So it’s been a long first week. I’m sitting at Alcazar, Toledo’s library, taking advantage of the free WiFi and trying to remember everything that has happened over the past 8 days. I guess Ill start at my arrival. I had a relatively easy flight: a 2-hour flight to Philly, an hour layover, an hour delay, and a 7 ½ hour flight to Madrid. I pulled an all-nighter the night before thinking I would sleep then whole plane ride. Mmm, not so much! I slept the way to Philly but just couldn’t manage to sleep more than 2 hours during the flight to Spain. I don’t know if it was the excitement, the paralyzing fear or the amazing assortment on free movies American Airlines offered. Well needless to say when I arrived in Madrid, they only thing I was looking forward to was siesta time. I have imagined myself walking off the plane for over a year now in the same outfit I saw Scarlett Johansson wearing in the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona. So, I run to the bathroom and throw on my distressed jeans, a simple button down cotton shirt, authentic Converse shoes and killer aviators, and I strut like no ones business down to security. I grab my luggage and go find Dani waiting for me in the other side.
Luckily, having gone through the whole traveling with large suitcases on public transportation last year, I knew what to expect. I brought 2 suitcases, a duffle carry-on and my laptop case as my personal item. It was the same amount as I brought the last time, however I didn’t have a strapping young Spaniard to help my carry everything. Plus I’ll be here for much longer than I was before. So if you’re considering living or traveling abroad for an extensive amount of time, picture what you can carry up and down subway stairs and lug around the streets by yourself. Though Europe has amazing and inexpensive transportation, most haven’t discovered the beauty of elevators or even escalators.
Dani and I spent the rest of the day chatting it up and siesta-ing in his car while waiting in a local village for his sister Ana to get done with work so we could all drive back to Toledo. It was a relatively simple day; no parades or angels singing from the heavens like I had imagined it. But it was probably just the jet-lag. I slept the majority of the day and the next trying to my Spanish legs back under me. Dani and his roommates graciously agreed to put me up for a few days while I looked at apartments. Well a few days turned into a week. Not by my choice but by waiting for a stubborn landlord who couldn’t make himself available for me to sign the lease. I’ll go into apartment hunting in more detail in another blog.
The job hunt has been difficult in some aspects and easier in others. I figured until I found a position at an actual school or academy, I would private tutor in my apartment or in the student’s homes. I made up some cartels (flyers) in Spanish before I left the U.S. and posted about 20 of them in a certain part of town. I created a special email address just for tutoring. It’s a better idea than your personal email so you can keep your work separate, seem more professional and not give out too much personal info to the public. I purposely didn’t add a cell number to the flyers for 2 reasons: I didn’t have a cell until I got to Toledo and I was scared of people calling me because my Spanish isn’t what it used to be. However, after a week, I have yet to receive an email. After discussing my concerns to Dani, he told me it was because there was no cell number. The only people that have emails or even use computers are students or business professionals. A housewife looking for an English tutor for her 10 year old son isn’t going to go through the hassle of finding a computer and creating an email just to contact a tutor. I had to get over my fears of speaking Spanish. I do know enough to get by. So after I got my Spanish cell phone, I manually wrote my number on every flyer. Hopefully after I put up more flyers this weekend, I’ll get some calls for private English lessons. This part I expected to be the easy but it turned out to be the opposite. Dani and I went to Madrid on Monday so I could bring my CV (resume) to some English academies. I handed out 4, a relatively small amount but managed to get 1 interview on the spot and a call back for an interview next week. Amazing. I’ll go into more of job hunting and doing interviews in another blog as well.
After a full week here, I’ve already had plenty of ups and downs. Lots of “I may not be able to make it” thoughts but even more “Yes, this is where I’m meant to be” moments. So after my first week, I’m starting to feel at home already. I moved into my first real apartment which is incredible and, as a little sneak peak into a future blog, I already have a teaching position starting on Monday. To end this blog, I’d like to thank Dani and his roommates for giving up so much this past week to accommodate me. Especially Dani: giving up his bedroom, risking the flu, and parting with hours and hours of studying time to help me start my life in Spain. I owe you more than you can imagine Papi!
“The key to happiness is having dreams… the key to success is making dreams come true.”
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