The opportunity I've been granted

Tomorrow morning at 9AM I begin my job teaching English. My schedule is split between two schools: Monday and Tuesday in Coria, Wednesday and Thursday in Plasencia with Friday, Saturday and Sunday off to do whatever. That isn't all. I only work 12 hours a week, split between both schools. Its obviously VERY different than home, where people work 40+ hours to keep the lights on and bread on the table. I worked at a desk job in a computer lab for about 30 hours a week, attended 9 hours of grad school classes, worked on my own research and class work during the weekends and still made time for friends, the linguistics group, and many other things. Its a major change from academic life and even every day life. In many ways, my life is unfair to other people, in the sense that they have to work extremely long hours and additional jobs to survive to where as I have time to do many things and have a monthly stipend to somewhat live off of.

However, like many of us, I came from that world. Working a lot for not a whole lot but making ends meet. I've done that earlier in my life and learned a lot from it. I am not one of those people that says "that's not for me anymore" except for retail (NEVER anymore), yet I know I want something else in my life. I can't be afraid to do different things nor be in different situations hence the reason why I'm in Europe teaching English in the first place. However, I do feel odd not doing 40 hours somewhere for $7.50 an hour, like many people I know are doing (and what I use to do as well). I guess in hindsight I'm seeing the benefits of a college education. To do this program, a person needs a Bachelor's degree or be at least in their Junior year of college. Its an advantage not many people have, even those with that degree. I'm lucky that I don't have to pay a large amount of loans back either when I return. The $7.50 an hour wouldn't cut it.

I just have to keep telling myself that this is will help in the long run and that I should take the advantage of being here. I shouldn't be afraid of the world and the work that it comes with. I know that this program is not a kick in the door for job opportunities but I hope it gives me some kind of boost and push when I get back to the states.

CÁCERES y CORIA

I left Madrid about two days ago and went on another adventure: Cáceres. Thursday morning I left on a bus to the city of Cáceres where the orientation for my region is held at. It was about a 5 hour bus trip, carving in and out the roads of west Spain, making multiple stops to pick up other heading to the city. The trip was ok for me since I have taken a couple of bus and train trips in my life (headed to the Spanish Consulate General in Houston by ways of the Megabus). There were many people heading there for the same orientation so that was real cool. I sat next to a girl from Arizona, a first year newbie just like me, and we talked for nearly the whole trip. It was good yet tiring (I wanted to sleep more!). Once we got to our destination, that was another adventure itself. The girl and I got on a bus to take us into the inner city in order to take another bus to go to the orientation, which was basically a boarding school building. We met a French girl on the way to the same place, speaking only Spanish, but I think she's actually teaching French to students here. We got a bit lost looking for the place itself, walking around for 20 minutes in the sun. I was fine, but the American girl from the long bus ride had a lot of baggage so it was hard for her to get around. But we finally made it!

There was so many people there, all waiting around for the meeting to start. Saw a guy with a Mastodon shirt on walking around (NICE SHIRT DUDE!). I met a bunch of people from all over the states, a handful of British people, and a couple of French and Portuguese. It was a real awesome and interesting. Everyone kinda becomes a kindred spirit. We are all thrown into an unknown situation, figuring out what to do the next day, where to live, what to eat. Its scary but I think being out of your comfort zone is the best way to learn about yourself. I learned that I'm too anxious and that I should be a bit more loose, not so uptight.

The orientation itself was actually pointless. The presenters of the program were somewhat repetitive, did not give us any new information, and wasted time. I met a couple of people that are working in Plasencia, another city that I have to teach at that is about 25 minutes away. They were both real cool (British girl and an American guy). The second day of orientation was actually the life saver. I met a girl that had a flat situated for her already that had 2 spare bedrooms in Coria! I jumped on the opportunity. 150EURO! Piss cheap! Too good to be true though. Only time will tell. It honestly was pure luck for me. I think there are still some people that are looking for a place to live. I'm so lucky and grateful to find a place so quick. I don't know what I would have done.

Llegué a Madrid

ESTOY AQUÍ

This wont be the "to go to" blogs for advice on how to live abroad and do the Auxiliares de Conversación program, even though some tid-bits will be explained. This will be written in the point of view of a first timer's experience living abroad. I never new my mind would be blown this much.

I left the 19th of September and arrived the next day in Madrid. With a layover in JFK, the flight to Spain was about 6 1/2 hours to 7 hours long. It was very hard to sit still the whole way but I have managed to make it. When I arrived, I had a scare at the airport when I thought my luggage was lost. However, I just didn't look at the other conveyer belt and saw my bag by itself. I was incredibly frightened and didn't want to know what to do if that had happened. After that, I went out and hit up the Madrid METRO lines, which were incredibly fast and packed as well. I knew the routes decently and had a map on my phone for reference. I was still incredibly tired with only a few hours of sleep but I had to push through to get to my hostel. After 3 trains, I finally got out of the train, went upstairs and saw something I never thought I would see before: EUROPE. It hit me hard when I knew I wasn't in America anymore.

Five days in Madrid before I leave for Cáceres (where I have to teach) for the rest of the experience. Today was pure walking around and exploration. I took the advice from the spoken word show of the great Henry Rollins: Books are great for the meantime but knowledge without mileage equals bullsh*t, if you want to know you have to go. After checking in my hostel, I went out, bought a bottle of water and just explored. I wanted to know what Europe is aside from reading about it in the books of dead writers. I want to know who the hell I really am too. A linguist? A literary critic? A person who is just avoiding real work in the states? Whoever I am I will find out. This first month will suck because of the solidarity but it will give me loads of time to reflect, write, study and hopefully leave my personality completely vulnerable.

PS: I may make a Flickr or some kind of photo account to post up all the photos instead of clogging up my Facebook account.