The Arrival

After a long and unhelpful orientation I got on a train to my new home, Ronda. I befriened a good handful of people, unfortunately none of them were in my town, so leaving the orientation meant leaving my small support network of peers that I had built in the first day and a half. Coincidentally, one of the other teachers in someone I was in Chile with! Small world. During those two days of orientation everyone is asking one another which city they were placed in and we each say a name of a place that the other hasnt heard of, in hopes that we will find someone from our same town. To no avail.

Then I got on the train to Ronda, and in my same car came two girls that were speaking spanish, but clearly in my same program. It was the first two people I had heard speaking spanish from the program this entire time. We had all been speaking english. As it turns out they were also placed in Ronda. I nearly jumped out of my seat, so excited to have finally found comrades. And we have been speaking Spanish together since. One was from New York, but studied in Georgia, Jen. The other from Germany, Saskia. My jumpiness continued for the next 2 and a half hours, as I was swimming in nervous anticipation. To add to the antsyness: as we chugged along the countryside tracks the clouds were thickening. The sky was darkening. Up above us grew the darkest, most overbearingly, densest cloud cover I had ever seen. I keep trying to push from my mind any possibility that this was in any way ominous.

We step off the train at 9 pm, and are heading to the same hotel. Saskia leading the way, we walk bags in tow towards the hostal, and Ronda, knowing we were coming decided to have a proper welcome ceremony for us. It began to rain. Harder, and harder, and harder. Umbrellaless, all we could do was keep walking up the unshelter cobblestone streets. Until we are drenched. Our bags are drenched. And to top off our grand welcoming there was lightening and thunder right above us. After unpleasantly unpacking our damp suitcases in the hotel I was antsy. I had just arrived to a room in a foriegn city - my new home, and was not in a very pleasant mood as I was soaked to the bone, my life hanging out to dry in every corner of our hostal room. However, I decided that a little bit of rain wasnt going to damper my sense of adventure and stop me from exploring my new city. So i went for a walk in a half foot of rain gushing through the gutters throughout the entirely closed city, checking out the buildings. Very lovely. Next day the headline of the national newspaper was: Torrential rainstorm kills two woman in Sevilla. Turns out the rain did a lot of damage, as it was the first one of the season, throughout the region. There hasnt been a dark cloud in the sky since.

Every day since has been nothing but absolutely beautiful. I am talking jaw droppingly stunning. Surrounded by hills, mountains, greenery and the biggest sky you have ever seen, Ronda is the definition of breathtaking. And the city itself is what I imagine as quienessential Andalucian. Beautiful whitewashed buildings lining clean cobblestone streets. Classic rot-iron balconies and elaborate tilework. 'This is our home,' Jen Saskia and I keep repeating, as we stop on a bridge to take it all in, or sit on the edge of the city, overlooking the ladscape. Ánd I cannot seem to stop smiling everytime I walk over the famous ancient bridge that connects the old and new districts of the city. Buzzing with camera flashing tourists, I proudly trot across the bridge as a local. I live here. This afternoon we entered the naturaleza and went for a 4 hour afternoon hike through the valley. Equipped with my fanny pack and our water bottles we meandered through the olive groves, and passed persimmon trees, fig trees, walnut trees and small family vegetable gardens. We made it to a peak that looked up towards the city and down over the valley and ate our picnic lunch of olives, cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit and peanut butter. Truly beautiful soul.

This was of course, after a very tiring several days of piso hunting. Apartment hunting. Waking up early, calling phone number after phone number to find out information about housing opportunities. Some of the places I went and visited were straight out of a saturday night live skit, they were so outrageous. With yelping 6 inch tall dogs nipping at your ankles as you walk in the door, or a woman with a cigarette dangling from her lips explaining that it will be 75 dollars more for the shower, or dusty old doilies with nicknacks piled high on the mantel. I was ready to settle for anything that seemed reasonable just to be able to unpack. And then things all fell into place. I had called a number off a sign that said someone named Jesus wanted to share an apartment. We had been playing phone tag when serendipitously he called me once, and was literally walking towards me while I was trying to explain that I was outside a chocolateshop. Bingo. Along with my friend Jen we went straight to look at our first apartment and we fell in love. It is on the main pedestrian street of the city, very close to downtown, and the tallest builing in the area. So being on the top (4th) floor we have the most stunning view of all of rondas red tile roofs, the street below, and the striking mountain range that surrounds the city. Our three bedroom, two bath has two balconies, and gets so much light we never have to use a lamp. I awoke this morning to the sound of church bells this Saturday morning, and got up early on to walk the streets, explore, and watch the city come alive. I live a block away from a grocery store, several tempting bakeries and a fresh fruit stand. My first housewarming gift to myself was plants. The kind you see on balconies and window sills. Yes, now I live in one of those house with the plants on the balcony. And yes, it is the same balcony where there past two mornings I have sat, eating my fresh salad, reading my novel, sunbathing, enjoying the beautiful scenery and people-watching the bustling shoppers below. I feel at peace, and very grateful for this opportunity to live in such a breathtaking city. One where you never have to take a bus or a taxi and to get to my school on the edge of town, it is a 15 minute walk.

My rigorous work schedule begins this week and will have me working a 'tiring' 12 hours a week (as my friend put it, the amount that many americans work in a day!) on tuesday, wednesday and thursday evenings, giving me a 4 day weekend. Although I have been enjoying the leisurely life of hiking, picnics, tea time, siesta and reading, this next week I will be seeking other activities to fill my time. My brainstorming has included pilates classes, an internship, tutoring; maybe even applying to grad school, starting a community garden, or learning flamenco. And of course TRAVELING. We´ll see what I come up with. For now, I have to get to work on my first lesson plan!