Open Writing

Well, I am now a bit more settled than I was last time I wrote. I have found a place to live for the moment.

It´s not completely ideal. I know I could be more central and have somewhere with a balcony (or at least a window with a better view than a stone wall.), neighbours who don´t get drunk every night and meow loudly to passing cats, and maybe a flat mate who speaks English, for less money than I´m paying, but anything is cheaper and less stressful than living in a hostel dorm. This will be sorted out in time.

My main energy has been focussed on finding a job. Fortunately, I wrote to many schools in May and actually received a lot of replies. Seven called me in for interviews. I have been to six of these already, and have also been interviewed by two more schools whom I contacted upon my arrival.

The first two interviews were really stressful and I don´t think I came across at all well, but then my confidence grew after facing the toughest interview I have ever had, with a very patronising, rude woman, who kept me waiting an hour before interviewing me. She was with another applicant, then disappeared to eat her lunch for another half an hour, while I seethed in a classroom, alone, waiting for her to return and conduct my interview!

She then seemed to blame me as she for losing her glasses! She also spelt my name wrong: Kawe! (Ironic really as the name suited her more I thought at the time) when I spelt it out to her. I repeated ´No Y, not W!´several times, but she still didn´t seem to understand. She then said. ´What IS 'Y'? I do not know what is 'Y'? I then had to say “Ýou know..Y..Y for yellow, y for yacht..‘’

Then she asked me what a yacht iwas.

She told me directly that she doubted I would be able to control a classroom of teenagers. By this point I was fuming, and could no longer hide my anger. I said “Well then, as you don´t seem to believe me, and of course, why should you as I may well be lying, why don´t you check my references for yourself?'

The next day, she offered me a job, whichcwould start next week, on a trial basis. However, I really don´t want it. . Of all the schools I have visited, this is the one I least like the feel of, as I would hate to work for this woman and also it is much further afield than all the other jobs. It takes 45 minutes from Barcelona on the train and all the students are children.

Since then I have been offered four jobs and have had two more interviews, with another next week. I turned down the job in Rubi with that patronising DOS immediately, but am now in a real dilemma. Which job to take?

I am quite honoured to have been offered work by The British Council, but the drawback is it would be with small children. That would mean I wouldn´t be able to practice the skills I will be learning on a DELTA course, so I might have to turn them down. Such a shame as it would have looked great on my CV.

In addition I have been offered only nine hours a week with them and the jobs involve a lot of travelling. I have agreed to do one lunchtime job in a business language school on Fridays and they also offered me an early morning Saturday job as well as two early mornings during the week, teaching business staff before they start their work.

Other jobs I have been offered involve evenings, from around 5pm until 9pm or even 10pm. I have accepted one, but have not signed a contract and will probably turn it down eventually. I went to so many interviews that I became quite confused about the timing of two of them. I turned up in the Urban School´s reception at 10 am one morning in the dress my mum approves of, only to discover that the interview wasn´t until the next day. I then realised that I was actually due at Anglia school at the time I was standing in Urban school, right at the other end of the city!

However, I apologised profusely to both and managed to do both interviews on the following day. On top of all this I will have my DELTA course to attend every Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to 2.30pm. I don´t want tot take too much on and exhaust myself. While I´m not doing much at the moment it feels possible, I know I am deceiving myself as each lesson would take preparation time and also travel time.

I also have a private student who started lessons with me last week. Her name is Maggie and I met her in the gym changing rooms. She´s Chinese, which is how we got chatting, and is married to a Spanish man, whom she met after coming to Barcelona to study Spanish. Her fluency is great but she wants learn grammar and pronunciation. It goes against all my teaching principles to teach grammar in isolation from other communicative skills, and I am trying to teach her through more communicative methods, rather than grammar exercises from grammar books.

She comes to my apartment three times a week to study but I think things might have to change when my jobs start in the schools, as there probably won´t be time and also she´s not paying me very much.

What else have I been doing? Well as I don´t know anyone here socially and can´t speak Spanish with my flatmates, I am going into IH every day to check my email, just for the human contact, and then there´s the supermarkets to explore.

I have finally acquired a taste for olives, and of course chickpeas are cheap and plentiful here too. You can even buy huge jars full of chickpeas, the Spanish equivalent for baked beans I suppose, for 30p.

Everything takes time as Spanish people never get flustered about doing things quickly. They just smile patiently and sort out problems slowly and methodically. They seem less stressed than English people and also seem to regard quality of life as a priority.

Even the traffic is less impatient than the traffic in the UK. Cars actually wait at the lights and crossings. The mobile phone shop is always the worst experience as there´s a take a ticket and queue for 45 min system and at the end of all that you discover that the attendant who has now become available speaks no English, so you have to wait for a customer to appear who can translate or wait for the next available attendant who speaks English.

Because it´s nearly always sunny and always hot, there is a relaxed feeling in the air and my body feels younger and healthier. I am so glad I won´t have to face another winter hibernating in a huge winter coat and thermal long johns (at least I hope not!)

I still haven´t quite mastered the pattern of life here. The Spanish tend to eat lunch between 2 and 4pm..for two hours, sitting outside cafes on terraces, enjoying a glass of wine and quality conversation. Most shops and all the banks stop at 2pm and then resume at around 4pm, closing around eight or nine pm, and then the parties start.

Eating lunch at 12pm would not feel at all right here for me. Usually I eat at around 1.30 and then don´t have dinner until 9 or 10 pm, depending on what time I´m called for an interview. Most of these have been held in the evenings, at 8pm.

I have joined a gym called DIR. There´s a chain of them throughout Barcelona. I have been enjoying a short swim after breakfast and also one around 5 or 6pm. It´s very technological. When I joined my finger print was recorded, and part of the process of entering the gym involves putting your finger on a pad. A vibration reads your fingerprint and then SHOULD open the barrier for you, except that it hardly ever works, so you have to join a long queue of people who have likewise been rejected, to ask the staff to let you in.

The gym is full of stylish young people, who seem to have a lot of money. They move so gracefully, even when getting changed. The temperature around the pool is heated to around 30 degrees C and there´s a great spa pool with jacuzzi and a sauna)....I´m trying to limit myself to one round of bubbles only, and feel guilty if one session ends and I press the bubble machine button for another go.

It´s also a good way to meet people. However, they start a conversation on the assumption I´m Spanish, so the chat doesn´t last too long. That´s strange for me. In Japan and China, I was obviously foreign from my looks, and so was stared at and treated like royalty.

It´s nice just to be able to blend in and not stand out, but then again, I face problems if I go to the wrong till at the supermarket for example and the checkout operator shouts at me to go somewhere else. As I look Spanish yet dont obey people´s instructions when they are given in Spanish, my ignorance has been mistaken for defiance.

Right, must go and call some schools to see if they can give me a clearer idea about what hours they may be in a position to offer.