Ok so I made it and I am still alive. I am actually writing this on word as my flat seems to have a pretty shitty internet situation going on, and the story couldn’t be any more Spanish. According to my flatmate (who I’ll talk more about later) there’s wireless but it doesn’t really work, on the opposite side of the flat from my room you can sometimes pick up the library’s free wifi, otherwise shes not really sure…. And my response was to be even more typically Spanish… I’ll try and get it to work tomorrow (mañana mañana)… if it doesn’t work then in the words of a certain yorkshireman I’m going to suicidarme.
Anyway back to Spain. I’ll start where it all began…. Madrid. After an early start down in Luton thanks to the striking Spaniards and stupid EasyJet (I’ll rant about this some other time) myself and two others from Leeds (coincidently both from Merseyside and both also going to Aragon) made it to our hotel after a pretty amusing metro trek. We managed to make it all the way to our tube stop avoiding stairs, using escalators and being pointed in the direction of lifts by kind Spaniards whilst we stared at flights of stairs wondering how we would get our bags down. Then we came to our stop and there wasn’t a lift out of the station in sight, so we took shifts to watch and carry bags up before (almost getting lost first) finding our hotel. First stop was find Phil. I left my stuff in my room which I was sharing with Faye, the other girl from Leeds, and headed to Puerta del Sol where I was reunited with Phil for a cheeky Tapas lunch… OTG. I then headed back to the hotel to be reunited with Nicky and we caught up before the British Council Meeting.
Funniest moment in Madrid so far – the two weirdos the british council picked to talk to us about their year in Spain (cue uncontrollable laughter) Particular highlights included:
Guy number 1 – laughing about his friend getting jumped, telling us to go to a pharmacy, generally mumbling and not making any sense.
Guy number 2 – high pitched Middlesbrough accent and Middlesbrough shirt, laughing about having suspected appendicitis (which I have had and believe me it ain’t funny) and his powerpoint with Sting playing in the background.
The meeting was followed by dinner (where I happened to be sat on the same table as the assistant from Jorge Manrique in Palencia – location of the worlds greatest Spanish exchange 2006) and then an early night.
The training on Friday was long, boring and really doesn’t need to be spoken about. A few of us went out for a wander afterwards before the final lot of free food and then a night on the town in Madrid with Phil and his friends- definite highlight… Moji-toes, rum and giant cocks but surprisingly no tequila led to a great night and it was lovely to spend time with Phil and crack out the Slappers jokes once again. Low point was the DJ having no Gaga songs.
Got to sleep around 3 and was up at 7 for the next part of the adventure, that’s the reason its now ten to ten and I am about to go to bed (despite the fact I think my flatmate may still be eating dinner!) So I made it onto the AVE at Atocha, waited around for an hour in Zaragoza station and then made my way to Huesca. When I arrived I was met by Nieves – my mentor teacher from IES Sierra de Guara – where I will be working for the next 8 months. She picked me up in her car and took me and my things to my flat. On the way pointing out school which is a two minute walk from where I am living. That will make rolling out of bed for 8am classes so much easier! She took me up to my flat where I met one of my flatmates (I have to admit I can’t actually remember her name… I think its Olvido which actually translates to I forget… so it could well be that!) Nieves and I briefly chatted about the school, apparently I will be working 4 days a week with Mondays off, she mentioned something about years 11 and 12 and also that I have to pretend to the pupils that I can’t speak any Spanish at all! I’m meeting her on Monday to see the school and do some stuff like NIE, bank account etc.
After she left I got better acquainted with my flatmate. I have two flatmates but the other is yet to move in. They are both teachers at the school next door to mine although I am told mine is the better school. Anyway Olvido as I think shes called is from Leon and has to be at least 10 years older than me, however she has been great so far. She’s been living on her own in the flat for a month and only just moved to Huesca… so I am her new best friend who has saved her from nights in with Telepizza and a film. To start with she showed me the flat… I think she may be a bit OCD as there is loads of cleaning stuff around and everything seems to have its place (shes gunna love me!) and she also suggested sorting out a cleaning rota…. Great. She told me about our other flatmate Vanessa (much easier name) whos from Zaragoza who apparently has her tongue and eyebrow pierced, her hair is long but shaved on top and she has wood through her ear (although I could have completely misunderstood all of this and may be mistaken… she speaks very fast and I just keep nodding and saying si and ah vale) She also asked would I like to cook all together with everyone or alone… went for alone, not to be antisocial but I wouldn’t like to inflict my cooking on any poor unsuspecting foreigner, and after having done everything for myself in Germany I’m not sure how well I would do… plus the Spanish eat too much fish/weird stuff, and the whole loads at lunch at 3pm and small dinner at 10pm ain’t happening anytime soon!
Anyway so after the grand tour she took me to the supermarket and I bought some food and then we went back and made our lunches and sat and ate together which was nice. Although I am not sure she realises that I don’t actually understand her most of the time! After lunch we went for a walk into town (less than 10 minutes walk) and its nothing special at all, maybe like 4 decent shops, loads of banks, a few cafes and a telepizza (my new answer to the doner man), it was pretty with loads of old buildings, but the lack of life didn’t fill me with much confidence.
After that we went and met with her friend who she had worked with a few years ago and who lives near Huesca and her friends husband (Sophie and David, probably spelt differently and said with a more Spanish accent) and we went for coffee with them. They were nice but the speed of conversation was so hard to keep up with. Because my flatmate is also new here she doesn’t really know it, but they knew it really well so they took us for a drive round and showed us everything! This made me realise it was a bit bigger than I first thought and now I am less worried. Spotted Dubliners Irish Bar (Limericks the 2nd!) and I pretty much plan on spending the rest of the year there. Then we came back and here I am…. Ready to sleep off the lack of sleep the last few days brought.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring a better internet situation, as that will improve life so much!
Siobhan
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