Top Signs You Know You’re Back in Spain:
1 You have to start watching the sidewalks where you step lest you land in a small pile of dog crap (they’re always small little poops, never big ones, I guess that’s the silver lining)
2. You feel your personal space being invaded in the supermarket
3. Your feet are being stared at again (mostly when you’re wearing flip flops)
4. Teenagers are heavily making out on the metro… and on the street … and in the stores
So yeah, I’m back in Spain. I arrived in Madrid on Tuesday and luckily all my luggage arrived on time, too. I stayed there for two nights, met up with a few friends and got a new Spanish SIM card for my phone. On Thursday afternoon I took the train to the town I’m placed in this year, Villarrobledo.
In contrast to last time when I arrived in Huelva in rainy weather and explored the town on a Sunday when everything was closed, I picked a good time to arrive in Villarrobledo. Firstly because I walked from the train station to my hotel during siesta time so I didn’t look like a total fool carting my suitcases through the streets. Secondly because when I did emerge from the hotel a little later that day the town was alive and looking cute.
my room in the Hotel Juan Carlos
I stayed one night in a cool little hotel on the main square in town. There was a patio on my floor that overlooked the plaza so I could see everyone outside at the cafes enjoying their cafes con leche and the little kids kicking the soccer ball around. When I left the hotel that evening all the stores were open and the streets were full of people. For some reason I was expecting this place to be a tiny town without much, but so far it’s exceeded my expectations.
That night I met up with two of the other American language assistants who will be here this year and an American woman who is married to a guy from here and owns an English school in town. She is super nice and took us to one of their favorite places to eat and ordered some of their typical dishes. We ate boquerones (small fish similar to anchovies), sepia (squid), queso frito (fried cheese—sooo delicious), langostino (translates to lobster but this dish is actually fried potato slices), and lomo asado (grilled pork). Todo estaba muy rico = everything was so delicious!
Friday I visited the school where I’ll be teaching. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I actually start teaching. All I will say so far is that the teachers were all very friendly and I had to give “dos besos” (two kisses, the typical Spanish greeting, instead of a handshake) to a room full of 25 people or so. Awesome. But hey, I suppose that’s better than a room full of 25 people who don’t want to give you dos besos.
San Blas church in the main plaza of town
That same day I also met Lauren and Matt, more Americans who are living here this year. They are so kind as to let me crash with them until I find a place to live. They were moving here together so they had already found a place before coming and it has an extra bedroom so they are super nice and are my saviors so that I don’t have to stay in a hotel this whole time while I’m looking for a place.
We were told this was a small town and everyone knows everyone, and I’ve already started to learn that just two days in. On Saturday morning Jessica (the one who owns the language school) brought us some muffins from a popular bakery that she goes to every Saturday morning. That afternoon we (we being Lauren, Matt, and I) met a guy on the street who heard us speaking English. Turns out he is British and knows the director of my school and Jessica and he even knew that she had brought us muffins that morning. Hahha aww this is going to be a fun year.
More to come soon and hopefully from my own place…
(In case you didn’t notice the painting says “I Love You” in English. ha!)
