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!