their customers for bags. I really would like to boycott the store, but seeing as how it’s the closest one to our house, I’m sure I’ll go back eventually. Just know this: the next time I pay the store a visit, I’m bring my backpack! Take that, DÍA.

Xoxo,

Court

Happy Friday! It’s about 3:15PM here (8:15AM Nebraska time) and I’m done for the day! I went to school today at nine and got home about an hour ago at 2:15 (which is the whole Spanish school day right now)…it was only about a five hour day, but for some reason, I’m super tired! Maybe because I wasn’t planning on being there the entire time. Today was supposed to be the official “orientation” day, but I went to school Tuesday and Wednesday, so we pretty much had covered everything orientation-ish previously. So, I went to several of the classrooms and met a lot the kids today.

Aurora wasn’t there today (she’s out of town) so another teacher, Pilar (she’s a sweetheart!), was my go-to person today. When I got there, she had a free period, so she figured out my schedule for the day (which was different from my regular schedule, since I won’t normally work on Fridays). I felt bad interrupting her because she was trying to grade notebooks…I know how precious plan time is!

At 10:00, I went to Rocío’s room; she’s the head English teacher, the director of the department, if you will. She’ll be coming with me to Ciudad Real on Monday for regional orientation. I can’t remember the exact age of the class, but they were younger, I’d say maybe first grade. She introduced me and again, they were all like “Corni, Corni!”…it’s so cute when little kids say it! They’re working on learning the alphabet, so I spelled out my name and read the alphabet for them and they repeated it. At 11:00, I went to María José’s fifth grade classroom. They spent the entire hour asking me questions after she introduced me. Questions like “How old are you? Who is your favorite soccer team? Who is your favorite soccer player? Do you like to watch soccer?” Catching the trend here? They’re totally into soccer…don’t even get them started on the world cup, they could go all day! At 11:50, it was recess/lunch time. I guess they don’t actually have a lunch time right now, so students and teachers alike walk around with sandwiches and drink boxes. At 12:20, I went to Francisco’s second grade classroom. Again, they asked me questions the whole time. Different questions this time, like “Does chocolate exist in the United States? Do cars/dogs/phones etc… exist in the United States? Every question was about things existing! But I guess that’s what you get when you’re talking to 20 seven-year-olds. At 1:10, I went to Pilar’s sixth grade classroom. That was nice because they know more English and so we were able to expand our introductions a bit. Instead of just telling me their names, they were able to tell me about their siblings, pets, favorite foods, etc…At 2:00, it was time to go! All the kids (and teachers too, I imagine!) were happy it’s Friday!

I’m not sure what the weekend has in store for me. I’m sure we’ll go out for drinks later on, in which case, I better take a siesta! Gunita and Teodora talked about going shopping in Albacete tomorrow, since there are no really shops here. I think it’s about an hour away, so we’d be busin’ it. I’ll letcha know!

Xoxo,

Court

We're still working on the whole faster intenet thing, but here are so pictures of our apartment! Enjoy and let me know what you think!!
Xoxo,
Court

My bedroom!.

                                                                                                            From the other side.

View outside my window

The Bathroom!

The Shower!

The Hallway!

The Kitchen!

The Fridge!

The Microwave/Washing Machine/Dishwasher!

The Patio!

The Living Room!

We were out until midnight last night. I had some tinto de verano (red wine). Some people mix it with other drinks, like in this case it was mixed with lemonade, so it was quite citrusy and yummy! Usually tapas or something are included when you buy a drink…we were served olives, French fry/chips that tasted like bugles, cheese balls, sugar coated gummy shapes (do those have a name?) and Dorito like chips (with the exception of the olives, I thought the “tapas” choices were a bit odd for Spain). Not that I’m complaining though, since I didn’t actually have dinner last night, I was hungry!

I had to be a school at nine(ish) today, so I was up by 7:15 (the shower was much better today, in case you’re wondering). I actually left a few minutes after nine, so I was at school by 9:15. I thought we were going to get right to it today, so I could leave by 11 to go run errands with Gunita and Will. True to Spanish form though, Aurora was in no hurry. When I got to the office, she wasn’t there, but came in a few minutes later. She started chatting it up with the other ladies in the office, we went and got a café (from a machine in the teacher’s lounge) and she chatted some more! She started to make my schedule, but there was a change of plans and we took a tour of the school instead and she introduced me to yet more people whose names I’ve already forgotten. When we got done with that about 45 minutes later, she started working on my schedule again. Two of the English teachers were free, so they became in charge of it. It took forever (about an hour) to iron everything out because they had to cross check class times between all the English teachers (I believe there are five…don’t quote me on that, though). I’ll be working from 9-2 Monday-Thursday with Fridays off. I think I’m going to see if I can sit in a Spanish class sometime; I’m interested to see how they teach their native language!

Even with all the earlier chatting, I was able to get out of there by 11:15. When I got back home, we left to go run a few errands: bank (for money to pay the rent), pay the rent and to Movistar to see about faster internet. Our landlord lives right by the bank. He’s such a cute old grandpa! (He’s 85; about five feet tall…his wife’s even shorter…, with a thin moustache). We each paid our 120€ and he took us up stairs to see some of his paintings and drawings. This guy is so talented! There were so many, the roomed was filled from top to bottom and that wasn’t even all of them! There were portraits of himself, his family, Mother Teresa, the Spanish royal family, Einstein, Bin Laden and Hitler just to name a few!

After, at Movistar, we inquired about getting wifi, because the internet Gunita has now is rather slow, which, as you can imagine, is not ideal for Skype. It turns out that for wifi it only costs 40€, split between the three of us…not bad considering Gunita pays 18 now. We still have to talk to the landlord, because it would require installing a phone line, but hopefully we’ll be able to get it soon (cross your fingers!)

Whelp, it’s almost two and I’m feeling like it's siesta time. Peace out!

Xoxo,

Court

The First Week

Editor’s Note: First of all, I want to say thank you to my good friend Kim, for helping me get the blog up and running (I’m not the most tech savvy person, as most of you are probably aware!) Second of all, I just want to apologize for the EXTREMELY long first post. I didn’t write anything while in Madrid, so this post is a collection of seven days worth of thoughts. This first real post was written between Sunday, September 26th and Tuesday, the 28th. Read as much or as little as you like! Pictures will soon follow…

Hello from Spain! For those of you who are unaware, I am spending a year in Socuéllamos (I’ll abbreviate it as Socu from now on), Spain, teaching English in CEIP Gerardo Martínez (the largest elementary school in Socu). (Socu is a town of about 13,000 people located in the region of Castilla-La Mancha. It’s about a two hour train ride from Madrid.) Technically, I’ll be an assistant to the English teachers, but saying the former is easier. I’ll be the only assistant at my school, and so far, I’m the only American here. I heard from several people that there is supposed to be an American guy coming to teach at the high school, but I haven’t seen him yet. I will be helping in all of the English classrooms, which means I’ll work with students ages 3-12. I’ve never worked with students that young before, so it’ll definitely be an interesting experience! I just hope the younger ones are all potty trained; I don’t do cleanups. Maybe in the future…

Continental flight 62 touched down in Madrid, Spain at 10:05AM (3:05AM Nebraska time) on Wednesday, September 22. The 21^st and 22^nd were probably the two longest days I’ve had since pulling all nighters back in my college days! My flight left from Kansas City at 2:17 on the 21^st. We landed in Newark at 6:00PM. I made sure to double check that I didn’t have to pick up my luggage before the connection…l wanted to avoid another disaster! Upon arriving in Newark, I met up with Haley, another auxiliar whom I’d been in contact with, who’ll be teaching in Villarrobledo, more or less 10 miles from my town. We met up and as turned out, she had met another auxiliar on her flight from Kentucky. His name is Matt and he’s teaching in Málaga. It was very comforting to have those two on my flight, knowing that I wouldn’t have to arrive in Madrid and go through customs on my own. Overall, the flight itself was alright (I always dread long flights like that, but it really wasn’t that bad). The only part I didn’t particularly enjoy was about two hours into the flight: We experienced quite a bit of turbulence; the plane swayed violently from side to side and bobbed up and down for 20 snail paced minutes. You know that feeling you get in your stomach sometimes when an elevator goes from a stopped position to a downward one? Or when a car goes kind of fast down a steep hill? That’s the feeling I had, except I was 35,000 feet in the air, going 550 miles per hour, with a cold, dark ocean beneath me. Not exactly warmest and fuzziest of feelings, right?

Upon disembarking from the plane, Haley and I headed for customs (Matt had yet another flight to catch to Málaga, so he went on ahead of us). It went very quick. I waited in line for about a minute, walked up to the window, the guy looked at my passport picture, then at me, then flipped to look at my visa, stamped my passport and that was it! Super easy!

After that, we went to wait for our luggage (thanks mom and dad for paying those fees!)

I brought two HUGE suitcases with me. They weighed in at 48.5lbs (just under the 50lb limit) and a whopping 60lbs (no wonder my arms are still sore from lugging those around!). Haley’s luggage appeared rather quickly; mine…not so much. Haley grabbed hers and I still hadn’t seen a trace of mine. We waited and waited (as each minute passed. my head filled with more and more dreadful thoughts. It would be just my luck have my luggage lost, but I said a prayer before we boarded the plane, so I like to think that helped!) Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, which in reality was about 15 or 20 minutes, my first suitcase appeared! I waited for it to chug along the luggage thing (what’s it called?) and when it was right in front of me, I mustered up all the strength I have within my body and yanked it off. The second one followed shortly after. My prayers were answered: we arrived safely AND both of my suitcases made it! Thank you, Lord, You are so good!

With our luggage in tow, we slowly (the word slowly can’t even begin to describe how long it took me…I don’t remember it being that bad last time I was in Spain, but man, it was quite a  battle, one in which my suitcases seemed determined to win…and they almost did, but in the end I prevailed! Oh victory, you are so sweet!) made our way out of the airport. The next time I do major traveling, someone PLEASE remind me to buy a suitcase that has wheels on all sides. That’s what Haley has and it was a breeze for her. We hailed a taxi and told the cabbie the name of our hostel (Luis Velez). He looked at our four gigantic suitcases (plus two backpacks) immediately said he would charge us extra, which we had no choice but to pay, since we were at his mercy.

In no time we were zooming past the lively streets of Madrid. I was enjoying the ride, looking at all the scenery, until a car tried to merge into our lane from the right and almost took us out! I was sitting behind the cabbie, but it looked like we were a couple inches from hitting! SCARY!!! At that, the cabbie laid on his horn, as they do best. It was a rather peaceful ride after that. We arrived at the hostel within 20 minutes and paid 45€ for the taxi (which, I’m pretty sure we paid double for…they always like milk you for whatever they can get).

From all the pictures I had seen, the hostel looked pretty nice. Fortunately, it had an elevator (thank goodness, because we were on the third floor!) For those of you who have never been to Europe or don’t know anything about European elevators, let me tell you: they are MISCOSCOPIC! We had to take the elevator separately and my luggage BARELY fit. It did though, so I guess that’s the only thing that matters. We checked in the front desk on the 3^rd floor, emailed our families to let them know we were alive and immediately took showers after that…we both felt gross.

The bathroom at the hostel was an experience in itself! For one thing, there was nothing above to hold the shower head in place, so it just kind of dangled there. What’s more, it was on a timed cycle, so when you pushed the water on, it automatically turned off after a minute (quite an annoyance, but I guess it deters those long showers takers, which is totally not me, by the way!) For another thing, we only stayed there days and yet they somehow ran out of toilet paper three different times, REALLY? Bathroom aside, I had nothing to complain about. We stayed in a double room, which was cleaned (or someone made my bed, at least) every day. Everyone was extremely friendly, except the guy on night duty (but I’m done complaining, so I won’t get into that).

Our days in Madrid were jam packed and a bit of a blur now. After we arrived on the 22^nd, we went right out and explored the city. It was probably about noon by the time we showered and got out of there. About two or three we stopped for tapas at a café. I ordered Manchego cheese and Haley ordered this chicken that was very good. While sitting at the café, someone taped me on the shoulder, said something like, “Is that yours on the ground?” I looked down and lo and behold, there was my passport! Thank goodness for such nice people, because otherwise, I would have never known I dropped it. I would have cried! After exploring a little more, we made our way back to the hostel for siesta (one of the many reasons I LOVE Spain). We woke up about eight and were thinking about what we wanted to do that night and there was a knock at the door. It was the activities director for the hostel (oddly enough, she’s American). She told us there was a flamenco show to be held that night for several of the hostels. It cost 13€, which included one drink, which we thought was a great deal, since flamenco shows can be very expensive. The show was held in this tiny underground room (as it turned out, there weren’t many people), which would have seemed a little shistey had we not been there for flamenco. It was my first flamenco show and it was AWESOME! Two women danced, one sang, one played the flute and a guy played this box/drum.

There was a pub crawl after that. Ten Euros for all you could drink for an hour at the first place, then one free drink at each of the next pubs. Quite a deal, I thought! At the first bar, we met up with one of Haley’s friends, Bogey, who is Bulgarian, whom she met while studying in Ciudad Real in 2008. Bogey brought along his roommate/Frenchman Benny. As a foursome we danced the night away and didn’t return to the hostel until about four the next morning!

The next day, Thursday, the 23^rd, was pretty chill (as I’m sure you can imagine!). We met up with two other auxiliares (Ashley and Tara) whom will be teaching in Haley’s town, Villarrobledo and went to the Thyssen museum, which is located very close to the Prado. The Thyssen features art from all over the world, whereas, the Prado focuses on Spain. It was fun, or as fun as a museum can be, at least. Another siesta came after that and we met Bogey again at another bar. I don’t remember what time we returned, but I don’t think it was as late as the previous night.

Friday was another laid back day. Haley and I went exploring again and found an open market. We both bought two scarves! If you know anything about me, you know what a scarf freak I am, so I was in Heaven! I so wanted to buy more, but I was strong! After purchasing the best accessories ever, we looked for a phone store, so I could buy a cell phone (Haley had already bought one, on Wednesday). I was going to wait until I got to Socu, but then I thought it would be a good idea to get one that day, so I would have it for the train, just in case something happened. After walking around for quite a while, we found a Movistar store, quite popular here. It didn’t take that along to pick out a phone, but the lady helping me took forever! I don’t know if she was new, or what, but we seriously waited like half an hour. It’s a pretty nice prepaid phone and it only cost 19€, so I guess the time spent waiting was worth it. Another siesta followed. Afterwards, we were trying to decide what to do. We both agreed we wanted something low key (checkout from the hostel was at 11). We went out said one glass of sangria and some tapas and were back by midnight.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early (8AM, which was extremely early compared to when I had been getting up). I had repacked the majority of my things the night before, (which wasn’t much, because I was afraid to take too many things out in fear they wouldn’t fit back in…thanks mom for doing such a stellar job packing!) We were all ready by about ten, so we went around the corner and got croissants for breakfast.

I was absolutely dreading the journey to Socu (darn that luggage!) Very slowly, I made my way outside. We hailed a taxi, and the driver heaved our luggage inside…again, what a tight fit! We made our way to the Atocha train station in about ten minutes. We weren’t charged extra for the luggage this time, but he did charge extra because we were going to the train station (apparently that and the airport are extra. Really?! I felt bad because I know I was holding Haley up, taking so long but she never said anything, I’m glad she’s so nice! Good thing we arrived about 11:15, because it took us a while to find the place where we needed to buy tickets. I believe we asked three different people and kept getting different answers. Finally, we were pointed in the right direction. Haley waited in line for the tickets, while I stayed back with the luggage (no sense in both of us dragging it along, right? There was a long line and it took about half an hour. While Haley stood in line, I was freaking out because I couldn’t find my passport. I had taken it out of my purse on Wednesday, after I dropped it and put it in one of the front zippered pockets of my suitcase. I finally found it after ten minutes of looking (thank you, St. Anthony!) I was SO relieved…crisis averted!

The only train to Socu/Villarrobledo was scheduled for 2:33, so we had a while to wait, not that either of us minded because we were wiped out. At about 2:15 we made our way down to the platform. As per usual, I was struggling with my luggage. This SUPER nice lady noticed and asked if she could help. Of course I said yes, so she took one of my bags and rolled it along (she had placed she small bag on top of mine). I expected her to take it down the escalator and give it back to me, but no, she kept rolling it along! It turned out that she was on the same train as us, with her stop being one before mine. She is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. She helped us get our luggage up on the train and stored it away on the racks for the trip. Haley later told me that she had cut her had in the process and was bleeding. I felt so bad! She took the seat in front of us and we chatted a bit. I can’t even remember she name now, but she is from Mexico, lives in Madrid and was traveling out to the country to help her husband’s family harvest grapes (they’re huge out here right now, every day, we see truckloads of them). She even gave us her phone number and said the next time we’re in Madrid we could stay with her!

It took about two hours to get to Socu (I arrived at 4:24) and the secretary of the school, Aurora Noguerón picked me up, since the station is kind of out in the middle of nowhere. We arrived at the apartment and I met Gunita, my roommate from Latvia. She is very nice; she helped me with the luggage. The first thing we did was go to the grocery store. I bought the basics: milk (I weighed the options…1. Whole milk, which I’m pretty sure is almost 100% fat, 2. Semi-fat free, which I kind of figured would be like 1 or 2% at home. WRONG! That’s the one I bought and there was still so much fat in there, it was way worse than drinking cream, 3. Fat free, which I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m sticking with from now on) juice, cereal, pasta, cheese, bread, etc. it only cost about 14€, that was a nice surprise…I guess stuff around here is rather cheap. We came home and I unpacked for about two hours while Gunita napped. I was so happy to get everything organized! We went out with her friends about 11. It was nice because I was able to meet several people: her friend Conchi picked us up with her car, then at the bar we met up with Catya (I have no idea if I’m spelling her name right!) and Jesús; at another bar I met Tomás and Javi (short for Javier) and a bunch of others I don’t remember now. We went to several different bars and the later it got, the crazier people were. At one point, this guy lifted up his shirt, while another guy proceeded to lick his chest. Gay? Drunk? Both? I don’t know…regardless, it was strange. We returned to the apartment sometime after four and I was exhausted!

Sunday was quite lazy. We met up with Jesús and another friend Teodora for tapas at two. We took a stroll around the city and returned about five. I did a load of laundry (which included hanging my clothes out on the clothes line (a new experience for me!) and called it a night. Nothing too exciting.

Monday, the 27^th, Gunita and I did some more shopping. I wanted to buy a hand towel, trashcan, bath mat, etc. Gunita went to work at 4 and I met up with Will, another American teaching at the high school. We explored the city a little bit and I was able to find my school.

Tuesday, the 28^th, I got up at 8:15 because I had planned with Aurora to come to school and meet everyone. I went to take a shower and it was freezing! I thought it would heat up if I waited a few minutes, but no, it only got colder! I can say, without a doubt, that that was the faster shower I’ve ever taken. I later asked Gunita and she said the hot water heater had been unplugged…definitely going to double check that from now on. That was the worst way to wake up!

I made my way to the school at 10:30. There was a man standing outside the gate and I asked for Aurora. I’m not really sure what I said, but he kind of looked at me like I was crazy, but it was clear he wouldn’t let me in unless he knew someone was expecting me. Aurora came out to meet me and he (she called him like the caretaker or something) let me in. Soccer balls were flying everywhere…the students were having recess at the time. Aurora showed me around, introduced me to the principal and several other teachers and the kids stared at me. At 11:30, Aurora said she had to go teach a class until one. I was like, “What, you’re the secretary, you teach too?” Apparently she teaches art as well. I followed her to her class. She first one was with eight-year-olds (I think). They were really cute! They kept looking at me and were like “who is she?” Aurora introduced me and they kept saying “Corni! Corni!” They discussed The Birth of Venus by Alessandro Something and that was it. Then another class of 6^th graders came in and they discussed the same thing. This class was a little rowdy, especially this girl name Rocío. She seemed to be quite the Chatty Kathy. At one point, I looked over and she was on the ground crawling between the desks, with her finger up to her lips, telling her classmates to be quiet. I just watched her because I wasn’t sure if I should tell Aurora, but soon after, she spotted her. She said “Rocío, come with me outside!” and they left. As soon as they walked out, the other students started talking to me all at once. I didn’t answer any of their questions because there were too many; they were all talking over each other. One o‘clock signaled the end of the school day. We went back to the office, Aurora grabbed her things and we left.

From there, we made our way to the bank, so I could open up an account. It didn’t take too long (thank goodness Aurora was with me!), all I needed was my passport, I signed several forms and VIOLA! I now have a Spanish bank account! I have to go back on Friday and pick up my debit card, which doubles as a student card, good for discounts at a lot of places, awesome, I know!

Will called this afternoon and said he had decided to move in with us, so now we have a full flat! We bought his stuff over about four and I was impressed that he only had one suitcase and a garment bag, but he is a guy, I guess. After he got all unpacked, we went to the store and we both got several things (milk was at the top of my list!)

Right now, we are waiting for Jesús to come by and then we are going out for drinks. I hope we don’t stay out too late, because I have to be at school at nine tomorrow, to iron out my schedule!

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Uncle Michael, I love you so much, and I’m happy you’re not in any pain anymore. It’s comforting to know you’re watching over all of us and that one day we’ll see you again, but I’ll miss you for the rest of my life!

Xoxo,

Court