To Jaén and back

Today was an early morning…aka…a typical U.S. morning. Haha. I got up about 6:30am so I could make sure my paperwork was in order, do the dishes and get ready to go to Jaén with Inés. I met Inés on El Paseo at 8am. I was surprised at how many people were awake, and the café on the corner was open. I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised by this, but it was still dark so it seemed earlier than it was. In 2008 when I studied in Murcia it was spring and summer, so it was light most of the time. I haven’t really been in Spain when it stays dark this much.

It took 2 ½ hours to get to Jaén from Siles. Inés and I passed the time talking about medicine, politics, the environment, culture, music, traveling, etc, etc. We had been warned that it would be hard to find parking in Jaén but it was a lot worse than we expected. We drove around in circles trying to find the extranjería (where I needed to do my paperwork) and a parking space. We finally found what we thought was the extranjería so Inés dropped me off and continued her parking search. When I went in they told me that I was actually in the wrong spot. For being a boring, bureaucratic office they were actually quite nice and helpful. They gave me directions to where I really needed to go. I walked in that general direction until I asked the next person for further directions, and then another person to help me finish the trip. I got there and the line wasn’t too bad. I looked around the lobby and saw a group of American-looking people all holding the same green folder that I had been given. There were about half a dozen other Cultural Ambassadors there waiting to do the same paperwork. Only 2 of those appeared to be a couple, so when I got my number I went over to see if they were Ava and Ben. Sure enough, it was them. They were surprised that I was able to pick them out so quickly having not ever met them. Poor Ava and Ben had been there all morning and still hadn’t been seen. None of us were told that we had actual appointment times. Their appointment time wasn’t until 1pm. Luckily mine was 10:30 and since it was already 11:05 I was seen almost immediately. Not quite fair for them, but I was thankful for it! I went in and there was some initial confusion over my paperwork and appointment time. One guy said my appointment wasn’t until the next day, but the other guy had me on the list for today (This problem was because initially my appointment was supposed to be tomorrow but Victor changed it so I could be here the same time as Ava and Ben). Then I had been given the wrong application. He sent me back out to the lobby to fill out the new application (which was almost identical to the one I had already filled out). Luckily again for me I didn’t have to wait once I filled out the new application. They saw me right away and we were able to proceed with the rest of my NIE paperwork without problems.

I have to go back to Jaén again on November 9th to get my fingerprints taken. Then, 40 days after THAT I have to go back AGAIN just to pick up my residency card. Blaaaaaaah. So many unnecessary trips! Inés was really hoping that we could do the fingerprints as well today, and that they would mail me the card, but we had no such luck. Considering it takes so long to go there and back, it’s a general consensus amongst Inés, me, Victor and the other auxiliares that this process is a pain in the rear end. 5 hours of traveling for a 10 minute appointment? No thank you. The one nice thing is that they gave me the actual NIE number today. Supposedly that means I can open my bank account and such now and not have to wait until the actual card gets here. I’ll believe it when I see it, but I really hope that’s true. If not I could be waiting until the middle of December to get paid.

Ava and Ben were seen about the same time as me, so when we were all done we went to the café across the street for coffee and a snack. Thank goodness because we were all hungry and thirsty. One of our topics of conversation was my Washington accent. Yes, apparently I have an accent. When I talked to Ava on the phone yesterday she thought I had a bit of a southern accent. Then today when I mentioned that my mom’s side of the family was from Minnesota they said that’s what it was. I’m not sure if it’s really a Washington accent then or just Minnesota family influence. When I studied in Murcia my friends Brittany and Grace said I had a Washington accent too. The only times I’ve ever been told that I have an accent are by Americans while I’ve been in Spain.

After our snack we headed over to Movistar so I could get my Spanish phone working again. I had been told I had to change the sim card in my phone because I hadn’t added any money to my phone in more than 6 months. I went in and asked to do just that, but as part of the process they just gave me a new phone…no extra charge. Ok, whatever, do what you want. So, at the end of it all I had ANOTHER new functioning Spanish phone. This is the 3rd Spanish phone I’ve owned in 2 ½ years.

After that we headed back to the car for another 2 ½ hour car ride. I felt so bad for Inés. She doesn’t drive that far very often. This ride was especially hard because she’s pregnant and was so uncomfortable sitting that long. She said someone else (maybe from Ava and Ben’s school) will have to drive us next time because she just can’t.

We stopped for gas during our ride back. It was 1.11 euro/liter. There are 3.79 liters in a gallon. That makes gas 4.20 euro/gallon…about $5.84 a gallon. Yikes. I think I’ll stick with my $2.85 in the U.S.

I slept a little bit on the way back to Siles to make time go by faster. I woke up to Ava and Inés taking pictures of Ben and I sleeping in the backseat. We dropped Ben and Ava off in La Puerta and then Inés took me to my apartment in Siles. When I got there I had some lunch and debated taking a nap. I really wanted a nap, but at the same time wanted to be able to sleep tonight.

Taking a nap won.

The rest of the evening I chilled in the apartment and just made a pizza for dinner.

Tomorrow is my long day of work. I have 4 classes; 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th grade. All the normal Spanish teachers from surrounding towns also meet here in Siles on Wednesdays and Thursdays to learn English from 4:30-7:45. I will be working with this group at least 1 hour and 45 minutes each week. We haven’t figured out how we’re going to divide that time yet. Part of me would like to do it all on Wednesday. I don’t have any classes with the school on Thursday afternoon or Friday. This would give me a little extra free time on my long weekend to travel if I want. However, Javi and Inés were thinking maybe I should just do 50 minutes each day. Plus, it would make Wednesday really long if I did it all that day. We’ll see how that goes. I’m not too worried about it. I don’t think there are many buses that leave Siles on Thursday afternoon anyways.

I’ve seen comments about snow on Facebook lately, at least in the pass. I am SO glad that the snow hasn’t quite arrived here yet. I am looking forward to seeing how pretty it is here in the snow but I’m also in NO rush.

Buenas noches todos! I’m going back to bed.

Are there any scanners in Siles?

After my post this morning I managed to get a few more hours of sleep. I woke up at a normal hour so hopefully that will put me on a normal sleep schedule. I got ready, made some eggs for breakfast and headed off to school.

At school I met with Inés to try and get a schedule set-up. Inés is trying so hard to incorporate all the school’s needs with the Cultural Ambassadors program standards, with me having Fridays off and also not putting a bunch of breaks in between my classes (so I’m not there all day just to teach an hour or two and have the ability to travel on weekends.). It’s proving to be quite the challenge. My schedule is not ‘set in stone’ (a phrase I taught Inés today) but hopefully Javier (the “head teacher” aka principal) will ok it this afternoon. I will be working mostly with Sebas, Inés and the preschool teachers. Sebas is the main English teacher (and also the one who gave me directions to buy towels yesterday) and Inés fills in the blocks that Sebas can’t get to. I will also be working with an adult group from the EOI (the local language school) once a week for an hour in the afternoon. My task for this weekend is to create a powerpoint of my life/country/city that the kids can see on Monday. At this point it is hard to know what level of vocabulary to use, but as time goes by I will have a better idea of where the kids are at. When Inés was talking to me there were 4 of her second grade students in the room helping her get papers organized. Pedro, Rocio, Antonio, and the 4th who hide from me under the desk (Hey, at least 3 of the 4 kids liked me…and realistically the 4th was just playing with me.). Inés frequently switches between English and Spanish when talking to me. Pedro and Rocio giggled when she spoke in English. They think she sounds funny in another language. I can only imagine what that means for me! The kids were super cute though.

My next task for the day was to find a place I could get my passport scanned. The Cultural Ambassadors program needed me to send them an electronic copy of my passport via e-mail so I can get paid. In Siles, a town where it’s hard to find towels and the internet access leaves something to be desired…how many scanners do you think there are? Answer: One. When I was at school I asked Inés where I could scan something and she didn’t know. She suggested I go to Correos, the post office. So I headed in the general direction of Correos and got lost. Instead I found the other side of El Cubo.



I also met an old man who tried to sell me socks. Haha. Not sure what it is about me that said “Hey, she needs socks!” I continued on and managed to find Correos, but they didn’t have a scanner. I got a hard copy instead thinking maybe I would just have to mail it somewhere. On my way home I saw the bookstore that Silvia and I went to earlier this week. I stopped in and asked her where I could find a scanner. She pointed me in the direction of Casa Gregorio, one street up. On my way I remembered that there is a locutorio (a place to use computers) close by on El Paseo. I stopped there first but they couldn’t scan things either. The man there also pointed me towards Casa Gregorio. He gave me specific directions and sent me on my way. I got there and sure enough, he could scan it for me. He also had phones there. I asked about getting my old Spanish phone fixed. He said I would have to go to a Movistar and buy a new number because I hadn’t added “saldo” (money to use on a prepaid phone) in more than 6 months. Well the nearest Movistar is 20km away so I asked him about getting a new Spanish phone. (He sells Vodaphone phones). In 2 weeks he is getting more in, so I’ll probably buy a new phone then. Only $19 euro. It will be worth it to have a way people can get in touch with me, and that I can call others with and not have to use my expensive American phone. After that I stopped in at one more store to get some Siles postcards and a snack and then finally headed home.

It’s Friday. I wonder what people do on Friday. I think I’ll at least go to the restaurant by the discoteca for dinner so I can check it out. I need to figure out how I can meet people my age. I’m hoping once I actually start teaching classes I will connect better with the teachers and be able to go out with them. Right now I only stop in during their recess and don’t really get to talk to them much. I’m hoping Sebas and I will get along well since I will be spending so much time in his classes.

So far a successful day. It’s funny…success in the US is trying to get my to-do list of 50 things done that day, and success here is finding a scanner. I could get used to this…