¡Hola a todos de Almería!

FINALLY, I've started a blog! It took forever for several reasons, but primarily because we still don't have internet in my apartment, or as it's called here, piso. I've been in Spain since September 9th and I've somewhat been keeping up with writing about everything that's been going on here, but not as well as I would've liked. I may get around to posting some of my old entries, or I may just keep them for myself and start from here.

I decided that for my first post, I'd share a list of...

The top 20 things I miss most about the good ol' US of A 

(besides OBVIOUSLY family & friends who sit at the top of the list)

20. Full size ping-pong tables that I can actually not play horribly on 

So last year, apparently some girl from Valencia that was a national ping-pong champion lived with my roommates. Therefore, we've got this combination dinner/ping-pong table...

...that my two roommates, Martín, and Tomás, are obsessed with. As you can see, it's wayyy too short and nothing like a legit ping-pong table. They played on it all last year, so they're great at it. I, however, am not. I'm HORRIBLE. I've probably played like 25 times and I've only won ONCE.

19. Clothes dryers 

Instead of dryers, we’ve got clothes lines and tendederos…

 Kind of annoying when you want something dried quickly, but we live on the 7^th floor so there’s usually a pretty good breeze running through the piso to dry most everything overnight.

18. My microwave veggie steamer 

At home, I use my microwave vegetable steamer like every other day since veggies are like the only thing I know how to cook. Here in our piso, I can’t even seem to find a pot with a lid that fits haha. The place is pretty old and is, likewise, furnished with old paintings, old furniture, old curtains, and a plethora of mismatched kitchenware. Buttt, I can’t complain because at least I didn’t have to buy all new stuff.

17. Texting

I miss just being able to pick up my phone and text my friends and family whenever I want. I can text via the internet (AIM—if you get a text from alioop288, that’s me!), but obviously I can only use that when I’m at my computer and I have internet. I see stuff all the time that reminds me of people from home, and I always want to pick up the phone and text them but I can’t  :( But don’t worry, I’m thinking of y’all all the time!

16. The bars closing at 2am

Here, the bars don’t really have a closing time, per se. Some bars kick people out around 4, but most are open until sunrise or whenever people clear out on their own. Oddly enough, I kind of miss the fact that the bars in the US close at 2. We usually don’t even LEAVE our apartment to go out until 2. Not sure if I’m gonna be able to hang if we keep up with this habit of going out at 2 or 3 and coming back at 7 or 8am.

15. Feet, pounds, miles, gallons, and other non-metric measurements 
How tall are you? How far did you run? How many kilos of apples do you want? How hot does it get in Texas?

I DON’T KNOW BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW ANY METRIC MEASUREMENTS! I wish I had Google’s converter built into my brain, so I could answer half the questions people asked me. Also, as if I wasn’t already a bad enough cook, add the metric system to the equation and I’m totally lost…can’t even guesstimate now.

14. BEER 
Spain is wine country, so as you can imagine, there’s not much special going on here as far as beer goes. I haven’t really tried too many, but so far I’m unimpressed. Also, pretty much everyone here drinks liquor. Rum, or as it’s called here, ron, is probably the most popular…usually mixed with Fanta Limón (that’s the yellow one for everyone who has only seen the commercials).
Before going out, the typical thing to do here is called botellón. It’s basically the Spanish version of pre-gaming. Everyone who is going out together meets up at somebody’s place with their drinks of choice…usually around midnight…and you just sit around, drink, and socialize for a couple hours before you go out to the bars/discotecas. For me, botellón is the best part of the night because I can actually talk to people (there’s usually not music blasting like there is in the discotecas), there aren’t a bajillion people crammed into a tiny space, I’m not constantly being bumped into, and I don’t have to dance hahaha.

13. Having a means of transportation besides my feet 

I MISS MY MUSTANG! I do like walking around the city, but sometimes when I just want to make a quick trip to the beach before lunch, I have to factor in the travel time (30 minutes there and 30 minutes back) which usually results in less time spent at the beach.

 
Howeverrr, my friend Luis, who is dating Jose’s sister Lourdes, is going to let me borrow his extra bike for the year. I should be getting it this weekend and I am SO excited. Should cut the trip to the beach down to about 10 minutes or less. From what I understand, it’s a full size mountain bike, so storing it in the piso and getting it up and down in the elevator (elevators here are TINY) might be a challenge. I’ll post pictures once I get it!

12. Having a bank account and debit card 
Getting a bank account has been the most miserable experience of my trip so far. I’ll give a shortened version of this horrendous 3-DAY process here... 

I moved into my piso mid-way through September, so my landlord, or casero, only needed 230€ (93€ for half a month’s rent + 137€ for the security deposit, or fianza). I had only brought 310€ with me from the states to begin with, so after having spent a week in Málaga with Jose, I didn’t have 230€ left. I had 2 options: withdraw money from an ATM or cajero automático, or open a bank account here (which I was going to have to do eventually anyway). After asking around at a few banks, I realized that I was gonna get charged around 4% of whatever I withdrew plus the currency exchange fee if I used my Frost Bank debit card, so I decided to go with option number 2, opening an account.  

The program manual told me that I couldn’t get a bank account without a NIE (Número de Identidad de Extranjero), so I went to the Oficina de Extranjería, or Office for Foreigners, to try and get my NIE. I ended up standing in like for 20 minutes just to get into the building, then had to wait another 2ish hours to talk to someone and turn in the required documents, only to get a stamped copy of my application and an order to come back in 2 weeks for my NIE. Obviously, that was going to help me open an account or pay the landlord. At this point in the day, the banks were all already closed (banks here are only open Mon-Fri, 8:30-2:00), so I had to put off any further action until the next day. 

The next day, I went to Cajamar, the most popular bank in Almería, to see if they would let me open an account with just my passport and the stamped piece of paper that I had. The man who helped me was awesome! He sat there with me doing paperwork and whatnot for about 30 minutes before realizing he wasn’t going to be able to open an account without the NIE. So he referred me to the police station to get a non-resident card, which, coupled with my passport, would allow me to open a non-resident account while I waited for my NIE. The police station then referred me BACK to the Oficina de Extranjería. I was reluctant to go back there and probably have to stand in line for another 2 hours, but I did, and I’m lucky I did because I happened to run into 4 American girls, Lisa, Caitlyn, Sharon, and Cindy, who were also going to be teaching English. They were here with a different program and had already had their orientation that told them what they needed to know about getting both their NIE and TIE (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero). I tagged along with them and ended up getting an appointment to come back on Oct 13^th with all the required documents, etc, to get my TIE and NIE. Anddd, after explaining to them my disaster with the bank, they told me that they had been able to open accounts at Banco Santander, with only their passports. After leaving the Oficina de Extranjería, I went straight to the bank, and sure enough, they let me open an account! Both problems solved! SOOO LUCKY that I met those Americans! We exchanged numbers and are going to meet up on the 13^th to go back for our TIE’s.

11. Air Conditioning 
Pisos with air conditioning are a rarity here. Although you really only need AC a few hours out of the day since there is usually a pretty nice breeze, it’s definitely weird not having it. A fan is definitely near the top of my list of things to buy for my room!

10. Mexican food! 
What I would do for some Gordita’s right now...at the very least some chips and salsa! This will HANDS DOWN be the first thing I eat the day I’m back in Texas.

9. Neal, Ben, Mom, Dad, and Wendy's cooking 
WHY ARE Y’ALL NOT HERE TO FEED MEEE?!? Hahaha. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so retarded in a kitchen as I do here. Like I said earlier, I already don’t know how to cook very many things, and when you take away Kroger’s  and Wal Mart and add metric measurements, I’m totally lost. My roommates think it’s hilarious that I can’t cook anything. They always harass me…“Hey Ali, salad again? “ It’s kinda sad actually. They told me they thought I was gonna cook for them since I’m the girl. HAH! Quite the opposite. They usually end up cooking for me

8. My super comfortable bed 
Memory foam topper, 5 fluffy pillows, down comforter, sheets that are always cold since I keep a fan right next to my bed…sounds perfect! Here, I’ve got an old, hard, twin mattress, and an old foam, body pillow. Not too enthused about that change

7. Themed pub crawls in DT Galveston

This was the only themed pub crawl I got to do, but with Ben G., Neal, Katie, and JP planning, I know I’m gonna miss out on some fun ones! Take a shot for me at every one please!

6. OCB/Molly's/Bartending 
It is ridiculous how much I miss that place and all my coworkers and favorite patrons! I miss the forever-dirty keg room, crazy shit going down in the liquor room (bahaha!), pouring Frankensteiner’s all night for Edgardo and Stakely, shooting flaming straw arrows from empty liquor bottles (and watching Dorcas burn herself trying to do it), late night chats, Flow Daddy helping me clean up, and last but DEFINITELY not least, after parties at Randy’s, Ben’s and THE BRONCO! I need to find somewhere over here to start my own Big Ass Beer Night, although I know it could never be the same without all my favorite people!

P.S. To anyone who is gonna go to OCB any time soon: I think I left a pair of Rainbows there on one of the bottom shelves. If you could check for me sometime please and send them home with Neal, I would greatly appreciate it!   

5. Having a big enough vocabulary to jump into whatever conversation I want to
This is obviously a HUGE frustration when I have so much to say and there are so many conversations I want to contribute to. But for now, I jump in when I feel confident enough, and when I don’t, I just sit quietly and usually laugh. However, my Spanish has been improving noticeably so in a couple more months, I would guess (I HOPE) this won’t be a problem!

4. Milk that's refrigerated and doesn't come in a box
Seriously Spain, milk is meant to be served cold, and it definitely doesn’t belong in a box. Take a lesson from America on this one. I promise you our milk is like 8000x better. I think I’ve found Spain’s best attempt at milk, pictured below. It doesn’t have as much of a funny taste as the other brands I’ve tried. I usually only use milk for my cereal, but this one, I actually can stomach by itself!

3. American sports/SportsCenter 
There are no words for how much I want to be able to change the channel to ESPN or FSN and see what’s going on in the world of American sports. I don’t even really care too much about (American) football and yet, I miss it! Here, we have Gol Televisión! As you can probably guess, it’s all soccer, all the time…getting old real quick. I can’t even find Rafa Nadal, the world champion, SPANISH, tennis player, on TV over here. Not even during the finals of the US Open. How ridiculous. In the meantime, I’ve been trying to keep up with everything via espn.com. Sports updates and/or good websites to follow teams are always welcome!

 On a brighter note, I’m excited I’ve been able to follow and even watch some SU volleyball online! They’re doing well so far this season despite the loss 4 of the 5 members of the oh-so-wonderful OS4L (Original Sophomores 4 Life…bahahhaha!). I think they’re like 16-4 right now and 6-1 in conference! Congrats so far guys! I miss all the BOM BOM BOMMM’s, Oh helllllloooooo’s, YouTube quoting, Hannah-isms, Stormy Petrel calls, and of course WINNING, duh! Miss y’all SOOO much and I hope I let you know that often enough via text/facebook.

2. A real internet connection 
Obviously it’s tough to deal with not having a reliable internet connection when you’re half a world away from everything you’re familiar with and everyone you know. It’s prevented me from emailing people I need to contact,  skyping, starting my blog, and most importantly facebook creeping which we all know is a VITAL part of my life haha. But, we should be getting a connection sometime next week! Can’t wait! If you’ve added me on skype, I’ll finally be able to call you! If you haven’t added me, then do it ASAP.  
  
And finally the number one thing I miss most about the USA…BOM BOM BOMMMM

1. GALVESTON 
HOME. The one and only, true, G-TOWN (that’s right Georgetown, I said it…despite what everyone says you’re not really G-town). I miss everything about it. Obviously, the people, but also, runs on the Seawall, going to the beach, sand volleyball, the sunsets, downtown, my houses, cruising down THE one way (obviously Ave P), etc. Hope you’re surviving without me. I know you’ll be the exact same when I get back haha. That’s one thing I know I can count on!

 Finally, today was my first day at my school in Rioja! I didn’t do any actual work today…just went there early this morning to meet all the teachers and people I’m going to be working with. They all seem super nice and excited to have me! I’m gonna be working Monday-Thursday for allegedly only 4 hours a day. One of the teachers, Yolanda, told me that she lives pretty close to me and will be able to give me rides to the school since it’s about 20 minutes away by car. The town is TINY (only 1300 people!) so the preschool (escuela infantil), elementary school (colegio or escuela primaria), and high school (instituto or escuela secundaria) are all in the same building! I’ll be starting off with 6- and 7-year-olds, so that should be fun!

I’ve got Monday off because Rioja is celebrating its holidays (all the towns here have at least a few days, in the bigger cities, usually a week, of holidays that they call feria). On Tuesday, I have an orientation here in Almería where they tell me about what I’ll be doing, how to get my NIE, TIE, and bank account (should be a step ahead of everyone here), etc. And on Wednesday, I’ll start work! Excited to finally get going with it since I’ve been here almost a month without much to do.

Also, I finally got my gym membership today! The gym is about a 5 minute walk away and is HUGE! It’s got volleyball and basketball courts, tennis courts, an Olympic size pool, tons of aerobics, pilates, spinning, etc. classes, AND MORE! And the thing I’m most excited about is that it’s the gym where the men’s professional, national champion volleyball team (Unicaja Almería) practices! After creeping on their roster, I was very pleased to find out that there’s an American and 2 Canadians on their team!  Hoping I can meet/befriend them and maybe get some free tickets to their games or more importantly get to play with them sometime! I’m going to the gym later today for the first time, so I’ll have more updates later! 

 And that’s the end of my first entry. Sorry it’s such a long one, but it’s a whole month’s worth of information crammed into one post! Think it’s a pretty good summary of what’s been going on in my life over here so far. I’ll update again soon now that I’ve finally got this thing up and running!