Mi primero dia

So...it is now Tuesday night...eeerrr...Wednesday morning and I have been through two days of classes. I was placed in the afternoon classes from 3 until 7 which is just as well seeing I haven't really been going to bed before 1am. Don't worry mom...that's pretty normal for Spain. The first day I was hit hard with the grammer and I've had a headache ever since, but today was easier, and I think tomorrow will be better yet. I think I've learned a lot more these last three weeks then I've been giving myself credit for, even though I hadn't started classes. Some things stream out of my mouth that I didn't even know I knew. My vocabulary has grown ten fold! It's amazing! The class sizes are really small too...only 8 or less people per class.

Matt and I have settled into our piso. Matt's best mate came over for a couple of days to visit and is leaving tomorrow morning. He filled himself up with tapas and cerveza and his suitcase with tabacco and whiskey, since it's so much cheaper in Spain. His mom sent over some bed sheets, a douvet, and some material for curtains, so we wouldn't have to buy anything. She's great! Other then that...all is well.

Things are also looking up on the job front, but I don't want to chat about it and jinx it. As it has seemed these last couple weeks, things will start looking up and then we've been spoon fed a load of poo. So I just hope we have better luck in these weeks to come, or else we may be prematurely reaturning to Britain to work for a couple of weeks. Earning the pound would be nice, but I love Spain and Granada is an amazing city, so leaving early is not an option as far as I'm concerned. Hope the sun is shining in Tahoe. I saw some people on bikes today and thought about how nice it would be to ride around the lake on mine. No complaints though...I'm in heaven as far as I'm concerned.

It's been about 75 degrees fariehiet the last couple of days and cools off nicely in the evenings with a breeze from the mountains. We walked up to the Alhambra just as the sun was setting this evening and then strolled down to one of our favorite tapas bars for a quick tapa and cerveza. We then spent the rest of the evening in a hooka bar in the arab quarter of the city. We returned home around a 11:45 Matt cooked diner and now we're just chilling out. We were considering going back out, but I'm falling asleep over my computer...and Matt closely resembles a zombie watching the TV. On that note...I'm signing off. Hope all is well state side. Hugs and kisses!

Contact Details!!!!!!!!!

My address:

C/ Recogidas, nº12, 3º Izq.
Granada 18002
España

My mobile number:
country code: 34 N. Tel: 697748303

And remember...if you´re going to call I am 9 hours ahead...so no excuses for phone calls in the middle of the night!

Got to get back to class. I´ll let you know how my first day is going later! ¡Adios!

¡Hola!

Alright...I think we´re sorted. We´ve found a place to live directly in the center of town. We´re sharing a flat with and Italian girl, another Brit, and a Swede. It should be fun! We are moving in this afternoon. Matt also has a very good prospect at a resturant as an assitant chef. It´s exactly what he wanted to be doing, and it pays well. He had to go in Monday to turn in some paperwork and get a uniform. I think he´s most excited about actually getting to get his chef´s jacket dirty!

I´ll have internet on Monday from my own computer, so I´ll write more then. Until then...hugs and kisses!

PS. Feel free to post comments...it actually makes me feel someone is reading! I have an email address too!

When it rains it pours…and it’s ducking fumping

So Matt has a couple of more job prospect up his sleeve and he practiced making his paella last night (it was the best he’s ever made) and I’ve met a lot more Americans who are leaving within the next week that have led me onto some more prospects for work, so seemingly all is well. I even ran into a friend from Cal…yes Cal! I haven’t been there in over a year, but she still recognized me! I was walking up the street from the grocery store when all I heard was, “Katie…Asselin?!?” Low and behold it was Jen Jamal from Rally Comm who is just finishing up her semester here. That was two days ago, which was an amazing day. The guy at the internet place gave us change for a 20 when all we gave him was a ten and Matt got sixty euros from his two day scheme at the restaurant. But it seems that with one good day, when everything seemed to be going our way, job wise and house wise (only a couple more days before we move in) some heavenly being seems to waltz up and shit on our doorstep and piss all over our parade.

Yesterday evening is when it was handed to us. The guy we were renting the room from (which we’re suppose to move in tomorrow) called Matt up and said we couldn’t move in, no excuses, just “lo siento mucho.” Even though he doesn’t speak English he should be glad he didn’t hear it from me because everyone knows the first thing you learn of a foreign language is all the swear words. We then heard from the Italian guy who we were suppose to share the flat with who claimed that he decided to stay in Granada this summer with his girlfriend and that they wanted the whole place to themselves. Now as reasonable as this seems…I think it’s a wheelbarrow full of cow caca because as Matt and I were perusing about town looking for work I kept seeing flyers pop up for the room we were suppose to rent. We did confront him about this and he claimed they were just old flyers, but with the booming downpour of a thunderstorm we had had the night previous, I was sure everything had been washed away.

Anyways, Matt and I proceeded to enjoy our dinner with Jen from Cal and her friend Shannon and then hunt about for some more places to inhabit. We’ve had more luck then two weeks ago, but still it was depressing and dull. We’ve called a couple of places and have a line up to look at today, all of which have been very promising and we’re sure we’ll have something sorted tonight. If not it’s back to looking and possibly staying where we are for another three weeks.

Other than that, Matt has a job interview tomorrow and I’m going out tonight to looking into this prospective “PR” position. Basically handing out flyers to passer-byers, so all those years of handing out flyers on Sproul Plaza won’t go to waste after all! I’ll check in tomorrow-hopefully with an address so you guys can send me my American comforts like mac n cheese and milano cookies. **hint, hint** Love you all and chat soon. Hugs!!!

It´s Spian, but it´s cold out!

Today it´s raining and it´s blustery and cold and matching Matt and mine´s mood for the most part. Matt is still job searching, as the job in the resturant didn´t work out because it (the buisness) was quite sketch and didn´t pay too well for a 10+ hour day. We have gotten a hot lead on a language school looking for english teachers which we are trying to follow up on, resumes, cover letters, and all sorts in hand.

We will move into our apartment on Friday, so maybe finally settling in will make us feel better. I then start classes on Monday, which will keep me for being so board, I´m sure. I have about 5 hours or more of class a day.

Other then that we´re just sitting tight and hoping for something to come through on the job search. I´ll write more soon, but don´t want to pay for more internet. Love you all!!

Today in Spain...

Alright....so here´s the deal....I had a really cool blog for today, but the usb port in my computer in no se functiona at the internet cafe, and there is a creepy morocan guy checking me out, so I just want to leave. The blog for today shall be posted tomorrow. Love you all. Adios.

Alright...here´s the real deal:
Now that Matt and I have found a place to live…the job hunt continues. Matt, as expected, is having a lot more lucky than me. As it is he speaks fluent spanish, and I…well…don’t. Basically…he’s handed out 25 resumes and yesterday got a call from two restaurants, and today…he’s working at one and tomorrow he has a “try out” at another. This whole Spanish job thing seems a lot more lax than in the States. You just hand in your resume (usually they ask for your picture, which I thought was weird until I started to notice there are some of Spanish people who look like the dregs of the earth, and all of them seem to have a scruffy dog or two in tow) and then you wait and see. No applications to fill out, no formal interviews, they just call you to work for a day and see how you do. Welcome to Spain I suppose.

As for me, I’m finding hard to go into restaurant and hand in resumes (even though I have drawn one up in spanish thanks to my handy dandy dictionarrio and 501 verbs book!) because I know if they turn around and ask me something in spanish I now I probably won’t understand and will stand there in that owe so embarrassing “no comperndo” silence. However…all hope is not lost. I have a couple of hot leads on some language schools looking for teachers of English who are native speakers…no TEFL required! I also saw this tour guide thingy for Erasmus students in Granada. It says “seeking students of all nationalities” so hopefully that means they won’t ask me for papers.

As the work hunt is slow, I have to admit…I’m a bit board. I suppose I could go out and do something, but that almost always involves spending money, which doesn’t fit into my budget. So, seeing as I didn’t have Matt to entertain, today was laundry day! I went down to the store to buy detergent and realized once I got there that I had no frickin’ idea what “laundry detergent” was in Spanish. Hmmmm….so I proceeded down the aisle with all the cleaning stuff…good plan, I thought. Then, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a bottle with clothes on it and the word “ropa” which coincidently in Spanish…wait for it…wait for it…means…clothes! Now then there was the task of tackling which bottle to buy as there were a lot of different ones. Being my mothers daughter, I immediately thought 3 euros was too much, and targeted the cheapest bottle, at 1,25 euros I thought that wasn’t bad, my only concern was that it didn’t say “ropa” or have any clothes on the front of the bottle, but I convinced myself that was because it was the “generic” brand.

Now armed with my bottle of Spanish detergents, I headed home to tackle Matt’s stinky socks and my dirty t-shirts. Upon getting home I first thought I should let some stain soak in this stuff before I was them, as I was again too cheap to buy stain remover. When I poured the pink goo over the stain…the strangest thing happened...some kind of chemical reaction. It was like the detergent knew there was something there that shouldn’t be and started foaming at the mouth. I thought…wow this stuff sure does the job. It was only after I had rubbed it into all the various stains that I begun to realize the skin was pealing off my fingers. It didn’t hurt or anything, I think I just reacted to the oils on my hands or something and just burnt the very top layer of my skin. Well...never mind…I thought. Off to do the laundry upstairs.

The next task was tackling the washer, because…everything was in Spanish. (Quelle surprise!) Well I figures out what colors and whites where and just set it to the normal setting and then tried pushing and pulling at the knob…and nothing. I then tried pushing all the random buttons that seemingly meant nothing to me, but I thought they may at least mean something to my laundry. At one point I was so frustrated and ready to admit I was a stupid American and ask for help when I just pushed in a button, and didn’t bother to push it back out again. After a couple of seconds it started. Typical…I thought…everything in Spain is a bit delayed.

About 40 minutes later it was done, so I tried opening the door. I didn’t open. Alright…so I tried pushing more random buttons and turning the knob, etc. etc. and nothing happened expect I started a new wash cycle. I quickly turned the dial to “stop” (still trying to figure out why that was the only thing in English…oh yeah…for people like me!) and sat there in a stupor. After a while, I tried the door again. Low and behold…it opened! I then realized the button I pushed to start it what the on/off button, so I just had to push it to off and then wait an absurd amount of time before it would let me open the door. Again…welcome to Spain, where everything will get done manana.

After doing a couple more loads and waiting for it to cool down a bit outside (it was at least 100 degreed Fahrenheit today, I swear) I decided to walk up to the Alhambra again (Matt and I walked up there a couple days ago) and take some photos. After speed walking up the steep path (which made me fill really fit) I was feeling rather uninspired by the loads of people still milling about. I got a good photo of the Sierra Nevada, but that was about it. I thought that time of day would be gorgeous, but nothing was right – the angle of the sun was even annoying me. Maybe it is more spectacular if I would actually buy a ticket to go into the sights, which I plan on doing, just not today.

I then walked back here and now am sitting on the terrace drinking a bottle of red wine to myself and enjoying the evening. It’s already 8:30 and the sun just started to peak behind the horizon. If you’ve gotten to this point, I thank you for reading all the way through my laundry adventure. Talk to you all soon. Lots of love, hugs and kisses!

Searching for a place to live...part of the "experience"

After three days in Granada, my feet are sore, I’ve treked over every inch of this city and Matt and I have finally found a place to live. It all started on Thursday, they day after we arrived in Granada when we proceeded to walk around the area surrounding the Universidad de Granada, planning on pulling little pieces of paper off flyers posted on phone boxes, kiosks and other places where things may be posted. As easy as we thought this may be, especially considering the university is just about to end for the term, we ended up with five little pieces of paper and one prospect.

Later as we were killing time before going to see this apartment, I stopped by the school in which I will be taking my spanish classes. It’s an intensive language school called Don Qujote and is geared towards teaching foreigners spanish. They were just about shut for the day, but there was one professora still there who was happy to answer our questions. All I wanted to know was when to show up for my first class, but Matt begun to grill here on everything from where to live, what to pay, and any job prospects. It was already 7:30 in the evening and she finally turned around and said, “Sorry, but you’ll have to excuse me because I really want to get home.” She managed to be a great resource for information telling us that the piso (apartment in spanish) we were looking at was way over priced.

After that we walked back to the piso, stopping for a cerveza and tapa on the way, and met the lady. She had such a thick andalucian accent that I swear she spit in my face no less than two or three times and Matt had a hard time understanding her. After she told us that in September the rent would be increased to 195 euros a month plus 45 for gastos (bills), we tuned out on the conversation. During our home hunt, as much that goes over my head when speaking to people, I’ve gotten very good at my numbers and prices and such…I’m not thick. After the whole conversation…the lady turned to me and asked me something, but I just wasn’t paying attention. She then asked me (in english) if I understood her and that she could speak english if I wanted, but again her accent was so thick I thought se was still speaking spanish.

After that we retired for the day accepting the fact that we were at square one but with an enlightened insight into the housing market in Granada.

The next day we got and early start and covered all the areas we had not looked (which was well over half the city.) Again the flyers were few especially considering someone had decided to clean all the phone boxes off overnight! After walking around for a good six hours with a brief siesta con cerveza y tapa, we were about to go back to the hostel when I spoted a small handwritten flyer on a rather barren telephone box in the Plaza Neuva. We ran to the closest locotorio (aka Moraccan phone house or a shop with a bunch of janky phone booths -- sometimes computers and souvenirs too -- so immigrants can call home for cheap) and rang the number. The girl gave us directions and told us to come by anytime before six. It was out of the town center, but it seemed a steal of a deal...only 100 euros a month all inclusive, and we’d be sharing the place with two girls and a guy.

Apon arrival in this little suburb, it seemed quaint enough and was a short enough bus ride from the town center. We found the street no problem after asking a police man who threw in a free map and when we walked up and knock on the door, there was no answer. Thinking this was funny, because the girl had told us to stop by anytime and not wanting to waist the bus fare we decided to grab another cerveza y tapa and try again in a bit. After sticking out like sore thumbs in the bar, we strolled back and knocked again…still no answer. After a couple more knocks and peering into the living room trying to see what the place may have to offer we were just turing around to go home when we saw this girl in the distance running down the street in a frenzy, hair flying, loosing a shoes in the process and seemingly shouting at us. “Sorry,” she said, “I was just down at a friends house dancing.” Alright, I thought, whatever that’s an euphemism for in Spain, not sure I’d like to know. As she was still trying to catch her breath she showed us in and the first thought was the living room was nice, two couches and a guitar, not bad. And then into the kitchen; a little small and well loved, but doable. We then sat down at the table and she offered us a drink, coffee or tea. Being the good guy Matt in and sensing I didn’t want to stay there any longer then we had to he politely said that we had to go look at another piso after this, so thanks, but no thanks. She then continued the “tour” out onto the “patio.” Once outside I realized that this patio seemed to be somewhat of a room whose outside wall had seemingly been knocked down to give the appearance of a patio. RIGHT…I’m thinking. Then it was up the stairs to the room. Top of stairs were dark and there was a mattress on the floor with a curtain. “This is it,” the chica loca said. I’m so proud of the way Matt kept a straight face because I know he was thinking exactly what I was…you must be taking the fucking piss. (sorry mom…it was just the best way to put it.) Proximo, el baño. It consisted of a sink and two taps for the shower, whose head protruded out of the ceiling and….drum roll please…no door. As it was there was no toilet, but there had been one down stairs…this girl was crazy, but not crazy enough to have an outhouse. Next it was back downstairs to the place where we could study, which was the very front room/entryway with consisted of a small table, two bikes, and a fireplace full of trash. Right…like I’m going to leave my laptop here in front of your open window. God, you are thick! I knew Matt was about to go off the deep end, but he managed to keep a straight face just long enough to say we’ll call you tomorrow and let you know. We weren’t even around the corner before we looked at each other and burst out laughing. We came down to the conclusion that I guess you get what you pay for and that it was totally worth the .95 cents on the bus, just to see the place for the comedic value.

Once back in town, we debated whether to buy a four euro bottle of whiskey and coke and get blitzed or just go out for tapas at 1,50 euros and get dinner for free. They way it works: the beer is 1,50 and then they give you the tapas. We chose option B. The next morning we woke up totally disheartened because we were back at square one again. After looking for any new flyers, we decided to go to the internet café and check out loquo.es, Spain’s version of craigslist! Matt walked in sulking with his head down, but I was checking out if there were any flyers on the door. Sure enough, there was a number for a room in an apartment at 200 euros a month, so we quickly called and the guys said it was big enough for two people and that we could come by at 6 that evening. We killed the day calling more numbers and setting up another place to look at and finding a place to sleep as the hostel was all booked. After this we strolled down to the place which lays in the shadow of an old church where a wedding was going on. The plaza was littered with rose petals and children chasing each other about and giggling. The piso had great character with walls the same color as the church and artwork in every corner. The guy was super nice and said it would be his room we’d be renting and that he lived with an Italian guys who was never there because he works. It was perfect and we told him we were almost sure we’d like to take it we just had one more place to look at.

We hike up the hill leading out of town because that is where the other place was. It was super nice with a huge patio and marble floors, but just too expensive and out of the way. On the way back we call the first guy and told us we’d take the place, so now we just have to find a place to stay for ten more days and it’s ours on the 25th of May.

Today being Sunday, Spain is sleepy with only a few tapas bars and souvenir shops open. Matt is dropping his resume off and I’m working on find work tutoring english. Off to our favorite tapas bar for some chill time. ¡Hasta lugeo!

En Granada

Matt and I are in Granada. It is hot! But being a bit higher up in the mountains it cools off at night. The Sierra Nevadas are beautiful! They just jet up out of no where and are capped in snow, even when it is 100 degrees down here. Matt and I may have found a place to live today (record time, it only took us today!) We are going to see the place tonight, so we will see. As well...Grada is the home of tapas, so even though it can be pricy other places in Spain, here you order a beer for 1,50 euros you get a plate of tapas gratis! And the portions are huge! Alright...don know what else to write, but I will write more when I feel like. Adios!

I'm not just in me knickers!

Our bags arrived today around 4:30 this afternoon. Matt's mum soon dived in and started doing his laundry. Nothing too exciting today except I don't feel like a walking zombie. At Charlie's again and about to go meet up with Matt's parents who are out at the club. Talk to you all soon!

Same story...different day....

Arrived fine in the UK. As per usual my bag was lost in London...and if you all recall, this happened last year! I swear I'm black listed on the baggage handlers' list.

Got through customs and immigration in about 45 minutes and had three hours before our flight. Matt proceeded to sleep on the chair, but kept knocking his stinky feet against my head so I sat up and before I could readjust some one sat down next to me, so no sleepy time for Katie. Got on plane and was delayed because there was a helicopter emergency on the runway. Sleep for twenty minutes on tarmac and took off. We were still climbing above London when the crew of six threw sandwiches at us. I hadn't even gotten the plastic off when we started to descend into Manchester and the threw a glass of water at me and hovered giving me a look of hurry up and eat becasue I have to collect your rubbish. The captain then informed us that due to security reasons beyond his control some of our bags had been left in London, but he reassured us that they were already on the plane behind us and would be delivered to our house.

Twenty four hours later I'm still in the same dirty jeans that I spilled a double jack and coke on during the flight from SFO. I went to ask for another, but the trolley dolly kindly informed me that we had drank them all. Called Brithish Airways and they still have no idea where our bags are but they said anything I have to buy they'll reimburse me. Lucky me! So I went to Wigans new mall the Grand Arcade today and did a bit of shopping. Might go again tomorrow and pick up some jeans and a dress for that "nice dinner I have to go to." ;)

Anyways, with Charlie now haveing a beer but still seriously jet lagged. Hugs and kisses, talk to you all soon.

Less than 24 hours!

Alright...there's no turning back! Well...I suppose there is always a point to turn back, but I'm not going to!

At this time tomorrow I'll be roaring down the runway at SFO on my way to London Heathrow, then a short one hour flight up to Manchester, five days there, then to Spain on May 8th.

Now there seems to be a common misconception that all I am doing in Spain is working, but I am actually going there to learn Spanish. I am going to class and am getting credit through that great little school in the mountains known as LTCC.

As well, I will also be doing a bit of traveling. In June I will be heading back to the motherland of Great Britain and will be attending a festive weekend full of camping, fermented beverages, green colored tabacco, and of course music at the Glastonbury Festival. It promises to be a great time.

I will then be heading back to Spain for more classes and fun taking a couple of weeks off in between when my mom (and anyone else who wants) comes and visits, etc.

As of October 5th I'll be done with my classes and traveling for a couple of weeks (maybe Eygpt or Greece again?! I'm open to suggestions). Then back to that island between two seas so Matt can get his work visa for the winter. November 14th I shall be back state side.

That's it in a nutshell. I'm sure we'll chat again soon! Adios!