Reading the World: First Weekend

Friday I went to school, even though I won’t normally be in on Fridays. I did a little bit more work with the kids, like I led the one class in an activity about prepositions and another with school materials. After school I went to Manuel and Ana’s again. They’ve definitely taken me in and I feel like a part of their family. I even have a pair of slippers to leave at their place. Haha. And unlike my host mom in Sevilla, they let me help with things like set and clear the table, which makes it feel more like home, instead of always being served. They’ve been introducing me to different foods like mussels, some sort of goose paste, artichokes with anchovies and all sorts of things. And like a normal Spanish person, I have wine and coffee every day. It’s pretty great.

In the afternoon I went to meet a girl named Esther. One of the teachers at my school had heard that a new teacher in the next town over was still looking for a roommate and had put us in contact. So we walked all around town for hours looking for numbers to call and places to check out. We found one that we liked pretty well and agreed to it after a little more searching. And it’s a pretty sweet place (pictures coming) and a decent price cuz we have a 3rd roommate, Eddie who’s in my program but at a different school. I’m so glad Esther was there to do all the talking and asking questions, otherwise I would have had no idea about anything. That night I hung out with 2 of the guys that work in my hotel. They obviously knew I was new in town and had invited me out to show me around a little bit. And it was a lot of fun. They were hilarious. So yay for making friends completely all on my own!
On Saturday Manuel, Ana and Anita helped me move my stuff in the apartment which was very helpful. A little later Eddie moved in. Ana insisted on meeting him so she could approve and make sure he was a nice person and not a creeper. I showed Eddie how to get around the city and then we went over to Manuel and Ana’s f or lunch. I ended up taking a nap in their lounge lawn chair and it was just perfect. Like I was sitting there in the nice warm sun of La Mancha, having just consumed some of the best food, there was a gentle breeze and it was just a still, quiet afternoon. Just sounds of birds singing, the occasional church bell ringing and tractors from the nearby fields working during the grape harvest season. It was a beautiful moment. I couldn’t help but to feel so spoiled and so blessed for just everything so far.

Later Eddie and I returned to our piso and then to buy random things like a few groceries and sheets. The guy at the store where we got our bedding was hilarious. We had fun chatting with him and he apparently really liked us because he gave us like a 10% discount. That night Isabel, Manuel and Ana’s oldest daughter invited us to hang out with her and her friends. It was interesting just because they’re all like 18 but it was a good night of people watching and observing some of the really different cultural differences. I’ll expand on those as my time here goes on, but this is already a long enough post.

the hallway as you enter our piso