Still here...

So, I’m back at it. Back in Spain once again… hard to believe. I guess I never exactly imagined myself coming back, and when I was faced with the decision last year, I obviously struggled with the choice, as you may be able to deduce from my final post of year 1. But I made it, and by now I’m pretty settled in.

I had a great summer which was actually a lot more productive than I expected. I worked a little, did a little volunteering, studied for and took the GRE test, caught up with almost everyone I had hoped to, and managed to squeeze in a short road trip to Arizona with Heidi and the Cali coast with Mama. I was just starting to feel VERY settled in at home when…

I got to Spain at the end of September. I had about 24hrs of travel time, solo this year, and it left me a lot of time to meditate on the forthcoming year. The more I thought about it the more I searched for the answer to WHY I was going back, looking for a concrete response but finding nothing satisfactory. I arrived in Malaga exhausted and with little fanfare, but I was hoping moving into my apartment and seeing my roommates would spark some excitement. Well, the apartment was mediocre at best, and while it was amazing seeing my old friends, I still was yearning for a sign that would validate my presence in Spain.

With no phone (I forgot my password to access it), no internet, few friends, and a lost passport (oh yeah, I somehow lost my password sometime between arriving in Malaga and realizing it was missing a few days later) I was rather underwhelmed with year 2 in Spain. It wasn’t that I disliked it, but it was kinda like meh… I guess I’m back now. It wasn’t nearly as new and exciting as it was arriving here last year, which is to be expected, but I couldn’t help thinking why not just be underwhelmed at home? Kinda stupid, but without many distractions I felt myself missing home a lot more than normal.

On top of that, the apartment left much to be desired, although my roommate Lucia who found it seemed to really like it. So my other roommate Pablo and I decided to look around last minute to try to find anything before signing the contract. When we weren’t out looking for places we were at home talking about our options, discussing the faults of our place, and everyone was getting a little frustrated with one another and the topic.

It wasn’t until my first real day of school about a week into my time here that I really found myself happy for the first time. I realized how much I really love my job, the other teachers, and especially the students who I had gotten pretty close to. It’s such a good job and I’ve gotten so much better at it since I first started, that I was truly happy to be there and excited about going back the next day. Work became the highlight of my day, strange as it may sound. With that bright spot in my life, everything else started to warm up a little. I started to get to know my neighborhood a little more, met a few new people, and after finally unpacking my stuff into my apartment (the same one) it seems a bit more livable than before.

My apartment is on a pretty big, busy street called Paseo de Los Tilos which ends at a big traffic circle called Cruz de Humilladero which is quite pretty with a big cross and fountain in the middle. My neighborhood is VERY dense and probably the most “average” neighborhood in Malaga. It has a bunch of supermarkets around, “chino” stores (kinda like dollar stores/liquor stores combined), and most things one would need for a normal life. There is a bus stop right outside my window (our apartment is on the first floor aka 2nd floor in America) and lots of really loud scooters/motorcycles that drive by 24-7 so it makes things a little loud coming from my ancient windows that don’t fully close. There is a big bingo/casino across the street where my roommate found a 50 euro bill on the ground so we walk by every now and then to check. This is also a neighborhood with a lot of immigrants, probably one of the most diverse in Spain, and there are a lot of Moroccans, Nigerians, and other Africans, with stores and restaurants that cater to them. It’s pretty interesting, though it inevitably makes it potentially a bit more dangerous, though I haven’t felt threatened or anything. It’s only about a 7-8 minute walk to the train that I take to work everyday which is nice, but about 25 to the center if we ever want to go out at night or take advantage of the cultural opportunities the center has to offer.

I’m still not exactly thrilled to be here, but I’m extremely comfortable and now that I’m more settled I’m looking for opportunities to keep myself busier ie. another job, sports team, volunteer opportunity. These things seem to always be harder to find about than in the States since we are all so well connected at home, especially on the internet, which it seems Spain is still figuring out slowly but surely.

At the moment I’m debating whether or not to come home for the holidays. I found a pretty cheap flight, but even that is quite a large chunk of money so I’m wondering if it’s worth it. I still miss home a lot and wish I was in better contact. My new phone card I bought has a nice international texting plan for about 12 euro cents per, so look out for a text now and then! Here’s the 411 to contact me:

Paseo de los Tilos 80, 1F, 29006 Malaga, Spain
Telephone: 011 (to dial out from US) 34 (country code) 633189597
E-mail: LSpurgeon@gmail.com
Skype: Liam.Spurgeon