Bienvenidos a Madrid, España....

So a week ago today I landed in Madrid... tired, with a sore butt from sitting for 9 hours straight, of course sad because I left my love in Berkeley, and disturbed by the smell of toilet that seemed to linger in the baggage claim area. Not a good start. I remember when I was little you could tell you had arrived in Spain because the moment you set foot in the airport you choked on cigarette smoke (because everyone and their mother smoked in Spain). I'm happy to see that Spain is becoming more consciencious in regards to smoking and health, but I'm not so sure the switch to "oh de sewage" is an improvement...
45 minutes later my suitcases finally came out. yay! It always happens.... my bags are usually one of the first to arrive or one of the last... or they don't arrive at all. Thank god that wasn't the case this time, although I was prepared (my mother taught me well) with an extra set of clothes in my carry-on :)
Speaking of exta clothes and mothers' lessons: my mom had to make sure she reminded me to take normal underwear and not just thongs because, of course, you have to line dry your clothes in Spain and you don't want everyone seeing your thongs. hahaha. Ok, so maybe this doesn't seem funny to anyone else, but I find it hilarious. It's like my grandmother always saying you have to make sure you take your best underwear when you go to visit family, because you don't want them to do your laundry and see you have holey ones. Well, mom and grandma taught me well, because I had already gone out to buy some nice and appropriate Victoria's Secret undies.

Ok, back to Madrid. So my cousin, Maria Dolores, and her boyfriend, Pablo (remember these names because it's about to get confusing), came to pick me up at the airport and drove me back to their place. I'll be staying here with them for the next 3-4 months. Once Stephen gets here we'll get a place or rent a room somewhere, but for now it's nice to be with family and also nice to pay less rent :)
My room is nothing spectacular, but I'm grateful to have a place to stay. It has a bed, a closet, and a bookcase. Only problem is it's pretty full of Pablo's things so I'm still working on finding a spot for my stuff. It's a small room, as most rooms in Spain tend to be. Also, the other guest room is currently occupied by Diego, Pablo's brother. He was working in Chile and has just been relocated to Madrid. He is staying here until he finds a place. So yeah, it's a full house. All week they've been working and I've just kind of been hanging out. It feels a little awkward when they come home from a long day and find me sprawled on the couch watching TV or something. You just know in the back of their heads they're thinking "ugh, when is she going to start working???". I assure them that I have been doing productive things... cleaning up the kitchen, opening a bank account, meeting new people, visiting my future work-place, etc, but the truth is that even I feel a little funny with this lack of structure. I'm looking forward to having something to do everyday and a routine to follow...