Adios, España!

Well, in about 15 minutes I will be out the door of my apartment, making my way towards the bus station. After much searching and re-searching, I finally managed to get a bus ticket from Murcia to the actual airport in Alicante, instead of Alicante-Alicante. (Not only was it cheaper and shorter, but I won't have to pay for a 20 minute taxi ride!) From there, it's just a hop, skip and a jump to Venice! But now I must make sure I've got everything, so...

A presto!

El Viejo Puente de los Peligros

Right now I'm standing on the bridge here, watching the sun go down behind the trees. Behind me I can see the sunlight shining softly on the mountains. This bridge connects the city center to one of the "immigrant neighborhoods" and the majority of the many people passing be me are Moroccan, South American (most likely from Ecuador, or gypsies. It's cold out here but so lovely. Photos when I get home...

Besos

Lovely Days

Today is a beautiful day. I can feel the sun shining gently through the window on the backs of my hands as I type. And maybe it's the sun reflecting off that yellow building across from me, but it feels like November. Sunny November.

Last night was a really beautiful night, too. A few days ago, when I went to the police station to get fingerprinted for my Spanish ID (see photo - an adventure in itself), I finally met a few other Auxiliars and one invited me to a small gathering for Thanksgiving at a house just outside of town, in Guadalupe. The streets are dark at night in this village and no one was out, except at a little bar by the side of the road. The house itself is called a "huerta" because it has a lovely orchard in the back with lots of mandarin orange trees. It's very cold out there - much colder than in the city, and the stars shine bright all across the sky. I found a small group of people in the back of the house, standing around a little outdoor wood oven, cooking a couple of small chickens and a pan of Mac 'n Cheese and inside the rest of the party working on the turkey, 2 types of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and green beans, cranberries, biscuits and gravy, stuffing... Everything for a perfect Thanksgiving. Downstairs we sat at a long wood table, all 15-or-so of us. It felt like a clipping out of an Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters catalog. Everyone was so lovely and so warm! Really good people, and I feel so lucky to have been a part of the evening. I have no photos, sadly, but there will be soon, I'm certain.

But for now, since it is such an incredible day and I'm still feeling so thankful for everything in my life right now, it seems a pity to spend much more time here in my room, so I'm going to close this computer and stroll.

Un beso!

Murcia, Murcia

I suppose it's about time I posted about Murcia, no? Or Spain...or...anything, at this point, honestly. But we'll start with Murcia. In fact, we're going to break it down into manageable, bite-size pieces.

I've been here about a month now and am finally more or less settled in. The only thing I'm still waiting on is my appointment at the police station for my NIE and TIE (residency and work permit), but that's scheduled and once it goes through, I'll finally get paid. Finally.

So far things are going great. A few weeks ago, I found a wonderful apartment with two Spanish girls, Isabel and Mercedes. But I came frighteningly close to living in a dark and dirty cave with some guy I had never met... It was cheap, and there was a reason for that - or 5. This place, on the other hand, is surrounded by gardens, though I only know the names of two: Jardín el Salitre and Jardín la Seda. When I walk out the front door to my building, I'm hit by the smell of...I'm not sure what! Maybe it's the lemon and orange trees, maybe the crushed dates that have fallen from the unbelievably tall date palms, I don't know.

Not terribly long ago, it became Fall. Not in the way that I expected, but maybe somehow even better. The thing is, it's still pretty warm here (at least during the day) and so I was feeling a bit sad at the prospect of missing out on Fall, which I love SO much. But as it is without the change in the temperature, the change in the season lies the light.When I walk through Jardín el Salitre, I can see that the light shines differently through the trees. The trees are called Plátanos de Sombra and are very tall and very beautiful. The bark looks like high-contrast camouflage.

Like I said before, Fall is a different Fall here. The trees only drop a few leaves. As a result, they prune the trees that line the streets so that only the largest branches remain. They look really strange and sad, with no leaves and stumpy branches (for lack of a better word). Now that the dates have fallen from the tall palms, the citrus trees are all bearing fruit: lemons, oranges... And the olive trees have little black and green olives on them, as well.

Through the park there is a small man-made pond with ducks, geese, and 2 beautiful swans and next to the pond a little outdoor café (where I sat once and got hit in the head by a soccer ball...). I have to say that it was significantly less lovely a couple weeks ago when the pond was drained. And at night, too, when the water is perfectly still and black. The swans look like they're swimming through tar.

Aside from the parks, the apartment is also very near to the Corte Inglés, which is very convenient and several old churches (which I suppose isn't so much convenient as different from home - I like passing by them on my way to and from my house). I think I'm really lucky to have found this place.

For now, I'll leave it at that, but I will be back soon with a School/Work Update!

Besos!

Mañana Madrileña

Well, it's day one in Spain.* Really strange being back here. It's so familiar (even Madrid) but more like I was here in a dream. It's interesting to see the things I remember...

Last night I arrived (finally) at the hostel. I decided to take the bus instead of a taxi, which would cost €40 as opposed to €2! But there was a fair amount of walking at the end of that bus ride and I got a little bit lost... But eventually I made it. After making my bed, washing my face and generally getting situated, I went back downstairs to buy my bus ticket to Murcia. This did not go as planned. But it did go in typical Spanish fashion: error message after error message. I can't believe haven't even been here 24hrs yet and already I'm off about this! Long story short, I will be heading early to the South bus station to buy my ticket.

When I returned upstairs a girl from DC asked if I wanted to join her to grab something to eat. And though I had considered just going to bed, food seemed like a good idea so out we went. I think the place we ended up at was called Lizarro. We shared arroz con mariscos which resembled a very basic paella. And I had a tinto de verano. It was great. Then we went back to the hostel where she joined people for drinking games and I did a brief stint on the computer before bed.

It was so nice to sleep... I was awoken around 2:30 when everyone came back from the bars, but returned pretty quickly to sleep. It wasn't hard, since the whole way here I only slept a half hour at the very most.

This morning I woke up early with the intention of eating free breakfast at the hostel but... It was not so appealing in the end. So I wandered out. After making a few loops, I came back to Miau, a nice little cafe where I could sit at the bar and not be bothered. I had a croissant ("curasán," apparently) and a café solo largo. And wrote. This.

Since my bus was at 1:30, I had some time to enjoy Madrid, so wandered down the street and found myself in front of the Botanical Garden (entrance only 2.50!) and so in I went! It was nice, but not super impressive, to be honest. The entire time I couldn't help thinking about how many beautiful gardens there are in Portland. But I do understand that this one serves a slightly different purpose... There were many beautiful trees (such as the pomegranate tree, which I have never seen before) and the Tree of Giant Orange. Singular. I did feel myself drawn to the piney areas and especially the Oregon zarzamora (blackberry), which apparently really belong in Oregon, cause these did not look especially appealing at all.

I then went up the street to the Retiro, feeling super nostalgic and wanting something familiar... I wandered through, looking for the places I remember seeing with Mimi when we had that amazing picnic a couple years ago. It took me awhile to find anything familiar aside from (appropriately enough) el Bosque del Recuerdo. But finally I made it to the pond (with very little time left before I had to head back and get ready to schlep all my things to the bus station somehow). I tried to record a small video of people passing by because there was a man playing a trumpet really beautifully. However, I'd hardly started the video when some man came up and started talking to me. He kept making "Dad jokes" and told me about the monument we were looking at. In the end, it was a nice exchange, though I admit that at first I kept waiting for him to say something creepy. . . Ha.

Since my bags were so cumbersome, I decided to take a taxi to the bus station. After eating a familiar-tasting bocadillo de tortilla (nothing beats the blandness of potatoes and eggs on a white baguette), and café solo largo, I found my bus and prepared for the long ride. Five and a half hours. With one unnecessarily long break in the middle at what should have been a deserted truck stop from some movie.

However, before terribly long, we were pulling into the bus station in Murcia and I could see Marta (my soon-to-be intercambio partner and personal guide through Murcia) waiting for me. . .

*Only half of this was actually written on that first morning. But I promise to catch up quickly!

¡venga venga venga!

I can't believe  I am writing this right now, but it's almost official (as soon as I get one very important package in the mail): España... ¡YA VUELVO! 
I'm supposed to begin working n an elementary school in Murcia (Capital) on the first of October. Of course, as falls perfectly in line with my past experiences and many of the previous griping posts here, I am still waiting to receive my visa (and more importantly, my passport) form the consulate in San Francisco.
I guess it's better in a way, though. I am so happy here, and still sort of trying to process the fact that now that I have things more or less figured out and have found a group of people here in Portland that I really love, I am off, once again. But I know that these changes are good for me. I am hoping that in the weeks (hopefully) before I head out, I will finally succeed in getting back on track here. In that vein, I shall make a list, which I shall call "Pre-Spain MB Goals" (I know, creative.)

Pre-Spain MB Goals:
1. Catch. Up.
2. Pre-Spain preparations
3. Spain wish-list (places? things? actividades?)
4. ...so far that's it - we'll see how it goes!

Up next: Now that it feels like fall, time for summer!

if you cut me open...

Incredible days. Really indescribable. But here goes a desperate attempt.

New Years Eve I spent primarily on the train back down from Seattle/Tacoma, where I finally got to see H again (for three whole hours!!). Really, driving through Seattle from up north and down to Tacoma, I'm convinced there can't be anywhere more beautiful. I only wish that I could have taken photos buuuut that could be asking just a little too much with the Cascades surrounding, the lakes sprawling, Mt Rainier growing, and Seattle punctuating. However, on the TRAIN I managed to take, ohhh, about 7 million photos...

Coming back to Portland, I found the same crisp, clear weather - my very favorite. I couldn't help but wander through the city taking photos at every turn. Here are a few...