Hello friends and family!
I apologize for the long wait between posts. It’s been a little crazy. Hopefully I can catch you up in the next few
days. J
Week 1 – Orientation
I was so exhausted that first night in the hotel, I slept
pretty well… thankfully! The next day, I
checked out of the first night's hotel room and into the one I would be sharing for the rest of
the week. I met my new roommate, Sonja and then wandered around Nervión (the neighborhood where our hotel
was located) with my new friends, including my new roommate. It was a very calm and relaxing day.
That night, we met the other 4-weekers (those taking the
4-week Spanish course before teaching) and attended our first session of
orientation, which was mostly just an introduction to the week and to each
other. We ate dinner at the hotel and
many of us went to bed early.
 |
| Most of the 4-weekers at our farewell dinner the last night of orientation. Where's Rachel? |
All week, we had “classes” about our jobs here as English
helpers and how to navigate certain basic processes such as setting up a bank
account, buying a cell phone, finding an apartment, etc. We also had a few basic lessons on the
Spanish language and how to teach.
After these morning “classes,” we would have lunch and then free
time for a siesta or to explore; then, we usually had an optional excursion in
the evening.
The first few days of orientation, we all ate lunch
together, trying the food our program director ordered for us. It was pretty good… but I had enough bread
and fried food to last me a lifetime! By
the end of the week, we were given money for lunch and were able to order our
own food. I enjoyed that because I was
finally able to fill up on some veggies. J
 |
| Touring the Alcazar in Sevilla |
Our post-siesta excursions were really good – one evening we attended a Flamenco show, another we split into groups to tour the neighborhoods where we’d be living with our host families, another included a tour of Sevilla in general, and another was a tour of the Alcazar (a royal palace in Sevilla that was originally a Moorish fort). These excursions were great and always ended with tapas for dinner.
Meeting the Host
Family
Very quickly, that first week came to an end and it was time
to move in with our host families. Sonja
and I said goodbye to each other as roommates (sadly, because she was/is pretty
fantastic!) and said buenos días to our new hosts.
I was placed with another chica from my program, Kate, in
the home of a pretty fantastic host mom, Charo, who likes to work out, is an
elementary school English teacher, and likes to go out in the evenings (like
many Sevillans). She has 4 grown
children – Javier, María, Marcos, and Elena – the youngest is 23.
After about a week of living only with Charo., Javier, who
usually lives with his dad in Segovia, came to visit for a while. A few days later, Elena, who typically lives
with her boyfriend in Madrid, also came to visit. They both shared the other bedroom
in the house. Javi only stayed for about
a week and then returned to his dad’s after a cousin’s wedding, but Elena is
still here. I’ve really enjoyed having
her around. She’s a very kind person, a
talented artist, and a great cook!
Now, Kate has moved on to her teaching destination in Malaga and I’m finishing my last week with the host family. CIEE provides 5 days of accommodation in your teaching destination in order to give you time to find an apartment, and those of us staying in Sevilla have just stayed with our families.
Kate and I got along very well in our shared space. Our beds were tiered and I slept in the top “bunk” -- her bed could be pushed under mine like a trundle. The hardest part of sharing our space was really just trying to stuff all our clothes in the tiny closet. J Other than that, we got along very well and I really enjoyed sharing my room with her! I'll miss her!
Kate and I got along very well in our shared space. Our beds were tiered and I slept in the top “bunk” -- her bed could be pushed under mine like a trundle. The hardest part of sharing our space was really just trying to stuff all our clothes in the tiny closet. J Other than that, we got along very well and I really enjoyed sharing my room with her! I'll miss her!
 |
| Roomies - Kate and I |
Brief Apartment Summary
I've been looking for apartments for a couple weeks now and
I finally settled on one TODAY.
Hooray! I’ll be living with my
friend, Erin, from the CIEE program and with 2 guys: Martin, from Paris, France,
and Giacomo, from Rome, Italy. It’s on a
street that’s FULL of people at night, so that’ll be interesting, but the
apartment itself is pretty nice. I move
in tomorrow. … after all the stress of
looking, it’s hard to believe that I’ve finally committed to one. EEK!
But, it’ll be good.
 |
| My bedroom in our piso (apartment) |
Well, that’s it for now.
The next post will be about the CLIC Language Academy/more detailed
stories on Apartment Hunting in Sevilla.
And then I’ll have to tell you about my weekend travels to such places
as Ronda, Granada, Matalascañas, and Córdoba.
Oh, and wish me luck… I have my TIE (tarjeta de identidad
extranjero) appointment this afternoon (it’s to get my foreigner’s card so that
I’m still here legally after December).
Until next time,
Rachel
Impressions: Sevilla’s streets are like a labyrinth and I
am never going to be able to find my way around this city.
New
words/phrases:
Vale (vah-lay) = ok. No pasa nada = it’s ok/it’s all good/no problem
No comments:
Post a Comment