Antelación

So when I got my city placement I also received a couple of email addresses for the english teachers at the school I have been assigned to.  So after a few weeks I decided, hmm, maybe I should contact them.  I have heard from other expats and especially people who are or have participated in this program that communication from Spain can take a long time...if it comes at all.  But I think I'm going through a very lucky streak because I had a response within 3 days.

I should mention that we were communicating completely in Spanish and perhaps after as many literature courses as I've taken it shouldn't be such a big deal, but I only had to pull out a dictionary on one word: antelación.  It means: in advance or in plenty of time.  The teacher was thanking me for my correspondence and commenting on the promptness of it.  So not only did I receive helpful and valuable information from this correspondence, but I also gave a good first impression (assuming I didn't make any major gramatical errors in my email to her that she was just too polite to comment on). Though I do find it a tad interesting that a professional in a country well known for its disregard of punctuality is commenting on my promptness.  Haha, maybe it was actually shock and she just thinks I'm strange for contacting her almost 6 months before my arrival date.  But we don't need to comment any further on that, we all know that I'm more excited than I've ever been before.

So, what did I find out?

My kids will be from 6-12 years old.
School for the kids is from 9am - 2pm, Monday through Friday.
My schedule will be different than that, probably only 4 days a week.
There is a bus that passes by the school every hour.  Which means that I can consider a commute from Murcia.
I also received the email for the current auxiliar, who I promptly emailed. :)

I imagine the next post will be in response to any news from her, or from another expat currently living in Murcia who I've been talking to.  I should probably just relax and try to get through this summer without foaming at the mouth for additional information, but I'm just so dang excited!

My sister, Tiffani, suggested that I continue to post and that I shouldn't wait so long between posts, but I feel like if it's not related to Spain it doesn't have a place on this blog.  Any opinions?  Should I be documenting my last summer in San Marcos as well as my trip to Spain?

Yo voy a Archena :(

I know, I know, I'm supposed to just be happy to be in Spain.  But yesterday I received an email saying that the district has accepted me and that I'll be teaching in Archena.  I know almost nothing about this small town except that it is best known for its hot springs.  Have you been around hot springs before?  Every one I've ever been around smelled like rotten eggs.  Eww.  I looked on google maps and Archena looks even smaller than San Marcos, my current tiny town.

The thing that I'm most worried about now:  rental and transportation.  When I look for apartment listings, almost nothing comes up.  I haven't gone into detail with the bus routes yet but small towns aren't usually that well set up.  Hopefully I'm wrong.  I really was looking forward to walking everywhere, eating fresh produce daily, and depending on public transportation.  I really don't want to have to worry about things like cars, parking, etc.  

So I guess it's time to start doing some serious research.  Now that I have a definite location I can really get going on information.  If anyone knows anything about Archena, haha, let me know!