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.

My Year Summed Up In A JPG

Although some people remind me that... it's actually the summary of my life. lol

<3CathyArely

P/S Check out our new Reader Spotlight

Made for the Movies!

Yep that's right people I'm gonna be famous...or at least that's my hope...sort of. Actually, I don't know what I want lol.

It's kind of funny you don't know what kind of impact you're going to have on the world. My knack for being in different things has always gotten me some sort of recognition even if it's just people remembering my face, coming from a small town helps too. My recent brush with fame actually came from this blog. I was walking into the metro, and this girl goes "I'm sorry to bother you, but are you Cathy?" This definitely caught me off guard since this was Madrid not the Antelope Valley or even CSUN. I warily said yes, and the girl told me that her friend was like my biggest fan, and that she couldn't wait to tell him that she ran into me. Definitely a good boost of self esteem. Also a very good friend of mine showcased me on her blog with one of my latest. So for those fans out there I'll apologize again for my lack of posting updates.

For a long time I've said that I wanted to be that kind of inspirational person that they make a movie about the impact that they've made. What really interests me is the movies like Freedom Writers, Coach Carter, or Stand and Deliver is the influence that these people have made,and that people think that that influence is important. With all of the struggles I've had to overcome in these last (almost) 6 months, it made me laugh at the fact that for so long I've had that dream, but I never really took into account the trials part of it all lol. 

Anyway, in the mean time feel free to check out our New Reader Spotlight for Feb/ March or some CathyBean Poetry. I'll leave you all with a new photo of me and my new haircut. Future famous person, or lawyer, or teacher, or poet, or singer, or comedienne, or whatever else may come my way.

Thanks for reading!

~Cathy

Reader Spotlight- November

This month's Reader Spotlight is up!
 

In case your new, Reader Spotlight is a section of my blog that gets updated once a month with the first commenter of the month, to build a little community among my blog. So check it out <3

Student Comments of the Week

Not sure if this is going to be a regular thing on my blog but Student Comments will definitely be showing up from time to time. Here are the highlights of the week :)

-Monday (during the interview activity where everyone had to ask me at least one question in class)
Q- "Do you prefer American boys or Spanish boys?"
A- Umm... I'll get back to you...lol

-Tuesday, after I asked why so many of them were on Tuenti (Spanish social networking site) vs. Facebook.
"Tuenti is cool because it is for young people like us, and facebook is not because it is for old people."
Oh I'm too young to be  having moments like this... lol

-Thursday (again during the interview portion of class)
"Why aren't you a regular teacher here? You've taught us better in a half an hour than all of the other teachers..."

Aww... <3

In other news... we finally have our READER SPOTLIGHT for October up. Thanks to my primita Jackie for stepping up to the plate. I didn't ask her to do it, I swear, lol. Remember first comment of the month gets featured on the Reader Spotlight tab.

Well thats all for now, I'll probably write another blog soon about a few mini adventures during this week, but for now I am to go tackle the big bad post office to try to send back my defective kindle (possibly to be mentioned in my next post)

Thanks for reading. Much love.

~Cathy

Happy October!

Hey Hey everyone!!

  Happy October! I'm in my new place if you'd like to see my pad just go ahead and check out this video that I made to give a tour of the house since many people were asking to to give it to them on skype, but I couldn't since my room (atleast until Monday) doesn't have good WiFi reception. 

Tonight was my first night on the town so to speak, it was really great to hang out with auxiliares. We hit up this 50s American Diner (I know, we're sellouts :P) named Peggy Sue, got some Italian Ice Cream, saw cardboard cutouts for people to take pictures mooning lol, and just chilled in Sol watching street performers, people peddle purses, pirated movies, and beer, and get hit on by short creeper wannabe slick Spaniards lol.

So October is finally here, meaning getting to know more people (please be my friend lol), starting work (Ahh!) and really exploring the city!! A new month also means a new Reader Spotlight, so just a reminder first comment gets to be Reader Spotlight for November, and many thanks to Kenya for being the first ever Reader Spotlight.

Thanks for reading, its 3am, so Imma Say peace out y'all :)

<3 Cathy

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

The Moment Has Arrived

Hey Hey Everyone!

    So the time has finally come, I am here in SPAIN!! After a long while of not having internet due to waiting on buying a EUROPE/US power adapter, I can finally give a semi update of life on the other side of the world. 

The adventure started Monday as I was nervously packing my two suitcases with clothes I would have for the next year in Spain, tearing heartstrings as I saw the things I was leaving behind (and asking to have sent to me later jajaj). And of course since I leave everything to the last possible minute, I didn't get to sleep more than 45 minutes before it was time to make the trek at 6am from Palmdale to LAX. 

My nerves were on pins and needles as the Air Canada employee checked the scale as I put my bags on. The first 51 pounds (AHH!), but she let it slide... (that would be due to my shoes lol)...the second 45 lbs, I guess Top Ramen weighs less than flats.  After that I was reassured my luggage would be waiting for me in Madrid, and that I wouldn't have to spend my 2 hour layover in Toronto running around from baggage claim and customs and such. Speaking of customs... what disorganized mess in Canada (no offense) they were taking a random 10 people in at a time and trying to calm down people who weren't even complaining lol.

So after a 6 hour flight to Toronto and an 11 hr flight to Madrid (which ended up being longer because there was traffic at the Madrid airport and we circled in the air above it for half an hour). I didn't have much luck sleeping on the plane, after sleeping what I thought was a good while, I would wake up and convinced that we had to almost be there because I slept so long, only to find out that I'd only slept 50 minutes and we still had four and a half/ seven/ two hours left. I did end up watching Water for Elephants, and was too tired to watch anything else but apparently not tired enough to fall into a deep sleep jajaj.

I was also blessed to have the help that I do here in Spain. The coordinator for my school had told me she would pick me up from the airport, and arranged for me to rent a room from her sister (her neighbor) while I did my apartment hunting. When I told other auxiliares of this at the seminar at USC everyone was like WOW so lucky...and I truly am...I arrived in madrid, got the stamp on my visa, and went to get my luggage. As I passed through the Arrivals threshold I saw people holding little white sign's with names of those who they waited for, but my name was not there. I waited around in the crowd for a little while before panic started setting in. Since the plan the whole time was for me to go with my coordinator, I didn't have any place to go, or any idea of how to find an alternative. Since the last few days before leaving were crazy I didn't get around to sending the email that I wanted to get her phone number and give her mine, and just double check on all the details. The only number I had was for the school (which was on holiday the day that I arrived so that wouldn't have done any good anyway, lol figures...) So I went into freak out mode for about 2 seconds until I saw a machine that  I could connect to the internet with. Sending her an email was my last resort,. The machine charged 2 euros for half an hour, more than enough to do what I needed to do. There was no card slot, only for me to enter the information for my card, so I did...and it was rejected (Major Freak Out Moment!)  Another Blessing... my mom when I had got accepted into Spain gave me a 2 euro coin she'd had saved in a drawer. I put it in the machine and jumped right on my email. She'd already emailed me with her number and that she was at the airport.

We finally united and she took me to the cute room that would be my own for the next two weeks or so. Not too much adventure/exploring has gone on as of yet, since I'm still a mess with the 9 hour time difference and allergies, but I'll update soon.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out this month's Reader Spotlight if you haven't already, next one gets chosen Oct. 1 :)

<3 Cat

Milestones

Hey Hey Everyone!

So this post is very special for a couple of different reasons. The first is we have our Reader Spotlight for the month!! Congratulations and Thank You to Kenya for participating! Go check out the page and show some love, yes? I'm hoping for this to be the start to getting connected through my blog, for those that are close to me, they know I'm all about the networking ;).

The next thing that I am excited to write in this post is that 

WE HAVE PASSED 1,000 views! 

To think that about a month ago I had only about 250 views for my blog since it's birth in May 2009, and in a month that has quadrupled. Not only that in the same amount of time I've also  more than quadrupled, followers of my blog (from 3 to 16)

It's information like this that keeps me motivated to continue writing, to continue having new ideas, to allow my blog to grow from a diary that only I would read in my moments of feeling nostalgic to a mini community of people that are actually taking the time to read my words.

I'd hoped to have 25 followers by the time I left to Spain, but seeing that I leave in 7 days, 18 hours, and 41 minutes, I don't think that it's really realistic anymore. I'm okay with that though, the 16 pairs of eyes that are dedicated to reading my blog are enough to keep my heart content, and will leave me more time to deal with  the "This is not good-bye it's just see you later" moments that have been filling up my schedule. 

Anyway thanks for reading, and who knows maybe you'll be next month's reader's spotlight :)

<3 Cathy

Reader Spotlight

Hey Hey All,

So I'm sure some of you have navigated around my wonderfully redesigned blog and seen a the tab entitled:

 

"What is this Reader Spotlight?" you ask.Well to be completely honest I'm not 100 percent sure. 

Something that I want for my blog is for there to be a sense of community among the readers, which vary from family members, friends and colleagues from high school and college, future colleagues from SPAIN, and other random intrigued people here on the world wide web. 

So here is how it is going to work:

The first person to comment every month will get to have their own picture/bio/personal interview in the Reader Spotlight section, and readers may not have 2 consecutive months as the spotlight.

I do anticipate for this to evolve eventually to who ever comments the most during the previous month to earn the Reader Spotlight. And who knows what it may evolve into that we can't anticipate. 

I hope you all are as excited as I am about this lol. I feel like my blog is really taking off. On my Facebook the other day on the "On this Day in 2010" section, my status said "Just so y'all know, I'm going to be a famous writer someday." Which I'm sure I can trace back to Mi Epiphany. I still haven't started on the book that I'm going to write, but the way that this blog is coming along, is kinda exciting for me. I've gone from 3 to 11 readers, from 100 to 800 views all in the last month or so of revamping. So I'm anxious to see what the future holds not only for myself and my journey to Spain, but for this blog and what turns it will take.

What do YOU think about the Reader Spotlight idea?

Thanks for reading. And who knows come September 1st the Reader Spotlight could be YOU!

Much love,

Cathy