In the past two days, I´ve walked around quite a lot, trying to get my bearings in Madrid. I´ve encountered masses congregated all over the city. I have not seen any police brutality on any of these occasions, but others have and I´ve watched it covered by the Spanish noticias. Mainly, I see people linked together, mano a mano, walking down the calles chanting about the need for democratic process, social justice, worker´s rights, etc. They gather to literally fill up the streets downtown. Police book mark the protests, leading rioters and following closely behind, at a snail´s pace, in vans and walking (street cleaners follow just behind the police..soon, the only sign of protestors becomes the distant chanting down the road). They don´t prevent the parades of people from marching along..and it doesn´t matter where you go in the center of Madrid, if you wait a while, soon a group of these protestors will come along. I enjoy seeing the signs they carry and hearing their words..I see that many of these people are my age and it seems unfair that I´m to have this job while so many don´t and while social services are being cut and while taxes are going up. Que loca!
This morning, the tv in the commons area of the hostel where I´m staying played news coverage of the riot scenes from yesterday. An American gent commented,¨If I could, I´d change it to ESPN in a flash.¨ Why travel to Spain?
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Muchos quehaceres..la vida se ha convertido en lio.
YESTERDAY, I WROTE THE FOLLOWING:
BUENAS!
Well, I finally slept in this morning, after several days (since coming here), of hardly sleeping and not taking a siesta. I feel faintly head achy even so. Nervous tension has kept me up, up, up. It's been a LONG few days. First, I'll say, I'm pleased with myself for making the decision to base myself out of Sol (heart center of Madrid), rather than staying with the host family in Getafe. The family´s general disinterest in me disappointed me, even though I'd been warned that often you end up with a family that maily cares about getting your money. They weren't around very much and when they left they never said a word to me about where they were going or when they would return. They charged me per meal, which made eating with them unappealing, especially because they food they offered me was not great quality..I mean, I can eat better going out in Madrid. They'd leave the house sin despederme. Fortunately, they understood my reasons for leaving earlier than I'd originally planned and they didn't hold me to our contract! However, they did overcharge me, not accounting for the fact that before I came to Spain, I'd put down a 10% deposit which should have been deducted from the total bill. Oh, well. When I left, theyhad just gone and so I did not even get to say good bye. Even so, I left them a thank you note.
The hostel experience has been wonderful. The first people I met were two girls who will also be auxiliares de conversacion..and we're not the only three here at this hostel! I've met at least 5 auxiliares here. In addition to being from English speaking countries (US, UK, NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA AND CANADA), there are a few Italians, some Germans, and a bunch of French auxiliares (including French speaking Canadians). All of the corresponding languages are taught to students here in Madrid. All together, there are more than 1,500 of us in la comunidad de Madrid (which consists of the capital city, as well as outlaying towns and cities). On Monday, I spent an entire day with about 50 other auxiliares sitting through painful hours of orientation. It began at 9 and by its end at 6, I felt so overwhelmed and exausted, I felt like screaming. A few logistical problems have come up and caused me extra stress. A part from needing to find a place to live, fill out beaurocratic forms for my identity card, set up a Spanish bank account, get photos taken so that I can buy a train/metro pass and learn to navigate this city, I am supposed to be preparing to begin assisting English teachers in their classrooms NEXT WEEK.
Mainly, when I've gone out intending to get some order of business done, I've met success without great struggle. I've already paid a deposit for a decent room in a flat near a beautiful park the size of Central Park (I ran around it today and was really pleased by the variety of landscapes...everything from a lake you can paddle in to dog parks, rose gardens, cafes, arboretum, shaded grassy space perfect for an afternoon picnic or yoga practice, etc.) It's WONDERFUL, and I´ll live just a five minute walk away, with two Ukranian brothers whose Spanish is so perfect I fully took them to be Spanish. I'll have my own bathroom and there's not contract, so I can leave whenever I want and I am not even responsible for finding a replacement roomie for them. It sounds good to me, at least to begin..and I think it´s walking distance from one of my schools! Today, I explored the area a bit during my run and I ran right into a yoga studio just around the corner from the piso. I'm hoping I'll like the style there; it'd be so convenient to have a studio near home, and this would definitely raise the value of the piso for me!! Yesterday, I got my photos taken in an automated photobooth in the metro station..these are in almost all metro stations in the city. Can you imagine? Getting your passport photos taken...on your way across town, without having to drive to some box store? I've made all the photocopies I think I'll need and printed forms at the locutorio (except for one..URG, ministerio de educacion..more on this later.) And, I opened a bank account today! This can be a challenge for foreigners without national identity cards, which is interesting because you have to have a bank account before you can apply for the card as well. Spain is a crazy place, in terms of how its systems contradict themselves and seem to work only by sheer chance and diligence in trying. Advice given to me was this: Caixa bank will honor simply a passport and open an account for you and many other banks will too..sometimes you just have to try your luck various times before a person agrees that its possible and helps you to do it. I went straight to Caixa, to aviod hopping around from bank to bank all day, and it worked out marvelously. The person there tried to sell me private health insurance (only 50 euros a month, or 60 with dental included), but I won't be needing to pay because the ministerio de educacion is covering me while I'm here..if all goes well.
Apart from working hard to accomplish tasks, I've enjoyed imensely spending time with international travelers, exploring Madrid with them and by myself, and connecting to other auxiliares. Yesterday, after orientation, I found myself fallen in with a group of French auxiliares. At first they spoke only in French. I felt awkward and a little embarassed and very American. I spotted familiar faces behind our group and I recognized them as English speakers..so I joined them for about a block. Our conversation was not great, but at least I could understand them. At the next stop light, a member of the French group asked me if I wanted to join them for tapas. I said sure and went with them. It was a grand old time. They stayed in Spanish for me the whole time and we talked about our countries. Europeans express sheer astonishment at my nationality. They really don't expect US citizens to speak a lick of another language..anyway, I had a great time with them.
The ony part of this whole process that isn't working out so smoothly is the school placement. I received two cartas de nombramiento well over a month ago and upon emailing my schools I learned that one of the two has never heard of this program and doesn't even teach English..and so, I told the ministerio about this and they assured me that they would issue me a new letter of appointment very soon. This correspondance occured before I arrived here, by at least a week. It became clear to me, yesterday, that no one at the ministerio had done a thing about it despite telling me not to worry, that everything would be fine and that I'd receive my new letter very soon (What does very soon mean to them?) I'm supposed to be visiting my schools and meeting with my teachers and figuring out what the heck they expect from me..plus, I have to have the letters of appointment to show to the policia in order to get my identity card..plus, not knowing where I'll be working, it's been dificult for me to know where exactly I should aim to live (I'm basically just crossing my fingures that the place I've chosen will turn out to be fine; it helps knowing that if it isn't a great spot, I'm not on a contract). Well, when I realized that the ministerio had not made a move since I'd informed them of this major problem, I became frustrated. They shrugged me off throughout the morning, until so much tension and fear bubbled up under my skin that I started to cry. This was all it took for Beatriz to make a call to someone else at the ministerio. It took her about one minute. When she hung up, she had a new school for me. I'm hoping this one is legit. If it is, it will be such a relief for me, especially since it is with the Madrid city limits. The other school that I had been placed at, for god knows what reason, was quite a commute away. So maybe this minor glitch has turned out to be a gift. Both of my schools are metro accessible. Yay! Unfortuantely, I still haven't received an official carta de nombramiento for this second school and so I can't put together all the documentation for my identity card or visit it..and classes start soon! I sent a reminder email to Beatriz today, urging her to send it to me soon, but I haven't received a response yet.
I'm just going to trust her word that everything will be fine. Afterall, yesterday when I cried, another woman at the ministerio reassured me that "Te necesitamos, te damos empleo, estas aqui porque te neceistamos!" They need me. They've given me work. I'm here because they need me. Ha. Thank you! I feel honored!
Other news: The riots have been interesting to follow. Pretty much all of downtown Madrid´s streets have been full of people my age and older collecting and protesting. Yesterday, I couldn´t go anywhere without running into a mass of people, blockades and lines of policia. I haven´t been witness to any police brutality but others have.
And to reassure my mother: I haven´t been staying up all night drinking til dawn. Todavia esto no me atrae mucho.
Anyway, Ill write more later on. I plan to go meet up with Margaret!
Cuidense! Les extrano un monton.
BUENAS!
Well, I finally slept in this morning, after several days (since coming here), of hardly sleeping and not taking a siesta. I feel faintly head achy even so. Nervous tension has kept me up, up, up. It's been a LONG few days. First, I'll say, I'm pleased with myself for making the decision to base myself out of Sol (heart center of Madrid), rather than staying with the host family in Getafe. The family´s general disinterest in me disappointed me, even though I'd been warned that often you end up with a family that maily cares about getting your money. They weren't around very much and when they left they never said a word to me about where they were going or when they would return. They charged me per meal, which made eating with them unappealing, especially because they food they offered me was not great quality..I mean, I can eat better going out in Madrid. They'd leave the house sin despederme. Fortunately, they understood my reasons for leaving earlier than I'd originally planned and they didn't hold me to our contract! However, they did overcharge me, not accounting for the fact that before I came to Spain, I'd put down a 10% deposit which should have been deducted from the total bill. Oh, well. When I left, theyhad just gone and so I did not even get to say good bye. Even so, I left them a thank you note.
The hostel experience has been wonderful. The first people I met were two girls who will also be auxiliares de conversacion..and we're not the only three here at this hostel! I've met at least 5 auxiliares here. In addition to being from English speaking countries (US, UK, NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA AND CANADA), there are a few Italians, some Germans, and a bunch of French auxiliares (including French speaking Canadians). All of the corresponding languages are taught to students here in Madrid. All together, there are more than 1,500 of us in la comunidad de Madrid (which consists of the capital city, as well as outlaying towns and cities). On Monday, I spent an entire day with about 50 other auxiliares sitting through painful hours of orientation. It began at 9 and by its end at 6, I felt so overwhelmed and exausted, I felt like screaming. A few logistical problems have come up and caused me extra stress. A part from needing to find a place to live, fill out beaurocratic forms for my identity card, set up a Spanish bank account, get photos taken so that I can buy a train/metro pass and learn to navigate this city, I am supposed to be preparing to begin assisting English teachers in their classrooms NEXT WEEK.
Mainly, when I've gone out intending to get some order of business done, I've met success without great struggle. I've already paid a deposit for a decent room in a flat near a beautiful park the size of Central Park (I ran around it today and was really pleased by the variety of landscapes...everything from a lake you can paddle in to dog parks, rose gardens, cafes, arboretum, shaded grassy space perfect for an afternoon picnic or yoga practice, etc.) It's WONDERFUL, and I´ll live just a five minute walk away, with two Ukranian brothers whose Spanish is so perfect I fully took them to be Spanish. I'll have my own bathroom and there's not contract, so I can leave whenever I want and I am not even responsible for finding a replacement roomie for them. It sounds good to me, at least to begin..and I think it´s walking distance from one of my schools! Today, I explored the area a bit during my run and I ran right into a yoga studio just around the corner from the piso. I'm hoping I'll like the style there; it'd be so convenient to have a studio near home, and this would definitely raise the value of the piso for me!! Yesterday, I got my photos taken in an automated photobooth in the metro station..these are in almost all metro stations in the city. Can you imagine? Getting your passport photos taken...on your way across town, without having to drive to some box store? I've made all the photocopies I think I'll need and printed forms at the locutorio (except for one..URG, ministerio de educacion..more on this later.) And, I opened a bank account today! This can be a challenge for foreigners without national identity cards, which is interesting because you have to have a bank account before you can apply for the card as well. Spain is a crazy place, in terms of how its systems contradict themselves and seem to work only by sheer chance and diligence in trying. Advice given to me was this: Caixa bank will honor simply a passport and open an account for you and many other banks will too..sometimes you just have to try your luck various times before a person agrees that its possible and helps you to do it. I went straight to Caixa, to aviod hopping around from bank to bank all day, and it worked out marvelously. The person there tried to sell me private health insurance (only 50 euros a month, or 60 with dental included), but I won't be needing to pay because the ministerio de educacion is covering me while I'm here..if all goes well.
Apart from working hard to accomplish tasks, I've enjoyed imensely spending time with international travelers, exploring Madrid with them and by myself, and connecting to other auxiliares. Yesterday, after orientation, I found myself fallen in with a group of French auxiliares. At first they spoke only in French. I felt awkward and a little embarassed and very American. I spotted familiar faces behind our group and I recognized them as English speakers..so I joined them for about a block. Our conversation was not great, but at least I could understand them. At the next stop light, a member of the French group asked me if I wanted to join them for tapas. I said sure and went with them. It was a grand old time. They stayed in Spanish for me the whole time and we talked about our countries. Europeans express sheer astonishment at my nationality. They really don't expect US citizens to speak a lick of another language..anyway, I had a great time with them.
The ony part of this whole process that isn't working out so smoothly is the school placement. I received two cartas de nombramiento well over a month ago and upon emailing my schools I learned that one of the two has never heard of this program and doesn't even teach English..and so, I told the ministerio about this and they assured me that they would issue me a new letter of appointment very soon. This correspondance occured before I arrived here, by at least a week. It became clear to me, yesterday, that no one at the ministerio had done a thing about it despite telling me not to worry, that everything would be fine and that I'd receive my new letter very soon (What does very soon mean to them?) I'm supposed to be visiting my schools and meeting with my teachers and figuring out what the heck they expect from me..plus, I have to have the letters of appointment to show to the policia in order to get my identity card..plus, not knowing where I'll be working, it's been dificult for me to know where exactly I should aim to live (I'm basically just crossing my fingures that the place I've chosen will turn out to be fine; it helps knowing that if it isn't a great spot, I'm not on a contract). Well, when I realized that the ministerio had not made a move since I'd informed them of this major problem, I became frustrated. They shrugged me off throughout the morning, until so much tension and fear bubbled up under my skin that I started to cry. This was all it took for Beatriz to make a call to someone else at the ministerio. It took her about one minute. When she hung up, she had a new school for me. I'm hoping this one is legit. If it is, it will be such a relief for me, especially since it is with the Madrid city limits. The other school that I had been placed at, for god knows what reason, was quite a commute away. So maybe this minor glitch has turned out to be a gift. Both of my schools are metro accessible. Yay! Unfortuantely, I still haven't received an official carta de nombramiento for this second school and so I can't put together all the documentation for my identity card or visit it..and classes start soon! I sent a reminder email to Beatriz today, urging her to send it to me soon, but I haven't received a response yet.
I'm just going to trust her word that everything will be fine. Afterall, yesterday when I cried, another woman at the ministerio reassured me that "Te necesitamos, te damos empleo, estas aqui porque te neceistamos!" They need me. They've given me work. I'm here because they need me. Ha. Thank you! I feel honored!
Other news: The riots have been interesting to follow. Pretty much all of downtown Madrid´s streets have been full of people my age and older collecting and protesting. Yesterday, I couldn´t go anywhere without running into a mass of people, blockades and lines of policia. I haven´t been witness to any police brutality but others have.
And to reassure my mother: I haven´t been staying up all night drinking til dawn. Todavia esto no me atrae mucho.
Anyway, Ill write more later on. I plan to go meet up with Margaret!
Cuidense! Les extrano un monton.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Llegando a Espana... despues de pasar un verano maravilloso!
 |
| Photo taken by Jon-erik approximately 3 hours before we left for the aeropuerto. If only cats were more travel happy countries more comfotable with their moving around with us. |
I didn't like saying good bye to friends and family. Washingtonians are no good at the custom of saying, "good bye." Jon-Erik and I have experienced this together, not so much with each other, but often with our friends. We find ourselves dragging out our parting words, spending thirty minutes at the door putting our jackets on and scuffling into our shoes. Sometimes, we begin entirely new conversations, offering up our best comments yet. See ya later! Hasta luego. Yo ya me voy, en serio. Voy a Espana. Y ahora, estoy en Espana.
Saying good bye to loved ones is painful, and more intense before zooming over the Oceano Atlantico to live in a foreign country. Dificil. I felt overwhelmed going through airport security in Seattle. I made it through no problem, but I felt insecure so I went up to a guard and asked if I could really go on toward my gate. Maybe I half hoped he'd say, "No, you can't. You have to stay here, with those three over there staring you down! Something's just not right about leaving them." I wanted my mom, dad and Jon-Erik to accompany me..buy tickets and head to Spain. We'd have a ball.
Without them, I made it all the way up into the sky. We flew Northeast from Seattle. I watched sunset over the Puget Sound before the plane turned away. Then, I gazed down over the cracks and crevaces of the North Cascades. We flew over Canada...more mountains...and then I lost track space and time in darkness. Too bad..I would have been able to see Greenland and Iceland! I felt really hungry during the flight and they didn't feed us as soon as I hoped. We ate dinner around 8:30 pm PAC time, about two hours into it. After eating pasta with marinara sauce (no meat, standard for everyone in economy class at least on that flight), I snoozed uncomfortably for a couple of hours and awoke feeling desparate for fresh air. "Am I going to die from inhaling so much stale air?" I wondered. I experienced a terrible scratchy throat and dehydration through the night. I was at the mercy of German flight attendants serving me ladel sized quantities of distilled water. As I awoke, an attendant past me by with a bottle of water. I called for her to come back and felt lucky when she did. Saved! I fell asleep again, slightly more comfortable. When I opened my eyes next, maybe two hours had past, I looked out the window to see we had encroached upon light of a new day, thousands of miles from Seattle. We time traveled. This time, I awoke to a tray of breakfast/lunch. I lifted my window blind to peer upon the Atlantic Ocean and soon we flew over Ireland, green, hilly, beautiful.
We made it to Frankfurt 9 hours and 40 minutes after leaving Seattle. I spent less than two hours in the airport. I helped myself to complimentary capuccinos at the gate while I waited to board. When we arrived to Madrid, at 6:30 pm, my home stay mother and her two teenage daughters awaited me with a sign reading clear as day, "LIZA."And when I said, "Soy yo," of course, they returned, "Bienvenida LISA." :) They brought me to their home in Getafe, a suburb of Madrid, and I am spending just one more night here. Tomorrow, I will move my things to the heart of Madrid and stay in a hostel..which is what my gut told me to do in the first place. Gotta get better at listening to the guy.
MADRID ES ENOMRE. The streets are caotic. They go in every which way. It's a maze. I realized as I was heading back here, to Getafe, on a train that takes me almost directly from this house to the heart of Madrid, that I would much prefer to be in Madrid, figuring out how to navigate its metro system, finding a good yoga spot and browsing pisos to move into. I can do all of this probably more cheaply than I can here, plus have more autonomy. Rather than spending the entire day trapsing around Madrid trying to find a place to live and neglecting all other aspects of my well-being, wearing my backpack stuffed with all I need for a day out on the town, sweating like a pig, feeling exhausted and lost and far from where I can re-center myself, I can keep most of my belongings secure and come and go freely as I please at less cost. So, tomorrow I head for a hostel. I'm hoping to go for a run with the time I save not commuting!
Mistake of the day: Asking for "crema" instead of "leche" with my coffee. Crema means lotion, not cream. Ooops. (mistakes like these make me feel embarassed to admit that I majored in Spanish to Spaniards who ask what I studied, so I'm talking up my Fairhaven experience and briefly mentioning thant I studied Spanish. I'm not sure if this is really better, as they don't really conceive of an interdisciplinary studies concentration here anyway.)
Highlights of today: MEETING UP WITH MARGARET, my old neighbor/friend from Bellingham, EN SOL (heart of Madrid) and spending the day with her. We walked through el Parque del Retiro. (mini highly: We saw a Magpie!) She and another au pair friend of hers helped me find my way to look at a prospective place to live, come October 1st. Later, after many hours walking and growing apetitos, we found a wonderful place, FRESCO. A great restaurant for people who love to eat fresh fruits and veggies..serving a wide array of fresh salads and chilled soups. I loved the gazpacho especially. In addition, they offer flat bread, pizza, meaty options and hot potatoes, rice and beans. They'll prepare your choice of meat or fish on the spot if you ask. Then, there are all the toppings--including really oily pesto and other equally oily mixtures I felt too overwhelmed by to consider very critically (and too ready to eat what I already had to care to add). FRESCO is buffet style and includes your choice of water, wine or beer at the same price (or, if you ask like I did, a glass of water and a glass of wine). This ham-free, moderately but not excessively greasy food took me by surprise on my first full day in the city. Afterward, I navigated through a maddening wash of people, shoulder to shoulder, filling downtown Madrid, back to the train station at Sol, to return to Getafe. This, after watching the same streets hollow out between 3 and 5.
More on the city later. I've hardly experienced a thing, despite writing so much. I know nothing more than I did before arriving about what I'm actually doing here, as an auxiliar de conversacion. Yes, I am overwhelmed with todas las cosas que necesito arreglar. Todo saldra con su tiempo. Bueno, espero.
All and all, I'm glad to be here. I have to keep my wits about me, to keep from getting lost and/or losing something I won't live easily without (So, this excludes the 3 OMS water bottle I left on the plane that landed me in Frankfurt.)
after midnight here, and I, unlike most people my age in this city, am going to sleep! MADRILENOS PARTY ALL NIGHT. It's not the slightest bit exaggerated. They eat dinner at 10 or 11 and stay up having a good time til 6 or 7 the next morning.
CIAO!
PICTURES from last two days: Last Puget Sund Sunset for a while; Flying over North Cascades; Frankfurt, Germany; Sol, centro de Madrid
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