spain – Page 3 – Molly On the Move

Week {3} in review

November 14, 2013March 18, 2014 Molly On the Move

Week three brought lots of changes, the biggest of which was my move to Santiago de Compostela. Other things worth noting:

Obligatory coffee picture (La Tertulia, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia)

Playa Cabío at sunset (A Pobra, Galicia)

Favada asturiana, a traditional Asturian stew (as prepared by the English profe)

Preparing labels for art classes in English.

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as seen during my furious apartment hunting.

My students have taken to gifting me things…

Here, the preferred method is to decapitate trees before they shed their leaves. Naked trees > leaves on the sidewalk, duh (Port of Escarabote, Galicia)

My two lovely Pobra roommates saw me off on my move to Santiago with a slice of cheesecake in a butter container. (Nauseating Bus, Galicia)

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

Two-week-iversary.

November 6, 2013November 6, 2013 Molly On the Move

Today marks two weeks since I moved to Spain – can you believe it? Seeing as I’ve done a pretty poor job writing as I go, here are some highlights from my first 14 days as an expat.

Lunch, as made by the English teacher: Spanish tortilla, salad, Albariño wine. — Lunch as made by the English teacher: salad, Albariño wine, and Spanish tortilla.

First Spanish word I learned: Escarabajo (as in the type of car I drive – a Beetle!).
First English phrase I taught my teacher: Couch potato.
Weather in Galicia: Really, really rainy (ahem.)
In a manner of speaking: There are two languages in Galicia – Castellano (standard Spanish) and Gallego (the regional language). Residents of Galicia are raised learning both languages. When I first got here, my Spanish was so rusty I couldn’t understand the difference between the two, because I understood nothing at all. Now…let’s be real, that still happens.
Weirdest food eaten: Octopus. Suckers and all. Suckas.
Beverages I know how to order: Café con leche and vino blanco. Es todo.
Peanut butter consumption: Moderate. Still on my second jar.
My school: Small but wonderful, with less than 200 students and less than 20 teachers. The kids have a terrifying amount of energy, and the teachers, a terrific amount of patience. My face hurts from smiling by the end of every day.

I really like it here so far. Big changes are on the way, though. This weekend, I am moving out of A Pobra (the little beach town I am in) and up to Santiago, a much larger city with a university. I will be living with two Spanish college students (!), and will definitely miss the two wonderful Americans I have been living with here in A Pobra. But Spanish must be learned!

Hasta luego,

Destinations, On the run, Spain

On the run {in A Pobra}

November 4, 2013July 25, 2016 Molly On the Move

It’s not hard to keep running when this is what you see.

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

In the beginning

October 31, 2013November 5, 2013 Molly On the Move

In the beginning, there was a plane, and on the plane was Molly. After 17 hours of flying (Atlanta – Miami – Madrid – Santiago – oh my), I finally arrived in Galicia. I could tell the difference between Galicia and central Spain just by looking out the window. While the land surrounding Madrid was craggy and brown, the Galician countryside was a rolling patchwork of green.

Montse, the English teacher at my school, picked me up from the airport in Santiago, carrying a sign the students had made.

Needless to say, I felt quite welcomed. Montse has been an absolute blessing, driving me around to pick a cell phone plan, get my foreign documents in order, and open a Spanish bank account.

Presently, I am staying with two auxiliars (that is, English Language Assistants like me) in A Pobra, which is where Montse lives and a 10-minute drive from school. They have an extra bedroom and are kind enough to let me use their apartment as home base while I figure out where to live.

A Pobra is obscenely picturesque. I will leave you with the following view. This is what you see if you exit the apartment building and walk for about 30 seconds.

I’m sorry, what?

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

The twiddling comes to a close

September 22, 2013September 23, 2013 Molly On the Move

You guys. YOU GUYS. I’m moving to Spain!

Galicia, Spain - map — Galicia, Spain: my home for the next eight-ish months.

I’ve been dying to be able to talk about my future with any kind of certainty, and now I can. Back in July, I was accepted to the North American Language and Culture Assistant Program (NALCAP – Auxiliares de Conversación), but heard nothing else for NINE WEEKS. Nine weeks! Last week, after placing a few international calls, I finally received my placement at an elementary school in the province of A Coruña, Galicia. It turns out Bellsouth has xenophobia and was blocking – not spamming, simply blocking – all the emails the Ministry of Education tried to send me. Who says technology doesn’t discriminate?

As you can see, Galicia is in a rather remote corner of Spain. Unless you’ve taken Spanish (and even if you have), you probably haven’t heard of it. When tourists hit up Spain, they gravitate towards the sunny beaches of Barcelona and Andalucía in the south. However, I have heard an abundance of wonderful things about Galicia, namely its rugged lushness, friendly inhabitants, and fresh seafood. It’ll be exciting to get off the beaten path!

It would be fair to call this journey “constructive procrastination.” The word “constructive” is important here, because I have three major goals for this experience:

Get a feel for teaching. I have graduated from college and, to no one’s surprise, have no idea what to do with my future. I may want to teach as a profession at some point, but not immediately. Time to try on the Teacher Hat and see if it’s for me.
Achieve fluency in Spanish. As a graduated Spanish major, you would expect me to be able to speak the language, right? How very presumptuous of you! No, I speak elevated Stutter Spanish, but nothing respectable.
Indulge my wanderlust. I am not delusional enough to believe I can satiate it, because ohmygosh there is so much to see in the world, but I am so excited to get out and explore. OHMYGOSH THERE IS SO MUCH TO SEE IN THE WORLD.

And so the scramble begins. This week, I am off to Miami to apply for my visa. It would appear that I have a (temporary) future. 🙂