There's always a story: That one time I was begging for change....

So due to wanting to spend all my time at home with family and not attached to my computer, and the arrival to Spain without internet there was some writing the I wanted to do that isn't getting done until now.

This particular story of my impressive bad luck takes place back in August when I was leaving Madrid to head to California for my wonderful 3 week stay back home. I was staying the night at my friend Kirsty's place, my flight was at 10am so had to be at the airport by 7ish (in order to ensure I jumped through all of the security hoops on time.) I set my alarm for 6:15 and I had set an alarm for 6:40 to let me know "Hey Cathy it's time to get moving out the door." Well for some reason I didn't

notice that my 6:15 was accidentally set to only be for MONDAYS which didn't help my Friday morning flight. So I woke up to my alarm on my phone which had so conveniently decided to fall in the crack between the wall and the bed. I jumped up and tried to turn it off as soon as I could because I didn't want to wake other people up so early. I saw the time and ran for the bathroom to brush my teeth put on clean clothes and bounce. I said a quick goodbye (see you around) to Kirsty and headed to the airport. 

When I went to check-in and leave my bag, I was informed that the flight was delayed so instead of leaving at 10 we'd be leaving at 12. (Gee thanks I would have had time to shower if I'd known that...) I got my tickets and went to sit with my headphones on and wait to board. As I was was thinking that my layover had been cut immensely cut down that I'd be running for my life in order to catch that plane. What I failed to realize until I was in the air half way across the Atlantic was they changed my second flight so I wouldn't have to bolt through customs (as if that's even possible). So now I was faced with the challenge of making contact with my parents to let them know that I was arriving at 8pm and not 6pm. I thought no worries even though a few of my tech friends have recommended against connecting to the internet at the airport

No sorry fool I don't have 10 cents...

because of security reasons, but desperate times call for desperate measures (little did I know what this really meant). So I arrived to JFK went through customs and back through security now on a mission to get in contact with my parents because my Spanish phone didn't work and I didn't have a US phone. So I tried to connect to Wi-Fi so I could send a message via whatsapp or facebook or email. anything. Then I was hit with if I wanted to get online I would have to pay $15 to get online for an hour?! I didn't need an hour I needed 1 minute to say "home at 8 not 6" so I spent a while trying to see if there was another network to get on a cheaper rate but nada. So I looked in my wallet and all I had was 65 US cents so at the payphone I looked and it said 50 cents local calls $1 long distance. I thought about calling a

distant family member to call my cousin to call my mom, but I wasn't even sure that the number i had was still valid and I didn't want to waste my chance so I turned around and hoped I'd racked up enough good karma to have people give me the 35 cents I needed. I figured I may have had a better chance getting the money than I did asking people to borrow their phones which they were either talking on or playing on since they were waiting around. Not surprising l was met with lots of dirty looks and "I ain't got no change" exchanges. A group of girls travelling together were able to give me a quarter, but that still left me 10 cents short and after a few more unsuccessful attempts I ran out of time and had to board the plane. I saw a sign that said Wi-Fi available on the plane (yay!) but when I sat down and tried to log on I was hit with the same red screen (no!) that wanted to bankrupt me from the few USD that I had so my last resort was to ask the nice lady sitting next to me if she'd let me borrow her phone. I called... no answer... called again and left a message with the situation hoping they'd listen to it before driving 2 hours to arrive 2 hours early :-/  

At least this way I could rest easier on the 6 hour flight from NY to LA, with the luxury of a window seat I did just that and knocked out almost the whole way. I arrived got my bag and now in California I had enough money to make the local call. So I headed to the payphones and called my mom to be

met with the voicemail again?! I left a message saying I'd arrived and went outside to watch the cars drive by to see if I'd see them. After over a year of being away from my family and the month of August bouncing off the walls from living all I wanted was to be with family. Feeling alone with my suitcase, my mind going a mile a minute thinking they left hopeless and I was stranded and even though I didn't have cash I had a credit card to get a hotel room and there I'd have Wi-Fi and I could get in contact with them. All of those thoughts happened in about 30 seconds cause then I heard a man's voice yell "Catita!" and I turn around there there's my Mom and Dad smiling not worried at all because they'd heard the messages and right when I'd called 2 minutes ago was right when my mom went to the bathroom and didn't hear the phone... my impressive bad luck strikes again. Overcome with emotion I just broke down in tears and hugged them, and we hopped in the car and headed back to our quaint desert home.

There's Always A Story- Spring Break 2014

Spring break is here... 3 major Spanish cities and a mini tour around Northern Morocco, pinch me it's perfect... except when I remember I am me and nothing is ever perfect. So here is the story of this vacation and the string of bad luck events that seem to follow me every once in while. (This be may a bit long but hopefully entertaining... lol)

Spring Break kicked off with a bang, a long nap and no urge to pack left me thinking I was going waste Saturday away, but in the end I made it on time and was off to Madrid. My lovely friend who I was staying with had made some plans with a potential boo so I was left to make some quick impromptu plans, but luckily that worked out for the best, and I got to hang out with 8 awesome Madrid Players who happened to be free. Random nights of laughs started everything right...

Sunday was also awesome because I got to go have Indian food with my friend, take a walk around Madrid, FINALLY after being in Spain almost 3 years I went inside the Prado Museum, and got to enjoy a great Diego concert with my friend Parisa who has converted me into a total groupie, but that's okay because we had lots of fun watching the concert and I left some girls with their jaws dropped when I could sing along to pretty much EVERY song :P

Monday came and I got up early to catch my 11am bus to Córdoba, waiting at the metro station it said 2 minutes til the next train when I arrived (perfect!). After 2 minutes had passed the screen went blank, and no train had come (Insert Panic). After a bit the next train shows up and I´m off, after making a transfer and arriving at the bus station I ran up the stairs and made it by just a hair. 

On the bus ride over in between listening to music and playing Candy Crush I got an email from a company I was hoping to hear from about a job, and it wasn't a congratulatory email, it was a we may have space later so hopefully we can send you a happier email soon (Gee, thanks!)

Bummed out about trying to reorganize some of my future plans we stopped at the rest stop between Madrid and Córdoba I ate my cookies and got on the bus when it was time to go. We were on our way for about 10 minutes before I realized I had forgotten my jacket at the bus station. I was super bummed out because

I use this to try to feel better when I do something dumb

my mom had given me that jacket because it looked like one my sister had, and I tend to get overly sad when I do stupid things like that because as a kid I was always kinda careless about things, so now as an adult when it happens I just feel like my life is so not together. I texted my mom and she told me not to worry she got it for $8 and she'd find me a new one. Now I just had to go on the rest of the trip with no jacket....

Córdoba was nice, I had booked a massage and session at the Arabic Baths (awesome!) On the way back it took me 20 minutes to get to my hostel because of the Holy Week processions. I get to my room get all freshened up and I notice there aren't any sheet on my bed... actually there none of the beds have sheets. I figure this is what I get for paying into a cheap hostel and kind of just call asleep on top of the comforter. Later around one in the morning a group of girls came into the room and were laughing about having to go in and ask for sheets. Only this hostel would put a sign in the corner of the reception where no one would see it saying "Please ask for sheets"... later I got my sheets too.

Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos

The next day I wanted to go to the Mosque/Cathedral but the opening ours for visitors due to Holy Week activities was from 8-9am so I missed it and the next day it opened at 11 and my bus was leaving at 12 and it was too close to try to risk it. So I went to Córdoba and didn´t get to see one of the most important sites... no big deal -_- I just headed on over to the main castle and spent the afternoon in the gardens. It was very beautiful but it also made me realize that traveling alone isn´t something I really like. It's great to see things but then you´re left with this urge to comment on it and when you turn to say it to someone no one is there, it was a bit sad, and of course Selfies just aren't the same in beautiful places, and since I'm such a shy person I couldn't muster up the courage to ask a stranger to take a picture of me to get the right one.... oh well!

I left Córdoba and made my way to Sevilla. It was a major coincidence that I found one of my coworkers who was going from Jaén to Sevilla on the SAME bus. It was a nice ride, despite some people arguing over seats because their's was stolen. Once in Sevilla I parted ways with my coworker and I set off to my hostel where my friend was waiting for me. Granted I pretty much NEVER really look up where my hotel (my bad) unless I know I have to take a bus or something but when I know I'm going to take a taxi, my urge is not to bother. Well when I got to Sevilla I gave the driver the address got in the taxi and we were on our way. Being Semana Santa there were a billion and one processions going on, and so many streets were cut off, and there tons of people. After driving around for a while, the driver stopped and told me it was impossible for him to make it up to the front door due to the processions so he'd stop me there and all I had to do was walk down to the end of the street. I paid him the 15 euro fair that was there I got my suit case from the trunk and I pulled out my phone to see down the end of which street he was talking about in the busy intersection he left me at. I plug in the address into Google Maps... loading walking directions... 32 MINUTE WALK!

Pretty much me this whole trip....
Source: Google

After I already paid this fool 15 euros, with my suitcase I had to go though all of the processions with people dressed in black KKK robes, parents pround of their kid walking barefoot through the street holding a candle, people as desperate as me to get through the crowds, finding other routes, getting re routed on my GPS trying to understand it was sending me because I haven't really used it before, getting weird looks because I had a large bright pink suitcase in the middle of this religious tradition, get stressed because it was hot and I was getting tired of draggin my my heavy suitcase, and trying to get over my anger over the whole situation. Close to an hour later I made it to my hostel, made my bed with the sheets they gave me (yay I got sheets this time), and went to have lunch with my friend since really all I'd eaten was a few cookies on the bus. We took the after noon easy and had dinner that pretty much gave me a flat fanta from a two liter bottle, tomorrow surely had to be a better day. 

Thursday came and we got up and were ready to take over the city, but unfortunately Holy Week already did that for us so when we went to the famous Catedral and Giralda of Sevilla, visitors allowed due to Semana Santa activities, so that's great after almost 3 years in Spain and not visiting two important cities, when I finally do make it over to see them, I can´t see what everyone says you HAVE to see there... just my luck. So instead of going into the Cathedral we went to 100Montaditos and had a tinto de verano and planned out the rest of the time we had in Sevilla. It was super hot so we went for a bit of a rest back at the hostel, and set out for Plaza de España that evening. It was beautiful! On the way back we got caught in yet another procession for a good half an hour of weaving through people, waiting, taking pictures, and all that jazz. At least it lead us to a pretty good chinese place, who forgot to bring us drinks but no big deal.

The next day was the day we were off to Morocco! I was really excited for this trip because it meant checking off another continent from my travel list, and it was a planned excursion so the pressure of what are we doing, how are we getting there and everything was taken care of. It was nice to just show up and enjoy. Our first hotel was on the beach so after dinner my friend and

some other girls we met at our table decided to go down to see the water. We were collecting shells when a pair of what seemed like teenagers tried cat calling us shouting out "Sevilla sevilla Sevilla" and "omg... hello USA".

Day 2 in Morocco was nice we went to the Blue city of Chefchaouene walked through the mountain town got a talk about how they made the fabrics and saw the actual loom. Our moroccan old man tour guide said i didn't look American I looked like him (ok?) We bartered for some things, I got some scarves and we were back to our hotel in Tangier. We were going to go out dancing, but dinner didn't sit well with me so it was just a quiet evening in the hotel for me, oh well... Our last day came and we got to ride camels (one of the scariest moments of my life!), walk around Tetouan and do a bit more haggling, and end the trip having lunch in an Arabic Palace. Now it was time for the long trek back home!

The two girls we had met on the trip didn't have a place to stay for the night, so I gave them the name of our hostel and she called to see if there was availability. A while later she came back and said they had availability the problem was that they didn't check people in after 11, and since our ferry was later we weren't going to get back to Sevilla until almost 1am. So in a panic i called the hostel and tried to reason with them that we'd be quiet entering our shared dorm, that we needed a place to stay and that I had already

made the reservation, and it's not my fault our ferry was late. The man wouldn't budge and only offered me a much higher price private room, which wasn't worth it because my friend was leaving at 6am. So in the end we cancelled the reservation (thankfully he didn't charge me for it since it was a short notice cancellation) and we slept (or didn't sleep) in the bus station, in the cold (with no jacket remember), just laughing with my friend because our Winter Break vacation ended the exact same way in the Barcelona bus station.

I waited for my bus which I thought was at 9am but it was at 9:45, got the the bus and started on my journey to Caceres then finally back to Navalmoral. When I got to the bus station around 3:30pm it started pouring rain, and since I had no jacket or umbrella I waited another half hour til I was able to get home. Finally arrived to my humble abode where I tossed my purse onto my bed and my Aquafina water bottle exploded soaking the bed and reaching my precious laptop! (Oh no!!) I rushed to save it dried it wit a towel and tried to see what happened. No response. My world was coming to an end, so I just left my laptop on my desk to dry and went into an exhausted emotional coma for the next few hours. Around 11pm I woke up and gave it another go and MIRACLE it turned on and it's been pretty okay ever since *fingers crossed*

Well it's not the first time I say my bad luck is impressive, but this really is up there on the list. It was a good vacation overall and I'm ready to keep movin' on up! 

Thanks for reading !! 

~Cathy

Le sigh...

So in the past few months this happened.

As well as...

Walking to the grocery store I came across a group of boys probably 13 years old and as they caught a glimpse of me me the usual phrases came out "hostia", "madre mia" then... "ahi va Moby Dick. Proceed to try to ignore along same road come across another group of boys a familiar routine essentially since middle school "oh there goes your girlfriend" "ugh hell no" Finally make it to the grocery store and then another probably about 10 years old is following me trying to sneakily take pictures from afar. When I finally notice that's what he's doing I stop look him in the eyes with a "what are you doing/what do you want" look and he goes away.

On my way to another grocery store trip I pass a group of kids that say "ahi va la gorda de ingles" (there goes the fat English teacher) and while waiting in line to pay for my groceries an elderly woman whispers to her husband "look she's actually eating salad"

 Let's not leave all of the fat shaming to the small town Spaniards...  While standing in front of a restaurant in London (shout out to the English speakers!) deciding if my friend and I should have dinner there, a complete stranger passing by said "Stop eating!!" While looking at some clothes in a store in Rome, the old lady that worked there made a point to come up and tell me "Those are one size only!!" (y que?!)

Walking home behind a group teenage boys...when rounding the corner one catches a glimpse of me and mumbles something to his friends. Then like dominoes they each turn around to take a look at me as I turn left and they carry on I hear the word 'enorme'

Walking home from the grocery store two little girls roughly 8 or 9 years old at the first glimpse of me burst into hysterical laughter (cackling that could be heard all along the empty streets of the main road during lunch time) pulling out there phones to take pictures, when I stopped and said "que pasa" they just looked at me like I'm far too busy being out of breath from continuing to laugh and snap pictures of you face.

Walking home about a block from my house a little boy is walking this dog with his mom just a few steps ahead of me. the boy gets a glimpse of me and tells his mom nervously "There's a monster following us" The only thing the mom says to the boy is "Don't worry, just keep walking"

I am not going to say that I have been unaffected by this because that would be a lie. After all of these incidences I still can't gain the understanding of how people can be like that. My child wasn't even that cruel and I had the nickname Caty-Faty (oh gotta love family) And some people might say well Cathy if you lost some weight then you could avoid unpleasant encounters such as the ones you are telling us about. But that is besides the point. I'm never going to be "supermodel" skinny and even then I'm sure mean people will find other things to be mean about. So being bullied into losing weight is not really my style.

I am not blind to the fact that I'm overweight, but I am totally mostly sometimes comfortable in my own skin, but however i decide to go about that is no one's concern much less their entertainment. There are definite days where i feel like I'm a circus animal, not cause of me but cause of them. It's me versus them . They started a game but on most days I feel like it's one where everybody loses. :-/

Extraordinary Extrajeria Extravaganza

For those of you who have not been graced with the opportunity to have to deal with foreigners' offices around the globe, you are really missing out {/end sarcasm}

The ever dreadful mustard yellow building from your nightmares
(Source)

Jumping through hoops, getting papers stamped, paying fees, waiting in line, filling out more forms, signature here, date there, copy of this, staple that... it's endless. Coming into any country for a prolonged period of time comes at the cost of this bureaucratic madness. And of course, I've had my fair share since the beginning.

This year things were particularly messed up. In order to renew your student card you had to turn in the application, papers proving your finished the program this year and got renewed, accompanying fees, a document called empadronamiento (for census purposes and keeping track of where people live).

Well the empadron was the first hurdle in this heap of....manure. I went to the local office with everything signed and ready to go. The contract my roommate had for our apartment, copy of his ID and signature on the application, SHOULD be easy as pie. Unfortunately for me, my previous roommate who had left on not such a good note with the boys was previously registered with this contract. So.... it was HER signature and ID that I needed. And of course, to my incredible bad luck she was in California (of all places) at the time. I told them all this and they said there was nothing they could do. I went again, and explained the situation to another person. He told me to fill out a new application and check some different boxes and it should work. So I went home got the signature that I needed and went back for a third time. The girl was not really having it since of course I didn't have the signature fromk the person they say they need (even though she doesn't live in the country let alone our apartment anymore). After some begging and pleading and stating that this was my third time there they finally gave me the stamp that I needed.

(Source)

So all I needed to do was turn in my papers, wait for the letter of appointment for fingerprints, get fingerprinted and wait 40 days for my ID card in order to travel freely in the EU. No Problem! Turn in papers (check!) Wait, wait, wait for my letter (...in December Check!) Wait... my appointment to be fingerprinted is... May 9th! Add the 40 days to pick up the card and that puts me at June  18th for a card that is only going to be valid until the end of my contract which is June 30th. So... I have to live most of my second year in Madrid undocumented because there was a huge backup and apparently common sense isn't so common anymore.

Months passed and I accepted my fate for having to get an Authorización de Regreso (authorization to return) whenever I needed to travel this term.

As my appointment drew near I soon realized that my appointment May 9th from 4-6pm was not going to cut it because that was the opening night of the spring show I was in Steel Magnolias. I had made a plan to go the day before (as other auxiliares had mentioned they went in even without a letter and had been helped) and get it out of the way and everyone's happy (or so I thought).

I arrive bright and early Wednesday morning, and there is a line around the corner just to go through the metal detector. 20 minutes in I look for the line where they do the fingerprints when I overhear a police officer saying "let's cut off the fingerprint line" I quickly go up to him and with big eyes ask which line is for finger prints, and luckily he takes me in and makes me the cut off.

¿La fila para huellas?

In the twisting, turning, baby crying, sun scorching line, I waited for 5 HOURS. There is a person at the front of the building doing crowd control, taking as many people fit inside, and when there is room calling more in. I was finally about to get inside, when the crowd control person (a big angry man with a hat) asks to see the back of my appointment paper (with the date on it.... what the heck at least 50 people passed ahead of me and he didn't ask them to show!) So I showed him my paper, and he turned me away. Even after begging and pleading trying to state my case and being cut off. He insisted if my paper didn't have that date on it I wasn't getting inside. So I went to work, late and for nothing, and decided if I made an early enough attempt the next day I would still make it in time to save the show, and get what I need done.

Thursday rolls around I'm there at the beloved Aluche this time even earlier, that there isn't a line for the metal detector but there is still a curve to the line of people a million times worse than the DMV inside. I wait in that line again, for 5 HOURS and this time I make it into the building (GLORY!) I make it to the desk, the young man flips over my paper and says, you're scheduled to come in at 4, and it's only 1 o'clock I can't help you. I again I plead, and say there is no way I can get through that line in time, and with an apathetic face he just shrugs and calls the next person in line. 

My last option is to go upstairs and see if I could get my appointment changed. According to the other people in line, my chances of that happening were grim since they knew people were getting appointments for September... which would have done me no good. I trekked upstairs anyway in hope that I could not go home again empty handed. 

I arrive upstairs to wait in the information line, and see the two people helping are a woman and the older man with a hat that threw me out the day before--cue feeling in the pit of my stomach. Waiting in line in front of me is an older woman who asked my situation and when I told her I'd waited 5 hours 2 days in a row she asks me if I'm pregnant -_- And when I reply no, she told me to tell them I was pregnant so that I could be helped. She gets up to the front of the line and she has to go with hat man, but she steps aside, and says I want to wait for the woman. I politely decline and no you go ahead. She still insists with her pushy older woman ways and I head over to hat man. So when he asks me how can I help you, in as sweet of a voice as I can muster I start to ramble on about how he may have recognized me from the day before and I needed to change my appointment, because I really couldn't be there that after noon. And he says.... "Can you come in tomorrow?" *sigh of relief* I say I can but if there is a way for him to make it on Monday it would be best. He looks at me confused and tells me Monday is the day with the most people, but then I told him it was my day off so he took his pen wrote the new date, stamped it, and I came in on Monday to wait another 5 HOURS (which really you can't avoid unless you get there at the break of dawn and I like sleep too much).

So I've survived!! For now... We'll see  how the Cáceres version of Aluche treats me come September.

Much Love!

@CathyArely

Stories, Pictures, Rants, and Memories [100 Posts]

Hey Readers!!

 So today I'm writing my 100th blog post for Mi Nuevo Capitulo, and I while looking back today exactly three years since I wrote my first post: A New Start. It's amazing to see what a transformation my blog has gone through in these last three years just as I have also transformed and grown from that girl who clicked that "create blog" button.

Three years later I realize how relevant the title of this blog still is. We do live our life in stages and hope that we are moving on and progressing with each passing chapter in our own story.

I celebrated Milestones of reaching a thousand views, and here we are 3 years in at nearly 15,000!!

Mi Nuevo Capitlo, has seen new blogger friends, vlogs, funny stories, thoughtful pieces, lists, and many apologetic posts for not writing.

What's to come is unknown, but here I'll leave you with popular posts from my blog.

1. The Nightmare Before Halloween (Eviction from la casa de las brujas)
2. 7 Things I've Missed While Abroad
3. Student Comments 1-- 2-- 3-- 4-- 5-- 6
4. The Money Runaround 
5. Online Food Ordering
6. Your Bad Luck is Impressive 1--2--3
7. Oui What?
8. ExtranHero Abono Adventures
9. A Love Story Waiting to be Written
10. Pay It Forward


So a BIG thanks to everyone who has kept this blog going by reading and commenting. Keep a look out for more of Mi Nuevo Capitulo and CathyBean Poetry.  Here's to 100 More <3

Much Love!
@CathyArely

There's Always A Story- Puente~ing- País Vasco

Hey Hey Everyone, 

  Sorry for the slight pause in posts, things have been getting slightly hectic, and of course I'm going out and living the Spanish life, not only writing about it. 

I want to take a slight detour before I get into what's been happening. I've come to the realization that... I'm happy. With all of the things I've had to overcome in this last year, that's the very reason for this epiphany. I'm finally at a point in my life where I really enjoy my job and my co-workers (also that I'm blessed that I have a job), I'm healthy, I'm really living the dream here on the other side of the world and trying to take advantage before the sand runs out of the hourglass. Life isn't perfect, but for now I'm really happy. Ironically, after having this realization my sister posted on facebook that she was having a similar revelation which only makes the smile on my face even bigger. 

Now... with all that being said... even though things are good, that doesn't mean I stop being Cathy, because like the title of this blog says there's always a story....

Here in Spain they call long weekends puentes because often times if a holiday falls on a weekday, they'll connect it with the weekend. November 1st was All Saints day, therefore it was a 4-day weekend four most, but 5 days for me since this year I have Mondays off. So I decided to take advantage and go check out the Basque country. Originally I was supposed to be going with a friend but last minute plans changed, and I decided to go on alone... sort of. A few other friends were making the same trip, but because they work on Monday my trip was kind of a day behind theirs so I wasn't alone the whole time...

Photo courtesy of my good friend Matt

I made it to Bilbao after sleeping pretty much the whole 6 hour bus ride, since we had our 1 year roommate anniversary party at my house the night before... and people were still going by the time I headed to the bus station. I was greeted by rain, and taxi-ed over to my hostel. Met up with my friends, and some of their friends and then we were off to see what kind of pinchos Bilbao had to offer, but not before heading to the view point to see the city. 1 euro to take a trap to the top of a hill, at first with the rain and the gloominess it was apparent why they only charged 1 euro but as the sky calmed a bit, it was a beautiful sight.  

The next day my friends headed to San Sebastian, and I had the day to myself exploring the Guggenheim, and wandering around the city a bit. When I got back to the hostel, the other people there didn't really seem that open, in a kind of un-Cathy way I decided I wasn't going to try to make friends, and it was too cold to go off and venture alone, so I just went to the grocery story, and read for the rest of the evening. 

Saturday Morning I woke up ready to head off to San Sebastian, when i notice that I'm kind of itchy, when I finally make it over to a mirror I see that I was bit by a mosquito ON MY FACE!! A huge red spot right above my eyebrow and on my cheek. I mean, I've been bitten by insects a million and one times in my life but the face is such a sacred place! Luckily my hair was already swooped over to that side, so I could try to be as normal as possible. 

When I arrived at my hostel in San Sebastian, it wasn't the same kind of trendy venue that I'd slept in Bilbao, actually it was some lady's apartment that she'd turned into a hostel, but it was clean, and a place for me to sleep, so it'll have to do. The guy in charge was really interested in talking to me since I could speak Spanish well, and he was tired of being surrounded by all of the English speaking tourists. I cut the awkward conversation short though to go and see where my friends were. 

Source

We had a nice lunch, and then went looking around the city. I found a little store that everything was 3 euros so I bought a necklace and some belts. At that point I was out of cash, one I needed an ATM. My friend couldn't remember where she saw my bank, but at that point, to me I didn't mind the fee of a few bucks compared to wandering the streets all night to find my specific bank. So the first ATM we see I decide to hit it up. I put my card in the machine, I put in my code, and the machine is processing for a while, then comes up with the message "This card is suspect of fraud, please call your bank." SERIOUSLY?! It was Saturday night, so I had no hope of coming the next morning to have them open it and getting my card. So I called the number, and all they said is that they could cancel the card and I'd have to go to my bank to order a new one. At this point I wasn't too stressed out though, because I have two debit cards for my account, I just don't keep them with me because I figure if I'm robbed I'll always have the other one. The trick was just making it through the rest of the weekend. Fortunately my friend came to the rescue and lent me some cash money... CRISIS AVERTED.

My friends left back to Madrid and I still had one day in Pais Vasco. One of my friends from studying abroad in Puerto Rico is from a little village close to San Sebastian, so I was off to go meet her and spend the night in the mountains. As I was headed to the train station from my hostel, I stopped at corner that had a sign that pointed in the direction of various points of interest, just to make sure I was headed the right way. Then I hear "Guapa! Necesitas ayuda?" I turn and I see two guys walking and they're asking me if they can help me find where I'm going, I politely say no, and cross the street in the direction of the train station. I walk down the street and a few minutes later, there the guys are again asking if I'm sure they can't help me find my way, I assure them I'm alright, and I can make my way, then I make a sharp left to get away from them, and as I'm continuing down the street I realize I'm not entirely sure of where I am now, so I sit on a bench to check my map, figure out my bearings and get up to head to the train station. Again I'm greeted this time by only one of the guys asking if he can help me to find where I'm going. Again I say no, but also weary that this fool might go crazy (just like the pizza boy) I put up with him walking and talking with me to the train station. He comments on how I look like such a nice girl, and how we should go for a walk or for a drink, but I insist my friend is waiting for me in the village, so I must go. We get to the train station, and say our goodbyes, and I'm off to the pueblo. 

2009/2012

While on the train i realize that I didn't take that good of a look at what the stops were on the way to Zumaia, and I'm struck with a brief sense of panic as I'm not sure if I got on the right train, and there's no signs anywhere about what the next stop is... luckily I was alright. Then it was wandering around in the rain with a dead phone (my smart self left the charger at home) and asking around where the bar my friend worked at was... luckily I made it, and we had a wonderful time. Her family is beautiful, her 10 year old sister drew me some pictures when I arrived, we got all nostalgic about Puerto Rico, and the mom packed me a lunch for my bus ride back to Madrid. 

An interesting weekend of sorts and a good time.

Thanks for reading,

<3 CathyArely

Your Bad Luck Is Impressive 3.0

So after a semi-blissful week back to work, I was hit today with something that isn't going to let me feel at ease for the rest of the weekend. 

When I woke up this morning I had an email from the bilingual coordinator at a high school in Mostoles that they had been waiting for me all week, and to let them know if I was going to resign the position then I needed to let them know so that they could replace me.

So all security that I was going to tranquilly be able to work in my adorable curious elementary students in the city center is out the window and filled with doubt about having to go back to the daily grind of fighting to motivate teenagers in an out there community with the not best reputation. 

When I had gone to the administration office they told my my placement without giving my my official letter of appointment, which means there could be a mistake and I get sent over to the other place... although unlikely because I'd like to believe that reason would enter at least a few people's brains and see how I've already started at this other place it's the easiest thing is to stay there.

I replied to the other coordinator telling him the situation, and the game plan now is to wait and see if I'm told to go elsewhere... and if so, try to get my new principal on my side... but we'll see.

Trying to stay optimistic. REALLY trying...

In the meantime you can check out the new Reader Spotlight, or CathyBean Poetry.

Summer Summer Summer Time

Hey Hey All!

Sorry for the blogging hiatus, as promised (many times) before I do plan on getting back into posting a little more regularly. I'm returned from adventures in summer camp, and now am almost finished with my au pair experience.

Summer definitely didn't kick off the way I expected. It all began the day I was supposed to go to camp... I didn't even end up in Albacete!! We all know I am not a stranger to OMG IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?! situations, well here is another one for the list. I was all packed and ready to head off for a month of summer camp activities, mingling with students and other native speakers of English, and all that jazz. Somehow a midst a pile of emails with different dates and times we had to be at places, I ended up getting a little mixed up, and thought we were set for take off at 4pm, when it was really 2pm (!!).

Last Resort jajaj

Much to my surprise, I arrived at the meeting point only to find hotel staff who had no idea about the group I was talking about. Total freak out moment, since this job was going to be my main source of income to keep me on my feet while still here during the summer, and I threw it all away because I was too cool to write down the time I was supposed to leave. With thoughts of ruin and despair in my head I frantically called the contact number I had for the summer camp. I honestly expected a "sucks for you, apply again next summer," but instead after a "Really, you missed the bus...lecture" the coordinator told me that they would send me to  the Tarragona campus instead, and gave me instructions to go by a train ticket. All was right in the world, I wasn't going to be forced to sing in the metro with a can in order to afford toast. 

I arrived at camp with the students, was mistaken for a student a few times (woo I can pass for 17!) and the fun began. 4 weeks of bonding with students, making raps, dances, shadow theater, playing capture the flag, swimming, making presentations, cross-dressing, talking about child labor, and mock interviews. All while trying to not get bitten by mosquitoes or spiders (fail) and going back to elementary school days with traditional games and cafeteria food. 

Week 1 Manic Monkeys!!

Week 3 Roomies!

Real Life Clue! The maid knows who done it! Even if she's had a few rum and cokes! ;)

As great as it was to have some structure to my days again, I learned a lot in Amposta, and had a select group of fantastic new buddies. Manic Monkeys, Wolf Pack, Amposta Shore, and Shakalaka were tight. I'm really glad to be back in Madrid, with potentially more scars on my legs that I had in Puerto Rico. Now I'm occupying my time with a 11 and 7 year old brother and sister pair, and rehearsing for my next performance "September Serenade" with Madrid Players. 

Thanks for reading! Until Next time loves!!

~@CathyArely

Your Bad Luck Is Impressive

Hey Hey all,

  So the title from this post comes from a new facebook friend, after I posted this blog post, and a status that read as follows:

"I would be the one to lock myself out of my apartment on only my second day here -_- better days shall come"

So yeah.. normally I clip my keys onto my purse, but I guess last Tuesday (after moving in on Monday) I was totally locked out of my apartment. So the first thing I do is buzz to get let in.

*BUZZ* 

....no answer... 

I think to myself- "Did I buzz the right apt?" 

"Yes of course I did. Well I'm 85 percent sure I did. No, I definitely hit the right button."

*BUZZ* 

.....definitely no answer....

Next step, call only roommate phone number I have. 

*pull out phone*

Phone is out of saldo (curse you prepaid phones!!!)

I just put money on my phone and it says I'm out!!

Think fast, call the free number to add saldo from your phone...

*Dial*

...not the right number...try a different one that seems like it would be the one... nope not the right number..

*AHH*

Next walk over to my friend who lives across the street and buzz him, so I can add saldo online, and then call my roommate...LIFE SAVER

*Call roommate and apologize profusely for being such an idiot*

(The next day was a holiday in the center of Madrid so all of my roommates were all out de fiesta, except me because I work in a suburb, so no fiesta)

*Roommate comes on his motorcycle, gives me keys to run upstairs and then throw the keys back down to him through the balcony*

LIFE SAVER!!

*Apologizing even more, and promising this will NEVER happen again*

He just smiles and says "No pasa nada", and heads back to his party.

It was this exchange that made me feel truly blessed to have found such a great place after the nightmare I was in.

More bad luck has followed my the last few days-

Friday, I flooded the kitchen (not that bad) because I forgot to close the inner basket of the washing machine.

Ugh...really?

Saturday, I went to go pick up something for my old roommate since she's not in Madrid anymore and on the way to the place there were a bunch of museums and beautiful buildings. So I took  out my camera about to shoot take a few pictures, and my battery was exhausted...all I could do was laugh.

So I guess I do have some pretty impressive bad luck...but I'm happy where I am right now. It was my first weekend "partying like a spaniard...ish" and now it's back to reality with lesson planning, cleaning, among other things...

As of right now my room isn't set up yet due to lack of funds and still in battle for my deposit, but as soon as I can I'll give y'all a new video tour of my place.

Thanks for reading!

Much Love,

Cat

The Dream

Hey Hey all!

So after one month of being here in Spain and a series of semi-failed outtings, I still haven't gotten quite into any kind of groove or routine that is even close to the social world I'm used to. Today I decided to let the ink hit the paper just flow. Here what I came up with:

P.S. The Australia reference is based on this-


Non Student Moment of the day-

Scene- me at a bar in an attempt to meet people

Me- Are you from there (pointing to this guy's shirt that says Australia)

Him- Yes, Where are you from?

Me- Los Angeles

Him- Why do Americans always say exactly where they're from?

Me- Well the US is such a big country

Him- Well So is Australia...

Me (in my head)- Well thanks for making me feel like an asshole -_-


Until next time!

~CathyBean

A Series of Unfortunate Events, and A Few Good Things In Between

Hey Hey all,

     I know the title of this blog isn't that convincing that I'm having a good time here in Spain, but the truth is things so far have been on the mas o menos side lol. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be here, the people for the most part have been nice to me, and I'm living the dream, what isn't there to love?? Well sometime living the dream doesn't mean life stops, and real life things still happen in dreams. For example, I am currently writing this blog with a semi-stuffy nose after a 4 day run of a feverish cold/sinus infection.

    It just seems like I've hit a stroke of good luck and bad luck at the same time. In the past two weeks I have dealt with this cold, the wrath of mother nature's curse on women, my computer charger giving out on me, washing my clothes 3 times before I could figure out how to rescue them from the washer  and NOT break the lid, among other things. The most annoying though, I would say would be the million of ads I called in order to try to find a place in the city (so I can have a night life and meet friends my own age). Of those million, okay maybe a I'm exaggerating A LITTLE jajaj, of those several places that I'd called to get information about, many just said, "sorry, it's already taken"-- gee thanks for leaving up your ad. One of the places I called from a for rent sign was for an office building, lol super embarrassing. I'm happy to assure you all though I did find a place. and I'm going to be moving in on SATURDAY!! (But more about this a little later)...

    Some of the good that has been sprinkled in between these mishaps includes the day I went to go visit my school and got to stay and volunteer with my coordinator. It was during the time teachers were striking so there was a mixed response among students going to school or not (I plan on writing another blog about all my experiences with huelgas). The first of her two remaining classes was without students, but her last class was her seniors, and they were all there. In this class the teacher takes off points for students who speak Spanish more than one word following the phrase "How do you say...?" Honestly, I think this is going to be just as hard for me as it is for the students lol!! I mean I know my role is to come here so that the students have a native English speaker to help them learn the language to a proficient level, but truthfully everything about me screams Spanglish (hence blog title). This is something I'm sure I'll deal with and get over, but for now I'm cool (apparently a very American word for students who are mostly exposed to British English). During the class the students got to ask me questions, and it was a great time. I got asked where I was from, how come I know Spanish, what I want to do with my life (AHH!), and my favorite food. I answered this question without thinking and said of course Salvadorean Tamales. After finding out that there are not Spanish  Tamales the teacher goes on to say, oh well why don't you explain to us what that is...in English. So it was pretty interesting for me to have to explain something that I've never talked about before, in ENGLISH. "So there's a dough that you put stuff in it, wrap it in a banana leaf, and cook it" lol I did a better job than that, but that was the gist of it lol.

    Another great thing that has happened is that I got to be reunited with one of my good friends who I studied with in Puerto Rico, Brittany! I picked her up from the airport, and off we were to find the hostel we'd be staying at. The first of many misadventures, we got off of the subway apparently at the wrong side, asking a few strangers along the way if they knew how to get to Plaza Santo Domingo, and slowly but surely we were pointed in the right direction. When we finally get there, we see there's a the subway exit that would have taken us to the front door of the hostel...like i said the first of many misadventures. Unfortunately for us, our reunion was not as lively as we'd imagined it being, I was feverish, and getting the worst part of this cold, and she hurt herself in Paris, making her knee swollen and painful to walk. So here we were, two 23 year olds in the heart of Spain on a Saturday night, and we ended up going to bed early like a bunch of can't breathe, can't walk old bitties. 

Side note- felt very good as I was helping Brittany communicate with people in terms of getting her phone unlocked and buying a backpack, that people thought I was actually from Spain (woo hoo go me)

    Anyway so Brittany and I set off for a mini adventure to go see Museo del Prado, and various other attractions in the area, since her friend told her that it was free on Sundays, which it is, only it's free from 5-8pm... a minor detail that we weren't aware of. So we decided that we didn't really want to spend the 10 euros to get in so we walked next door to the botanical gardens which was only 2,50, but they didn't take plastic, and my darling B didn't have cash so we chucked that idea out the window two, and just took pictures around the outside of both places. We then went to Retiro Park, and took a mini nap on a bench. After all of that we decided that we wanted to go to a movie, after three failed attempts, being directed to the wrong place by metro workers, and lots of walking and subway transfers, on our way back to the hostel/me heading home, we found a theater that was right around the corner from the hostel, hilarious failure.

Thank you all for reading this far, I'll update more about my new place once I move in on Saturday. Please check out our Reader Spotlight, and be on the look out for next months spotlight! :)

Much Love,

~Cat