Ham=God

Its been six days since I arrived to Cadiz, and its already beginning to feel like home. I feel so safe here, and the people who live here are the nicest I think that I have ever met. I swear you ask someone a question and they will stop and walk you to where your looking to go, or explain something 6 times because you dont understand. Its pretty amazing. The city has two parts, the old city (inside the wall) which is all little streets that look the same.. really old and quaint, and then the new part (outside the wall) which is still super old, but looks much more like a typical city. Its almost like a little island and its completely surrounded by water. The south side is all beautiful beaches and to the north its a port. I have actually found myself a place to live by now and its in the new area called Playa Victoria. Its a cute little place and its central to everything I need. Its 5 minutes walking to a gorgeous beach, a little over 5 min to the bus station to get to work, right in the center where there are a ton of bars, restaurants.. etc. Its also in my price range which I thought would be more difficult, since I wont be making much this year unless of course I am able to find an under the table paying job.. but I havent gotten that far yet to rely on it. Its a 3 bedroom and I am living with a girl Neddy who is from Florida and in the program as well, she and I have been in touch prior to arriving in Cadiz becasue we are teachers in the same town. And were also living with a Spanish girl Ana who is sooo sweet and doesnt know a word of English..ps Neddy is origionally from Panama so shes fluent in Spanish as well, so Im STOKED to be surrounded by Spanish so I will be forced to learn it. Im actually suprised how much better its gotten.. well not exactly the speaking, but I can pretty much understand when people are talking to me (with the craziest accents ever here!!) I just sometimes feel like a mute cause I cant form a proper response haha. Im learning!

Well a lot has happened in the past 6 days! I can't believe how much has gotten accomplised expecially considering the way that things are done here. Nothing is done on the weekends, especially Sunday dont even think about finding an open store... Stores are open from 10-2 and then again from 5or6 to 9 during the week. Or they just make their own hours.. No one is in a rush... EVER. Drinking is done at all times of the day. Actually people here dont eat I swear, its just drinking all the time. Yup like if Im thirsty at work Ill pour myself a glass of water... here I had a waitress who just poured herself a beer. But thats just the norm. So talking about drinking, eating here is ehhh. If you dont like ham you should go home! They think ham is Gods gift to man, and it goes on everything, and every restaurant and bar has AT LEAST 4-5 ham legs hanging from the ceiling... that they just cut your meal straight off of when you order food. Even when you order something vegetarian, it will come with either some form of ham, tuna, or egg. And we eat standing up here... for the most part tapas are eaten for every meal and its typical to stand in a restaurant and eat.

I also found out that I have a friend Miguel living here who I went to school with at Coastal, pretty exciting! I knew he was in Spain but had no idea it was the same area. I went down to his town Conil one night and its a cute town, not such a big city like Cadiz. We went to a few bars that were really cool, like outdoor but indoor.. open areas with no roof. Really nice! And nice to know someone here, and his friends are great too! I also went to a soccer game with them which was pretty cool. The stadium is actually near my new apt. so Im glad I got to go to a game. It was Cadiz vs Murcia and the stadium was the most unsafe thing Ive ever seen...Its like straight up and down with no handrails or anthing.. i thought I was going to fall off! They go nuts first of all, and its totally normal for young kids to scream swear words throughout the game. The 12year old boy in front of me was going nuts.. it was so much fun!

I went to Barbate finally and saw my school!!!!!!!! AWWWWWWWWWWW I am SOOOOO excited to start. The school was so cute, pretty tiny but totally perfect! The staff was absolutely amazing, they were hugging and kissing me and they were sooooo welcoming. I cant wait to get to know them better and the kids. I was there after the school day finished and got a tour of the school. When the principal Julia was taking me around we went into all the classrooms and they were all having meetings (where every mom was in the room... no dads which Im curious about.. but I met all my kids moms as well ha) It was great! Then we sat down and looked at my schedule... so they know I have to commute an hour and want to live in the city where I cant arrive until 10am because of the bus schedule... she goes okay Ill change some classes so its okay for you... and THEN she goes I think you should only work 3 days a week, because if your happy, you will work better. Hellllllo great mentality! I think I have the most amazing boss ever. So 10-2 .. 3 days a week I am stoked. 4 day weekends to travel, and plenty of time to take Spanish classes, which Im starting to look into now.

I cant move into my new apartment until Sept.29 which is fine because I dont start working until Oct.1 and wanted to travel anyway. Luckily (like everyone here) my new landlord Patty is the nicest ever and letting me keep my luggage at the apt while I travel around before I move in. So I put it all there today, and tomorrow I am off to Milan, Italy. I am meeting a highschool friend Jessica there in 2 days and going to travel around with her for the 2 weeks before I come back to Spain. Not sure all the places we will go in the 2 weeks, but Im thinking Milan is not a bad place to start. :)

Till Next time! CIAO