Life in the Old World: Protests, Paperwork and Apartments

As we arrived in Madrid yesterday, there was a HUGE protest! Probably a couple thousand people waving flags, carrying signs and blowing whistles walking down and blocking traffic of one of the busiest streets in Madrid Centro. From what we could tell they were protesting suppression of the lower class and changes being made to public services. It was quite the event!

Yesterday our goal was to find where my TESOL certificate was sent to and to open a bank account. When I got my visa and passport back, the copies of my certificate and degree were not with the packet of papers. I thought this meant that I was in the system and ready to go! After arriving, I realized there are various systems and information is not shared as easily as I thought. I was told I needed to bring a copy of my certificate when I go to sign my contract. After three hours of being passed from building to building, office to office and person to person, someone was finally able to tell me they found my paperwork and that it was with human resources and I didn't need to bring it with me. Now all I had to do was set up a bank account. Easier said than done!

Ben and I went to the location where we were told to go and waited in line. I got to the front, filled out some preliminary paperwork and turned it in. They told my to come back Thursday (it was Monday) and I could open the account. I was a little confused why I couldn't open it then. I had everything I needed. I asked why I couldn't open it now and they said they had too many people trying to open accounts and I had to come back later. I asked if there was a different branch I could go to and they said no. After talking with a few others in my program, some had had the same problem as me and others had opened an account without a problem. Fortunately it didn't effect me signing my contract.

Ben and I looked at two apartments yesterday and although they weren't as cool as the first one, (how can you beat stairs coming down from the ceiling and a bathroom sink in the shower?!) we found a place to live!! We are signing the contract tonight! I would like to add that I figured out how to rent an apartment in Spanish. I was quite proud of myself. :)

We went in early to where the apartments were at so we could look around a little and find a place to eat. We almost got lost at one point because Ben was asking what street we were on (the street signs are very difficult to find! They aren't posted at eye level and they vary on how often they are posted on the street. They can usually be found up on the corner of a building.) I kept telling him "We are on Calle San Bernardino." He kept hearing Calle San Bernardo, which was the street we needed to be on. We finally figured out the problem when the cross streets weren't matching up with our map!

While walking around we visited Plaza de España, Monumento a Cervantes and these two buildings which used to be the tallest in Spain. Afterwards we went to a little restaurant for drinks and tapas. My new favorite drink is Fanta Limon. So yummy after walking around in the hot sun! We ended up ordering a sandwich. You could choose from a cubano, mixto y vegetera. We figured a mixto would be a mix between a cubano and vegetarian sandwich. Not so! It was a ham and cheese sandwich! Still very good though!

The protesters: