Dia uno y dos

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Wow! I’m here in the beautiful land of Spain! After a very long flight, almost 8 hours, I met my new place in the world, Toledo. We were met at the airport by Yuki, one of the faculty at the Fundacion de Ortega y Gasset, where I’m studying, we were taken by bus to Toledo, an hour ride. The town is so beautiful; pictures do not even capture the wonder and splendor of this amazing historic city. We hastily unloaded our luggage into a truck, it was raining, softly, but the Spaniards still held their umbrellas tightly. The bus then continued up the very narrow street to the school. After slipping and sliding down the cobble street, where only two people can walk side by side, we came to the Fundacion. We then were told to retrieve our luggage from the truck and I really begin to regret packing so much, I had to get one piece at a time. By the time I went back for the other one, Miguel, the other director, was attempting to pick it up, I told him it was mine and we proceeded to share the job of carrying it to the Fund. Once, gathered in the Fund, we had to check in and sign our name on a list, ironically I was #14 (if you don’t know that’s one of my lucky numbers). Anyhow, we were told to take our bags to the second floor, once again, someone helped me with my heavy bags. After a tour of the Fund, we met our families, my “parents” Boni y Benito both came to welcome me to Toledo. It was very difficult to converse, however they said they understood how tired I was and proceeded to tell me that they have had students for approximately the past ten years. After having a drink in the Fund Café, we went to mi casa nueva en the suburb of Poligono, a town about 20 minutes outside Toledo. The apartment/house is three stories, the lobby, or where we hang our jackets is on the first floor, then we have a little kitchen, bathroom, dining/living room, and then on the third floor there is four bedrooms: Boni y Benito’s, Raul’s, Raquel’s, and mine. There is also another bathroom. I met the kids when they came home after school, around 2, they don’t have classes at night, however both swim and go to the pool every other day. Raul is 14 and is a freshman in high school, and Raquel is 8 and in 3rd Grade. After lunch, I took my first siesta, a very long one, til 6pm. Raquel insisted on helping me unpack, and we set up my computer because she wanted to play a game: Timon y Pumba’s Juego de Jungle. We had dinner around 8 or 9, I really didn’t know the time. Then we all went to bed and I slept til 2pm today, since I didn’t have any obligations. I woke up just in time to take a shower and eat lunch with the Boni and the kids. Both Boni and Benito work at a hotel, Boni works from 5-8am as a housekeeper and Benito works as a cook, so isn’t usually home for lunch. I think I’m going to enjoy this change of pace, tomorrow I have to take the bus to the Fund and take a quiz to assess my Spanish ability, feel free to email me or call me on my cell 011-34-616-886-903.

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Photos

Me in Toledo!
This was on our tour of the city, which is in the background.

Amigos en Espana!
from left: Shannon, Kristen, Mallory, me and Pat

Comments

[Patricia]

Lucky You
Well I see you are surrounded by beautiful things. I am so happy that you are enjoying it. It is freezing here at a mere 5 degrees. Make sure you learn as much as you can though! Like food and wine maybe other things too. Only if you have to though.