Yesterday was really relaxed. Due to the 7 hour nap I didn't do much. I slept in a little, and then went to school. I met with Inés for about an hour and that was it. Inés told me that there is a couple from Colorado doing the Ambassadors program in Puerta (another town not too far away) and their coordinator asked for my contact information so we could all connect and maybe meet up with each other. Last year in Castilla-La Mancha one of the language assistants gave up and went home. All the coordinators in the area are doing an outstanding job trying to make sure we get plugged in and are successful so that doesn’t happen again.
The main coordinator in Jaén (the province I’m in) for our program is Victor. Until today I didn’t even know about him. Apparently he has made appointments for me at the “extranjería” in Jaén to get my paperwork taken care of instead of at the police station here. I suppose the police station here isn’t big enough to handle things like residency paperwork. I have an appointment on the 27th to get my TIE/NIE paperwork taken care of. The TIE is a temporary residence card for foreigners. The NIE is an official fiscal number that allows me to open a bank account and get paid. Then on November 11th I have to go back and have my fingerprints taken. Victor is trying to convince the extranjería to let me do it all in one visit, because Jaén is 2 ½ hours away. We’ll see if he’s successful.
Inés and I also went over my responsibilities as a language assistant and tomorrow we’re going to try to firm up my schedule. Hopefully she’ll also have a better idea about what I need to prepare to be ready for Monday. Monday is my first day of teaching! Inés wasn’t feeling all that great today and it seemed to be one thing after another interrupting her planning period with me, so hopefully she’ll feel better tomorrow. Inés is pregnant and due in April so morning sickness isn’t her friend right now…she did however ask if I wanted to take the baby’s first pictures and I’m pretty excited about that!
The one thing my apartment doesn’t have is towels. I dried off with an extra sheet this morning, so that was definitely on my list of things to do today. I asked one of the teachers were I could find towels. You know you’re in a small town when you ask where you can find towels and they have to really think about it. “Hmmm, well…it’s a small village…so I’m not really sure…you could try that place down on El Paseo next to the restaurant.” Haha. Oh wow. Having a hard time buying towels, and using “the” restaurant to give directions? Welcome to small town life. Sure enough that place did have towels. Success!
There was also a farmer’s market going at El Paseo. I was shocked at home big the market was considering the size of the town. I also ran into another one of Juan’s friends that I met last night, and yet another new friend that lives in a nearby town. He comes into Siles every Thursday for the market. He also lives in the same town as Inés. The market had so many different foods. I think I will have to do some experimenting in the coming weeks. I don’t quite know how to go about it though. Do I blindly pick something and then try to figure out how to prepare it? I suppose I’ll just ask for recommendations from the people I buy it from.
It’s really interesting to see how people react to me. Inés told me today that in Siles, some people are very friendly, but some are very stuck in their ways. She wants to make sure that I feel connected to the community so it is easier for me to adapt, but realistically some people aren’t going to welcome me with open arms. I have definitely seen examples of both. Of course there is Juan and all of his friends who have taken me right in. Also, last night at Dia I picked up a 12 pack of eggs. The price tag said “1.20.” Here in Spain when you go to the grocery store you don’t have to buy things in the quantity they are packed in. If there’s a 6 pack of soda, you can take off just one can if you want. The cashier explained to me that it is “0.60 euro” for each side of the carton of eggs, then wrote down the number on the carton for me. She didn’t have to do that, but you could tell she was uncertain about how much Spanish I understand. Writing it down for me was really thoughtful because that gives me a different way to understand. Now, on the other side of things, when I was buying towels a lady asked me something that I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand because she mumbled, not because of the language. I asked her to repeat herself and she mumbled back “never mind, you don’t understand me” and walked off. Oh well. Can’t win ‘em all.
I didn’t stay long because I had some things I wanted to get done. Plus, I had to conduct Mushroom Experiment 2010. I fried up the mushrooms with olive oil and salt when I got home. It really wasn’t too bad. If anything I just put too much salt on them. They are still not my favorite, but tolerable, especially as far as mushrooms go. I stuck with left over tortilla for the bulk of my lunch.
At the store I also bought a hair dryer with a Spanish electrical connection. My hair dryer just wasn’t working very well with the adaptor, and I don’t want to have a wet head all winter. I found the warning on the box quite amusing. “The appliance must not be taken into the bathroom.” Oh really? Maybe there's something about Spanish bathrooms that reject hair dryers?
After lunch I worked on Bella Baby orders, responding to the gazillion messages I’ve received in the last 48 hours and took my excessively long nap. Now that I’m got you caught up…I’m going to try to sleep for a couple more hours in hope of ending this jet lag. ¡Buenas noches!
No comments:
Post a Comment