I.E.S. Juan de Aréjula

Today I started off the morning with a limited selection of food since I have no refrigeration in the hostel. I purchased (last night) some olives with pepper things in them, bread, banana and oranges which I ate this morning as my breakfast. After that exciting meal I went to the police station to try to take care of my VISA extension. For some reason today was the day I was having trouble speaking Spanish, which if you didn't know, is kind of difficult when you are living in a city where everyone pretty much speaks Spanish only. I was able to get myself together a little bit, enough to function for the day at least lol. As I fumbled my way through my Spanish at the police station they told me they couldn't give me the student card I need (which is the extension of my VISA) and that I need to go to Córdoba. So I guess it may have been better to go to Córdoba first but everything happens for a reason right?

After going to the police station I headed over to the school that I will be working at (I.E.S. Juan de Aréjula) to let them know I’m here. They were actually beyond helpful and are going to help me find an apartment, assuming that I don’t find one in the next few days. The woman who’s coordinating the program (Cultural Ambassadors- the reason I’m here) for the school told me the funniest thing though. I mean I know I’m helping teach English at the school so this shouldn’t be surprising but she told me I’m only allowed to speak English whenever I’m at the school (unless I’m talking to the principal who doesn’t speak a lick of English except for “welcome” ) lol. I’m thinking that I am truly going to be bilingual at the end of this experience.

The director of the program, I forgot her name!, also told me a little bit more about the program since all I knew was that I’m supposed to be at the school on Oct. 1^st and I will be working 12hrs/week. Apparently I will be working with the teachers to help them with their English. I will be helping them with the lesson plans in English and also practicing conversation with them. There are 3 subjects that I will be helping with, the only one of which I remember is Sciences because I was thinking about how much I hate science lol. I’m absolutely in love with my situation right now because it just reminds me that God has a sense of humor.

After the school visit (oh! And it’s a high school) I went back to the hostel. It was in the middle of siesta (when everything closes in the middle of the day) and my hostel was closed L If only I could read I would have seen the sign that says ring the bell in 3 languages, including English, to get in when the door is closed- of course I saw this sign later. Like I said though, everything happens for a reason…I ended up walking around Lucena to explore a bit more of the town. It’s actually a decent size and there are tons of shops for everything. I ended up stopping by a grocery store that was open and wandered inside. I keep wondering if people think I’m stealing stuff because I carry my gigantic purse with me and just look around and don’t buy anything lol. The store looked the same as in the states except they have a HUGE isle for meat. It’s about the size of 2 isles in the states but it’s mostly fresh meat, not like prepackaged. I didn’t buy anything because they didn’t really have individual sizes and (like I said earlier) I have no fridge yet.

I kept walking and was feeling hungry so I stopped at a tapas bar where people smoke indoors stillJ. I asked for the menu, which I soon found out doesn’t actually mean a physical menu but rather a 2 course meal deal with a few selections that they read to you (at least at this place). First they brought me out some fried sardines as a starter, literally 2 whole fish battered and fried…eyes and all! Because I’m in Spain I plan to try almost everything and they were surprisingly good. The next thing I ate was “huevos camperos” which were SO good. It’s just a fried egg, peas, jamón serrano (look it up if you don’t know about it!), cheese and this red sauce. It was so different and so delicious so I plan to try that one again for sure- I seriously ate the whole thing and I was full half way through. Even though I was full I had one more dish coming which was “revuelta de la casa” which was not so much a favorite. Its another egg dish, but this time scrambled, with asparagus (that looks and tastes like green peppers), jamón serrano, garlic and mushrooms. The mushrooms were very different tasting and actually what I didn’t like so much, that, and I was already kind of “egged” out from the last dish. I don’t even know how to describe the difference in the mushrooms but at first I couldn’t really figure out what they were because they tasted so different even though they looked like mushrooms. I think I would have liked it better if I had some hot sauce to add to it! Haha Oh I miss my hot sauce!

I still haven’t adjusted to the “Spanish” schedule so  I just came home and took a long nap after the food- I must have had the itis (The Boondocks reference- why haven’t they made the “Itis” restaurant yet??? I would be there daily). My day has not changed much since then but tomorrow I’m heading to Córdoba to try to get that ID that I need (I’m just hoping they’re actually open but we’ll see). So until then, ¡hasta luego!

FYI- if you haven’t noticed I’m in love with lol-ing because I laugh at everything and feel I should share that with you. If you aren’t aware of what that is, either because you are my parents or have never texted someone, “lol” means “laugh out loud” and I use it incessantly whenever I write so hopefully you can deal with that.