Another website

Also, if you go to http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_Genil you can see a few photos of Puente Genil. Most of you won't be able to understand the text, but the pictures are pretty. :-)

Whirlwind of a Week

This week has been packed full! Every waking moment I'm busy working or with my nose to my computer screen doing some kind of research. I found a lot of websites and photos online. The more I learn, the more excited I get. Sometimes it is a great thing to not get what you want. I would love more than anything to live in Granada again, but then I wouldn't get to try out a whole new experience. Puente Genil may be a lot smaller and not super close to a city, but it is within a couple of hours to so many cities. It will be a lot easier to take weekend trips to see all kinds of new stuff. It appears that my school is on the outskirts of town and is probably the school all of the kids from the rural areas go to. It's right next the the Genil River. This is great. Some how I keep managing to stay connected to water. Right now I'm in the desert and there is a river running through town 2 blocks from my house. Next, I'll be inland Spain working, and maybe living, next to a river. I'm trying to figure out the whole housing situation now. My friend in Granada is such a huge help. I'm incredibly lucky! We've come across a few apartments for rent and we're narrowing down which neighborhood I should be in. The school looks to be 2+ miles from the Center of town. I'm probably going to need a bike or a moto to get around whether I live in the center and need to get to school or live in the skirts and want to go to the center to grocery shop, see a movie, meet up with friends, etc. My biggest decision now is 1. Do I rent an apartment from here in the U.S. and then try to get roommates to join me -or- 2. Do I wait until I get there and try to find someone who has a room available? There are good and bad sides to both of these options. I would prefer to be able to see the apartments in person before I settle on one, but my temporary housing options are going to be limited as there are not a lot of hostels/hotels there. When the right option comes along I guess I'll just know what to do. I'm really not letting the lack of concrete answers get to me. I know I'm going to the 'land of tomorrow' so I better get used to things working at a much slower pace. This is not to say I'm at complete peace! I've barely slept for a week and I have to remind myself to stop staring at the computer screen long enough to eat. I easily get lost in my research and planning. I'm usually up late and have been getting up daily around 7AM (this is EARLY for me!!). Coffee has become my friend and having to go to work is a major inconvenience. haha. The next thing on the to-do list is turning in all of my paperwork to the Consulate to get my visa. This week I'm going to Houston to do just this and then I'll go stay with some friends in Dallas for a couple of days. The roadtrip will do me good. Lots of thinking time. Plus, I have lots of spanish conversations I want to listen to for practice.

I'm including a weblink here for anyone that would like to get a glimpse of where I'm going. Hopefully those of you without high-speed internet can still see it. I'm not sure if YouTube is dial-up friendly or not. The video is less than two minutes and the commentary is in Spanish. Just go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVm3VmqBzBY . Enjoy!

I got it, I got it!!

I got my placement letter today! I am in a town called Puente Genil. I'm doing research on it now. So far I know that is has a population of about 30,000 and is an agricultural town. It is centrally located in Andalucia (Southern region in Spain). So, it may not be a big city, but it is within 2 hours from 4-5 main cities. The school I was placed in is a High School, so I'll have kids between 12 and 18 years old. Soon I'll have some photos and more information. Eeek, I'm so excited. Now it is time to book my plane ticket and work on housing, temporary and permanent. I can't wait to share as I figure it all out.

~Haley

Oh, it also has a river running through it. How perfect is that? I'm inland and I still have water near by!

Not today

It didn't come today...maybe tomorrow?

Hurry up already

My nerves are shot today. I'm supposed to get my letter by Wednesday. I've been on a forum on Facebook where a ton of assistants in my region have been talking to each other and sharing information. Friday a handful of lucky people posted that they had received their letters. Today a ton more people have gotten theirs. It is 1:30 right now and the mail doesn't come until 3ish. I want SO badly to get the letter today. But, I'm in Carlsbad, in the middle of freakin nowhere, where the post office laughs at you if you want to overnight something. If I see the mailman coming up the driveway, all I can say is 'poor guy'. :-) I'm planning to go to Houston on Sunday night to apply for my visa. Then I'll go to Dallas for a couple of days to visit some friends. I just need the rest of my information.... Deep breaths....