Since I know that there will be a number of people that I will be talking to and that it will get repititious telling the same story over and over again, I decided I will start a blog. I will try to make it as funny and interesting as possible to keep everyone's attention so try not to fall asleep and remember, you can't shake the dog of the hand that bit you.
It all started in Millbrook, New York at eleven AM on Tuesday the 22 of September. From there my parents and I drove to LaGuardia airport where I flew to Philadelphia PA? Then to Madrid Spain, and finally to Sevilla Spain where I landed at about 11:30 Spain time. Minus the time difference I logged about 18 hrs of travel and yes it was horrific. That night despite the jet lag some of us found it necessary to go out which left me awesomely hung over for the first day of orientation. Orientation was meant to help us and give us advice on how to start our lives in Spain. In reality it just told us what we needed to do but not how to do it because apparently everything is different in every different part of Spain. So basically orientation turned into five days of eating, drinking, and sleeping, fine by me. That Friday we went out, had some drinks, then were flagged down by some promoter. Fortunately I was the only guy with five or six girls which meant that we all got in for free and were served a few free shots and somehow I also managed a free beer. It was a great time with some akward dancing and ridiculous picture taking which lasted till five thirty or so. Back at the hotel I called my mom who was so happy to hear from me she didn't realize it was like six where I was. The night ended with a glorious breakfast buffet and a great slumber. Overall orientation was excellent.
The true adventure began when I arrived in Linares, my place of residency for the next ten months. Here I was faced with the challenge of acquiring a cellphone, appartment, bank account, maybe some friends and a life in general. This was all to be done in a city where I knew no one, and hardly spoke the language. The cellphone part was moderately easy but the appartment was much more difficult. I found some flyers and some places online but they were all too expensive or occupied. Then I called Maria Isabela. I called her number and yes she did have an appartment but she wouldn't tell me for how much, all she kept saying was there were lots of things included and it was hard to tell me over the phone. It seemed really sketchy but what the hell, plus I couldn't find anywhere else. We met up and brought my pocketknife just in case someone wanted to dance. She ended up being a very friendly middle aged women who brought her niece which put me at ease. I was expecting just a quick show of the appartment and maybe a business deal. She wanted to give me a tour of the whole city. On the way to the apartment she found it necessary to show me the church, and not just show me the outside but actually bring me in, introduce me to all the nice statues of JC and his Virgin Mother, and we even knelt down for a quick prayer. After that we stopped at her local "social center" I guess you would call it, where everyone gathers, and she showed me all the pictures of the people in her neighborhood. Finally we made it to her appartment which turned out to be real nice. I decided to rent since it was a fair price for a nice place. I'll be sharing with Gerard, a German doing an internship at a local car horn factory. He's seems nice and down to earth so I think it'll be a good time. So while the adventure had a rocky start we seem to have found calm waters. Stay tuned for the next episode. On a final note, the apartment also has two couches as well as cable so if anyone comes across a large sum of money, or find themselves in Spain, you always have a place to crash in my living room.
Captain Red Beard
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