Hola, España

Today marks 2 weeks that I’ve been in Spain and I am already starting to feel well-adjusted to my new life. I also feel quite accomplished. In these two weeks I have successfully: settled into my new region, opened up a bank account, bought a telephone, moved into my apartment and I’ve started teaching and developing lesson plans at my school. I have even made a couple of acquaintances along the way. My first week in Spain was a little rocky; when I arrived, I did not know where I was going to live and how I was going to survive the first couple of weeks. It seems that a little determination, some help from people (Thanks mom) and a lot of faith in God can get you anywhere!

My first week in Spain went a little like this:



Don Quixote: Madrid

 My trip to Spain started off with a mandatory orientation in Madrid. Unfortunately though, because of bad weather in Atlanta which resulted in a delayed flight to Miami and a missed layover, I arrived to orientation a day late and missed registration day. Orientation was a great opportunity to meet other Fulbrighters and get a glimpse of what was in store for us. The workshops lasted for about 2 days and consisted of us getting lectures from members of the Fulbright committee in Spain and also a couple of members from the U.S. Embassy.  We also had a few sessions with the director from each of our regions about to what to expect in the classroom and how to develop good teaching strategies.

Orientation ended on Friday morning and mostly everyone went to their perspective regions.  Unlike everyone else, I decided to stay in Madrid for a few more days, partly because I wanted to open my bank account before I left and also because I really wanted to explore the beautiful city of Madrid before I went off to the country. And beautiful it was. There is something about big cities that I just love: there are tons of people everywhere you go, many different modes of transportation and an abundance of things to do. While in Madrid, I took a tour around the city, went to a museum, saw a movie at the theater and went bar-hopping with some other travelers that I met. I really enjoyed my time spent there and I will definitely go back a couple of times before I go back to the states.



Plaza Mayor: Madrid

 There are some things that surprised me while I was in the city. One thing was the number of people that smoke. It’s almost impossible to come to Spain if you cannot tolerate smoke because it is everywhere. Although I hate smoke, I just one of those things that I have had to accept. Another, more positive, thing that surprised me during my first week was that most of the people that I encountered where so incredibly nice to me. Being a foreigner, and especially a foreigner of African descent, I had no idea how locals would react to me; but, everywhere I went I was treated with kindness. Whenever I asked someone for directions (which was pretty much all day, every day), people stopped whatever they were doing and helped me. One man, a construction worker, even stopped his job, went into his truck to get a map, and meticulously showed me exactly where I needed to go. Lastly, a thing that surprised me about Madrid was that most of the people that I encountered were foreigners, most of them spoke Spanish and pretty much all of the younger crowd spoke some English.



Jardines de Sabatini: Madrid



My second week in Spain went like this:  

The bus ride from Madrid to Jávea was very long and very tiring. It was about 8 hours to be exact (the same amount of time as my plane ride to Spain from the states).  Unfortunately the bus that went directly to Jávea was full for that day, so I had to take the bus from Madrid to Alicante and then from Alicante to Jávea. While on the bus from Madrid to Alicante, the sweetest thing happened. I was sitting next to a sweet, old Spanish lady who was on her way to Benidorm. The bus stopped for a break and I was the only one that did not get off of the bus. Why didn’t I leave? I stayed because I was so tired and I wanted to continue sleeping. I didn’t need to use the bathroom and I wasn’t really hungry. 10 minutes later, when everyone got back on the bus, the lady that was seated next to me handed me a bocadillo ( a Spanish sandwich) and a bottle of water and said that I needed to eat something. She had also bought the same for herself. I’m not sure whether I looked like I was having a bad morning or if it was her way of welcoming me to her country but I was amazed at how sweet that was. Although I wasn’t really hungry, I ate it and could not thank her enough for being so kind. I will always remember that moment as one of the most generous actions shown to me by the Spanish people.  

I arrived in Jávea around 6 or 7 that evening. I took a cab from the bus stop and went straight to the hostel where I had reserved a room for a couple of days. I ate something, took a shower, and prepared for my first day of school in the morning.

I decided that for my first day of school I would wear my black slacks, a white shirt, and my sparkly, dressy cardigan that I loved so much from Gap. I had no idea what time school started, but I planned to be there at around 8. Well, it took me a little longer than I expected to get ready so I didn’t leave my hostel until 8. After getting lost on the way to school and having to stop for more directions, I finally made it there at almost 9. It turns out; I was just in time because that’s what time school started.

I imagine that my first day of school was much better than some of the other Fulbrighters’ first days. Once there, I was greeted very warmly by all of the teachers. I followed several of the teachers around to their classes and introduced myself to the children. Most of children’s reactions towards me were amazement; they weren’t only amazed because I was from the United States, but I’m sure that I also looked differently than anything they have ever seen. Honestly, I wonder if any of the children had ever seen an African American person before, outside of T.V.  The children seemed pretty excited to have me there. After one class, a group of 5^th grade boys even came up to me and asked if I had a novio (boyfriend).



Mediterranean Sea: Jávea



I believe that my first day went perfect. Later that night, the teachers invited me out to have drinks with them at a chiringuito down by the beach. “Chiringuitos” are beach bars that are built in preparation for summer time and then once winter time approaches they are torn down. We went to this really nice bar and had drinks and tapas. I got to know each of them, and I was really surprised at how talkative I was that night (It must have been the Sangria). While at the chiringuito, one of the teachers told me that she and her roommate had an extra room in their piso that could be rented out. I agreed to go with her and look at it after school the next day.

On Friday evening, I saw the piso and absolutely loved it. It is very modern and exactly what I needed. I have my own bedroom and bathroom, internet and cable, and two Spanish roommates. The rent is fantastic. And, the best part of it all: the piso is only 5 minutes away from the school. I felt very lucky. After I saw the piso on Friday, I immediately moved out of the hostel and into my new apartment. I emailed my mom and dad to tell them the good news and I started to clean my new place.

That weekend, I was invited out once again to go out with a couple of the teachers. We went to have drinks at a bar and then went out to a great Indian restaurant. Then on Sunday, the director of studies at the school invited me to her piso to have a big Spanish lunch that was cooked in my honor. She made “Fideua” which is just like paella but it’s cooked with pasta instead of rice, and it was delicious. And because I am in Spain, I tried some things that I would never have tried in the U.S. The director of the school was also there. We had a great conversation and I agreed to give her daughter private English lessons.

This was a great start to my year in Jávea.