Holidays

The 6th of December
The day of the Three Wise Men.
Here in Spain the three wise men are much more popular than Santa (who only gives cheap gifts according to my students!) On the night of the 5th to celebrate these wonderful gift giving men, the streets are packed with people who are shopping and watching the local parade. There is silly-string, candy, and confetti falling from the sky, and people hold their umbrellas upside-down to catch it all. It was a warm nice night. The most impressive thing to me happened a few hours later. The streets were spotless! All the confetti and silly string, and the endless amount of dog poop on the sidewalks had vanished! Good job cleanup crew!
It was nice that these festivities continued until the 6th, it made my families departure less final. There was still Christmas music playing and people were still in that “jolly” mood.
But of course its over now, and I am alone again. This used to be easier. However, my spirits were lifted again by a very strong woman named Lissa. She was beat up pretty bad by her boyfriend over new years while they were in Budapest. I was encouraged by her strength. She is going to court to make sure he has the incident on his record. I was impressed that she could be so level headed after it all. Now we are leaning on each other for support.
So, if you would, send her your prayers.
Thanks for listening.
:)

observation of the day

Spanish people are extremly willing to help you in what ever way possible, unless they are working.

Its been a month

Well gang, as of the 28th of October I will officially have been here for one month. I am happy to report that I am very content here. Of course there are days when I miss everyone so much that it literally hurts, but then there are moments like today. I work up happy, took a stroll to buy a pizza, ran into a teacher that I work with and enjoyed a glass of wine with her, and then I went home and watched a movie I rented from the library. And I'm still happy. It is a very relaxing lifestyle here. Don't misunderstand me. I spend a lot of time working, and when I am not at work, I spend a lot of time preparing lessons for work. But I now understand what it’s like to really love a job. I wake up at 7am generally. (I can hear some of you saying "YEAH RIGHT"), but I do and I even shower and do my hair and makeup!!! That’s right Dad, I am a real human now haha. But I still have to say that I look forward to being retired (again). :)
Some reflections:
-I would really love to have a car again. Its frustrating taking the bus for 45 mins. to go 8 miles.
-I stand out like a sore thumb and attract a lot of African immigrants haha.
-Carrying a lunch to work is a huge savings, but it makes for some really awkward moments because of the fact that no one else does.
-TONS of families want me to teach their children English. How wonderful!
-Nothing, apart from "negrita" rum, is cheap in this country.
-I still can't figure out the driving system here.
-For some reasons Spanish people have extremely well trained dogs!

Well, that’s all from Lake Woebegone. The link I've included is an image of my front door, but if you move the arrows around you can see the whole area.
Over and out!
http://maps.google.es/maps?hl=es&ie=UTF8&ll=43.55941,-5.931877&spn=0,0.010525&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.559487,-5.931826&panoid=Sn_UttKWh0DUz1Ov3GPA-Q&cbp=12,109.76,,0,4.37

The journey has officially started.

Officially I have left Madrid!
But let me say that it really is an amazing city. The people are pretty great, and they are always very helpful. One thing I had forgotten about Spanish culture is their really odd schedule. They work for a few hours in the morning, take a break for a few hours (3 or 4) and then head back to work. During the time off everyone is literally just walking around. Since most things are closed, the Spanish have mastered the art of window shopping. The only things that are open are the restaurants so many people meet up with their family or friends and have a three course lunch! It really does blow your mind to see people just sauntering around a large city with no real purpose.
I had my conference which was helpful, but I am glad its over.
The next day (sat) I left Madrid by bus.
It didn't take very long for us to get outside the city limits and into New Mexico. :) Not literally, but it looked so much like the south west. Very dry and with a few bluffs here and there. Then after a few hours I found myself back in Wisconsin! How great! There wasn't much time in Wisconsin though before we entered the tunnels of Duluth and came out into the province of Asturias. Or as many would say; Paradise. And it really is absolutely gorgeous.
I arrived after 6 hours of travel and my "boss" was there waiting for me. He has become the kindest stranger I have ever met. He walked me around town, showed me to my hotel where I dropped off my stuff and then tool me to one apartment that was available to me. After all this, mind you its 10pm, he took me out to dinner. We were one of the first few people to eat so "early". I think getting used to Spanish time is going to be the biggest challenge.
Today is Sunday and Jaime - I have to mention that he wanted to help me pronounce his name so in an e-mail he told me to say hi-men ahahahahahahah and then drop the n-Anyways, Jaime took me to see where I would get on and off the bus and also showed me where I would be working. He really is an amazing guy.
So now the apartment hunt starts, and the hassle of getting resident cards and a bank account are on the docket as well.
Wish me luck!
Ilee

The picture is of the Madrid strike against government spending in Spain. There were strikes throughout the whole country.

Cat's Hostel

Oh my goodness!
There is beer for a buck thirty-five in a vending machine at my hostel!! And its good!
I've officially made it to Spain. We landed at 8am and I was surprised to see that it was still dark outside. By the time I got to my hostel it was 10am. Customs and baggage claim went well, but the subway system, however very efficient and cheep, is not handicap accessible. Or in my case, out of shape woman with a 50lb suitcase accessible. Needless to say I put down a deposit for a towel when I arrived, took a shower and went back to sleep for 4 and a half hours. It's good to be back over the pond. :)

I'm Back!

The Adventure Continues!!

I'm currently in Chicago, but it is only a matter of hours before I will step foot once again onto foreign soil!
I hope we can go with each other through this blog.

I just won $50 for comming in 2nd in a poker tournament!!! Awesome!