Colegio San Miguel Arcangel

Today I made it to my school in Moralzarzal. It was easy to get on the metro and make it to Moralzarzal. It took a lot less time than I was anticipating it would take a lot longer than half an hour to get from Madrid capital to Moralzarzal.



The little red spot is Moralzarzal and the large spot in the middle is Madrid Capital. Getting to Moralzarzal was easy finding the school took me around an hour. Most of the people I asked gave me directions to the incorrect colegio or they didn't really know where it was they kept telling me to go down the hill to the right and it would be around the cemetery. After a lot of walking downhill and to the right I finally made it to the school and met the administrators. They are all really nice and friendly. They were impressed that I could speak Spanish and could understand it fairly well. They kept saying that it was because I was from California (with all those Mexicans).

I met with some of the English teachers and what I found odd was that some of the teachers did not speak English that well. The kids only have class until 1 with the teachers and then they have lunch and then they work with people whoa are monitors instead of teachers. I'm not really sure what that means...I will be working with the 3rd and the 4th grade English classes and maybe get to do the PE classes which are also in English because I am 'sportive'. The rest of my schedule has yet to be set but I don't need to go back until Oct. 1.

In terms of living options, I have decided to live in Madrid Captital because the commute is not as bad as I thought it would be especially if I get a place that is close to the bus station. I'm now working on the room search now and trying to get over the anxiety of calling people and starting off my real world experience in Spanish.

¡Bienvenidos!

Today-Sept. 23 at around 2.30 Spain time, I arrived the Barajas Airport. Yay me for getting there all by myself with no major hiccups. Considering all it the stuff people have to go through to enter the US, you can basically just stroll right through Customs in Spain. No declaring of anything, no stamping of the pass port. nada. At least I have my visa. It must serve some other purpose than to let me into the country.

The flight over was pretty uneventful. Luftansa economy class is very cramped. When you move the seat back backwards, it also scoots the front of the chair forwards so that your legs are closer to the seat in front of you...which is also closer to you because the person sitting in front of you has decided to lean their seat all the way back. I was basically in a corner because I got a window seat. Being in the corner did allow me to see the stars up close and personal (the Giant Dipper) and to watch the sun rise over the clouds.

I watched 2 out of the three movies they showed, Made of Honor and Prince Caspian. Did not watch Drillbit Taylor in its entirety because I was working very hard and not succeeding at falling asleep.

I had a change of planes in Frankfurt which would have been interesting if I had more time between flights. As it happened I needed all the time I could get to go through a passport check and the go through security again.

I slept on the entire flight from Frankfurt to Madrid. I took a taxi to my friend's apartment and it all went very smoothy.

As soon as the siesta hour was over I went to get a new phone from vodafone and then waited out the day. I made it all the way until 11 and then I passed out and it was glorious.