Monday, September 30, 2013

La habitación nueva

Well, today I woke up, ate breakfast, and checked out of the hostel finally. I couldn't move into my apartment until later in the evening, so I kept my stuff at the hostel for the day, until moving. For the morning, I walked to Karin's and supervised while she put up pictures on her wall. They look awesome and I can't wait to make my own room feel like a home. I watched Grey's Anatomy and Glee season premiere's online and unintentionally forced Karin and Stephanie to watch them, too. One thing I am excited about is that Spain has Grey's here in Spanish, called La Anatomía de Grey. I'm so excited to watch it and hopefully my new roommates watch it already. That would be awesome. Grey's is one of the first things that connected my college roommate and I. :) What a great show. Anyway, Stephanie, Karin, and I made lunch and then went out shopping for a few things. I didn't buy anything because I was waiting to see what I would need for my new place. Also, let me just point out that every time we feel it's time to go out and about, all the shops are closed for siesta. It is really inconvenient, especially since when we are used to having things open all the time in the states and we can go there practically whenever. I guess after almost two weeks we should have this siesta schedule down, but we still don't. Plus, we (maybe I should speak for myself) just don't understand why there is a big break. I would rather finish work early, than have a long break in the middle and end late, but that's just me. We'll see how my schedule works at the school. I will find out tomorrow. Anyway, before we talk about tomorrow. As requested by my sister again, here are a few pictures of the hostel that I was staying in.
Common area
Patio
The room that I stayed in..eight bunks total
The remnants of piso searching.
Anyway, I don't have too much to report about my new place yet, sorry. I didn't want to be creepy and taking pictures of the whole place right off the bat. So here are some pictures of my room first. You can see more pictures in later blogs.
Outside of my window
Looking down out my window
My room
Other side of my room
Bathroom
Bathroom
My room is pretty big and I have a lot of space to fit things and lots of sunshine. I will say that I had a shampoo-astrophe from the hostel to my new place, but that's okay. I got everything washed off and laid out to dry. Haha Also, I have my own bathroom. There are three of us and two bathrooms and somehow, I got my own, which is pretty cool. Although the washer is in my bathroom, so it's still public territory. :) Anyway, I'm mostly settled and excited to decorate my room, like Karin did her's today. Also, I do need to buy a few things like hangers, toilet paper, etc., but I'm going to take care of that later, probably tomorrow. After I moved in, one of my roommates left and the other was working so I went grocery shopping and ate dinner with Karin. Then, we figured out how to get to our schools for tomorrow. It should only take me about a half hour to get to school, which I think will feel like nothing, but we will see. Maybe I will be forced to stand on the train the whole time, who knows. Anyway, my first day is tomorrow and I can't wait to tell you how it goes.

Also, I will get to know my roommates more and more and disclose more information about them as I go. So far, I know that their names are Lucia and Herminia, that they are both very nice and helpful, and that Lucia is a university student. Sorry, I know that's not a lot, but come on...give me a break. I have been here for less than 4 hours. Well, it's goodbye for now. Check in tomorrow to see how the first day of school went. Hasta luego.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Tengo un piso!

So, I'm sure many of you have the same question..Did she get the apartment? Well, I am here to tell you that the answer is "Yes." My soon-to-be roommate messaged me this morning to let me know that she got ahold of the landlord and that all is good! I am moving in tomorrow afternoon! Yay, goodbye to the hostel and hello to a great apartment! I called the other apartment to let them know that I wouldn't be taking it and they seemed alright with it. They may have even been expecting it, since I took so long to respond. Anyway, today Karin and I met at Stephanie's new place and went to the Rastro with one of Stephanie's roommates, Margo. The Rastro is a huge, popular flea market that takes place every Sunday all year round. It's apparently in all of the tourist books and it is a highly recommended place to go...so, we went. And I have a feeling I will be going back a lot over the next nine months. I saw many things that I wanted to buy for not only myself, but for my Spanish classroom that I will eventually have. The only thing I wanted/needed to buy today was a watch and I found one for three euros. When we arrived back at Stephanie's flat, her other roommate asked if we bought anything and I showed him my watch. He called it a "Chinese" watch. I assume this is because the shops that are found on many streets here are called "chinos." And they are called "chinos" because usually Chinese people work in those shops. This is not me saying this, just so you know. Anyway, I guess the watch that I bought looks like one that you would buy in one of those corner stores, although I bought it from a Spaniard. See for yourself, but it looks like a normal watch to me...
Anyway, I know he was kind of kidding and yet I still don't get it. Anyway, We hung out with Stephanie's roommates for quite awhile and we watched a somewhat ridiculous movie called In and Out. I then returned to Karin's place to eat dinner and hang out. I got the opportunity to talk to my mom, dad, and grandma today, too, which was great! If any of you blog readers are traveling internationally, MagicJack is a great app that allows you to make free calls. All you need is Wifi. Well, right now I am still at Karin's and we are watching The Reader. So far it's a good movie, but I am going to go for now and concentrate on watching it. Then, I will be heading back to the hostel for the last night. WOO! Tomorrow, I might have a better blog, since I am moving into my new place! Have a great night. Go Cowboys! Hasta luego.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

El día aburrido

Well, today has been a pretty boring day. I started my morning by going to the apartment I saw a few days ago, just to check it out again. I am prepared to say yes to living there if the place I really want to live doesn't get back to me. As I was walking back from that apartment, I saw a guy get arrested. I think I missed most of the action, which is fine by me, because it's in an area of town where I think anything could probably happen. Therefore, I stayed away from the crowd, but I did see a guy get shoved head first into the back of a police car, so that was interesting.

Oh, also, it rained quite a bit today! First day of rain since I've been in Madrid. It was clear on and off today, but I was just surprised by the rain. I wasn't really prepared for it. Anyway, I went and actually got my abono today. It looks like this..
And then you just buy the ticket for each month. For example, the one above is for October. So starting on the first, that ticket will take me anywhere in Madrid for free. Well, not for free, but for the cost of the monthly pass. And not for anywhere, just for zones A and B1. :)

After I got my abono, I pretty much did nothing at the hostel for quite a long time. I sat there and messaged the other apartment again. And sat there hoping for a response and nothing. I can't really be patient anymore because I have to take that other place tonight or in the morning if I want a place to live. I mean I guess I could just pass that one up too and start my search again, but I think I'd rather just settle. 

I wrote the above section earlier when I was at the hostel doing nothing. Since then, I continued doing nothing at the hostel, but I did hear from the apartment I want. The girl said she has called her landlord a TON, but he hasn't responded. She also said that she is going to start calling early tomorrow and hopefully she can get ahold of him. I would love to move out of the hostel and into a real place. Plus, I really need to do laundry. They do have a place at the hostel to do it, so I might have to assess the situation tomorrow and just do it here. Anyway, the plan on the apartment, as of right now, is to pass up the other one and hope that all goes well with the landlord for the place I really want. Wish me the best. I'm sure I've been talking this place up so much that you think it's a mansion. It's not, but I just know that I'm going to love it there. Anyway, both Stephanie and Karin moved into their new places today. So tonight we hung out at Karin's new place. Her roommate has a lot of DVDs so we chose to watch Crash. Great movie, if you haven't seen it. Then, I took the metro back and now, I am typing the rest of this blog. Not too much to report on except that I got my abono and that I can taste how close I am to getting the apartment I want. Hopefully, I will have good news tomorrow, but it's Sunday, which is even more of a reason to not answer the phone.

Hasta mañana. Chau.

Friday, September 27, 2013

La comida peruana

So today, Karin and I did absolutely nothing. Our goal was to get our abono, which is a transportation identification card that allows you to buy monthly passes for all forms of public transportation, but guess what? That goal was not completed. Karin and I are both very money conscious and we try to save where we can. Well, I think we got a little over our heads today, which led us to get nothing completed. I'll explain a little.

Well, first of all, we walked to the place where you can buy the abonos at around 3 o'clock only to realize that it was siesta time and the shop didn't open back up until 4:30 p.m. So up until 4:30 p.m., we really did nothing. We hung out and we tried looking up how much an abono would cost and such, then we walked to the place only to find out that they couldn't sell the abonos there, they can only sell the monthly passes once you have the abono. So we walked to a place that actually sells them and they were closed, so we walked to the next closest place and they were open, but here's where we got in over our heads. I'll try to explain it to you without confusing you. However, if I confuse you, I guess you will feel how Karin and I felt.

So here's the deal. There are two types of abonos that we could get, the joven (for people under 23) or normal (for people 23 to 64). The joven one is cheaper, but it takes 15 days to get and Karin and I will be turning 23 in the next couple of months. So we were trying to figure out if it was worth it to apply for the joven abono for the months that we are 22. If we did that, we would have to wait 15+ days to receive it and during those days we would have to buy 10 ride passes for both the metro and the train. So we were wondering, would we be saving money in the end? The other big question was would the joven abono expire on our birthday or as long as you were 22 when you bought it would it expire next year. We searched online and even asked about it and got several answers. If in fact it did last the whole year, it was definitely worth waiting the 15+ days, but if it expires on our birthday, it was more expensive or about even with more hassle. Have I confused you yet? I'm sure I have, so now you're on Karin and I's level. Add the language barrier and a cashier that seemed annoyed with us and it gets that much harder. Ha.

Needless to say, we finally figured out that we didn't even qualify for the joven abono anymore because we would've had to buy it before June 30th. So, we accomplished nothing today, but we are now ready to go out and buy the normal abono for the month of October. Also, to add to the craziness of things, we have to put an address on our abono application and I have yet to hear from the apartment from yesterday. Well, actually, I have heard from them, but they are still waiting to hear back from their landlord. I'm really not sure what they need to hear about, but I really hope it's something good. I am really anxious to move in there and I will be very upset if I don't get it. I am looking at another place for the second time tomorrow morning, just in case I have to settle for that one, but I really don't want to. Also, the one I turned down not to long ago is still open. So I have options, but they are the wrong ones. Haha. I am going to be like Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: "I want it now! Give it to me!" I think that might go over well, right? I guess patience is a virtue though ...and I really would rather not be dropped down a bad egg chute that leads to the furnace...

Anyway, after a day of literally not getting anything accomplished. Karin and I went out to dinner. This was my first time out to eat while being here and guess where we went? Yep, you guessed it...a Spanish Peruvian restaurant! I was so excited that Karin found it, but it was really awkward walking in. I don't think many non-regulars went there because EVERYONE stared when we walked in, but it was so worth it to get a huge plate of Lomo saltado and Karin had the infamous Pollo a la brasa. I thought about getting Chicha morada to drink, but I just got a coke. It goes just as well with Peruvian food. They had IncaKola, too! (But I don't like that). We also split a piece of torta de chocolate (chocolate cake) for dessert. So who cares if I haven't eaten a ton of Spanish food yet, Peru has a place in my heart and the food is great! Plus, I got to introduce Karin to a bit of Peru.

After eating, we were going to go back to Karin's place and watch a movie with her host, José, but instead we ended up listening to a bunch of music and just chatting. They escorted me back to the metro and I took it back to the hostal, where I am now. Karin moves into her new place tomorrow and let's hope that I here from my place tomorrow. Prayers to get this place or, I guess, any place that He sees fit would be appreciated.

Random fun fact: only logged 3ish miles today :(
Another random fun fact: Karin just informed me that abono also can mean manure when talking about agriculture...how fitting...

Buenas noches!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Encontré una habitación

First of all, to start this blog, my sister suggested that I give a brief bio of Karin and Stephanie since I have been talking about them quite a bit lately. So here are their bios.

Karin graduated from Carthage, majored in German education with a minor in Spanish, and studied abroad in Germany. She likes to run through cemeteries, empty parking lots, and dark alley ways.

Stephanie graduated from Carthage as well. She majored in Spanish and minored in sociology. She did her study abroad in Argentina. She likes to read historical fiction novels and trains penguins in her spare time.

Okay, back to my day.

Well today was another day of apartment hunting. I got up this morning, ate breakfast, and again started calling people to see if I could view the apartments today. I had three people that I really wanted to answer and then I had five backups because a lot of people don't answer. A few of the backups were already rented out, but two out of the three answered the phone and I was allowed to make appointments with them. This gave me a really good feeling about today. I just had a feeling that I was going to find my place/make a decision today.

Early this afternoon, we started our search again for places, I met with Stephanie for an appointment that she had. It was a nice place, but I don't think either of us liked it all too much. Plus, she had first pick anyway. We all agreed that whoever makes the appointment gets first pick, then if we don't want it, it's up for grabs. The next appointment was mine and Karin met up with us for it. It was a great looking place! It was pretty big and had an awesome balcony, but two guys lived there, it was out of my price range, and it really didn't have a lot of amenities in the area (grocery store, bank, park). So that was out, but there was still hope. Stephanie left to go to a separate apartment and Karin and I called the apartment that I was supposed to see yesterday and it was free to see, so we checked that out. Again, two guys lived there and it was a little dark, but in my price range, but it was out too. Keep in mind, I still have one from yesterday that's on the back burner, so all of these that I looked at today needed to beat yesterday's. Anyway, it was on to my next appointment. This one was a little weird because we went to the wrong address at first and waited for like fifteen minutes and between calls and waiting, we were finally escorted to the correct address. This place again was nice and the landlady was great, but once again the apartment had two other guys living in it and I was like "Can we please just get one girl up in here?!" I was starting to wonder what happened to that good feeling I had in the morning?!

Karin and I started walking to the very well known park and I decided to give the third place a call that I really wanted to see. They answered! Woo, what a good feeling, one more chance to beat out yesterday's. I didn't know when I needed to make a decision for yesterday's, so I called them to see if I could look at it again just to get a better feel for it. The landlord said they wouldn't be there today and that I could see it on Saturday, so I knew I didn't need to finalize a decision today, which made me feel comfortable. Karin and I hung out and walked on the bike path for a bit and then headed to my last and final chance to make this morning's good feeling come true. As soon as the young girl opened the door with a big smile on her face I knew it was gonna be a good place! I met both of the girls I would be living with..yes, not one, but two girls..both Spanish-speaking and they were very friendly, down-to-earth, and helpful (from first impression). The apartment is great, too. Nice balcony, big rooms, right next to a grocery store, down the street from the metro stop, six minutes from the place Karin is probably going to live, and situated right in between the two parks that I have been to so far! It seemed like they wanted me to live with them just as much as I wanted to, but they said they have to talk to their landlord. I'm not sure what for, but I hope that all goes well and I should be able to move in very soon! Pray that I get this place, it's perfect. I couldn't stop thinking about it when I left.

Anyway, Karin and I were exhausted from walking so we took the metro back to where she has been staying and we just hung out for a little bit. We started looking into phone accounts and how to go about getting our abono, which is our transportation card that we will buy monthly which allows us to go on any public transportation (bus, metro, train). José, one of the guys she is staying with now, also helped us figure things out and told us some places in Madrid to check out. They allowed me to stay for dinner again, which was nice. We had some ham sandwiches (but some ham is different here), salad, and there was something on the table that looked pretty unappetizing and uncooked. José told us to try it before telling us what it is, but I would rather know what it is before putting it in my mouth. So he told us it was pig's ear. I was thinking..okay, well my dog chews on pig's ears and I've eaten guinea pig, but both those are cooked somehow. I don't know about these ears..they didn't seem prepared at all, but I gave it a shot anyway. I took the littlest of bites and the taste wasn't too too bad, but man was the texture gross. José tried explaining the texture before I ate it as them being hard in the middle and like gelatin on the outside. I think he hit the description right on the head..it was different, but at least I can say that I tried it. I try to try everything (maybe not EVERYTHING) once. After dinner, I went ahead and headed home and since then, I've just been thinking about MY apartment and roommates and hoping that I get that place! Buena suerte to me! Hasta luego.

*Logged 6 miles today.
**Karin actually likes running along Lake Michigan and Stephanie really doesn't train penguins.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Un día de sentimientos encontrados

Okay, so today has been an interesting day. I started my day out pretty well. I got up ate breakfast and called a bunch of people to look at places. Same as yesterday, I called many: some were taken, some didn't answer, and few were actually available for me to see today. But, I was still able to make three appointments and Karin had one. We started our day off at the park that we found yesterday. We laid out and occasionally cooled off in the fountains. Although we were out in the sun for quite awhile, I don't think I really got any, which is unfortunate. However, I am enjoying this summer weather in September/almost October.

After a few hours in the sun, we started our search for rooms. Stephanie, who already has an apartment, also came with just to tag along. The first one was a dud, because we didn't see it. We made an appointment with the landlord, however, the other roommate must have been sleeping or not home, because no one answered the door. The second one was really good. I really liked it and it was my second choice if the people from yesterday didn't call me back today. The third one was rather claustrophobic and it seemed like I would be switching roommates a lot because people were moving out in a matter of months, so that one is off the list. We then saw one of Karin's and it was nice as well and I'm pretty sure it is on her list of choices.

So, so far I'm sure it seems like a good day, right? Well, unfortunately, the place from yesterday is taken by someone who saw it before me. Kind of a first come, first serve deal. And my second choice from today is giving me second thoughts. I have until tomorrow to decide on that one, so for now it's back to the drawing boards. It really is stressful looking for a place. I honestly think I would be happy and make the most of a situation anyway, but still, in my head, I want to make the right decision. There are so many questions in my head: Is it too expensive? Do I really want to live in a room that tiny? Can I say "yes" to a place without meeting the roommates? What area do I really want to live in? Is it really necessary that I live next to that wonderful park we found or should I start looking other places? Do I really want to spend that much? Is it worth it? Can I live here for ten months? So many questions and they are driving me nuts. I know I should probably take a break from all this craziness that is apartment hunting, but I really just want a comfortable place to call home. I want good Spanish-speaking roommates and I want it to be reasonable priced and close to a metro or the train stop that goes to my school. Like I said, I know I could survive in any of the places I've seen, so maybe I'm just being picky, but I am going to be there for 10 months. I want to be comfortable.

Anyway, although I had a relaxing day at the park and a somewhat stressful day apartment hunting, I ended it with a good night. I was cooking pasta in the hostal and a Spaniard staying here offered me some of his food that he had just made. It was tortilla española. The guys told me that tortilla española is the most widely known dish of Spain apart from paella. It's not really a tortilla as we know them in the U.S. It is basically an egg, potato, and onion casserole. It was really good. It tasted like hash browns and I wanted to put a little ketchup on it. Haha..but I didn't. Anyway, I am now searching for more pisos and it's off to start looking again tomorrow. One of these days I will be able to tell you that I found a great one that I really like. Hasta luego. P.S. Walked about 6.5 miles today. :)
Me and the tortilla española.
I guess in the picture you can tell that I got a little sun today.


Tuesday, September 24, 2013

El descubrimiento en Madrid

Today we only walked about 7 miles...it did not feel like that much though, so maybe mapmyrun.com is lying. I started my morning with looking up more apartments just in case the apartment from yesterday didn't get back to me today. I picked out about eight and called them. Four places were already occupied, two didn't answer, and I was able to make an appointment with two places, but they weren't scheduled until later in the afternoon. Karin had one visit scheduled for the day so at around 2 p.m. I met up with her to go to that visit. It was a nice place, but I thought it smelled kind of funny, but I wouldn't be living there anyhow so it doesn't matter. We then had a big gap of time until our next visit so we decided to walk to a nearby park that we saw on the map. When we got to the park, we both fell in love. It's a beautiful park right on the river that passes through Madrid. We wanted to look around more, but Karin got a call from another apartment, so we walked there to get a look at it. It was a pretty small apartment, but I really liked it and would choose to live there, if it was an option. It was very homey and just seemed like a place that I would like.

After that place, Karin and I couldn't help but go back to the park and check out more of it. She did however get another call from an apartment and we made an appointment for that one, but not before we got to hang out in the park for a little bit. The park seems newer and it has a series of fountains that you and run through. People were laying out and sunbathing and Karin and I decided that that is where we will be going tomorrow...no questions asked. There is also an awesome footbridge (see pictures below). We also witnessed a group of guys playing soccer lose their ball in the river. One guy was going to go down and get it, but there was a police officer on the other side of the river yelling at him. We sat at the park for a little bit then started walking to the next appointment.





Estadio Vicente Calderón
On the way to the next we stopped at a place called Madrid Dance Center that I had spotted before. I love taking dance classes so I went in to check the place out. I got a brochure of their classes and prices and there is a nice selection. I would love to start taking a class right now, but that is just not going to happen. Hopefully, I can fit it into my schedule and budget for later on in the year. Anyway, the next apartment was a nice place and the roommates were nice; however, it was out of our price range and there was a security deposit of two months, which is just kind of ridiculous. We then went and looked at my two appointments that I had. The first one was a dud and the second one I really really liked; however, like yesterday, I was told that they would let me know tomorrow if they choose me. Our search for the day ended and we both went our separate ways, both having not heard about the apartments from yesterday. When I returned back to the hostal, I did have an e-mail from the place yesterday that they wanted me. I had a huge debate in my head on whether to take it or not, because I really like the place I saw today. It's a little risky, but I did decline the offer. One because it's in a different district as where I am looking now and two because I'm really hoping that the place today wants me. I know you're not supposed to put all your eggs in one basket, but I really didn't want to tell the place from yesterday yes, when really I was unsure about it after today. We will see what tomorrow brings, but I can tell you right now, it will probably involve laying out in the sun at the newly discovered park and more apartment hunting. Wish me luck. Hasta mañana.

Monday, September 23, 2013

La orientación

Today I woke up early to go to orientation. I ate breakfast and was out the door in just enough time to make it to the orientation on time. However, when I boarded the metro, it took awhile for the doors to close and the conductor came over the speaker and said that the train wasn't running normally. In my head I was thinking, I will be getting off this line soon and transferring to another, I should be okay. However, at the next stop, the same thing happened. I contemplated getting off and getting on the metro going in the opposite direction because that would still take me to my destination, just on a slightly longer route (and I had already wasted time). I thought, it's okay, only two stops until my transfer...guess what? On the second to last stop before my transfer, we were told to exit the train...whoops. Luckily, because of the tour yesterday, I knew where the next stop was, so I quickly walked there. I got on the metro, walked to the orientation, and was only five minutes late. They hadn't started yet either, so it's okay.

At orientation today, we talked about the education system in Spain, our job as language assistants, getting our TIE, and what the U.S. Embassy can offer us. It was actually quite helpful and the time went by really fast. If you don't really care about my orientation, you can skip the next several of paragraphs.

We started with learning about the Spanish education system it is slightly different from that in the U.S. They have three levels:

1. Infantil--2 years
         1st year is 3 year olds and under
         2nd year is like pre-K (3-5 year olds)
         Not obligatory
2. Primaria--6 years
         5/6 year olds to 11/12 year olds
         Like Kindergarten through 5th grade, but they don't call it Kindergarten, it just starts at first.
         OBLIGATORY
3. Secundaria--4 years
         12-16 years old
         Not obligatory
         Can choose bachillerato (prepping for university) or formación profesional (which is vocational)

I will be teaching in Primaria (6 and 7 year olds). They stressed to us that our role in the classroom is very important. I have heard from some people on the street and today at orientation that Spaniards find it very difficult to learn English. Everything is in Spanish for them in their society so they see no need to learn it. Even the teacher speaks Spanish in English class because sometimes they are not masters of the language. Spain's government is putting a lot of money into having students come here to teach English and sending teachers to the English-speaking countries to better their English. Auxiliares (that's what I am) actually make a bit more money than the regular classroom teachers and we work way less hours. Anyway, because I am in a bilingual school and my number one role in the school is to speak English, I can help to teach a variety of classes. Any of the classes in Primaria can be taught in English, except for Math and Spanish. All other classes can be taught in English, although there are exceptions for a few classes because the classroom teacher must have a certain specialty to teach the subject in English. Anyway, the other classes are Conocimiento del Medio (which is like a Natural Science, Geography, History class), Art, P.E., Religion, Citizenship, English, and they have recess. The students also have three English exams in 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades. If they don't pass the exam in 6th grade, they are not allowed to move on to Secundaria. And that's where we come in, we help to teach the students the language and culture of where we come from so that they can easily pass those exams and speak English fluently. There are around 1500 Auxiliares just in Madrid, which I think is crazy. There are 404 schools total in Madrid that have Auxiliares and the number is going. For example, I am not positive, but I think my school is new to the auxiliar program.

After all of that information was thrown at us, a few representatives came from the U.S. embassy to tell us what they can and cannot help us out with. For example, they cannot bail us out of jail; however, they did say they would come to visit us and they could set us up with a lawyer. Forunately, I do not plan on going to a Spanish jail or any jail for that matter. They also told us safety tips and such and said that five to six people a day come into the Embassy reporting a lost or stolen passport..that's nuts. After their spiel, they talked about how to get into the Foreign Services and let me tell you, that does NOT sound fun at all! Bleh.

After that spiel, we got a talk from an auxiliar who was in the program last year and is in it this year as well. She just talked about expectations and other random things we should know..like bring treats to the teacher's lounge when it's your birthday and greet people when entering and leaving a room. Also things like what to wear, what activities to do with the students, ways to get involved, and reminding us that they are learning British-English so tennis shoes are trainers and color is spelled colour. It was nice hearing from a past auxiliar and I'm excited to get into the school and meet my teacher and students.

Lastly, we talked about getting our TIE (Tarjeta de Identificación de Extranjera--Foreigner I.D. Card). It pretty much seems like a headache, just like my visa was, but they are helping us out quite a bit. Also, it seems like I need an apartment before I can get my TIE. Which leads me to the rest of my day....

Lots of walking and sitting and very little apartment looking. Karin and I walked all the way back from the orientation place to look at a place for her. We both had a good feeling about today and Karin really liked this first place we looked at. However, many other people (most likely students and auxiliares) are looking for apartments as well so the people renting the apartment want to see everyone and then choose who they live with, so they said they would let Karin know by tomorrow. Good luck to Karin. We then walked all the way to another appointment for me, where I also really liked the appointment and would rent it, but those renters said the same thing. They would let me know tomorrow. As Karin said, apartment hunting before was that we were the interviewers and now it seems that we are the interviewees. Hopefully we both made good enough impressions that the roommates want to live with us. :) Anyway, we then walked all the back to our other appointment, that was where the first appointment was and the guy met us at the door and said it was already taken...thanks a lot..he could have let us know that before all of the extra walking. Anyway, I looked it up. We did a total of 7.8ish miles, Karin did about a mile more because of where she lives from our last stop. This was over span of about 5 1/2 hours..like I said, we sat a lot, too. Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but it's still really warm here...like wearing shorts and tank top warm (although that garb is not too common here, but I have seen it). I'm not sure of the exact temperature on a daily basis, but it's hot being out in it all day.

Anyway, for the night I have been trying to catch up on this blogging and have been doing more piso hunting online. Karin and I are going to look for more apartments tomorrow just in case, the two decide not to choose us. Or maybe we will find a better one that will take us on the spot. Either way, wish us luck and no homelessness. :) Hasta mañana. Now it is 1 p.m. and yet still, in Spain, the night is young.

El dia del tour

Okay, sorry I wasn't able to blog yesterday (or the day before that for that matter). Yesterday I went on a free city walking tour that was hosted by our hostel. Since I had just went to the palace and cathedral the day before, I thought it was going to be somewhat boring, but it was actually really interesting. We went to a lot of places and I learned a lot of facts about the places that we went. The tour was three hours long so again I got a lot of walking in.

Palacio de Santa Cruz
Holy Cross Church
We started by walking to the Holy Cross Church in Madrid, I believe our guide said that it used to be the highest point in Madrid and it burnt down twice and was rebuilt twice. Also, it is no longer in it's original location. (*Also, I should tell you that we were given lots of information and I could have forgotten some, mixed it up, or changed what we were told..so some of what I say in this blog may be just a good story). Right down the street from the Holy Church is the Palacio de Santa Cruz. It was a prison and now it is the Ministry of Foreign Affair. The architectural style of el Palacio de Santa Cruz is a style from the Habsburg era (1516-1700): red brick, stone, two towers on each side.

Next stop was the Plaza Mayor of Madrid. The Plaza was the location of many trials and executions during the Inquisition and let me tell you, some of the methods that were used to kill just do not sound fun. We also talked about how the Plaza caught fire three times, the worst in 1790 when it burnt down 3/4 of the Plaza (*Fraction could be made up). The Plaza also used to be five levels high and now it is only three. Also, a lot of the rooms are offices or pisos (apartments), but there is part of the plaza that is completely empty, because someone wants to put a hotel there, but citizens are getting signatures so that hasn't happened yet. Apparently it has been in discussion for at least two years.
Part of Plaza Mayor and Felipe III stature
Next, we went to the oldest restaurant in the world (*not lying--look it up in the Guinness Book). It also is number three on Forbes top ten list of the world's best classic restaurants. It was built in 1725. It has the original firewood oven and their specialty is a suckling pig. I will most likely make it there sometime in the next ten months, as long as I don't forget about it.
Restaurante Botin
Original oven and suckling pigs
We then walked to the Plaza de la Villa, which is surrounded by three buildings from the 15th, 16th, and 17th century: the Torre de los Lujanes (one of the oldest buildings in Madrid), the Casa de Cisneros, and the Casa de la Villa (the old city hall and prison).
Plaza de la Villa
Statue is of Alvaro de Bazan (a well known Spanish Admiral)
We also stopped at memorial that was for the victims of the bombing on May 31, 1906. The bomb was thrown from a window and meant to kill King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg on their wedding day. Our next stop was the cathedral and the palace. Although I was just there the day before, I learned a lot more about both. For example, the cathedral is the only cathedral in Madrid (there are many churches however). Also, since it was a Sunday, mass was going on. So I witnessed a little bit of that, which was cool. Seeing it nearly empty on Saturday, I thought it was impossible that it could be filled, but it was packed full of people. We also learned more about how the cathedral is a mixture of three architectural styles since it took so long to build (114 years, if you didn't read the previous blog): Neoclassical, Gothic, and Romanesque. 
Representation of Pope John Paul II
consecrating the cathedral in 1993
We also learned more about the Royal Palace like how there are eight floors and 3,418 rooms..CRAZY! We also went across the street to the Plaza de Oriente. It has a big statue of Felipe IV created by Pietro Tacca with the help of Galileo because it was the first sculpture with the horse on it's hind legs, so Galileo figure out the calculations so that the statue wouldn't fall over. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the rear of the horse is actually disproportional. 
Spanish parliament
We also stopped in the Plaza de España which has a big statue of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quijote de la Mancha. There are also statues of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza. Did you know Don Quijote used to be the second most translated book in the world behind the Bible and now it is the third. Guess what book is number two now? Harry Potter. Anyway, Cervantes is hiding his left arm in the statue because it was crippled after it took a gunshot wound, so he was always hiding it apparently. Also, fun fact, the building in the background of the statue is completely empty, called the Edificio de España. It used to be filled with apartments, but because of the recession, it is a useless building. Also, the building in the back left is called the Torre de Madrid.
Our last stop was Sol, which I have been to, but this time there was a demonstration going on by the Republicans. Apparently demonstrations are very common and non-violent in Spain and specifically in Sol. I also didn't know, until the tour, that Sol is the radial center of Spain's highways. Also, Sol is the popular place in Madrid to go for New Year's Eve. When the clock on the clock tower strikes midnight, people eat twelve grapes, which is supposed to give you good luck for the whole year.
Demonstration captured on news
Clock tower
Radial center of the highways in Spain
Signs from the demonstration
After the long morning/afternoon of touring. I went back to the hostel just to sit down for a little bit. Then I got my butt out of bed because I had things to do. I went to Vodafone to get a cell phone because it is next to impossible to look for an apartment without a phone. I did run into a little bit of a problem with my debit card..apparently my bank thought I was in South Africa instead of Spain, but it all worked out in the end. I then met up with Karin and Stephanie. We walked around for a bit looking for a fotocopiadora (photocopier) because we had to get some things photocopied for our orientation, which was today (see next blog to here about that). We then sat in Sol for a long time to talk and people watch and I partook in my first ice cream cone in Spain. We then all headed back to our separate accommodations. I tried blogging, but it didn't work too well. That's why I have been frantically trying to get these up. This one particularly took awhile because of the pictures and fact-checking. I doubt I will be able to blog about today right now considering it is 11:45 p.m., but I will say that today's orientation and apartment hunting went fairly well. Hasta luego.



La puesta de sol egipcia

Hola, today (September 21st) Karin, Stephanie, and I met at Sol and walked to see the cathedral of Madrid aka Santa María la Real de La Almudena. It is a fairly new cathedral having just been completed in 1993. It took 114 years to build because of funding. We got some pictures both inside and out. It has really pretty stained glass window and the ceilings are awesome and it's huge!
The only Cathedral in Madrid
Beautiful painted ceilings


The back of the cathedral
We also saw the palace (El Palacio Real de Madrid), which is the official residence of the king of Spain, Juan Carlos I, and his family. However, they don't live there. They live in a different palace outside of the city so that they have more privacy. People are allowed inside, but we passed that up for the day. We figured we have ten months here, we'll wait and go inside on another day. We did briefly walk through some gardens that are behind the palace and then we sat at a park for awhile.
Royal Palace
Jardines de Sabatini

We then walked to the very nearby Templo de Debod, which is an Egyptian temple that was given to Spain. The Temple of Dendur, which was near the Templo de Debod in Egypt, is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.


We walked around for a little bit longer then we watched the sunset from the Templo de Debod. It's a very popular place to watch it apparently because there were a lot of people there with us to see it. We walked back to Puerta del Sol where there were tons of people! We got out of that just because it's touristy and expensive. We stopped for a quick drink of sangria. Then it was off to bed. Not near the night it was the night before.
Templo de Debod
Cathedral at sunset
Madrid sunset
A lot of people in Sol at around 9 p.m.


Saturday, September 21, 2013

La vida de noche

Hola de Madrid, I feel like I will forget to tell you a lot because I know there are at least a few things that I forgot in my last post. For example, it was really cool leaving Chicago with the sun at our tails and arriving in Spain with the sunrise. Or I forgot to tell you, that there was a camera on the tail of the plane so they showed that for both the take off and landing. It was pretty neat.

On to yesterday though, I got up for a free breakfast at the hostel that really isn't a lot, but it sure gets me by. Then, I took the metro for the first time to meet up with Karin so that we could look for apartments. While buying my ticket, a couple that were traveling in Madrid asked if I could help them, but unfortunately I could not despite trying. I bought a ten-trip pass which was easy, but they were asking about individual ones and I couldn't figure out how to do that yet on the machine. I'm sure in a few more days or weeks I will be able to help people after getting to know the city more. Once I met up with Karin, we started mapping out the places that we wanted to go to, we then had to put money on the phone and call places to set up appointments and this is when it got hard. It wasn't speaking on the phone that was the hard part (we both actually did very well with this). It was the fact that people either didn't answer, already had the place rented out, or weren't available that day to show us the place. It was kind of frustrating because we had a total of seven or eight places to look at and we only looked at two. The first one was close to a big park, which I thought would be nice, however the place was not so nice and too expensive for it's worth. There were two other guys at the piso visit and one was another auxiliar and the other, a Canadian getting his Master's here in Madrid. They were both really nice and we will most likely see the other auxiliar again. After this first visit we had A LOT of time before our next one so we walked to Atocha (which is the big train station nearby and grabbed lunch). We sat outside and ate next to these interesting baby statues. See below.

At least we didn't sit right in the front of the one that had it's eyes open staring at us. :) Anyway, after this we went back to Karin's place that she is staying right now and just hung out until our next visit. The second visit went well. Again it was a tad more expensive than what I preferred, but at least it was worth the money. It's a place close to the metro, near a huge and really nice park, I would have my own bathroom, and a queen size bed. It really was a great place, but I personally just don't need all of that extra stuff, although it would be nice, I'm sure. After this, we decided to walk through the park that was next door, it took us awhile to figure out how to get into the park, because we had to find the bridge that went over train tracks, but we found it and it was awesome! I'm not much for rock climbing, but my boyfriend is and this bridge had handholds for climbing all over it! So he would love it. People just bring their climbing gear and go climbing on the bridge. Honestly, some of the climbs seem a little dangerous, but it's still cool.

Hand holds underneath the bridge
Crossing the bridge


Rock climbing hand holds go all the way up, across, and back down
Supposedly the only planetarium in Madrid 
We walked through the park for a little bit longer than walked back to Karin's house. I'm not sure how much we walked, but I will say my calves hurt today due to lots of walking, some stairs here and there, and Madrid is a lot hill-ier than I thought it would be. Woo for getting exercise. We hung out for a little bit longer than her family that she is staying with provided us with dinner: ham and cheese sandwiches, ensalada, tomates y torrijas. Torrijas is a very sweet bread with cinnamon (a lot like french toast) and it is a typical food during Semana Santa.
Not my picture, but this is what it looks like
During dinner we discussed the Basketball World Cup (which I really didn't know existed) because Spain was play France on the radio and José, Karin's host brother right now likes basketball. Spain is apparently pretty good. They won two times ago (which would be 7 years ago because it's held every four years). The next one is coming up in 2014 and Madrid is actually hosting it, but I don't think I'll be here still when that happens. Anyway, why I bring that up is because José wanted to take us out last night, but he wanted to finish listening to the game as well. Oh by the way, dinner was at 10 p.m. Schedules here are a little different than the U.S. So Karin and I took a kind of unintentional hour and a half nap and we didn't leave the house until midnight! We went to a plaza near the center of Madrid and many restaurants have tables set up in it. We got a jar of sangria (a typical drink in Spain) to share. We hung out there for awhile and met up with some of José's friends, then we went to another bar that had good music playing. Let me tell you Gangnam style is popular here too. After that it was already 2:50ish and the guys wanted to go to another bar. We walked around but really found no bars open. Apparently bars usually close at 3 a.m. and if you want to party after that you go to the clubs. We just kept walking around though. We got to see the Plaza Mayor de Madrid, but it was pretty deserted because of the time of night. However, we walked to Sol, which is another plaza and it was packed full of people, which is just surprising at that time of night. We even saw a few kids out at that time! Anyway, I got back to my hostel around 4 a.m. and went to bed. I got up for breakfast this morning and then straight back to bed until 11 a.m. I had one place to look at today and it was pretty crappy so I have no other plans for today yet. But keep checking in to see what I end up doing today. Hasta luego.