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!!!