Daily travel routes!

My morning train! Alcala de Henares/ Guadaljara bound I take this train for about 30-35 min then once in Alcala I take a bus another 20-25 min to my school!:)

Train station in Alcala de Henares

Not everyday but the commonly traveled metro!

had to sneak a pic of this turquoise turban man bahahahahaha

This is the closest metro stop to my house

Going through the metro

 On my street

Weekend trip...Lisbon, Portugal!!

Lisbon, Portugal!

It was such a neat, old, cultured city. Near the ocean, it had a more laid back feel. It was so refreshing to see the ocean. I really miss the water. We went on a tour where they said world wide surf competitions are held. The harbor where were staying did not look clean enough for me to jump in..:( but if I had gotten off the tour bus I maybe could've had my ocean fix.

...Still don't have internet in my apartment..:( I finally opened a bank account with our identification number that we finally received through the government. The internet company said they will come to install internet in our place within the next 20 days.... hahaha so doubtful that we will even have internet before November!,,, haha But our nieghbors aka our family upstairs 3 floors will have internet tomorrow so praise the Lord I can use that. I have been having to pay for food or drinks every time I wanna use the internet off my computer. 

Learning to appreciate the little things.haha

on the bus tour

in the streets in Lisbon

about 55 of us on the European Vibe group trip

hilarious group- lots of people from tons of different countries

catching up....

from the past few weeks

Went and did Zumba a few weeks ago in a park next to our place!:)

This is Grace our upstairs neighbor! She is zumba certified!:)

GRace, me and Karyn (karyn is one of my roomies!)

upstairs neighbors

Grace, me and Jony

They are both from California-Grace from San Diego and Jony from Sacremento

love this chica! She loves Jesus and she loves dance!:))

my other roomie Brittney was sooooo nice to hang up my laundry for me when I got home!

SOO nice!

They don't believe in dryers here so this is how we do!

They are super energy conscience which is really cool and water conscience as well. I'm glad I already learned how to take short showers.

maybe not when I was a kid and dad would literally cut out paper fish and shove them under the bathroom door with 

"save me" 

written on them..haha love ya dad.

Trains, buses, metros..week 2 Assisting!

Hola Hola Hola.

So recently I was in the shock phase of being in a foreign country and feeling overwhelmed with all of the bureaucratic hoops that we like monkeys must swing through...

In the moment we are in the process of obtaining our NIE..which means that we can stay past the normal 90day traveler visa and allows us to be here for 9 months. Spanish government is a bit slow and our appointments for the NIE will not be until November. Which we've heard is incredible fortunate! The language and culture assistants from last year came and left without ever getting their appointments. 

So..we have others ways of leaving the country if we don't get our NIE in time. One must posess a "regresso" every time one desires to re-enter Spain.

There was a one day orientation that was exhausting..(mostly because it was in Spanish and in a hot, muggy tiny pit of a room).

Anywhoooo...FUNNIES of last week:

The kids in my first class which will probably be my favorite because I have them 3 times a week and they are 13years old...asked

"teacher, what is swag?"...."do you have swag?"

bahahahahahahaha. i love them already. I mumbled something about being cool and said its something you can't explain and that of course I have swag. 

{So we have an apartment that is an exterior and interior..my room faces the interior of the building complex. Out my window I see into other people's lovely houses and drying laundry. I also get to hear everyones noise pollution..:) I mean at least I have a window.}

When trying to sleep i hear the following:

someone attempting to learn the piano

man next to my head (paper thin walls) SNORING- SAWING LOGS

baby crying...( i may never want children...)

spanish tv shows...( i imagine a man topless leaned back on his couch with beer in hand)

..............................

pics of my beautiful school town.

It's worth the hour/hour & a half commute!!

Festival Medival--celebrating Cervantes in Alcalá de Henares..his home town!

The entrance to my apartment:)

double door security

First day of SCHOOL!:)

...Began my day at 7 got ready and walked to the train station about 5 minutes away. I took the train for 40 minutes and walked another 30 minutes to the highschool in Alcala de Henares from the train stop.

My first class started at 10 and I was there a little early to have a little tour of all the different classes that I will be assisting in. I will be helping with 4 different teachers in 15 different classes..

The school I am at is called IES Antenea and the highschools here are from ages 12-17. I have the first 3 grades 1*-3* which means most of my kids are 12-15. This is a bilingual school and the classes that I will be assisting are taught in Enlgish. I will be helping with Enlgish and Science classes. All of the classes are at different levels of english. Today in the first class the professor introduced me and had the class take notes about everything I said. haha Then they asked questions about my life..for the entire class period. 

Long story short they had homework about rewriting my personal info from their notes and to look up John Mayer "Vultures" song. haha

They asked my soccer team which is a very loaded question..haha so I didn´t answer. Also they were fascinated that I can surf or have ever been in my life. My mistake I said I love to go to the beach and "there are a lot of beaches in California.." To them..I just said there are a lot of BITCHES...to a bunch of 14 year olds..with the different vowel sounds I have to be careful.hahhahahahaha

I finished the train ride around 4, one of the head supervisors was nice enough to drive me to the train stop!:)

I don´t have my keys to my place yet and my roomies weren´t back yet...so I went back on the train then metro to my friend Annie´s house. Took a siesta, went on a run and made dinner with friends at her place..Nothing more American then Mac and Cheese and garlic bread..haha carbs on carbs..plus chicken. 

I was super stressed about today and I just had in my mind that these kids would eat me alive. Turns out they were all really excited to have a real live English speaker helping out in their classes! Well for the first day!

haha I just am expecting the worst but hoping for the best. 

ahhh soooo tired. 

Ciao! besitos!!!

first day of school tomorrow!!!!

Funny little choir in the park on a rainy day! I was the annoying runner taking a photo..haha

It's been HOT weather until two days ago and its been kinda rainy and cold. But beautiful rain sounds the first night at my apartment when I was failing asleep.:))))))

I went running in Retiro Park...350 acres! It started sprinkling..then POURING!!

I finally made it back to my place and was drenched. haha. The park is beautiful. There are tons of people that rollerblade..haha One of the first nights near my hostel in the middle of the center there were stunt skaters jumping over at least 5 people laying down. CRAY.

So the search for apartment is over!:)) Found a place near the train station that I will take to work! My flat mates are two girls from Virginia in my same program. I wanted to live with people that spoke spanish but I think it will be nice at least to be able to deal with culture shock, homesickness and everything together. They are so sweet, caring and genuine. The first night that I was staying there they offered me the soup and fajitas that they had cooked!:) Jony, our upstairs neighbor is from Sacramento and loves to cook mexican food.:)))

Cien Montaditos! everything on the menu for 1 Euro!!

Oh the metro...

yes they do yoga here:)

Spanish friends!

cool mexican place

Saw this poster of Nadal in the sports bar where we were watching the Real Madrid soccer game!:)

They LOVE Nadal! I wanna see him play here soooo bad!!!!

These photos are a scramble from these past couple of weeks...I need to take more photos!

Yesterday I slept at a friends house and woke up to her 50/60 year old Spanish man inviting me to go to church with him..haha so of course I went! We wandered around the enchanting city center through plazas and Palacio Real. The Royal Palace of Madrid!!

The grand Catedral was right next to the royal Palace and apparently the king attends sometimes even though he doesn't live in the Palace..but with the royal family in the outskirts of Madrid. The cathedral was gorgeous and Alvoro, the 60ish year old man took me to have the glorified chocolate con churros!:) Its basically hot thick chocolate that you drink + dip your churros into. These churros are much different then the states..they don't have sugar and cinnamon on the outside, so more like a naked doughnut in churro form. 

(from internet)

Anywho my apartment doesn't have WiFi yet so this is really scattered and a lot all at once. :)

ciao Besitos!!!::))

...may the odds be ever in your favor

Apartment searching in Madrid..

Well a 10 hour day of searching and riding the metro all over Madrid yesterday was exhausting. Listening to me attempt to ask for rent prices and permission to see apartments in spanish...probably the most comical slash pathetic thing since... miracle whip. Wow my spanish is rusty but eventually I would get the point across. 

Saw 3 places yesterday, scored a killer deal on a bedspread and got a tutoring job!

Success!

Spent my entire day running from one metro to the next wandering the city by foot and attached to my cheep Hauwei Spain phone but made it out alive. One of the hottest days here so far (91+ Fahrenheit) and easily 10 degrees more in the metro.

P.S they have no concept of personal space so I was definitely sweaty friends with many a person....:)

Luckily today I had some help! A friend in my CIEE program has a friend that lives here in Madrid, and happens to be the nicest human being on earth. He is an angel and researched, then literally called over 30 different apartments for me.(The first list he made was only based on what I was looking for-me a stranger to him) What a guy! He then preceded to drive me to the appointments today on his motorcycle!! Talk about epitome of traveling in Europe. I felt like I was in a movie!

I looked scared but also my cheeks were quite crammed in that helmet

Such a blast!!!!

One of three apartment listings Alex wrote out!

We only ended up meeting with one place...and it was really weird. Most of the places were taken or didn't answer the phone. With all of the places Alex called and I contacted together it was easily over 45 different listings or "Se Alquila", "For Rent" ads over the city. 

Feeling a bit defeated I started out today with a positive outlook because today at least Alex was going to help! We drove out to an area called Nuevos Ministerios on his bike and saw a riot or strike going on. Alex said Spanish people love to complain about everything..haha.

Long story short none of the places were promising. I was planning on seeing one this afternoon from the list and another from a facebook post in our Spain CIEE group. 

I walked into the apartment from the CIEE posting and it was heavenly! Beautiful dark wood and a cute teal love seat type couch. It felt so homey with 2 really sweet girls in my same program. Not to mention that it is right in the perfect location for my hour commute by train to the school I work at!!

Perfecto!

Going back and forth between this place and another place (that was a little less expensive) I decided the pro's to the cute place by the train stop was the place for me!

YAY!!! I officially have a place to live!:)

Left the States exactly 2 weeks ago! We had orientation which included our hotel stay until 2 days ago and I had booked my stay at this cute airBnB for this week which gives me 2 days- perfect time to move in to the next place!

Looking at it now it seems like everything was just right, but these couple days trying to find a place were overwhelming. I saw my share of repulsive living conditions with much too small accommodations for any two plus people to cohabitate (not in the sexual way).

haha

Anywho the school I am working at starts next week and I am petritified! Our program had a seminar on the behavior of spanish children and their lack of respect for authority, their inability to raise hands when speaking and general defiant nature...great.

So I'm a prayin that my kids will be ok!

Right now I'm on the top balcony of the airBnB-(renting a room from a couple in the city) that overlooks a little rooftops. The air is probably 70 degrees and beautiful the moon and stars are visible!:)

A lot of being here is overwhelming and daunting but the little things make up for it. I've made some really good friends already and we have a great year to look forward to!:))

LOVE LOVE LOVE

En el comienzo

GAHHHHHHH

Where do I start!? I am looking through photos realizing so much has gone by already and I have been slacking on my blogging. I think this helps me process as well as share my experience with others back in the states!:)

The first day of travel...started out a little crazy. My flight to New York from LAX was delayed...then my flight from NY to Madrid was another 2 hours delayed. We all boarded the flight however and were held captive in the airplane for 2 hours...breathing that wonderful airplane air-conditioning. ( I only say that because I think I got a little sore throat from that...?)

Anywho..ARRIVED in MADRID!!! Wide-eyed and giddy I got into a taxi and somehow mumbled the name of my hostel to the taxi driver. The surroundings resembled Paso Robles...haha strangely enough..Kinda brown with rolling hills. We drove for about 20-30 minutes and arrived smack dab in the middle of Madrid. My hostel was located in the center of the city party central.

I met some girls from Dublin that were just staying for the weekend and I hung out with them in the common lounge until my room was ready to store my bags. First experience in a real hostel..I'm glad that i got my own room. For a cheeper stay you can share with 18+ people in a common area...sketch.

Walked around with the Dublin girls then went back to the hostel, showered and crashed for about 4 hours. Traveling for about 14 hours and waking up in a 9 hour time difference hits ya! I woke up and got ready. I met a girl in the lobby from Australia as we were both using the internet that is only available on the first floor and we went to dinner. 

Chatting the night away we became great friends and found an Ice bar! haha Met some guys that were in a study abroad program and later a guy that was headed out for the Camino de Santiago! I really want to do at least a part of the Camino de Santiago at some point! Our friend Teo was from Brazil and he was doing the last half of the camino by himself like his father has done before him. 

Ice Bar

Near the SOL metro stop 

don't remember what this was..

Outside the Palacio Real

(on walking tour)

new friends!:) People teaching but in a different auxiliary program

Tyson, Jimmy, Roland and Michaela

Orientation hotel!:) roommate Annie from Portland, OR

Orientation free tapas and drinks

Well hopefully caught ya up a little! It's been over a week and we have stayed in two different hotels for orientation while looking for housing. Moved out of the orientation hotel today and I am staying in the airBnB with a friend. I reserved it before coming and have until the 28th to find an apartment! Please keep me in your prayers:)) Safe place with cool roommies hopefully with a spanish speaker. My friends already found places and i knew that I had a place for another week so I haven't really searched too hard. But the time is NOW! Luckily I have a local friend of a friend that is helping!:)

Besitos from España!:))