the simple things - highs & lows

Elli's birthday dinner

My room!!

My cute bed!

My own bathroom. Amazing.

Huge closet with full length mirrors. Yay!

Teresa's birthday dinner in our living room

Beginning of the year party at Elli's apartment

So I guess I will just start off from when I got home from Sevilla.... the Saturday I got home from Sevilla, I had already moved my bags to my piso (apartment) but had not really met any of my roommates. When I toured the apartment, Cynthia was there but I didn't really get to talk to her because I was talking to Javier (my landlord). So Saturday night, I met Teresa, Elina, and Cynthia. I have to tell you, I love my apartment and the area I live in. Elli originally saw this place and told me about it when she found out I was looking for apartments in the Chamberí neighborhood. The landlords (Javier & Isabel) are Spaniards and they are new owners (and they are SO nice and so excited about being landlords) - so my roommates and I are the first people to live in my apartment. Everything is brand new - which is amazing. It is a 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom apartment which is unheard of in Spain and it's pretty spacious. My room in Sevilla and a lot of the apartments that I saw when I was apartment hunting were just a bed in a room with maybe a desk, and maybe a dresser. Usually in most Spanish apartments you can lay on the bed and touch at least 2-3 walls when you reach your arms out. So I just got super lucky because I love where I live. My roommates are fun too - Elina is from Teluz, France and she is learning to speak Spanish and has a little English, haha so it's funny watching us communicate. Teresa is from Portugal and she speaks Portugese, Spanish, and English. Cynthia is from Portugal as well and she speaks fluent Spanish and English really well because her family spoke both at home. I practice speaking Spanish with Cynthia but when I'm tired it's nice because she can speak English too. I have lunch with Elina most of the time because our schedules have us home for lunch - and its funny because she uses a mix of Spanish, English, and French. Sometimes we sit at lunch and I will look up words on google translate as we are talking because I have no idea what she is saying. The other day I was making lunch and she came in the kitchen and she was like, "Donde buy a dossier?" I was like, "Really?!" (Where do I buy a folder?)

The start of school has been really good. I really like my school and the teachers I work with. We go on coffee break at recess and I get to practice my Spanish with them 4 days a week during this break. On Fridays, I have yard duty so I am on the playground with the kids (which is not a playground but a rooftop with rubber on it and plastic baby sets). September is really relaxed in Spain because all of August most everyone in Spain goes on vacation for the month and so during September they are just trying to get back in their routines. Also because there is no AC at school - it's too hot to have school all day, so we have half days for the entire month of September and June, which has been so nice. I'm bummed it's gonna be October on Tuesday. So at school, I have been doing maybe 2 English lessons a day with the 4 and 5 year olds, this involves a semi-circle time and maybe a vocabulary activity or movement game. So it's been really easy going and I'm really just getting to know the kids and their routines. Our unit for the next 6 weeks is back to school, classroom supplies (which is really boring and non-motivating for 4-5 year olds). I just got my new schedule for October through May and I will be teaching 5-7 English lessons a day for 45mins each to the 3, 4, and 5 yr old classes. So school goes from 9am-12:15, 2:30-5 but on Fridays I get out early. I'm still trying to figure out working with the extra curricular program and private lessons for a little extra money, so my schedule is still up in the air at this point.

I was a little annoyed that I have a 2.5 hour break for lunch and siesta in the middle of the day. But it's so Spanish. So I'm just gonna go with it and learn to embrace it because there is really nothing I can do about it. And I can't be a brat because I have a school in the city center, so I have the luxury of going home during my break if I want to. Other people who have an hour commute each way, have no choice but to stay at school and just not get paid for that time. And I do realize that I can't get everything I want.

When I would go to Fox every summer, at cabin time each night, we would do highs & lows (or pits & peaks - whatever you want to call it) so I decided for this blog update I would do first month highs & lows...

5 Highs
5. Siesta!! - I'm actually not having as hard of a time taking siesta and resting as I did when I got to Sevilla. When I was abroad in Sevilla, it took me months to actually rest. Maybe it's because I'm older and less anxious to do everything right now, but it's nice to be able to slow down for a part of the day and just take time for me. I literally sleep during siesta every day when I'm done with school and lunch. It will be interesting to see how I'm gonna work in a long siesta (2-3hr siesta) when I have full school days and such. But for right now, it's great because I am well rested and enjoying the time I have.

4.  Our ikea trip - HA! So last weekend I was not feeling very well on Saturday but Sunday I felt better so Elli, Maury, and I went to Ikea. First of of all, it takes an hour to get there on the metro each way because it is very far away. So our 6 hour trip resulted in a lot of things we all needed to get: I got towels and sheets for my room, a bathmat, an extra pillow, and random other things. AND ikea has plastic baggies. If you have been to Europe you know: ziploc plastic bags are like gold. People aren't wasteful so they just don't use ziploc plastic bags. It is just not something that exists. Usually I bring a ton but this time, I ran out of weight room for my luggage and I felt clothes/shoes and meds were more important than plastic bags so you should have seen my excitement. But we also had a whole ordeal at ikea that was not funny at the time but its funny now. So basically it's a huge pain because if you want to use your credit card in europe you need to show your passport as ID and even so sometimes your CC won't work because it doesn't have a "chip" in it. But none of us are stupid enough to carry around our passports to use our credit cards, because it's just not safe. Elli actually carries around a color copy of her passport page and it works pretty much everywhere. And we were at ikea so we knew we would be spending a good amount of money. And everything was fine up until we went to pay... So Maury went first to pay and the teller was that the end of her shift and kinda made a stink about her just having her driver's license but then Maury offered up different credit cards and the checker finally just let it go so we thought we were in the clear. BUT it was the end of her shift so they switched tellers (and let me mention both tellers were girls) and Elli was next so she showed her driver's license and passport photo copy and then this teller chick was just being mean and difficult and made a huge stink about not taking the copy of her passport unless it had an official stamp. So we were arguing with the lady and Elli said she had a pin on her credit card and asked if she would be able to use that. So the girl ran her credit card through but the pin number didn't come up, and but the signature box did. Then this teller girl was still yelling and being difficult about not having our passports but the signature box was just sitting there begging to be signed. -So Elli whispered to me and was like, "Should I just sign it?" And I was like, "Yes." So she did and then the teller got all mad and was like "I told you not to sign it. I told you not to do it!!" Then she called her supervisor over and her supervisor gives us this lecture on how we have to have a passport as ID and it's the law in Spain and when she goes to America she has to follow US laws. So she entered item by item to return Elli's stuff. They were just mad and they could have let it go but didn't. And this story makes us sound like a pain and a little ignorant but its stupid to carry around your passport or 100 euros in cash, you are begging to be robbed. Anyways so we had to scrounge up enough money between all of us to buy mine and Elli's stuff with cash, thank goodness I brought a few extra euro bills. What a mess. But it was funny afterwards because the lady was dumb and mad. I'm glad we went though because I've been wanting a bathmat and towels so bad!!

3. Birthdays and celebrations - It's always fun to celebrate anything so it was Elli's birthday 2 weeks ago and Teresa's birthday was this past week. About 5 of the BEDA girls went out to dinner for Elli's birthday at this place near the Noviciado metro stop called Con 2 Fogones. It was low key but super fun because when we sang happy birthday the whole restaurant sang with us. And it was nice to compare stories about our first few days of school. This past week it was Teresa's birthday (my portugese roommate) and so we made dinner at our house and she invited a few of her friends from school over. It was awesome because Elina doesn't have class in the morning and so we all got home from school/work and there were like 7-8 dishes all over the kitchen counter of cut up vegetables. She cut them up so that we could make Ratatouille for that night because she was getting home later. It turned out to be really good and Teresa made rice (but it was a little mushy, which was funny) to go with the Ratatouille. Elli also had a beginning of the year party with her roommates at their piso on Friday night - which was fun because we got to meet Elli's spanish roommates and their friends and they were all super fun. I left my house and drank coffee at midnight and got home at 7am. So Spanish.

2. Getting my NIE & bank account - An NIE stands for Número de Identidad de Extranjero - basically it's a tax identification number. Why do you ask am I happy about Spain taking taxes from me? An NIE number & card is basically like a ID card/driver's license too without the license to drive part. So I can carry around my NIE and use my credit card and not need to carry around my passport (which is a lot safer, but it is a pain if I lose my NIE too). But getting an NIE and bank account means that I am really living here and I'm really getting to do this (pinch myself!). Not that it doesn't feel real without those things but I think because I have traveled to Europe on vacation and because it's still so new (I've been here almost a month now), it still isn't as real yet. My NIE and bank account just make me feel like I am actually a resident of Spain and that I'm living everything that I wished for.

1. Fresh air - I get to walk to school as the sun comes up, how many of you can say that? It's pretty awesome and I love being able to walk or take the metro any where. Have I mentioned, I don't miss sitting in LA traffic especially downtown on a Friday afternoon. I think walking and fresh air is good for my soul because I feel a thousand times less stressed and less intense. Also, I have this huge window in my room that lets a ton of light and fresh air in so it's awesome. And the weather has been great so I haven't even noticed that we have no air conditioning (which is pretty standard in all of europe - when I need air conditioning, I hang out in corte ingles, zara, and carrefour).

5 Lows
5. American Airlines - Originally, the program coordinator of BEDA, Samantha, sent us an email saying that our winter break would end around/on December 24th but it differs for all over our schools. So when I bought my round trip ticket to come home at Christmas, I still didn't have my school calendar dates and just booked it for the 24th of December. I should have just booked it for the weekend before because the 24th is a Tuesday and it doesn't really make sense to come to school just for that Monday but whatever. So I called American Airlines trying to change my flight to go home a few days earlier and it's $275 minimum to change a flight. AND THAT IS HIGHWAY ROBBERY. And once again I hate American Airlines. They have such poor customer service but they are super cheap and I flew them all through college so we have miles with them. Remind me that I hate them next time I want to buy a cheap flight. So I won't be home until Christmas Eve, but I have a week for break so I will get to be home a little bit.

4. Being sick - Last weekend, I was actually really sick. I ended up going to the pharmacy on Saturday morning and tried to get meds and I have had this chest cough all week which has not been the funnest thing. But most doctors don't work on weekends (and so you need to go to their version of an emergency room) so I just stuck it out and took some of my American meds that I brought. It's just hard not having comfort foods or my dad to make me soup or super accessible medicine. I also am worried how winter/the next year will go because I am not currently on allergy shots - so we'll see!!

3. Laundry - There are really simple things that I realize, I don't know how to do in Europe. And while Manoli and Mary Alice took such good care of me in Sevilla - there are things that I just never had to do or learn to do because I was so well taken care of. Things like doing my own laundry. I don't know how to do this because every two weeks Manoli would give us a baby trash bag to put our clothes in and she would do it for us. Learning how to use a european washing machine is a whole different ball game. First of all laundry machines are baby small and I'm always afraid that I'm gonna overstuff it. Second of all, they are pretty finicky. My washing machine is so finicky and you choose the number of spin cycles (I think 400-1000), and then the temperature in celsius, and the the amount of time. My roommates have been helpful with this but even on the same settings my washing machine will constantly flash and not start and its brand new. And thirdly, I didn't even know how to buy/what to buy for detergent and softener. Elli's solution to everything is just put a lot of softener in the washing machine and everything will fine.

My CRAZY washing mashing just flashing and not wanting to start. 

2. Feeding myself and going to the market. Another thing I never learned how to do in Europe because Manoli always cooked for us and fed us so well. With homestay, we got 3 meals a day/everyday and Manoli always made so much food and made me fish, or salad, or tortilla, or paella, and it was really well balanced. She always used to say, "It's not good for your body if you eat the same thing all the time." So she would make a variety of veggie friendly food for me. I also have never been much of a cook. At home, I can make pasta and eggs, and hashbrown casserole, and veggie chili and canned soup, and caprese, tacos/mexican food, and I pretty much eat a lot of frozen food too. But going to the market is such a chore here!! I literally drag my carry-on rolly bag to the market (Día or Lidl or Carrefour) and only can buy what fits in it. Then I have to walk home for a few blocks, its annoying dragging all that stuff home, so you have to make multiple trips. I feel like I go to the market daily because its cheaper to eat at home too. This is tedious and bothersome because in the US, I like to shop at Ralphs or Vons like once every month and then I am there for like 3 hours but I only have to do it once. The things I have made myself to eat so far: fried eggs, tuna sandwiches, pasta with grated cheese on it, cheese sandwiches, pasta with corn and peas and balsamic vinegar in it (questionable), soup with chicken broth and pasta noodles (semi-chicken noodle), brie with crackers. I need to work on this because I feel like eating 1-2 eggs a day is bad for my cholesterol and I need to eat more/different things. I looked up a lentil soup recipe because you can buy lentils here. I might attempt that. Fish is also questionable when it is frozen but I just might have to get over that and when you buy it fresh it sometimes has espinas (spines) and you have to de-bone it yourself. I'm working on it though. If you have ideas of what to make, tell me!!!

1. Simple cultural things - There are incredibly simple cultural differences that are actually not so simple that kind of just drive you crazy and make you have culture shock. And I'm sure these things will get easier over time, because eventually I didn't notice them or let them bother me anymore when I was in Sevilla, but some of them I never will understand. First, opening doors - I never have had such a hard time with this in Spain. Not in Sevilla, not in Barcelona, not anywhere in Andalusia. The doors in Madrid are the opposite from the US, you push away from you to go in and pull towards you to get out. Whatever it is, its the opposite from what I'm used to and my motor plan is all wrong and it drives me nuts because I always look dumb and stuck and look like I'm fighting with the door. Second is not refrigerating things. The other day I can home and Teresa & Elina had made chicken and left it out on the pan on the stove WITHOUT A COVER AND WITHOUT REFRIGERATING IT. It sat there all night and I was expecting it to be in the trash that evening. BUT NO. Teresa put it with vegetables and ate it for dinner the next day. I about died sitting next to her. My roommates don't understand how I want to just refrigerate everything too. I don't think I will every get used to that. And I'm a germaphob so things can't get moldy (my biggest fear) or flies (I don't mess with flies since I got salmonella in Honduras) and so everything is covered and goes in the fridge.

Yuck!!!

Also Elina does not understand why I buy bottled water. I just don't trust the tap. It's safe and people drink it but not like America safe and purified, but I will drink it from time to time when I'm out a restaurant, or someone's house, or really thirsty but I don't prefer it. Third - paper products, things like toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, and tissue are available but they cost more and they are just not widely used. When you go to restaurants they give you these flimsy half paper half I don't know what plasticky type napkins that are super thin and smaller than the size of a baby cell phone. And these Spanish napkins, they are not useful and you end up using like 10 to wipe your hands so it would just be way more efficient to give you 1 regular soft, square, paper napkin. 4th - watery lotion/bath soap, again I didn't have to encounter this last time because I brought industrial size shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body soap from costco in my bags but yet again I ran out of weight in my luggage so that just wasn't possible. But body soap and lotion in Spain is super watery. I don't understand why and it doesn't really make you feel clean. You need to buy "body milk" if you want regular thickness of lotion consistency. And I just splurged and bought Nivea body wash which is a german brand but the consistency is better.

Don't buy this watery stuff from carrefour

5th - buying coffee, I didn't drink nearly as much coffee in Sevilla as I do now. So coffee is really an essential. However, initially buying coffee - it is mostly sold in beans at the store, but because I don't have a coffee grinder this is not great. So I was looking for coffee grounds and I bought a cheap french press from a chino bazar (like a 99cent store in the US). But coffee grounds aren't soft when they come in the bag, they are hard so you don't realize that they are ground - I think they are hard because they are vacuum sealed and just packed that way. But you also have to make sure you are not buying instant soluble + add hot water coffee, so that was an ordeal too. And lastly, using a dryer. I love dryers. I don't care that I put everything in the dryer and it beats up my beautiful dresses and shrinks my clothes - it just makes my life easier because I can do wash and I don't have to wait for it for days to dry and then I can be done and put everything away. We had a dryer at Manoli's so she would put clothes out on the hanging line when it was sunny and warm out (she used to say "The sun is good for your clothes" which is a HUGE LIE but saves money) but during the winter it was nice because with 5 girls in the house - she was still able to do laundry in one day. Teresa (my portugese roommate) also told me that they have a dryer at their house in portugal but they never use it, even in the winter. She said it's a waste of money. Oh how different life is. We'll see how winter goes without a dryer and only one drying rack in our piso!

Elina hanging up clothes out on the clothes/hanging line

Things have been really good, and I can't wait to update next on new adventures, my Madrid bucketlist, and how my school schedule and really getting to teach is. I'm sorry these past 2 blog posts were so long and it has been a while since I've written. So if you read until the end and are reading this now, I apologize and I will really try to keep up better. Miss & love you all!! 

sevilla, no me ha dejado.

NODO

Puente de Isabel II and the Guadalquivir

Ana Claudio & I at UPO

Mary Alice & I at TCU Friday breakfast

Moats in Plaza de España!!

Elli & I on the Terrace at Doña Maria with La Giralda in the background

It has been almost two weeks since I've blogged!! AH, that is a lifetime in blog years. But that also tells you how busy I've been. So first let me update you on my return to Sevilla.

So super last minute Elli and I decided during our free week before school started. On Tuesday night of that week, I got home from dinner and tried to call Manoli (my host mom and best confidant/teacher/ second mother in Sevilla) to tell her I was coming. I called the old number I had for her from 4 years ago via my Spanish cell and via skype - both said the number was a non-functioning number anymore and the call just didn't go through. This is definitely when I started to get anxious. So in a non-panic state I was thinking, "Manoli just changed her number, my parents got rid of their house 790 number, because we all have cell phones. Maybe she did the same." With anxiety, I was thinking, "Something awful happened." So I emailed the TCU study abroad center after that to get Mary Alice's (our TCU study abroad coordinator) contact info to see if she knew where Manoli was. Because if anyone knew where Manoli would be, it would be her. Mary Alice lives in Sevilla and acted as our coordinator abroad and liaison with TCU to make sure we were alive and safe. While we were abroad she did orientation with us, talked about culture shock/cultural differences, took us out to breakfast on Friday mornings, and took us on TCU outings to Plaza de España/tapas, etc. She keeps tabs on all the host moms and also meets with them periodically to make sure everything is going okay with TCU students in their homes. So I figured she would know where Manoli was. Anyways, so I had to email the coordinator of the TCU study abroad center to get Mary Alice's email address because I no longer have my TCU email account with her info. My TCU email just cut me off one day and they wouldn't let me access it again to get previous contacts. SUCH A BUMMER.

Anyways so Elli and I took the Renfe - high speed train to Sevilla, which is definetly the best way to travel. It takes 2.5 hours to get from Madrid - Sevilla each way on the Renfe train but on the bus which is a lot cheaper it is a miserable 6-7 hour drive with some creepers and not a lot of room. It was funny though because there was definitely a gypsy that sat across from Elli and I on the way to Sevilla. So we got up early AM and left Madrid. We got into town and checked into our airb&b place near La Giralda by noon and ate tapas/lunch at La Bodeguita Antonio Romero by the bull stadium. At lunch, I got a coke and the bartender put a lemon slice in my drink and I just died/was SO HAPPY because it was so nostalgic and Sevillano (they put lemon in all drinks - and I didn't really realize that I even missed that until he did it). After lunch, it was like the start of siesta, and Elli was like, "Do you want to go try to see where Manoli is?" I think she could tell I was anxious. And even though it was seista I didn't care - I just wanted to see her.

So we end up walking to my old piso (apartment) and I can't tell you how much I love Triana and how all the same things that I love about it are still there, so it just made my heart feel at home. We walked up to the outside patio at my apartment building, which now they have a gate in front of which was different but still very much the same. Then we buzzed Manoli's apartment - and a guy answered. I asked him where she was and he said that she didn't live there, and he was super short and hung up. INSANE PANIC MODE BY THIS POINT and trying not cry. So Elli and I wait at the bottom of the portal (entry way) until someone going in, opens the door and we follow behind. Then I check the mail boxes and 3B has Manoli & Antonio's names still on the mailbox. So I was like, "They still live here, I swear!!" Then we run up the stairs to the 3rd floor, and I knock on the door. The rude guy who hung up on us on the intercom answers and I look into the apartment. There was nothing in the apartment and the walls were white washed and the guy looks like he works in construction. BUT it was definitely where I lived 4 years ago. STILL IN PANIC MODE AT THIS POINT. So we talk to this guy and again he says, there is no Manoli here, etc. and then we ask how long he has been in that apartment and he says, "2 weeks." 2 WEEKS. SHE MOVED 2 WEEKS AGO. She lived in that house for like 50 years and she moved 2 weeks ago. Anyways so he's like maybe ask the neighbor where she went because I don't know. So we knock on the next door neighbor's door. And she was like, "Oh, go downstairs to the apartment next door. and ring 2-F, and ask her." So we go out of the apartment and down to the apartment next door. BUT I'M STILL PANICKING BECAUSE WHAT IF SHE DIED 2 WEEKS AGO. We ring 2-F and this lady starts talking to us on the intercom, then she quickly hangs up and Elli and I just look at each other like "I'm never gonna find her." Then 2F lady sticks her head out the window of her terrace and starts yelling down to us. She said Manoli's daughter Rocio lives in 2D and to call her on the intercom and she could tell us where Manoli moved. I had completely forgotten that Rocio lived so close - because we never visited her house, she always just came over to Manoli's. Anyways, we finally talk to Rocio on the intercom and she said Manoli moved 2 weeks ago and she gave us her address and her phone number, but said Manoli was at the beach this weekend. Then she was like, who is this by the way? AND FINALLY MY NERVES CALM BECAUSE I KNOW SHE'S ALIVE AND WELL. I called Manoli on Thursday and I will see her next time I get go to Sevilla and it made me so happy to talk to her.

After that whole ordeal, we did lots of fun things in Sevilla with Elli's spanish friends (whom she was abroad with only a year ago). On Wednesday night, we went to dinner at El Rinconcillo (the oldest restaurant in Sevilla) then we went to the terrace bar at Hotel Doña Maria - which was an awesome view of La Giralda at night that I had never seen/been to before. Thursday - Elli went to the Texas Tech Campus in Sevilla and I went to UPO. I literally stalked Ana Claudio and she was like so surprised to see me she literally jumped. I was SO HAPPY to see her too. Ana Claudio was one of the best professors I had in college, if not my very favorite. She is just one of the most amazing teachers ever because she is engaging, and constantly challenges you, and encourages you to be the best version of yourself in school and in life. She was another one of my best confidants/ friends/ mentors in Sevilla four years ago. We have really stayed in touch since and I will write her to update her every now and then. She also wrote my Spanish recommendation letters for the Fulbright and other programs last fall. But of course because my TCU account shut down, I didn't have Ana Claudio's email address either and she didn't even know I was gonna be in Madrid this year. She was so excited to see me though!! After the trek out to UPO, I met up with Elli in Nervion at her host mom, Margarita's house, where we had lunch. We went and met up later for watermelon mojitos with some of Elli's friends & intercambio at the kiosko by the river (closer to plaza de cuba). Elli and I went to dinner and had roquefort dulce at Coloniales.

We went to Buddah on Thursday night with Elli's friends. And Friday morning we went to TCU Friday morning breakfast with Mary Alice. It was good to see her and fun to talk with some super fresh abroad students, and there was also a recent TCU grad there with his TEFL teaching English in Sevilla (oh I can dream!). I was telling Mary Alice about the Manoli story and she was like that is just so Spanish, which is very true. After breakfast, we explored on Friday in Parque Maria Luisa and Plaza de España - which was crazy because they have water in the moat now!!! That night, we went up to Alameda and went to this awesome tapas restaurant that Juandi recommended called Casa Ricardo which was amazing and cheap. Very Spanish. It was so funny because they don't have menus and the guy just recites from memory what's on the menu for that night. We met up with Anne Sivley - who also is in BEDA but studied abroad in Sevilla a few years ago, and her Spanish friends and we went to Robotica for mojitos. My other friend, Clara - who was my intercambio (exchange partner) when I was in Sevilla was not in Sevilla that week but she will be back in October for a class - so I might head back to see her and Manoli in October. We left Sevilla on Saturday afternoon leaving with such happy hearts. All in all it was such a good trip, it was so nice to see Ana and be in some of my favorite places. I love Sevilla and my heart will always be there but I think that being in Madrid will be really good for me. I'm already getting to know Madrid and while it's so much bigger it's a different kind of adventure. :) I know I will be back soon to see Manoli - and I am sure I will take to visit as well. Sevilla, no me ha dejado.

More to come on my apartment, starting my first 2 weeks at school, simple struggles, being sick, and by Madrid bucketlist!!

exploring madrid!

Tapas & Sangria in La Latina

El Rastro

El Rastro - Artisan Market

 Ábaco - the used bookstore!!

Levi & Elli in the rose garden, with very few roses 

Elli and I at the oldest restaurant in the world

Here is my recount of last weekend and some of last week in Madrid. Friday we went out and stayed out pretty late in the La Latina area. A bunch of girls I had met at orientation including: Sam, Kristen, Maury, Elli, Sara, and Margarthe (this girl from their hostel) went and had tapas and sangria - then we went to a few different bars & a discoteca in La Latina. Sam & Elli both studied in Sevilla (at different times from each other and different times from me) but we all remember Long Island and had to take shots of Ron Miel (honey rum) at the bar because we all are really Sevillanas at heart. 

Also on Friday during orientation last week, I was talking to Elli about looking for apartments in the Chamberí neighborhood. Chamberí is a little north west of the center (Sol metro stop) and closer to the University of Complutense in Madrid. So it's a neighborhood with a lot of students, and it's a little less touristy and less crazy than the center of the city. Mal pal (Mallory Smith) lived in Madrid and did the Ministry auxiliar program 2 years ago and recommended that I live in Chamberí somewhere. Elli had already found a great apartment with Spaniards in Chamberí but she told me about this apartment that she saw that was her second choice - that is brand new, with 4 bedrooms, and 4 bathrooms. So she gave me Javier's (the land lord's) info and I went and saw it first thing on Saturday.  I loved it and told him I wanted to live their right then when I saw it, which was amazing. 

On Saturday, after I saw apartments, I went home and joined Blanca and Cassio for lunch. I spent the afternoon packing all my stuff to take over to my new apartment. BUT Saturday night was such a bummer... so all week every one was so excited because Madrid was a candidate in the running for the 2020 Olympics. On Saturday night, there was this huge celebration in Puerta de Alcalá and they were suppose to announce at 10pm. So around 8:30, the girls and I headed over there and it was really strange because as we were getting off the metro at Retiro - it wasn't as busy as we expected it to be and people were getting on to leave. Then we go up to the street and by this time it's like 9:20ish, and people are walking away from Puerta de Alcalá. So I asked these like 16 year old girls where Puerta de Alcalá was and they were like "it's up that way, but we just got eliminated." Madrid had been eliminated and the final 2 candidates were Istanbul and Tokyo. SO SAD. All of Madrid was really sad on Saturday night and for the rest of the weekend. If you must know, Tokyo won.

Sunday morning, I got up late and Blanca was like, "Are you going to El Rastro?" And I was barely awake, and so I was like "Um, sure." I texted Elli and we met up/explored to find El Rastro, which is kind of a less ghetto outdoor market than the Mercadillo I went to in Sevilla with Amir & Brian. It's actually really neat because it has so much stuff - clothes, Spanish gypsy pants, fruits, dresses, art, electronics, candy, postres, one guy was selling nintendo gear, etc... I bought a "first day of school" dress. And Elli bought some art to hang on the wall in her room. We actually stumbled upon the Museo de Artes y Tradiciones Populares, which was in the middle of El Rastro - having an El Rastro Artisan Market, where they rent out open space in the museum to bring in local artists (only every once in a while).  Both El Rastro & the artisan market were really awesome. Sunday night I went to dinner with friends at this place near San Bernardo metro stop in Malasaña that had Argentinian Empanadas, which were really good. 

Monday, I went and met with the director of BEDA at my school and she let me know that I was going to work with infantil. Meaning, I would work with 3-5 year olds in preschool to kindergarten. I am soooo excited about this because it is exactly what I wanted. Then Elli, Maury, and I had lunch in Chamberí then Elli and I went to meet up with Levi and we explored around Parque del Retiro (Retiro Park), el palacio cristal (The Crystal Palace), and el jardín de las rosas (The Rose Garden), then went to el Museo de Reina Sofia (Queen Sofia's Museum). It was great because el Museo de Reina Sofia was free (they have random hours free entrance) because we were all exhausted and just went to see the Guernica by Picasso, then left. 

Tuesday, I finally slept in!! I packed up at Blanca's and moved more stuff over to my apartment, went to coffee with Anna Merkle (Mal Pal's friend from Madrid), and found this amazing used book store near 4 Caminos (my metro stop). I went to dinner with Elli and Levi and some other BEDA girls (who like Levi are studying and living outside of Madrid like at least 2.5 hrs - so they are living in their cities and not Madrid, e.g., Navarro but they were just here for orientation) - and we went to Restaurante Sobrino de Botín, which is the oldest restaurant in the world, established in 1725. On Monday afternoon and Tuesday night, Elli and I started talking about Sevilla and how we wanted to travel this week while we had extra time off. So last minute on Tuesday night, we made plans to get up early and take the Renfe (ave) to Sevilla to see old friends, host moms, and teachers. 

Our trip to Sevilla was AMAZING and like returning to my heart/soul, so I'll write another long post about that and more about my apartment and roommates. But I really have to go to sleep because tomorrow is my first day of school/work at Calasancio. So excited! 

Besos! 

-Val

first week: arriving to madrid and orientation

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights, it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." - Anatole France

Spanish Breakfast - pan tostada con tomate y aciete de oliva - 

(toasted bread with tomato schmear and olive oil) and café con leche (coffee w milk). 

It has been a whirlwind since I got to Madrid. I'm pretty sure the first few weeks/month it's still going to feel like this, but I feel like I've been super busy and my first week has gone by really fast.

So I forgot to elaborate about my last day at home, basically, I was a little over zealous with my last day at home and of course ran out of time by the end of the day. We had a big send off to Spain for me and a welcoming home for my cousin Scotty who has been in Asia for the past year or so. It was convenient that it was Labor Day so everyone had off work and was able to come. So to celebrate/see everyone we went to lunch with my mom's side of the family - my uncle Kenny & fam, my mom's cousins, Uncle Jeff + fam, and our family to this chinese place where you had to wait in line a long time. Not my preferred choice for food/one of my last American meals but it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. And it was fun to see my family before I left because I was in Honduras this past June when they had our family reunion - so I had missed them then. After lunch, I was running around doing last minute packing ALL DAY. On Monday I also had a Skype date with a possible au pair placement family (for those of you who don't know what an au pair is - it's someone you nanny for and speak English to their kids, & they give you free room & board). Later, Kays and I went to an early dinner with my mom at Lemonade (love love love). It was nice that I was doing goodbyes all week so that on Monday I wasn't running around seeing everyone that day. Then Kels and I went to the Dia Frampton concert in Hollywood. She played an early set for only an hour, which was great because I had more packing to do and needed to get home.

I ended up staying up all night packing (I literally finished 30 minutes before we left the house). I had an early flight at LAX (7am) so my dad and I left at 4:30 in the morning. I made him park the car and help me in with my bags for check in because I had too many to carry by myself. He didn't gripe about it, but I know that is not what he prefers (so I am always thankful for him!!). I was so tired at the airport but it was nice because I slept all the way from LAX-DFW (2.5 hrs) and had a 5 hour layover in DFW but got to eat TexMex at Blue Mesa and have their sweet potato chips & salsa that I so have missed. I slept again for a good portion of the 9.75 hour flight from DFW- Madrid Barajas, the flight was SO FULL (probably because of Labor Day in the US & end of summer). They played "42" (the Jackie Robinson movie) and "Trouble with the Curve" which were awesome because they are both baseball movies & 42 made me miss the Dodgers but I still loved it. The guy next to me on the plane was an older engineer from Fort Worth who goes to a small city outside of Milan for business so we talked about how we both love FTW and he told me about visiting Lake Maggiore in Italy vs. Lake Como (which is on my wish list). But it was good because he wasn't a big talker, so I was able to sleep both before and after dinner & breakfast.

I am staying at an airb&b place for the first week while I do orientation and look for apartments. AirB&B is a site where people rent out extra rooms in their houses or apartments, for travelers. It's really afforable and just as much privacy as a hotel. Joyce and I did it in Austria last summer when we stayed in Vienna and we really like it. Right now, I'm staying in the center of the city with an older couple and their names are Blanca and Cassio. When I got to Madrid, Cassio picked me up and waiting for me at the airport - which was sooo great after such a long flight. I didn't have to figure out how to get to their house or lug my stuff on the metro or anything, he was just there waiting to help me with my bags and we drove home in their car. Blanca made me breakfast when we got back to their apartment, because it was around 11am. While I was eating breakfast, I was talking to her about moving to Madrid and she was literally looking up apartments for me to go see (so nice of her!). I showered and took a 3 hr nap after that because it was like 4am or some crazy hour at home and of course I was still jet lagged. When I woke up, I went to go look at an apartment that I had set up from one of the program director's links that she sent us. It was south of the center in the Atocha area - 3 bed, 1 bath but the kitchen was SO SMALL. Seriously room for only 1 person in it at a time. The bedrooms didn't have a lot of windows either so I wasn't in love with it but it was good for me to see.

I went to dinner that (Wednesday) night with some girls that I met in a facebook group for the BEDA program. I had asked Blanca how to get to Plaza Mayor to meet them and her and Cassio were like, "Oh let's just take a walk and we will walk you there," which was so sweet of them. I ended up meeting a bunch of girls and we ended up at this place for tapas outside of the Mercado de San Miguel (San Miguel Market) which is soooo fun. After dinner, we went to the Mercado de San Miguel for dessert and more sangria. The Mercado de San Miguel reminds me of 100x times less crazy Boqueria in Las Ramblas in Barcelona. There is fresh food from different stands and they make it for you - there's drinks, tapas, ice cream, fish where you pick your fish from the ice and they fry it there in front of you, smoothies, nuts and fruit stands, olive stands, etc. It's also great because they have places to sit (tables/chairs) in the market for you to eat what you bought and they sometimes have live music there as well. I'm really excited about it because I love outdoor markets like that so I think it's gonna be one of my favorite places to go.

The next few days were a blur because we had orientation - from 9am-3pm on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, we spent all morning filling out forms for an NIE (Número de Identidad de Extranjero), which basically is like a driver's license for Spain without the driving portion, so more like a state issued ID card. But you use it as your ID when you open a bank account, or change money, or buy a long term metro pass, etc. It is also necessary so that you give the government tax and allows you to work in Spain. We also filled out social security papers for Spain and got our program guidelines, insurance benefits (yes mom I get private health insurance & dental, yay!! but of course I will still keep my Cobra) and such. Then, we spent the afternoon waiting in line to turn in the papers so that Esther/Samantha (the directors of BEDA) could go to the Spanish government and apply for our NIEs. If you apply for a NIE by yourself it can take 6-8 months but we should get ours within the next 2 months. During breaks, we went to a nearby restaurant and had tapas, Spanish breakfast (my favorite!! pan tostada con tomate y aciete de oliva - toast with tomato schmear and olive oil) and café con leche (coffee w milk).

On Friday, there was this Spanish teacher guy from BEDA who talked to us about the education system in Spain explaining public, half-public/half-private, and private schools in Spain and the different age levels and when/what school is obligatory to attend. BEDA only has teaching assistants in half-public/half-private and private Catholic schools. He also talked about the mission of the program, the Catholic schools that we will be in, their affiliation with University of Comillas and University of Cambridge, Cambridge English testing that we have the opportunity to do, and the classes that we will take. His lecture last like 4 hours so I was dying sitting for that long and I just played hangman in Spanish (which is a lot harder than you think), in the back row with Sam. We finally got our class schedule (not teaching job schedule), and most of our classes are 1-2 times a month on Friday nights from Oct-Feb. :( I'm bummed that classes are on Fridays but there are not that many and most all my friends will be in class at the same time as me, so we plan on hanging out/going out after. We also took a language proficiency exam on Friday for our level of Spanish (Levels are: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) - because if you test at B2 or above you are allowed to attend less classes on Friday. Not sure how I did, but I'm hoping to get B2. Orientation helped with making new friends - which was great and once classes start that will help too. I will write another post about new friends and apartment hunting later but I've written a lot in this post - so I'll break it up a little.

In between orientation and going out to tapas/dinner/drinks with friends, I got an "Abono" (which is a unlimited metro pass) on Thursday, Blanca & Cassio went with me to get it because I asked them how to make an appointment and they just said they would go with me. Blanca & Cassio have been so great, I wish I could live with them indefinitely (and my Spanish would be amazing if I did)! Then Sam and I tried to go today to get her one but they are closed on weekends. The Abono is expensive though 54euro a month which comes out to like around $80 - but definitely needed because I'm gonna live here and take the metro a lot. I also finally got a Spanish cell number on Friday because it was this whole ordeal with unlocking my phone with AT&T. I did bring my old movistar cell phone from when I was in Sevilla - but I charged it and it definitely didn't turn on, guess those pay as you go phones aren't meant to last.

Sorry this post wasn't super exciting - I will write more about the city, adventures, apartment hunting, and new friends in my next post because there is lots to tell. Miss & love you all!

en route to madrid.

Here's some things I did during my last weekend at home with my family and friends: 

dad & i at our last dodger game of the season!

j & i at lacma lights.

last lemonade with kays & mom.

last concert w kaysa.

brunch w joe & steven!

I'm currently sitting in the DFW airport taking care of last minute things like calling my credit card company and letting them know that I'll be out of the country .... and calling CVS to tell them to stop calling me and leaving me messages because now I will get charged internationally if they call and leave me messages (what a hassle!). Just last minute things that need to be taken care of. :) 

I don't think it's really hit me yet that I'm gonna be in Madrid tomorrow morning. When my dad and I were checking in my bags at the airport - I was kind of like hmm.. this is really happening, bye dad! But it still hasn't completely sunk in yet. Maybe because I am exhausted too - I was up all night packing and only slept on the way to the airport (we left at 4:30am for my 7am flight). I slept the whole way from LA to DFW - which I needed badly. And hopefully, this layover won't last much longer and I will sleep on the way to Madrid. I have a busy first day ahead of me looking at apartments and such. Well, next time I write I will be in Spain. Hasta luego! (Until later!)