"I'll be 23...."

Hey kids, here is the REAL TIME update.... I had been writing those other posts at home, kind of as a mental dump/diary.

Monday was my birthday, as many of you know and it wasn't too bad for being away from everyone that I know and love. I went to Spanish class and organized myself/ got ready for school. Then that evening I went to tapas with all 3 people that I know in Spain: My good friend Macarena and her boyfriend Antonio, her sister and my former boss Noelia, and my new roomie Rocio, who is very nice! Maca and Noelia even brought me some presents :)

Tuesday I got to relax and finish getting my apartment settled and TODAY was my first day at school! I can already tell, it is going to be SO much better than last year. Now I am actaully an ASSISTANT, as I am supposed to be and not a mother/prison guard/english classroom teacher. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my boss Rocio... example: she COLOR CODED our schedules!!!!!! COLOR CODED THEM!!! I have all math and science classes because I requested to work 3 condensed days a week (which was aparently a huge pain for Rocio, but she did it anyway, LOVE HER!) And I am almost all set with all of my afternoon tutoring classes, which means I should actaully see a little bit of MONEY by the end of next week!

En fin, things are going really well.
I must go home and do my homework now :)

BESOS!
MC

Short, and rather impromptu, trip to GERMANY

I had been talking to Garret about possibly meeting him and Dominic at Oktoberfest in Munich before I had to start work. I went back and forth because I wasn’t sure that the logistics were going to work out but finally I ended up booking to the day before I left CA. What made me do it on such late notice was my friend and co-worker from last year, Lydia, emailed be back and said that I could come and visit her for a couple of days before meeting up with the guys. She leaves only about an hour south of Munich so it seemed only too perfect. The trip was long and got off to a bit of a hectic start (I forgot my wallet at home on my way the airport, had to literally run home, back to bus stop, take a taxi…. So I was running, sweating and cursing myself for being such an idiot….all before 8am) but I finally got there and I was really glad to get to see Lydia. Unfortunately, she was still working on a final thesis paper due that next week. She had planned to have it all under control before I arrived, but as we all know, things happen, so most of the time I was staying with Lydia she was either upset about doing the paper or actually doing it. Oh, and MC-is-an-idiot item #2: I showed up to Germany in flip-flops in a tee-shirt… yeah it is definitely WINTER there already. I just didn’t think about it because basically from when I arrived in Spain until I got on the plane, I was sweating. Luckily, as an after thought, I brought closed to toed shoes. Anyway, while she was working at the library, I went shopping and spent entirely too much money… but hey that coat, jeans, scarf, socks and sweater (ok, fine, and cute top)were all necessities because I brought NO Germany-appropriate clothing!!!
Friday I left Lydia to go meet the guys in Munich. Dom and Floyd were dutifully at the train waiting for me. Dom told me that Garret wouldn’t be there until the next day and Floyd wasn’t feeling well so Dom and I headed to the ‘fest. We got into one of the big tents and ordered beers literally the size of infants. We made friends at our table and had a really good time. SUCH a good time in fact that we lost track of the fact that 3 LITERS of beer tends to go to one’s head after a while. So we decided to take the subway back to our hotel… well apparently Dom and I took a little nap and missed our stop… and ended up about 10 stops and 45 minutes outside of the city. All is well that ends well though; we made it back just fine after we woke up and realized our folly. I had to leave Saturday afternoon but we still had a chance to go down to Oktoberfest to get some lunch…. A half meter bratwurst! And a beer of course. Garret never showed up which was another bummer but, all in all, not a bad international jaunt.

Now I am back in my apartment and I have spent the ENTIRE day resting…. I finally slept for though the night, 12 hours of unconsciousness never felt so good! Tomorrow I have more errands and things to do… oh yeah… and it’s my birthday. Hopefully I get Macarena and maybe her boyfriend to have dinner with me.
Other new roommate just walked in with her boyfriend….(and scared me to death because Rocio left and this chick wasn’t supposed to be here til next week)… they have turned on metal music in her room and are not talking to me…. Awkward…… ok well thinks that’s my cue to head of for a bit. Luckily I have a tapa-date with the other 50% of my friends in this city: Noelia!

Oh Lord, here we go AGAIN!

OH LORD, here we go again…. First few days back in Sevilla
It hit me once when during the fiesta how incredibly fast time flies (yes, when you are having fun) and then it hit me again when I got to Boston to repeat the Alicante reunion we had on my way to Spain last year. Talk about déjà vu. It was just crazy to be doing exactly the same thing, one year later and to think about everything that can happen in a year… what changes, what stays the same.
I had an amazing time in Boston, needless to say. I stayed with Alycia and Kelly, we visited Rob and the usual shenanigans ensued. I also had the pleasure of going to see Boston-contingent of the fam, which was really nice. As oldest cousin, it never ceases to amaze me how the little ones grow in between the times I get to see them. “You feed those things they grow!” as mom would say. ALSO got to see my roommate from this past year, JENNIFER!!! Or, as they say in Bean-town, “Jen-a-FA”! She was amazing and did her very best to give me an authentic Bostonian experience. We picked apples for the love! Also went to Salem and had dinner with her fam, which was amazing.
I still hadn’t quite grasped the concept that I was going to Spain again, even in the airport…. Or during the excruciatingly long journey. It wasn’t until the cab ride from the airport to my apartment when I saw the twilight sky and smelled the Sevilla air that I realized that I was here, back in Spain. Back with an amazing second chance for an even better experience than my last one which set the bar pretty high.
Things are off to a pretty good start. I was successful in enrolling for my Spanish high level grammar class and I am going to meet my new boss tomorrow. I bought a fan so I don’t asphyxiate in my tiny bedroom and I have got a tiny start on unpacking.
….Upon awakening from much needed siesta I met up with Macarena and it was awesome to see a familiar face. She has big plans for being study- buddies and seeing as that she is my only really good friend in this entire country right now… I would probably rob a bank with her if that is what she wanted to do.
Tuesday I met my new boss Rocio (my new roommate’s name is ALSO Rocio… this could get confusing!) I am basically in love with her. She is SO nice. My very first impression was NOT showing up at the time I was supposed to meet her… jetlag overtook me I guess and I completely and literally missed the train. I finally went that afternoon though and she could not have been nicer. She bustled about showing me around and introducing me to whom she could since I showed up 2.5 hours later than expected. I had been pretty worried to say the least about this new school, it being in the same gypsy ghetto as the first and literally next door, but I am happy to say that I feel from only about one hour there that it will be a MUCH better work environment than last year. There are teachers that actually know my purpose and WANT me to be there! Hurray! And Rocio is just so cute I want to squeeze her! She is a little “gordita” and excitable woman who appears to be very open, warm and well organized. I am foreseeing a beautiful relationship.

Summer lovin!

Summer blog-
My 22nd summer was defiantly one of my very best. One of the key factor to its awesomeness was the fact that I wasn’t officially employed, something that I haven’t done during the summer since I was 16. Believe it or not, I actually didn’t just lay around as a lady of leisure, on the contrary, I was very busy! “Soccer-moming”: not for the timid. It was great because I kept busy doing things for my mom but I also had plenty of time to run around and have fun with my friends and to hang with the fam.
Some highlights:
4th of july
Chows
Fam time
MDS youth camp! “meant to be”
Went to visit Holly!!! LOVE THAT LADY!!!
Cambria with my favorite women on the planet
Soul- Half adventures…..aaaaaamazing!
Spanish fiesta… part 3!
As you can see… it was a pretty amazing summer. I am so grateful for it and for basically everything the good Lord has thrown my way. Can’t complain ladies and gents, I just can’t.

CASA DULCE CASA!!!!

Now, I am home!

Frist though, I flew from Madrid to Boston, where my wonderful freinds Rob and Kelly picked me up and took care of me til my flight to San Jose the next day. They picked me up pizza and beer which we enjoyed in front of Rob's huge tv... I was back in the USA and in heaven!!! It was so nice to break up the trip and to see mis amigos de Alicante! I am definatly stopping in Boston again on my way back out!

They dropped me at at airport, and after 6 hours of watching tv on JetBlue, I could see Mikey holding baloons that said "Welcome home!" The whole gang was there: Mom, Dad, Wem, Bug, Grammy and The Steph! I was SOOO HAPPY! We all piled into the van and headed home :)

Since then I have been readjusting to home just fine. Today is my first day on domestic duty. I dropped Em at work, came back and made myself and Mike some breakfast, did the dishes and now after blogging I think I will go do some jogging... haha.

Pues nada, es decir que, ME ENCANTA ESTAR EN CASA!
ie: I am loving being at home!

My Euro-travels before coming home

I finished teaching at the end of May but I still kept a very busy schedule until I got home. (YES, I am writing this my from my home in CA, but I am going to keep the posts separate!)

First of all, I had to find an apartment for next year! This year finding housing was extremely stressful, and although it turned out well, our apartmentwas fairly expensive. Since I now have a years experience, I wanted to leave everything all set up. Following Macarena's advice, I used the somewhat archaic-seeming method of posting flyers around the neighborhoods I wanted to live in, saying that I wanted a room for rent. Much to my surprise, this worked amazingly well! Within the week a had a few good options and finally decided on one right next to the train station with 2 Spanish girl roommates. It is in a great location and the rent will be much cheaper next year. Check and check! Let's just hope my roommates what to be my best freinds for the final check.... well the one girl I met seemed really nice!

Then I was off to do some travelling! First I was off to London with mi amiga marvelosa Macarena! As I probably have mentioned before, this year Macarena has been helping me with my Spanish, taking me out with her freinds, and has just been generally awesome. SO, I thought it would be cool to go somewhere where I could be the one doing the guiding and helping. And that I did. Maca found a great guide with a little built-in itineray which we mostly followed to the letter since neither of us had been to London before. We found a moderatly priced B&B (NOTHING is "cheap" in London) that was right on one of the main tube lines, so we had the subway figured out in no time. We tubed everywhere and did a pretty good job seeing all of the sights by day and of course the pubs by night! Maca did a good job talking to locals too, crazy Brit accents and all :)

That Sunday Macarena had to head back to Sevilla for work on Monday but I had planned another leg of the trip for myself to go visit my freind Garret in Germany. My flight didn't leave until early Monday morning, so I went down to Sevenoaks to visit Lou, Mary and the girls. Eeeefs, Rosie, and Caitie are so cute it should be ILLEGAL. It was a lovely day so we played outside and had a great time. While winding down for bed time, I had both big-girls on my lap watching Finding Nemo. When I asked Rosie where the little fishies were going, she cleverly replied, in her charming gruff voice, " MAYBE THEY'RE GOING TO RONDON."

Thanks to Lou, I made it to Stansted in plenty of time and Garret met me in the airport in Stuttgart so I wouldn't have to say "No spreken duetch!". I had a great time with him and he showed me around his university, the towns around and also the bigger city of Stuttgart. I also really got into the Euro-cup! Nothing like sitting down at a bar or cafe with a truely enormous Kristal of Hefferweisen (sp?) and cheering on your favorite Euro football team!

NOTE: SPAIN historically beat the Italians and have FINALLY made it to the semi-finals! This is literally more than 80 years coming! You bet I will be watcing on ESPN! Spain plays this Thursday then the finals are on Sunday.

As always, pictures are the best way to explain:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/LondresYAlemania


After that trip I had one weekend to fine-tune everything for my new apartment, pack up my old one, say GOODBYE to my roommates and have a final night out in Sevilla! Our landlord this year has an amazing summer terrace-bar that is really awesome, right on the river. It's beautiful. It's also rather shee-shee and pricey but luckily Pablo loves us and he invited us and our freinds for a few rounds of ron y colas! It was a pretty crazy-intense weekend but I managed to get everything done and have a fun last hurrah with my roommates.

Then I headed to Malaga to family-vaycay with mi amgia Hayley and her fam from Texas. We stayed in their grandma's time-share in Marbella which is a very beautful (although totally runined by rich, British tourists) beach town. From there we headed to Granada where Hayley and I were the tour-guides since we have both been there several times now. The high-light was definatly a flamenco show which Hayley and I breifly considered skipping since we have already seen a few. We were glad we opted to go because it was really awesome. (pictures to follow later)

From Granada I caught a train back to Sevilla to do some final packing and then head HOME!!!!

Bueno... pues nada....

These past week getting ready to leave Spain has been a rollercoaster. I have a few leads on apartments, one that I LOVE. I have also seen some horrors. I really hope one in particular works out... it is on an adorable street, it is in a PERFECT location for me AND it would be with 3 Spanish universty students ie built in conversacion practice! If that doesn't work out though I have a few other options. I have also made a freind during the apartment-hunting process. She is an English teacher as well, at another school, next to mine, in Dos Hermanas. So that is awesome.

Bump in the psychy/emotional road today... I went to the delegacion today with Noelia to look into switching schools and I was polietely told to go take a flying leap. I KNEW that this was probably gong to be the case, that I was going to have to stay in orippo,and that they probably weren't going to care. But just being confronted with the fact that I will be in Orripo, alone, and that my only other option is to forget the whole damn thing and go home was upsetting. And THEN for the lady to be like in the office to be like "tu no preocupes, si tengas una problema el curso que viene, my llamas." I literally was like "ummm..... TENGO PROBLEMAS, me lo SE come es.... estoy aqui AHORA." and that lady knew the orippo situation perfectly well.

so basically the answer was: sorry. you don't like it, GO HOME. tough shit. y esta.

SO. I don't know... I mean I have been prepping myself for exactly this, I know it is only 12 hours a week, then I will have the universty, my private classes, I have some freinds here, I can travel, I want acheive my goal and finally get fluent in spanish and I feel like if I leave now and don't do another year, I won't ever get there. Plus now there is the possibilty of this fabuluos apartment, with young fun-seeming SPANISH SPEAKING roomates... I don't want to go home. I mean I DO, NOW, but you know what I mean. It just was a slap in the face. I'm like, oh by the way, you are fucking welcome spain for teaching your underprivalged dilinquent youth. Even though I am furstrated and more than a little nervous for next year, this hasn't changed my mind. I still want to come back next year. It just SUCKS. I feel like as far as the school hours go, I am going to ALONE and it is going to SUCK and I am going to have NO support. But perhaps all of this will be worth the other 146 hours a week. I don't know. The only thing I can do it wait and see.

I went shopping on the way home... probably a mistake... and I cooled off. It is going to be what it is. I know what am getting into. I have my options and I am chosing to stay.

I feel this illustration says it all: