Arrival

I have arrived in Spain with 15 books and nearly as many pairs of shoes, and on this, the fourth day after my arrival Sevilla for orientation, I have decided that now would be good time for the discipline and indulgence of a blog. As I have little idea about how to write such a thing, I’m going to attempt each entry as though it were a letter to an intimate friend. This means that few entries will contain any explanations regarding my neurotic tendencies, my curious need to make my inner monologue outer, the trouble that gets me into, and how I probably secretly adore the looks on people’s faces as they think, “Did she really just say that out loud?” Frankly, I can’t stand the idea of people reading my verbal diarrhea, but I figured this fateful “gap year” (insert echoing god-voice here) could do with the mass updating that blogs afford.
Orientation includes 200 Americans staying in a hotel for a week as we take classes on things like, how to open a Spanish bank account, how to by a cell phone, culture shock, basic English grammar, how to buy a bus ticket, how to find your name on a list, how to feel superior to the 180 people in the room who don’t know what the present progressive is, and what your role in the classroom will be, which is still unclear, but we have been assured, baruch Hashem for those little Spaniards, that it will have nothing to do with teaching grammar or syntax. But, it has also brought a few friends, and much excitement about the beginning of classes.
The real low point of this week would have to be what I have decided to deem an occasion for learning. I learned a new word, empaste, or filling, as in “I lost a filling in my tooth,” which is exactly what happened, except it took my tooth with it. Dentistry in Spain, despite what they tell us at orientation, is not quite as good as it is in the States. And, in the future, even if he is very attractive, I don’t want a 25 year old with a Punisher tattoo to have a drill in my mouth. I ended up with three fillings, and I still need a cap. But, it seems all will be well, since here in Spain, I may be drinking most of my meals.