Closer and closer to Spain…

This Madrid thing is really starting to take shape and begin to feel real!

The visa paperwork is moving along fairly quickly, and today I met some other teachers who were hired through the same program I was. We had a teleconference with 3 teachers who were hired a year ago and are staying for a second year. They had a lot of useful advice regarding housing, school environment, settling in, cell phones, expectations, etc.

But it still doesn’t feel 100% real. I imagine it won’t until I’m on the plane.

I’m super excited though. 🙂

I mean, how many people get this opportunity? How many people would have the guts to take this opportunity if it were offered to them?

Living outside the United States, in a different culture, that speaks a different language, will be the greatest learning experience ever. I will experience things and learn things that I couldn’t learn simply by traveling there. I mean, I’ve never lived farther than 90 minutes from Seattle in my life, and I’ve been there more times than I can possibly count, and yet I could spend months there just exploring and seeing new things. Living in Madrid for a whole year (let’s face it, most likely 2) is going to be so exciting and amazing.

During the phone conference, the experienced teachers were giving us a lot of advice about what to do, what not to do, etc. They wanted to prepare us so that we wouldn’t have a bad experience. I was feeling optimistic about it, but I could tell the other 2 women who were with me were feeling a touch nervous, which is normal. At the end of the call the coordinator said “Let’s end with this question, what has been the most positive thing about this experience?” And there was a lonnnnng pause from the other end. One of the women with me kind of winced. And then one of the experienced teachers on the call broke the silence with “Where do I even start?” Then they all shared some wonderful experiences that ended the call on a very positive note.

I can’t believe it’s only a little over a month away!! 🙂