Busy Busy Bees

Plentzia

It's only been a few days since I last blogged, but a LOT has happened in these past few days!

Luckily, the strike did not affect our beachy plans and we rode the metro to the end of the line to the coastal town on Plentzia. Really pretty, and Amy's friend Iñaki came with us and brought his friend Marta, which was nice, for there was mucho Español spoken.

We are pretty much settled in to Bilbao. On Thursday morning, we got up earlier than we ever have in Spain, at 6 am (!!) to go get in line for our residency cards. There are so many foreigners in Bilbao and Spain in general that EVERY MORNING outside the police station, there is a line of people waiting with paperwork.

Luckily, it was uneventful. Being American worked wonders and we had no problems getting in. Amy, with her European Union-ness, was whisked to the front of the line, and only had to pay ten euro for her card, while the rest of us Americans had to pay 10.20 euros. We came back on Friday to turn in paperwork, and were told that our cards would be ready within the month, which is a major relief since our visas expire in 3 months.

Friday was also my first day at my school, IES Martín de Bertendona. I had been in contact with the teachers from there, and was looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing the school.

My new school

I was astounded how nice everyone was. When I walked into the staff room, on the white board it said, "Staff, please be here at 10 on Friday. Welcome Elizabeth!" I met all the teachers in the English department (6 women, and one man) and my tutor, Marisa who will be helping me out. They then proceeded to introduce me to everyone who worked at the school, from janitors to the Head Mistress. No way am I going to remember all those names. The choir teacher was especially excited for me to be there. She said they are working on songs from "Mamma Mia", and wants me to come to her class and help with the English pronunciation, which I would LOVE to do.

Everyone seemed very excited that I was there, especially the kids. Since my school is one of 2 all-Spanish speaking schools in Bilbao (as opposed to most of them that teach primarily in Basque, the regional language), a majority of the students are immigrants. A lot of Chinese, South American, Eastern European. They're a little rough around the edges, but they were all really excited for me to be there.

It seems like it's going to be a really fun year. My schedule is Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, which is pretty amazing. Matt has Mondays off so it works out really well for traveling. And our vacation schedule is ridiculous. It's a wonder they learn anything in Spain with all the days off we get.

Friday night we met up with a group of Auxiliars in Bilbao. I thought it was going to be mostly Americans but it was pretty split with those from the UK. It was good to get to know more people, and everyone was cool. A fun group, for sure.

Yesterday, weather reports indicated that it would be a whopping 32 degrees here...or about 90 for the Fahrenheit crew. We figured it would probably be one of the last really nice days, so Amy, Matt and I went to Santander, which is in the region of Cantabria.

It was a perfect day, nice enough to get in the water. Matt tried surfing for the first time. The waves were a little big, but we still had a great time.

This week should be pretty busy as well. We have 2 separate orientations (why, I have no idea), one in Vitoria and another in Barakaldo (where there happens to be an IKEA). So I won't really be back at school until Friday.

Originally published 10.3.2010