Back from the dead

Hey everyone,

Trust me, I know that it's been a long, long time.  Looking back at the blog, I can't believe that I only filled you all in up through the trip to Murcia.  As the summer progresses, I really hope to be able to go back and share some of my stories from last year, even if it's just so that I have another excuse to go through my photos one more time.

One year ago (exactly, I believe) I had just finished taking my final for my direct enrollment class in Alicante.  I was free with three days left in Spain.  The Mediterranaen was not as inviting as before - now filled with European tourists jostling each other like too many rubber ducks in a bathtub.  I spent those last days hiking to the castle and taking walks to the marina at dawn and the parks above the city at dusk.  Two of my friends that worked in the cafe below my house, Gustavo and Christian, bought me pizza and we had a little goodbye dinner.  On my last morning, my host mother Carmen walked me to the bus and upon realizing that I had no photos of her, snapped one last parting shot.  Once I finally managed to check my bags (it took nearly an hour) and get into my seat, I cried as we flew out over the sea and then turned back towards Madrid.  I had told everyone there that I would come back to visit soon, but really, I had no idea if I would ever see Alicante again.

Back in November, I took a break from writing my Spanish senior thesis to apply for a program called Auxiliares de Conversación in Spain.  I had heard about it from my dad who knew a recent graduate that was living in Madrid through this program.  It places native speakers of English and French (mostly) in schools around Spain to act as language and culture assistants.  It was a quickly application and I had a good application number (they select almost exclusively based on how soon you applied), so I was hopeful, but since the application didn't close until March, I had more pressing things - like school - to think about.  Once I finally finished with school two weeks ago, I hadn't heard anything from the program, but had heard plently on NPR regarding Spain's 25% unemployment and nearly 20% cut they were making to the education budget.  I started looking for other jobs.

Fast foward to now, well, a week ago actually.  I was already at work, driving to a site where my boss and I would be installing a new strawberry planting.  My phone told me that I had a new email, presumably from one of the various online retailers that likes to help me "save money" by spending it with them.  The signal was a little sketchy given that we were off of I-5 and headed towards farmland, but an email finally popped up...from the Spanish government.  I quickly opened it and found out that I had received a teaching position in the region of Murcia.  If that name looks at all familiar, it might be because you actually kept up on my blog and read the post before this.  In that case, it was the city of Murcia, but the region is so small that nearly a third of the population lives in that city anyways and there is only one province: Murcia.  So technically, if I am placed in the city itself, I would be working in Murcia, Murcia, Murcia.  I accepted my spot the next day (hence the new name of the blog) and then started looking at the visa application requirements.  How I wish that I hadn't.  There's a lot to do, but that's for another blog post.

Murcia was not one of the regions that I originally selected as a place to work - those were Valencia, Castille-La Mancha, and Asturias - but since two of my original selections had cut the program all together, I was just happy to get a job.  The little information about Murcia that I have is from Wikipedia, so put an asterisk by everything, but here it is so far.  Murcia is a small region bordered by Castille-La Mancha, Valencia, Andalucía, and the Mediterranean.  In total, it covers about 4300 square miles, making it about a third of the size of Washington state.  There are about 1.4 million people in the region, making it less populated than the Seattle urban area.  Some may consider these to be downsides, but I think it's wonderful.  The region boasts mountains, coastline, and much of what I found in Alicante.  The big difference: Murcia has fewer tourists.  Living in Murcia, I can visit Cartagena, the city of Murcia, and one of the five holy Catholic cities which is said to house part of the Cross.  I can go back to Alicante and explore new cities.  The people are reportedly very similar to those in Alicante, so I can continue to use my language skills and make new friends.  Maybe I'll even get to do part of the Camino de Santiago again, this time with my family.  So bring on the visa application, the criminal background check, and the waiting.  Come September, I'll be stepping out of my comfort zone and into a new chapter of my life.  Oh yeah, and looking for an apartment.  Did I mention that?