My apartment

Here are photos of my new apartment. It's definitely colorful! I love my new space. Especially my reading nook. My bedroom is starting to take form and this is the living room/kitchen after my roommate's Halloween project.

Nesting

My roommate has been gone for a few days, so I've been nesting. Cleaning and putting things away. It's nice to have the place to myself because things tend to look worse before they look better when I start to organize.

On Friday I went to Puente Genil to see Frieda! It was wonderful. We didn't stop talking for two days. There was lots to catch up on from the summer and lots to think about for the year to come. She was very glad to have me there since she is now going it alone. Of our group of girls, she is the only one left there. I told her she'll have to come visit me in Granada and she happily accepted the invitation.

While there, I also saw some teacher friends that I used to meet up with on Thursdays. One of them is being so kind! He's driving to Granada this coming weekend to spend time with family, so he's offered to bring me the rest of my stuff!!! I brought as much as I could carry back with me, but a lot was left behind. On Sunday, he and his wife came by Frieda's house and we loaded everything into their trunk. All ready for the journey. What a relief.

I am realizing that as much as I hate to move, it's a good thing that I do it so frequently because otherwise you might see me on the show Hoarders. hahaha. On top of what I've brought to Spain, I've acquired things from friends. At Christmas, Marta gave me a bag of winter clothes and when Julia left to go back to the States, she left lots of clothes, medicines, toiletries, etc. I won't be letting any of it go to waste.

I'm finally able to sleep with no problems. Now that I'm amovin' and ashakin' I'm having a hard time finding time to sleep! Work is going well. I've spent a few days in class with my boss. She has great methods. I hope I can pick them up quickly. She has leads for Andrea and I about private English classes we can give. There are several places that have extracurricular classes I can take. Lots of dance, art, music, languages. There's even a class where you can learn to make puppets, no joke. I doubt I'll be signing up for that one, but I'm trying to decide what I want to learn most. A Spanish class is really important and I'd love to learn 'Sevillanas', a typical Spanish dance, or Salsa. Plus, my friend Toñy and I are going to trade English lessons for Cooking lessons. I'm not sure if I'm going to have time for all of this, but I'm sure going to try!!

My work schedule for now is going to be Tuesday through Thursday mornings. At some point, Andrea and I will switch and I'll work Wednesday through Friday mornings. Both schedules work for me since I'll always have Mondays off and I'll always have a four day weekend!

~Haley

Definitely need a coffee pot....

Started work yesterday and we thought we had an orientation today. It turns out the orientation is Monday. Typical disorganization, but it got me out of work. Instead, a bunch of us went for coffee to get to know each other better.

I'm finally able to sleep, but I don't have time! There's more stuff to do in the evening and school in the morning. Buying a coffee pot is on the TOP of my list. At school I will be spending the majority of my time in class with the kids, so I'm not going to be able to function in my normal groggy state for the first couple of hours. :-) I'm working with a girl named Andrea. We are still waiting on our schedules. We would both ideally like to have Thursday and Friday off instead of Monday and Tuesday, so we will probably switch halfway through the year.

My roommate is gone for a couple of days, so I've been nesting. Cleaning and reorganizing has been kinda fun. When I get more of my stuff from Puente Genil it will be even better.

Spoke too soon!

As I just finished telling you that I understand so much more this year, I am now telling you I stuck my foot in my mouth! Now that my Spanish friends know that I understand better, they are speaking to me faster. Today I'm tired after spending a couple of days talking and listening and am having a harder time understanding everything. Yea! to new challenges!!

Moving In

I am happily writing you from the comfort of my new home! I moved in yesterday. I have plenty of space and a nice haven to relax in. There's an extra twin bed if anyone wants to visit! For the time being, I have one roommate, Ana. She is Spanish and studying translation. A perfect resource for me as I look into doing the same. We had another roommate, but she's changed her mind and decided to move elsewhere. In the next week or so I'm sure someone else will be moving in to fill the room. If not, there's another bed for someone to sleep in when they visit.

I'm getting used to all of the new noises. The apartment is located on a street with lots of bars and restaurants, so there's quite a bit of foot traffic. Hopefully it's pretty easy to get used to. It's nice having everything so close.

My school is a 20-30 minute walk. It's not super close, but I only go there 3 days a week. Thursday is my first day. I'm not too nervous because I have been there several times to visit, but I am excited to see what my new schedule is. I had been under the impression that I would be the only person placed at the school, but in fact, there is another girl. We'll be able to split the week between us. One the first half, the other the second half.

As soon as I know I have 3 days free, I'm going to go to Puente Genil, where I lived last year. I can't wait to see my old roommate Frieda and I'll get to pick up some of the stuff I left with her last year. One of my teacher friends has already called to check up on me because he heard I had made it back to the country. I'm sure I'll meet up with them as well. How great is it to already have friends here! And I'm ready to meet more!!

And the adventure continues...

(Sept 25th)
Hey everybody!!

I´m back - in more ways than one. My travels have brought me back to Spain and with my newest adventure, I´ve renewed my effort to bring you along with me. Especially those of you I promised to put in my suitcase. (Sorry, no room. I actually threw away my last pair of socks because I didn´t have the patience to fit them in my bags!)

I was already a bit worn out when I started my trip, so the 28+ hour journey felt like days. I slept when I could on the planes, but it didn´t add up to much. On my long flight from Philadelphia to London I did have a very nice flight attendent. I asked for tomato juice, he suggested a Bloody Mary...I asked for chicken, he suggested white wine. Very nice man indeed.

Granada was my final destination. (My favorite place in the world if you didn´t already know!) My friend Toñy was the greatest and met me to help get my bags to the hostel. It was wonderful to find out I didn´t lose as much of my Spanish as I thought. I´m pleasantly surprised to realize how much more I understand this year! I guess it took a summer away to fall into place.

I even got to bed at a normal spanish time so my body will adjust to the time change quicker. I slept fairly well, considering my body is very confused (I´m six hours ahead of Michigan). This morning I woke up and decided to go for a walk through Granada. First, I tended to some errands and then looked for flyers for available apartments to rent.

I felt like skipping through the streets! Even grocery shopping was fun. I got all the ingredients to make my favorite tuna sandwich on fresh baked baguette bread. MmmMmmMmm. After lunch came a glorious nap. The siesta is a beautiful thing. In the evening, I went to see my first apartment and explored the neighborhood. Before the day escaped me, I sent some emails home. Now I am relaxing and happy it´s time for another round of sleep.

It´s amazing that this place doesn´t seem so - for lack of a better word - foreign to me anymore. It´s comforting to know where I´m going and what to ask for. I hope this helps me to find new challenges this year. I´m so grateful for the opportunites that I have here. They haven´t come free, but I believe them to be worth the sacrifices!! Thank you all for sticking with me and having my back!!

P.S. I bought stamps, so the first ten postcards I send out have no reason to stay on my desk!!

Part 2: Zalamea

After the xmas party, I had a fairly quiet weekend. My girls left town one by one and then on Tuesday I went to Cordoba to meet my friend (and co-worker) Marta. Marta and I were set for a road trip adventure. She is a fairly new driver and this was her first trip taking a brand new route that she wasn’t certain of. Neither one of us cared; we had each other and were excited to get to her grandma’s house. The plan was to go to Zalamea (pronounced Tha-la-MAY-ah) in the province of Extremadura. I had never been there before and always love seeing new parts of Spain. I was very nervous to meet her family, though. They were being so great for taking me in for the holidays, especially when they had never met me before.

I had nothing to worry about! I first met her grandma. Her name is Tini, but everyone calls her Abuelita which is like saying Gram, Granny, or one of the other variations we have. Marta’s Aunt Cristina was also there to welcome us. The four of us had lunch and then we took a little siesta. A couple hours later, the rest of the family arrived; Luis Sr., Maria Jose, and Luis Jr. Meeting all of these people would have been enough to keep me busy, but I had just gotten started. Down the block lives her grandpa from the other side of the family. At his house, there was Abu (another nickname for a grandparent), Marta’s 5 aunts and uncles with their spouses, and a handful of cousins. After about 5 minutes my brain was on overload and stayed that way for 2 weeks! Haha.

We stayed in Zalamea for about 5 days. It is a very small pueblo (village/town) where everyone knows everyone. Every time we went out I met more family friends. We were constantly going out for coffee, a beer, or visiting with the family at Abu’s house. I ate so well! There was always something to pick at. We had many different pork dishes, quiche, shrimp, fish soup, tortilla, paella, seafood salad, and much, much more.

Part 1 of much more to come: Christmas in Spain

I have so much to share. I’m going to try to break it down into chewable parts! So, take your time and enjoy.


So Thursday, the 18th of Dec, I went back to school for my last day of work for 3 weeks! I spent a couple of hours working on a project with one of the teachers, but then just sat around chatting. No teachers had more than a couple of students, if any, so they just put on movies and came back to the teachers’ lounge. At this point, they pulled out little plastic cups and a couple bottles of Anis, liquor that is popular around the holidays. Whoa. The principal didn’t even say boo! It is technically against the rules to drink in schools in Spain, but it is a stronger tradition to break out the Anis at this time of year. By the time I sat down at the table they were all telling stories and laughing.

A couple of hours later began the Christmas dinner and party. The last of the teachers got out of school at 2:30 and everyone met up at Hotel Carmen. It is the new, fancy hotel in town. We were seated in a cave-like banquet room. There were 23 of us there. I am happy to say there was only two names I was unsure of.

The food was fantastic. For appetizers we had a few types of ham* with cheese, olives, a couple types of sausage, fried eggplant with honey, and stuffed portabella mushrooms. (*Disclaimer- I have written ham, but this truly doesn’t do it justice. In Spain there are a ton of different types of meat from a pig that are eaten regularly and they are all very distinct and unique in flavor. But in the States we don’t usually distinguish all of these types in such detail and I want you understand what I am talking about. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that we ate an array of specialty ham and nothing resembling what you would find in a Lunchable!) By this time, I really would have been content without eating anymore food, but the main course was yet to come. We had the option of fish, shrimp and lobster stuffed eggplant, and two pork dishes. I, of course, went for the seafood. And this wasn’t all! For dessert we were served a light, fluffy something with a base of what looked like ladyfingers. One word: Yummmmmm. And then of course we had coffee because no meal would be complete without that.

This all took place over the course of about three hours. It was so much fun. Everyone was just chatting away and laughing the whole time. They were good in including me in on the conversation. It is difficult for me to understand Spaniards when they are in a group because they speak faster and use more slang and common terminology. I’m so happy I was able to go because it didn’t stop there. The hotel set up a tent outside and when we were done eating we joined another school for about 4 hours of dancing! I couldn’t dance to most of it. At first they played a lot of traditional music with Flamenco or Sevillana moves that I don’t know. But, as time went on, they started playing a little of everything. Everyone danced together and they even did a couple of conga lines.

Around 10 or 11pm, a group of the teachers moved to the dance club at Etiqueta Negra, which opened its doors that night just for all of the teachers in town that were having their xmas parties. I’m just glad I didn’t have to work like everyone else did on Friday because we sure didn’t get much sleep. I stayed at Frieda’s that night and slept in until she got home for lunch. Lucky duck.