HOLLA-TAYUD

ORIENTACIÓN

A quick update as my hectic first week continues.

I arrived in Madrid on the 29th after 18 hours of travel, as did all of my luggage. ¡Que suerte!
I tried to nap in my hostel, did so for a couple hours but woke myself up so I could try to sleep at night. It was a pretty loud hostel and I stayed in a 10 bed-room so, to no surprise I only slept about 4 hours the first night. I did however make contacts with some folks all around Europe so there's a good chance I'll be getting around to some of those cities: Bruges, Santander, La Rioja, San Sebastian and others. My second day in the city I tripped around a bit, took coffee with some Spaniards, got a new phone number for my móvil and other little things. I successfully hauled my junk across town to Hotel Convención where our program orientation was held. I almost fainted in the metro from heat exhaustion combined with sleep deprivation so I napped from 3-7 that afternoon followed by group dinner that evening. That night I went to bed at midnight but opened my eyes at 3:30am and was wide awake for the rest of the night. I really thought I'd be adjusting better but the city was loud, my diet is still off and I just recently got rid of an ongoing headache that changed location in my brain every few hours. Sleep will come later, however. After a night of 3.5 hours of sleep we had orientation from 9AM-6PM...

Basically, the Spanish government pays for a certain amount of “auxiliares” from all different countries to be teaching assistants in schools, beginning with infants all the way to pre-bachelor programs or basically the high school system. The autonomous communities of Spain have the option to bring in more “auxiliares” but must fund the teachers separately. So this year Spain is hosting almost 2,800 “auxiliares”. The introductory meeting consisted of a member from each embassy of each country that participates in the culture-language exchange with Spain. They are: USA, Italy, Canada, France, UK, Germany; Belgium, New Zealand (1 person), Australia, Iceland (1 person) and Ireland. Obviously, there are more English speakers than all the others combined but it was a pretty cool experience to be in the middle of such a grand fusion of cultures and languages. Each representative from their respective embassy gave an introduction speech, and each attempted it in Spanish but for the most part stuck to their native tongue. Have you ever heard an overweight, pink faced Brit speak really awful Spanish? At least I stayed awake during that part of orientation.

So the adventure continues...

The next morning (Friday), the two chicas also going to Calatayud and I caught a 2 hr train ride to our city and checked into my 3rd hotel in 4 days. A few teachers and directors from the elementary schools around town met us at the train station, drove us around, showed us the hot spots, etc.. They gave us numbers to call for apartment searching because there really isn't much online, so finding a new place basically goes by hear-say. Because Calatayud isn't really a big city kinda town, there isn't a lot of people-traffic going to and from so I couldn't find just a single room to rent out of an already inhabited flat full of Spaniards, as desired. Well lucky for me, I happened to know 2 lovely ladies also looking for housing. We looked at 3 pisos and unexpectedly struck gold on the 4th. I am happy to say I'm no longer switching residence every other day and have a home! Master bed, private bath and balcony...It is a precioso piso moderno in a quaint little Calatayud. My landlord's name is Jesus. Jesus Melus, hahaha. We've also sworn to each other that the only friends we make are Spanish speaking. We live on the other side of the river, which, really means just that. I can walk anywhere in 5-10 minutes. Oh and our barrio is called Galapagos. Holla.

Speaking of the river, it runs along the southern part of the city and answers to the name Jalón. It's great when nature meets city but Jalón is the color of café con leche, and more café than leche, that's for sure. Our first night we ate shwarma, of course. Had an adult beverage at the Buddha bar, followed by the Australian pub which played disco spanish music all night long. What's great about this town is that no one believes that 3 American girls just up and moved here because let's face it, there's no migration to Cala, and peeps my age leave because there is no university here. Luckily, Zaragoza is not too far, maybe an hour by car and an hour and a half by bus. Tourists are mainly Spaniards and I'm guessing most of them are probably here to visit their relatives. Chances are good I'll be having a very authentic time here, minus the fact that I'm “not supposed to speak Spanish” at the high school. Guess we'll see on Tuesday.

So, lots to do this week. Today, probably a hike to the Castillo Mayor which I can see from my window, along with all the surrounding mountains since buildings here aren't taller than 7 floors. Monday I have to: do paperwork at the high school, make copies of the keys for the flat, grocery shop so I can eat on my own schedule's not Spain's, call the internet company and get some wiiiifiiii installed, buy a towel, buy sheets, answer some emails, ask mom to vacuum pack and send my my down comforter because I don't want to buy a new one and it's cooling down fast here...

I'm sure I've forgotten many details. And I promise that fotos are coming soon. My camera's been dead for a while and I've been distracted, ok?

Well tomorrow I'm off to IES (instituto de educación secundaria) Leonardo de Chabacier. I've been taking note of the high-school looking kids I pass on the streets and telling them to "remember this face" because it's game time October 5th. Any funny phrases I should teach them?

I need to see more names on Skype also, where ya'll at?? Talk soon...

P.S. FELIZ SUPER CUMPLEAÑOS HERMANO MAYOR, TE AMO CALEB!!