An atypical day

Or, a typical Monday-Thursday in eSpain for this Alaskeña

7:00 Alarm goes off (then again at 7:05,7:10, 7:19)
7:20 Really get up, make coffee, shower, eat toast, grab bag, run out the door.
8:02 Meet with Manolo/Raquel for ride to work
8:26:30 Get to Cartaya, grab photocopies, etc. Go to class.
8:30 Shout good morning at 25ish half asleep Spanish faces, attempt to teach them math or science in Engrish.
9:30 Repeat with another class/ free hour to prepare class / study / wander the pueblo
10:30 Meeting to revise materials/ more class
11:30 Jaywalk highway to the bakery bar with other teachers, drink a manchado, talk about the universe.
11:52 Run back across the highway, try not to get hit by old men on tractors or young men on motos
12:00-2:00/3:00 More meetings/ class/ messing around/ chit-chatting
2:30-3:30 Get back to Ayamonte, cook, eat some lunch
4:00-6:30 Celebrate siesta, sunbathe on the terrace, go to the beach, read, watch tv, do cleaning, meet with friends, grocery shop, merendar.
6:30-9:00 Weight lifting classes/swimming at gym, biking, or Portuguese class
9:15 or later, Get home, make dinner, prepare stuff for next day, answer emails, bond with the roomies
between 11pm and 1am: sleep again, dream in Spanglish





I'm going to be sad to say goodbye to this glorious time in my life, Father Time, please don't tick away too quickly, there's so much more Spain and I have got to do.
To start off, in the past three weeks I've taken two big trips: one roadtrip through Eastern Andalucía (La Alpujarra, Almería, Mini-Hollywood, Guadix, and Graná again) and a whirlwhind weekend in Madrid.
Next weekend is looking like a goodbye party for our German roomate, a quick trip to Sevilla, then off to Germany on the 31st for 8 days!!

'Taking' decisions

Over the past month I've been comtemplating a decision I really didn't want to make: to stay in Spain another year or go back to the US (and when, June, July, September?). 

After much careful thought and weighing out of the options, I see myself getting on a plane bound for the other side of the pond much sooner than I had expected.

It's looking like June 19th is the day I'll be taking off from Portugal in route for New York to visit friends for a few days, then to Seattle to see the family, and a few days later, my hometown, Sitka, Alaska. My heart wants to be in both Spain and Alaska, but seeing that by staying here I'd be breaking even every month and in Alaska I could possibly save a few thousand dollars to go back to school, logic has made the decision for me.

So, suddenly I only have 100-some days left here and well, all I can say is that they are going to be taken advantage of. I want to see and do as much as I possibly can on my little 700€ monthly budget and more importantly, spend as much time as possible with all the wonderful people I've come to know in my two years here. This time I'm getting a one-way ticket out of here and sadly, I don't know when I'll be back.