After 5 days of feeling stressed, having some very strange experiences visiting apartments, and not sleeping very well, I've found an apartment! I slept there for the first time 2 nights ago and finished moving over the rest of my things yesterday. It's kind of old and quirky, but in a good way. I'm living with 2 guys: a chatty 22 year old Spanish engineering student from Valencia, and a quieter MBA (or European equivalent of a Masters in business...) student from Paris. There's one room still open, so that one will be a surprise roommate. They're nice and seem pretty laid back.
My room is a little small but comfortable, and the kitchen has a microwave AND an oven (I didn't have either last year....making zucchini bread in a toaster over is possible, but the oven will be simpler.) The apartment is a 5 minute walk from the metro line I'll take out to work every day.
And... when I was wandering around yesterday looking for a place to buy my abono pass (monthly transportation pass), I came across a cupcake shop! Not sure how easily I will be able to find it again, but I'll definitely try to.
Yes! Now to unpack....
domingo, 3 de octubre de 2010
miércoles, 29 de septiembre de 2010
14 missed calls, a broken wheel, and a very nice man
Since my suitcase was lost/delayed, I left a message with the woman working at the missing luggage desk at the airport saying that I would be home after 6 pm for the next 2 or 3 days. After getting back from visiting the school where I will be working, I saw 14 missed calls.
Crap.
Must have been about the suitcase.
But why did they call at 12:30 pm when I left a message saying not to deliver it until the evening?
I called the number back at 6 pm, as soon as I saw the missed calls. Sure enough, it was the person from the airport who had tried to deliver my suitcase. My message wasn't delivered.
Since tomorrow is a huelga (strike) and most of the public transportation will be heavily delayed and most of the stores closed, the man asked if I would be home for the rest of the evening. I told him that I didn't plan to be but could be home if my suitcase would be delivered.
After calling a few other people at the airport, he, while off the clock, drove out to the airport, picked up my suitcase, and brought it to my door at 10:30 pm that evening and apologized a hundred times for the confusion/inconvenience/poor communication within airport employees (which wasn't his fault at all.)
I'm so happy to have my toothbrush, PJs, clothes, books, etc. that I don't even mind that a wheel is broken off. When you're packing a carry-on, it's full of the things you want right away. So when they check it plane-side, it's pretty inconvenient not to get it for 2 or 3 days....
Thank you, kind airport man.
Crap.
Must have been about the suitcase.
But why did they call at 12:30 pm when I left a message saying not to deliver it until the evening?
I called the number back at 6 pm, as soon as I saw the missed calls. Sure enough, it was the person from the airport who had tried to deliver my suitcase. My message wasn't delivered.
Since tomorrow is a huelga (strike) and most of the public transportation will be heavily delayed and most of the stores closed, the man asked if I would be home for the rest of the evening. I told him that I didn't plan to be but could be home if my suitcase would be delivered.
After calling a few other people at the airport, he, while off the clock, drove out to the airport, picked up my suitcase, and brought it to my door at 10:30 pm that evening and apologized a hundred times for the confusion/inconvenience/poor communication within airport employees (which wasn't his fault at all.)
I'm so happy to have my toothbrush, PJs, clothes, books, etc. that I don't even mind that a wheel is broken off. When you're packing a carry-on, it's full of the things you want right away. So when they check it plane-side, it's pretty inconvenient not to get it for 2 or 3 days....
Thank you, kind airport man.
martes, 28 de septiembre de 2010
MADrid
I'm in Madrid staying with a friend for a few days. I arrived yesterday morning and spent most of the day being very sleepy, trying to figure out how to get a suitcase that the airline lost, drinking coffee, and hanging out with Kim (who I'm staying with ) and her boyfriend. Today was an all day orientation. I really liked one of the speakers who talked about phonetics and using a phonetic approach to teaching languages in elementary schools (and who recommended spelling bees. Yes!)
Tomorrow there is a general strike, so the metro won't be running very often. I'm thinking of spending the day looking up apartment options online.... It's high season for apartment renting, so the prices are high and the apartments are getting taken up within hours of being posted online. Yikes.
Other than that, I'm nearly on a normal sleep schedule already, my suitcase should be arriving by tomorrow afternoon, and Kim's a really great hostess.
Once my suitcase with my pajamas, towel, books, and camera gets here, things should be a bit more comfortable (the suitcase they lost was originally my carry-on. There was no more space in Chicago in the overhead bins, so they checked it through to Madrid. Unfortunately carry-ons have the things you plan to use first....) After that, it's on to the apartment search!
Will write more later once there are more things to write about.....
Buenas noches!
Tomorrow there is a general strike, so the metro won't be running very often. I'm thinking of spending the day looking up apartment options online.... It's high season for apartment renting, so the prices are high and the apartments are getting taken up within hours of being posted online. Yikes.
Other than that, I'm nearly on a normal sleep schedule already, my suitcase should be arriving by tomorrow afternoon, and Kim's a really great hostess.
Once my suitcase with my pajamas, towel, books, and camera gets here, things should be a bit more comfortable (the suitcase they lost was originally my carry-on. There was no more space in Chicago in the overhead bins, so they checked it through to Madrid. Unfortunately carry-ons have the things you plan to use first....) After that, it's on to the apartment search!
Will write more later once there are more things to write about.....
Buenas noches!
domingo, 26 de septiembre de 2010
On the road again...
Four weeks at home is a good amount of time. I've copied my passport, printed my itinerary, and packed my bags as full as they can handle. My flight leaves in 3 hours from Indy to Madrid. I'm not looking forward to the inconveniences of traveling, finding an apartment, and reestablishing myself, but it's time for something new (and definitely time to start working somewhere again....) Those are the minor annoyances that come with moving to a new place. Should be an adventure!
martes, 14 de septiembre de 2010
A complaint and a thankful
Complaint:
I started my day today by waiting on hold for an hour and a half on an international call. I needed to set an appointment to renew my NIE card. (NIE = Numero de Identidad de Extranjeros = a card with an identity number for foreigners in Spain) Possibly the worst way to start a day.
If you're interested in hearing the music I had the privilege of listening to for 90 minutes, call +34 902 56 57 01. International phone call charges may apply.
Thankful:
After getting my appointment set, I went outside with a mug of coffee and sat on the back porch and remembered how much I love Indiana in the fall. The leaves haven't changed yet, but the stems of one or two have turned red, which means the rest of the tree will be following suit soon. It's chilly in the shade and warm in the sun, and there are tons of hummingbirds flitting about (my mom has two hummingbird feeders up on the back porch.) It's a beautiful day, and it's nice to be back in Indiana.
An beautiful day and afternoon adventure with Charise at
Flowing Well Park in Carmel, Indiana
I started my day today by waiting on hold for an hour and a half on an international call. I needed to set an appointment to renew my NIE card. (NIE = Numero de Identidad de Extranjeros = a card with an identity number for foreigners in Spain) Possibly the worst way to start a day.
If you're interested in hearing the music I had the privilege of listening to for 90 minutes, call +34 902 56 57 01. International phone call charges may apply.
Thankful:
After getting my appointment set, I went outside with a mug of coffee and sat on the back porch and remembered how much I love Indiana in the fall. The leaves haven't changed yet, but the stems of one or two have turned red, which means the rest of the tree will be following suit soon. It's chilly in the shade and warm in the sun, and there are tons of hummingbirds flitting about (my mom has two hummingbird feeders up on the back porch.) It's a beautiful day, and it's nice to be back in Indiana.
An beautiful day and afternoon adventure with Charise atFlowing Well Park in Carmel, Indiana
martes, 31 de agosto de 2010
Reflections on a Smoothie Purchase.
I had one layover between Paris and Indianapolis yesterday -- in Atlanta. After a nine hour flight, I was a little sleepy and REALLY thirsty, so Freshens smoothies caught my attention. It was a huge disappointment. I had two options: regular or large. I thought of going for the large since I was REALLY thirsty, but thankfully asked to see the cup sizes first. The large size must have held at least a gallon. Ridiculous. So I went with the regular, which was also huge. I don't remember noticing the difference in portion sizes when I arrived in Spain, but I've definitely already noticed the difference now that I'm back.
At this point my mouth started watering, anticipating my delicious, fresh, fruity treat. It stopped watering when I saw the Freshens guy pick up one of the cups and start the smoothie by squirting in at least a cup of Crayola orange liquid called "Peach mix -- Sugar Added!" Then there were two little scoops of frozen fruit, some ice, probably some more sugar, and some water. He blended it all up, and it looked more natural than it did back when it was just "Peach mix -- Sugar Added!" so I hoped for the best and opened up my purse to pay. $5.53. I double checked the menu since the price was more than I thought it was to make sure he didn't accidentally give me the large size and then I remembered: Sales tax.
(In Spain, the tax is included in the price, so you pay the price that's listed. It's simpler that way, I think.)
So I pulled out the right amount of USD and noticed that the bills seemed longer than I remembered them. (Euros aren't as long and are shaped more like Monopoly money. Apparently I'd gotten accustomed to their shape in the course of 11 months. It's normal, I think.)
I went back to my gate, sat down, and had a hugely unsatisfying gulp of peach flavored sugar goop. It was so sweet that it didn't quench my thirst at all, and after I had finished a third of it, my stomach started grumbling about it. I was too stubborn to throw away the rest after paying airport prices for it, so I finished another third of it before I was too sugared-out to continue and gave up. Yuck.
Thankfully when I arrived in Indy, I came home to my mom, dog, a back porch with a hummingbird feeder, a drying machine, and a refrigerator full of good things like salsa, hummus with cilantro, tomatoes from the tomato plant growing in the front lawn, yogurt, cheddar cheese, Bumbleberry Jam from Paul's Michigan Fruit Market, wholegrain English muffins, peanut butter, sour cream, plums, tortillas, and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. MUCH better than Freshens.
It's good to be back.
At this point my mouth started watering, anticipating my delicious, fresh, fruity treat. It stopped watering when I saw the Freshens guy pick up one of the cups and start the smoothie by squirting in at least a cup of Crayola orange liquid called "Peach mix -- Sugar Added!" Then there were two little scoops of frozen fruit, some ice, probably some more sugar, and some water. He blended it all up, and it looked more natural than it did back when it was just "Peach mix -- Sugar Added!" so I hoped for the best and opened up my purse to pay. $5.53. I double checked the menu since the price was more than I thought it was to make sure he didn't accidentally give me the large size and then I remembered: Sales tax.
(In Spain, the tax is included in the price, so you pay the price that's listed. It's simpler that way, I think.)
So I pulled out the right amount of USD and noticed that the bills seemed longer than I remembered them. (Euros aren't as long and are shaped more like Monopoly money. Apparently I'd gotten accustomed to their shape in the course of 11 months. It's normal, I think.)
I went back to my gate, sat down, and had a hugely unsatisfying gulp of peach flavored sugar goop. It was so sweet that it didn't quench my thirst at all, and after I had finished a third of it, my stomach started grumbling about it. I was too stubborn to throw away the rest after paying airport prices for it, so I finished another third of it before I was too sugared-out to continue and gave up. Yuck.
Thankfully when I arrived in Indy, I came home to my mom, dog, a back porch with a hummingbird feeder, a drying machine, and a refrigerator full of good things like salsa, hummus with cilantro, tomatoes from the tomato plant growing in the front lawn, yogurt, cheddar cheese, Bumbleberry Jam from Paul's Michigan Fruit Market, wholegrain English muffins, peanut butter, sour cream, plums, tortillas, and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. MUCH better than Freshens.
It's good to be back.
domingo, 1 de agosto de 2010
All the world's a stage
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts
--William Shakespeare's As You Like It
This has been quite literally the case for me this past month. Although I have no real acting experience or training, in the summer camp where I'm working right now, acting is required all the time. There are different levels of acting; acting like the host of an all-camp game of clue, playing the part of an English teacher for two hours in the morning, acting like I care whether or not kids sit against the wall and enforcing it because the camp director cares even though I don't mind at all, acting like I'm enthusiastic about singing the song Ring of Fire for the 50th time in a month, pretending that I am awake when I want nothing more than to be in my bed, presenting the day's schedule (and then eating lunch afterwards) as a mime, acting like a narrator/marshmellow tree in a skit about cavemen teaching fire safety, playing the part of a superhero's love interest, and acting like Babe the blue ox for 15 minutes during a skit about American history and folklore are fairly different. But they are all acting.
Which is a small part of why I've been thinking about As You Like It (the rest of the scene is also quite good. Google it if you have the chance.)
It seems like everyone is acting in some way or another. I wonder how much of belonging to a certain profession or social class, how many relationships, how much of any social interaction or personal habit is really some type of acting. Acting out what is expected by others; doing what is required by a situation not because of personal interest, skill, or desire, but because of necessity; repeating behaviors seen in other people, adapting to a social or professional role in terms of behavior, attitude, vocabulary......
I also like the image of people entering and exiting stage. Some people are only in a place for a season. Others for longer, but never forever. But there is a constant coming in and exiting of characters as time goes on, and an expected shifting of roles.
I wish I had time to read more this summer.
The third session begins today. One more month of skits. One month until I fly home.
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts
--William Shakespeare's As You Like It
This has been quite literally the case for me this past month. Although I have no real acting experience or training, in the summer camp where I'm working right now, acting is required all the time. There are different levels of acting; acting like the host of an all-camp game of clue, playing the part of an English teacher for two hours in the morning, acting like I care whether or not kids sit against the wall and enforcing it because the camp director cares even though I don't mind at all, acting like I'm enthusiastic about singing the song Ring of Fire for the 50th time in a month, pretending that I am awake when I want nothing more than to be in my bed, presenting the day's schedule (and then eating lunch afterwards) as a mime, acting like a narrator/marshmellow tree in a skit about cavemen teaching fire safety, playing the part of a superhero's love interest, and acting like Babe the blue ox for 15 minutes during a skit about American history and folklore are fairly different. But they are all acting.
Which is a small part of why I've been thinking about As You Like It (the rest of the scene is also quite good. Google it if you have the chance.)
It seems like everyone is acting in some way or another. I wonder how much of belonging to a certain profession or social class, how many relationships, how much of any social interaction or personal habit is really some type of acting. Acting out what is expected by others; doing what is required by a situation not because of personal interest, skill, or desire, but because of necessity; repeating behaviors seen in other people, adapting to a social or professional role in terms of behavior, attitude, vocabulary......
I also like the image of people entering and exiting stage. Some people are only in a place for a season. Others for longer, but never forever. But there is a constant coming in and exiting of characters as time goes on, and an expected shifting of roles.
I wish I had time to read more this summer.
The third session begins today. One more month of skits. One month until I fly home.
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