Freshly Planted

Logroño is my new home.

The convention at the hotel was long, and quite boring, but some of the speakers offered good humor, information and insight. After a few workshops where random Spanish people talked at us about various aspects of teaching-all of the different nationalities had their own meeting. Ours was run by a tall woman with superduper shoulder pads who was HILLARIOUS. She went over not getting arrested and who to contact if things went wrong whilst dropping familiar social humor and brief anecdotes of prior trouble makers.

With free lodging, food and a great way to meet people, the hotel proved to be quite a good time. The last night in the hotel was a relaxed evening. Collin and Mary (new friends) came to my room for wine on the balcony and we told stories about wild times in the states throughout the night. They will be living in Oveado, which is approximately 3-4 hours away by bus, and I will be going with them to Amsterdam sometime in November hopefully.

After the reunions at the Hotel Convención ( a four star hotel in Madrid ) all of the Americans, Germans, Austrians, Aussies, Brits, Canadians, Italians and I am sure I left out a country or two, regardless, all headed to our respective regions. My bus ride was a quick 4 hours where I met some other Riojan bound teachers from around the world. Traveling is quite possibly the greatest thing ever.

Logroño is not a huge city, rather quite small, but is home to some 150,000 people. It looks like the entire city is nothing but apartments. There are nice parks like El Parque de Ebro- a large park alongside the Ebro river; and El Parque de Carmen-quaintly situated in the middle of the city with plenty of large trees, playgrounds and a gazebo/restaurant/bar. The Casco Viejo is an old and historic part of town with small winding streets lined with bars and pinchos (tapas). It is very fun and cheap to go from bar to bar to snack and have a beverage. The city has good energy, and everyone LOVES to eat.

Tomorrow I will go to my school, La Laboral, for the first time, and temporarily move into the boarding school residence until I find a flat…. Fo freeeee. My teacher Nuria is very nice and likes wine and cigarettes, a lot. I will also be opening a bank account, and getting my N.I.E. (numero de identificación extranjero) or simply put, Green Card. I will be a quazi citizen for the first time in a foreign country. Viva Logroño!