Staff Christmas Party

This afternoon after school was our Christmas party at the school. Erin and I went to dinner with about 25 other teachers, and were served a big Spanish meal at a restaurant near our house. We had 4 different entrees (most of which were seafood) a main course, and dessert. In true Spanish style, the party continued long into the night, as when lunch ended later that evening, we continued on to one of our favourite bars in Rota - El Torito ("little bull").

Porto

On Saturday morning, we woke up in a new Portuguese city: Porto. Porto is the second biggest city in Portugal, and is famous for its Port wine. We had all day Saturday to explore this new city, and luckily Jodie knew a girl from Porto (Filippa) who spent all day showing us around. My favourite part of Porto was the Douro river, which runs through the middle of the city. There were many beautiful views to be found around the river, especially once the sun started to set.

A group picture in front of the Douro River: Ellen, Jodie, Bea, me, Grace, Rebecca, and Eilidh.

The city streets were also very pretty as there are Christmas decorations, especially Christmas lights, everywhere! We also got to see the biggest Christmas tree in Europe, and it was huge! By the end of the day, we were again so tired from all the walking we had done that we just ended up going out for dinner at the typical Portuguese restaurant that Filippa brought us to, then going back to the hostel to bed.

The biggest Christmas tree in Europe.

Sightseeing in Lisbon

On Saturday we spent most of the day sightseeing Lisbon as it was our only day to get it all done! We woke up somewhat early and had breakfast (it was actually free at the amazing hostel we stayed at called "Hostel Lemon Lisbon"). We mostly just wandered around the city all day, as we didn't know what the big sights to see were. We did find lots of great views of the city though, as the city is built almost entirely on very steep hills. This also made for a lot of walking and exhaustion, so by noon we had to stop for a coffee break and relax. Afterwards we took a tram back up into the hills to finish exploring.

A pretty view of Lisbon.

The rest of the day passed by quickly, and after lunch, we decided it would be fun to go ice skating in one of the squares we had passed. We did our best, but almost everyone fell down at least once. Most of the other girls are from places where ice skating is not very popular, and the ice skates were very awkward anyways (they were more like ski boots than ice skates!) Since we had worn ourselves out from all the skating, we decided to head straight to our next destination, which was good since we didn't make it to Porto until midnight that night!

Ellen (left), Eilidh (right), and I showing off our ice skating skills.

Road Trip to Portugal

Since we had a Thursday and Friday off this past weekend, I went on a road trip to Portugal with our language assistant friends from Utrera (Eilidh and Ellen) and Córdoba (Jodie, Grace, and Rebecca) and an English teacher from Córdoba named Bea.

The trip began when we all met in Seville on Thursday morning. The girls from Córdoba had rented a 7-person van, but with all of our luggage it was still a bit of a tight squeeze. It was a long trip to Lisbon (about 4.5 hours), but it was definitely worth it. Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal, and the largest in the country (approx. 2.8 million inhabitants). The city is very hilly, with some beautiful views.

Our van

Once we were finally in the city we drove around for another hour trying to navigate through the city streets to find our hostel. We had to stop and ask for directions several times, and it was strange to hear people speaking Portuguese instead of Spanish. The really strange part was that I found I could understand most of what they were saying. It was like a weird mix of Spanish and Italian words, with a few different sounds thrown in for good measure. This was lucky though, since we needed all the help we could get to make it to our hostel.

Since it had taken so long to get to the hostel and get settled in, we were all pretty hungry by te time we got there, so we decided to go find some dinner. We ended up in a little side street where we found a cute little Portuguese restaurant. The owner recommended the special, and brought us two gigantic platters of pork and steak, along with French fries and salads. It was all delicious!

Our first Portuguese meal: Bea, me, Jodie, Rebecca, Eilidh, and Grace.

My Birthday in Spain

Yesterday was my 22nd birthday, and I had a great day! I woke up to my phone ringing early in the morning... it was my mom and my sister calling to sing "Happy Birthday" to me! Then I called a friend from home and we ended up talking for an hour and a half, until the credit on my phone ran out. By then it was quarter past nine, so I had to quickly get ready and rush off to school! Then when I finally got to school, I found out that both of the teachers that I have one-on-one conversation classes with on Tuesdays couldn't have class, so I basically had a free day. I couldn't go home though, because after school I was going to Victoria's house to tutor her daughters. When I got there, they all surprised me with a birthday present (a nice, soft blanket), cards (written in English of course!) and even a birthday cake with candles. What sweet kids!

Teresa and Maria (they only had one '2' candle, so they improvised!)

Then later that night, Rachael, Erin, Nuria, Jerry and I went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Rota, which I hadn't even realized existed! We finished the night off with some drinking, pool, and hanging out in an almost empty bar (it was Tuesday night after all) called "Los Arcos" until 2:00 am. Good thing I only had an hour of work today!

Utrera

Since my birthday is coming up next week, Rachael, Erin and I decided to pre-celebrate by going to hang out in Utrera with a big group of language assistants (we seem to congregate here as we are all in similar situations and have a lot in common). We started out on Saturday morning by meeting our friend Ellen in Seville for an entire day of shopping! I love the stores here... specifically H&M, Zara, Mango, Sfera... there are just too many to name! Plus I just got paid on Friday, so I ended up buying a ton of new clothes.

After our shopping spree, we met up with Nuria and some of her friends, and Brian, a friend of Ellen's for lunch. Then we went to Utrera, about 20 minutes outside of Seville, where Ellen lives with our other friend Eilidh (although she was away for the weekend). Utrera is a cute town, and it is a lot bigger than Rota (about twice the size). It even has a train station with a train that goes right into the big city of Seville, so we were slightly jealous! For dinner Erin, who is a cook back home in Michigan, whipped us up some delicious pasta with chicken. Afterwards we went to Evan and Amanda's apartment (more language assistants who live in Utrera) and met even more language assistants! This brought our total to 9 girls and 1 guy, with a whole lot of alcohol, so got a little crazy! After a couple hours of predrinking there, we headed to the first bar, where Amanda bought me a birthday shot! We went to one other bar, and then it was late enough, we headed to the disco. Since discos in Spain don't get busy or sometimes don't even open until 2:00 or 3:00 am, we ended up having a late night. I finally got back to Ellen's at 5:30 am, which means that today I am doing absolutely nothing!

Random Spaniard, Amanda, Rachael, Sam, and me... doing a birthday shot!

Tutoring

Today I started tutoring two of the sweetest girls ever! They are the daughters of one of the teachers that I work with at the high school. She found out that I was interested in giving private English classes, so she asked me to tutor her two girls. Since she lives in El Puerto, 15 minutes away from Rota, she will be driving me to her house after school every Tuesday. Then I eat lunch with her and her family, and play with/tutor the girls for a few hours (she basically left the length of the "classes" up to me and said to stay as long as I wanted. Then I just keep track of these hours and she will pay me at the end of the month!

So far, things are going great! I love these girls already, and I think they like me too. Maria, who is eight years old, already asked me to sleep over at their house tonight, and she also wanted me to go to her English class! Teresa, who is twelve years old, speaks English well and understands a lot of what I say. Maria understands a lot less but has a better English accent than most of the adults I've heard speak English here.

This job came at the perfect time, as I was starting to get really bored here in Rota! At least this will occupy one night a week!

Weather Update

As you can probably see from the frequency of my posts, the last two weeks here in Rota have been pretty boring. Since our little road trip to Malaga, the only major thing that's happened here is that it got cold! Well, for awhile anyways. Last week was cold and rainy, and Rachael and I have decided we are going to need a heater of some kind (that's right, we don't actually have central heating in our apartment). Up until last week, this wasn't a problem, even at night as we have nice warm blankets to curl up in. But this past weekend was COLD! Don't get me wrong, it only ever dropped to somewhere between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius, even during the night, but without central heating, and considering the fact that our building is a huge concrete block and there are no carpets or rugs on the floor, it gets more than a little chilly. Most of the time, it's actually colder inside our apartment than it is outside, although that does make for a pleasant surprise when I do venture into the great outdoors.

The only other problem I have is the rain... it doesn't rain often, but when it does, it pours! And if it happens to be windy at the same time (which it was this weekend... actually is felt like a hurricane), then our kitchen window leaks and the floor gets covered in water! We're hoping to get that problem fixed soon though... even if we have to do it ourselves!

Luckily it has warmed up a bit (today was 16 degrees and sunny) and the rain has stopped for now. I still consider myself lucky though, especially since yesterday it was -19 in Edmonton!

Road Trip

Rachael and Erin... and the car.

Yesterday we rented a car and went on our first road trip in Spain! Okay, so we just went to the Málaga airport to pick up Rachael's boyfriend, but it was fun nonetheless... The car rental for 1 day was fairly cheap too. It cost about €50 for the car rental (we went through Aurigae Crown rentals) plus a tank of gas (about €30). All in all, the road trip made me appreciate not being placed on the Costa del Sol / in the province of Málaga, because it was one long coast of tourist cities, with construction everywhere. I like our own beach here in Rota much better, even if it isn't quite as warm here! One other thing that we noticed on our road trip was the stop signs - interestingly enough, the signs here all say STOP... in English!

Huevos and huevas

This afternoon in Jerez de la Frontera, Rachael, Erin and I learned a very important lesson about the Spanish language. We were ordering a bunch of tapas at a bar to share, and had decided to get some eggs. Fried eggs (huevos) with French fries are a popular dish to get here. We assumed that huevos a la plancha was simply a literal translation of fried eggs (since a la plancha usually means grilled). However, in our rush to order, we failed to notice that the word on the menu was huevas with an 'a', not huevos with an 'o' as we had thought. So when the waitress brought out the dish, we were surprised to see something that didn't really resemble fried eggs. The dish looked like some kind of meat with a white sauce similar to mayonnaise. Although I wasn't entirely sure what the meat was, I took a big bite, thinking that it couldn't be anything too horrible... and it wasn't too bad. I thought it was a bit plain, but kind of weird, so I didn't eat anymore. Rachael and Erin both thought it had a fishy taste to it.

Well, they were on the right track. When we texted our Spanish friend Nuria to find out what it was for sure, we were told that huevas are fish ovaries! That's right... I'm still not sure if there were actually eggs inside or not, but either way - gross!

So the obvious lesson to gain from this experience is that as insignificant as the difference between masculine and feminine may seem to us English speakers, one day it may mean the difference between eggs and fish ovaries for you too!

Segovia

For our second day trip from Madrid, Princess and I went to Segovia. This time it took us about an hour and a half by bus, but it was definitely worth it. Like Toledo, Segovia has many sites to see. Soon after we left the bus station, we arrived at the base of an ancient Roman aqueduct. Supposedly it was built sometime in the 1st or 2nd century AD in order to bring water to the town from a nearby river. The Romans built it entirely with stones... as in nothing is holding the stones in place! This huge aqueduct is not only still standing, but it actually still works as well.

Aqueduct (and that's me at the bottom!)

Since we hadn't gotten to Segovia until later on in the day, after seeing the aqueduct we stopped for lunch. We had been told that there were two typically Segovian foods that we had to try, so we did. First we had judiones (some kind of beans in a soup) and then we had conchinillo (suckling pig). For me, the judiones were nothing special, but the conchinillo was delicious... although it was a little strange to be eating pork with a leg and hoof still attached to it. On the bright side, we didn't get the head... that honour went to our neighbours at the table beside us!

After dinner we were slightly rushed for the cathedral and the Alcázar, as it was starting to get cold outside. We managed to make it inside the cathedral before it closed, and it was beautiful inside, with huge gothic ceilings and elaborately decorated chapels.

Cathedral

Unfortunately, by the time we got to the Alcázar, we couldn't go inside. It was amazing even from the outside though. It is said that the design of the Alcázar influenced the design of the castle in Disney's Sleeping Beauty, and I can see why!

Alcázar

The most exciting part of the day was by far what happened later at the bus station though... we were just about at the front of the line to purchase our tickets for the bus home when a Spanish woman at the front of the line started yelling at the man in the ticket booth. Apparently the bus wouldn't be coming after all, so we would all have to wait for the 8 o'clock bus. This made the woman and a few of her friends very upset, and they were all yelling, saying that it was the bus company's "obligation" to get another bus right away! I believe she then proceeded to call the police to explain the situation and demand that they do something as well! Of course, all of this was wasted effort... although it was interesting for me, as I discovered I could understand her fairly well even though she was yelling and quite agitated. Princess and I ended up waiting patiently and taking the 8 o'clock bus back to Madrid.

Toledo

So yesterday I arrived in Madrid for the long weekend (Thursday was All Saints Day, so we also had Friday off). I am staying here with a friend named Princess, who is another language assistant and is working here in Madrid... I know, I really need to widen my circle of friends here.

Anyways, today we decided to go to Toledo, which is about an hour by bus outside of Madrid. Toledo was once the capital of the Spanish Empire, but now it's mostly just a small medieval town popular with tourists. The old part of the city is located on a mountaintop above the Tagus River, which meant that from the top, there was a beautiful view.

Princess and I overlooking the city of Toledo.

We got up late, took the bus, and then just wandered around the city, so it was very relaxing. It was a beautiful day and we managed to see both the cathedral and the Alcazar while still having time to get completely lost in the side streets of Toledo!

Catedral de Santa María de Toledo

Being a tourist

Today we got to be tourists in our own town! Maria Jose, Rachael's coordinator at her school, set up a tour of Rota's castle and church for us today. She knows we are here to learn Spanish, so she even arranged with the tour guide to give us the tour in Spanish, but to speak slowly and clearly so we could understand. The tour was actually a lot more interesting than I had been expecting... I even found out that one of the men who sailed to America with Christopher Columbus was from Rota! And the view from the top of the castle was amazing, especially since we happened to be up there just as the sun was setting. Plus when we left we each got a bag full of Rota paraphenalia... I am now the proud owner of a DVD of Rota, a Rota keychain, a Rota lanyard, and lots of other cool things!

Halloween

Although today was Halloween, it pretty much passed us by without much notice in Spain. I've been talking to my teachers about Halloween all week, but on the actual day of the big event, Rachael, Erin and I had no plans. I was only at school for just over an hour today, as I only had one class, but I didn't see any costumes or decorations at all.

In this short amount of time, I did however have at least 3 different teachers tell me that I was not dressed appropriately for the weather. Keep in mind that although the weather has started cooling down here in Rota, and it was fairly windy today, it was still about 20 degrees Celsius. They all told me that the reason I was sick with a cold is because I was wearing sandals and not proper shoes! Apparently in Spain, it is a widely held belief that when your feet are cold, it causes all sorts of problems and it is just not good for your health! Either way, it was nice to have people worrying about me.

Payday!

I got paid today! After a month of working, I was finally given my first paycheque today... Although there was some confusion about who I was supposed to be paid through: the Junta de Andalucía (ie. the school) or MEC (the program which I applied to to get this job). We tried to sort it out, but in the end we just had to wait an extra week to find out, because although one of the many boring speakers at orientation had tried to explain this detail to us, I couldn't understand them as the whole thing was in Spanish!

It's a good thing I had plenty of money in the bank to last me until now.

Unfortunately the cheque the school gave me was through a bank called BBVA, and my bank account that I set up was with the Banco de Andalucia. This meant I would have had to wait in line at one bank to cash the cheque (so that the school is not charged a fee), then go wait in line at my bank to deposit the money. To get around this, I decided to set up a second Spanish bank account. I had originally wanted to open an account at the BBVA, but they wouldn't let me do it with just a passport. Expecting difficulties, today I went in prepared: I had my cheque, a letter from the Junta de Andalucia which we received at orientation that explained our situation and what we would be using the bank account for, and my NIE certificate. I think it was the NIE that did the job, as she needed some sort of an ID number and they are not allowed to open accounts with only a passport - you must be a resident of some kind. However, they gave me a much better account as I can now take out 600 Euros at a time instead of only 150 Euros (like at the Banco de Andalucia). Plus, with the Blue Joven plan they gave me, you do not have to pay any fees if you are under 25!

Getting groceries

Tonight we were lucky enough to be able to borrow our neighbour Nuria's car to go to the grocery store and stock up on heavy food. Normally we have to walk to the grocery store, and we only buy as much as we can carry, so today it was nice to be able to buy bottles of pop and cartons of milk without having to worry about that. Although that also meant that one of us had to drive. Erin had the honour of being the chosen one, since she is Nuria's roommate and was the one who actually borrowed the car. And she did a great job!

An interesting fact that we have discovered about Spanish grocery stores is that they all seem to carry completely different stock. I know this because we have 4 different grocery stores in Rota (Mercadona, Carrefour, SuperSol and Dia) and every time I go shopping at one of them, there is at least one thing on my list that I absolutely cannot find at the grocery store I am at, no matter which one it is. Some have a better pastry section, some carry different types of pasta and sauces but not others, and some just don't have certain food.

So far I am adjusting to Spanish food fairly well... mostly I live in denial and cook the same food as I do at home! There are some things that I've had to get used to though. For example, in Spain most milk comes in a box, not a carton. This kind of milk is only partially pasteurized as it is heated at a high temperature and only for a few seconds, a process called ultra-high temperature treatment (UHT). Milk pasteurized in this way retains more nutrients and can be stored unrefrigerated (as long as it is unopened) for six to nine MONTHS! Apparently this type of milk is very popular in Europe though, and I've jumped on the bandwagon . My only advice: ust don't drink the skimmed or semi-skimmed versions!

Visitors

This weekend we had a great time showing our FIRST visitors around Rota! Some language assistant friends came down from Utrera and Córdoba and they stayed with us on Friday night. First we took them out for some tapas at this cute, cheap little place that we found last week. The food was all amazing!


Then we took them to a small dance club in town, and we had fun even though the music wasn't anything special!


Of course we also spent some time on the beach, and then yesterday afternoon we took the ferry over to Cádiz, where we stayed the night to check out the clubs. We stayed at Casa Caracol, which was a nice enough hostel for 17€ per night. It had a great kitchen, free breakfast and free internet, but the building was very old, the beds basic, and there were no lockers or even doors on the rooms. After a delicious breakfast of churros con chocolate we headed over to the old part of town and spent a few hours sitting on the wall above the ocean, admiring the view while we waited to take the afternoon ferry back to Rota.

Other blogs

Since getting the internet, I've taken to reading all about other language assistants experiences on their blogs. I also found some of these blogs to be a invaluable resource of information about the program before I had applied. So, in order to help out the rest of you would-be language assistants, I have posted links to my favourite blogs out there. Enjoy!

1. Hola Jessica
2. Jaen, Spain Travel Blog
3. The Europicurean Experience
4. Buena pinta: Un año en España
5. Cool Title Pending..

Strike

As the title of this entry implies, there was a strike at my school in Rota today! Why would the teachers go on strike you ask? Well actually, it was the students who went on strike! Mostly it was just some of the 1o and 2o Bachillerato students, but it was still a big deal for me, as I have never known students to go on strike at home. When I arrived at the school today, there was a large group of very loud students (they actually had a bullhorn and everything) chanting in the street, and policemen were there stopping traffic. The students were protesting the additional class time that was added to the schedules of all the Institutos in Rota as of this Wednesday. Our school decided that meant we would start at 8:15am (instead of 8:30) every day and that we would have longer classes (1 hour instead of 55 minutes) and that the second recreo (break) would only be 10 minutes (instead of 15).

Even the teachers weren't happy about this change, and they put up quite the fuss about it at the meeting we had on Tuesday when they broke the bad news to us. I can understand their frustration though, especially since school started almost a month and a half ago and they are being forced to change their whole schedules now. Not to mention the fact that they don't get paid anything extra, although they will be working longer every day.

Oh, and did I mention that we don't even have any idea when exactly all of the school holidays are yet? Plus we have a holiday coming up on Thursday, November 1st, and none of the teachers know if we have school on the Friday or not! Just another one of those things that takes some getting used to I guess!

A Day In The Country

Today we were lucky enough to be invited out to a Spanish home just outside Rota, or en el campo as they say in Spanish. A teacher at Rachael's school, Maria José, invited us to have lunch with her and her husband's family. They have a little house right on the beach, although it is very rocky there, especially compared to our beautiful sandy beach in Rota.

When we first got there, Maria José's father-in-law showed us around. He actually has his own beehives and makes homemade honey which he then sells in Rota. He explained the whole process to us, and it was quite interesting. He said he had just finished collecting the honey 3 days earlier, so all he has left to do now is bottle the honey.

They really put a lot of effort in the lunch they served us. We started with whole sardines, followed by an amazing tortilla española made by Maria José herself. Then we had plates and plates of different meats, cheeses, and salads. The main plate however, was the paella. Paella is a rice dish made with saffron and olive oil that comes from Valencia. It can be made with all different kinds of meat, but ours was made with chicken and pork. It is made in special paella pan, which is a large, shallow, flat pan. After dinner, we had tintilla, a very strong, very sweet wine that is unique to Rota because it is made from a special grape that grows in the area. For dessert, we had an amazing dish called torrijas, or bread pudding. It is basically French toast, but they let the bread go stale, and then soak in in the tintilla before frying it and serving it in honey. It was the most delicious dessert ever! Then after the dessert, we kept on eating, as they brought out fresh granadas (pomegranates).

Finally, we had another mini tour of the actual farm area, and got to hold 1-day old baby goats! All in all it was a great day in Spain!

Botellón

Last night Rachael and I decided to party in Rota, which we usually do at least once a week. Since we are both short on cash until we get paid at the end of the month, we did some predrinking at the apartment. I mixed up my new favourite drink which I discovered here in Spain - Malibu rum with pineapple juice (Malibu con piña) and we were also drinking sangria and doing shots of vodka.

We walked around town for a bit, trying to find a busy place. At first we headed to a disco which we had found while walking around, but it looked closed, so we went towards the port, hoping to find people and a busy club or something. What we found was even better - we ran into the botellón (literally translated, it means "the big bottle"). Botellón is what all the teenagers in Spain do - they take empty bottles or cups, alcohol, and some kind of drink mix or juice and they drink in a big group on the street. In Rota, the "designated area" happens to be along the port. There must have been about a hundred kids milling around, all between the ages of about 15 and 19. And although it became illegal to drink in public in December in Spain, there were police only a little ways away from the group of kids and no one was trying to break up the party, so I get the feeling that they kind of turn a blind eye to this kind of thing and don't really enfore the new law.

On the way home, we stopped in the town's Irish pub. Rachael and her parents had gone there a few times when she first got to Rota, and she had made friends with the Irish guy (Patrick) who owns the place. Because of that and because it's generally fairly busy, we like to stop by and have a drink once in a while. Not to mention the fact that last night, for the second time, Patrick gave us free shots! I could get used to that...

Cádiz by ferry

Since we had no real plans this weekend, we set aside this morning to go explore Cádiz. Since it's so close, we didn't feel rushed or pressured to see everything, so we basically just wandered around the city.

We got there by taking the ferry from the port in Rota, which left at 11:00 AM this morning. We got there pretty early (at 10:20 AM) because last Saturday we tried to go to Cádiz and by the time we got there at 10:55 AM, all 150 tickets had already been sold and the next ferry didn't leave for 4 hours. I think we were there way too early today though, because even when we boarded the ferry at 11:00 AM there weren't that many people. I think last weekend was probably so busy because it was a long weekend.

Once we were on the ferry, we sat next to some nice old Spanish ladies, and Erin struck up a conversation with them, so we got to speak some Spanish. It turns out that one of the ladies is actually our neighbour - she lives a couple floors beneath us, in the same building!

After 35 minutes on the ferry, we arrived in Cádiz and walked around for a few hours. We found a great little café where we had delicious pastries and coffee. Then we just wandered and did some window shopping... we ended up finding a big parade of some kind with bagpipe music and everything! They had a bit of a float and they were carrying it around with crowds of people trailing behind it. No idea what it was all about, but it was pretty cool. We also ended up finding the city's market, which was completely insane and full of every kind of seafood you could possibly imagine!

Of course, the whole city started to shut down for siesta around 2:00 PM, so we caught the ferry home and had a relaxing afternoon at home, like true Spaniards.

Internet at last!

Today we finally have finally been reconnected to the rest of the world! We now have wireless Internet in our apartment! It was interesting getting everything set up for this day to finally come, and it was all done in Spanish, which I think is pretty impressive...

It wasn't easy, what with the guy from ONO calling me 7 times (that's right, 7 times!) to make sure I would be home when he came, and then because he kept getting lost trying to get to our apartment. Plus he didn't seem to understand my Spanish for some reason... I think he was just being stubborn!

He eventually got to the apartment (once I finally met him downstairs because he couldn't find the huge number 5 sign by the door of our building!) and set to work... drilling holes in the wall! And he didn't even ask if he could! So although he did a pretty good job filling in the holes and there are almost invisible, we may have a slight problem getting our damage deposit back.

Anyways, the important thing is, we now have Internet! And the best part is we had signed up during a promotion, so the installation was free and we also got 40 free channels of cable! So supposedly all we have to pay is the 50€ for our WiFi router.

Choosing an Internet provider

Today we got some good news about our Internet (which we have been trying to have hooked up for a week now). But first, here is the basics that you need to know about Internet in Spain:

There are two internet companies (that I know of) here in Spain: Telefonica (ADSL) and ONO (cable). With Telefonica, you have to get a phone line installed before you can have the Internet. The phone line costs 18€ per month, and the Internet costs an additional 45€ per month. If we split that between the four of us, it is really not that expensive, plus we would have a landline telephone.

With ONO you get twice the speed (6MB vs. 3MB with Telefonica) for the same price. Not to mention that you don't need to install a phone line, so that saves you a little money. Obviously, we decided to go with this option.

The only problem was that when we called ONO, they did not have our address on file, so they told us that we could not have cable internet. So last Monday, we signed a contract with Telefonica and they said they would send a technician to hook up the phone line in the next week. Then we would have to go back to the store to pick up the modem and Wifi router. By today, we still hadn't had any contact with Telefonica, and for some strange reason ONO kept tormenting us with their never-ending flyers shoved under our door showing us exactly what we were missing out on.

Finally tonight we caught the girls who were handing out the ONO flyers. When we demanded (politely of course, and in Spanish!) why they would keep giving us these useless flyers when we couldn't even get their service if we wanted to, they proceeded to come into our kitchen and explain. Apparently they had a different address on file than we had been using, and once we discovered that, we were able to sign up for ONO internet. Luckily, we were able to cancel the installation with Telefonica thanks to the really nice lady that works there!

So we should have cable internet in the next week or so now...

Paperwork

Finally we have finished with most of our paperwork to stay here in Spain for eight months. Rachael, Erin and I went to the comisaría de policia (police station) in Rota yesterday and then again today to get everything sorted out, and the following is what we found out. Keep in mind that comisarías are generally only open Monday-Friday from 9:30 am – 1:30 pm.

If you are Canadian or American:
You will need to get at least 2 Spanish passport-sized photos taken and bring them with you. You also need to fill out a form to get your NIE (Número de Identidad de Extranjero) and another form to get permission to ‘study’ in Spain. Finally, you will need 2 photocopies (1 for each form) of your ENTIRE passport (this means every single page, even the ones that are completely blank). They will take your forms and photocopies, and then they should give you a copy of the permission form and tell you when you can come back to pick up your NIE certificate. The permission form may have to be sent to a bigger city (ours had to go to Cádiz) and they will ask for a phone number on the form where they can contact you when it’s finished.

If you are British or a member of the European Union:
You will also need to fill out the NIE form, but the other form is an application for residency. You will only need 1 photocopy of the main page of your passport (the one with your photo) and the two forms. You should receive your NIE certificate right away at the police station, and then you’re done!

Lunch in Rota

This afternoon Nuria invited Erin, Rachael and me out for lunch with some teachers from her school. We met them around 3:30 PM and somehow this "lunch" didn't end until 9:00 PM! And that is only because Rachael and I decided not to go out for more drinks and finally just went home.

First we ate at a restaurant in town which serves mostly seafood... not exactly my favourite food in the world. But I made an effort to try everything, and it wasn't too bad. We had chocos fritos (fried squid), mejillones (mussels), and pulpo a la gallega (Galician octopus), and I actually didn't mind any of it. The squid was almost completely flavourless, just a little chewy and the mussels just tasted like the lemon we put on it. The octopus was little bit strange, but it was mostly the sucker from the tentacle that was disturbing for me, although I ate it anyways!

After this long Spanish-style lunch, we went for drinks at a couple of different places in Rota, then went down to the beach to watch the sun set, which was really pretty. After all this, the other teachers wanted to go have a light supper, but we decided to pass and went home for the night.

Siesta

It’s been a few days since my last post, and since then I have had two more days of conversation classes with the teachers at my school. It’s been fun and I have had a chance to get to know some of the younger teachers better as they invited me out for “coffee” with them the other day. It was a lot of fun, and I especially enjoyed finally having a chance to practice my Spanish!

I say “coffee” with quotation marks because in Spain, people tend to have a small breakfast in the morning, with maybe just some milk, or a piece of toast. Then at about 10:30 or 11:00 am, they have a 2nd breakfast which involves something a little more filling, like a sandwich, and is generally accompanied by some coffee. Their lunch, which is the biggest meal of the day for Spaniards, doesn’t happen until siesta time between 2:00 and 6:00 pm. Since lunch happens so late in the day, students at the schools don’t actually have a lunch break, and instead they get a 20-minute break in the morning and a 15-minute break in the afternoon. Then they just go home to have lunch at 3:00 pm when school finishes.

During the siesta, almost all the shops in town close (except for large chain grocery stores) and then they reopen after siesta at 6:00 pm and stay open until about 9:00 pm. This makes it really hard to get errands done during the daytime. Then since everyone has a big lunch so late in the day, supper doesn’t happen until sometime between 8:00 and 10:00 pm and is usually a much smaller meal than what we would have at home.

I think I’m slowly adjusting to this crazy schedule, and by the end of my eight months here, I might even be hooked!

La Mesquita

We are still here in Córdoba, and the weather is great! Now here is some interesting information for you about this beautiful city…

Córdoba was once the largest city in Western Europe (this was from about 900-1000 BC) and it was also the hub of the Moorish Empire. Nowadays however, it is a modestly-sized city of 310,000 people. This morning we decided to do some real sightseeing of Córdoba while we were there, so we went to a place called the Mesquita (Spanish for ‘mosque’).

The Mesquita is now a Roman-Catholic cathedral, although it was originally intended to be a mosque, and at one time was the second-largest mosque in the world. It is now considered to be the most important Islamic monument in the Western world. The most interesting parts of the Mesquita were the various Christian chapels placed around the inside of the building, as well as the huge cathedral in the middle. These clearly mark the transition of the Mesquita from an Islamic mosque into a Christian church.

Córdoba

Since we have a long weekend, Rachael and I are taking advantage of this fact and we are in Córdoba visiting some language assistant friends of ours. We got a ride to Seville yesterday with our neighbour Nuria, who is from Spain, but teaches English at Rachael’s school. She was nice enough to drop us off at IKEA, so we could stock up on the few remaining things we needed for our apartment. I was quite excited to buy a real quilt, as it has already been getting cool during the night in Rota. The weird thing about going to IKEA in Spain was that everything in the store was exactly the same things that you see at IKEA in Canada. I even saw some of the exact same furniture that I have at home.


Anyways, now we are in Córdoba until tomorrow, (staying with our friends for free!) so hopefully I will have some interesting things to post about soon! So far I really like Córdoba, and I am even a little bit jealous that we didn’t get placed in a bigger city like our friends. Although, we do have the beach in Rota, and it’s hard to beat that!

Spanish School System

I finally had my first official day as a language assistant today! Although Erin and I were supposed to start at the school yesterday, Carmen was too busy to worry about getting us settled in yesterday, so we didn’t have to go in at all. Then today all we really did was figure out our schedules and go to one English class with Carmen. My schedule is actually pretty good, as I have Mondays off and then work Tuesday-Friday. However, it is almost like working full-time, since you have hour-long breaks in between classes. It turns out that I will have to be at school almost all day Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, even though I only have 3-4 hours of class each day. Wednesdays are good though, because I only have 1 hour of class. The majority of my classes (9/12 hours) are actually just conversation classes with the teachers in order to help them improve their English, but I think it will be really interesting.

In Spain the school system is a bit different than at home, although there are some similarities as well. Starting at the age of 6, all children in Spain are required to complete 6 years at a Colegio (elementary school), followed by 4 years at an Instituto (high school). When they are 16, they receive a Secondary Education Certificate. After this, continuing further with their studies is completely optional. If they decide they want to attend University, they must complete the 2-year Bachillerato program, also taught in the Institutos, and then pass an entrance exam (Pruebas de Accesos a la Universidad). They can also choose to take vocational studies (Formación Profesional). One thing that confused me at first was that their high school years are referred to by their initials (ESO – Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) and a numeric designation (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th).

So the class that I assisted in today was 1ª ESO, or grade 7. Basically all I did was talk to a group of 5 boys in English, asking specific questions that Carmen had provided, which made it really easy, but also kind of boring.

Patron Saint of Rota

Although I’ve only worked one day this week, we already have a day off. Tomorrow is the day of the patron saint of Rota, so it is a holiday here. Tonight we came across some of the celebrations in the old part of town, by our castle (that’s right, we have our very own castle!)

First there was a procession down the street which was made up of a marching band and horse-drawn carriages with girls all dressed up as if there were going to their weddings (in fancy white dresses), accompanied by guys in tuxes. Then later they did something on a stage and went into the castle... as you can see I have no idea what the meaning behind all of this is! But it was fun to watch. Then later on in the night there were fireworks and rockets that were set off.

Orientation

After staying up so late last night, we had to wake up bright and early to have breakfast at 8:00 am. Then we had to make our way over to the Palacio de Congresos, where the actual orientation was held. It wasn’t an easy place to get to, and though we knew we were supposed to be there by 9:30 am, we had not been given any directions, so by the time we got there it was 10:30 am and the orientation had already been going on for an hour!


We turned out to be the lucky ones however, as the whole orientation was a big waste of time… the only useful part was the folders we were given with letters from the Junta de Andalucía that we will need to get our documentation in order for staying in Spain.

Some of the other girls and I tried to stay as long as we could, but we ended up skipping out on the last half, and coming back only for the free lunch. Once again, the food was amazing! The other problem with the orientation was that a lot of people had to leave early to catch the last train of the day to their assigned cities. Luckily I was able to catch a ride with Rachael’s parents, who had rented a car when they came down from Wales to help her settle in.

Hotel Abades Nevada Palace

After touring the Alhambra, we hung out at our hostel all afternoon, but then we had to head over to the hotel where orientation will be held tomorrow. All together, there were 660 language assistants that were scheduled to attend the Andalucian orientation in Granada. Language assistants placed in other regions of Spain had their orientation elsewhere. Most of the European language assistants, as well as those from China stayed at the Hotel Meliá Granada, but the rest of us (North Americans, New Zealanders, and Australians) stayed at the Hotel Abades Nevada Palace.

I should have realized from the name of the hotel that we were staying at a pretty fancy place, but I had no idea that it would be like this! The hotel really is like a palace, with a beautiful swimming pool, fancy rooms, and modern bathrooms. They also fed us extremely well tonight. The first course was a cream soup of some kind, and then we had some sort of poultry (partridge maybe?), rice with a caramel sauce, and mousse for desert. Everything was delicious!


Since dinner wasn’t scheduled until 10:00 pm (a normal Spanish dinner time) and we didn’t actually eat until 10:30 pm, by the time we got through all the courses and were done socializing, it was already 1:00 am!

Tonight during dinner I also met my future roommate Rachael for the first time, who will be teaching with me in Rota. She actually moved into the apartment on Saturday, while I was in Granada. I also met some fellow Canadians, which was nice as we could commiserate together about the horrible woman from the Spanish consulate in Toronto! One of the girls that I met is here for her third year as a language assistant, which makes me hopeful that this will be a good year!

Alhambra

Today was a very busy day… first of all, we had to get up early to get in line for Alhambra tickets, as they limit the number of people they let in to 7700 per day. You can reserve tickets in advance online (www.alhambra-patronato.es, www.alhambratickets.com) or through any Spanish bank branch, although this does involve a fee (about €1 per ticket) and you have to be very careful. For example, I originally tried to book the tickets online, however there was an error on the website and I ended up booking the wrong date. Let’s just say it took a long time and a lot of effort to finally cancel the tickets.

When we arrived at the Alhambra at about 9:20 am, there was already a long line up (especially for a Monday in September), so we had to wait an hour and a half just to buy the tickets. By the time we finally got to the front, they only had tickets remaining for the afternoon. So we ended up leaving and coming back at 2:00 pm to actually see the place. This was slightly inconvenient, as the Alhambra is located at the highest point of Granada, which means lots of walking up and down hills and/or taking a bus. But the Alhambra itself was pretty impressive after all.

It is basically a huge Moorish fortress, and in the past it was home to the Muslim kings of Granada. The word ‘Alhambra’ is Arabic for ‘the red’, and it was derived from the red clay surrounding the fortress. This name is even more fitting now as the whitewashed buildings have become reddish in colour over the years.

Virgen de las Angustias

Today in Granada we happened to stumble across a marching band, a huge crowd of people, and a religous procession. We realized at some point that today is the celebration of the Virgen de las Angustias, who is the patron saint of Granada. We really just lucked out in that every time we turned around there was something new going on.

Granada

Today is my second day in Granada, where I am for the next 3 days to sightsee and for our orientation on Tuesday.

Granada is a decently-sized city of 215,000. It is situated at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and is built almost entirely on hills (which is exhausting if you walk everywhere like we do!). At one point, Granada’s population was predominately Muslim, and this influence is still visible today in the city’s architecture (especially in the Alhambra, a Moorish fortress) and in the Arab quarter (the Albaicin).


It was quite the process getting here as I had to figure out the bus and train schedules as I went along. First I had to take a bus to the bus station in Rota, then a bus to El Puerto de Santa Maria (the closest town with a train station) and then a train to Dos Hermanas, where I changed trains to go to Granada. The problem was that I had never been to the bus station in Rota (and it was smaller than I expected), so I missed my stop without even realizing it. Since the buses only go around Rota in one direction, I had to ride around for another 40 minutes and I missed the morning train to Granada. This meant that I had 3 and a half hours to kill in El Puerto before the next train. I also had a huge backpack with me, and there is no luggage storage there, so I ended up taking a taxi to the centre of town and wandering around for quite awhile. So all in all it took me 12 hours from the time I got up, to the time I finally arrived in Granada (about 7:30 pm last night). I then met up with the same auxilares that I had hung out with in Seville, and we are staying in a really nice hostel with a swimming pool and a great view of the city!

I.E.S Castillo de Luna

Yesterday I went to the school in Rota where I will be teaching for the next 8 months. It was pretty interesting, and I met a lot of people all at once, so I'm not going to remember anyone's names when I go back to start teaching on Wednesday. Everyone was really nice, and I'm excited about having a chance to practice my Spanish while I'm there, as a few of the teachers and office assistants don't speak English at all.

Here in Spain, they are lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of the level of English that its people speak. To offset this, the Spanish government has instituted a new bilingual program in which students in both primary and secondary schools all across Spain will start taking certain classes (I think mostly science and possibly technology courses) in English. This is the main reason behind the Language Assistant program. My school hasn't instituted this program yet, but wants to for next year. This means that they will be working with students who have gone to school entirely in Spanish their whole lives. A lot of the teacher's don't even have a very high level of English, which will make it difficult for them to teach the material.

Originally I was told that I would be mostly working with the teachers to set up the program (ie. researching to find materials, and helping the teachers with their English), but now it looks like I will be doing a little bit of that and a little bit of assisting in the English classes. The teachers all want to take advantage of having native English speakers here while they can, which is fine by me. And my schedule is looking decent, as I will only have to work Monday to Thursday, for 3 hours per day. And I'm crossing my fingers that it will be a little bit flexible in case I want to do some travelling!

Busing it

I´ve just arrived home after an interesting adventure in Seville. Along the way, I gathered lots of valuable information about the bus system in Seville, but boy was it a long night! This is a long story, but to get right to the point, this website is an invaluable resource for anyone else trying to figure out the buses in Seville. And if you're going to Ikea, I recommend you double check the hours of the store and make friends with a Spaniard who can drive you there!

Earlier on tonight, I met up with two other language assistants, who I'd met on Facebook and arranged to get together with. But the interesting part of the story begins when I left to make my way to Ikea. I had checked the website, which said it was open Sundays from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, and it also listed the buses which leave from the Plaza de Armas in Seville and pass by the store. First it was quite an ordeal just to find Plaza de Armas. I ended up walking for at least 15 minutes, all while consulting my sketchy (and somewhat incomplete) map of Seville that I had printed off Google. (I highly recommend getting a proper map from one of the Tourist Information booths in the city as the first order of business in Seville.)

When I finally got there, I talked to someone at the Information booth, and she was able to tell me where to buy my ticket from. From there, the woman at the ticket booth told me where to catch the bus. Just to make sure, I double checked with the bus driver that this bus went to Ikea (this was lucky as I had in fact gone one platform too far and gotten on the wrong bus.) After getting on the correct bus, I was able to relax for a while (the bus was even air conditioned!) Of course I kept a close eye on where we were going, as I was terrified I would miss the stop and end up out in the outskirts of Seville, all alone! I soon saw the telltale Ikea flags and the store itself.

Unfortunately the bus breezed right by, and didn't appear to be stopping anytime soon (it turns out that you have to push a button to request your specific stop, which I hadn't done!) Luckily just as I was realizing my mistake, someone else requested the next stop, where I got off. I was able to walk a couple of extra blocks, and I made it to the store just fine.... unfortunately after all the trouble I took to get there, the store was closed, and the whole area completely deserted!

I figured it wasn't a big deal, as I plan on being in Seville often enough, so I started to look for the bus stop to return to Seville. I sat at one stop for about 20 minutes, assuming there would be a bus at about 8:30 pm. When a bus hadn't shown up by then, I looked around a little more carefully, and realized that while the place I was sitting looked identical to the other bus stops, there was no schedule or route posted... I think it was a booth meant for people just catching taxis. So I headed back to the original bus stop, and waited patiently at the one across the street (going the opposite direction). My only problem at this point was that it appeared that the next bus wasn't scheduled to arrive until 9:15 pm (as it was a Sunday) and it was slowly getting darker and darker. Luckily I had a book with me and a place to sit, but I was a little worried nonetheless, especially by 9:35, when there was still no bus to be seen. A few minutes later the bus finally showed up, and I managed to get back to the main station in Seville. Two more city buses later, and I finally made it back to the house I'm staying at!

Despite how unsuccessful the trip was overall, I'm pretty impressed with my navigation skills in a city that I arrived in only 2 days ago, not to mention a foreign country! But I still have yet to figure out why Ikea wasn't open when it specifically says on their website that they are open on Sundays (I even double checked when I got home)! Maybe someone will be able to enlighten me one day...

Until then, I strongly suggest NOT going to Ikea on a Sunday, especially at night!!!

Sevilla

Well, here I am in Sevilla, on the first of what I hope to be many weekend trips around Spain and Europe! As my new roommate's parents have a house here, I'm even staying here for free, so that makes this trip even better.

The shopping is great here, especially since there is an El Corte Inglés just down the street. El Corte Inglés is a huge department store chain popular throughout Spain. The store, at least from what I've seen, is generally anywhere from four to eight stories high, and you can buy pretty much anything: they sell electronics, movies, music, toys, textbooks, clothes, perfume, luggage, and there's usually even a supermarket in the basement of the building! The only misconception I had about this store before coming here is that I thought it was a store similar to Walmart. In reality, they have some of the most expensive prices and tend to sell high quality, brand name items. I imagine it's more similar to somewhere like Macy's in the States.

There's also a great big shopping mall type complex near El Corte Inglés, which has all the typically European stores like Zara, Mango, Bershka and the United Colors of Benetton. Not to mention the McDonald's and Starbucks in the food court!

The other part about shopping in Sevilla, that I personally enjoy the most, are the *illegal* street vendors. They sell knockoffs of brand name sunglasses, purses, belts, etc. and they also have piles and piles of burned DVDs for sale. I've seen these guys in Italy a lot, so they are very familiar to me. Obviously the prices are pretty cheap, although I imagine you have to haggle with the vendors to get them down to a realistic price. And I would recommend doing the haggling in Spanish to try to avoid the "I'm a rich tourist, please take me for all I'm worth" look.

Cell phones

Well, I've finally done it... I am now the proud owner of a Spanish mobile phone! I decided to go with Vodafone, one of three major companies in Spain (the other two being Movistar and Orange). Basically I discovered that Vodafone is the company that is right in the middle of the other two. They have good coverage but also good prices, which is a combination that is hard to beat.

Orange can be a bit cheaper for some kinds of calls, but the service is not as good, and Movistar is just plain more expensive. And the number one feature of Vodafone is... their 60 x 1 plan which lets you call all national landlines (fijos) and Vodafone mobiles and talk for an hour, while only paying for the first minute! This plan works great in combination with a calling card to phone home, at least to Canada.

Settling In

Whew! I'm finally all settled in Rota. It's very stressful hauling heavy suitcases around the country without knowing when I'll have a safe place to put them! Especially since it's been above 25 degrees Celsius every day that I've been here. Now I have a beautiful apartment, overlooking the beach, and I have the whole place to myself for one more day. My English teacher had already found the place for me, and set up a last minute appointment with the landlord for me to see it the night I arrived. I loved the place, so we didn't even have to look any farther. Today I had a massive cleaning day, as it seemed like it hadn't had a good cleaning in a while.

Tomorrow, a Spanish teacher arrives from Seville and she will probably stay with me until the end of the month at least. I'm looking forward to it as it gets pretty lonely living by yourself!

Check out my pictures from Madrid here and Rota here.

Parque del Retiro

I met up with a friend this morning to go to this beautiful, huge park in the middle of Madrid. There was even a lake and a couple of big palaces on the ground, and some of the tallest trees I´ve ever seen! We also did a little bit of window shopping, and it was interesting to see all the different styles here that you just don´t see in Canada!

Day 2 in Madrid

I have to say that the more time I spend here Madrid, and Spain in general, the more I like it. I arrived here on Tuesday afternoon, with no hostel reserved (which had caused me to have a major panic attack before leaving Canada). However, I met some friendly Canadians in the airport. We all shared a taxi to downtown Madrid, where two of us split off to find a hostel. After a few hours of dragging my suitcase and carrying my backpack around, we finally managed to find a place that had room for us.

We then slept for 14 hours that night... and then last night I went out in true madrileño style with all 3 of them. Here in Madrid, you start dinner at about 9:30pm, although it´s quite a light meal with just a bunch tapas (appetizers) shared between a group of people. After tapas, which lasted a good couple of hours, we went to Plaza Santa Ana for some sangria on the house (my newfound friends knew one of the waiters). The party was just getting started at the next place we went to, which was a little Spanish pub. When that place closed at 3:00am, we started to head home... until we were convinced by a guy giving out cheap drink tickets to go to yet another bar. This time is was a dance club, where we stayed until 4:30am, when we finally headed back to the hostel! What a night!

Madrid

Well, I am now officially in Spain for 8 months (except for when I fly home at Christmas)! It was a long, stressful couple of days what with not getting my visa until Monday morning before my flight and having no hostels booked for my arrival in Madrid. But it´s all worked out. I can´t believe I´m actually here!

Courier blues

I used to think that as soon as my visa was approved, that would be it. No more worrying... but boy was I wrong. Yesterday, the woman in change of visas at the Consulate of Spain in Toronto explained to me that I had to set up the courier service myself if I wanted to get my visa and passport back sooner than 2-3 days (the amount of time it takes with the XpressPost envelope they normally mail them in.) So I called Purolator, and they were very helpful. They set everything up so that my visa would be in Edmonton by today (Saturday). All the woman from the consulate had to do was fill out the sender forms with my address. Apparently she did so, but then refused to put her signature on the envelope and slammed the door in the Purolator driver's face! And now I just found out that she neglected to check the 'Saturday Delivery' box, so my visa won't be here until Monday morning and I fly out Monday afternoon. Luckily, although I was supposed to fly out of Calgary (which would be fairly stressful and involve a LOT of driving on Monday), I got Aeroplan to add a connection from Edmonton to Calgary free of charge! So now I just have to pick up the passport/visa before noon on Monday and go straight to the airport. Wish me luck!

Visa status update

I think I'm still in shock from the news this morning... my visa has been approved! And I was beginning to lose all hope! The only problem now is that I'm supposed to fly out on Saturday, and the consulate is not ready for the courier to pick it up until tomorrow. Which means I have to postpone my flight yet again, although likely it will only be for one day. Which means I might get to leave as early as Sunday, unless the courier service screws up or something else unforeseeable happens. Good think I'm all packed and ready to go!

Apparently I made a mistake on the application form and put my departure date as September 30th instead of August 30th. I don't know if that is what caused the delay, but let that serve as a lesson to anyone else applying for their visas to check the application over VERY carefully, just in case!

Postponing my flight

Well, today was the last day that my visa could come in, but unfortunately it just didn't happen. I still would have had to postpone my flight for a day or so, but as it is, I had to postpone it by 10 days. So now I'm supposed to leave on September 8th (next Saturday), unless my visa still hasn't been approved. The good news is that since I'm flying straight into Madrid now, and not London, I saved about $80 on airport taxes, which Aeroplan actually refunded me! So even with the change fee ($55) I actually made some money! Not to mention I still have a few things to do, and now I have plenty of time to get ready.

Uh oh...

Two days to go till I'm SUPPOSED to leave, and I don't think it's going to happen. Unless by some miracle the consulate gets approval for my visa tomorrow, I will have to postpone my flight, probably by about a week at least. The good news is that I bought trip cancellation insurance, and this qualifies, as long as I can get the consulate to write me a letter that says that it wasn't my fault the visa was delayed. So they'll probably reimburse me for delaying my flight. It's only $55, but still... Now I just have to figure out what to do for the next week, since I don't officially live anywhere or have a job right now.

Visa troubles

Today I finally got a hold of the Consulate General of Spain, in Toronto. I was hoping to be able to get some reassurance about my visa, since I am supposed to leave in 9 days and they still haven't sent my visa! Since I had to submit my passport for the visa application, that means I don't even have my passport back yet! I'm getting a little stressed out, but the Consulate said there's still time. Basically they are waiting for final approval from the Spanish government before they can stamp my passport and mail it back to me. I definitely wasn't expecting this to happen, especially sinec I applied for the visa at the beginning of July, and the Consulate keeps reassuring me that it shouldn't take longer than a month, but I'm starting to wonder if I'll be flying out on August 30th after all...

iPod mania

After buying a new iPod video this past weekend, I've discovered something great - podcasts! And not just any podcasts, but travel podcasts focusing on Spain, as well as a ton of other countries. I think they'll come in handy in the next few months, at least to fight boredom on the plane.

I'm not alone anymore

Today I found out that another language assistant will be teaching in Rota with me! I can't decide if I want to live with another English person, and have the chance to live with someone who I will probably feel more comfortable with, and be able to communicate better with, or if I want to live with Spaniards to improve my Spanish skills. So many decisions to make... and only a little over a month to go!

Canadian Visa Requirements

Here's what you need to apply:

1. Valid passport.
2. If you are not a Canadian citizen, you must present a valid Canadian permit. (Record of Landing, Employment authorization, student authorization).
3. Three recent passport size photos (in color, with a white background).
4. Visa application form provided by the appropriate Consulate General which must be completed, signed by the applicant and returned along with three additional photocopies.
5. Confirmation of enrolment or registration issued by the Academic Institution in which you will be studying. If you are registered in an exchange program a letter from the Canadian Institution will be also required.
6. Proof of financial assets. A minimum statement of CDN $2,650.00 will be required by means of financial statement from your banking institution. (If your parent will be covering your expenses, you must present a notarized declaration signed by them and copy of their financial statement.) This may or may not be necessary as the letter from MEC states that they will be providing us with a monthly grant, however I sent both the letter and a copy of my bank statement just in case.
7. Overseas medical insurance coverage (this is covered by MEC and it says so in the letter).
8. Proof of accommodation: Hotel reservation or confirmation letter from Academic Institution indicating the conditions of your acommodation. Private housing must be accompanied by a notarized invitation. I simply included a letter that said I would be finding housing when I arrived.
9. Letter from your Family Physician indicating the following:
   
   • Absence of quarantine diseases including cholera, pague and yellow fever, according to the regulations of the World Health Organization.
   • Absence of contagious, parasitic and infectious diseases
   • No psychological disorders, mental illnesses, psychosis, delirium or hallucinations
   • No addictions to drugs.
10. Police Record Clearance certificate, issued by the authorities of the country or countries where you have resided during the last 5 years, including Canada
11. Flight reservation. (Only for students attending a public institution).
12. Visa application form, provided by the appropriate Consulate, completed, signed and returned along with three additional photocopies.
13. Money order addressed to the Consulate General of Spain for $125 CAD.

If you are applying from another province you can submit your application by mail. In this case, please provide also a prepaid and self-addressed PRIORITY COURIER or XPRESSPOST envelope issued only by CANADA POST. Mail to:

Consulate General of Spain

2 Bloor Street East. Suite 1201

Toronto, Ontario

M4W 1A8

Contact Information:

Phone: (1) 416 977 1661

Email: cgspain.toronto@mail.mae.es
Website: http://www.mae.es

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In regular cases, it may vary from 20 to 30 days. The maximum time that it should take is 90 days.