Not in Kansas anymore...

Well, hello, friends!

I have made it successfully to Spain.  I apologize that you haven't heard from me before this, but I must say, finding internet here has been a tough task.  I'm a lot more "in the boonies" than I thought I would be.  It's definitely a little village nestled in the mountains.  It's very small, but seems large to the beginner's eyes.  It's very compact and there are many mazes one can take to get around.  I've been confused on more than a couple occassions.  :)

I journalized my first couple days here & I'll highlight what I wrote... For now, no pictures.  I haven't really been taking any and am not in any rush seeing as I will be here for awhile.  :)  Please be patient.  They'll come. 

My flights were pretty typical.  Saying goodbye to Dad at the airport was definitely the hardest thing I've had to do in awhile.  You know those scenes on the movies where the family is hugging and crying while everyone looks on staring.  I lived that.  HaHa!  And the flight to Chicago was rough for me.  I teared up on more than a few occasions.  I quickly made my way to my next terminal and boarded my flight to Madrid right away.  It wasn't the most comfortable of flights.  It was almost 9 hours and the seats were just not accomodating for that extended of a trip.  In my opinion, anyway.  Getting around the airport in Madrid was failry simple.  The signs were in English and in Spanish.  I had to wait a few hours & that was tough seeing as I hadn't slept in awhile.  Finally, I boarded my flight to Granada.  An uneventful 1 hour flight that was to a very small airport.  Fortunately, all of my bags made it with me!  I made my way outside where a taxi was waiting... I asked him if he spoke English.  None.  (This will be interesting, I thought.)  I explained where I was to go and he had never heard of it.  Awesome.  He then asked his friend.  Nope.  We called the people I was to be staying with and they spoke on the phone for a moment before the taxi guy loaded all of my bags and said he knew where he was going.  Wrong again.  This guy stopped FOUR different times to ask randos on the street where he was going.  The last person finally directed him in the general idea... This road, ugh!!  SO winding and steep and up & down in the mountains.  I couldn't help thinking how sick Janet would be, haha... It was rough.  BUT, I finally made it to the village where the person I am staying with picked me up.  We made our way to my new "home" for the next 8 months or so.  It's a cozy little townhouse about 6 blocks away from the school I will be working at.  The stairs are extremely steep, so getting my luggage to my room was a task in itself.  He has an 11 year old dog named Bracken who is as excited as he was when he was a puppy, apparently.  :)  He's been a good buddy already.  :)  I feel asleep after a short tour of the house and then unpacked a bit.  I was definitely not real excited to be here right away.  I think it had to do with the 20 hours of travel time and lack of sleep because I definitely feel better. 

Saturday, we toured the village a little bit.  Nothing too crazy.  We found a little bar where I had my first Spanish beer made in Jaen.  It was tasty.  I honestly didn't do a whole lot these first couple of days because my sleep schedule is so out of whack!!  I'm 7 hours ahead of you (most of you).  :)  Went to bed early and read a little of my book, that's about the extent of my Saturday.

Yesterday (Sunday), Joanne and her family arrived.  Joanne will be my roomate for the next 8 months and her family will be staying here until tomorrow.  It kinda makes me sad that her family is here.  It made me miss mine, but I'll be ok.  They are fantastic people who have been very kind to me.  They're from Scotland.  They've taken a bit of adjusting to (language wise) as well.  I'm sure they're thinking the same thing about me, haha.  :)

Today, we went to Jaen, the capital of our province, about 30 miles away.  We went to this place that was a Wal-Mart and Mall combined.  The mall was on the outside of it, but if you went to the center, there was a giant Wal-Mart like store.  We bought some groceries and necessities for the next couple weeks, hopefully.  I got my cell phone... that was really difficult.  I'm glad Joanne is better versed in Spanish than I am.  I may have been screwed if not.  The road to this city was also quite winding and up and down... had to close my eyes on more than a few occassions.

Hardly anyone speaks any English, something in which I was not prepared for.  And when they do, it's broken enough that it is difficult to translate.  I'm trying, though.  Another bump I've ran into is cash exchange.  I haven't had any success in exchanging my cash for euros.  Fortunately, I exchanged SOME at the airport in Chicago, so I'm surviving right now, but it's on the top of my list of things to get figured out.  I'll work on it.  :)

We also went to the school this morning for a little meet and greet with the teachers and students.  We were only there an hour and were dismissed.  It's going to be fun, I think.  These little ones seem very eager to learn and try very hard to speak English.  We've also been asked to participate in an after school "English Club" where we'll get paid an extra 100 euros a month.  Not bad at all.  We just play games and sing songs with the kinds for an hour every Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.  Tough, huh?  HaHa! 

Well, I know this is kinda short and to the point, maybe even a little scattered, but I wanted to be sure to get an entry posted so you all know I am safe.  I miss the states already, but not in a bad way.  I just miss my family and friends.  You'll hear more soon!!  Thanks for all of the support!  <3