However, she left for Arizona this morning which was much sadder than I could've anticipated. We've been attached for 8 days (almost literally; we even went to the bathroom at the same time most of the time!), so watching her leave was really sad. Plus, it's scary to be in a foreign country alone, and I really underestimated that. We met a lot of backpackers traveling through Europe alone for like 8 weeks, and I can't imagine doing that. At least here I'm with a family, although I'm sure I will still get lonely.
Anyway, Brenda's flight was at 7am, so she had to get a taxi at 4:30am. That's usually what time we were getting home from the clubs because things go so late here, so we decided to just stay up. Besides, the hostel we were staying in didn't have any windows in the dorms so it was SO easy to sleep late every day and we were nervous we'd over sleep. However, the hostel had so many rules about where you're allowed to be late at night, so we had to hide in hallways and bathrooms until it was time for her to go, since there were people sleeping in our room.
Laura, my au pair mom, was set to pick me up from the hostel at 10:30, so I took a quick nap, and got up and had some coffee and tried to Skype some people from home. I was way too nervous to eat anything. At 10, I checked out of my room and brought my luggage down and was waiting in the lobby. But, as 11 rolled around I started to panic and think she wasn't coming. I was wondering what kind of scam this was to ask an au pair to come and then never get her, and I was wondering how much it was going to cost to go home tomorrow, and beginning to feel very stupid. I was Blackberry Messaging Devin at the time (because it's the only free way to communicate here with my phone), telling him I might need him to call my mom and wake her up so she could get on Skype and help me figure out what to do. I was so scared! Then, at 11:05, Laura came in and said there had been so much traffic and our street was closed off so she'd gotten lost. She'd called the hostel to tell them, but I had never received the message even though I was sitting three feet from the desk look petrified and holding back tears. :P
So, sorry Mom for all the frenzied BBMs from this morning!
She picked me up and brought me to their house in Las Rozas, which is about 15-20 min outside of the city center. It's a really pretty area, and the house is nice. I'm so happy to have my own room and bed after a week of hostels!
The children are at school until 4:30, and Laura and her husband took the day off on my behalf, and because their dog Tripi is at the vet. I'm sure it's been very stressful for them preparing for my arrival and taking care of the dog's health issues.
I unpacked my bags, Skyped Devin so he could see me not in tears (I was so nervous this morning I couldn't stop crying!), and took a nap since I only slept three hours last night. Brenda and I also have done so much this week, that it finally occurred to me that I'm so tired! I can't wait to go to sleep tonight and get the first good night's sleep in so long. Hostels are nice for a sense of community, but sharing the room with strangers with different plans who come and go at all hours is not the easiest.
I'm still a little nervous, even though the house is very nice and Laura and Angel are both extremely nice. I'm excited to meet the kids this afternoon. There's just still so much unknown and so much to adjust to (and I just found out my Netflix account doesn't work here, which is a bummer because I was looking forward to watching a movie at night). Devin was planning on visiting at the end of my stay, in the beginning of August, but I think I will be traveling with the family to Northern Spain during that time, so now we aren't sure if he will be able to. Saying goodbye is so hard, it's almost better, but I really wanted to show Devin Spain because I like it so much here. Plus, I miss him very much.
It's definitely nerve-racking having so much unknown ahead of me, but I'm extremely excited for the next two months of my life!
I'm still a little too sad to post about the adventures of me and Brenda because I already miss her, but I will try to recount them soon, and post often!
Take care, and miss you all back home!
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