To Malaga

Orquid is working in Canillas de Aceituno, a small town of two thousand people in the mountains North of Malaga. We were going to take a bus from Malaga to Canillas, but the director of Orquid’s school told us that by the time we would get there (we would’ve had to catch the second bus of the two a day that travel to Canillas) none of the teachers would be at the school to help Orquid find a place to live, because none of the teachers actually live in Canillas. Unlike me, Orquid is the only language assistant assigned to Canillas and her school has not offered her much help. So the director told us to spend the night in Malaga and he would pick us up at 8:00am and take us to Canillas. Since we didn’t know any of this while we had internet connect with Louie in Madrid, we had no idea where we were going to stay in Malaga.

After the two and a half hour bus ride along the coast we arrived in Malaga, obtained a map, and after a couple of wrong turns, finally headed in the direction of the closest, cheapest hotel. We ended up at the second hotel we found simply because we were physically and emotionally exhausted. Orquid had no idea where she was going to live. Should she live in Canillas and risk being horribly bored and lonely or should she go through the process of looking for somewhere else to live and have to find a way to and from the school? She just didn’t have enough information about all of the variables.

We Walked around Malaga some, looking for some cheap food (Spain is more expensive than I hoped) and trying to take advantage of being in a different city by seeing the sights. In this time a bird managed to crap on Orquid’s shoulder. I had to try to clean it off with a scrap of paper. Also our whole time in Madrid we kept talking about how cute Spanish kids are. Parents love to push their children around in strollers and little kids seemed to always be running around and playing. In Madrid this one little boy kept on calling a little girl princesa. I had been wishing that I was teaching elementary school instead of middle and high school. But while we were in Malaga, we passed the brattiest kids who were yelling and screaming at their parents, which of course mad Orquid feel really good about visiting her elementary school the next day. Luckily our nice hotel room (it was more expensive than we wanted) received a Mexican t.v. channel which made Orquid feel more at home. We also had air conditioning, which we turned on high just to feel a bit more like Texas.