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~
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~
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