Getting situated

Today I slept until 3:30. It’s so nice not to be rushed to get up and find a place to live (and to finally catch up on some sleep)! I got up and did my dishes and got ready and then tried to use the internet. One of the things I absolutely wanted when looking for an apartment was internet, but sadly, my apartment doesn’t have internet installed. If I sit in the living room next to the window sometimes I can catch the public WiFi connection from the park by our house. However, this weird connection opens most webpages but won’t open Gmail. Gmail is one of the most important ones for me so I tried to actually go sit in the park and see if a stronger connection would help. No such luck. Still no Gmail. So I got ice cream instead. Mmm. I got Laura’s favorite (Kinder Bueno ice cream) at a little heladería maybe 2 minutes from my house.

After that I went to the internet café, got a little work done and went exploring. I went past the cathedral and actually went all the way around it. Last year I had only seen one side of the cathedral, and by far the more impressive side is the side I hadn't seen. Even though I didn't have my big camera with me I managed to get some good shots.

One of the government buildings that I pass all the time.

I think this building looks really cool.

 The cathedral

 Reflection of the cathedral in the water from the little fountains of the cathedral plaza

 Relaxing and reading by the cathedral

Meeting point for friends and families to relax and enjoy the afternoon

And of course, waiting right outside the city, are the olive fields.

I wanted to get a kebab for dinner but it was still a little early. When I got home I got to meet my last roommate (although she’s leaving in a week). We chatted for a while. She was super nice and offered to help me with whatever I needed. I thought she was like 22 but later she told me she’s only 17.

I did a little laundry and found a glorious surprise waiting for me on our back “terrace.” We have a view of the castle. I didn’t see it when Jesus was showing me the apartment, but in the dusk light the castle was all lit up and caught my attention. I wish we had space to actually sit out there. Our “terrace” (I don’t really know what to call this weird outdoor-ish space…a sunroom?) basically just has the washing machine and clotheslines to dry our clothes.

After getting my clothes in the wash I watched TV for a bit, prepped some photos to put on my wall in my bedroom, blogged, read my bible a bit and headed to bed.

I feel like there are still so many things I have to do trying to get settled. I feel like I haven’t had much time to just sit and relax yet. I really want to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible this year, since it’s my last planned stay in Spain. I need to figure out the classes I’m going to take, the possibility of a Portugal trip, see if we can get internet set up, and tomorrow I start teaching my classes. It’s definitely not the super relaxed, too-much-spare-time, not-much-to-do experience I had last year.