My Journey To Spain

After talking with the Parrales Vega family for 6 months, I bought a plane ticket and left for Spain 3 days later! The night before I was supposed to leave, I was frantically trying to pack when I heard the doorbell ring. Micah stood in the doorway with flowers and his million-dollar smile, he drove 3 hours all the way home that night just to take me to the airport!!! Needless to say, I was so happy and completely thrilled!! Because of him I had a wonderful send-off to my next big adventure.

I left on the 29^th of February bound for Spain! I first flew from Atlanta to Chicago (2 hours), then Chicago to Madrid (8 hours), and after a 4.5 hour layover I flew from Madrid to Sevilla (1 hour). The airport in Madrid is truly spectacular!! All of the floors are made up of 4-foot slabs of a rosy orange colored marble!! The ceilings are 60 feet high and have a waving wooden design. The airport is laid out into long corridors with walls completely comprised of glass that reach 60 feet to the ceiling! Even the bathrooms had marble floors with light green opaque glass stall dividers. It was by far the most beautiful airport I have ever been in!!

Here's a picture of the sunrise from Madrid's airport

After I landed in Sevilla, Antonio the husband of the family I au pair, for picked me up and took me to my new home in Ecija, Spain! Ecija is a fairly small village town that’s located about 40 minutes to the East of Sevilla, and in between Sevilla and Cordoba.  All the houses and buildings here are white, with the exception of the occasional yellow house. The rooftops are all various shades of brown due to the roof tiles and moss and lichens that grow on them.  It is very beautiful here, however I am afraid the homogeniality of the buildings will make it a bit more difficult to navigate since I already do not have the best since of direction.  Haha!

Their house is located behind a wrought iron gate where several houses share a communal patio/breezeway. Luckily I feel very safe here! This is a picture of the communal gate that leads into the shared patio.

This is the door to their house.  The window at the bottom right is in the living room, and the on above it is the parent's bedroom with a balcony like door.

Cute houses to the left of my new door

And here is my room with dimensions of about 12 x 12 feet.  Even though there are 2 beds, I don't share the room  : ) 

Here is my desk to the left of the beds

During my stay here I will be taking care of the children from 3pm-9pm and teaching them English.  Antonio, the little boy is 5 and is absolutely obsessed with soccer!  Silvia is 3 and loves to dance the traditional flamenco dance.  Teresa is the 3-month old little baby that I do not look after, but I like to play with her when she is not sleeping (she is such a good baby!).  These children are SO unbelievably gorgeous and are by far the most beautiful children I have ever seen!!  I'm excited to see what these next 3 months hold!