Residencia

I hear the pitter patter of rain on the old oak doors of the monastery as it streams in through our open roof. The monastery is dead, not a sound to be heard. Few rooms here have windows let alone any form of natural light, which i guess is appropriate given their prior use. Walking around the monastery in the morning with the rain has an eerie feeling to it. You see the rain gushing in as there is a center to which has no roof and feeds into a natural pool in the center courtyard to which all of our rooms surround. The building is old and archaic with muslim decor and molding everywhere. The furniture, all of it, is made out of wood as is the monastery itself in addition to stone, marble, and a series of exposed beams and raw iron. Everyone else is asleep as i made my way down to the kitchen to make some fresh coffee to warn off any pending jet lag.
The monastery as imentioned is old and has no fixed light fixtures and if there is, they are all on set timers so you will develop a need to feel comfortbale in the dark. (i can't imagine how much solitude they used to have here) Next door to us is a nunnery to which the legend goes, nobody has ever seen the nuns. They provide a baking service to which you drop your money on a lazy susan, it spins, fresh pastry appear, you write a note saying which you'd like, it spin all wrapped in a box. They dont speak, you never see their faces. Not far from where we are is a nice plaza that has some restaurants. Where i am situated is in albaziyn, the old part of the city with streets so thing cars BARELY pass through them. All is peaceful, allis calm here compared to the hustle and bustle of down below. Yesterday we walked roughly 3 miles to the grocery stores, as unlike Italian custom, supermarkets, restaurants, anything all shuts down for "comida", "siesta" y el dia sagrado.  Nothing is open, which willprovide me with a good way to go explore.
      There will be 12 of us in the course, 5 of which are already here from all parts of the world and both genders. When asked what inticed them to venture on their own we all seem to come up with the same answer " a change, freesom, ability to find myself". I guess we all share a common goal. The rest of the group will arive today and we have our first house meeting tonight to discuss rules, chores, and have a big meal together. The owners themselves are two brits who came here and never left, they are a comical pair to say the least. The other trainees do not speak much spanish at all let alone another language but i think we all deal witht the same surprises: 1. spanish people are very relaxed compared to italians, 2. the men are alot stockier here. 3. This place is old and you will have bugs and ants, 4. The supermarket provides you with strollers to put your groceries in and seeing large men with them will leave you in side stitches.

Thats all for now, the house is beginning to stir and im off to explore.
xoxo
Worldy woman

ps.

Given its a 500 year old monastery and everything has it quirks, i took the liberty of introducing them this morning to a little thing we call in spanish insecticido por los hornetos y otros insectos, I booked a private room thanks.

Steph 1

Bugs 0

knock on wood