Living in Baeza

For the next nine months, tengo el suerte de vivir en an UNESCO World Heritage Site in Baeza, España. I’ll be teaching English at a secondary school, Andrés de Vandelvira, for a whopping twelve hours a week (why I’m getting paid for this is beyond me, but hey, I’ll take it). Although getting to Baeza- which is seriously in the middle of nowhere- after being awake for 24 hours was a bit challenging, I have loved every second of my experience since then.

My piso, or flat, sits on the last street considered to be part of the historic old town. In about 5 minutes, I can walk to the main square, the Renaissance era cathedral, and to about 50- not even exaggerating- different cafés and bars. The cobblestone streets and sidewalks wind and twist in unplanned directions throughout the entire pueblo, finally coming to a stop at a paseo known as “Las Murallas.” Las Murallas form the outskirts of Baeza, leading up to a vista of acres and acres of olive groves that make up the largest olive oil producing region in the world (too bad I don’t actually like olives, right?).

The Cathedral

A view from Las Murallas of the olive groves and another nearby city, Ubeda.

View of Baeza

But just as much as I’m enjoying where I’m living, I’m loving the other English-speaking “auxiliares” who have come to Baeza for the year to teach. Although predominantly American, our group of 11 also consists of two Australians and an English girl. By the end of the year I may end up speaking Australian better than American… recently having added to my vocabulary words and phrases like “wanker,” “heaps fun,” and “prawns on the barbee.” Dubbed “Team Paddock,” we’ve been exploring Baeza’s nightlife and explosion of bars and cafés. For a town of only 16,000 people, this World Heritage Site offers up four different discotecas- which have all recently been packed with little green men from the Guardia Civil (pictures to come).

Back at my piso, I live with another American, one Chilean, two Spanish girls, one Spanish boy and his lovely rat tail, and possibly one Australian by the end of the week. Yeah, there are a lot of us- “somos muchos.” Yet even though we have so many people in our piso, actually getting to live with native Spanish speakers is totally worth it. After all, if it wasn’t for them, I never would have discovered that “Madres a los dieciseis” existe en España (I am sadly addicted to that show, it’s true). Pero en serio, it’s really comforting knowing I have Spanish roommates to ask about our malfunctioning Spanish appliances and certain Spanish swear words that I hear everywhere. 

My room!

I hope you enjoyed my brief overview of life here; I’ll have a lot more detailed entries to come about Spanish food, culture, my trips, job etc.