We are here!

Hola! Estamos en Espana!

Our venture began on a positive note, coffee shops open and no charge at the airport for our second HUGE piece of luggage. Que bueno! Saved a whopping $50 right there! We arrived in Spain with no problems, checked into our hostel and set out to see some apartments. The first was alright but had scary stairs that allow you to peer down the chasam of doom that goes all the way to the basement. "No thank you" says I, the girl who is afraid of heights. The second was a no show and the third canceled before our appointment because someone else decided they wanted it. One for three isn't THAT bad.

Tuesday we had a meeting to discuss what our job will actually be. Apparently we are sort of aides to the English teachers because they have never taught their subjects in a foreign language and may need some guidance. Plus, who better to help kids learn English than those of us who mumble and make up words!

Thursday I was able to visit the town where I will be working! It's really cute and the school in very new (this is only the 2nd year in that building). It turns out I will only be with students about 16 hours/week and helping the teachers with their English another 2 hour/week (assuming that they have time which is something that teachers often do not have).

Yesterday we met an awesome family who just moved here from Georgia. We actually met them in the one Vodafone (phone/internet company) store that has an employee who speaks English fairly well and that is why we were all there. Seems that English is actually rather rare around Madrid! This employee is a hot commodity, let me tell ya! Anyway, I might be able to pick up some babysitting because they have a 5th grader and 8th grader (who happens to love Glee)! They seem great so I hope that works out.

Aside from one lady who wouldn't even let me ask a question before she said "I don't know", the most amazing apartment in the entire world EVER getting stolen by someone else, the eggs and asparagus that was actually 50% fungus (otherwise known as mushrooms), and me getting forgotten by our entire group for a lunch, things have been great.

My favorite so far was the little old lady who told Jen and I that we were cute, kind and strong and to watch out for Spanish men. Because she had such great things to say about us, we offered her some of our massive plate of cured cheese before she left. This is my favorite part, she picked up a piece, broke it in half and put one half back on our plate. She then smiled, said thank you and walked on as if it is totally normal to touch other people's food and put it back on their plates. Awesome! I think I'm going to like it here.

The apartment hunt is a bit brutal but after a little while we'll probably get less picky and just settle on something tolerable.

I'll post some pictures soon!