Update (on missmadrid98 in Spain)

well here is a little update on what´s been goign on. i found an apartment and i move in today. though i got it through the lady that works at the rental agency, her friend is renting it out, and since i am not legal or anything, they worked it out with me that i pay for a few months in advance and it will be fine, so i lucked out. i also lucked out with finding 2 jobs teaching english to kids in their home. actually someone saw on this message board that i moved to madrid and was looking for work on and e-mailed me (thank you madridman messageboard) other than that i am fully enjoying the spanish life, how could i not. i am taking a cousre to certify me to teach english, it the CELTA certificate i am trying to get so afer i get that i hope to find steady work. life is very very good and i don´t ever want to leave. I have my cafe con leche every morning at this local cafe before i go to the CELTA class and smoke my fortuna light thinking to myself "I did it"

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Spain Page!! Check it out! http://www.geocities.com/missmadrid98

Enhorabuena missmadrid!

Way to go for following through with your dream Miss Madrid! Buena Suerte.

Miss Madrid,

Three cheers to you! You have totally inspired me to live out my 'spanish dream' for the future. Keep up the good work )

Missmadrid,
Could you tell me where the school is you are taking the CELTA course, what it is called, and how much it is costing? Still trying to make some sort of plan for moving to Madrid!
Thanks!

¡¡Estamos muy orgullosos de ti!!
Best of luck and thanks for keeping us updated.

¡Enhorabuena mm!! You go girl!! Can't wait to hear more of your adventures!!

!A por ello, missM! Vive la vida igual que si fuera un suegno...me estoy emocionando!

¡Bien hecho! Everything will all work out.

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Laurence Sigler Asterault
http://www.fly.net/~lsigler/
lsigler_1@yahoo.com

MM98 - You made it work - Fantastic! Enjoy - enjoy - enjoy!

Wow. I am impressed that you have moved to Espanya! And already found a place to live, etc. Do you commuite from El Escorial into Madrid? How long does that take?

MM98- It looks like "Fortuna" is smiling on you (couldn't resist). I'll continue to pull my strings and keep the Guardia Civil away from you!!! ¡¡¡Muy celoso estoy!!!

Hi MM98-

I just wanted to chime in with the rest on how great I think it is that you have followed your heart's desire and made it back to Spain. I look forward to hearing your insights as an American-now-a-Spaniard in Spain!

Best of luck;

Kurt

Miss Madrid98
Congratulations on your move to Spain. I, too, someday would be able live in Spain and I hope the Spaniar way of living will remain the same when I am ready to enjoy my golden years. We visited Escorial and wander around town. When we were there, the snowcaps seemed so reachable. Very quite and clean town. The bus ride from Madrid to Escorial was less than 1 hour. What was so impressive was seeing the elaborate paper machee decorations of the Belen and other decorations as you walked at the center of town. Good luck!

i am so sorry i haven´t written,i have no access to a computer and have very little time while in the city to write, but i have a moment before i go to flamenco class. I am so so so so so so very happy. i am busy with the celta course, and the 2 people i teach private english lessons to and my flamenco class, all of those things are everyday. so saturday and sunday i rest and go out!!!! ole!!!!! but i am very busy during the week, it has been a hard hard hard effort to get things started, to begin a a new life from scratch, but things are slowly working out. i am so happy to be here, and so happy to have my little place in el escorial with a view of the monastery from my living room window, and a view of the guadarrama mountains from my bedroom window. at night i hang my head out my living room window and look at the monstery and listen to the churchbells chime. (i watched it snow last week) i can hear all the people rustling below and drinking cana´s!!! life is very very very good, it has not been easy, but i am so happy to begin my new life where I want to be. wehn i get more time i will write more till then!!! viva espana!!

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Spain Page!! Check it out! http://www.geocities.com/missmadrid98

missmadrid, just yesterday I was wondering how you were doing and when we'd get an update. Your life sounds so rich. How long does it take you to get from El Escorial into Madrid? Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

You are making missed Spain and to date, I am still daydreaming of Spain. What a beautiful view to wake up in morning to see the monastery and on the other side of the snowcaps. When you really want something, it will work out. Take care!

You're KILLING me with the descriptions, MaCristina!!!

MM98 - sounds as if you are a very happy expat! We really all do look forward to hearing how the move is working out for you-your cheering section outside of Spain!

i have found a moment to leave another message. first to answer some questions, I am attending International House Madrid, e-mail me for more info. also it takes me 45 minutes to an hour to get from el escorial to madrid by bus. I am so so very happy as i am sure i have stated. i am on my way now to flamenco class. i take the metro to lavapies and then to ruben dario after class to teach that little girl. but in between things i have to do, i find myself walking carelessly through the streets of madrid, stopping in a random bars to have a caña or cafe´con leche with queso manchego, and hang out and talk to the camarero or people next to me, life is very very good. it has been very very hard, but i worked at it everyday to make a life here, and i was not going to give up. (i now have hot water in my apartment yaaaaaaaaa) i don´t have much time to write but i promise i will when i get some more time. i was thinking of posting the e-mails i send back home here in this thread, it gives more detail to what´s going on, maybe i will, maybe on friday, well anyways Ta´Luego!!!

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Spain Page!! Check it out! http://www.geocities.com/missmadrid98

okay i have sent 2 e-mails back home, so i thought i would pot them here for you guys to read what and how i have been doing. somethings i say pertain to people at home and stuff, but i thought these would be useful so you know what´s up!!!

hellooooooooooooooo everybody,

well i have been meaning to send this e-mail out for quite a while, it´s just that i have been so busy trying to start my life here and hoping that this leap of faith i took lands on both feet. well here is the update ready?????????????????????? okay vamanos, well i have started the CELTA course in Madrid, it´s a british based academy therefore ran by british people and all the people that attend are british, which is cool until the other students found out i was an american and weren´t to fond of that. there is like 6 of us in the classroom and 2 teachers alternate teaching us, we are there from 9:30 to 1:30. the other students snicker when i talk because of my accent and that really pissed me off, and then this one
older british lady asks me "are you from another country" and i wanted to say yeah.............and so are you, and she was like well you sound very american, and i was like well i am, i am from los angeles california, and she was like oooooohh okay. i was like dude this really sucks. and then this one guy is from saskathewan Canada Mr. know it all who said some comment on spelling and i said "oh yeah i still have problems on how to spell words" and he was said "well we are really going to mess you up on your spelling because we spell our words differently" and i was like what? and this one girl who is so irritating was like "well it´s because americans don´t speak english correctly" and i was like dude i am right here i can here you how rude, and this one guy who is the only cool one was like "that´s pretty harsh for you to say that" i was like whatever i just smiled cause i am stuck with these people for almost 3 months and i am defintely not going to cause tension but i was so irritated. they were saying "ya you guys don´t have a "u" in honor or a "u" in flavor like that was going to be difficult for me to figure out what the word flavour was cause it has a "u" in it. so i said well the band in living colour had a "u" in it............ they weren´t amused. well anyways today was the 2nd day in class and it went a little better. this new guy joined, a friend of the irritating girl (named simone) and the cool guy (named andrew) his name was mark and he is like so british looking and has a very very heavy british accent he comes from the north, manchester i think. and he is dressed like he just came out of a british punk movie in the 70´s he was actually really cool with me during our break. anyways the classes are going good, i am learning how to teach and i am getting very excited. Cristina (gonzalo´s girlfriend) has told people at work i am teaching english and 2 people want me to tutor them twice a week. i met all of them last night when her work went out for dinner cause one of the people working for them which was an american, was moving back to the tsates. there are people working from all over the world in her office so i met alot of interesting people, it´s small company but a cool one. the boss is an american he was cool. there is this one german guy named bjorn who speaks spanish fluently with a german accent, he is soooooo cute he has pretty blues eye and blond hair and nice lips and was wearing this cute hat. well we ate at this mexican resaturanmt of all places in amdrid next to plaza mayor. the boss arrived late with this other guy which was like very very very cute. and he sat right next to me so we starting talking and stuff and i was like he is really cute. well they brought the food around and i was eating like an animal i was like mexican food, give me those taquitos, nachos, beanssssssssssss mexican food, salsa yes yes, well after like 20 minutos talking with the cute spanish guy (named miguel) he was talking about where he has been in america, he has been to alot of places, well i asked him where he was born, and he said new york, the guy was a fricken american........... i was like "you are a american" and he said "si", and i hit his shoudler and say dude what´s up, and he started laughing i said i thought you were spanish he spoke perfect spanish with a perfect accent, and he thought i was from argentina ( alot of people think that, don´t know why) well anyways i was like dude this guy was american the whole i thought he was some spanaird, then the american in him came out when he wouldn´t eat the fattening foods and he was talking about the gym. anyways after we went out for a few drinks then me and cristina went back home.
now the apartment situation is good .......... i found a place. the 2 women that work at one rental agency had a place for me but was rented out, but then the friend of the lady that works there called her to tell her that she was going to rent this 2 bedroom apartment in the center of town for 50,000 pesetas (285.00) they called me first and told me, i went to go see it. if you could believe the apartment she showed me was the old apartment of a friend i used to know there in town, and i rememeber going to his apartment thinking, i would love a place like this, and out of alllllllllllllllllll the places in town, that one happend to be the one for rent. it is right in it he center of town (note to the people who have been here with me, it is located right next to the phones by La Gramola that we call from) anyways the problem is that i am illegal so i have been having alot of problems trying to do anything here, but that lady was like look,
it´s my friend i´ll talk to her, what we can do is you can just pay for like 2 months in rent in advance and you won´t need any papers. so i was like sure please, thanks you sooooo much. well we went back to the rental agency and she spoke with her friend and it was settled, she was going to rent it to me. i was like no way, i just did not get a place in spain. it has a washer for clothes, heating, hot water, beds, t.v. and so forth. so it has just barely enought what i need to start. and i have a view of the monastery from the living room window. to enter a place in spain you need to pay the
security desposit since it´s furnished and the same amount of the rent to the rental agency, such as i have to pay 50,000 pesetas to the rental agency for getting me the place plus the months of rent, so it pretty much tapped me out but with these few job leads i hope i have enough to buy food and pay the utilities. it will all work out somehow, today i got an e-mail of someone offering me work to tutor young children in madrid, so things are falling into place. i will send you guys the e-mail i got after this one.
well anyways it was sooooo cute when i went back to the rental agency to pay them 100,000 peseats to hold it for me (cause they need to repair a leak and they have to wait for it to stop raining so they can go on the roof) so the 100,000 pesetas is for them and the security deposit, and then when i move in i pay the month´s rent. anyways they were all excited for me and were looking for sales in the paper for kitchen tables for me, they were like wanting to get the apartment all cute and ready for me, they are so adorable. so right now i am just waiting for them to call me to tell me i can move in. well now i have an annoucement to make, and i know you will flip out, but i did this out of neccesity, i had NO other way out, hear me out first okay. it was going to cost me $190.00 to set up a phone in this house, and i would have to do it under like gonzalo´s name or something
and i didn´t want to ask him and i didn´t want to pay $190.00 to set up a phone, i don´t have it, so .......i...........i...........i bought a cell phone, okay wait wait wait, i need it for people to call me for teaching so i can
be availble for people to call me if they want classes. but now i can´t give anybody crap anymore for using cell phones so now everyone is off the hook, but i am NOT wearing that stupid ear peice thing. so
guys.............christina has a cellphone, this is a day in history we will all remember. i still don´t know how to use it for the fact i have never had one and you know what´s even better, it´s all in spanish, great, i am soooooooo screwed i was trying to turn it on and some voice in Spanish was like giving me commands to punch stuff i was like oh my god the phone is talking to me in spanish, you should see me, i just got it yeaterday so i haven´t gotten calls on it, but i will give you all the number. so anyways i think i have told you guys all a good summary of what has been going on. it snowed here 2 days ago, that was very new to me to walk down the street
and it starts to snow, i was like caught in the moment of walking down a street in a small town in spain and it was snowing, watching the snow stay in my hair and on my jacket, until i could see and the snow flakes were sticking to my eyes and the mascara was getting gooey and i was wet and cold and couldn´t feel my hands, i was like, okay moment over need warmth. you know i get cold at 75 degrees, it was like 30 degrees. it has been soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cold here, and i have to keep the kitchen window open here at gonzalo´s house for his cat to come in and out, so it´s like i live in an igloo. i am staying in the loft upstairs, so i rely on any heat left in the house rising to the top and this small portable
heater next to the bed to defrost me, i am very very very cold, but it´s all part of the esxperience (that´s just what i keep telling myself.) i take 2 hot showers day to defrost (but they are only like 2 minutes long cause the water heater is the size of a thermos) but overall i am in my town and 2 and a half years later i have finally made the leap i have been talking about, boring eveybody with my spain talk, now i am here and all of you don´t have to hear me [censored] about L.A. people and starbucks. i hope i haven´t left anything out, i know i have not made one grammatically correct sentence but oh well you understand. here is my phone number. calling from the U.S. it´s 011-34-64-976-2658 if any of you do not have MCI worldcom as your long distance carrier you should get it cause it will cost like 8 cents a minute to call me, so if you want to call think about getting mci worldcom , please don´t if you don´t cause it will cost like $10.00 for like 2 minutes. i´ll give you my address when i move in so you can use the new adddress to write letters or whatever. well i think this about covers evrything miss you all a bunch and i hope things unfold for me. i know Tia has the virgen de caridad working overtime because i have been very very very lucky and everything is unfolding slowly. well tommorow night i am going to my friends alejandro and adan´s house they are going to make dinner and watch a movie, sounds like fun, tonight i may just go to a bar (i have my hair in curlers)

love you allllllllllllll,

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Spain Page!! Check it out! http://www.geocities.com/missmadrid98

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 02-11-2001).]

here´s another one!!!

okay how can i sum up what´s goign on. well i moved into my apartment, interesting adventure into the world of living in a foreign country and being completely clueless. it´s quite funny now i think about it. well to have hot water i figured out i need like to fill this butane tank that under my stove, which gives me hot water and makes the stove work. so i have to get a "bombita" as they call it, delivered to my house and i have to like hook it up and everything. so i had to wait for taht to come, thus no hot water or stive till the "bombita" arrives. but you see it would really bother me if my cold wtaer was liked tapped from the artic circle!!!!!!!!!!!! okay i swear i could fill my bathtub with the water and penguins would feel at home. the real fun part is the washing machine. everyone has a washing machine in the kitchen it´s under the sink. well i have NO clue on how to use this bad boy,, so i put clothes in and push buttons and turn the dial wondering "what the hell am i doing" "what does this mean" "what does this letter stand for" it was like a movie, i can just picture like a camera inside the washing machine lookinng out and you see my face all confused pushing buttons and turning stuff, well water started come out when i did soemthing so i left it. well like 20 minutes later the washing machine was draining into my bathroom floor and
tub....................okay, now i know this can´t be normal. having no towels, nothing to clean the water with, i used a dress gonzalo´s girlfriend gave me to clean up the water (the dress was tacky anyways and it was made of coton and soaked up very well). then i tried to figure out how to turn
the heater on....................no luck, completely lost, i was like okayyyyyyyyyyyyy, well when gonzals get´s back into town, he´ll show me how to use it, well the washer had stoppped but it didn´t seem done well i figured out this, there are letters "A" to "M" on the machine dial, so i
used my brain and went "oh, we´ll put it on "A" and start it and then it will go all the way around i guessto "M", that soudns logical, well it was logical and that´s how it worked, but like an hour later the washing machine was still washing, so i go over there and see, gee it´s been a while, well the damn thing was only on the letter "D"! i was like what we have like the
whole alphabet to go through still and it´s been an hour. well i left it alone in peace, i didn´t want to disturb it. well i clean up and try to put things in order, well i was a frozen isicle, i had not hot wtaer, no heat, no stove, and a washing machine that has been washing for like 8 hours, and it was like on letter "I" or soemthing like that. well i put on 5 layers of clothing, gloves, hat, scarf, i mean i was like camping in big bear in my apartmnent. i got under the blankets that i folded in half so i would have like 6 layers of blanket, and some funk ass pillow the apartment came with. as i go into bed freezing i thought, okay this will get better i hope, or i am just going to have to wing it till april when it starts to warm up. well i went to bed late, and then my place being so in the center of town, i can
hear everyone leaving the bars and clubs so i was kept awalke all night, which was cool whatever, i have been that screaming drunk many times, but then me.................... the morning the time christina takes great pride in her sleep only to be awoken by horns, drums and dancing of the prosessions starting outside my window that was going to take place all day in the name of St. Anton, the Saint of animals or somthing, it was like this bugle in my ear at 9:00am and cannonballs going off, and drumms and
castanets, i was like this is so cool, but ireally wnat to sleep. these damn spaniards, had their mini parade in the town allllllllllllllllllllllllll day, they went up and down everyfricken street in el escorial drinking and dancing and singing, so sfter a while i got up and went outside and joined them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was so much fun, i mean when do yo ever wake up and
go join a roaming party? I love this place man!!! well anyways, that´s how the place is going, its really cold. i am getting things situated and gonzalo fixed the heater and got a bombita for me, they are falling into
place slowly. my flamenco is going exceptionally well besides the fact that i am being eaten alive everyday for an hour......... but other than that, it´s cool i am learing so muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. you want to hear something funny, k. so i started the class monday with maria magdalena, this like 3 foot 11 inch tank, that´s all cute outside in the lobby, and
everything, well we go to class, and this lady, is like the flamenco fireball, okay she is not messing around. i am sooooooooooooooooo beginner here and i was in the back of the room hiding. luckily i know steps and can catch up quickly, but i am very beginner, i have joined the flamenco boot camp, seriously. i followed along fine, i just don´t have the speed everyone else does, which is fine, i don´t care, but it was hard. she looks at me and shouts orders and i am like pounding my feet as i am sweating and seeing flashes of light that i think is god summoning me to go to him for
survival!!!!!!!! this studio i am at is called amor de dios, and now i know why they call it that, cause you need the love of god to withstand the classes, anyways. the second day she busted out these broomsticks, and everyone gets one, i not knowing what´s goign on, go to get one and she´s like " tu......no.........despues..." i was like yes mam. well it´s cause only half the class at a time can work with the sticks, cause it´s a full class. so this is how i will describe this to you. imagine, you are going to be executed, by being dismembered, okay now think what can be worse? i will tell you, watching the people getting dismemebered before it was your turn to get dismemebered, okay. now i am in the back of the room and these people are using this stick, twisting, turing, rolling their backs keeps their arms straght, all you hear is moaning, sighing, noises of pain and anguish, their faces were showing all the pain they were feeling as they were sweating, i was like "OH MY GOD" and these people were was advaced then me and have done this like a hundred times before, i was like, dude i am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo dead. well it was my turn and the girl hands me the stick, and i´m like okay i just saw what they did, so at least i had and idea what i was going to do. well the stick i had was to small, so i was holding it at the very tips of the ends of the stick, well while i putting the stick complety behind my body feeling my shoulder blades dislocating, the stick goes flying out of my hand and whacks the guy next to me......... kkkkk.... i am going to just pick this stick up right here, ya excuse me sorry, ya thanks...... my stick..yeah, okay ya ya, okay. dude that happened twice. so as i am twisting, turning, rolling my entire upper body
with this stick, as i come around where i see the teacher she looks at me and says "te duele" translation: "does it hurt" and i repsonded by like shaking my head no with a look on my face of terror...... ya so that´s my flamenco class, 5 days a week, it actually sounds bad,but it´s just aloooooooooooooottttttt of hard work, but i love it, i´m goign to come out like a refined flamenco soldier. well everything else is great, the british people at the school have warmed up and i taught my first class this past monday. after i sat down i cried cause i was doing what i have always wanted to do......teach. that students love me, they are all spanish adults, and they warm up to me, i am kicking some serious teaching ass, even the other people in training compliment me on how well i handle the students, and how relaxed i am, it´s cause this is what i want to do, this is what i am made for. i am also teaching a little 9 year old spanish girl in her home, i go everyday as well and they pay me weekly, not much, but´s it´s a start. the
course i am taking to get certified isn´t paying me cause i am in training, so i am trying to find work still, i have a few more leads on teaching kids in their homes. so i hope i can get a few more english teaching jobs. today after my flamenco i walked to the atocha train station and went to have a
sandwich mixto and a cafe con leche, i was so happy, i was smiling and i was thinking to myself, i am so happy, i am sooooo very very very happy. i´m like at home, my life is so wonderful and relaxed, though i am busy, i´m doing what "I" want to do, teach, dance, hang out, enjoy life. i wake up and
it´s okay cause i am going to teach, i´m going to a classroom. life is very very good. i am soooo very very happ, and things are panning out. My life is daily visits to cafe´s followed by walks to from and from places and relaxing outside on the benches in between the places i have to go. I have
met alot of people too and made new friends!!! life is good. i´ll try to keep everyone updated and much as possible, i just can´t get to a computer often. well i have to go, it´s 2:38 am and i am going to go to bed so tommorow i can enjoy life all over again!!!

venga, Ta´Luego,
la chiquitiña de Escorial!!!!!!! ole!

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Spain Page!! Check it out! http://www.geocities.com/missmadrid98

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 03-12-2001).]

Missmadrid, did you tell Gonzalo you wanted to buy a bombita (= little bomb)?. I guess your landlord wouldn't like to see his beloved apartment blowing up . What you need is a bombona. By the way, make sure whether you need butano or propano. If you use the bombona for the heating, you'll probably need propano.

Regards,

Antonio

What would we do without Antonio?

By the way, MM98, sorry about those English people. I hope they didn't mean any harm and you are now getting on OK. Why they should be negative about your accent/spelling is beyond me. I wonder if they were trying to be humorous and it didn't come off?

Anyway, you sound wonderfully busy and excited, if a little cold. Hope your good fortune continues, and keep us informed.

Take care.

Jo-Anne

MissMadrid,

You are making us proud. I am so terribly envious of you. I would be interested in finding more about the celta programme (British spelling, heeeheee). Your update has brought a smile to my face and hope in my heart. You are showing us all what it takes to follow your dreams. I would suggest you follow Antonio advise about the bombona, a bombita may get you deported or at least linkened to ETA. Although, you have dined with Calibasco I promise not to tell the Spanish Authorities heeheee.

Thanks and Continued Joy ,
Shawn

[This message has been edited by Shawn (edited 02-11-2001).]

MissM, te lo digo en serio, !que me tienes descojonao de la risa! Tienes arte! (Lo siento lo de los ingleses en tu clase, es que estamos muy pesados al principio pero solemos mejorar!).

Funk ass pillow? That was hilarious! I had to remark on the bombona, too. Someone who's not 'supposed' to be there...buying bombitas, hmmm... an etarra you are not! What next, stealing placas at gunpoint? Watch it Shawn...I'll go Basco on you! Actually Shawn, I'll send you an e-mail with a funny-Basque story from yesterday, since you really seem to care!

P.S. I miss getting a bombona in the orange tank!!!!

MM98, thank you so much for sharing your experiences very candidly...I actually got teary-eyed...I had a similar experience on my first stay in Madrid in the winter of '89. I am so happy you are experiencing everything with an open mind!@@!!!!!!!
Take care of yourself and keep us posted!

MM98, it sound like everything is turning out great for you. I really like readingabout your experiences. I hope someday, I will have enough courage to do want I really want to do. Good Luck to you.

Way to go MM!

You've already made it. The key to making the change is being able to accept the hardships that go with it in the beginning.

My cousin moved from Wisconsin to Madrid about ten years ago, and is half owner of an Italian restaurant in the city. Even though it's hard work, she has never been happier, and I don't think she'll ever return to the states, except as periodically required by law.

You're now Madrid's version of "Mary Tyler Moore." Go get 'em!

I love El Escorial. There's a little sidewalk cafe that I really enjoy. I can sit there for hours talking to friends.

Wolf

Hi, MissMadrid98--
You're AMAZING! If I had half the nerve you do, I would have moved back to Spain after my summer in Salamanca in 1990! I can completely relate to what you said on your website--about passion and being most at home in Spain.

I have a lovely life here in America with a fabulous husband and daughter, but I certainly fantasize about scooping them up and plunking them down in a pueblo in Spain, opening a bed and breakfast, and teaching English forever!

So congratulations and hooray for you--you're living your dream and mine too!

And for now, I am just excited to be taking my husband to Spain for his first visit this Thursday! He has NO IDEA what he's in for--and I can't wait to watch him fall in love too!

yes i am still alive!!!! well i have 2 weeks left in the CELTA course, so hopefully after that i can get that certification and i ca obtain some leagal work so i can get some papers. i have already been looking for work in english academies all over madrid, but the second they hear my voice they ask me "are you an american" no one wnats to do the paperwork for an american, so i am desperately trying to find someone that will take me in and do my paperwork.... so we´ll see. i am still teaching those 3 private english classes, so i am sort of making it by. flamenco is great but i am tired. I go out alot though, i go out like all the time, i need to sleep for a while, i was out like monday, thursday friday, all days of the week, it´s crazy, i love it, but i am so busy during the day it catches up with me. well after this course is done, i can sort myself out a little better with time. i went to santander 2 weekends ago to see a friend, i loved it up there i had so much fun, i am going back this weekend. then the weekend after that i am going to barcelona for a weekend to see another friend. i am soooooooo looking forward to semana santa and FERIA!!!!!!!!!!!!! whoo hooo, i am so going to feria!!! i don´t care if i take a bus to sevilla with a backpack, i am going. anyways i will keep you posted. i also went to a capea last weekend OH MY GOD i love spain is all i can say, it was like 115 spanish guys from the ages of 20 to 27 and like 10 girls, it was so funny, i knew alot of the people it was hilarious. they all got drunk and went into the mini bull ring to fihgt bulls. and then by the end of the day they were plasteres and singing soccer fight songs!!!! oh dude soo funny i love it here... anyways But i guess it has proven that you can move to spain, leave all that you have, come with nothing, no papers, no job, no place to live and somehow make things happen. it´s not easy at all, it has been VERY hard, but i guess if there is a will there is a way!! i was poor and struggling in Los Angeles and unhappy, but i am poor and struggling here, but i am SO DAMN HAPPY! i am finally where i want to be. i went to have a cafe´ con leche at the miranda in el escorial, and one of the waiters saw me, and said "hola que tal" and i told him " bien y tu" and he said "bien, y tu estas visitando otra vez" and i said "no..... yo vivo aqui" and he said "por fin, maria cristina, por fin!!! i was thinking in my head..... ya por fin!

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Spain Page!! Check it out! http://www.geocities.com/missmadrid98

Reading your updates on your life in Spain is making me missing Spain so much and I was just there. I know that things will work out for you because you are willing to take the risks and most of all the sacrifices to make it happen. Do write a journal of your daily experience and who knows, one day it would be published.

I always wait for your updates. Take care, Maria Cristina and Besos!

Mclarke

I glad to hear that all is well with you. I was just thinking to myself yesterday, what is MissMadrid doing? Please inform us about the details of your trip to sevilla, many of us will be vicarously reveling in your report. I am planning on being in Spain around September in order to enroll in a language programme, I have already sold my car and have begun selling some personal affects to finance my 8 or 9 month trek through heaven on earth. I will spend a few days in Madrid prior to heading off to either Salamanca or Valladolid for instruction. I will email you when I know the exact date of my arrival.

Saludos from the insipid urban sprawl of Los Angeles.

hello all!!! well things are going well, I have a job interview this thursday for an english teaching job. i have been subbing for some classes and i have been continuing with my private english classes. i am looking to move to a city in spain that is on the beach for the summer, so i am looking for summer work, we´ll see how it goes. the weather is picking up and life is good. i finish the CELTA course on friday then i am going to barcelona for the weekend to hang out with a spanish friend of mine. then i am going to santander in a few weeks then down to sevilla for feria!!!!!! I am all over the map!! well i must bail i gotta catch a bus. ta luego!!!

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Spain Page!! Check it out! http://www.geocities.com/missmadrid98

[originally posted by missmadrid98 on 5-1-01...]

hello everyone remember me!!!! well i am still alve and doing great, having way to uch fun and living the spanish life, like I always wanted, though it has been very hard to start a new life, i have been poor and hungry, i am a survivor and i made it happen. i regret that i haevn´t update my site with all the new info i have gathered but honetly i haven´t had the time, but i am working on it and have lists of things to add and put it. i have received tons of e-mails of people asking for my help, and i just wanted to add, i am always here to help those who wnat to come here to madrid and need a little help along the way!! one of the board members came into madrid the other day and contacted me and offered to pay me to store her luggage in my spare bedroom while she did the camino de santiago walk, i was like wow, she was like you have no idea how much you have helped me by storing my luggage, i know its in a safe place and i don´t have to worry about it. i am glad i can help those you need help. well i have two teaching jobs and i get paid on a monthly basis, i am already working on one, and i start the otehr one may7th, so i will get a nice pay day beginning of june for the whole month of may, so finally i have things established in a way, i am getting money. i am still taking flamenco classes and going out al the time. i got to some little flamenco bars and go out salsa dancing from tiem to time, but i always reign in my little towns discoteque calld " la gramola" it is snowing today in el escorial can you beleive it!!!! well anyways peopel i have to go, but i will try to update soon, love you all!!! and dreams really do come true
missmadrid98
maria cristina

p.s. this site has changed a bit, i am not sure how to post this messgae hahahah

[originally posted by Jo-Anne on 5-1-01...]

So good to hear from you. I was wondering how things were going.

I thought of you last night when I went to see Paca Pena and his Flamenco Dance Company in Salford (UK). It was a capacity (1700+) audience and his main lady dancer was from a studio in Lavapies I think. I'll try to find out her name and let you know.

Dont miss out on the Madrid dinner group which I know several board members are organising in Madrid (obviously!)

Have fun.

(I'll be hassling you about the small flamenco dress question again sometime!!! )

Jo-Anne

MM98- Thanks for the update! We chatted with jdowney at dinner last month and she was SO grateful to have a place to stow her luggage while on the camino. You're awesome! I'm glad to hear that things are going along for you. I hope you're soon to be out of the living from hand to mouth stage and into the "I know where my next meal is coming from" stage. Now you know how the pilgrims lived along the camino in centuries gone by! What an experience! Keep up the hard work (and we hope you continue to reap the payoffs!).

most people never do what they dream ... if nothing else, you can say when life is all over ... you lived. enjoy spain every moment. maybe oneday life will bring you back to la, but for the moment experience this wonderful gift that God has placed in your life. i hope that oneday i can be brave enough to do what you have done. please keep us posted on all the good and bad things that happen. it will help all of us on our adventure in life. all the best and good luck missmadrid...roses.

I agree 100%. If you don't follow through with your dreams you will live a life of regret. At least this way, even if things dídn't work out, (although luckily they are!)you could always say that you gave it a shot. In two years I'm going to graduate with a bachelors in Spanish/Linguistics, and I hope to be able to get over to Spain for at least a couple of years. Its a tought thing to just pick up your whole life and move, but major props to you!!! You're an inspiration.

thanks so much for the wonderful replies, i always get such great feedback when i post, it keeps me going. hey madridman, let me know when you do find out the name of the dancer from lavapies, that´s where i go to flamenco class everyday. and jo-anne, please hassle me again about the small flamenco dress, i am so busy with all kinds of e-mails, sometimes they fall throug the cracks, just keep e-mailing, let me know again when you are coming and everything!!! thanks all of you, and if someone can please e-mail the info on the madrid dinner group i would love to be a part of it!!!!
missmadrid98

here is the e-mail update i sent my friends and family back home yesterday, i thought i would share it with you guys. i wish i had more time to browse the message board more often!!! here you go!! enjoy

hello everyone,

well things have picked up here. i have sorted out my job situation, i had all differnt kinds of job offers and was working all over the place. but i finally have found 2 solid jobs that give me alot of hours, so now i don´t have to work for like 5 or 6 different people and places. i start a new job may 7th, that is paying me very well and giving me alot of hours. i still have the other job i got like a month ago and they are giving me more hours and offering me summer work. both jobs pay on a monthly basis so i have to wait a whole month to get paid, whch sucks but at least i am making some money. my flamenco is going great and last night i went to a little flamenco gathering to celebrate "feria" which is a festival in sevilla. well they brought in a group here in el escorial and they played sevillanas and a few other things. i am going out WAY to much and need to rest, oh my god the excursions i have every weekend are like amazing. i made a friend named victoria that is from argentina and we go out all the time, she is a professional salsa dancer, so we go salsa dancing alot, i have got to know all these people that work in all the salsa places so i never pay to go out which helps alot since i´m broke. we have alot of fun together, it feels like we have been friends all our lives, it´s also cool to have a girlfriend to talk to and share all those girl things with and laugh, i needed a girlfriend to hang with and talk with, she´s really great and alot of fun. i also made another girlfriend named rhonda, she´s a member on the message board as well, and we have alot of fun together and do all those girl things, i really enjoy hanging with her alot!!! I still go out in my little town, and dance all the time, one guy came up to me and called me by my name, and i asked him how did you know my name and he said " maria cristina you are famous here, everyone knows you" i was like oh goodness, i have alot of fun there cause they play all kinds of music to dance to. i have also made another friend in town named jan, he´s a spaniard that lives in el escorial and went to chicago last year. he practices his english with me, he´s alot fun, he comes over to hang out or make dinner or something and we laugh and i correct his english. The only time i speak in english is when i teach and it´s very slow with alot of hand gestures, i am going to go back home to visit talking like a mentally handicapped person. me and gonzalo still hang out, we went to a soccer game last saturday, my goodness what a riot, literally, Real Madrid was playing the team from pamplona and there was a little section that the people from pamplona were sitting, there were all dressed in red cause that´s the color of the team, and the whole stadium was cussing at them, and flipping them off and the people from pamplona were shouting " madrid hijo de puta" and then all the people got mad and started throwing things at them, and gonzalo was just sittineg there smoking his cigrette like nothing was going on, i was like, dude this is so cool. they don´t sell alcohol at all in the stadium cause it would make things dangerous. so all the bars around the stadium are PACKED with people drinking, so when they go in they are all smashed. another experience for the book. it was like when i went to go see the bullfight with zandra and marissa, which reminds me i am going to the feria of san isidro, which is in like 2 weeks, bullfights everyday with the best matadors in spain, i like bullfights alot, i am planning to go in a few weeks when the fiesta starts. well let´s see what else, well i would really like to see a movie in english. they put movies on tv everyday here, and they are usually all american movies. but they dub them in spanish, and it just doesn´t work for me you know. cause i was watchng an eddie murphy movie in spanish and eddie murphy speaking spanish, just doesn´t fly you know, it´s not working for me. ( dude they are playing "maneater" from hall & Oats in this cyber cafe right now... oooo here she comes, watch out boy she´ll chew you up,) anyways, today is was SNOWING in el escorial, i was like " okay what the hell is this, it´s MAY people, MAY i am in spain not norway, where there is the sun, it´s even pouring in the south of spain, i have had a 4 month winter and i am so ready for the good weather. it was weird cuase the weather was nice for like 3 weeks now it´s snowing, i´m like " i give up, i surrender" well may 5th will be 4 months since i have landed, and sometimes
i realize " goodness i live here" i have adapted so well and so quickly that i forgot that i am an american from the east side of los angeles (i woulld like to make a shout out to my homeboy and girls in the SGV hood!!!!!!) just kidding. anyways, i heard rap song the other day and i never enjoyed a rap song so much in my life since 1989, cause i understood all the slang they were speaking, and i felt one with the radio, like ya these are my people. after a while you just want to talk to someone who understands you. but anyways i better go cause cause my time is running out in the cyber cafe i miss you all and i might be coming back in august cause there is no work here and all the spaniards leave for vacation, so i might come back for a month to visit.
love you all!!!

MCB

happy in spain!!!!

[ 05-02-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Maria Cristina

It was me that saw Paco Pena and his dancers. Oddly, there were no programmes for the evening, but there was an article in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago about the dancer, so when I get it back off the friend I lent it to I will let you know her name. She is 23, that I do remember.

Keep the inspirational activities up!

Jo-Anne

Maria Cristina!

You go girl!!! Keep up the good work and the good livin'! Great to hear from you!
Jen

Maria Cristina, it's EXCELLENT to hear about your adventures! I can almost picture myself there in Spain with you!

Thanks for keeping me in touch with my dream. Someday...maybe I'll be an old lady, but I'll live there too!

Maria Cristina

Got the newspaper article about Paco Pena back now:

The dancer from Lavapies was called Noelia Vicente, but she is originally from Bueonos Aires, she is 23.

The guitarists were the Losada Brothers, I think. And singers - Angel Gabane and Antonio Reyes.

I don't have much info because this performance was a one off, tagged on to the end of a London tour, and didn't have any programmes or info at all. It was quite frustrating really.

Jo

[ 05-03-2001: Message edited by: Jo-Anne ]

well guys i am glad to say i now have 2 firm jobs and one of them is doing my papers for me!!!!!!! very happy, flamenco is great and so is everything else. i am really busy during the week working and going to flamenco, but the weekends and in between going from work to flamenco I chill and have a caña! life´s great!

here is the update i sent back home!! enjoy!


well here is another update on how my life is here in spain. well last weekend i met this american guy named john from philidelphia (total east coast accent.. love it) i met him at this terrible discoteque named "black jack" me and rhonda only went there cause it´s free to get in and we didn´t know where else to go. its packed with touristsand the only spaniards there
are guys looking for foreigners to pick up on, (cant stand it), anyways this one american guy was there cause this one spanish guy brought him there. i was talking to him and i told him "dude this is crap, i´ll show you real spain, this is a sleazy disco in sol". so i gave him my number and he said his friend matt was coming in the next day. so i told him to call me
tommorow (after 5:00 cause i am sleeping) and we´ll make plans for you and your friend to come to el escorial and hang out on sunday. well he called me and him and his friend came up to el escorial on sunday. i showed them the monastery and cool little spots where all you can hear are the birds chirpìng. after all that pretty sightseeing we went to about 7 different bars and drank wine all day and ate tapas, they loved it!!!!!! they were so happy, they are like "and you live here in this beautiful town and do this all the time" i was like "oh yeah it´s great!!" well they hung out all day and night. we were up till like 4:00am they ended up crashing at my pad. well they were going to go to andalucia for the week but would call me to out again next weekend and i told them i would show them some really cool authentic spanish places and some real flamenco. they called the following friday and we went out all night. i took them to a tavern place ( well a few taverness places) to eat tapas and drink sagnria then i took them to "la solea" to see real gypies dance and play flamenco. they were astounded. they were really submersed in the real deal, they didn´t know what to do. we had so much fun. they kept thanking me like a hundred times, they were like we would have never of found these places thanks so mucccccchhh. well i had alot of fun. anyways let´s what´s else is new. i guess it´s the same stuff, go out, work, eat, hang out, dance flamenco... life´s great i might be making a few weekend trips to some places, i´ll let you guys know when i decide and fill you in. sometimes it still doesn´t dawn on me i live here. It´s a holiday today (what´s new) so i didn´t work today, so i went to sit in front of the monastery, i am translating a spanish history book, so i went to go sit in front of the monastery and do that for while (gee life´s rough sometimes huh?) and i sat for a moment looking at it while the children played in front of it. i thought about how many times i would sit at my computer at work with 25 different pictures of the monstaery in front of me wishing to be there just for a minute.... and there i was and i pictured myself in one of those pictures i would have in front of my computer, and thought.. here i am, right where i wnat to be! crazy huh. it´s like jumping into a picture, like in the movie mary poppins, i was like i want to be there and poof here i am. well there is always so much to tell, every little walk i take has a story, i wish sometimes i could have so many of you here with me to see it all and experience it with me ( i know some of you are going to come visit right?) it´s amazing when i see people i know walking in madrid, i´m like " gee i´m in a city in europe and i am seeing people i know walking on the street crazy" i could go on and on, but i won´t bore you all. i will be comiung to visit in sugust for like the month, so i will hang out with all of you and tell all the stories and show all the slides ( i won´t show the ones of me dancing on the tables okay?) but i will show all the other ones. i really want some peanut buuter and a good cheese enchilada combination plate, but it will have to wait till i get there. oh ya, i found this american grocery store here in madrid. i was almost moved to tears when i saw the box of pop tarts, i was like " oh jesus....... can it be... yes it´s pop tarts... OH THERE IS A GOD, but then i saw the price and i was like oh no i´ll wait to go back to los angeles and buy it with my club card at ralphs. i forgot these things are imported so they cost more. but i did buy the pack of 25 flour tortillas, they were like 2 bucks. i also bought a pack of reese´s pieces, i was chomping on those things like a rabid animal as i walked out of the place i was like " oh is that my change ya thanks" dude i went home and cooked like bean and cheese burritos and quesadillas till i turned blue (this one american girl brought me 6 cans of rosarita refried beans so i was like oh yeah mama´s having bean and cheese burritos TO-NIGHT) well i better go time is running out and so is the cafe´ con leche!!!

hasta luego
and VIVA SPAIN AND MOVING HERE WITH NO REAL IDEA HOW IT WAS GOING TO WORK OUT... OLE! toma ke toma

MCB

[ 05-15-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

hello guys i would like to give a small update on how things are going. well i have been here for 6 months now and things have smoothed out. i am working alot all over madrid and trying to make ends meet. i get paid on a monthly basis so in july when i get paid for june i will get paid bank cause i am working ALOT!!! i won´t be making to much money in july cause there isn´t to much work in july. with my free time in july i am going to go to Jerez and dance flamenco and lie on the beach, and i also want to go back to santander and lie on the beach there too and party at night!! my life here in spain is what i always dreamt it woudl be. it has been hard at first and i can honestly say that i really don´t want to get on the metro again in my life ( i ride the metro 6 to 8 times a day i AM the metro map of madrid) i find my self in between work relaxing in retiro or wandering around up and down all the little streets in madrid exploring. i go to free museums and hang out in plazas and or go into free tours of places ( i finding all the free stuff in madrid!!!) i sometimes read my flamenco magazine in parks or sit on a bench and watch people go by and listen to all the sounds of spain. from time to time i still have a hard time realizing what i have done. i will update my website when i can i just haven´t had the money to spend hours at a cyber cafe to do it. but i am collecting all the info i have here to update it. every morning i wake up and pull the shade up and see the BEAUTIFUL Abantos mountain beckoning at my window with he sound of all the people walking around below my window buying their daily bread or listen to the birds fly around my window. then i go into my living room and look out the window and see the HUGE monastery beautiful as it stands greeting me.. every moring. it´s a great way to start your day ever morning, and i great way to live! i am soooooo happy and have no complaints i don´t ever want to move back to the united staates of america, from here i am only goign to other places, but goodness i could never imagine living in the u.s. again. i am soo happy here and can you guys fillme in on the madrid dinner i would love to attend!! and remember i am always here for all those people who wnat to come visit and need help or info!!! all the best!!

Hi MissMadrid:

I really hope that you can come to our dinner group. You have done something that I'd love to do, but fear to do. Sometimes people have a hard time exiting their comfort zones, but you did it and your life sounds so peaceful. I'm sure life still gets in the way, but if we are going to live life, we should at least live it in a place that brings us the most joy. I have attached the thread for our dinner group on June 30 at La Gallette. E-mail with more questions. I put the restaurant location and time up on the Dinner Group in Madrid, Spain thread... http://www.madridman.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=17&t=000275
Hope to see you there, roses.

maria cristina, i can almost see you sitting there typing as fast as you can, trying to give us just the slightest inkling of what it must be like for you to live your dream in spain. i am envious and proud and excited all at once...thank you again!! i look back at my photos from my semester in spain and think, "wow, there i am in a lovely place, the best place in all the world, and what i wouldn't give to pick up my darling husband and daughter and share that life with them!"

keep posting updates; they are SO welcome and SO incredibly captivating!
tara

Maria Cristina-
I have to agree with the last 2 posters-you've done something that most of us only dream of. I'm struggling now with attempting at doing the same thing, leaving my 'comfort zone' and seeking a life in a beautiful place which I love and know would be wonderful and advantageous for me.

Que tengas salud, amor, y suerte!!

Wow Maria, love to read your posts. But cheer up, your brits can´t be as bad as the ones i meet in Benidorm last weekend. As far as i know there are no 99 Pound flights from Manchester to Madrid yet ;=) But i can recommend these two places to anybody who enjoys a weekend full of laughter : Benidorm (Costa Blanca) and Fuengirola and Benalmadena (Costa del Sol).

guess who´s got their work permit and VISA??????????????? yup yup i did it, i tied the last knot. i have a work permit and visa and my residency in a few months, as of now i am legal and can go and come as a please!!! i got a job working at TGIFridays which is next to bernabeu. VIPS is a large chain of restaurants and stores and they put out an advertisement due to the new immigration law, saying anyone who arrived before january 23rd can come to a presentation and apply for a position. Spain passed a new immigration law january 23rd, so if you came before that date you have till the end of july to get your papers, if you don´t get them by the end of july you will have to wait 2 years to get your papers. so i went to the presentationa dn interviews and out of the 1,800 employees of VIPS that are immigrants i am the first and only american working for them. i will be working 20 hours a week as a waitress and have to stay with VIPS for at least 9 months for all the paperwork to be official. VIPS has other restaurants and TGIFridays is one of them. so it has been a grand grand day. i walked out of the office after seeing my work permit looked at the sky, lit up a fortuna light and said a thanks. my dream is here, my dream is complete.

Congratulations Missmadrid you are really an insperation!!

Congratulations!

We'll give you a wave when we pass on the Madrid Vision bus on Sunday!!!

Jo

Wow, Maria Cristina, what great news! You certainly prove the saying that life is what you make of it.

Where's your TGIFridays? We should know so that we can all come in while in Madrid and leave you big tips!

Congratulations Maria Christina!
I just got done reading all of your updates and I'm just sooo impressed how you went to do what you wanted to and stuck it out even when things weren't that easy. Persistence pays of and now you've gotten what you wanted. Rock on!!!

the TGIFridays is next to the stadium, Santiago Bernabeu where Real Madrid plays, it´s in the centro commercial right next to the stadium. i know i am so happy, i can´t beleive i did it. the one thing is that i have been gone from los angeles for 7 months now and i don´t know when i will be back. i have no idea when i will be goign back to the united states to visit, it looks like i will be going back like next year sometime. it´s going to be weird goig back after being gone for a year and a half! but i don´t really miss it at all. i am so happy here i have established my own littel life here, friends, job, apartment, i even have drama here. i will be going to andalucia this weekend for 4 days, i haven´t been there in a year and a half so i can´t wait to get back in my andalucian groove. all the best and i will keep in touch, and hopefully soon i will update my website with all my new information!!

MaCristina: I've been in LA for seven years now...don't be in too much of a hurry...LA will be here when you want; and if it's not, you haven't missed much. You're in a far better place!!!

Glad to hear you straightened the residency stuff out. My visa (for which I had to return to New York) took 3 months. My 'green card' (it's blue actually...) took about 7 months, with much standing in lines. But the system, while slow, functions. Once you have the card you can switch jobs too!

Be glad you aren't trying to get an American card because I have friends doing that and it's a nightmare.

45 minutes every day on the train from El Escorial? Ugh. I wanted to live in El Escorial but I sucked it up and got a place in Madrid. *snif* Oh well, someday I will buy one of those houses up on the hill.

Maria Cristina

It´s Tuesday 14 August. On Sunday 5 August, we visited the Bernabeu and asked for you in TGI Fridays, but you weren´t there - it was some time in the afternoon. So, we took a photo of our 5 yr old daughter holding a TGI balloon outside, just to prove we´d been!

We checked the Maravillas shop, but it was closed, we are hoping it will be open on Tuesday 21st August!!!!! (The Birthday).

My parents stayed in Santander one night, but I don´t know where. I passed the information onto them that you gave to me, but as I have been without a computer for some weeks (a virus), I don´t know what they did.

Will give a full report when we return.

Jo

hellloooo remember me??????? the long lost american that threw herself in spain and figured life out!! well i was reading my initial postings and i was laughing on how i started and how things have changed. i work alot. i have so much work i turn alot of it away. i work 7 days a week and i am trying to change that i am really tired. i hate working for VIPS but i can´t leave till may cause i have to stay with them at least 9 months for my residency, i started in august. i work there 20 hours a week but i also teach english and i just have a really bad working schedule right now. i am working on changing things around a bit. i am sooooo incredibly happy here. things have been very hard, but i always find a way to work it out. it has been 10 months, and by january all my ducks will be in a row!!! i am considering moving into the center of madrid. it´s been tough communting back and forth from el escolial on a dialy basis. i don´t want to move but i should for my well being, i need to rest more and be closer to home. some days i can´t go home cause it´s to late and i get stuck in madrid. so at least i went and lived in el escrial for a year, and plus my apartment rocked, i have the MOST beautiful views imaginable from my windows, at least i did it!!! my aoartment is furnished now and i am set. but i am considering moving into madrid in february or something like that. i may go back to visit los angeles in january, i havený beren back since i left, so it would be nice to go back after a year and tell everyone how it went. i have no plans on moving back to states, my life in spain is just fine. i have friends, drama, work, place to live...everything. i miss everyone but i am much happier here and this is where i want to be!!! i move around madrid like i have been here my whole life, it´s amazing. i often stop and think, my goodness, what did i do? i moved to europe. i don´t have to much time to talk, but i wish all of you the best and i am always here for those who need any help making their dreams to come to spain come true!!! later dudes (as we say where i come from) i really miss speaking to people who understand me in MY lingo. but i also enjoy expressing myself in spanish slang (pero tio, no me jodas tronco...pero bueno)

Great to hear that you are happier than ever! I was kind of wondering if and when you would start thinking about a move into Madrid as you were putting in a ton of workin hours plus the commute! Let us know how it goes - and thanks for checking-in and keeping us all posted!

Sheesh! DOES ANYONE ELSE experience unusually active salivary glands when reading "American" missmadrid98's success stories? (insert a Homer Simpson DROOLING sound effect here) GO GIRL, GO!

Thanks for the update!! It's so great to hear that you are doing well and that you are so happy. I'm glad that things are working out for you. We all love to hear from you so keep us informed ¿vale? Take care and although you don't like working at VIPS, at least you live in Madrid right??

AND YOU MR MADRID MAN!!!! when are you getting your ass back to spain to visit. when am i going to finally meet you. i remember contacting you like 2 years ago before you put up this message board and exchanging thoughts on our passion for this place. i remember when i found your website i was like "ah yeah another individual obssesed with madrid (spain), rock on, i can talk to him about how much i love this place and he understands" it would be great to finally meet you one day. hopefully we´ll finally meet over a cafe´ con leche in a cafeteria in madrid!!! and after i write this i will go have one in your name so for 10 minutes you can spirtually be in spain through a cafe´con leche (and a fortuna light for me, cause i know you don´t smoke) heheheh take care and i hope one day you jump off the springboard and dive headfirst and start swimming!!!! get over here!!! dude i will rent out my 2nd bedroom to you if you need it, just get over here and enjoy the place you want to be at. i understand your passion, i know how everyday you wish you could be here just only for 5 minutes, i understand, you just gotta do it man. cause in the end, no matter how hard thigs will be when yo get here, it won´t matter cause you are where you want to be. I am always here to lend you hand to start your life here. i wish for all of those people who have that burning desire to come here, to be here to live here, to try to find the way to do it. do what makes you happy in life. the hardest things to do in life are the things you really want to do. the easiest things to do in life are what to do while you think of the things we would rather be doing!!!


[ 11-13-2001: Message edited by: missmadrid98 ]

Rock on missmadrid98 !!!!

Hi missmadrid98!!! Your wish is MY command! Check the thread, " Dec.29th: Party With MadridMan (in Madrid): Version 3.0 " in the "Classifieds & Personals" forum. Hope to see you there!!! It would be GRRRRREAT! Party on Garth!! oops, ummm... I mean, missmadrid98!!

And I would've been there in Madrid years ago had I had some/any qualifications which would help me work there AND if my ladyfriend believed in marriage.

hey i did my fingerprints yesterday and in 20 days i go pick up my D.N.I.!!!!!!!! so am soooooo like legal. i am soo incredibly happy i can´t beleive this is happening. i am still working and enjoying my home in el escorial the views just kill me every morning. i went to segovia yesterday and the snow capped mountains are just amazing. dude i have bad news......STARBUCKS signed a contract with VIPS and in May of 2002 starbucks will arrive in Spain!!!!!! i think i am going to start my own little boycott of starbucks when they get here and tell them to go back home!!!!!!!!! and also they put a burger king in el escorial......i am so devastated!!!!!!!!!!! i move to a pueblo in spain and they stick a fricken burger king in my pueblo... well it´s at the entrance to el escorial but stillllllllll very sad. spain is changing.. ifeeli moved here just in time!!!

Hi MissM - I tried Starbucks when I was in the US earlier this year. The coffee was served in a paper cup half-filled with a thin milky foam. I couldn't finish it (let me say, I've had way worse here in the UK - this is the coffee pits of the universe!). Anyhow, if my experience was in any way normal I find it hard to believe a Spanish person would prefer that dismal concoction to what any little bar on any street will serve.

And B-King - well, they're everywhere. They opened one in the barrio de mis suegros en Malaga last year - I had the same reaction as you when I saw it - "Oh no! they're coming, they're gonna ruin everything". My wife just laughed "¿Qué más da? Que no pasa nada". And it´s true, que no pasa nada, now I don´t even see it and I´m still in Bar Pries with my cafe con leche doble (en un vaso!) y una tostada con aceite.

Spain can absorb this junk without being changed for the worse. Keep the faith!

un abrazo.

Miss Madrid,
Pardon the stupid questions but what exactly is VIPS and how did you make the transition from illegal to legal?

Let me interject here: VIPS is the strangest place you'll visit in Spain. Is it a Circle K? Is it a Denny's? Just what the infierno is VIPS? VIPS has schlocky decor, cheesy food, and no personality (that was, until MM98 started there... :)) The last time I went to VIPS, I had pancakes (eeeyech! :() and on my way out purchased batteries and a magazine. Gimme the local fare at ANY bar on ANYday over VIPS!!! [But they can't be all bad if they hired MM98!!]

[ 11-24-2001: Message edited by: CaliBasco ]

simple forum update here...

VIPS is a chain restaurant in spain. they need alot of employees so they do the paperwork for immigrants (well now they dont) so i started working for them so i could be legal. there are 1,800 immigrants working for VIPS and i am the first and only american working for them!

yo yo yo yo what´s up!!!!!!!!!!!! guess what????????? i picked up my spanish i.d. last week!!!!!!!!!!!! that´s it the last stesp i am fully legal and work anywhere and o anyting in spain. i got my card and i´m all set, i can now leave VIPS and get an other job i ablsolutely hate working there. i am looking into working for the AVE, the high speed train the goes from madrid-sevilla as a stewardess. the interviews are in january and to apply for the job you need a high level of english (not a problem for me) so wish me luck!!! they pay 185,000 pts a month and you spend at least one night week in sevilla (not a problem for me either). yoo hoo... i will happily show all of you my bad ass i.d. at el brillante when we all hook up!!!! very happy. it´s freezing righ tn ow in mdrid, and colder here in el escorial, i can barely feel my hands as i type. , well people i will see some of you soon!!!

Missmadrid98: !!Es hora de celebrar!! We are all so proud of you. Good luck finding a better job!!!!!

MM98... i'm kinda new to the message board, but i've been reading some of the old messages and as everyone has said several times over, your story is VERY encouraging... I'm coming to Spain in January for a week in order to research jobs and apartments in Madrid... i want to move there next October... any suggestions??? I'll be there from the 13-21st of January... in Madrid... any clues would be soooo appreciated... i graduated from college in May w/ a double major of Spanish education and Management...?????

yooooo what´s uppppp it´s meeeeeeeee!!! i haven´t had the time to write i work alot and am very busy. but that is all changing soon cause i am quitting VIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so happy! the 31st of march is my last day and i couldn´t explain my feeling of sheer joy that i have that i won´t ever have to walk into that place again (ya it doesn´t sound like i am fed up with VIPS does it??) well i will just be teaching english now. i am looking for a little more night classes to make up for the money i won´t be making from VIPS anymore. i am planning on going to the Feria de Abril in Sevilla and the Feria de Cordoba in May. I live in the center of madrid now, i had to leave my beloved town of San Lorenzo De El Escorial, but i can always go visit. i will be goign there for a few days in semana santa to see my friends and my monastery. I live with my argentine friend victoria and my cat tomatito in Barrio del Pilar. i am soo happy. i was reading my posts from when i started my life here, to how it is now, amazing how things work themselves out. i am starting a new flamenco class in april as well so i am very excited about that. i have to go eat now and go teach. i am goign to have a pincho de tortilla and a cafe leche! i am so happy! oh ya one more thing since i haven´t been free for a while, i have had no time to update my site. but i have so much info i can´t wait to put on, but i will try when i have a day free and a cmputer to use!

Hey MissMadrid!

You won't be by any chance related to all the scandal going on these days with "the Misses", will you?

Tomatito! great name for a pet! (I'm guessing you know the flamenco singer)

¡Saludos y buena suerte con tus clases!

Pim

hey guys i have 4 minutes to write, i have alot of exciting news i am going to start my own business using my webpage offering help to all those that want to to come to spain, that are coming and that are here, offering every kind of service, things are great, when i have more time i will give a full update!!! for the meantime i am very happy and couldn´t be better, i am living the best moments of my life!!!!!!!!!! all the best!

Wow! Really! Wow! I envy you, I really do! Amazing! I'm trying really hard to get over there, but its complicated. Always having to wait for paperwork! The bad thing is that while I wait I'm state side! I think the amnisty for immigrants may be over too! I'm still plugging away though! Absoultly amazing! Congratulations on your visa and everything! You go girl!

Good for you MissMadrid. Every time I read your posts it makes me long to be 21 again, living and studying in Spain. intense nostalgia...

I am so impressed with your tenacity and positive attitude! Keep us posted on your business!

We've missed you, missmadrid98!! And yes, keep up the good work, but be careful about the "advertising" of your new business here on the message board. You know how I feel about that. Regarding this, your best option would to change your signature file description to reflect your new service, but (please) to not offer your service in the body of your postings. Thanks! We've got to make this fair for everyone.

Good luck with everything!!! Saludos, MadridMan

justhad my birthday!!!!! 25 yrs old!!!!!!! i am sorry madridman i wasn´t advertising i was just trying to update what my latest moves were here and what i was thinking of doing and so forth, don´t worry i know how you feel about that!

Here's a service I'll advertise on Madridman.com!

http://home.houston.rr.com/surrenderownz/auction.htm

je je je it's only a jokie joke.

(No it's not me, however, if you pay me, I too will come kick your ass)

Asterault, that is HILARIOUS! 4 Bids already!

pim, CONGRATULATIONS on the NEW job!! Guess you'll have less free time to socialize with us when we're visiting Madrid.

What??!! Wrong MMan; if anything, I'll be more 'animada', and I'll sure have a lot more cash to spend, ha, ha!

Weekends are "sacred" (although, I'll have to travel to Lisbon with my boss once in a while, poor me! ); and every Friday, AND all summer long, I only work from 9-15hrs., so that's plenty of time!

I'm looking forward to meeting Josie and her daughter tonight!

Gracias Scott and Wendy for your msg!

hey guys i have time to write now! well i am living the best moments of my life. i have nothing to complain about in my life, nor would i change one damn thing. i love what i do for work, i am a teacher, i have free time, i am a legal resident, i live in spain, i am healthy, i have many friends, i make enough money to get by and then some...like to buy shoes or something, my birthday passed i am was given a stereo for my birthday, so now i can listen to music, i enjoy all the pleasures of the country on a daily basis........things just couldn´t be better. i got a job in a summer camp for the month of july in Miraflores de la Sierra, which is in the sierra of madrid. they are paying me good money to play with kids all day in english..geee sounds like a rough summer job...being in the pool and doing arts and crafts with kids can be a bit difficult (hehehe)it´s from 9:30 to 3:00 mon thru thursday and friday 9:30 to 1:30 ya it´s ideal! i am so happy and everything is perfect! it took me a long time for me to get here and it was very hard, i spent alot of time, very hungry, tired, cold, poor and alone here in spain when i first got here. but look at me now. i am a star! you just need to suffer a bit, now that i have gone over the year and a half slump of getting settled, i can enjoy the rest of my life here in spain! yesterday i did my few hours of teaching that ended at 2:00, went to the market to buy food to make lunch and my friend antonio and i made lunch at my house and than drank a bottle of wine on the back terraza and talked for hours, i was like this is soo cool it´s like 4:00 thursday in the afternoon and i am so happy chillin on my terraza drinking wine with an old friend, no way could i ever do this back home..i am soo happy. it´s like that almost everyday, and the weekends. well going to various pueblos for lunch, randomly having cañas, going out at night..... so cool...... not bad hey.

Just had to point out how much I hate you Only joking!! Green with envy. So good to hear how much you are enjoying life. Good luck for the future.

First of all, happy birthday!!! I'm glad that things are going well for you!!!!!

Belated Happy Birthday, missmadrid...It's great to see someone enjoying life....Boy...I envy you, too!! What a life...

Pim, you'll have to let me know how being a PA is...sounds interesting...maybe something I can consider for a change of career, what do you think

Wyndy

so where o where has missmadrid98 been????????? well alot has happened.

1. i have fallen in love with a man.

2. i live in Guadalix de la Sierra

3. i am working in Miraflores de la Sierra

4. i am going on a month vacation in September

okay so now let´s break it down. Yes Missmadrid98 has found a very special someone. he´s a wonderful man that lives in Guadalix de la Sierra but works in alcobendas, you see i met him cause he was one of my students i used to teach in a company,,,,,, ya i know but hey, you never know where that special someone will come from. He´s Basque from San Sebastian and i we are absolutely disgustingly in love. We have moved into a fabulous apartment in Guadalix De la Sierra. i got a contracted job in Miraflores de la Sierra in an academy for children teaching there 4 days a week. Miraflores is just 10 minutes from guadalix. i never have to go into madrid unless i wnat to. i live and work in the sierra! i am sooooooooooooooooooo happy life is so perfect. perhaps on one of these madridman gatherings i´ll bring my very special someone along with me. all the best!!!!!!!!!!

here is an e-mail i sent out to my family and friends so you get more of an idea how i am!!!!! all the best!!!! ohya and for vacation we are going to andalucia and the Basque Country

hello all,

well so incredibly sorry i haven´t written in a long time i have been tied up but so incredibly happy. i finished working at the summer camp, it ended july 26th. I got a job offer starting in October working for an academy in a picturesque pueblo in the mountains of madrid called "Miraflores de la Sierra" i have just moved to a pueblo 10 minutes from that pueblo called "Guadalix de la Sierra" so i am like all in the sierra. they offered me a full time contract working monday thru thursday teaching children (i mean it just can´t get ANY better than this) i am sooo happy with my life i have created for myself. i have been living in Spain for a year and a half and i couldn´t be more happy with the life i carved out for little old me. i came with 2 suitcases and 900 dollars and now i am sitting on top of the world! As i am sure you all know i have met a very special someone that i told everyone about in my previous e-mail. well we are sooooo very happy and disgustigly in love. i neeeeeeeeeever thought this would happen but it did and here i am. we have moved in an absolutely FANTASTIC apartment with views of the mountains and surrouding villages. it´s a 2 story apartment fully furnished with wooden furniture and a tiled kitchen. the 2nd floor is the bedroom that is a loft bedroom. the whole 2nd floor is the bedroom, enormous with 3 skylight windows. well i am just so damn happy. i had breakfast this morning like at 9:30a.m. on my little terraza, my coffee and toast with cream cheese and i looked at the mountains and the old ladies watering their flowerpots. Me and Dani are so incredibly happy and are going on a month vacataion in september. we plan to go to the beaches of andalucia (the south of Spain), Portugal, then a week to San Sebatian (basque country) where he is from. we are going august 15-18 to San Sebatian and cruise around the north coast drinking cider and eating tapas! i have 26 envelopes with pictures to send out. teh thing is i have to write 26 letters to go along with all the envelopes and pictures so hang tight cause i have some pictures coming! well as you can see don´t worry about little old me cause i couldn´t be happier. i live in spain in the mountains, have exactly the job i want doing what i like to do, working only 20 hours a week, 4 days a week getting a full time salary with all the vacations and holidays (which are alot here in spain) and a kick ass apartment that only costs me $180 a month (my half) $360 total. I have tons of friends over here and have met a wonderful man that brings out the absolute best in me and loves me just the way i am. ( luckily he absolutly loves my taste and style and thinks that flouresant orange trashcans are really cool, we are looking into a huge multicolored rug for the bedroom) everytime we get something for the apartment he always wants to get the most colorful and weirdest one......isn´t he great. well i am teaching only 8 hours a week during the month of august cause there is hardly any work in madrid in august so i took all that there was. i am working 7-9pm in sol, the center of madrid. the hours and location kind of suck but it´s all i could find. well my people i am sooooo happy and all is perfect. i have been finding it very hard lately to accept that perhaps my life can go absolutely great and chaotic free, that it is possible that i have actually made all those cool and crazy dreams come true, accept the fact that everything is wonderful and enjoy it instead of analyzing it and figuring it out how it could be. could it be that a person can actually be totally happy. be where they want to be, do what they want to do, live the way they want to live, be with someone absolutely wonderful.........yes a person can!
love you and miss you all terribly much!
maria cristina barrero-espinosa!
p.s. apart from all this, there are many times where all of this can´t replace the love or a hug from a true friend or the laughter of your family!

WOW MissMadrid, CONGRATULATIOOOOONS!!!!! I'm so happy for you and I look forward to meet you in person one of these days.

Besos,

Paloma

That is so wonderful. It's is heartwarming to think of you over there, in love, waking up to views of the mountains, and having a job that you enjoy. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing with us.

We're ALL SO HAPPY for you and your successes. Enjoy it all for as long as you can. Living on a peak such as this though.....

We've missed you around here and at the last serveral MadridMan gatherings in Madrid. We'd hoped to see you during Version 4.0 in spring. Maybe NEXT spring! Enjoy happiness, missmadrid98. It's nice to know someone is living their dreams. Good for you. And thanks for keeping us posted on our "American in Madrid" story.

Saludos, MadridMan

MM98....simply amazing. You make me want to quit my corporate job, sell the house, and just pick up and move and make it happen. But how to do this with 3 small kids??? ... seems so easy for folks like tony torero who have ties in place and legalities taken care of. This is making me crazy reading your update entries here. Please keep them coming....

I got piel de gallina when I read your post...how did I miss it when you wrote it? Celoso doesn't even come close to describing my mind right now!!!

Watch out for relations with a Basque...you might just marry one! (like I did!!! )

Hola Missmadrid!

I only just recently caught up with your story. Your bio in your Spain Page and the theme about your name really captures what many children of Cuban parents/Spanish heritage feel ... going to Spain is nothing short of a complete spiritual overhaul ... and you can never get Spain out of your heart after that ... I can totally relate ... although Spain feels a little "closer" living in Miami ... but you had to cross a whole continent *and* an ocean! It's in your blood and now you're on the soil!

Miraflores is such a lovely place. Enjoy your blessings and keep us posted!

Churrito

PS

Where do you study flamenco?

[originally posted by missmadrid98 on 07-19-2005 12:22 PM]

hey guys, remember me? i am sure MANY of you don´t cause it has been YEARS since i have posted. Well for those that do i just thought i would say hello. someone from the message board sent me an e-mail asking me how i was and if i was still living in madrid, so i decided to drop by the message board and say hey. yes i do still live in madrid and have been now for 4 1/2 years, can you believe it, i can´t. time passes so quickly. remember when i left? when i sold everything and moved to spain? well everything turned out fine, i´m great. i work as a pre-school teacher and have been for nearly 3 years, i live in malasaña/chueca and have tons of friends. i´ve travelled all over spain and have got to know what it is REALLY like to live in spain and what this place is all about. there are even things i am really tired of if you can believe it, but anyways, wish everyone the best and i´ll drop a i line sometime again!