Settling In

Still waiting on my debit and credit cards....after 2 weeks. Yikes! Thankfully I get paid tomorrow. Not much, but I'll be able to buy groceries! I tried to set up a bank account today, but no dice without a some sort of foreigner ID number. On the plus side, I was in the ritzy part of Madrid today and walked by some people filming what looked like The Real Housewives of Madrid. I'll do some research and see if it's on and I made the cut.

Riding the metro can be annoying. You've always got to elbow your way to a seat and deal with people encroaching on your personal space. However, sometimes riding the metro is just entertaining. Today alone I saw a dancing grandma, singing into a portable amp she wheeled through the cars, a 7 piece Russian polka band, and two French girls whose Spanish was worse than mine. Also I finished my third book in as many weeks since I spend an hour and a half commuting each day (sometimes I'm on the metro more than I'm working) and my iPod died. (RIP Gerome 2005-2011.)

I had an interesting weekend. I went to a showing of some short films with my roommate. She's a costume designer and therefore has artsy friends. Her friend Charo had done the make-up for one of the shorts. Three out of four had subtitles, so I understood and enjoyed most of them. Then we went to a benefit concert for some charity/non-profit which teaches African immigrants Spanish. We got there after it had started and showed up right in the middle of some cool tribal music and dancing. Great, I thought! But then they finished and a reggae band began. Not exactly my cup of tea. I honestly tried to get into it, but I just couldn't get into the same mindset the dreadlocked white guys surrounding me were enjoying. Plus my gin and tonic was 9 euros. It was an experience, to say the least.

I met another friend of a friend on Sunday for coffee. She's pretty cool and has been here almost 5 years so she knows where to go and what to do. She told me there's a Mexican food store in the center and invited me to her wedding on Thursday. I like her a lot.

Sorry there aren't more pictures. I try not to tote my camera around just because (I've already lost a wallet and killed an iPod) and sorry to say I'm not terribly exciting lately. I promise to take apartment pictures for the next post. Thanks for reading!

Amigos

While I feel pretty lucky to have been able to work things out here, international moves are not totally glamorous and exciting. There's quite a few obstacles and adjustments when moving to a new country. Granted, I've spent some time in Spain and know enough of the language to get by without many problems. But all this moving around is getting to me!

The biggest thing is not knowing anyone. I have one friend from my study abroad trip who's teaching in Madrid. Other than that, I've got to start over in the friend department. I remember suffering through this same feeling in Korea, but I still had American coworkers I saw on a regular basis, which is how I ended up with such a great group of friends out there. It would be a little strange if I started trying to hang out with my 10-year-olds or their moms.

Last night I met up with a friend of a friend for coffee. She was meeting some more of her friends too, only most of them didn't speak English. No problem, I thought. Turns out the Venezuelan accent is a bit different from the Spanish I'm used to, so I did a lot of smiling and nodding. I did understand a great quote from Picasso: "Mi madre un día me dijo: "Si te haces soldado, serás General; si te haces monje, terminarás como el Papa." En cambio, me hice pintor y ahora soy Picasso." This basically translates to "My mother said to me one day 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general; if you become a monk, you'll end up the Pope.' Instead I became a painter and now I'm Picasso." Kinda pompous, huh? They are all students here (two studying criminal law and two getting MBAs) and were really nice and patient, while translating along the way. Hopefully I'll see more of them and improve my Spanish.

It does get pretty lonely here. Even talking to friends and family via the wonders of Skype doesn't quite have the same effect. I hope I get to stay in Spain a little while longer this time. It was way harder leaving my friends in Korea than I thought it would be. I've still got a few more months til Alasdair moves down...I hope I manage to meet some friends by then! And I've always got a free sofa for all my old friends if they want to come for a visit!

The Toucan Thief

I'm not normally in the habit of making so many posts, but while my schedule's sparse, I'll probably have more time.

Today I was teaching Lorenzo, who's 8. This kid has got a great imagination. We were talking about what he'd learned in English class today, animals. He mentioned a jellyfish and a toucan, so I drew pictures and labelled them. He then proceeded to draw a hat on the toucan's head, and a picture of a disgruntled man next to him. When I asked why the man was angry, he pointed to indicate that the toucan had stolen the man's hat. Then he drew 8 more angry people and the toucan ended up sporting a necklace, boots, glasses, lipstick and a t-shirt, as well as munching on a sandwich. THAT is why I like teaching kids. I only wish I'd had my camera for photographic evidence.

I also met with my boss, who has promised me more classes and help finding a new apartment this summer which would drastically decrease my commuting time. It was a pretty nice day. Now I'm going to do some cleaning up and watch a Hitchcock movie with some popcorn and a glass of Mercadona's finest euro wine.

Volver a España

This time three years ago, I had arrived in Spain for the first time. I spent a semester "studying" abroad. Along with almost 40 other students, I spent 3 months in Valencia, right on the Mediterranean, and a subsequent 2 months backpacking in Europe. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had.

After graduating, spending a year teaching in South Korea, and a few holidays in between, I'm back in Spain. Why?

One of my degrees is in Spanish, and I've been wanting to live in a Spanish-speaking country for real this time. Yeah, I spent a few months here before, and my Spanish got better, but I don't think spending 3 hours a day speaking Spanish and the rest talking to your fellow Americans in English really counts. I'd previously been looking at Central and South America, but the pay isn't great. There's another reason I opted for Spain, though. My boyfriend Alasdair is finishing up his master's in journalism and I thought it might be nice to live near him. We're at least on the same continent now. He's finishing up in the summer and plans to move down here too, getting a start on travel writing, and teaching on the side.

Celebrating our anniversary at El museo de la Reina Sofia

I know a few people in Spain, most of whom I met on that study abroad and have returned, like me, to teach English, which is in greater demand than ever. It's not quite as fierce as in Asia, but Spain is desperately trying to play catchup to the rest of Europe in English. The tricky thing is, it's pretty hard to get a job here without a EU passport. The majority of legal teachers are British, although there are some legal teachers from all over, including the States. I however, and not one of them. Now before you freak out, don't. I've done my research and talked to several people who have been in this situation. Unlike our strict border control (and the UK's as well), Spain, as in almost everything, is pretty lax. I had a friend working out here last year and she offered up some great contacts for me.

After spending New Year's skiing (or at least pretending to) with Alasdair and his family, we set off for sunny Madrid. It rained the whole first week we were here. Still, it definitely beats South Korean winters!

I will focus on the beauty of the French Alps, rather than my poor ski skills.

We got in on a Thursday, I got a job Saturday, and started work Monday. After months of fretting, I got a job in less time than I have ever gotten a job before. My boss, Alex, had told me to call him when I got to Madrid and then we set up a meeting. I thought it would be a sort of informal interview, but he said "Okay, here are your classes for Monday."

I'm doing private lessons, mainly for students, in the north of Madrid. Unfortunately, I cannot afford the rent there, so I'm about a 45-minute commute from work. Fortunately, most of my classes start after 5 so it's not so bad getting there, since I leave during siesta. (This will probably change soon, so I'm trying to enjoy it now.) My youngest student is 6 and the oldest is 19, though next month I'm starting with adults...which terrifies me. I love teaching kids. In fact, I've often said I like the kids more than the teaching. However, I was apprehensive when I had my class with the 19-year-old, and she's now one of my favorites. Who knows? Maybe I'll love teaching adults...

My apartment definitely beats the one I had in Seoul. Okay, so I do miss living alone. But my kitchen not only has a freezer, but also a microwave and an oven. I do miss my Korean pseudo-dryer/tumbler thingy, but I'll happily exchange it for the kitchen. Plus...get this...there is more than one room. My living room is separate from both my kitchen AND my bedroom. Imagine that. I'll post pictures soon (aka after I clean up). My roommate, Cristina, is Spanish so we both practice our Spanish/English with each other. She's 40ish and is a costume designer, and pretty awesome. She's a little particular about cleaning and not wasting any electricity (our heat turns off at bed time) but she's also really sweet, offering to take me grocery shopping and to Ikea (YES!) in her car.

It was so wonderful finding a job AND an apartment so quickly, I admit...I was immediately suspicious. What was the catch? When was my luck going to run out? The answer: January 13. We'd had to fortune of finding out there were tickets available for La Copa del Rey soccer game with Real Madrid vs. Madrid Atletico. Well, Alasdair was excited. Okay, I was excited too...it was my first professional soccer game. After telling my boss about it, he warned me to watch out for pickpockets. I spent the whole game with my purse wrapped around my leg, and I generally consider myself pretty aware of things in dangerous situations.

Spanish futbol fans are pretty intense. What a game!

Then we got on the metro. Amid getting separated and having an anxiety attack, someone nicked my wallet. I didn't even feel anything. Strangely enough, my rusty Spanish skills still included "Alguien me robó!" (Someone robbed me!) as I told the metro guard. He offered to call the police and suggested they may have taken the valuables and dumping the wallet in the newspaper recycling bins. I looked to no avail. I didn't take it well and vowed I'd never go to another soccer game again! We cancelled everything as soon as we got back to the hostel, finding out someone had already tried to use the credit card at an ATM. Fortunately, they didn't know the PIN and had only gotten off with the hundred euros in cash. The worse part, I admit, was that I should have been more paranoid about things. I guess I've learned my lesson. I'm mostly disappointed I lost my brand new wallet (a gift from Christmas), a picture of friends, and my UGA ID (no more discount movie tickets for me!). The evening went from bad to worse when Alasdair had news of the death of a friend. I felt guilty for being so angry for my troubles.

Admittedly, we had one bad night, but I'd much rather have gotten a job and been robbed than not gotten a job and still have a wallet. The replacement cards are in the mail and Alasdair's parents were able to transfer funds so he could lend me cash til I got them. Now I'm constantly making sure my purse is latched and it's lying across my front where I can see any sneaky fingers. Upon telling my friend Richard, who's now on his third year teaching, he said it's pretty common, but petty theft is the worst of Madrid's street crime.

I'm really enjoying work so far, although it certainly is different working with students one-on-one than teaching classes. There's a lot more prep work involved, but I work way fewer hours. The pay isn't grand, but Madrid's a fairly cheap city to live in. I'm surprised by how cold it gets here...it's been below freezing most nights and how hot everyone says the summers are. At least it's a dry heat, unlike what I'm used to. There are so many things I can't wait to experience. There are great museums, parks, theaters, and plenty to do here. For now though, I'm happy hibernating, hiding from the cold and budgeting as much as I can til my schedule's full. I'm excited to see what Madrid has in store for me!

International Blog 2!

Okay, even though I've lived in Spain before, I never wrote a blog about it and I have a feeling things may be a bit different this time around. Stay tuned for more!