Dónde está mi escuela!?

SOOOOOOOO I am no longer homeless. I checked out of the hostel, and made my way to Barrio del Pilar. I decided to skip the Metro and take a cab. This turned out to be a HUGE mistake, as when we got to my piso, my card was DECLINED. Oh. NO!!! Turns out that in withdrawing my deposit and first month's rent, I reached my limit and my card wouldn't. work. Long story short: the cabbie was pissed, I didn't know what to do, and thank GOD my roommate was able to bail me out. I was practically in tears, and breathing into a paper bag at this point. GREAT start.

After a couple of days I learned the layout of my neighborhood, Barrio Del Pilar. There is a MALL (AIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!) called La Vaguada only 20 minutes away, and all kids of great places nearby. Awesome. Before I knew it, it was the 8th of enero (January) and I had to go to my new school. Thanks to the previous auxiliar, I knew which bus I had to catch, but I had no idea how to get there. After consulting with a nice man at Intercambiador de Plaza de Castilla, I had a list of buses I needed to take. I was extremely proud of myself, because I barely knew what to say and he spoke no English. Awesome! Out of all those buses I had to take, only one was actually running so I made my way to the bottom of the station, walked around lost as hell (LOST, y'all), and finally found my terminal.
...only to be turned away because I had a 20€ bill, and the bus doesn't take more than 10€ bills. Party.
I hauled ass downstairs and bought a cafe con leche, then ran back up to my bus. I paid the 5.10€(DAMN, SON!!!) fee, and we were OFF! I could not stop staring at everything around me.

There was so much to see, that I lost myself in the sights. I was lost in the sounds. I was lost in the cobblestones and people, and graffiti, and mountains, and then I realized that...

I was just plain LOST.

You see: because I am a moron who doesn't pay attention, I missed my stop. I did the one thing I do best: I panicked. In my best terrible Castellano, I stuttered that I was looking for La Cabrera. The driver apologized and said that we'd passed it already. Oh, joy. This is where it gets interesting. We continued to the next town, and the driver wrote a note for me. I was to get on the returning bus, and give the note to the driver that said where I was going. I could only read some of it, but it probably said something like: "This idiot American is going to La Cabrera. Please help the big dummy find her way, because she doesn't speak a word of Castellano, and I don't know what she's doing here. I literally can't even with her, and now you're stuck with her. This is me laughing at your misfortune. HA."
Or something like that. It may have been nicer.

So I get dropped off in the next town with three elderly Spanish ladies, who have apparently made it their jobs to make damn sure that I get on this bus. The first woman looks at my note and says: "Mira... Hay cuatro paradas en La Cabrera. Necesita la segunda parada..." I didn't catch much after that, but I had another moment where I was like: "Wait... I know what that means: There are four stops in La Cabrera and I need the second one! I UNDERSTAND (kinda)! Hallelujah!!!" I was actually able to fumble through a conversation, telling them where I was from and how the hell I ended up lost in a part of Spain that I never knew existed. They waited with me, and asked more questions, until the return bus came. When I got on the bus, one of the women explained my dilemma and handed the driver the note. (She took it from me earlier, making a "tsk tsk" sound as she read it.

WHERE THE HELL AM I???

THE NOTE!!! (You know what's funny? I actually did get the jist of the note. I can read, y'all!)

Fasten seat belt (and try not to get lost again, moron).

I didn't know where I was at the time, I was too busy composing my sure to be famous country song 'Perdido en un Pueblo sin Nombre'. but I found out [five minutes ago] that I was in a village named El Berrueco.  So many thanks to the people of El Berrueco for their kindness. It is much appreciated.

I managed to find my way to my school, and was immediately meet with the friendliest smiles I had ever seen. Everyone had been expecting me, and they could not have been more kind. I had to wait on the English department head, so I was introduced to a few other teachers. Who all spoke Castellano, very very fast. My head = spinning. I finally was introduced to V., the head of the English department, who was shocked and amused (mostly amused) to hear what happened on the bus. We went to the cafeteria and had a coffee, and I was able to meet more of the staff. After a while V. was done with her classes, and nice enough to give me a ride back to San Sebastian de Los Reyes (now to be known as San Sé, because that is a LOT to type. ) so I could take the Metro back to Madrid. I took my first ride on the everlasting Metro [OF DOOOOOOM!!!], and took my tired arse home for the day. I had a big day tomorrow. It was time to meet the kids. Word.