Triple Dragon, Happy Family

Maybe I'm a bit of a natural mystic, or maybe it's a leftover symptom of having dated a turbo hippie (thanks, Hippie Matt), but from time to time I like to read my horoscope (or sometimes a fortune cookie...), and I always find myself taken aback when it rings just a bit true.

Here's the connection: I have been feeling a bit burnt out from all the preparing, Spanish studying, worrying, etc., that lately I haven't felt like doing anything. And of course that scares me because I only have three months until Granada, and you know me - I am a worrier (much as I hate to admit it). Anyway, I feel lazy and burnt out but at the same time guilty for those feelings, like I should be doing something productive at every waking hour.

But I think my horoscope is telling me to call my friends. To have some long-needed conversations and to ask all of my friends who have travelled abroad about their experiences. I want to take those stories with me. I think that will be a happy combination of my burn out with my need to feel prepared. I can relax and just focus on my relationships with the ppl I love and at the same time feel a little less alone in what I'm about to do (see earlier post from today).

Now as for that "Let the kid in you out" part...I don't have an effing clue!

Lacking Inspiration

It's 9:30 in the morning on a Tuesday, and I'm here at work and have gotten absolutely nothing done. I have to be honest about that at this juncture - I really find it difficult to give a damn about the job I am doing here, because it won't really matter once I leave in March. It's tough for me to acknowledge this. I need this job to get me through to March, to allow me to save enough money to get there. So you'd think I could muster up a little bit of determination to get things done around here. Yet it feels so meaningless to be doing a job just for the money, and it's odd that this is a job I once cared a good deal about.

This morning, I read my friend Ann's blog for a little bit, and I read one poingnant story about how she was frustrated and felt isolated and broken there in Granada. And I'm thinking about how all the sad stuff she sometimes writes about her time in Spain will hopefully allow me in some way to pull the determined adventurer out of my heart and to be absolutely sure that I have a thick skin when I leave for Spain in March. But in all honesty, hearing stories like that...albeit good for me in the sense that they prepare me for any false expectations...is very frightening and humbling. Fear and humility being emotions that already come naturally to me, I'm not sure what to think. I've said this to several of my friends already, but lately I'm trying to balance my preparations for Spain with as realistic as possible a view of what I'm preparing myself for.

My fear and anxiety are mixing with my excitement, and I have to assume that's a natural thing at this point. But it's funny how alone I already feel in this whole experience. No one in my life really knows what this is like. Not even those closest to me.

Terms of Venery

I have begun my new quest for grammar nourishment. I am back in my niche and absolutely loving it. I have rediscovered collective nouns - among them, terms of venery - and am learning the ways to teach non-native English speakers the grammar rules behind "the big black curtain" that is the key to understanding the English language.

Did you know there are possessive adjectives?! I personally scoff at this term, but it's interesting that there are ppl out there (a.k.a. my future TEFL instructors and possibly all Brits!) who believe it to be accurate enough to define a certain class of words. Honestly, aren't there enough cross-term definitions floating around out there to confuse us all?! I nearly had a heart attack when I was reviewing the pre-course "grammar tasks" from ViaLingua on the bus today and came across that term: possessive adjectives. What the hell?! Why don't I know what that is?! I thought. Come to find out, Bah! They're frickin' PRONOUNS, you idiots. If you absolutely have to get fancy, call them determiners. End of argument.

Anyway, a lot has happened since my last blog:

I added the international calls option to my Sprint plan for $4/month but have yet to find a convenient time to call ViaLingua in Spain (they are 7 hours ahead). I decided, instead of waking up at the crack of dawn to call, to email my questions about visas and accommodation to Vince, the guy I'd been talking to from ViaLingua. So, the guy responds about a week after I email him to say (and I quote), "You're asking all the right questions. Sorry, I don't know the answers...."

!!!!

Infuriating. I swear to god, every response from these ppl came straight from the website information, which of course, being the nerd that I am, I have read numerous times, cover-to-cover. So, I followed the sparse advice that Vince gave me, which led me nowhere except to an online search engine reservoir of dead-end links and pyramid schemes, and I then decided to email someone else. This time, it was Roberta, and I think my complaining did the trick. I told her it seemed like their email responses were stock answers copy/pasted off of the website, which was paradoxical because the website instructs you to "email someone for more details." Well, I wasn't getting "more details." Roberta apologized for the lack of personal attention and realized, whoops! I hadn't even been sent any of the pre-course information, directions to the school, etcetera that I should have. Way-to-go, Vince. I don't know what that dude does around there, but I'm not exactly thrilled to find out. His title is something like "Director of Operations" or something, and that is a scary thought.

So, a few snags thus far, not to mention the major disappointments about the VISA issue. It looks as if I'll be in Spain illegally, after my 90-days allowed by the tourist visa are up. That means working illegally, as well as eating, sleeping and breathing illegally. Terrifying, in a country I've never been to let alone lived in. So I'm not stoked about that. I have to set up an appointment with the Consulate General of Spain (if I can get one) to see what my options are, if any. This has to be possible, right?! There have to be ppl out there with my situation, right?!? Where are they? And how do I get their phone numbers?!

And on to my daily plane ticket searches. Prices are dropping, as a few ppl informed me they would, so that is good news. It's like riding the stock market, highs and lows, and my emotions rise and fall with each passing dollar sign I see in my inbox every day. "Buy! Buy! Buy!" my heart is screaming. God, I am a bigger nerd than I let on.

So far, the cheapest deal I have come by is this round-trip fare combo:

MSY to JFK - $114.40 on JetBlue

JFK to MAD - $536 on BritishAir

TOTAL: $650.40

Not too shabby, eh? It's going to require some logistics magic, working in time to switch planes, grab my checked bags and go through customs, then re-check my bags and get on the plane, but I think 3 hours oughtta do the trick. To top it all off, my friend, Matt, is flying with me, so I have to coordinate his ticket with mine and arrange for his return flight separate from mine. A bit more trouble than I'd have to deal with if I were flying alone, but WAY WORTH the effort to have someone I know and trust accompany me on my big move. I am eternally grateful that he is doing this for me.

Well, now it's on to discover the three main features of a non-count (a.k.a. mass) noun. Yippee!!

Catching up (despite the huge time difference)

This one has to be brief, as I am completely swamped at work and have no business writing this. Just wanted to make a quick mention of how GOD AWFUL it was just to add the GD international calling function to my GD cell phone plan. It's like they seriously want to make it more DIFFICULT for me to give them MORE money! God I hate cell phone companies.

Anyway, at least that's dealt with and now all I have to do is pay the $4 monthly fee (to be cancelled at any time, by me) plus $.26/minute charges to Granada and the rest of Spain. Not too bad, really. I just have to be speedy about my calls to ViaLingua. Also of note, Granada is SEVEN hours ahead of New Orleans time, so in the future you'll know you have to call between 01:00 and 13:00 to be considered polite. I will have to wake up extra early one day this week to call so I won't be overheard by anyone at work.

In other Spain-related news, I just picked up Living Abroad in Spain by the lovely Nikki Weinstein, a former New Yorker who moved to Spain and wrote this book about the experience for other Americans considering the big move. I heard about the book from my LSMSA school junior, Ann, who's over in Granada now and will be there when I get there in March. I'm on page 13 right now, going through a 4-page synopsis of the history of Spain (can you imagine how someone could cram such a long history into 4 pages?!?), with which I'm already largely familar by now. I will let you know if I find any good tidbits of interest. Between reading an hour or so at night, after my daily bike rides, and reading to and from work on the bus (and on lunch breaks), I should be finished with this baby in a few weeks.

I really hope there's info in there on visa regulations...my mind is completely wrapped up in Spanish red tape at this point.

Oh and also about the book - I was eating lunch and had it lying next to me, ready for me to take outside with me once I was done eating. Another paralegal came into the lunch room and (of course) noticed the book and asked if I was going to Spain. I turned pale (I felt like I did) and sputtered out a random lie about just being interested in travel books and how I got this one at the library because I was bored. I feel so totally sneaky, lying to everyone at work. It sucks, but when it's tough, I repeat my daily mantra: CYA, baby. CYA.