Category: Travel

My First Trip to Disney World!

Traveling makes my soul happy and I have been blessed with different traveling opportunities to different countries within the past few years. How funny is it that I had never traveled to what is often referred to as the “Happiest  Place on Earth” until a few weeks ago?

How We Decided On Disney: Like many people in the world today, my daughter follows many different YouTube channels and social media accounts. There are several videos that have featured Disney trips including “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.”  We got word that our son was going to be able to take leave before heading to the Middle East and we wanted to give him a fantastic vacation to take his mind off of everything. It has been quite some time since we have all traveled together. It is usually just my daughter and I. My daughter was more than thrilled that we were able to book Disney during the Halloween party.

Resort and Park Tickets: It took a few different phone calls to reservations to get the best rate. Although they offer military rates they are few and far between, and when they become available they are swooped up rather quickly. I was finally able to get a military rate for the Art of Animation Resort and we stayed in the “Cars” family suite. The actual park tickets were about 50 percent off as well. My ex-husband/boyfriend (yeah, still unsure what label to use now and it is kind of weird but whatever!) went to Ft. Campbell and purchased the park tickets for the discounted rate. He is retired Army and still receives his benefits.

We Are Here!: We arrived at Disney World in Orlando, Florida on September 30th and stayed one evening at  the Shades of Green. Shades of Green is a resort on Disney property, but is only for veterans, active duty, and retired military and their guests. The cost of the hotel is much less expensive than the typical Disney resort, but if you want to use the Disney Dining Plan and have access to the different resort benefits that staying on a Disney property allows, Shades of Green isn’t the best option.  We departed for the Art of Animation early the following morning to begin our Disney adventure! While Shades of Green is a nice resort, it really didn’t compare to the customer service and overall Disney experience we received at the Art of Animation. We weren’t supposed to check in until 3 p.m. EST so I expected that we would have to leave our luggage with the Art of Animation staff. However, they had our room ready by the time we arrived at 8 a.m. This was a wonderful start to our vacation! After checking out our suite we filled up our mugs with waters and soda to take to the parks with us. Side Note: When you stay at a resort on property you receive a mug that can be filled up at any resort at Disney World. We would fill these up with coffee in the mornings, then water and Powerade throughout the day.

   

Our First Full Day: I have always felt drawn to Animal Kingdom and knew that this would be my first stop. Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a wildlife reserve, and I didn’t realize this until I was researching animal reserves in the United States for a presentation I gave for my students while I was living in Spain. I adored the safari ride, and the giraffes were so close I could almost touch them.

                            

Photo Pass: We opted to get the photo pass/memory maker package. With the military discount it was only $99 for our entire stay. This included access to all of the ride photos, and any special photos in front of different areas of the parks.

The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

 

Scarlett and her dad visiting with Minnie and Mickey in their safari outfits.

Magic Kingdom: The next day we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom. As soon as I walked through the gates every bit of child like innocence flooded my being. As an adult, those feelings come in smaller doses as the years go by so I tend to relish the feeling whenever I get it.

We stayed there until about 3:00 p.m. and then went back to the hotel to shower and change into our Halloween costumes for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Side Note #2: (When we return to Disney, we won’t do a park each day! We were only at the parks from October 1-4, and left Orlando on the 5th. We tried to squeeze as much as possible into one trip since Che only had a certain amount of leave time. We didn’t do the recommended “rest days” in between parks, and we felt it!)

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party: I was completely giddy the entire time! It is always fun to dress up in costumes whether for a Halloween celebration or onstage. I decided to wear a T-Shirt with the Sanderson Sisters and the famous song title “I Put A Spell On You” (“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”) on the front. A cute pink witch hat along with the shirt and black tutu were comfortable enough for an evening of walking in the park yet again!

I love Halloween, and every detail was amazing from the carved Mickey pumpkins to the Hocus Pocus Spectacular. We saw the Hocus Pocus show twice, got a great spot for the fireworks show, and a front row seat for the parade! The parade was my favorite! It brought every character from The Magic Kingdom together into one singing and dancing celebration including the villains at the end the show! Before the parade, we hit the trick or treat sections and rode “The Pirates of the Caribbean” ride again since it had an extra twist for Halloween which included a few live actors.

The Monsters Inc. dance party was also a blast!  

Before arriving to Disney, I did a bit more planning than I’m used to with a vacation. This had its pros and cons, but I will go into that in a different post. However, I did come across a wonderful vlog called Disney Food Blog, and I found the videos so addicting! They gave us so many tips on how to really use the Disney Dining Plan to our advantage, and I did just that! I highly recommend getting the dining plan if you are traveling with men and women that love to eat, or if you are like me and love to eat gourmet food. I honestly like the “all inclusive feel,” and it did take the stress off of the dining budget because it was already paid for!

I was looking forward to trying some of the specialty Halloween food items that are only available at the party and the pumpkin cheesecake was one of those items I wanted to try. I was able to use one of my snack credits for the cheesecake!

Tip: Use your snack credits for the more expensive items like cheesecake and items at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival vs. a bottle of water or bag of chips. This is how you really make the dining plan work for you! Also, use those sit down meals for that five star French or Italian restaurant that you may not go to on your regular night out. I have read that some people end up having several snacks left over, but we didn’t! The dining plan was a great choice for us.

Epcot and Hollywood Studios:Our last two days consisted of going to Epcot Center where the Food and Wine Festival was happening as well! I was able to hit two special events during my first trip to Disney World! Two friends of mine who work at Disney met us at Epcot and we had a blast!

 

Stay tuned for part two of our Disney trip! There is just too much to add in one post! I’ll talk more about the dining plan and how we made it work, and discuss some of our favorite rides. Disney can be a wonderful bonding experience for family and friends, but I can see how it can easily turn into a nightmare if you don’t just go with the flow. Our next trip to Disney will be less “planned.” 😉

Mr. Walt Disney sure knew what he was doing though. There must be something in the water because I can barely remember the stressful situations. I’m kind of addicted now!

Christmas in Paris: A Dream Come True (Part 3: Cruise Down the Seine River, Christmas Day and Macarons Galore!)

As excited as I was to spend the Christmas holiday in Paris, I was a bit concerned that we might not find places open for business, but we were fortunate that this wasn’t the case.

Cruise down the Seine River

We purchased tickets for a scenic river cruise down the Seine River for only 11 Euros per person, and found out that the cruise was running every 30 minutes as usual on Christmas Day.

The cruise was about 45 minutes long, and we got to see Paris from a different angle. It was very windy and cold that day, so we stayed inside the boat most of the time looking out the windows. However, when the captain announced that we were passing Notre Dame, we ran upstairs to get a few photos! On my next visit, I want to tour the inside of the cathedral, but I was happy to see the outside this time around.

Photos of Notre Dame!

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the cruise ended, we went back to the hotel and got ready for Christmas dinner. We had gone up into the Eiffel Tower, but had not yet seen the view from Trocadero Park. We decided to head to the park and eat at a nearby restaurant.

Eating French food was one of the highlights of our trip. The first night we arrived we enjoyed a wonderful creperie just steps from our hotel, and went back for a late breakfast our last day after we checked out.

After our trip to the Louvre on Christmas Eve, we found an amazing little restaurant while walking around the city. We were able to enjoy escargot, French ravioli with duck, and creme brulee. The food in Paris was everything we dreamed it would be. Scarlett said she wants to move there but I quickly reminded her that if we lived in Paris we wouldn’t be able to eat out like this everyday as it would get very expensive.

Our last day in Paris

Check out time at the hotel was noon, but our flight didn’t leave until 8 p.m. the day after Christmas. Our hotel graciously offered to keep our bags locked up in order for us to use the extra time to look around Paris some more. There was one more thing we wanted to do before leaving. We wanted to visit Laduree, the famous macaron shop.

Laduree

This place was exquisite! From the ornate decor to the scrumptious tasting macarons and variety of teas, it was a fabulous ending to our Paris trip.

   

 

 

 

We ordered four macarons, but the waitress accidentally gave us the wrong one in the original order and allowed us to keep the extra at no additional cost.

My favorite is the one pictured to the left, the Rose. The aroma of floral rose coupled with the flavor of rose petals and sweetness was just how I imagined a macaron from Paris, France to taste. The hazelnut, pistachio, vanilla and orange blossom were equally delicious.

Scarlett and I ordered tea for our goodbye Paris “tea party.” I ordered the Cherie and she ordered the Mathilda. The teas both had a light flavor and didn’t need any sugar whatsoever.

I’m unsure if it was the ambiance of this fantastic establishment, or the quality ingredients, but this was some of the best tea I have ever tasted. For some reason Scarlett really wanted an order of french fries, so we got those as well.

Laduree isn’t cheap. For five macarons, two orders of tea, and french fries, it cost a little more than 30 Euros. It was well worth it!

After our afternoon tea, we still had a little bit of time left before our taxi would arrive at the hotel to take us to the airport, so we decided to walk around the Seine and visit the Eiffel Tower one more time. I have no complaints for our first trip to Paris, and we are looking forward to a future visit in this beautiful city!

 

Christmas in Paris: A Dream Come True (Part 2: The Louvre)

Our visit to Paris, though short, was magical. There were several places we wanted to visit, and were determined to make this a reality. Three nights and four days? No problem!

The Louvre Museum

Since the Louvre would be closed on Christmas day as well as the day after, we knew that we would have to go on Christmas Eve.  We didn’t have to wait long to get inside, and there was no line at all to get tickets. Children get in free, so I only had to purchase one ticket!

The Louvre originally opened on August 10, 1793 and at the time only housed 537 paintings. The Louvre Museum is now said to be the largest art museum in the world and has approximately 38,000 exhibits. It is said that even if someone were to go to the Louvre for 100 days straight, and only look at each exhibit for 30 seconds, that you still wouldn’t be able to see everything that this incredible place has to offer.  Knowing this, I made a plan.

Our Map and Plan

After we got our tickets, I looked at the map, and we made a B-line to the The Mona Lisa exhibit. This is easily one of the most famous paintings in the world, and I knew I wanted to see the original and relish in the work. There was a guard at the foot of the steps and we weren’t allowed to go up. We were told that they were taking extra precautions because of an “unattended bag.” (I am learning very quickly that the United States isn’t the only country to take extra security precautions.)

At first, I was a bit disheartened, but we tried to find another way around. The entry way eventually opened up, and we were able to find The Mona Lisa. There was a crowd of people, but I took Scarlett’s hand and we gently maneuvered ourselves around the side and up to the front. I wasn’t going to leave without getting a decent photo.

 

 

I have to say that The Mona Lisa has never been one of my favorite paintings. However, there is something surreal and magical about seeing such a notorious work of art up close. The original is actually much more beautiful than any of the reprints I have seen, as they don’t do the painting justice.

My heart did that fluttering thing it always does whenever I see something majestic, or meet someone interesting. I couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that Leonardo da Vinci painted this with his own two hands! It was the same feeling I got when I was 20 years old and shook former President Bill Clinton’s hand. At first, I just wanted to meet him because he was the president; I wasn’t expecting to feel anything but a normal nice to meet you feeling. When it hit me that I was shaking the most powerful man in America’s hand, my stomach got butterflies. But, I digress. I relished in the fact that we had a wonderful view of The Mona Lisa and then I moved to the side in order to give others a better view. I now have another thing to check off of my bucket list. 🙂

This place is massive!

After perusing more exhibits, we realized that we couldn’t find our map, and were lost in a labyrinth of Greek sculptures. My bladder was not happy, and when we finally found one of the exhibit employees, he didn’t seem to find my dry American humor about being lost in a labyrinth of Greek artwork humorous. Oh well. I’m not here to make him laugh. Seriously though, at one point I thought we were going to run into David Bowie’s ghost and he was going to show us our dreams.

One of my favorite sculptures of Hercules

 

 

This statue of the Sphinxes reminded us of The Neverending Story (I’m not quite sure why the Greek exhibits kept reminding us of 80’s fantasy movies)

After we found our way to the restroom, we looked around a bit more. After three and a half hours, we were exhausted, and we still didn’t make a dent! On our next visit, we will check out a different area that we didn’t get to. In the meantime, here are a few more photos for your enjoyment.

 

To skip the line or not

If you ever get the chance to visit the Louvre in the winter, the skip the line pass will most likely be unnecessary. I did some research, and several people said that the lines aren’t that long in the winter, so I opted to save the extra money. Don’t get me wrong, the museum was crowded, but from what I understand, not nearly as crowded as it can be. I imagine that if you choose to visit Paris and the Louvre in the spring or summer, the skip the line tickets would be a good investment. Either way, you should try to get there at least once in your life.

 

What Happens If You Get Sick in Madrid?

Being sick is never fun. If you happen to fall ill while in another country, and don’t speak the language that well, it can be a little frightening.

Typically, I am a very healthy person who hardly ever gets sick. Yes, I’m the person who rarely gets antibiotics or even goes to the doctor. Although I knew I would have health insurance coverage through BEDA, I never actually thought I would need to use it.

Getting Sick in Madrid

It happened. I could feel the tightening of my throat, and although it was uncomfortable I can generally fight through a small sniffle or cold. This occurred on a Friday, and by the end of the day I felt completely awful and barely had a voice to teach. Since I have insurance I tried to get a same day appointment to see the doctor on Friday, but was unable to get one. I was told that I could get in if I called back on Monday.

By Saturday morning, I couldn’t even make simple sounds with my voice, and on top of that I felt even worse than I had felt the day before. The idea of waiting for an appointment was something I wasn’t looking forward to.  I googled what types of medicines one should purchase from the Farmacia in Spain, and found a few options. I picked up a couple of things including Ibuprofen, and hoped for the best. By Sunday I was still feeling terrible and there was no sign of getting my speaking voice back. My landlady needed to stop by to check out something going on in the apartment next door, and I really wasn’t in the mood for visitors. However, she ended up being my angel that day!

“Oh my goodness, you sound awful,” she said. I tried to agree with her using my minimal speaking voice, and that is when she asked if I had gone to the doctor yet. She said that waiting for an appointment was ridiculous. After calling the number on the back of my insurance card and waiting a few minutes, she had gotten me a home visit for that day from a doctor. Wow!

Doctor House Calls

I have to admit that although I was feeling horrible, it was kind of cool having a doctor come to our apartment with his little black bag and stethoscope. Scarlett said it was like something out of “Downton Abbey.” He prescribed antibiotics and told me to get three more days of rest without going to work. He didn’t speak that much English, but we communicated and he understood what was going on.

Using the Insurance Card and the Price of Medicine

It was so easy to use my insurance card and I didn’t even have a co-pay! One of the best parts was that I purchased antibiotics and the Spanish version of Tylenol for about 8 Euros. Since medicine isn’t covered through insurance, I wasn’t sure what to expect. When the pharmacist or “chemist” said 8 Euros, I was astounded! I’ll take it!

Spain is known for having a good health care system but I was having doubts when I couldn’t get an appointment on Friday. It ended up working out for the best though. Hopefully I won’t need to visit with a doctor again while in Spain, but if I do at least I know I have a few options.

 

How to Embrace the Holidays While Living Abroad

Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I love virtually everything about it.

I love the constant holiday music that can be heard at most retailers, and the vast array of decorations and lights that can be seen as soon as you step out on your front door and into your car. I never seem to tire of it. As soon as Thanksgiving day arrives, this marks the beginning of the Christmas season for me and my family. Some years we put the tree up Thanksgiving night, but we always aim to have our decorations put up by December 1st. This has been my experience pretty much every year except for this one.

Christmas in a different culture

I knew that the traditions would be different while abroad, but I wasn’t expecting to miss the Christmas traditions in America as much as I have these past few days. After all, I wanted to experience the different cultures of Europe, and get away from some of the commercialism that has taken hold of Christmas.

What can you do to get in the Christmas spirit when living overseas?

In order to combat some of those homesick feelings for Christmas, Scarlett and I decided to visit one of the famous Christmas markets in Madrid at Plaza de Mayor.

As you can see, the market opened a couple of days prior to the advertised November 27th date. There were already several people looking around at the Christmas ornaments, nativity scenes, and array of Christmas hats and gag gifts that were for sale in the red Christmas themed shops that have been set up for the season.

   

Watching favorite Christmas movies

Another way we have tried to keep our traditions somewhat normal is by watching a couple of Christmas favorites on Netflix and Amazon. Isn’t technology great?

 

The best thing to do is to embrace the experience and opportunity you have and immerse yourself in a wonderful new experience of colors, language and food. 

Aside from maintaining a certain familiarity with your normal traditions, venturing out to see how other cultures experience the holiday season is the best way to get involved. It is easy to get sucked into the gloom of being homesick and apart from what you are normally accustomed to, especially during the holidays. The best thing to do is to embrace the experience and opportunity that you have and immerse yourself in a wonderful new experience of colors, language and food. Tis the season!

Christmas lights on the streets of Madrid, Spain

 

 

 

 

How We Get Around In Madrid

Before we left the United States to come to Madrid, I can’t tell you how many people asked me what I was going to do with my van, and if I was going to either rent or purchase a vehicle when we arrive in Spain.

The short answer to this question is that my middle son is currently driving/taking care of my van (at least I hope he is taking care of it), and we of course are not renting or purchasing a vehicle. Since Europe is notorious for their fabulous public transportation system, I knew that we would be utilizing this form of transport in Madrid.

Taxis and Uber: I have only taken a taxi once so far since our arrival in Madrid, and that was from the airport. I downloaded the Uber app (no, I had never used Uber in the states) when I wanted a slightly less expensive option of transportation after we left our AirBnb for our apartment. I didn’t want to take the Metro when we had heavy bags with us, and at this time I was still fairly green when trying to get around the city.

The Metro: We are on the Metro almost two hours a day five days a week with our commute to work and school. This has taken some getting used to, but for the most part it is the cheapest and most convenient way to travel around Madrid if you don’t have a personal vehicle.

There are mornings when I get fairly aggravated with taking the Metro everyday. The morning rush hour is typically the worst. During the morning rush hour, we are literally bumping into strangers and getting bumped into while trying to find a post to grab onto. Since I typically like my space, this caused me some slight anxiety at first. I figured I needed to just suck it up and deal, and that is what I do. 🙂 It is almost impossible to get a seat in the morning for the first seven stops. After we switch trains, we can usually find a seat because this particular train isn’t usually as crowded for some reason. You take the good with the bad, and there are times when the Metro can even be fun!

                             

Public Transport Card (Abono): Scarlett and I were able to get a public transport card or Abono, for the Metro. The process for getting the card was fairly simple. I went to the website and made an appointment at the nearest Metro station that offers this service. We had to bring a copy of our passports plus the original. They asked a few questions, and we were on our way. Scarlett’s card is only 20 Euros a month, and mine is about 54 Euros a month since I am over the age of 26. I suppose 74 Euros a month isn’t that bad for transportation fees. I usually paid more than that for gas in the United States, and that didn’t include any maintenance on the vehicle.

Buses: There is also the option to take the bus, and the public transportation card can be used for this as well. We haven’t taken the bus yet, but I have spoken to people who like the bus better. We may try the bus one of these days, but at the moment we have our route down and it is working for us.

                          

Walking: We definitely walk more here in Madrid compared to when we were in America. Personally, I think this is a wonderful thing. When we get off of a stop, we typically have to walk anywhere from five to ten minutes to reach the final destination.  Of course there are times when we opt to take the “scenic route” and skip the train altogether!

       

Do I Miss Driving?: Yes! We have been here for two and a half months, and this is the longest I have gone without driving in a very long time! I don’t miss sitting in rush hour traffic, but I do miss driving. In fact, that is one of the main things I miss about the U.S. However, I think that the Metro is a very efficient way to travel, and I think that it would be worthwhile for most metropolitan cities in the U.S. to implement such a system.

 

 

 

Four Day Weekend On A Budget In Madrid

Four Day Weekend: After a month and a half of paperwork, beginning a new job, and getting settled, four days to rejuvenate my spirit is definitely needed.

October 12th (El Dia de la Hispanidad), is a national holiday in Spain. There is a parade, and the Spaniards commemorate the day that Christopher Columbus sailed for the Americas. Scarlett and I didn’t find out about the parade until right before it started, and since I’m not a fan of Christopher Columbus’s history no matter what country I’m currently living in, this was no great loss. However, the museums were free for the day, and since money has been tight these first couple of months in Madrid, I decided to pounce on this amazing opportunity!

Museo Reina Sofia: The Reina Sofia Museum has an abundance of art with themes of surrealism. It houses Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” which was a protest of the Spanish Civil War, and  I was breathless being in the presence of such a great work of art. It was definitely a moment where I was completely in awe at the grandeur of the painting.

I kept saying, “This is a Picasso original!”

There were several people taking photos, but when I attempted to take a picture, I was kindly asked to put my phone away and shown a sign stating that no photos were allowed in that particular room. When Scarlett and I went out of viewing area, she was apparently able to sneak a quick photo. I didn’t realize she had done this, but she whispered the fact that she was able to get a photo after we left the area. I probably shouldn’t be proud of her, but I really am!  We don’t have a complete photo of the painting since her view was blocked by other viewers and museum staff, but I figured this would have to suffice since I didn’t want to get kicked out.

Picasso’s “Monument aux espagnols morts pour la France (Monument to the Spaniards Who Died for France)” was also amazing.  We were also able to see works by Salvador Dali.

  

 

We easily spent three hours at the museum and didn’t even realize how long it had been.

The Arzábal Restaurant, located inside the Reina Sofia, is well worth the visit. We ordered a smoked salmon sandwich to share. (It ended up being salmon on toast and not a full sandwich, but it did the job!)  Anytime I have opted to get a quick bite to eat at an art gallery restaurant, I have never been disappointed. Scarlett and I used to eat at the Frist in Nashville as well and always enjoyed it.

              

The Prado Museum: Our next stop was the Prado Museum since entrance was also free on October 12th. The Prado Museum is home to neoclassical works featuring several different depictions of Christ and the Virgin Mary.  The detailed images of the beheading of John the Baptist, purgatory, sin, and grace kept us fairly busy up until closing time. Some of the art was fairly disturbing, but incredible at the same time. The opportunity to see the works of Rembrandt escaped me since time got away and the museum was closing, but I will have to find the exhibit during our next visit.

Museo de San Isidro: The Museum of San Isidro is an archaeological museum that is a five minute walk from our apartment, and it has free admission every day.

When you first walk in, you see several different fossils of different animals, and teeth of human remains. It was very interesting to me that the basic necessities for human life during the “caveman” days in Spain weren’t different than those I have seen depicted in several different museums in the United States. There didn’t seem to be many differences in culture during this time period. Survival was universal. This isn’t that important an observation I suppose, but nonetheless, I wanted to wrap my head around the simplicity of it.

One of my favorite exhibits at this museum was one of a well. There is a story of a baby that falls into a well and the parents prayed for him to be returned. He was found in the risen water splashing around and playing.

Since we visited this museum last weekend, we didn’t go yesterday. The Reina Sofia and Prado Museum took up most of our day, and we spent about eight hours total between the two museums. We still have two floors to explore at the Reina Sofia on our next trip since we weren’t able to get those. Racing through each exhibit wasn’t really an option for us. What would be the point of that?

I’m thrilled that we were finally able to experience some of the culture that Madrid is known for, and the fact that we were able to get in free makes it even better!

 

 

 

I am Exhausted – Getting Used to My New Teaching Role

As you may have guessed, these past two weeks have been incredibly busy as I have been getting acclimated into my new role as a Language Assistant/English Teacher here in Madrid.

School Hours: In Madrid, the children begin school in September, but they don’t have full days until October. They begin the day at 9 a.m. and get out between 1 and 1:15 p.m.

In October, the hours are 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Lunch is from 1 p.m. until 2:30, then classes re-convene from 2:30 until 4:15 p.m. This is my schedule in October, and Scarlett’s is slightly different with a 30 minute difference in her lunch schedule. Her school gets out at 12:30, so I will walk over and pick her up as soon as I am finished. This makes it a bit inconvenient, but at least we will be able to eat lunch together everyday and get a nice break.

Taking the Train: The subway, or Metro as it is called here in Spain, is a very efficient form a transportation. However, it does get old when it takes a good 45 minutes to an hour to get to your destination each morning. It took us a few times taking the route to figure out exactly when we needed to leave each morning, but if we leave by 8 a.m. we can usually get there on time. We live in the area called La Latina in Madrid, which is close to the city center, and our schools are in a town outside of the center. We have about 14 stops we have to go through each morning to arrive at our destination, and this includes switching trains for a different line.

Teaching: I teach at a bilingual school, and grades first through fifth have bilingual classes. They have both English and Science classes taught completely in English.

Since my title is a language assistant, I need to have a teacher in the room with me although I am teaching most of the classes on my own during my scheduled hours. The first week I mainly observed, and showed the classes a Power Point presentation about myself. I had a few photos of me and my children, and a couple of theatre photos, etc. to show my hobbies and talents.

Since this is my first time teaching in a formal teaching environment, I am getting used to planning lessons. Since I am teaching via the BEDA program, I have to attend a certain amount of classes during my time in Madrid. So far, I have found these to be extremely helpful since the classes are all about how to teach and plan lessons. This program is a wonderful way to gain teaching experience while living abroad while also getting paid.

Blessings Among Chaos: There is definitely a learning curve to being an English teacher overseas, and there have been a few frustrations during my first two weeks of teaching. There are a couple of classes that just don’t seem interested, or even respectful, but when I see the children in the hall and I am greeted with a smiling, “Hello Amie!” it warms my heart. When the children randomly come up to give me a hug, I think that perhaps I am doing something right.

My teaching goal this year is to help the children enjoy learning English. I don’t want them to hate it. As I continue learning Spanish, I know very well how frustrating it can be when it is difficult to communicate.

Scarlett seems happy so far with her school although she is in a class with students who don’t speak Spanish, and only one other student speaks English.  Her class is a welcome class that is basically only teaching her Spanish. She said that everyone has been nice and friendly so far, and that thrills me to hear.

We have both had a few ups and downs since our move to Madrid, and we are still getting settled after living here for one month. I remember thinking that it probably won’t be until November before we feel completely settled here in Madrid, and that seems to be the case. Moving anywhere can be daunting, but packing up and completely moving to a different country and culture can be both frustrating and exciting. Both have proven to be accurate! There are days when I am thrilled to be here and wake up feeling blessed that I have this opportunity. There are other mornings when I find myself questioning the sanity of my choice to move here for the umpteenth time.  All in all, we are happy with the decision and looking forward to the learning experience this next year brings.

 

 

3 Weeks In Madrid! Apartment Hunts, School and More!

Finding Our Apartment: I have been promising a blog with the details about our apartment hunt, and here it is.

Apparently finding an apartment in Madrid is very similar to finding an apartment while living in New York City. While I have personally never lived in NYC, I have a few friends who have shared their experiences, and there are a couple of people here in Madrid from NYC who have agreed that the Madrid apartment hunt is very similar. Yikes!

When I applied for the Beda program, I knew that I would have to find living accommodations for both myself and Scarlett on my own, and was told that it would be rather easy upon arrival.  I was told to “just use the several apartment listing services such as idealista.com, fotocasa.com, etc,, and you will have no problem!” While there are several listings, I found that it is virtually impossible to get anyone to get back in touch with you.

Let me back up a bit. We arrived in Madrid on August 28th and had an Airbnb for a week. When I first rented the Airbnb while we were still in Nashville, I was told that if we liked the room we would be able to extend our rental. After only being in Madrid for one day, and virtually no contact from any of the landlords I had contacted, I contacted the owner of the Airbnb via the message app, and told her we would probably need to extend for at least a week. Her reply, “We have clients checking in the day you check out.” Okay….so much for seeing if I like the room. It was time to get serious. Since I had my daughter with me, I didn’t really feel up to going from one Airbnb to the next for nine months, not knowing who the hell is going to be coming and going. Yes, the title of my blog is titled Free Spirited Single Mom, but free-spirited or not, I am a very responsible and good mother.

My contact at the school was helping by calling some of the apartments since she speaks both English and Spanish, but she was finding a lot of people who weren’t answering. I decided to try a different route and put search for “apartments in Madrid” on Google. A few Craigslist ads came up. I figured I would give it a try, and I saw one in the city center that was beautifully decorated with the colors that Scarlett and I adore! It didn’t have a bathtub or an extra bedroom; it was a studio with a sectioned off area. At this point I was thinking a beautifully decorated studio in the city center was much better than a random room somewhere every other week, so I messaged the landlord. She got back to me within a day, and as luck would have it, she spoke English! She was very apprehensive about Scarlett and I sharing a studio, but I told her the same thing about it being much better than sharing ONE ROOM in some random place with strangers coming and going every couple of weeks. To make a long story short, we went to see the place, LOVED it, and have been living here for two weeks! Studio or not, it is actually very comfortable, and we are getting very used to living in the city! It is kind of a nuisance taking the metro about 35 to 40 minutes to our schools in the mornings, but we are adapting.

Enrolling my daughter in school: Once we got the apartment situation worked out, I was feeling a bit of relief. Perhaps this wasn’t some horrible idea to move to Europe after all. We have a place to live and Scarlett will be going to the same school where I will be teaching. WRONG! The moment I started to feel more relaxed, I received a message from my contact at the school asking for Scarlett’s birthdate. I gave her the information, (I am certain I conveyed her age when we were contacting one another when I was still in Nashville, but whatever.) She got back to me and told me that Scarlett wouldn’t be able to go to the school that I am going to be teaching because she is “too old to go into 6th grade in Spain.” I have mentioned the pain of bureaucracy here in Spain before, right?  We were getting schooled on it big time within our first two weeks. I was ready to scream and cry, but I am happy to say, I didn’t do either. I was told that I might have to enroll her in a public high school. Yeah, I wasn’t going to do that. For starters, she is not ready for high school. She would be going into the 6th grade in the United States. In Spain, High School, or Secondary School starts with 7th grade. If it were a bilingual school, and they thought she was ready for 7th grade, I might consider it, but I was not going to enroll her in a public high school in Spain that had no bilingual program at all. I was ready to use my round trip ticket and fly back to the U.S. I wanted to begin a life in Europe, but not at the expense of my daughter’s well-being.

I decided to see what was offered before making any rash decisions: I had to go to a place called the SAE Instituto Simancas which is a school that has a government building next door. This is where you have to go if you change residency, want to change your child’s school, etc. Since I don’t speak fluent Spanish, and apparently have forgotten everything I thought I knew upon arriving here, trying to follow directions when you have no idea what you are doing is pretty daunting.

As luck would have it, the assistant head mistress of the school connected to the SAE speaks fluent English and was a wonderful help. I was told that since Scarlett doesn’t speak any Spanish, she would need to enroll in a school that has a “welcoming class.” From what I have gathered, this type of class is similar to those in the United States that assist non-English speaking students. Yes, it is interesting being on the other side of the spectrum. I was told that I could ask for her to be placed near my work, but it is not guaranteed.

After waiting in line at the SAE office with several other parents, I found out I was able to bypass this line since I had a paper with an appointment time on it. There were several angry parents that didn’t like to wait in line, but the gentleman in charge explained that anyone that has an appointment needs to come inside. Apparently most people dislike waiting in lines no matter what culture you happen to find yourself in.

She was assigned a school: We finally got a school officially assigned to her, and I am so grateful that it is literally about a two to three minute walk from where I will be teaching! It is a semi-private Catholic school, and she seems happy with it so far. Interestingly enough, after she tested, they are keeping her in 6th grade (I know what is best for my child), and it is another school that participates in the BEDA program as well.

This three weeks has proven a bit challenging, but I think we are finally getting settled. I start my job this week. Stay tuned for updates on my teaching adventures!