Mi nuevo hogar! (My new home!)

Last week I said my goodbyes to my familia sevillana and headed off to granada via train. It was a hectic train ride because all the americans going to Granada had soooo much luggage and no where to put it on the train. However, we made it safely to our hotel and had a week to search for pisos (apartments). I definitely found out how much of a rookie I am at piso searching. I stayed with 2 roommates in the hotel and we searched for pisos for 4 days straight. It was the roughest week yet. We walked from one point of the city to the other many times without success. Finally, we found a website worth more than gold. After using this website we no longer had to depend on ripping numbers off of signs and streetposts. The best idea was to pay 10€ for a week and have access to everyone's phone numbers. This made things a lot easier and I ended up looking at over 10 different pisos. It was difficult at first to decide between what zones I wanted to live (there are several very cool zones), but I eventually decided on the one closest to my bus stop for my pueblo that I am teaching in.

Both of my roommates are Spanish from nearby cities outside of Granada. Pedro is a legit magician. He brings his cards everywhere he goes. I am truly proud to call him my compañero. Bani, who I met yesterday, is my other roommate, but she doesn't come back again for another week. They are both studying here at the University. Our piso is nice. However, it gets kind of annoying having to turn on the butane tank and strike a match every time we want hot water. Then after using the hot water, we have to go back to the kitchen to turn of the gas tank. Things could be worse though. And of course we have a BIDET in our bathroom.

 We live right in front of a huge shopping mall, and right behind the mall is the biggest zone where it is legal to hacer botellón, which means to drink in the streets. There are literally thousands upon thousands of students doing botellón on the weekends until 8 in the morning right outside our piso. Luckily, I don't have to work on the weekends so sleep isn't a huge issue. 

I have met many Spanish people already and exchanged many numbers. There are ALWAYS people in the streets everywhere you go, and the coolest thing about Granada compared to other Spanish cities is that every time you order a drink (beer, wine, etc.) it comes with a free tapa. A tapa is a type of snack that they cook for you. Sometimes you get to choose which tapa you want from a menu, but other times they just serve you a different one every time. It's very cool and cheap! Definitely a great way to spend some time out with friends.

Tomorrow, Monday October 3rd, will be my first day at work. I already went to the pueblos (towns) to visit my school and my academy where I will be teaching. I teach art and science to kids from 3-12 years old from 9am-2pm Monday through Thursday in a town called Churriana de la Vega.. I then have a three hour break to have lunch and prepare for my next classes in the academy in another pueblo from 5-9pm. I will be working A LOT to say the least. The good thing is that my salary will be double that which it was going to be with only one job. I am going to be very busy studying English grammar to prepare for teaching advanced English classes in the "Underground Academy" in Cúllar Vega, a town right outside of Granada. 

Unfortunately, I have not had enough time to take a lot of pictures of Granada like I did of Sevilla. I will post them as soon as I do. In the meantime, I have attached some pictures of Granada and a video link to this blog.