Finally found an apartment!

Yes, I have finally found the coveted apartment! The apartment has 4 rooms and a kitchen. I´ll be living with 1 Brazilian girl and 2 Spanish guys. I originally had not wanted to live with any guys, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I´ll be getting my keys on the 31st and moving in the first! Woohoo! I´m excited because the apartment is pretty big for Spanish standards and the one person I met who´s living there already is nice. The apartment is also about a five minute walk from the metro and a fifteen minute walk from Quique. Since I´ve only rented the room if I don´t like the place or the people I can leave at the end of November. I´ll take pictures of the apartment when I move in and put them up!

By the way, Aunt Sally if you´d like to make a comment on how to post comments that would be awesome. I still can´t figure it out so I don´t know how to tell other people!

Yes!

No, I did not find an apartment yet, but I did open a Spanish bank account! I braved the freezing cold to walk up the street to the bank and open my account and I am quite proud. I was all worried. I've never even opened up an American bank account before so I was nervous about doing it in a different language. It only took me 20 minutes and I understood everything the lady was saying and now I have a bank account and an ATM card on the way!

Madrid is pretty cold. I think it's on, about, or around the same latitude as New York. My computer says it's about 57 degrees today, but with all the wind it feels a lot colder. My sweaters are making their way to Spain at the moment so I've just got a fleece and a little jacket for now. I stuck it out in South Bend for four years so I think I can survive Madrid. It doesn't snow that much here anyway.

School...oh where to start. School has been a lot of fun. I just finished my first full week. I am teaching 3rd and 4th graders English and Science. I'm still learning all their names, but in Spain almost everybody is Maria or Jose anyway. haha! I am never the actual teacher of a class. I'm more like a helper. I walk around and discipline the kids and then read stories or ask them questions sometimes. I've learned that if I walk up to a kid and tell them to be quiet all I have to do the next time is give them the evil eye and they stop. I love the power! All the kids go on their siesta at 12:30 and don't start back up until 3. So I teach 2 classes from 9-11 then we go on our breakfast half hour break then we teach one more class, then we have a 2 1/2 hour lunch break, then we teach two more 45 minute classes in the afternoon. It's complicated. I have Fridays free so that is nice.

I'm going to start doing private tutoring classes soon. You can make 20 euros an hour with one kid and that will be helpful. It's technically illegal because you get paid under the table, but I'm willing to take a risk. No one's ever been arrested or deported for teaching English, haha. I might go later to open up a libray account. I'm going to check out some basic spanish books so I can read in Spanish and learn more.

More to come!

Don't stop believin'

that I can find an apaaaartmeeent! That's become my new mantra. After being ditched a little less than a week ago I am slowly attempting to find rooms, instead of apartments, to rent. I know what areas I would like to live in, but sometimes it's a challenge to find a room that isn't being rented out by some 80 year old woman. I'd prefer to live with people my age so the search continues...

I started school on Wednesday and I like it a lot! I'll be teaching 3rd and 4th graders English and Science. I've got to keep looking for apartments but I'll write more details about my school day in the days to come.

I know some of you would like to write comments to the blog, but aren't sure how to do it. To be honest, I don't either, but I'll look into it and let you know.

Just what I needed...

Well tonight my potential roommates told me that they found an apartment to stay in and they will not be living with me. I'm really disappointed because I found a three bedroom apartment near Quique that I absolutely loved. I'm hoping I can find some people at my orientation to live with. This is stressful!

Still apartment hunting

I'm still chugging along trying to find an apartment. My potential roommates and are I making phone calls and visits all over the place. I've started looking into just renting a room in an apartment with other people instead of rooming with these girls simply because renting a room is cheaper than an apartment and gives you more options. I've still got all my options open though and will be making a few phone calls and appointments myself. I've never even had to search for an apartment before so this experience is definitely giving me a crash course! I visited an awesome apartment last night near Quique, but I think my roommates think it's too far out. We're visiting again tonight so we'll see what they think. I loved it though and I especially loved the fact that it wasn't too far from my school or Quique. Okay well now I'm off to begin my day again. Maybe today will be our lucky day!

Finally Here!

I am finally in Madrid! I got here Monday the 22nd and it's been crazy ever since. Monday I got to see Quique for the first time in 3 1/2 months which was awesome! It's such a relief being here and not worrying about when I have to leave. Monday night I met up with my potential roommates Blair and Eimear. We've been searching for apartments the last few days and it has been HARD. Apartments are hard to find, believe it or not. When you see a place in the paper you like it's either A) already rented B) the owners want a deposit of six months or c) has some seriously teeny rooms otherwise known as closets. I may just try and rent a room, but I've heard that is hard as well. I keep telling myself that in one month I'll be settled and I won't be running around like a chicken with my head cut off! Even with all that stress I'm still having a great time getting to know the city of Madrid. I've met some of Quique's friends and roommates and they are all really nice and a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to when everything settles down.

On a different note, everyone please feel free to write comments on my blog. Otherwise, I'm not sure if anyone reads it and I feel like I'm writing to no one haha. I miss you all!

Almost there...

I leave a week from tomorrow and I have so many things to get done!! I've been so busy trying to hang out with people before I leave that I don't have time to pack (and let's face it: having fun with my friends and family is way better than packing!). Last night my coworkers and I had dinner at my boss' house (Carla). We had such a blast and I'm going to miss them all! I've never had so much fun at a job before and I'm sad to leave! I am, however, looking forward to finally living in the same country as Quique and living on my own again.

I'll write more, but for those of you who are living in the U.S. and will see me off: Remember, I'm not leaving you I'm just giving you a better place to vacation!!!