Hola from Vejer!

Que tal? I am here in Vejer, which is a very windy, windy (as in lots of bends in the roads), full of white coloured houses with roof terraces and boungavilla flowers.

I flew to Seville at the unearthly hour of 7am and after dreading my journey for months, it worked out to not be as god awful as I had expected. Which is good, as I will be coaching my way around South Spain at the end of this.

Seville is beautiful, with trees lining the road covered in lavender coloured flowers. It´s such a shock to the system to see them, just bright lavender, everywhere (well, on the way to the bus station from the airport). The airport shuttle was insane. I merrily sat waiting in the airport thinking that NO ONE else was taking the bus. But of course they were, queued at the bus station, which I didn't know existed. :P Muy tonto. So i'm watching as the one bus that comes every hour fills up, hoping that I´ll get on it, fighting with some spanish bint with a massive suitcase to get onto the bus, as everyone in the bus accordians to let as many people as the bus can take in. There must have been about 80 to 100 people in there. I have got very up close and personal with some spanish girl's hair and don't want to repeat the experience again. But beyond that, the trip here wasn't too too awful. Indiosyncratic, but not awful.

Vejer is perched on the top of a little mountain and the view of orange trees overlooking plains is just amazing. It is so so much bigger than the little photo on the leaflet though. I'd brought all number of things that I thought I couldn´t get here, but it's all very civilised and lovely here. There are paintings of nuns walking the streets everywhere, and lots of references to the Virgin Mary.

I am going to go broke in Spain. Or at least owe Natwest my soul. I am staying in a little andalucian flat, which is as windy as the streets. There are 6 of us:

Me - Desperately seeking Spain
Sophie - from Montreal, sleeping on our sofa whilst looking for a bed to kip in that's cheaper than the schools. Classical musician. Here for another 2 weeks.
Aiofe - from Ireland. Has the little room off the living room (basic at best) and is lovely. Everything is grand with her. She has taken us to the supermarket, sheś up for anything, she´s just lovely. Here for 2 more months.
Her and sophie got back from tangiers in Morocco last night and were harassed by the men so much, that I never want to go to Morocco without full on bodyguard protection. They threw tomatoes at them!
Judith - from Norfolk and works for an insurance company. Has a beautiful room that I'm trying to get, which also costs more (hence the bankruptcy issue). Here for the week.
Maya - Austrian. Quiet but friendly. Lives at the bottom and has the only double bed. Here for 3 months, has 3 more weeks to go.
two missing girls - meant to show up yesterday, have missed their flight.

All the rooms are very different (aside from the one that the two MIA girls are in, which I haven't seen). MIA girls and I share a little bathroom, with no ventilation and not very much lighting. Very claustrophobic. I'll pay extra to NOT use that loo. Judith´s room has a terrace and an ensuite.

All the girls (who have arrived) apart from Maya are in my class, which is nice. This week we have Lola teaching us (I love that name) and she speaks muy MUY rapido. We started off quite badly, because 2 of the newbies were much better than our level (Basic 2) and I was reduced to a gibbering wreck trying to keep up with them. But they've moved up another level and I'm much more comfortable now. Sorry, I'm not one to seek a challenge for challenge sake. Not when I've paid this much for this course.

So, I'm here and all is grand (as the Irish would say). We are going to beach tomorrow and I shall try to find surfing lessons down there. Pictures to follow soon.