Well a couple nights ago, I went to this bar for "International Intercambio Night", a night where people from Madrid and everywhere around the world go to meet up and speak in different languages. The bar was packed with people chatting away and it was sooo much fun! I met people from Scotland, Uruguay, Italy, Barcelona, Galicia, Peru and of course Madrilenos too. The entire night I was switching from English to Spanish, because not everyone who goes speaks more than one language. I made some more friends and we plan to meet up sometime next week! And yet another reason to make it better, they had soccer playing on the tv the entire time! Aaahhhh I just love living in Spain.
So since then I have done more exploring as I am trying to find 1. a CHI flat iron 2. latin spices and 3. a hair shop that can do my hair. So a variety of people have told me to go to a certain neighborhood called Cuatro Caminos, so a friend and I ventured out and it was amazing! Apparently this neighborhood is filled with immigrants and a lot are from the Domincan Republic, so there are stores everywhere (owned by Dominicans) that sells the products I want. And apparently all of the Dominicans think I'm Dominican (even though I'm Puerto Rican) and once they hear I'm from New York, they just start chatting away! So we easily found some stores to go to since they all pointed us in the right direction. Andddd....as we were walking we ended up walking to the Real Madrid Stadium, which was only 10 minutes away! Long story short: next year I definitely want to live near the stadium. Not only will I be right in the middle of all the bars to watch the games, latin food stores and hair shops are only a 10 minute walk away!
So today there is a national strike in Spain. All public transportation workers are striking about their wages, the economy of Spain, etc. Even flights in and out of Spain are cancelled! So I am staying inside because I don't want to get caught in the middle of the city-wide demonstrations and get mistakenly arrested. Also, I live in the north of the city and to get to the center, it would be over an hour walk and I don't really care to do that in this heat. Yes, it's still hot in Madrid.
Another observation: the prostitues in Spain have no shame whatsoever. On my way to intercambio night, the prostitues stand along this busy street with their skin tight, super short dresses and just wait for men to come up to them. It was a pretty entertaining sight as I just couldn't believe my eyes! It's not like I was walking up a dark alley at 2am. It was only around 7pm and the street is full of shops, restaurants, etc! Only in Spain.
So Friday, I'm going to visit my school, meet the teachers, get my schedule and I'm super excited! Till then!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
First Week
Well, I have been here for one week so far and I LOVEEEEE it! It's just like I remember, but better. The family that I'm living with picked me up from the airport and have been really nice. They have 3 kids, a 3 year old boy and two girls, aged 5 and 8. Both the parents are auditors and the dad does a lot of international traveling. The kids are all super excited to have me living with them and I'm excited to be living with a family too, since I don't have to worry about immediately finding an apartment after hauling my luggage through the Madrid Metro.
I feel like I've been here for much longer than a week, because everyday has been so busy. So the first day I got here, I just unpacked and slept! Everything here is closed on Sunday so I didn't do much then either. But since Monday I have been on the go! I have ventured out downtown in the center of the city, the south of the city, and my neighborhood (I live in the north of the city). I take the metro to go everywhere and I haven't got lost yet because it's so well labeled (they even have people perform on the metro just like NY). My first stop was Gran Via, a longgggg street with tons of stores on it. Just the architecture of the buildings are amazing. I also stopped off at the Puerta del Sol, which is like the Times Square of Madrid, but without all the flashing bright lights. There are tons of people, (tourists and locals alike), street vendors, stores, just everything. In addition to the center, I ventured off at other stops too as I had many errands to run this week (put money on my phone, stop off at the tourism office, get a monthly metro card, etc). I have had some speed bumps on the way though, but thankfully nothing major. So I already had a Spanish cell phone and I only needed to put money on it. So after waiting patiently in line for half an hour, I get to the front of the line only for the worker to tell me I need my passport to do that and of course I didn't have it. So I had to go all the way back uptown to get my passport to put money on phone. Also, I had to get my residency card. So I ask a police officer on the street where the closest police station is. A 10 minute walk later, the police station tells me to go to the Office of Foreigners. After waiting in line there for 40 minutes, they tell me I need to have an appointment and that I have to go to a different office for that. At that point I gave up (but it worked out, because at orientation for my job, they did everything for us!)
Other than that, everything has been going smoothly. I now have a friend who lives five minutes away from Real Madrid stadium, so of course I had to stop there. It's huge and amazing! It's also right next to a mall so of course I stopped in there as well. In the past week, I've been restraining myself to not buy all the great clothes, bags and anything else I see because there is just so much!
Some things that I have to get used to all over again: 1. eating lunch at 2pm and dinner at 10pm 2. not expecting to do anything on a Sunday since EVERYTHING is closed 3. the metric system: military time, degrees of weather, litres of milk instead of gallons, kilometers instead of miles, and the list goes on...
I also made some friends this week. A couple of people at my orienation and the cleaning lady of my apartment! She's actually from Peru but has been living in Spain for a while since her husband got a job here. I woke up on Monday to her in the apartment cleaning and was a bit shocked as I was not expecting anyone to be home, but by Tuesday we became friends, ate breakfast together and she's going to take me out to see the city, from a more local perspective.
So that kind of sums up my great first week. I love Madrid and the fact that it's so international and I can't wait to see the rest of it. I still have another entire week before I actually start teaching at the school, so I plan on seeing as much as I can before I become consumed with working!
I feel like I've been here for much longer than a week, because everyday has been so busy. So the first day I got here, I just unpacked and slept! Everything here is closed on Sunday so I didn't do much then either. But since Monday I have been on the go! I have ventured out downtown in the center of the city, the south of the city, and my neighborhood (I live in the north of the city). I take the metro to go everywhere and I haven't got lost yet because it's so well labeled (they even have people perform on the metro just like NY). My first stop was Gran Via, a longgggg street with tons of stores on it. Just the architecture of the buildings are amazing. I also stopped off at the Puerta del Sol, which is like the Times Square of Madrid, but without all the flashing bright lights. There are tons of people, (tourists and locals alike), street vendors, stores, just everything. In addition to the center, I ventured off at other stops too as I had many errands to run this week (put money on my phone, stop off at the tourism office, get a monthly metro card, etc). I have had some speed bumps on the way though, but thankfully nothing major. So I already had a Spanish cell phone and I only needed to put money on it. So after waiting patiently in line for half an hour, I get to the front of the line only for the worker to tell me I need my passport to do that and of course I didn't have it. So I had to go all the way back uptown to get my passport to put money on phone. Also, I had to get my residency card. So I ask a police officer on the street where the closest police station is. A 10 minute walk later, the police station tells me to go to the Office of Foreigners. After waiting in line there for 40 minutes, they tell me I need to have an appointment and that I have to go to a different office for that. At that point I gave up (but it worked out, because at orientation for my job, they did everything for us!)
Other than that, everything has been going smoothly. I now have a friend who lives five minutes away from Real Madrid stadium, so of course I had to stop there. It's huge and amazing! It's also right next to a mall so of course I stopped in there as well. In the past week, I've been restraining myself to not buy all the great clothes, bags and anything else I see because there is just so much!
Some things that I have to get used to all over again: 1. eating lunch at 2pm and dinner at 10pm 2. not expecting to do anything on a Sunday since EVERYTHING is closed 3. the metric system: military time, degrees of weather, litres of milk instead of gallons, kilometers instead of miles, and the list goes on...
I also made some friends this week. A couple of people at my orienation and the cleaning lady of my apartment! She's actually from Peru but has been living in Spain for a while since her husband got a job here. I woke up on Monday to her in the apartment cleaning and was a bit shocked as I was not expecting anyone to be home, but by Tuesday we became friends, ate breakfast together and she's going to take me out to see the city, from a more local perspective.
So that kind of sums up my great first week. I love Madrid and the fact that it's so international and I can't wait to see the rest of it. I still have another entire week before I actually start teaching at the school, so I plan on seeing as much as I can before I become consumed with working!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Three Days Left!!!
I am leaving for Spain in three days and it STILL hasn't hit me yet! I have piles of clothes and everything else surrounding me so much I can barely see the floor and the fact that I won't be back in NY for two years hasn't phased me yet. Given, I am so excited to leave, but it just doesn't feel like I'm actually leaving so soon. I predict it won't hit me until I actually board the plane, or maybe when I'm sitting around the airport for hours on end, because I absolutely refuse to miss my flight.
I do have to say it's an amazing feeling to cross [almost] everything off of my to-do list. I no longer need to buy anything, which is great. But how do I fit two years of clothes into two 50lb suitcases? That's what I'll be figuring out for the next three days...
I do have to say it's an amazing feeling to cross [almost] everything off of my to-do list. I no longer need to buy anything, which is great. But how do I fit two years of clothes into two 50lb suitcases? That's what I'll be figuring out for the next three days...
Thursday, August 12, 2010
And The Countdown Begins...
So the countdown is officially 36 days before I leave for Spain and it couldn't come sooner!! Since this is the start of my blog, I will give you all a quick recap as to what I'll be doing in Spain since I'm sure some of you are still guessing why I'm moving half-way across the world. I am going to be an English teaching assistant in an elementary school in Madrid. The Department of Education of Spain wants their students to learn English from native speakers so that's where I come in!
This opportunity couldn't be more perfect for me as I love to travel and I loooovvveeee Spain! I'll be living in the capital city, Madrid. It's a huge city just like New York, so it will be a perfect fit for me. In addition, Spain just won the World Cup so they are on a pretty big high right now (as am I), no matter how bad their economy is doing.
Some things I absolutely can't wait to do once I'm in Spain:
1. Watch Barcelona FC play live (I'm a huge Barca fan but I predict Real Madrid will grow on me since I'll be living there)
2. See the Real Madrid soccer team play live (this includes the amazingly gorgeous Cristiano Ronaldo)
3. Watch the Spanish national soccer team play in a bar full of Spaniards
4. Travel, travel, travel all around Spain and Europe too
5. See a bullfight (I missed out last time when I was in Sevilla)
6. Party till 6 in the morning
7. Have a tinto
8. Take pictures of all the wonderful scenery
There's sooo much more I can't wait to do but this post would be really long so I'll stop here.
For now, here's a few pics of my soon-to-be new home!
This opportunity couldn't be more perfect for me as I love to travel and I loooovvveeee Spain! I'll be living in the capital city, Madrid. It's a huge city just like New York, so it will be a perfect fit for me. In addition, Spain just won the World Cup so they are on a pretty big high right now (as am I), no matter how bad their economy is doing.
Some things I absolutely can't wait to do once I'm in Spain:
1. Watch Barcelona FC play live (I'm a huge Barca fan but I predict Real Madrid will grow on me since I'll be living there)
2. See the Real Madrid soccer team play live (this includes the amazingly gorgeous Cristiano Ronaldo)
3. Watch the Spanish national soccer team play in a bar full of Spaniards
4. Travel, travel, travel all around Spain and Europe too
5. See a bullfight (I missed out last time when I was in Sevilla)
6. Party till 6 in the morning
7. Have a tinto
8. Take pictures of all the wonderful scenery
There's sooo much more I can't wait to do but this post would be really long so I'll stop here.
For now, here's a few pics of my soon-to-be new home!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)