First day on da job

I am so glad today is over with because now I know what to expect for the next month. Basically the month of June is when the kids are still in school so my schedule goes: -free time (aka Kaja's house)
-catch a bus to near the Kid's school
-get picked up by Abuela
-hang with kids
-help feed, bath, and bed kids
-dinner with au-pairents
-blog post.
The month of July is basically the opposite because that's when the kids are on summer vacation. So I am with them doing whatever we want from 8-3 and then after three I am on break.
So! On to today's adventures.
1) I woke up at 7:30AM to go to Kaja's. I could have slept in and taken a long, indirect bus journey to Kaja's but I thought I'd rather get going. So I managed to get dressed and going despite this being the first time I was awake this early since high school. Then I sat with Carmen and Rafa as they ate some breakfast (they were both very pumped that Rafa Nadal, their Spanish tennis hero, won yesterday in France) and then helped Maica stuff them and their school stuff into the car to drive them to school. They have to wear the most adorable school uniforms, him in little grey Bermuda shorts and a white collared shirt and her in a little pleated grey skirt with overall straps and the same white collared shirt, both of them in black knee socks with black shiny shoes. On the way to their school they asked me to sing some more songs, so I sang them "bringing home a baby bumble bee," "The itsy bitsy spider" and, of course, "Colors of the wind" from Pocahontas. We dropped them off and then Maica dropped me off at a rotary on her way to work so I would have to walk the rest of the way to Kaja's house on my own.
2) The walk to Kaja's house is through this huge vast green foresty grassy area with lots of connecting paths for walking. But it is just so amazing because there are hardly any other people and no roads, cars, or houses to be seen so it feels like you are in the middle of africa with the sun shining down on you. I thought it was cool until I realized that I had no idea if I was even heading in the right direction and I almost stepped on a big black snake in the middle of the path... ew. I had a map with me but the map didnt have the paths accurately drawn so it was very unhelpful. Eventually after about 50 minutes of walking I made my way to a street (without encountering any other life threatening animals) and on my map realized I had taken the most round-about route but at least I got there!! When I got to Kaja's house she was out dropping her kids off at school so I waited outside in the shade and rested for about 15 minutes until she got home.
3) First we ate breakfast, I had some cereal that was delicious. Then we decided to watch a kid's movie that we both loved, but dubbed in spanish with spanish sub-titles so we could strengthen our skills. We decided on Tarzan, a great movie... only problem was that about 15 minutes in to the movie, both of us were asleep! We needed a nap, being an au pair is hard work! After we woke up we decided to walk to the nearby town of Bodilla to get some things at a Pharmacia. Conveniently the walk to Bodilla was the path that I should have taken this morning so I got to see what the most efficient path was (turns out it takes about 45 minutes anyways). When we got to Bodilla we realized that we barely had time to look around before we had to head back because it was getting close to when I had to leave to catch my bus. Even so we glanced around the old side of Bodilla, which is pretty empty and run down. Then we walked the 45 minutes back and I just had time to make myself a quick sandwich before I had to run out and catch my bus!
4) I got the bus and somehow explained to the bus driver where I wanted to be dropped off (literally I pointed the spot on the map). He was really nice and took me exactly there... not even a real bus stop! I arrived perfectly on time and Abuela (Maica's mom) was waiting for me in a car. The kid's school is about 10 minutes away from Abuela's house and ends an hour before Maica is done with work so Abuela always picks them up. We then had about an hour before the school was done so Abuela sat me down on the couch and put the tv remote in my hand and left me alone in a dark cool room. It was SO nice. I watch a spanish news show and tried not to fall asleep again.
5) We left at 4:45 to go pick up Carmen (Rafa jr. was stays late for something on Mon and Weds) and it was SO cute because as soon as we entered the school building Carmen RAN over to me and hugged my waist. Definitely made my day! We then went to Abuela's house again because turns out the ENTIRE local family and friends were coming over to swim and also I think to meet me. They weren't coming back for like an hour so Carmen and I just played around outside until they arrived. I couldn't exactly follow the relation of everyone who stopped by, but I know there were two teenage girl cousins, and about two young boy cousins, and I think two aunts. They all were really nice and we swam in the pool for a little while. Around then I realized that my hours of walking in the sun left me with very red shoulders... oh well, the curse of the pale. A little later Maica showed up with Rafa too.
6) The four of us went home at some time I dont know, the car ride consisting of me singing more songs for them and speaking to them in really basic English. We got home and I bathed Carmen and then kept her and Rafa Jr company as they ate dinner at about 9:20 PM. SO Late! Maica did tell me that she wants them in bed by 9, but it almost never happens. But their dinner was really really great for me because I talked with Rafa jr a lot more and made him laugh too, because up until then I hadn't really connected with him, just Carmen. They requested that I sing more, but I would stop every time they stopped eating, therefore encouraging them to finish dinner! They finally were done at about 10 PM and I put them in bed and read to them two more pages of Fin M'Coul before leaving them to sleep and joining the au-pairents for dinner. We ate some pizza and tomatoes with olive oil, with pineapple for dessert. Yum yum. (Side note- another spanish thing is the men stock up like crazy on the most random foods, Kaja's Au-padre bought like 4 Huge tubs of greek yogurt, 30 little individual yogurts, and so many fruits that they had to through tons of it away because it went bad, and my Au-padre stocked up on about 20 frozen pizzas because they were on sale). I helped the au-pairents clean up after dinner and that was it for the day!
7) Kaja and I have decided to leave for Seville on Friday morning! We are staying in a cheap-o hostel and I am SO excited! Also the weather forecast predicts a nice, sunny yet cool, weekend which is perfect because Seville often gets crazy hot. I am having such a good time here! Love you all!
Julia