Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Empezar

I woke up the morning of the 11th with my Spanish "Word of the Day" in my e-mail inbox.  Today's word?  Empezar - to begin, to start.

So, today (yesterday?  I am totally confused by days now) has been a beginning.  I ended up running a trillion errands my last morning in Chicago.  Not my favorite way to spend a day, but I got to hang out with Pete all morning, and then get some snuggles from Sophie before I left.

I've been really emotional for the last 24 hours (okay, let's be honest, I've been really emotional my whole life - the last 24 hours have just been emotion on steroids).  Leaving our house (and Sophie) was pretty rough.  And then I was excited on the way to the airport.  Then I was terrified.  Then I was sad.  Then I was convinced I overpacked (which I did, but I am not planning on shipping anything here as of now, so that's my excuse).  Then I started thinking about really, really leaving.

At the airport I was mostly okay.  One of my suitcases was overweight so we did a little bit of shifting - the lady ended up waving the charge because I was <1kg over.  So she told me I had a window seat, and I asked if the flight was full.  She said, actually, it was quite empty and asked if I wanted a whole row to myself.  So, she got me a whole row (4 seats together) near the back of the uncrowded plane.  So I was excited again.  We dropped off my bags and then I said goodbye to Pete.  Which was also really rough because I'm a weeper.  We didn't hang around for too long - I went through security (and was totally made fun of by the guy who checked my boarding pass - and honestly wanted to punch him in the face).    And then that was it.  The adventure was starting.  I hung around in the airport for a while and then went to my gate.  We boarded about an hour late since the crew wasn't there on time, but I got on the plane and spread out on my four seats.  I watched a movie I rented on my iPad and ate dinner.  I tried to get some sleep (which should have been easy in theory since I was able to lay down across my four seats), but the flight was pretty bumpy.  So not so much sleeping.  I did get a bit of rest though just sort of laying down in the dark for a few hours.  We landed in Madrid only about 20 minutes late.

The Madrid airport is a little confusing, but I eventually made my way to customs and immigration.  I was pretty apprehensive about going through customs since I didn't know what kinds of questions they'd ask since I have my work visa.  Turns out?  No questions.  The guy literally looked at me, looked at my visa, stamped it, and told me to have a nice day.  Then I had to go through security (or maybe I took a train to another terminal?  My brain is a little muddled).  Anyhow.  I made it to security, unloaded my laptop, iPad, shoes, coat, sweater, etc.  I got through the scanner and the lady told me I couldn't have my water bottle (which I dutifully emptied before American security, but refilled in the airport and again on the plane.  And forgot to empty.  So she explained to me (in very rapid Spanish) that I had to go back down the hall past the baggage claim to the toilet to dump it.  Or go back in the hallway and drink the whole thing.  But either way, I had to go back through security with all my stuff.  All my stuff that had ALREADY been cleared.  So I drank half the bottle on my way to the bathroom where I dumped the rest.  Then, I went back to security, where a very sassy security agent told me I had to take my Nook out as well as my laptop and iPad and they all had to be in separate bins (of course they do).  Once again, it was lots of fast Spanish and it's 2 am Chicago time and I haven't slept at all.  So I made it through eventually and found my way to the shopping center.  The good thing about the shopping center is the cart.  The cart big enough to hold my backpack and my other carry on bag, my coat, etc.  And I don't have to haul all my stuff on my shoulders.

I've camped out with an hour of free internet.  I'm hoping my next update will be from San Sebastián!  Unfortunately, I forgot my cord for my camera to connect it to my computer (I'm sure I've forgotten more stuff), so pictures will be a few days away at least!

In other good news, apparently, I can pass a bit for a Spaniard since I've had 3 people come up to me and ask me about things in Spanish - and I got the very fast Spanish at security.  Then they whipped out their perfect English for the tourist family behind me in line.  I came here to work and also to learn, and I guess there's no better way to learn than to dive right in!

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