Tuesday, July 04, 2006
No more teaching.
It was my intention to come back after my holiday back in London and to tour around the south of Spain and then to do another two months of teaching. However there has been a change of plans due to an ultimatum from my boss. Basically they want only teachers on contracts after the August break ie a minimum of 6 months. But if I did want to work cash in hand I could but I would get all the duff jobs ie teaching children etc.
Well I decided to throw in the towel as regards the teaching in Spain. What are my reasons? Well I've ended up in a shared flat and all the other three people have moved out. No I'm not taking this personally, it's more there is no one to talk to. There your students to talk to I hear you say, true and they are all so nice and I will miss them, but I want the fluidity of speaking with someone from the UK (banter). I didn't realise I needed this until I got talking with some Irish guys in a Irish Pub of all places during one of the England games, and I very naughtily got carried away and I think I was still pissed for my first class the day after. But what the hell they want to learn English, I think they need to learn about English culture as well.
What about meeting Spanish people in bars/pubs. Early on people seem to buy their booze from the alimetacion (offy) and hang around on the streets, so you can have a cheap night with your mates. Not good if you don’t have any mates over here though. I don’t really want to look like a vagrant on the streets, but I do want to make friends. Even one of the guys in the house, before he moved out, whose been living here for ages, said that it is really difficult to make friends over here. I don’t think it helps matters with being a bit older, although I keep forgetting just how old. Then you look at the other Spanish people as old as me and it’s very different. A friend said, this blog just seems to be about all expat stuff, this was suppose to be my attempt at making it not that way, but it still seems to be coming back to the same old theme. But then again this was supposed to be a journal of my time here and maybe the expat nature of this blog is just a reflection of the way I’m feeling. Also, said I’m supposed to be living the dream. Yes I’ve always dreamt of living in a foreign country and now I am so I am living the dream. I didn’t expect it to be easy/difficult, I didn’t know what to think, that’s way I’m doing it to experience it, whether it be good or bad. This also brings that statement around to the question of why Madrid! Especially when I’ve been so hooked on Mexico over the last few years. I chose Spain because it is closer to England, maybe I should go for it and go all the way to Mexico? Never mind there's always plan B?!
So plan B is to finish my classes, go on holiday back in London/Brighton/Rossendale then back to Madrid. I already have my flight booked for that holiday and it's coming back in August so I need to pay rent for that month. August is probably the worst month to go to the south of Spain but it seems the ideal time for me to go. Basic plan go to valencia and work may way around to savilla then back to madrid.
I should be able to get all this done in about three weeks. This time in Madrid is also suppose to be party time so a few nights back here to chill would be nice. Then leave the big ciudad hacia zaragoza entonces barcelona, donde encontrare Lisa. We've both booked the flights today back form Barcelona to Blighty but on the 17th of September giving us a good 10 days of sea, sun y sangria. But it's not going to be 10 days in the city we're going for a tour around to see all the Dali stuff. Sorry art history.
So what then?!
Well teaching English as a foriegn language is the sort of job you need to save up for, so if I need to save up for doing this I may as well save up and do Central and South America. With TEFL as a back up that hopefully I don't need to use.
Well I decided to throw in the towel as regards the teaching in Spain. What are my reasons? Well I've ended up in a shared flat and all the other three people have moved out. No I'm not taking this personally, it's more there is no one to talk to. There your students to talk to I hear you say, true and they are all so nice and I will miss them, but I want the fluidity of speaking with someone from the UK (banter). I didn't realise I needed this until I got talking with some Irish guys in a Irish Pub of all places during one of the England games, and I very naughtily got carried away and I think I was still pissed for my first class the day after. But what the hell they want to learn English, I think they need to learn about English culture as well.
What about meeting Spanish people in bars/pubs. Early on people seem to buy their booze from the alimetacion (offy) and hang around on the streets, so you can have a cheap night with your mates. Not good if you don’t have any mates over here though. I don’t really want to look like a vagrant on the streets, but I do want to make friends. Even one of the guys in the house, before he moved out, whose been living here for ages, said that it is really difficult to make friends over here. I don’t think it helps matters with being a bit older, although I keep forgetting just how old. Then you look at the other Spanish people as old as me and it’s very different. A friend said, this blog just seems to be about all expat stuff, this was suppose to be my attempt at making it not that way, but it still seems to be coming back to the same old theme. But then again this was supposed to be a journal of my time here and maybe the expat nature of this blog is just a reflection of the way I’m feeling. Also, said I’m supposed to be living the dream. Yes I’ve always dreamt of living in a foreign country and now I am so I am living the dream. I didn’t expect it to be easy/difficult, I didn’t know what to think, that’s way I’m doing it to experience it, whether it be good or bad. This also brings that statement around to the question of why Madrid! Especially when I’ve been so hooked on Mexico over the last few years. I chose Spain because it is closer to England, maybe I should go for it and go all the way to Mexico? Never mind there's always plan B?!
So plan B is to finish my classes, go on holiday back in London/Brighton/Rossendale then back to Madrid. I already have my flight booked for that holiday and it's coming back in August so I need to pay rent for that month. August is probably the worst month to go to the south of Spain but it seems the ideal time for me to go. Basic plan go to valencia and work may way around to savilla then back to madrid.
I should be able to get all this done in about three weeks. This time in Madrid is also suppose to be party time so a few nights back here to chill would be nice. Then leave the big ciudad hacia zaragoza entonces barcelona, donde encontrare Lisa. We've both booked the flights today back form Barcelona to Blighty but on the 17th of September giving us a good 10 days of sea, sun y sangria. But it's not going to be 10 days in the city we're going for a tour around to see all the Dali stuff. Sorry art history.
So what then?!
Well teaching English as a foriegn language is the sort of job you need to save up for, so if I need to save up for doing this I may as well save up and do Central and South America. With TEFL as a back up that hopefully I don't need to use.
