an adventure so far!

(sorry for the kind of depressing first post. It was just an odd time, but i actually felt a lot better the next day) This is the end of my 4th full day in spain, although it feels like a couple weeks already. I wish I could report that I'm having tons of fun and exploring the city and area, but really its been a lot of work so far. I'm having a good time, but I've just had SO much business to take care of. The biggest issue is, of course housing, and that's been my main focus since I arrived.

We (my friend from ucla Cody who is teaching nearby) got here wed. the 24th, and my parents were nice enough to put us up in a hotel for the first few days in order to ease the transition. It was a great hotel and I really wish I could have taken advantage of it a little more, but mainly it was just a comfortable place to sleep while we hit the ground running, looking for apartments. It was hard at first because we just spent so much time on the internet emailing anyone and everyone possible about places, but got barely any responses. Then, finally, we got cell phones and were able to call the numbers listed, and that made for much easier contact.

Friday I went out to Fuengirola where I'm gonna teach and checked out the town. It's realllly nice, but fairly catered to tourists. It looks like it has a great beach, and despite all the pale british folks walking around, its not overrun by tourists. It's mainly just one part of the city, and then the rest is pretty much just bland apartment buildings where the rest of the people live. I also visited my school, which was somewhat intimidating since they weren't expecting me yet, despite being in session. I just timidly walked up to the front gate, which was locked, so I kinda got nervous and wasn't sure if I should try to call first or just come back another day, but then I just manned up and rang the buzzer. I went in and just said hola soy william spurgeon y voy a estar de auxiliar. Before I could even finish I got passed around from staff member to staff member, before finally I was taken to the principal, who didn't know who I was, but knew that they were expecting a couple new teachers the next week. He was really nice, but didn't really know what to tell me other than a quick run down about the school, introduced me to a few other teachers, and then showed me a bulletin board with some housing options. Despite not being super organized, they were so hospitable, and i'm really glad I went to check it out instead of just showing up the first day and being thrown into it all.

But now that brings me to housing... Right now I basically am debating between either living in Malaga or Fuengirola, which would make it about a 45 min train ride each day back and forth, though I'm only working 3 or 4 days a week. I think I'm kind of leaning towards living in Malaga, because there's just so much more going on, but i really havent seen a whole lot of Fuengirola outside of my short trip there. Sooooo in Malaga, where I've been staying, I am debating between two places. If you happen to be reading this at any point before Oct. 1, let me know what you think:

1.) An apartment with 4 rooms, 2 of them occupied by a couple spanish brothers who are probably about 26 and 28. The one I spoke to was really cool and nice, but he said they both have girlfriends and work a lot, and when I asked what they do in their freetime, he basically said they don't have free time. The place is kind of old, but plenty clean and nice, and has pretty much all the standard things already you could want in a place to live. It has a nice terrace over the street, with a cool church about 100 meters up, at the end of the street.

2.) The other is essentially an international house with 15 single rooms. There's a cool outdoor patio with a bbq, and the people are from all over. A few spanish people, but mainly people from other euro countries. So, it's not living with strictly spaniards, but we would still probably have to speak spanish since its our only common language. It has a big common room and kitchen and everything, and that seems to be where everyone hangs out. oh, and did i mention its a couple blocks from the beach?!? BUT... it is about a 10-15 minute bus ride from the city center which I would probably frequent, especially weekends for going out or any large necessities. On one hand, say we want to go out to bars in malaga-central, it will likely be a bunch of us from the house going together, and we could head out together, or possibly even share cabs on the way back, but still being a 10-15 min walk to the center would be preferable. There is a grocery store and restaurants and stuff close, but really the city center is where its going on. Also don't know how reliable the buses are. But it sounds like a unique experience.

So, that's where I stand right now. But hey, I'm still alive and haven't had anything go too wrong yet. Just can't wait to be settled!!! I will feel so much better just to have a spot to rest my head and unpack, then i can get to the fun...!