Adventures in Spain…Otra Vez

Now that I’m more or less settled into my apartment, job and life here, I feel like the time has come to comment on Spanish bureaucracy, if only because we’ve had some random, arbitrary-seeming encounters with bureaucrats in the past few weeks.

Our visa to come to Spain is a student visa that’s only valid for three months, so upon our arrival here, we needed to fill in the appropriate paperwork to get a more permanent student/foreigner card (called the NIE). Okay, I’m on board with that. I remember doing it last year when we arrived and just how much time it took to get all the paperwork sorted out, so I really wasn’t all that excited about doing it again this year, but that obviously doesn’t really matter. What I also distinctly remember about last year was how LONG everything took, because all bureaucratic offices in Spain are open from 9am-2pm, exactly the time that I was working everyday. So each week on my day off, I’d go do one more piece of the required paperwork: pay something at the bank, go to city hall to verify that I reside in Logrono, return to city hall to pick up my paper, etc. So finally after about a month I had everything in order and could turn in my papers, only to be told to come back in a month to get my card. Okay fine.

One of those pieces of paperwork was called the empadronamiento, which is essentially a piece of paper that says that you legally reside in a city. This time around, we arrived at the Comisaria de Policia and were told that yes, the empadronamiento is a very important part of the paperwork and is necessary. Well, wait a sec – a friend of ours had gone a few days before and was told nothing about the empadronamiento. And in fact, she had turned in her paperwork the day before without anyone questioning her on that particular piece of paperwork. But when I very specifically asked about needing it, I was told that it was absolutely necessary, despite the fact that I recounted that my friend hadn’t needed it. No, it’s obligatorio. Seriously?

So okay, in order to get empadronada, I needed a photocopy of my landlady’s ID card and a bill for the apartment, along with my passport and a form correctly filled in a signed by both of us. So I spent a good couple of days running around, meeting with my landlady to jump through the appropriate hoops. Excellent. Always my favorite way to spend my days, running around like a crazy. But I got the piece of paper that verified that I did indeed live here, and I was all set to turn in my papers again.

Meanwhile, my friend Chris goes back to the Comisaria and tries to turn in his paperwork without the empadronamiento, and his conversation goes something like this:

Policia: Where’s your empadronamiento? It’s obligatory!

Him: I don’t have it, here’s the thing…

Policia: Well…okay.

That’s it? He starts explaining his situation and all of a sudden it’s no longer required? And THEN, yesterday Becky goes to the Policia to see if she, too, can turn in things without the empadronamiento and she’s told no, out of the question. So basically, no one knows what the eff is going on in this office. It really just seems like some people can’t be bothered to require all the paperwork while others are sticklers for these things. It just seems so insane to me, though – how can something be required and then not necessary? Oh wait, but only for some people. If you’re nice enough. Or come on “free for all Friday”. Or something.

So that’s fun bureaucracy adventure #1. #2 comes at the banks. We went through a huge confusion because we wanted to get a bus card, one that you can recharge and use on all the city buses to pay less to ride them. Well, many places didn’t want to give them to us because we didn’t have NIE numbers, but Chris and I found one bank that took our passport number as identification. Becky went to the EXACT same bank and was told no, she needed a NIE to get a bus card. Strange. So I went with her yesterday and explained how I had gotten my card using my passport number, and they were all of a sudden able to do it! I don’t understand! Who makes the rules in this country?! Apparently everyone at once.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share those lovely adventures with y’all back at home for a new perspective on living abroad. : )

xxx

Hola to all!

Having successfully spent a week here without returning home on the next available flight, I feel a lot more settled and confident that I can do this! Haha. I know it sounds dramatic, but this first week has been really rough. I forgot how hard it is to move someplace new and not know anyone, and then to have to settle yourself in and make a place for yourself on your own. It’s just darn tough! But things have gotten better with every day that passes. Here’s a brief update on what’s happened this past week:

1. I’ve spent all week at school, including actually going into one class on Thursday morning. I THINK I have a finalized schedule now, which would put me in the bilingual classes of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years in various subjects. I went into a History/Geography class of 1st years on Thursday and they’re all just so TINY! I guess they’re only 12, but I just can’t believe how small 12 year olds look! I’m sure I was never that small! But they all seemed eager to talk and excited that I’d be there for the year, so I’m hoping to get to know them better soon. This coming week should be our first normal week, so settling into a routine will be nice.

2. I joined a gym, and that has just made me feel so much better! Never underestimate the power of endorphins! I went a couple of times last week and it’s gorgeous – tons of new-looking machines, both cardio and weights, and I think it’ll be good for me, giving me something else to do with my time.

3. I had coffee with Chris, one of the Americans at my school, on Thursday, and he told me about this girl Megan who he also knew that was in Burgos kind of on her own. So I called her up and we met up and went out with Becky and Rachel on Thursday night, and she’s just super nice! And she seems glad to know more Americans in the area, so we’re slowly growing our group of auxiliares with every passing day! So that makes me happy.

4. I caught the bus Friday afternoon back to Logrono for the annual festival of San Mateo/the vendimia (grape harvest). We went out last night and there were just a TON of people in every bar. But TODAY was the official start of the festivities. Oh my goodness, the insanity! We went with about a zillion other people to the main plaza del Ayuntamiento (city hall) today to start off the celebration, and there were tons of groups of people with bottles of wine and gaseosa (a slightly sweet seltzer water), bags of flour and cartons of eggs. They basically then took those things and flung them around the crowd, dousing everyone within reach. Once the welcome ceremonies were over, everyone moved en masse to the old town part of the city and the bars were hopping!! Everywhere was FULL of people, with loud dance music pumping inside and people overflowing out onto the streets, enjoying their beverages. It’s basically just a huge excuse to get totally drunk all day long, as far as I can tell. It was fun to be in for a few hours, but we ended up leaving around 3pm to take a break and make some lunch. But we’re off again tonight to brave the crowds and see what kind of festivities are happening around town.

5. I have officially met some of the new people who are going to be in Logrono this year, and that’s been really fun! Some people had emailed me over the summer, knowing that I’d been there last year, and asked me questions about what to expect, etc. This one girl in particular, Jennis, had been emailing with lots of questions and then actually called a few times this past week with various things she was confused about. So we ended up meeting up yesterday afternoon, and she is just the nicest, most fun person ever! It’s such a shame that we’re not physically going to be in the same place! But since we met yesterday evening, we have just gotten along so well, talking about everything and wandering around, exploring the city together. Her combined with my friends from last year that I met up with yesterday and today, have made me feel so much more comfortable about being back in Spain. Even though we aren’t in the same city, we’re close enough that we’ll be able to visit a fair amount, I hope!

6. I met up with one of my teachers from last year, Inma, for a coffee yesterday evening, too, so it was good to catch up with her, find out how things are at my old instituto, and again, just feel connected to Spain. She and her husband also showed me around the kiosks and stands set up for the festival so I could get more of an insiders’ view of the whole thing.

So, those are the highlights of this past few days, I suppose. I’ll try to figure out how to make pictures happen on this page shortly so you can have an idea of just how many people were out today for this festival – which goes until Sept 27th, by the way, so it’s a long, all-week affair! – and the kind of crazy things they wore and had thrown on them. It’s just really nothing like I’ve ever seen at home before!

Hopefully this coming week will bring many more interesting and new stories to share with everyone!

xxx

Aqui estamos! Can you tell that I have NOTHING to do by how frequently I am updating my life here? I went from not understanding blogs less than a week ago to pouring my life’s energy into them, but there ya go. It just gives you one more way to procrastinate at work? Not that I think I’m the center of everyone’s attention or anything…

So, where’d I leave off? I think I mentioned looking at various apartments and meeting Becky, and I suppose that a lot has happened since then, despite the fact that I sometimes feel like the day is dragging on. Asi es la vida!

I went to school for the first time yesterday, and nothing could have made me feel more welcome here, to be honest. Some of you may have known this, but there was minor confusion between when our contract said we were supposed to start work (Sept 15th) and when the director of us Americans at my school said we should start (Oct 1st), so I arrived on Friday knowing that perhaps there’d be nothing for me to do right away. So we met up with Ramon, the teacher in charge of the bilingual program at my instituto, yesterday at 10, and we were immediately launched into the whole introductions, sorting out the schedules type of “first day of school” behavior. Oh, and it WAS the first day of school for the students, too! No wonder they don’t normally have auxiliares like me come into work until the beginning of October, so that they can breathe a bit! But nevermind.

Everyone was SO helpful and friendly yesterday, it made me remember why I liked being here in the first place. It sounds like, in contrast to last year, we’re going to almost be exclusively working with the bilingual program at the instituto, which means that we’ll be working in classrooms, teaching random other subjects, but just doing it in English. Needless to say, that means that all my preparation from last year is likely not going to be used much this year, since I may not be doing very much actual English language teaching. But it’s for challenges and differences like this that I decided to head to another part of Spain in the first place, and I think it’s going to be a very different, but good, experience. And after learning I was a history major, they’ve thoughtfully put me into history and geography classrooms. I was originally signed up to spend an hour in the Physics/Chemistry class, which just made me laugh. I think it’s in everyone’s best interest that THAT didn’t work out due to scheduling!

Another part of our day as teachers is going to be in this afterschool “taller de teatro,” or theatre workshop. It sounds like every grade in the bilingual program (and it’s a new program, so it’s only the first three grades out of six at the school) has a once-a-week 2-hour theatre workshop where they practice language through the expression of it. Or something? It could be really fun, I think, provided I don’t have to do any “show them how it’s done” acting. Haha.

And then I found an apartment! I ended up choosing the expensive one I mentioned earlier, only because I know it’ll make me happy. I moved my stuff in yesterday, which was fun and relaxing – nice to have things in their place. And then I adventured off to find the local supermarket, Mercadona, which is about a 10-15 minute walk. So on a nice day on the walk THERE it’s perfectly wonderful, but the walk back was a bitch. Mental note: learn the bus system quickly!

Nextly, Becky and I met up with Rachel, the girl who taught at this same instituto last year, for a coffee. It was REALLY nice to talk to her, if only because she reassured us that we’d be fine, that the school was really great, that the program was cool, and that the teachers are just stupendous. Actually, I think, being British, the word she used all the time was “lovely,” but I paraphrase.

I also found the libraries here yesterday, which really WAS lovely! I have to go get myself a passport-type photo shortly so that I can get a library card and start borrowing. I can hear you all thinking, “Oh, Kara!” and laughing at me even from across the world, but it makes me happy, so I tune it all out. And seriously, I’m excited.

Oooh, and I went out to the Couchsurfing meeting last night at a bar here in town and met some nice people, although the whole thing was a bit overwhelming because a) they’re all friends already and b) it’s hard listening to 7 people chatter away in Spanish with loud music in the background. But they seem really nice and hopefully will be a group I can go out with occasionally, just to have a group to do that with. And at the very least, it was nice to get out and do something in the evening, as opposed to just sitting around and missing home.

And finally, we met Chris today, the third American that’s going to be working at the instituto this year. He seems quite nice, although on the awkward side (here’s hoping he never reads this!). Maybe he’s just shy and coming out of his shell, so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Hell, I’ll take all the friends I can get at this juncture! Haha.

Anyway, favorite people in the world, that’s all I have to say for today. Undoubtedly another ramble will follow!

xxx

So! I have arrived! [Translation of the title: I've arrived in Burgos] But not without some minor (and incredibly stupid to admit) setbacks along the way, might I add! But nevermind…I’m here, I can still speak Spanish, and the weather isn’t insanely cold yet, all positive things.

My flight from SFO left around 10:30 on Thursday morning (September 11th, which made me SLIGHTLY less excited about flying, which you all know isn’t my favorite activity anyway!), and once I arrived at the airport and attempted to check in, I was directed to a kiosk which had a passport scanner to verify my identity. Wait, I’m supposed to have a passport???? Okay, I have travelled internationally many times in my life, and NEVER have I forgotten my passport. Not once. But for whatever reason, while I brought absolutely everything else that I might need for the next year, I totally spaced that all important piece of documentation. So I promptly freak out, call my (lovely!!) parents to inform them of my gaffe, and my (incredibly amazing!!) mother drove allll the way back to SFO from home, for the second time that morning, to get me my passport so that I didn’t miss my plane. IDIOT. I pretty much still can’t believe that I did that, and I have a feeling my loving friends and family won’t let me forget it for a loooong time.

But I arrived, as I said, 24+ hours later in Burgos, absolutely exhausted from three planes, a metro ride, and a bus trip. Luckily for me, my roommate from last year’s boyfriend’s son (got the connection?) lives in Burgos and came without question to pick me up from the bus station and take me to my hotel, saving me the stress of finding a taxi, which was SO NICE and unnecessary of him. He also then took me out to tapas with his family, making me feel very welcome after such a long trip. Keep in mind, I’ve met this man and his family probably twice in my life, very briefly each time, and they had absolutely no obligation to help me. But they did, and I am eternally grateful. It saved me from going to my hotel room at 9pm, not being sleepy and thinking about how much I missed home. So thank God for small miracles and generous people.

Saturday – day two – I met up with my roommate from last year and her boyfriend, and they took me on a mini-driving tour of the city, showing me where my school is (a good busride or 30 minute walk out of the center) and where the university is located, and then they took me out to a yummy Italian lunch. Basically, again, just making me feel welcomed and like I actually belong in this country. I know people here. People aren’t going to let me disappear off the face of the planet. I’m going to survive. Siiiiiiiigh.

Next order of business: find an apartment! I went off to turismo to get a map and then began calling people. Again, Andrés (the nice son of the boyfriend) had picked up many random numbers of people offering apartments for university students, and he passed those onto me Friday night. So I basically cold-called these people (again, NOT my favorite activity!), trying to find a place that wasn’t too far from the center, didn’t cost a zillion dollars, and that had internet. The internet thing is proving to be the sticking point, for sure. Apparently it’s just not as ubiquitous in houses here as it is at home, and I’m sorry, I just don’t think I can live without it (I think this is the point where my dad starts muttering, “What a Millenial!”)!

The first place I saw yesterday was lovely, with a really nice, fun girl as a roommate, but it was just too far from the center on a relatively untrafficked road, which made me nervous. NOT that I’ll EVER be out until 3am, but just in case I AM, I don’t really want to be walking home that way all by myself. So unfortunately, that one’s out. I saw another one in the evening which was fine, but again, a little far away and without internet. I learned that there are apparently “personal internet” kits you can buy here and put into your USB hub in order to have internet all the time, though, so I think I’ll look into those as an option. If that works and I can pay an extra 20-30€/month for internet and not be totally inconvenienced in my apartment’s location, then that would be perfect!

But then came today. I looked at THE most gorgeous, most perfect apartment I’ve ever seen on a beautiful street in Burgos. Close to the center, new, with a washer AND a dryer, with internet and TVs and a landline that I can make calls on, etc, etc, but it’s expensive. 370€ per month, when all the rest of the apartments are between 200-300€. So now comes the fun rationalization process in order to decide whether I can actually spend that amount. We shall see…

And lastly, yesterday I met up with this girl, Becky, who is going to be working at the same school as me this coming year. Which was SO NICE. We’d talked once over the phone and many times via facebook, but it was so great to finally MEET her and have at least one friend here in Burgos! We went out for tapas and a good wander through the streets and talked for awhile. And she has already met some French-speaking girls who are also teaching here, so hopefully this is the beginning of a little group! Yay! That on its own just makes me about a zillion times calmer.

Tomorrow I start school and meet up with the Couchsurfing people in the evening, so hopefully from there I can make myself some new friends, too! I need to keep reminding myself that I’ll be fine, that I know people here, that my apartment situation will work out soon and in a great way. And this weekend I’m going to Logroño to see my friends from last year, and that’ll be wonderful and comfortable and a good recharge for my batteries. Hopefully the next time I write to you it’s from my own internet!

Muchos besos a todos!