working girl
I feel like my life has been really neglected recently. The school year started again and so the life of an English teacher swings into full effect. I´ve been working at an academy for two years now, and it´s been good. I like my students (generally), I work with my husband and best friend, the pay is decent and the boss is an ok person. But it´s way in the suburbs. Which means an hour commute each way. Which really wouldn´t be a big deal, except for the fact that I get motion sickness really badly. Ordinarily, I could do what other people do and read, or prepare classes or even play Nintendo DS, but I´ll puke.
So, I made the decision to work at the academy two days a week and find work elsewhere. Last week was a flurry of interviews, mad juggling skills and trying to pin people down to real answers and real commitments. So, Monday and Friday, i´m working for a woman giving private lessons in people´s houses. She seems professional and ok and she´s only sending me to places in a general area, not an hour in Sol and then an hours travel for an hour class in Plaza Castilla. That seems to be common, but that shit aint for me. The pay isn´t as great as I could make teaching full classes at the academy, or private on my own but I struggle to find my own private work so it´s ok.
The wild card here is my interview with a language academy here in madrid. From what I can assertain, they have a good reputation, and my interview was hardcore. Three stages, three hours and mock teaching situation. The offered my part time 9 hours and a contract for 400 a month. It´s nothing compared to what I make elswhere. In fact, half. But they claim to give my lots and lots of training, which I need because although i´ve been teaching for two years I feel like a fraud sometimes because I totally ad lib things and sometimes even make up things because I have absolutely no freaking idea. Also they offer free spanish classes, and if it´s suitable for someone with my level, then great. I´m going to look at it as a learning experience for a year and then see.
So after all the stressiness, I went out Saturday night and got fucked up. We went to an 80´s bar for which i had read a review. It was totally a gay bar, which was totally fine, but they neglected to mention that in the review. Slightly akward, considering that 1. I was with my friend who "was gay" but is now in a heterosexual marriage but gets drunk and talks about anal sex all night. and 2. I´m in a heterosexual marriage but the truth is that it´s really the ladies that do it for me. anyway, moving on....
we happened upon an okupa near Atocha and went in and partied, I suppose illegally, with the Spanish kids and actually it was fun as hell and the most Spanish I think i´ve ever felt in this country.
So, I made the decision to work at the academy two days a week and find work elsewhere. Last week was a flurry of interviews, mad juggling skills and trying to pin people down to real answers and real commitments. So, Monday and Friday, i´m working for a woman giving private lessons in people´s houses. She seems professional and ok and she´s only sending me to places in a general area, not an hour in Sol and then an hours travel for an hour class in Plaza Castilla. That seems to be common, but that shit aint for me. The pay isn´t as great as I could make teaching full classes at the academy, or private on my own but I struggle to find my own private work so it´s ok.
The wild card here is my interview with a language academy here in madrid. From what I can assertain, they have a good reputation, and my interview was hardcore. Three stages, three hours and mock teaching situation. The offered my part time 9 hours and a contract for 400 a month. It´s nothing compared to what I make elswhere. In fact, half. But they claim to give my lots and lots of training, which I need because although i´ve been teaching for two years I feel like a fraud sometimes because I totally ad lib things and sometimes even make up things because I have absolutely no freaking idea. Also they offer free spanish classes, and if it´s suitable for someone with my level, then great. I´m going to look at it as a learning experience for a year and then see.
So after all the stressiness, I went out Saturday night and got fucked up. We went to an 80´s bar for which i had read a review. It was totally a gay bar, which was totally fine, but they neglected to mention that in the review. Slightly akward, considering that 1. I was with my friend who "was gay" but is now in a heterosexual marriage but gets drunk and talks about anal sex all night. and 2. I´m in a heterosexual marriage but the truth is that it´s really the ladies that do it for me. anyway, moving on....
we happened upon an okupa near Atocha and went in and partied, I suppose illegally, with the Spanish kids and actually it was fun as hell and the most Spanish I think i´ve ever felt in this country.