the world cup is in full swing and i'm currently watching the usa's match against ghana. it's fun to hear how excited people are getting back home about the tournament. things here are just as crazy. after a shocking 1-0 loss to switzerland, la furia roja (the red fury, spain's nickname) got back to business and beat honduras 2-0 and chile 2-1 to win the group and advance to the next stage. we next play against portugal on tuesday in a battle of the iberian peninsula.
shannon and aneliza do zaragoza
three weeks ago i had the chance to again introduce friends to zaragoza, as shannon and aneliza came in from barcelona for the weekend. i had a really good time. we used bizi all weekend (zaragoza's public bike sharing system) to get around, watched the england-usa match in an irish pub (and became friends with some brits in the process), and generally enjoyed ourselves. for shannon, it may be the last time i see her in a while as she's moving back to boston to get a masters in international social work at boston college. i'll see aneliza next weekend when i stop by barcelona during my month long marathon of traveling.
day trips are fun
last weekend i ended up going on an impromptu day trip with a few friends to el monasterio de piedra (rock monastery), which is about an hour and a half outside of the city. the monastery was built in the tenth century and is famous for the wine and chocolate produced here by the monks. it's also a tourist destination because of the beautiful waterfalls and park that surround the monastery. if you're ever in aragón and need a day trip, this is the place to go.
think i move too much? just wait
for a while my friend juanra has been telling me that i should move to madrid or sevilla to meet more people because the people are more open and sociable in those cities, and i'd have a much easier time making friends, etc. well this week juanra told me he may be transferring to san sebastian (juanra was one of my students at banco santander). after he told me he might be moving, he again told me i should move to madrid (that's where he's from and where is girlfriend is). i again said i'd love to, but since madrid is gringo central, the chances of me getting work as an english teacher are slimmer than here. but after we had lunch i went home and out of curiosity sent an e-mail to my boss in madrid and asked if there were any cities that needed teachers in the coming year (i work for global languages, a national language academy based in madrid with teachers all over the country, including zaragoza).
to my great surprise, he replied to my e-mail within five minutes and told me that if i left zaragoza i should move to madrid! apparently he needs a lot of teachers with residency papers (which i have) for next year and he said he would get me the hours i want. as soon as i got his e-mail, i started calling people to get their advice. my concerns were: 1) how many hours i'd get 2) finding a place to live 3) meeting people. i sent my boss an e-mail to inquire about how many hours i could actually get and i'm still waiting to hear back on that. i called juanra and asked if he could recommend where i should live and he said he'd call his friends and girlfriend and help me find a place. and along with his friends, shannon has a really good friend in madrid who she told me i would love. so at this point, i'm just waiting to find how out how much work i can get and from there i'll make a decision. five cities in five years? it's looking like a real possibility.
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