Lisboa! Home of the Tuk Tuk and the world's worst drug dealers

¡Hola otra vez!

This weekend was a 'puente' so I had the Monday off work, what better way to spend a long weekend than hopping over the border to Portugal?! The border, by the way, was completely unspectacular. It was literally a tiny sign that I missed on the way to Portugal. 

We left early on Saturday morning to arrive in Lisbon at midday - after getting completely lost because I tried to be clever and take us on a shortcut.. we eventually arrived at the hostel. My first impressions of the city were that it was really really nice.. as long as you stay right in the very centre. If you stray out of the centre slightly it completely changes and it really isn't very nice at all. All the buildings are derelict and grey. It was later explained to us that barely anyone lives in Lisbon itself because it's far too expensive and if you go just outside of the city you will find an area where everybody lives, so in between the two isn't very nice at all.

After looking at a map for hours we finally decided where to go, we left the car in a nearby car park and went for a look around. This is when it became apparent that the main way to see the city was by Tuk Tuk! Which was incredible and I wanted to try one to see the city straight away.

The next day we went to a place called Belém, just outside of Lisbon. We wanted to take the tram as they have a really old tram service, but it wasn't running so we took the bus. The architecture in this place was just amazing. We went to the monastery and to the church next door, there were towers which protected Lisbon and an incredible view point where you can see all of Lisbon.

There were loads of viewpoints all over the city where you could see all of the city from different angles, mostly the views were amazing!

One thing that wasn't so great, was the amount of drugs that was in the city. If you walked ANYWHERE in the afternoon you were sure to be offered some kinds of drugs, ranging from weed to cocaine. It was absolutely mental the amount of people who came up to you to offer you drugs. Apparently its legal to have and use weed but selling it is illegal, all other drugs are illegal. Even so, the first time I was completely shocked by someone asking me if I wanted to buy some, he also seemed quite shocked when I said no! Apparently most of the people around my age do it because its legal, so its normal. Crazy!

We finally went on our Tuk Tuk around the city too which was fun, and visited a few more things like the castle and a huge church were there was a service happening which was really cool to watch actually. It was being filmed and recorded by loads of TV crews or something so it must have been something big going on!

What shocked me most about Lisbon is the language difference. I used to think it was very similar to Spanish so speakers can mostly understand each other, but that is completely untrue. Most people cannot understand Spanish so the language everyone spoke was English, which was strange - the countries are so close and share so much of the languages but yet they are so different that everyone speaks English. 

All in all, it was an amazing trip and I had such a great time seeing everywhere and exploring a different place and a different culture. Would I go there again? No, I don't think I would - but I'm glad I've been there to experience it.

Este fin de semana fue puente, así que no tenía que trabajar el lunes. No hay mejor manera de pasar el fin de semana que en Portugal. La frontera entre los dos países no es muy emocionante.. sólo una señal muy pequeña.

Salimos muy temprano el sábado para llegar a Lisboa a mediodía. Después de perdernos porque yo intenté tomar un atajo, llegamos al albergue. Mi primera impresión fue que la ciudad es muy muy bonita, si te quedas en el centro. Si te vas fuera del centro de la ciudad, cambia y no es muy agradable. Todos los edificios son grises y abandonados. Luego, se nos explicó que nadie vive en el centro de Lisboa porque es demasiado caro, la mayoría de la gente vive fuera de la ciudad, la zona entre los dos no es muy agradable. 

El día siguiente, fuimos a un lugar que se llama Belém, muy cerca del centro. Queríamos tomar el tranvía porque Lisboa tiene tranvías muy antiguos - pero el domingo están cerrados, así que tomamos el autobús. La arquitectura allí fue increíble. Fuimos al monasterio y a la iglesia de al lado. Había torres que protegían la ciudad y a un mirador de donde se puede ver todo de Lisboa.

Una cosa que no fue tan genial fue la cantidad de drogas en la ciudad. Si se camina donde quiera te ofrecerán drogas desde marihuana a cocaina. La cantidad de gente que vende drogas es tan loca. En Lisboa es legal tener y fumar marihuana pero no se puede comprar o vender - drogas duras son ilegales. La primera vez que alguien intentó venderme marihuana estaba tan sorprendido, y el estaba sorprendido que dije que no! Se nos explicó que es normal que la mayoría de jóvenes se drogan. ¡Que loco!

Lo mas sorprendente de Lisboa es el idioma allí. Yo pensaba que era muy parecido a el Español y los portugueses pueden entender español.. pero no. Así, teníamos que hablar Ingles. Los países están tan cerca y comparten mucho de sus idiomas pero son tan diferentes.

Fue un viaje genial y lo pasé muy bien. Tenía ganas de explorar una ciudad nueva pero no creo que quiera volver a Lisboa otra vez.

Adiós,

David.

Being an English Language Assistant

I seem to have forgotten how this works but I'll give it a go..

Hi!

My last post was when I was in Madrid which seems about a million years ago which isn't surprising seeing as it was almost a month ago since i've been on here - I can only apologise to those of you who have been waiting on reading this! Since then I've been super busy, I've now been here in Seville for just over a month and this is my fourth week of working here - which has been.. very interesting!

As most of you know, I work in two schools here alternating between the two. I work in one on Mondays and Wednesdays and the other on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I definitely have a favourite! As they're both so close to each other I seem to think one of them is a better school. The students seem to act completely differently, which is quite surprising really!

If you've been in contact with me at all you'll have heard most of these stories so I'm sorry, if not then enjoy!

In one school I work with solely first year classes, these students are aged 12 - 13 and their English is pretty low. They have the basics but they can't really hold a conversation and they have difficulty understanding me. I teach Social Science and Natural Science there, which obviously I have no clue about! To be left in charge of a class of around 20 students teaching them about Earth's atmosphere and other things is challenging but I would say I've become pretty good at just winging it. I have to teach the lessons in English and speak no Spanish at all, which is fine but when they can't speak English to me it becomes quite difficult. At uni I have never learnt about the earth's atmosphere so I lack the vocabulary to even try to begin to explain what on earth I'm rambling on about at the front, looking like a lemon.

The first week was pretty scary, it was all general introductions to me, my life, England etc. I basically talked a little bit about myself and then they asked me general questions. As I said, the level of English is very low so its generally things like "Do you got brother?" and "How many dog has you?" which is why I was very surprised when someone raised their hand and asked "What's your opinion on Spanish economy?". I have also been asked some more.. personal questions. One boy thought it would be funny to ask me a rather personal question - I didn't hear him as the class erupted into laughter after he asked me, followed by the teacher roaring at him telling him that he has no manners. After the class the teacher apologised to me for the rudeness of the class and told me they don't know the social boundaries. I asked him what the student had asked me and the teacher started laughing and said "He asked you if you are a virgin." ... Awkward!

The other school I teach 1st, 2nd, 3rd and top level students. Which is an interesting mix! On the whole, the 16-17 year old students don't really want to learn and don't care. My very first lesson on my very first day was them throwing stuff around the room absolutely refusing to cooperate with the teacher, who gave up within the first minute and just sat down as I talked and offered the occasional "ssh", which obviously did nothing as they were literally running around the room. Not a great first day! That may have just been a one off, the other older students are really interested and the work is a lot more interesting for me as their English is quite good so we can hold a conversation. I teach actual English lessons here so I feel much more useful! However I also teach maths, which is ridiculous. They cannot speak any English, a lot can't even count to 5 in English so teaching them square roots and stuff just does not work! Bad idea.

All in all, I'm really enjoying the job. No two days are the same and its very interesting, usually! Sometimes it can be really awkward, the language barrier is definitely a problem. A few teachers do literally just leave me, they sit at the back and don't say a word and expect me to teach the class. Which is fine, if I know what I'm doing. I found today that it's hard to explain words like "heavy" in English without saying it in Spanish - especially when I look to the teacher for help and she just shrugs her shoulders and says "You're the teacher, you have to explain it to them". 

Most of the students want to practice their English and do speak to me in English in the classes, if they have questions they their best to ask me in English, which I appreciate is ridiculously difficult and daunting, when speaking to a native speaker. I'm scared to speak Spanish to them because I will make mistakes - and they're 12! Even outside the classroom they all run out to see me and shout "Hello David!", hi 5 me and shake my hand, which is actually really nice. 

Also, my family came to visit me on Wednesday, which was really really nice. We did all the really touristy things which I haven't had the chance to do yet like go round the cathedral and up La Giralda, go into the Alcazar Palace, Plaza de España and Parque de Maria Luisa. If you follow me on Instagram you've probably seen most of the pictures, if you don't then why not (@davidmcgowan1). We also went to Alfonso XIII for Sian's birthday meal on Thursday, which I thought was incredible. Just google image a picture! (Of the hotel, not the 19th Century King of Spain.)

 It was really good to see everyone, especially little Jamesy, who although is as cute as ever has turned into a massive pain in the arse in my absence. Must be because I'm not there to administer my disciplinary techniques! Sunday was a bit poo, after saying bye at the train station I felt pretty homesick. After 5 days of amazing food, I walked into the kitchen that night to cook something, walked straight back out again and to Burger King. I didn't even regret it.

I have been shouted at by so many people many times that I'm slacking with this, which I'll totally agree I was. The 6 am starts every day have really started to get to me as I get home and just collapse and have no energy to move for the rest of the day. I'll try to post more regular updates.. I promise!

Thank you for reading :) 

David 

Madrid!

¡Hola a todos!

On Wednesday I went to Madrid for the Ministry of Education's training day for all the language assistants in Spain. It's quite an interesting tale so I will start at the very best place to start - the beginning.

I set off on Wednesday morning for Sevilla Santa Justa - the largest and main train station in Seville, which I had never been to before. I thought i'd attempt to navigate the metro. I didn't really know where it is so I asked at customer service in the metro station. I went over and asked her 'How do I get to Santa Justa' she looked me dead in the eyes and said 'No, imposible'. I gave her a bit of a look and said 'So I can't get there?', to which she just replied 'No. NEXT'. I grabbed a map and looked where it was, took the metro to the nearest station and walked the rest of the way. It really wasn't that difficult and certainly not impossible.

At the train station after a mini heart attack of seeing the price of the train - it was 60€ each way for a return of 70€ for a single. Seeing as I didn't know when i'd be leaving friday as I really wanted to stay longer and have a look around Madrid, I bought a single and planned to buy my return the other end when I was leaving. This didn't quite work out as I hoped.

After the best 2 and a half hour train journey of my life - this time I was on the high speed train - the AVE. This really is a high speed train, I think it said the top speed is 250 km/h, not too bad! I slept the whole way but kept waking myself up with my head falling forwards off the edge of the window. I woke up a few times to people giving me a bit of a funny look. I just went back to sleep. When I arrived in Madrid I didn't realise the distance to the hotel, my phone was on about 2% battery and as that is my source of all knowledge and maps, I thought if I attempted to get there via the metro and it died, I would be eternally stuck in the Madrid metro system so opted to take a taxi there. The taxi driver nearly killed me a few times, but other than that it was alright. This turned out to be a wise choice as someone else got a metro and a bus to get to the airport, then a taxi from there which is definitely closer and it cost us the same. Although I got there in about half the time he did. Good old instincts! Or maybe laziness. Probably instincts though.

The hotel that the Spanish Ministry of Education had organised for us was seriously good too - the biggest hotel in Europe. I thought I had been in some pretty big hotels but this was something else. I went to the reception where the woman told me that we wouldn't be staying there and there were no rooms for us, I had a brief panic of where the hell am I going to stay for 3 nights but then I saw other English people heading toward the lifts so went and asked a different receptionist on the sly, who checked me in to my room.

A lot of people opt to do this programme so I thought that they would have provided a lot of rooms, maybe why they chose to do it in the biggest hotel in Europe! As I went to put the key card in the door I heard voices in the room, we were sharing rooms with others. Turned out the 2 who were in my room were actually really nice (I was told not to bitch about them on here because they're going to read it. If you want the truth, ask me privately.) They were really nice guys who turned out to be working not too far from me. We had no warning that we would be sharing rooms, which led to some funny stories. The first guy in my room, Jason, decided to strip off and get into bed for a siesta when in walks Josh to see another man asleep in, what he thought was, his bed. Slightly awkward. Could have been worse, one of the girls we met said she was in the shower when her roommates arrived.

Over the two days we had various talks about different aspects of what we will be doing, our duties and other things. It didn't really teach me anything that I didn't already know - but it was a trip to Madrid in this incredible hotel with dinner, lunch and breakfast included. The food there was incredible. They had a huge buffet with every kind of food you could imagine. I haven't really eaten that much when I've been here down to a few things so this was my chance to eat as much as I could before having to fend for myself again. I met quite a lot of people who will be working near me, including the uni friends of one the guys in my room, who were also really cool. This other guy then appeared out of nowhere and said he was teaching in a primary school in Castilla y Leon. Noone really questioned it until later on when he told everyone he was living a lie, he has a work placement in Madrid, isn't teaching and just came to see his friends while they were in Madrid and get some free food. Fair enough.

The next day was all in Spanish, nobody spoke English the whole day which was exhausting! I understood most of what was going on anyway! I didn't realise how much of a big deal this programme is too, there were various Secretaries of State there and ambassadors and representatives from all European countries. Very overwhelming but it did make me feel very proud for signing up to do this. That night everyone went to the bar and had some drinks, which was filled with some very very heated discussions about all kinds of political and economical topics. There was a girl from Glasgow there and when asked what she voted, caused an uproar of debate. She was very calm about it all though I'm sure there were some things she wanted to say! 

Today, we left the hotel early to go into Madrid and be a tourist. I haven't actually had the chance to be a tourist yet so to do touristy things was nice. We went to see the Palacio Real de Madrid which was really nice, saw a few more sights like the Plaza Mayor in Madrid and of course the Buen Retiro Parque. This literally blew my mind walking through it, it was absolutely incredible. And huge, too! Unfortunately my phone died and I stupidly forgot my charger so I couldn't take any pictures :( but there are loads on the internet if you're wondering what they look like, I'm sure!

After a tiring walk around Madrid and various metros, we went to the main train station - Puerta Atocha. When I went to buy my ticket back to Seville, there were no seats left on any train other than the premium class which was 150€. I had no phone and was stuck in the centre of Madrid, not ideal. After a huge panic and a very stressful hour or so, I booked myself into a hotel which I didn't realise was about 20 minutes on the cercanias from Madrid centre itself. The place seems to be really nice though and its very quiet as its not in the centre. Such a shame, I have to spend another night in the capital of Spain. Damn.

A very wise person once told me 'Every bad decision makes a great story'. Couldn't be more correct.

I went to look what I could get for dinner and walked past somewhere that I just couldn't walk away from - Pizza Hut. Surprisingly cheap yet so good! So here I am, sat in my hotel room, eating pizza, letting you all know what I got up to these last few days in Madrid.

#LaVidaLoca

David

Finding flats and making friends

¡Hola a todos!

So it's now half past 9 on Sunday night and I still haven't got a place to live! I assumed I could just turn up and there would be loads of places to choose from and I'd move in in a few days.. Definitely not the case. I have been to view quite a lot of flats now and the have all been absolutely disastrous. Seriously, terrible. I need to live in the centre to catch the bus to where I will be working so don't want to go too far out of the centre. How the landlord can show me round is beyond me, they are all filthy and way too far away. One of the landlords made me laugh though, he smelt my Englishness so spoke English to me while showing me around. Well, in Spanish the word for cupboard is armario, which sounds slightly like the English word 'armchair'..? Yeah, he kept calling all the cupboards in the place armchairs. The flat was disgusting but it gave me a little giggle when he said 'Open the armchair and have a look inside'. Or pointed at the wall and said 'There's an armchair there too', the first time he said it I just let it go and didn't think anything of it but when he said it again and again it became apparent what he was talking about. I probably should have said something but, alas, I didn't. I'm a terrible person. 

 I'm going to Madrid on Wednesday so if I don't have a place by then, I really will start to panic! I'm viewing some more tomorrow so fingers crossed!

Anyway, enough of that! The other day I received a Whatsapp from one of the  English teachers at the school, she invited me round to her house for dinner and to meet her son and the children of another English teacher, Jesus. I read the message and was immediately terrified, but I of course agreed. I went along last night and with after difficulty finding her flat, I arrived. 

I went up and said hello to everyone, when it became apparent that in Spain they greet each other by two kisses on either cheek - well I'm obviously not used to this! I must have spent about an hour kissing everyone. The girls, I hasten to add! Us men greet each other with a firm handshake. Because we are men. I greeted everyone and we headed up to the roof to eat, the flat was ridiculously hot - I was already melting and I'd only been in there 5 minutes. The heat here is ridiculous, it's nearly October and it's still in the high 20's / low 30's. It's crazy! 

We headed up to the roof where Elena had prepared the food for us all. There was a huge Union Jack hanging on the wall and lots of London posters and English things, which made me laugh. 

All the children were around my age, which was nice. They were talking amongst themselves and one of the teachers said to me can you follow what they're saying? Not a chance. They were talking unbelievably fast and with such a strong Andalucian accent that I understood literally nothing. They were told to speak very slowly to me, the speed they had to speak for me to understand was quite frankly embarrassing. It must have been painful for them to speak so slowly! We were left alone and it was slightly awkward at first but once we got chatting it was okay. They were all learning English so they were keen to practice it, and I was more than happy to speak to them in English, even though I shouldn't be. One of the guys told me he likes to watch Downton Abbey which I thought was quite funny. They all said that they love the Big Bang Theory, which is one of my favourite shows, but they find the American accent very difficult to understand.

Elena had made an Andalucian soup called salmorejo, it's tomato soup with lots of garlic and olive oil, and crushed up bits of boiled egg in. It was actually really nice! She had also made hollowed out boiled eggs filled with tuna and a kind of sauce. We all ate and chatted a bit more about our countries and their customs and after dinner they thought it would be a good idea to take me out and show me all around Sevilla. We walked for ages as they told me where is good to go, what each area is and things like that. 

We got back and Jesus asked me if I had been speaking Spanish, to which I wanted to say yes but the truth was that I let them talk to me in English the whole night. They all got told off and didn't speak a word in English to me for the rest of the night. I found that on the whole, I understood them really well if they spoke slowly enough. It was when I came to reply that there was a problem. I just can't think quickly enough in my head of what I want to say, I have to formulate it, wonder if it's correct or not, if I think it sounds okay then I'll say it. Marcos understood and told me that in one month we'll be able to have a proper conversation - we had a bet on it. On the whole all I did was sit there and nod a lot, probably looking like an idiot in the process.

I think I am starting to get to grips with the Andalucian accent also, the main thing that I've noticed they do is miss out 's' in random places - there doesn't seem to be any kind of logic to it. Sometimes it's there, other times not. Muchas Gracias is interesting because the 's' can disappear from anywhere. I heard so many variations:

Mucha gracias 

Muchas gracia

Mucha gracia

It just seems to disappear. If I listen very carefully I can tell where they should be. This lets me off the hook with my plurals because if I miss an 's' off a plural it doesn't really matter - I'm just adapting to the local dialect!

All in all it was a brilliant night, I met some great people who were probably some of the friendliest people I've ever met. They were incredibly welcoming and understanding of my position and I could tell they genuinely wanted to help me. It really does help me feel more settled with people like that. They also gave me some great advice about the city which I shan't bore you with. 

As you know, I have no place to live yet so I'm still in my funky hostel. Well, I haven't really been eating that well. I have breakfast here than I usually only get a sandwich or something for the rest of the day. Today however, I thought I didn't care about the embarrassment of going somewhere to eat on my own. Driven mainly by my stomach and of course, my mother. Today I had a big lunch and for dinner I went and got myself a pizza. There was nothing that could have prepared me for it. I was so excited to eat it you couldn't believe - not even tr smell of horse shit on Avenida de la constitución could put me off it! Which reminds me of an incredibly annoying thing some people do here. I went into the pizza place and was talking to him in Spanish. My massively English look / smell / aura must have made him think that he has to speak to me in English. There is no way to stop this other than to tell him to speak Spanish, which is a bit embarrassing. If he were to speak Spanish and I gave him the blank stare that I have mastered over the last few days, he would have the green light to speak to me in English. Until then, pleaseeee speak to me in Spanish! Rant over. 

That's all for now!

Cariños,

David 

Xxx 

My first few days in Sevilla!

Hi everyone!

At the time of writing this, this will be nearly the end of my third day in Seville - so I thought it was about time to start writing my blog, as I promised I would. It's nothing too serious, just something to give everyone an insight into how my year abroad is going.

So I left Liverpool airport at 6 am on Wednesday the 24th September, heading to a city that I've never visited to teach English in a school as a language assistant. Not very much worth talking about happened until I arrived in Malaga airport. From Malaga airport I had to take the train into the bigger, main station in Malaga and get a connecting train to Seville. I found the station and my train without much of an issue - buying my ticket was when my Spanish was first tested. I went up to the counter and asked the man if he spoke English, to which he replied no. So I bought my ticket in Spanish and he told me where to go etc. then he started laughing and said "But you can speak very good Spanish". It's amazing how much confidence a little comment like that gives you but as I approached my train I had a big smile on my face.

The Spanish trains put English trains to shame also. It makes Merseyrail look like a joke of the train world. Actually, no, Northern Rail. With their stupid purple, dirty trains. Mr Northern Rail should pop over to Spain to see how it should be done! These trains were immaculately clean, and bright white (not stupid purple) and very very organised and efficient. It left precisely on the minute and arrived at Sevilla San Bernado precisely when it should have. It also had little monitors all over the place, telling me where I was in Spain, next stations and other information such as the speed and weather and things. All in all, it wasn't a bad 2 and half hours!

At 13:06 (precisely) I arrived in Seville. The person who looks after me at the instituto where I will be working had arranged to meet me at the station to show me around and make sure I could find my hostel okay. Yes, I am staying in a hostel - but it's actually incredible! Nicer than some hotels! For starters I have to scan my finger to get into my room! There is a movie lounge which is basically a room filled with huge sofas and cushions and its just generally really nice! Anyway, I was met by Santiago at the train station who showed me to the hostel. Santiago cannot speak any English at all, so this was one very awkward journey, it was only 5 minutes! It was also the first time I had heard the Andalusian accent, or Andaluz. It's completely different to any Spanish I've heard before and very hard to understand. I think he realised by the blank stare on my face that I was having trouble understanding him, so he said he would try to speak castellano with me - which made it slightly easier.. but not that much. There is a phrase that they use here to describe andaluz which is "Los andaluces se comen las palabras" which means "Andalucians eat words" - most of the key sounds in Spanish are just.. not there. You kind of have to guess. I find it very difficult. But apparently if you can understand Andalucian Spanish then every other Spanish accent is easy! 

Santiago showed me to the hostel and asked if I wanted to meet up with the other English teachers at the instituto, so I of course agreed and he said he would meet me at 8. I think between about 4 o'clock and 7:30 I just slept. 

8 o'clock came and I walked with Santiago for around 10 minutes, I thought we were going to the school to meet the others but no.. he took me to a bar! So we went into the oldest bar in Seville, a tiny 17th Century place (with original flooring!) and he bought me a beer. The others arrived and I think there were 7 of us, they were all incredibly nice and very very welcoming. But they refused to speak English to me, which is good.. but also threw me in at the deep end a little bit. I haven't properly spoken Spanish in a while so to be talking to 6 other people at the same time about myself and where I'm from etc etc, is a daunting task. 

They insisted that I try some of the local dishes, so we ordered some tapas. They ordered this one dish that they said was like Fish and Chips to Brits, a very typical Andalusian dish. Well it looked like a plate of green mush, they told me it was mainly Spinach and chickpeas with a few other things that I didn't really understand. So all six of them stared at me as I shoveled this green mush into my mouth - all was very tense when I ate it and they asked "Did you like it?!" I, of course, said "Mmmmm, yes, very nice". It was absolutely disgusting. Needless to say I didn't have any more, no matter how much they told me to. Maybe they thought I was just being polite. They also ordered this plate of huge chunks of chorizo. I thought ah yes! I know chorizo! So I was offered the plate and I took one and took a big bite. Then I realised I had made a rather large mistake. Instead of being greeted with paprika and sausage, it was rubber. They then explained the big wax seal surrounding it isn't edible and I should have removed it first. Now I look like an idiot, great. 

They kept buying me beers and more tapas came, I had learnt all about the architecture of Seville and other things. When they asked for the bill. I felt relieved, I couldn't wait to just go back and sleep. I had been up since 2 am so (although I did have a little siesta) I was pretty tired. One of the teachers turned to me and said now we go to another bar and have more tapas. I laughed because I thought he was joking. He wasn't. 

The next day I got to explore Seville properly. The city is absolutely incredible, so vibrant and full of life, all the time. It really is an incredible place. The buildings and the architecture are seriously impressive too. I am seriously lucky to be in a place like this, it really is an incredible city!

I haven't really done anything else that's worth writing about, other than boring admin stuff and flat hunting - which I really don't want to talk about because I might get so annoyed I throw my laptop out the window.

I know I have only been here three days but I already feel like my Spanish is improving, from having to speak it all the time. Maybe I'm just getting more confident or remembering more, I'm not sure. 

Anyway, this was an incredibly long post so I'll leave it there for now!

Thanks for reading,

David