And now, one final thought on France.  Before I left, I had to talk to a lot of new people for various reasons--finding people to accept some stuff I was getting rid of, etc.  And upon meeting me everyone made the same assumptions.  Now, I am highly opposed to tattoos, but towards the end of my stay I was ready to have the following things tattooed on my forehead instead of having to answer them 6-7 times daily.  

1. No, I am not British.

2. No, I am not a student.

3. No, I am not leaving Nancy to go home.

I know that a lot of these are sort of logical conclusions for a young person with an English language accent when speaking French, but they are not the case.  And if I had known that there were a lot of British students lurking around Nancy, it might have been understandable, but this was not the case.  I was wondering if I was going to have the same reception in Spain, but I finally realized that the main response I will be giving is--"No, I'm not a tourist" as the primary reason anglophones come to Almeria is for vacations.  That is all.  And this is the official changing of my blog from my French life to my Spanish one: Note the layout changes.

My trip to Spain (via Germany) went really smoothly.  I spent two lovely days in Mainz with my great aunt and uncle.  It was nice to see them.  I'm away from my family members for so long that I manage to forget how nice it is to see them sometimes.  We made homemade jelly (raspberry and gooseberry--I had never heard of gooseberries before that!)  Nik was nice enough to drive me to the Frankfurt airport at 5 o'clock in the morning, and the trip went without a hitch.  After all of my agonizing about my luggage, the friendly workers of Air Berlin didn't even weigh my bags, and Carlos was waiting for me when I arrived.

And then when I arrived, Carlos had news for me: a private school had called him and asked me to come in for an interview the next day!  The fact is that I already have work; I will be a language assistant (like I was my first year in France) in a language school in the center of Almeria.  It is good because I will be teaching adults and people who are really interested in learning English (and possibly French...) and because it will only be about 12 hours of teaching a week.  The only drawback is that it is a step down (or maybe a few) professionally from my job at the university.  I justify this by saying that I will have plenty of  time to teach private classes and earn extra $$ and that I will have time to take classes or do whatever else I fancy.

But before I got this job at the language school Carlos and his family members and family friends and me when I was here gave my CV to every school that would take it.  And well, finally one called the day before I arrived.  I was pretty nervous because the interview was completely in Spanish.  And well I do have faith in my Spanish skills, I thought I needed some time to really get used to the language and switch from French to Spanish.  The interview went fine.  I mean I didn't come off as Shakespeare or anything, but I did manage to get my point across and answer all the questions in a not too nonsensical way.  And well, they offered me the job, but this was before they knew how complicated it was to hire Americans and get me a visa and before they realized how hard it was going to be for me to get the Spanish teaching qualification that I would need before starting the job.  But still, well they know me, and maybe it will be a possibility for next year if I decide to stay in Almeria.

Other than my job interview and working on getting my visa application stuff together, not much has been going on.  Extreme laziness.  We have been going to the beach, which is just across the street, and sometimes when it is extra hot I build the courage to jump into the freezing cold  Mediterranean.    Yesterday we went over to Aguadulce (translation: "Sweetwater") the neighboring town to enjoy their lovely beaches and bum around.  Today there was a mini-fair along the boardwalk which is just next to Carlos' house, and my heart was melted by a troop of 7 year old flamenco dancers.  During the "feria" I also experienced my first religious procession, and Carlos was not able to explain to me why it was taking place.  It involved a bunch of people in carrying crosses and candles, followed by a huge sort of table thing with an enormous statue of the Virgin Mary and a bunch of candles, followed by a brass band playing solemn music.  It seemed like sort of a paradox--solemn religious parade processing through the festive fair, but well everyone treated it like business as usual.

The sales are on, and Carlos has been pretty patient going with me since I don't have any girlfriends to go shopping with yet.  I must say that he has also been really patient taking me to run errands to get my visa stuff taken care of and making sure that all of my job stuff is in order.

My Spanish is going ok I suppose.  I need to study more.  I know the verbs, just not how to conjugate them.  And well after a few weeks, I am accustomed to the sound of the language, and I can understand almost everything, as long as people speak a little slowly.  The regional accent is difficult, and my French, although it helps me sometimes causes problems too.  Well, I guess my own mistake is assuming that Spanish is more similar to French than it actually is.  The other day I asked for "frutos del mar" which was a direct translation of the French "fruits de mer" which means seafood.  And well, turns out it is not a direct translation (Spanish for seafood is "marisco"), and when I asked for "more fruit of the sea please" it just sounded confusing and poetic as it would in English.  And then in French the word for (contact) lenses and lentils is the same ("lentilles"), and I assumed that this would be the same in Spanish so the other day I announced that I was going to put my lentils in my eyes.  Oops.  Well I have to say that my Spanish is coming along, though slowly.   

There are some big bullfights in town this weekend, and I was planning on going, as a part of my official assimilation into Spanish culture, but it turns out that the price is high, and I'm not willing to shell out 60 euros for a ticket.  I'll have to settle for a bullfight on tv.

Hasta luego, dragging Carlos back to the feria to hear some live music...

I am starting this entry on the train because it is 7 in the morning, and even after a sleepless night, I am not sleepy, and after over a month without too much time to reflect, I have a lot on my mind.

I am truly sad about leaving Nancy. Whenever I mention this to anyone, they remind me that I am going to live at the beach and that I will be with my boyfriend, and of course I am ecstatic about all of this, but it doesn't mean that I am not upset about leaving a city that finally feels like home and the wonderful friends I have here (or there? I am pulling away from the city as we speak).

My intention for my last month in Nancy was to do everything cool in the city I hadn't done yet, like go to the aquarium and to do everything I really loved and knew one last time like the art museum and the Musé de l'Ecole de Nancy. To spend as much time at all of the cool outdoor cafes as possible. To picnic in the Parc de la Pepinière, to wander around Place Stan and the Vieille Ville. As it was, I was working over full time and did not have time to do all of these things.

After work, my primary stress came from getting my healthcare stuff taken care of. Last year I didn't fool with healthcare much, since I didn't really understand how it worked, but health care stuff accumulates, and this year I was determined to take advantage of the health care system which I have read is ranked the first in the world. I needed physical therapy for my ankle, new glasses/contacts, a trip to the dentist, etc. So I got a mutuelle and tried make sure I was signed up for government
healthcare that (in theory!) every worker in France has. So between work and all the doctor visits, I spent my time harassing the CPAM—the general healthcare office to make sure that I was signed up for healthcare. After the first two months they lost my dossier, then I talked to someone who seemed like he knew what he was talking about, and then after another month with no result, I went back last week only to discover that it wasn't the CPAM that was supposed to take care of my dossier, but in fact, the MGEN—healthcare for people who work in public education. So I spent months and months going back to this office, while no one informed me that I wasn't even in the right place. When they told me that, I had the bizarrest sense of both anger and relief. Anger that no one had told me, and relief maybe another office would be more efficient, would finally help me get this taken care of. So I ventured out to the city where the office was located, and the woman was helpful, and I think that I am finally going to get this worked out, although it still may take a while.

Anyway, all that is not to say that I haven't had any time for fun...after forcing my friends to celebrate my birthday for a month in January/February, it was only fair to give Kat a month of celebrations—so this included many picnics and some fun nights on the town. And as a grand finale Annika, Kat, and I went to Paris, where we stayed with Sarah. It was only 24 hours in the City of Lights, but we made the most of it—went out on the town (karaoke...I don't think those Parisians will forget our rendition of several Whitney Houston songs any time soon), shopped along the Champs Elysee, and saw the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Grand Palais, which was awesome.

Leaving France has been strange, rather anticlimactic—especially compared to last year when I had to say goodbye to all of my friends at once and leave Carlos there in Metz. I mean, I wasn't expecting fireworks, or the entire nation to go into a state of mourning, but I didn't have the opportunity to say a real goodbye to a lot of my friends and coworkers, and the goodbyes I did goodbyes were staggered. My internet and phone were cut off a little earlier than expected (this might have been a blessing—would I have accomplished everything those last days if I had had the internet to distract me?), but it also left me without contact with anyone (with the exception of Kat who was still in town and dropped by a few times) so my last days were just me alone in my apartment scrubbing and packing. So my departure was quiet (with the exception of the sound of me dragging my enormous suitcase down three flights of stairs at six this morning—sorry neighbors!)

In a few hours I will arrive in Mainz for a couple days with Zee and Nik, where I have to figure out how to reduce some of this weight in my suitcase before I get on my flight to Almeria on Wednesday. I can't wait to get to Spain so I can finally relax!