25 days and counting...

After months of anticipation I finally received my official letter from the program and I was placed in downtown Madrid at CEIP Pasamonte, a bilingual preschool/elementary school! The map on my last post shows where the school is in Madrid--just east of the Parque del Retiro which is a huge park with a lake that is often full of street performers and all those guys that paint themselves and dress up in various costumes and then freeze like statues. After finishing my study abroad program in Cádiz in the summer of 04 I found myself waiting in Madrid for my parents and ended up spending 4 days (on 40 euro) alternating my time between Parque Retiro/FNac/Mcdonalds and Doner Kebab.

I was a little anxious to get the letter since I was accepted to the program in April and received it in mid-July, but everything worked out, like it usually does for me, as my friend Kaeleen has pointed out. Whether it is luck, or karma, I don't know, but I'm not complaining. My visa worked out too, and I didn't have to go down to San Francisco after all which saved a lot of time and money.

So my flight is booked! September 5 I fly to NYC to stay with my super smart and beautiful friend Ariel who is starting at Columbia for grad school. Then on September 9 I fly to Madrid (via Dusseldorf). All together Seattle-Madrid (one way) was only $680 which I am thinking isn't too bad considering how much flights are these days.

Although I am super excited, I have to admit I am equal part nervous since I don't know a single person in Madrid and I am not a member of any of the facebook groups (my 2nd stint on facebook lasted two days) so I have no real contact with any of the other auxiliares (assistants) who will be in the city. But that is partly because it is my goal to do this on my own, kind of as a personal test. It is scary, but I am hoping it will be all the more worth it. And plus, a year is not THAT long. When I left for Cádiz in 03 I couldn't picture life after it because it felt like I was going to be gone for an eternity.

My September itinerary, thus far:
9/05 Seattle-NYC
9/09 NYC-Dusseldorf-Madrid
9/10-9/20 Look for apartments, bum around
9/20 Tien and Annie arrive in Madrid!
9/20-9/28 Travel with Tien and Annie to Sevilla to visit Rana then go to Cádiz to visit my host family!
10/1 Program begins

This is the website for the school i will be at:
http://www.educa.madrid.org/web/cp.pasamonte.madrid/web/index2.htm

This is the program I will be doing:
http://www.mec.es/sgci/usa/en/programs/us_assistants/default.shtml