Turns out I’ve been in Madrid for almost 7 weeks now and
have not blogged even once. Pretty sad since I had these big plans of blogging
once a week! Well… settling in took much more time and effort than I’d thought!
Still, no excuse. I can’t make a promise, but I’m really going to try and blog
more frequently! I’m planning in certain hours of my week for exactly this.
It’ll be something I look forward to! I love to write and know years down the
line it’ll be great reading this and reminiscing, so here it goes!
I can’t exactly recap almost 2 months in one post. So I’ll
start with a few things at a time. Soon you’ll be caught up!
So… Spain. My new home! So far it’s been great overall. I’ve
made so many friends already and love my apartment and roommates! I’ve traveled
a bunch already and am aiming to make the most of every second. When I studied
abroad last summer the whole trip felt like I was on vacation traveling. I mean
I did go to class and study… but it was all so new and so short of a time I
felt like I was visiting. But this year it’s different. It’s more long-term,
and I have a “real” job. I signed a lease for my first time. I opened up a
Spanish bank account. I applied for residency. I have a transport pass. It was
almost like starting up a new life in a different country. But along with that
have come many challenges. Fulbright lost my first check, Santander (my Spanish
bank) lost my debit card for three weeks in the mail and refused to order me a
new one (it was going to “appear” somehow), my first paycheck was two weeks
late and it took over an hour on the phone to get it finally, we had icy-cold
water in our apartment for our first month because the heater was broken, my
online rent transfer wouldn’t go through the day it was due because of an
“account problem”, the watch Jeremy sent me for my birthday that he express
mailed from Amazon didn’t work and it took 4 hours of my day to find a way of
mailing it back at an affordable cost, and to top things off this past Friday I
spent over two hours waiting outside in the cold to submit my paperwork for my
residency card only to find that there was a data transfer problem from the
place that issues visas to the place I was applying for my NIE (residency
card). So what do they say? Come back in two weeks, you get to do it all over
again. Yay! Not… And when someone says we’ll call back tomorrow it really means
next week maybe… So you get to call them back over and over until you finally
get a reply of some sort. Oh well. Patience is a virtue right?
So yes there have been
difficulties and many ups and downs. But as my grandparents have been telling
me it’s all about adapting and making the most of each day. “One's destination
is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things”. And each day
brings so many new discoveries as I learn a new way to live life. It’s
fascinating all the new things I learn and experience. I never imagined myself
as a teacher, and now I’m called by that name all day long! I’ve met so many inspirational
people from all over the world. After living so long in one city it’s crazy how
much your world can change moving into a new one. And it really does feel like
another world sometimes. There are days I have a hard time being so far away…
but luckily social media and new technology makes it feel a bit closer when I
need that. For now I am making this my “temporary” home. It really does feel
like it though. Every tough moment I work through helps me learn something and
“grow” as cliché as it sounds. I look back on my first few days here and see
how far I’ve come. And there is so much more ahead still!
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| With my roommates the day we signed the lease! |
After the residency card mix-up on
Friday I’ve tried to have a new outlook on things. So here’s a story about
today:
I finally thought I’d gotten the
bus/train commute down by now. I can
either take the 40-minute train ride and then have a 25-minute walk when I get
to Ciempozuelos up to the high school, or I can take the 19 bus from where I
live for about 15 minutes to Legazpi and then take another bus from there
that’s about 35-40 minutes to Ciempozuelos and only have a 5-minute walk!
Either way the whole commute is about 1.5 hours there, 1.5 hours back with the
connections and walking and such. Just over an hour on a lucky day… but
anyways, with the buses I make sure to give myself enough time between the two
(well try to… it’s hard in the mornings). I was waiting for the 426 this
morning in Legazpi… it leaves at 7:30. Usually they leave right on time. So the
bus pulls up to the stop and I get on. All is going well for the first half
hour or so and then I realize we’re in a different town. Well turns out, I’d
gotten on the WRONG bus!! At this point I’m freaking out. I have class in 20
minutes and I’m in the wrong city. I get off and scramble trying to figure out
what to do. I call and text my coordinator – no answer. I call the front desk
of my school asking to tell my teacher and coordinator what happened. Luckily
they were understanding… but me, being that I hate being late for things,
especially during my first few weeks at a job, I was freaking out. I rushed
into a cafetería asking where the nearest cercanias (train) station was. I was
pointed down a street and luckily made it there within 10 minutes! The next
train was only a 6-minute wait, perfect since they only come about every half
hour! After arriving in Ciempozuelos I still have the 25-minute walk and
arrived with only 10 minutes left of my first class. My coordinator and many
other teachers were there to greet me and make sure all was okay. Apparently the
whole school knew at this point what had happened, so embarrassing! But oddly
enough everyone was just concerned that I was okay and it was “no trouble at
all that I missed class”! In moments like these I’m appreciative of the more
laid-back attitude here. All went swell for the rest of the day. And actually,
I kept thinking of all the good things that came of it. On my bus ride I’d been
thinking I should have opted for riding the train that day because then I’d get
my 25-minute walk uphill, not feel so full from breakfast still, and make the most
of a day with sunshine. Well turns out I got my wish! And my walk through town
was nice; so many young kids were out and about! And with not having my first
class the day sure flew by! In the end it wasn’t such a big deal after all. Not
that I ever plan on doing that again of course, but it’s a lesson learned!
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| My street, Calle de Alfonso XII, is showing the colors of Fall! |
Well that’s it for now sadly, there’s
so much more! I’ll explain my life as a teacher thus far very soon I promise!
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