Nearly Wacked My Nose (or Life in Santander)

I have been in Santander since last Monday. We left many bags and suitcases (too much to humanly carry without excessive pain). Of course we had between the two of us about 8 or 9 kg too many but the commotion of the Roman airport worked in our favour. In the end they let us pass without paying anything (we had calculated to pay around 40 euros minimum) which gave a good start to our trip and almost made me regret not having taken more. We will still have to take a train from Santander to Madrid which means more hassle with luggage and limits (also due to our budget) my shopping expeditions. They have all the shops I like here: Mango, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Zara and others I still have to discover.
Michael and I have been walking all around the city which is almost completely surrounded by the sea. You can hear and see seagulls flying over the city and landing on people’s balconies. All our walks are up and down because of Santander’s many hills; it’s quite tiring but good exercise. If it weren’t for Spanish food we would become extremely fit. For the moment I remain completely unconvinced by Spanish food. It’s based on: meat of all kinds, eggs in all shapes and forms (omelette, scrambled, etc), potatoes and to top if off bread. You may ask but what about vegetables? I am starting to wonder whether Spanish people eat them or not. The only thing you can find are salads which always have either sea food or tuna. Eating salad everyday was becoming a problem for me but Michael, as usual came to my rescue. We moved in our apartment, which is spacious for two but smells and looks old, on Tuesday and quickly realised that some shopping was in order. The kitchen utensils were extremely scarce if not inexistent and the pots and pans encrusted with charcoal or made with scratched teflon (both apparently give you cancer on the spot, according to Michael); most importantly the kitchen had no sharp knives. My chef was unable to operate under such disastrous conditions and therefore our search began for a pan, a knife, a salad bowl and a chopping board. Our quest lasted a good few days. We searched every supermarket, looked at every window, read every sign but found nothing until today when the Chinese bazaar saved us. We found everything we needed and at a pretty cheap price too. So tonight, we had our first proper hot meal at home and it felt nice.
Our day is basically split in two: from 9 to 2 we have our Spanish lessons and in the afternoon we eat, rest and go around. The first day of the course we were given a test and I of course ended with the beginners whilst Michael was put in the intermediate level. I now realise that I have to start everything from scratch (at least grammar-wise). It sometimes feels like I’m re-ordering my head and finding out which Italian words can be recycled in Spanish. I can understand most things (at least so far) but speaking correctly without knowing the tenses is proving very difficult. I’m happy we will be studying grammar tomorrow; it should at least allow me to get a grip on the verbs in the present.
I also got some good news today. When I last went to Madrid in mid-July I had been to many schools looking for a job. I finally received some news from one of them and was offered a full time position! I had a good feeling after the job interview but they took ages to write to me and I started to think my gut was wrong. So now at least one of us has a job and allows us to feel less stressed about the future.