Time flies, OH MAN.

I can't believe I've been in Spain for a month, WAT. I also can't believe I've so rapidly become a blogging delinquent haha, oops. It's hard to sum up the last two weeks because there were just so many new things every day, so I'll stick to one subject: SCHOOL!

I've been on a temporary schedule at my school for the last two weeks, which was frustrating because they knew which day we were starting but had nothing ready for us to do and no classes ready for us to help in (BUT I DID MY BEST TO BE PATIENT, OKAY). We—the other auxiliar de conversación and I—ended up asking if, instead of sitting in the teacher's lounge cutting out labels, we could sit in on classes to see how they were run, get to know some students and teachers, etc. So they split us up and sent us 'round, and I was a much happier camper.

Strikin' timez on my first day of work.
There were two or three more rows of
people waiting behind me!

First three questions out of students' mouths, without fail: 
1. Where are you from? 
2. How old are you? 
3. Do you have a boyfriend? 

Las respuestas: 
1. The United States, specifically the great state of Wisconsin!! GO AND VISIT, EAT SOME CHEESE, DRINK SOME BEER. (But only if you are 21, obvi.) 
2. Never ask a woman how old she is, but I'm still young, so I'll tell you I'm 22. 
3. None of your business.

Thankfully, as of yesterday, I finally have a set schedule! And it is the best schedule EVER. I will be helping in various English, music, and natural science classes, all of which are being taught in English this year as part of my school's bilingual initiative. (Yes, I said science... contrary to popular belief, I actually loved science classes pre-Harvard and am stoked to help teach them!) The best part is, I have progressively fewer classes as the week goes on. By Thursday, I'm down to just two classes, and on Friday, I have zero, zilch, not a one, I LOVE MY LIFE, WHY DID THAT NEVER HAPPEN TO ME AT HARVARD, SHE WHINES. This means I can start planning some weekend getaways to other parts of Spain, whee!

Getting to work has actually been tricky some days because there have been public transport strikes in response to the government's plan to privatize Renfe and their failure to negotiate with unions, as far as I understand. There have been three already, and at least four more are scheduled for October. I actually don't mind, though, because I'm learning a lot about Spanish politics and culture through the different strikes and protests/I'm beginning to discover why Spaniards are so disgruntled with the current state of affairs. And when it comes to the crazy-crowded Metro in the morning, well, it provides a good opportunity to teach my students the English idiom "packed like sardines"... :)

Un abrazo a todos,
E.

Fulbright Orientation. It happened.

This week was CRAZYTOWN. I opened a Spanish bank account. I moved into an apartment. I developed a smoker's cough even though I don't smoke because the rest of Madrid does. But I spent the majority of this week in a hotel/conference center, meeting members of the Fulbright Commission in Spain, getting to know my fellow grantees, and attending various sessions about:

- how to become a legal resident in Spain (Empadronamiento and Residency Cards, led by a staff member from the Association of American Programs in Spain)
... An alternative title for this session could've been "You told me I could enter Spain before my visa's start date, now you're saying I have to go to Portugal and come back, whaaaat??" Luckily, I entered Spain after my visa's start date because I'm a hedge-my-bets kind of girl, but a lot of people didn't. And because of a very recent change in the law, a lot of people will, in fact, have to leave the country and come back in order for their visas to be valid. OOPS.

I took this photo at Madrid Fashion Night Out! Has
nothing to do with this post, but it's much cooler
than any photo I could've taken at Orientation, so.

- living [it up] in Spain (How to Adjust to Life in Spain, led by former Fulbright grantees)

- living (literally living, as in not dying) in Spain (Briefing on Security, led by a staff member at the US Embassy; Health Care/ASPE Insurance, led by members of the Fulbright Commission)

And there were a million more. It was exhausting, actually, to be focused on sessions from 9 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. and to be meeting all sorts of new people before, after, and in between. But the other grantees seem great, and a ton of them are living in Madrid this year. That is exciting for many reasons, one of which is that I now have more contacts in my mobile than just every emergency number imaginable. (Seriously, you name it, I've probs got it. Ambulancias? Check. Bomberos? Check. US Embassy? Yep, that too.)

And now, before I go, I will share with you my most defining moment at Orientation...

An hour and a half was set aside for icebreakers the first night. AN HOUR AND A HALF. After the first hour, the ice was sooo broken, blown-to-smithereens broken, and people were way past ready to be done. The last game was a round of "Would You Rather" led by former grantees; you had to move to a certain side of the room based on your response. After they asked a few (i.e. "Would you rather have no mouth or no ears?"), anyone who thought of one could take the mic, introduce him/herself, and ask the group a question.

It went ON and ON. Finally, a girl next to me muttered the perfect Would You Rather and I told her she should go up and say it, but she didn't want to. So I raised my hand instead, like a total eager beaver, and went up to the mic all chipper and stuff. I could actually see people rolling their eyes, "great, not another one," you get the picture. I said, "Hey, I'm Elle, and I just wanna know: would y'all rather eat dinner NOW?... Or just keep playing this endless game?" People died. The group literally cheered, the former grantees were like, "Right-i-o, dinner it is!" and for the rest of the conference I was that girl, a.k.a the girl who got the hungry fed. And let me tell you, that's not a bad rep to have haha. ;)

xoxo!
E.

An excerpt from The Spanish Hunger Games

EATING ALONE IS NO FUN. That's what I thought after lunch today, anyway. So the solution is to just not eat very much, obviously. (Just kidding, Mom!!!)

My first morning was a lil rough – went to an ATM to withdraw most of the money I had left in my American account, and the machine kindly spit out a receipt but failed to spit out any of what I really wanted, i.e. cash, HELLO. And apparently that's an issue that can only be dealt with right when the bank opens because when I went inside to complain I mean explain, the teller told me he couldn't do anything about it but that I should keep my receipt and come back tomorrow at 8:30 a.m when someone else could. I was like whaaat. (But I didn't cry cuz I remembered I had a credit card + a few U.S. buck-a-roos, HUZZAH.) -->

At that point, I realized I hadn't eaten since the plane ride oops. So I ate lunch in a little café, where I permitted myself a moment of holy cow loneliness. I thought: "These waiters probably think I have no friends..." And then I thought: "Wait, I actually don't have any friends here yet, OH MAN." 

The afternoon shaped up to be much better, however:
- I bought my very first smartphone! I-i-i-i love technology.
- I took a nap (this is key, considering mad jetlag) and procured snacks to stash in my purse, pockets, hotel room, etc.
- I wandered about and saw a lot of the beautiful city that is Madrid. Hey, is there a word that implies aimlessness like "wandered" but includes an added element of swiftness? Because whatever that word is, that's what I actually did. (J-Man, help me out here.)
 

Pan y jamón ibérico nom

And then, somehow, it was already 7:30, a.k.a. TAPAS TIME. But I kept walking past places where no one, I mean no one, was eating alone. I almost chickened out and ate a bowl of cereal for dinner. But then I gave myself a pep talk ("Girl, you GOT this") and went into a chill/slow restaurant and took a seat at a table near the bar. By that time it was quarter to 9 – I had both literally and figuratively been dragging my feet (hehe, sorryyy). The result? Not only were the food & drink DELISH, but the waiter was also super nice and chatted with me from behind the bar for most of the time I was there.*

Un rollito de salmón con gulas
(salmon-wrapped imitation eel)

And the best part is: as a result of manning up and just walking into a restaurant already, I found a solution to the hunger problem!! Until I am settled in an apartment, I will just eat tapas AS MY DINNER, why did I not think of that before duhhh. A few tapas make the PERFECT-sized meal for me, plus they are super economical, and they are served starting at like 7 or 8 p.m. That is what I call a WIN, WIN, WIN, my friends.

May your dinners be as tasty as mine!

❤ ,
E.

*I forgot to take photos of the food! (Sorry, Soph!) But the photos in this post are Google images that look exactly like what I ate tonight. And the beer, well, beer just looks like beer, so. :)