JUNE 20TH-21ST, 2003

Text Box: Friday, June 20th 2003 Well I’m sitting in terminal 2 in the Toronto Pearson airport. The flight from Montreal wasn’t too bad- lot’s of turbulence though. We started out bright and early- Dad and Suzy dropped Mom and I off at the airport at 10am! We arrived in terminal 2, but our flight to Madrid leaves from terminal 1, so Mom and I went over to T1 but took a shuttle bus back to T2 because T1 was empty, old and neither of us could breathe in there. While we were in T1 we had to pick up a paper concerning SARS from Health Canada. This paper was to be filled out by all international passengers- sure doesn’t make me feel that safe in Toronto…  I can’t believe I’m on my way to Spain! Exams kept me so worried that I couldn’t really start looking forward to this until today. Mom’s been telling me a bit more about Spain- she says they eat a lot of fish there- I hate fish- but if I have to eat it then I guess I will. Well we’re now talking to a family from South America. They look tired. There are 2 little girls who are really cute. They’re off to the States now. They were speaking Spanish before- I caught bits and pieces of what they were saying- but it was pretty hard to understand. Anyways time to get something to eat, there’s a McDonald’s somewhere in this airport!

 

Text Box: The picture above was the document given to me by the Canadian Government. It asks all passengers traveling internationally to circle whether they any have SARS like symptoms. They also give instructions about what to do if you acquire SARS oversees. As you may be able to see, I answered "no" to all of the questions asked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, June 21st 2003

We’ve arrived in Madrid! The flight was pleasant- a little bumpy though. I just left Mom-she’s on a Spanair flight to Malaga while I continue on to Palma. (my menu from Air Canada is the picture on the right-below)

My first impression of Spain: it’s very brown and mountainous. It looks dusty outside- not unlike Nevada.

The people at the counters (check-in) are very nice- they spoke English to Mom and I. I’ve noticed that the Spanish are quite pushy- they don’t give you any space, they stand right behind you. I’ve also noticed that everyone smokes in the airport!

Because there are so many add-ons to the airport, the gates are all over the place- we seemed to keep walking and walking to find Spanair. Mom and I also had no idea how many terminals there were in this airport-it turns out there’s 3- we arrived in T2 (international) but the Spanair agents were nice and told us we had to go to T1.

When we were collecting our suitcases I went to get a cart but couldn’t figure out how to get the thing to move! Turns out you have to push down the bar- the opposite of Heathrow airport carts!

Well they’re starting to board the flight-I hope I get on.

 Continuation from Saturday June 21st, 2003

Well here I am sitting in the shade in a little hide-out next to the pool. Christine and Tony’s house is beautiful! From the outside it looks like a typical Spanish home, while the inside is furnished with British flair.

 Christine and Tony have been so welcoming. I have a nice room and my own balcony that overlooks their street. All the windows and balcony doors are closed to keep the heat out of the house- AC isn’t needed because of the thick shutters over the windows.

Their backyard is beautiful- Mallorca has the coarse grass and red soil like in the Southern States. Their house is located almost right in the mountains (which are huge and a beautiful sight to look at from my balcony). There’s a pond in the corner of their yard with fish and frogs. There are even pigeons and a goose that live here!

There aren’t too many large trees here-quite a few smaller ones and lots of shrub. Christine says they have to water excessively to keep the grass green and the flowers in bloom.

Today it’s probably a little bit over 30 degrees Celsius and there’s not a cloud in the sky! Getting to the island wasn’t as calm as it is now. I got the last seat on the plane out of Madrid and I ended up sitting in the absolute last row in the middle- I couldn’t even see out of a window because there was an engine in the way on either side of the plane. As we were starting to land, the plane kept shooting down- while wondering what the hell the Spanair pilots were doing. At one point I thought the plane was going to crash. On top of all that, no one on the plane spoke English so I felt very lost and started wondering what I was getting myself into. Why had I decided to do this in the first place?

My doubts are starting to evaporate now that I’m starting to settle in. Christine and Tony (as well as most Mallorquins) are extremely laid-back: no fixed times for meals, so a slower pace of life which I could really get used to.

Anyways I must go eat now- Tony and I are off to a football match tonight!

Spanish words of the day:
Mujer = wife
Herida = injury

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