I just got back from a salsa club here in Murcia called Bora Bora and it was amazing!!! I don’t know if it was just because I was craving a dance, but the dances I had tonight were some of the best I’ve had in a long time. Wow, I can’t even find the words to express how happy I was tonight. It’s amazing that I am halfway around the world and I can still find people who express themselves in the same way. I love that about dance and especially about salsa. It’s worldwide and even though we may not be able to communicate with words, we can definitely communicate with our feet. This was by far the best night I’ve had in Spain so far. I’m off to dream about my next dance!

Thanks for reading!

~Arisha~

On Monday I received a Facebook message from Julie inviting a group of Auxiliares to the beach. We decided we were going to try La Manga. After talking to my roommates I decided I would just take a bus to Murcia and then a connecting bus to La Manga. I was told that it would be really easy and that I shouldn’t have any problems getting to the beach. I planned to take a bus at nine the next morning, in case I ran into any speed bumps along the way. Here’s an itinerary of my beach adventure:

8:45- Walk the two minute distance to the bus stop, leaving plenty of time to buy my ticket and get comfortable on the bus.

8:47- Arrive at bus station only to see that it is closed. Upon further perusal, I see that due to the holiday (Columbus Day comes a little later over here) I have to pay for my bus ticket in cash. Ok, no big deal, I sit on a bench and read while I wait for the bus.

9:08- Start to wonder why the bus station is still dead and walk back to the door where a few papers are posted. Read a sign that says buses don’t start running until 10:00 on holidays. Ok, also no big deal. This gives me time to go back to my apartment, grab my iPod and eat some cereal.

9:40- Walk back to the bus station.

10:05-Board the bus

11:00- Arrive in Murcia. I find the bus line that goes to La Manga and ask the girl for a ticket. She shakes her head and tells me that the only bus that goes to La Manga leaves at 5:00. Awesome. It was at this point that I was starting to feel a little discouraged. But I figured I could walk around Murcia and get to know the city a bit.

As I started to walk away from the bus stop, I made sure I knew what street the station was on, in case I got a little lost. I started moving in one direction, but there didn’t really seem to be much on that side, so I tried the other direction; still not much to look at. I approached a taxi driver. I had seen an Ikea and other stores on the way out of Murcia on that first night with Toni and Pepe, so I figured I could spend some time over there. I asked the taxi driver how much it would cost to go to Ikea. He mumbled something in Spanish to the effect of “I don’t know” so I decided not to go with him. At this point I was frustrated and a little out of sorts. I sat down on a bench and thought about my options. I could just go back on the next bus to Jumilla, defeated. I could take a taxi to Ikea. That idea brought up a lot of doubts; what if I can’t get back to the station; what if the taxi driver takes advantage of me and charges me a ridiculous amount, etc. But I decided that I had come too far to just go back home so I decided to go with option two. I figured it would be good to buy my bus ticket first, just so I would have it. There was a piece of paper next to the ticket booth that appeared to be a schedule and it said that there was a bus to Jumilla at 3:00. I got back up to the booth and asked the girl for a ticket on the 3:00 bus. She gave me a look as if to say, “stupid foreigner” and told me that there was a bus at 1:30 or 6:30. Where was she getting this information from?!?  I couldn’t find a schedule anywhere!! Anyways, I didn’t want to stay in Murcia until 6:30 so I opted for the 1:30 ticket; which meant I didn’t feel that I had enough time for the Ikea trip. So I sat in the bus station from 11:30 to 1:30. And so, here we are, back on the couch in my apartment.

I was so mad at myself because I felt like fear got the best of me this time around. But at the same time, I was completely alone and Murcia is a lot bigger than Jumilla. I kept wishing that someone was with me to explore the town. So what I’ve learned from this little trip is that adventures are more fun with others. Even the most annoying problems don’t seem as bad when you have friends around (i.e. dragging heavy suitcases around the metro). Anyone up for a trip to Spain?

Thanks for reading!

~Arisha~

So as I’m typing this I’m sitting on what I hope will be my couch for the next eight months. Finding an apartment here in Jumilla has been more difficult than I thought it would be. I decided not to go with the guy; he was making me nervous with his impatience. So now I’m at the apartment with the two girls. I felt pretty good about my decision as I started moving in, BUT THEN (I know, what now?) I smelled cigarette smoke. Oh my gosh, no! I have lived with a lot of things. I’ve lived with cockroaches falling out of my cabinets, I’ve lived with dirty dishes in the sink for weeks, I’ve lived with suitemates who have strange smells coming from their rooms, but I CANNOT live with cigarette smoke.  Awesome, I had to start looking for yet another place to live. I felt bad calling Toni to complain about the smoke, but she was very understanding and immediately started looking for other pisos. Later the next day I gathered up my courage to talk to Ani. I walked into the kitchen and gave her the bad news. After I told Ani I couldn’t live with her because of the smoke she said, “Ok, I’ll stop smoking.”

Oh.

Well that was easy. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “How is she going to just stop smoking?” But Ani only started smoking a few months ago. She had mentioned that she wanted to stop smoking and so, I was her reason to stop. So we’re going to try it. Which means, I HAVE AN APARTMENT IN SPAIN!!! Whoo! I slept for eleven hours after I unpacked everything. I was super stressed out  haha.

Today I went to the grocery store and did pretty well, except I bought cabbage instead of lettuce. Don’t judge me, they look the same! I also went to a football game (soccer for you people from North America) and after the game was over, two other teams came out onto the court (it was indoor soccer). So I assumed another game was starting and I stayed to watch. While they were warming up they were using their hands a lot with the ball and the ball was a lot smaller than a soccer ball. But I’ve never seen a Spanish team warm up before so I assumed it was for practice. But then the goalie got into the goal to warm up. Instead of kicking the ball at the goalie, they threw it at him! And they were throwing really hard! It was then I realized that this was not football. No these men were playing Balon Mano. As I watched I started to see that this was a mixture between Basketball and Football (soccer). They bounce these little balls and throw them at the goal where the goalie has to block the shot. It was very interesting. Although fouls exist in this game, I couldn’t tell what a foul was because there was a lot of holding that appeared to be legal.  So I learned about a new sport today. And I did it all by myself! I’m such a big girl, haha.

For all of you who told me I was going to find my Spanish boyfriend here, you may be a little disappointed.  So far, I’ve been hit on by an old man and a group of middle school boys.  The boys were really funny. They thought I was French at first and then they guessed every country under the sun except for the United States. Guess my accent isn’t too bad.  Anyways so when they found out I was from the States they started asking me how to say all these different words and phrases in English.  One of them asked me to sing a song, so I sang happy birthday and they all thought I was a great singer. They were fun but a little young for me. So no boyfriend yet, sorry.

Right now I don’t have internet so I’m writing this on Saturday. Hopefully we’ll figure out the internet situation soon.

Thanks for reading!

~Arisha~

 So it’s day three in Jumilla and I am loving it here. Everyone is so friendly! I’ve already gotten invites to stay at people’s houses or to hang out. I already feel like I’m losing a little bit of my English and I’ve started thinking in Spanish. Que beuno. Ok so let’s talk about finding a piso (apartment). I am living in a town with 25,000 people. It’s not huge, but it’s not extremely small either. Many of the people here are pretty established and they aren’t looking for roommates. So I’ve seen two pisos so far. One is really nice and spacious and I would have my own bathroom, but I would have to live with a guy. And the other was smaller, I would have to share a bathroom with two girls and my room is next to the living room. So I had pretty much decided that I was just going to live with the guy. It’s a small town and I already know a lot of people that I could call if I needed help or anything like that. He works at one of the schools that I’m teaching at so I asked him today if I could see the apartment one more time before making my decision. He didn’t understand what else I needed to look at. Lol I just want to make sure it’s where I want to LIVE for the next EIGHT MONTHS. Sorry, but it’s kind of a big decision. So we came to an understanding that it was an American thing (although everyone else seemed to understand) and he said we could meet up tonight. Later I was buying my cell phone for local use and the girl who sold it to me asked if I needed a place to live. Oh my gosh, yes I do! So she told me she would talk to her roommates and see if they could show me the apartment soon. So I canceled with the guy and it seemed like he was mad (this is what I heard from Toni, the teacher who I’m living with and who has been helping me with everything. More on her later). So now I’m feeling pressure from him to make a decision, but it’s kind of a big deal and I want to see all of my options. Granted, Toni didn’t tell him the real reason why we canceled (I wanted to, but she thought he might get mad…lol that didn’t work out too well) so I kind of understand his frustration. But still, I just got here on Saturday, it’s now Monday. So I’m just praying about everything and if you are reading this, I would appreciate your prayers as well.

Ok on to more fun things! So on Saturday Toni and her husband, Pepe, picked me up from the bus station in Murcia. On the way to Murcia we passed a lot of small towns and we passed one that we though was Jumilla. It was literally about 20 buildings on the side of the highway. I was a little nervous at that point. But Jumilla is much farther back from the main highway, in between the mountains. It’s a beautiful little city and the perfect size for me. I can walk everywhere and feel safe and I already know a lot of people in the town. So Toni and Pepe picked me up and we went to the main street to see Toni’s mom and also to see the first apartment which was close by. When we got there, the road was blocked off because a few marching bands were about to start a parade. Everyone was joking saying that the parade was for me and welcome to Jumilla, haha. So we picked up Toni and Pepe’s kids, Clara and Jaime. Clara is eight and Jaime is four and they are the most adorable kids I’ve ever seen in my life. Jaime is a little troublemaker at times but all he has to do is smile and your heart starts to melt. THEY ARE BOTH SO CUTE!!

So after we looked at the apartment we went back to Toni and Pepe’s house and they gave me a room to stay in and a beautiful bathroom all to myself. I feel like they’ve adopted me. They feed me all of my meals and take me wherever I need to go. I have been truly blessed because a lot of the other cultural ambassadors are fending for themselves. I had a ready-made Spanish family! So things have been great. I tried octopus on Saturday. I will never eat it again; I gagged. Otherwise the food is pretty good. One of the teachers told me that a main dish here is rice mixed with rabbit and…wait for it….snail. Yes, I thought I could escape escargot but Spain is apparently the only other country that eats snail. Awesome. We’ll see if I try it. We’ll see….

Ok last thing. Today I started working at the schools. I only had two classes today. One of them was amazing. The teacher was really interactive with her kids, they sang songs and did a coloring sheet. It  was a lot of fun. In the other class, it was mass chaos. The whole time the teacher was trying to shush the kids and I think she spent more time doing that than teaching. In Spain, the kids talk the ENTIRE class period whether the teacher is talking or not. I’m not exaggerating, I don’t know how they learn anything because it doesn’t seem like they’re listening during the lessons. Anyways the teacher was shushing the kids and I was waiting for instructions when she says to me, “Can you go?” as in, can you start talking now? There were some pictures on the board with words underneath so I just repeated the words and said what I used each thing for. They are learning British English so it was funny using words like “school bag” and “rubber” (for an eraser). But I only have that class once a week so I’m hoping that the others are going to be more fun. Ok sorry for such a long post.

Thanks for reading!

~Arisha~

A few things I forgot to mention about the first night:

1. We added one more girl to our group on Wednesday night named Julie. So when we went to dinner we were like the Model Un or something. Together we represented Ireland, Liverpool, Chicago, Canada, and Atlanta. Yeah, we’re pretty awesome.

2. When we went out to dinner it was almost 10:00 pm and we didn’t start eating until probably 11:00 at night. And that was completely normal. When we left, it didn’t seem like the restaurant was even thinking about closing. Being the person who hates going to bed, I love that about Spain.

So the past two days have been spent at orientation here in Madrid. There are people from so many different countries here. There are representatives from China, Ireland, England, France, Austria, Australia, Canada and the States of course. It’s so cool to have conversations where there are so many different languages being used. I might have to start working on a new language after Spanish. We’ll see…

Tomorrow (I’m writing this on the 30th but I don’t have internet) we head for our regions, which means Murcia here I come! I’m so excited to get to my city and start working with the niños.  I’m going to be split between two schools so it’s going to be interesting. But heading for Murcia also means another dreaded trip in the Metro with all of my bags, third time since Tuesday. It’s definitely more fun when you have a group of people in the same situation as you; plus we got a lot of help the second time around. Hopefully we’ll find some more gentlemen to give us a hand. Next time, adventures in Murcia!

Thanks for reading!

~Arisha~